I am a Honey Bee

All about my adventures with cooking, crafts, and travel

Archives for August 2011

Gazpacho

We live during a time when everything is available 24/7/365. Just because I can get a tomato or corn during freezing January, doesn’t mean I should. Over the last few years I have become much more aware of when I purchase food seasonally. I have gotten extremely picky over tomatoes. I think tomatoes really should only be purchased when they are fresh to your region. I admit that I can’t stop myself from buying grape tomatoes all year (I just need them) but I can promise you that I will NOT purchase some watery large tomato just to slap it on top of a burger.

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2 breakfast’s + 8 miles= typ day in NYC

When Price and I go into New York City we go all out. I love the energy, pace, and everything to do and see in the City. I try to plan days that are focused on events, exhibits or places we want to eat at.

A few weeks ago we got the chance to do one of these action packed days. Believe me, it was a long, full day.

To make a long story short, I’ll just say that Price loves Linny Boyette on the Today Show. Who is Linny? Linny has been the Today Show audience fixture for over 15 years. He points to the camera as it passes (typ around 7.30am)

He is the reason that Price and I woke up at 5.15 to get on the 6.16 train out of Port Chester so we could be in the Today Show Audience.

After our waving at the Today Show cameras (Yes, we were on TV. We DVR’d the show and checked later), we walked down 5th to 23rd Street. Once we reached the Flat Iron building we hooked it over to the West Side on 23rd Street.

 

Our first breakfast stop was at La Maison du Macaron, between 6th and 7th. This place was suggested to us by Price’s roommate when he was in Biloxi rebuilding after Hurricane Katrina.  Francis works for Gilt Taste, so he obviously knows good food. This place lived up to his recommendation. Price had a ham and cheese crossiant and I had a Salted Caramel Macaron and a Rose Lychee Liquor macaron. I will be your best friend forever if you ever get me a box of those Rose Lychee Liquor Macarons.

To be able to cross off a “I want to go to there”* place, we continued down 23rd to Doughnut Plant. I think this place has been a place that I wanted to go to for over 5 years now. I just don’t typically go into The City early enough for breakfast, but today was a lucky day and we got to share a donut.

nom nom nom jeally donut with peanut butter glaze

Price and I then went to The Highline. I love this place. We went 2 years ago when it first opened so I was looking forward to coming to see Section 2 since it had opened. I will post more about The Highline later.

 

The heat of the morning started to creep upon use we we wandered along on The Highline, so we stopped at the People’s Pops stand to get a shaved ice. It was very refreshing and very flavorful.

  

Next stop: Eataly!

We walked back along 23rd Street to get to Eataly, the 50,000 sf Italian market. It was heavenly. I wandered around looking at the fresh produce, smoked meats, wedges of cheeses, and cool fish. There were several different restaurants of various sizes and themes.

While we could have eaten at Eataly we decided to go to Shake Shack in Madison Square Park. It was a fantastic decision. The line was long but went quickly. We enjoyed our burgers (mine was gluten free), shared our of cheese fries. Price got a black and white shake and I got a Hopscotch concrete. The lunch was amazing. Sad that the chatter of a Shake Shack in Boston did not pan out but glad we got to enjoy this visit there for lunch.

 

While we were at the park a couple got married. I thought they were just taking engagment photos since I was so into my food to care about the world around me. Guess I am glad I didn’t notice it since I would have been crying into my concrete instead of enjoying it.

After lunch Price and I walked back up 5th to 51st before deciding that continuing to Serendipity 3 to use a Groupon would add another mile to our walk in the heat. So we turned around walked back to 43rd to then walk to Grand Central. We were on the 2.37 train back to Port Chester.

And that is how your have 2 breakfasts and walk over 8 miles in New York City.

*Did you get the reference without having to look it up?

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Owling

The post in which I show photos of Price owling… AKA the day I embarrass Price (more than normal)

First there was planking, then owling, now even bating. I have even heard of people posting horseman style photos on the interwebs. So I guess we are behind the game. Just glad that we didn’t lay on some dirty floor/bench/fence in the name of planking.

