June 27, 2005 at 10:20 pm
· Filed under Freebies
Coming up on the food freebie calendar:
6/29: Stop by the Starbucks ice cream social for ice cream blended with coffee. The four-ounce samples will not be available all day, so check with your local Starbucks beforehand.
6/30: Last day to use this coupon for a free box of Celestial Seasonings tea. In Manhattan, Whole Foods, Walgreens and Pathmark will manually key in the coupon, but Rite Aid, Duane Reade, Associated Supermarkets and Met Foods won’t accept it.
7/2: Cold Stone Creamery offers free samples of five new Red Pan flavors from 10 to noon.
7/11: Every year Seven-Eleven gives out free 7.11-ounce Slurpees.
7/31: Last day to mail in a rebate for free Land O’ Lakes Light Butter with Canola Oil. I wouldn’t recommend this product for baking unless the recipe specifies, since oil has a different melting point and moisture content than regular butter. It would be good for toast or sauteeing though.
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June 27, 2005 at 9:35 pm
· Filed under Blogging by Mail, Events
In the age of e-mail, it’s rare to receive anything special in the mail anymore. The occasional handwritten letter is a delight, but surprise packages are even better. First, there’s the convenience of having something delivered to your door: no lines, no crowds and no carrying needed. Then, there’s the anticipation and wonder at what could possibly be inside. After tearing open the package, there’s a sense of satisfaction for receiving an undeserved gift.Nicole of
The Baking Sheet and I proudly introduce Blogging by Mail: a foodie exchange. All participants send a homemade treat or regional specialty to someone else, and in return, they get a package as well! The deadline to
sign up is this Friday, July 1.
Nicole and I tested out this idea serendipitously, and it was loads of fun! She sent me homemade lime and chocolate marshmallows so I could critique them. In return, I gave her homemade Nutella (Keep your eyes peeled for a recipe for reduced-fat Nutella cake! Or, you can order it through Su Good Sweets).
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June 20, 2005 at 8:05 pm
· Filed under Eating the Big Apple, Events
New York is crawling with food bloggers, but it’s ironic how a French woman prompted us to finally meet in person. Clotilde of
Chocolate and Zucchini (she’s the quintessential food blogger and an NPR writer, for good reason) took a break from Paris and travelled to NYC this weekend.Just to show you how much influence she has, she proposed that us local bloggers meet at
Otto, Mario Batali’s restaurant, and we all joined her this Sunday.
I met old “friends” (people whose blogs I already read) as well as new ones. One news article compared Clotilde to Audrey Tautou in Amelie, and I’d have to agree. She’s really cute in person, and I’m glad she’s the food blogger representative to the media.
It was cool to meet local “celebrities” like Josh of The Food Section and Adam of The Amateur Gourmet. I also bumped into Julie of A Finger in Every Pie (I was so flattered–she knew my blog name after I merely told her my first name), Lulu of Lulu’s Gonna Love Manhattan, Samantha of The Samantha Files, David of What I See, Danielle of Celebrity Baby Blog, and Paul of Paulfrankenstein.org. I had hoped to meet Debbie of Words to Eat By, Kelli of Lovescool, Allen of The Impetuous Epicure, Andrea of The Strong Buzz, Alaina of A Full Belly and Adam of Slice, but alas, another time. (How’s that for name dropping?)
I don’t have a liking for drinks, so I opted for “Gelotto” instead. Susanne (in white) and Andrea (in pink) and I split a trio of olive oil, hazelnut chocolate chip and ricotta gelati. (Picture is at the bottom of David’s post.) New York foodies like Adam and New York magazine unamimously agree that the olive oil gelato is the best in the city, and my favorite condiment is Nutella, so those two flavors were no