We first heard about owling from my brother and his fiancée a few weeks ago when they showed us pictures of Laura doing it on the boat. We cracked up at them, esp at the one of her jumping into the water while holding that position. Pretty impressive work on both Laura & TJ’s part for doing the jump and getting the photo.

Prior to going to Maine we talked about doing an owling or bating photo. Owling obviously is a tad but easier so that was that is what we ended with. And how Price and I ended cracking ourselves up on the last night there.

Yeah, yeah yeah, your feet tech need to be flat. Whatever, we were just cracking up so much to really care.

Happy Tuesday!

I’m a Guacaholic

My name is Nicole and I am a Guacaholic.

I love guacamole, I really do.

I love the flavor and smell.

I love the texture and color.

I love that you can eat it with chips, tacos, rice, eggs… basically anything.

 

When I saw a tweet about tickets for a guacamole event, Guacaholics Anonymous 2,  I jumped at the chance to go and got tickets for Price and me.  I live for events like this. EatBoston creates fun events, like their Bacon & Beer one that we went to in 2010.

 

Being surrounding by tables and tables of guacamole is amazing experience. There were 8 restaurants and 2 bloggers showcasing their different take on guacamole. There were so many creative ways, some with fruit and some with bacon.

 

It was great to see the We Are Not Martha  bloggers again, and enjoy their guace that had bacon and corn in it. Also I met Justin Can Cook who made an Asian inspired guacamole with water chestnuts, ginger, and scallions. He offered the option of enjoyed the guac with crispy wonton noodles.

 

A big thanks to EatBoston for organizing the event. Chef Brian Poe of the Rattlesnake for hosting it. And a big thank you for the other participants that provided guacamole because this event was for a great local cause. The proceeds went to Lovin’ Spoonfuls, a “non-profit organization that facilitates the recovery and distribution of perishable and unserved foods that would otherwise be thrown away and wasted”.

While I love guacamole I think we need to take a bit of a break from each other since I did consume 12 different kinds. But when I do make some again I know I’ll use my guacamole recipe.

Book Swap


 

Last Friday night, my office held a book swap. We have a weekly “buzz” when we gather at 5pm to enjoy some drinks and chips by the inspiration lounge/library (I dunno)r. It’s a nice way for us to catch up with each other on projects, softball, or anything in general. For a while we would do a “week in review” doodle that would focus on the current events that happened in Boston, but then things got a bit more casual and that stopped. With a lot of new faces in the office within the year the buzz is evolving again to include games, like Apples to Apples. The book swap was another effort to liven things up.

Prior to moving, I packed up a lot of books to donate/sell. Off they went and I packed up the books that I really ‘wanted’. Well, once I unpacked and organized them, and then Price moved them again to be able to paint, I realized that 1) I don’t want to move another damn book around again 2) I doubted that I would read these ‘wanted’ books again. So, I decided that they would have to go. I talked with one of my bosses and was given the go ahead for the book swap to held during a buzz.

 

Instead of our usual spot, we took over our large joint conference rooms. There were lot of books were swapped, with a lot still remaining in the “book swap basket”. This basket is going to hang around so people can add more books to it so there is a constant flow of books that everyone can share.

 

I suggest that people organize a book swap with coworkers, friends, or neighbors so it allows you to unload some books, while getting a few new ones in the process. Labor Day is a great time to read while relaxing in the sun so you can sneak a book swap in before then, or do one in the fall when you can curl up with a good book.

PS. I swapped about 30 books for this 1 book. Price just rolled his eyes when I showed it to him. hehehe 🙂

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Thanks for visiting. Please leave me a comment to provide some feedback. I appreciate all the comments I receive.

Month: 7- Studio Calico 4.3.11 Sunday Sketch

Kelly's-sketchThis Studio Calico Sunday Sketch, and the layout that generated the sketch, was something that I really enjoyed working with. I liked the large blocking of the papers that was mixed with smaller images. I feel that a sketch like this can generate a lot of different layouts because the focus, and creativity, could relate to the photos, the journaling, or the large title.

I love taking photos of my niece, but as in most cases with babies, the photos might not come out very well because of all her movement. Instead of just filing these photos away on my computer because they were not picture-perfect, I decided to use them. However, instead of using large 4×6 photos, I used smaller 2×3 photos that I made even smaller by trimming them. The fact that Cara is moving, and therefore blurry, shows how animated she is. That itself is part of the story.

 

This sketch allowed me to capture the beauty in my niece without letting the ‘flawed’ photos limit me. It also allowed me to play with the color yellow. No, there is not yellow in the photos but as I was going through the papers I had at hand I came across this sheet. I felt the background brown went well with the color of the sofa Cara was sitting on. From there I started to grab more yellow/neutral paper and embellishments.

America’s Test Kitchen Tour

Last Monday I fled work nice and early to go on a tour of America’s Test Kitchen. All of this fell into place with the help of Babette from Bakespace and by RSVP-ing for Techmunch. I was so happy to attend Techmunch that getting to ATK was a fantastic added bonus. So I arrived at a nondescript building, took a flight of stairs up and went on a wonderful tour.

Steph, the fabulous tour guide started off by taking us from the lobby to the library area. This area has several large bookcases that houses the larges private cookbook collection. Steph explained that they use these 4,000ish cookbooks for recipes research and development. The long table in front of the bookcases is for meetings, as well as for when they do taste tests. ATK will lay out 5 products, from canned tomatoes to chocolate, for review. Each taste tester takes this very seriously and accurately fills out questionnaires regarding to help determine which is the best.

 

Wow, I’d love to be able to get a chance to flip through this delectable series one day.

(ATK PHOTOGRAPHY TEAM REQUESTED I REMOVE THIS PHOTO 8.1.12)

Our next stop was the photo studio. We were lucky to see them shooting some cupcakes. While we observed, they switched out some cupcakes and arranged them to get some better shots. (ATK PHOTOGRAPHY TEAM REQUESTED I REMOVE THE LAST TO SENTENCES OF THIS PARAGRAPH 8.1.12)

(ATK PHOTOGRAPHY TEAM REQUESTED I REMOVE THIS PHOTO 8.1.12)

(ATK PHOTOGRAPHY TEAM REQUESTED I REMOVE THIS PHOTO 8.1.12)

 

Directly next to the photo studio is a prop room that had my knees getting weak. So many napkins and table cloths! At the entrance of the prop room, there was an open cabinet that held a lot of peices of boards of various finishes. The photo studio is not large enough to house tables of various finishes, so this allow them to get various setting. Plus, they can photograph a picnic in the winter by just using a distressed piece of board.

 

At this point, Steph explained that the Slow Cooker Revolution Cookbook has been one of their best selling books. She explained that they had to build a special wall for their testing set up. There needed to be several (12+) slow cookers running at once to be able to handle all the testing that was required for the book. At kind of electrical load required a new temporary wall of outlets and shelves for the slow cookers to be set up.

 

Wow this rack puts my 2 cutting boards to shame! At various racks throughout the area, there are pots, pans, and dishes that are labeled for everyday use or for TV use. They don’t want the stuff on TV to appeared so banged up so there are doubles for everything.

We then headed into the small kitchen.  Directly behind me was a full wall of wall ovens. They were hard at work preparing various meals. When the TV is shooting, the kitchen is where all the prep occurs that is brought into the adjacent large kitchen.

After exiting the small kitchen, we stood along side a series of racks that had the for use/for TV pots and pans so that we could hear about the pantry that ATK has. There are staff members that do all the shopping for everyone. They set out with shopping lists and only use brands, or just store generics, that people all over can buy. For example, they can’t shop at Trader Joe’s since that is not a national chain. They store flour and sugar in trash barrels since they use such large quantities. 

The large kitchen was, in fact, very large. There are various stations set up for people to work at. The equipment used in there, and in the small kitchen, are things that homeowners can buy. The only commercial items in ATK is a dishwasher and a large walk in refrigerator. The purpose of the residential equipment is that is the exact things that the people using the website, magazines, and cookbooks will be using.

Steph explained that the kitchen is shut down for only 3 weeks a year for the TV show shooting. They can’t stop testing for any longer than that or they would fall behind, and they can’t just shoot regularly because of all the TV equipment involved in the process.

I think all of our mouths were watering watching her make these peanut butter sandwich cookies!

We existed the large kitchen at the end to walk down a hall which lead to this room. When testing is occuring, this is filled with racks of dishes. When the TV show is taping, the room is cleared out to make a space for the command center. This is where the product team sits while the filming occurs. They are reviewing the footage as it is occurring and providing feedback, like if the talking is loud enough or if they are not focused on the camera.

There also is a refrigerator in there for left over tested recipes to be taken home. I think this would be delightful. I would love to sneak in and grab some cake, chicken, or whatever may be on hand to take home with me.

All the dishes are wrapped in plastic wrap to keep them clean and protect them from chipping each other.

The last stop was on the 2nd floor of ATK. We sat at a large table and Steph explained that this is where Chris Kimball and other editors met to discuss epsidoes, recipes, books, and the magazines. Obviously, Chris sits at the head of the table.

A huge thank you to Steph for organizing this fantastic tour. I learned so much about the ATK family and how they test recipes and produce the TV show. I only began to touch on the things that Steph told us about. It really was an amazing, enlightening experience.

Plus, to make a great time even better, I was given issues of Cooks Illustrated, Cooks Country, and  The America’s Test Kitchen Healthy Family Cookbook. I know I will be using it that amazing cookbook in the future.

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Thanks for visiting. Please leave me a comment to provide some feedback. I appreciate all the comments I receive.

Waffle Ice Cream Sandwiches

When I was a kid I used to walk about a half mile to get to the penny candy store. Mr. Fina had a great selection of things like sour belts, lollipops, watermelon sours, and chocolate covered gummy bears. But for just a quarter I used to get these tiny square ice cream sandwiches. Since then I have loved ice cream sandwiches, from the ones that are super soft to chipwiches. I even consider that Choco Taco a pretty decent ice cream sandwich relative.

 

Since I’ve been gluten free, I have had a hard time finding every day treats that are gluten free. I can’t just walk into a convenience store and grab an ice cream sandwich, so I decided to make mine own that I can at least have a home. Waffle ice cream sandwiches just fell into place because I have been heavily relying on them for breakfast, lunch and dinner. For a long time I could not find a gluten free bread I liked so I was using waffles I made in large batches as my bread substitute for sandwiches. So waffles are a pretty neutral flavor, even slightly sweet, so they would work well with ice cream.

 

I have been giving my ice cream maker a decent work out this summer with sorbet so I figured I would actually make some ice cream with it this time. I made a simple vanilla ice cream that I packed with vanilla beans, by using vanilla extract and homemade vanilla sugar. The waffles were simple since I used a mix since it was might convenient for something gluten free, however I highly suggest making waffles from scratch whenever possible. The overall process was really simple, but the thing to keep in mind is the time it takes for the waffles to get COLD. While I think room temperature waffles are acceptable, I think that you run less risk with ice cream melting with really cold waffles.

 

Waffle Ice Cream Sandwiches

Ingredients

For Waffles

  • use your favorite recipe or mix*

For Simple Vanilla Ice Cream (from Cuisinart)

  • 1 cup whole milk
  • ¾ cup granulated sugar
  • pinch salt
  • 2 cups heavy cream
  • 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

Instructions

For Waffles:

Follow recipe instructions. Ladle batter into hot waffle iron, cook until waffle is a brown color. Waffle should be slightly crisp. Lay out all waffles, do not stack, allowing to cool and not get soggy from steam. Place waffles in fridge or freezer to get cold.

For Ice Cream:

In a chilled bowl, combine all ingredients using a hand mixer or whisk. Let mixture chill over night or at least one hour. Process the ice cream according to machine’s manufacturer’s instructions. Once the ice cream is formed, transfer to bowl and freeze until the consistency is thicker, but not hard to spread.

Assemble Sandwiches:

Once the waffles are cold, halve with a serrated bread knife. Spread a thick layer of ice cream over one half of waffle. Gently place other waffle portion on top to create sandwich. Immediately place into freezer. Freeze over night, or at least 2 hours, prior to serving,

Optional: 

Melt chocolate in a double boiler. Dip frozen ice cream sandwiches into chocolate, place back into freezer immediately. Freeze for 15 minutes, prior to serving.

*I used Pamela’s Baking and Pancake mix because it’s one of my favorite gluten free mixes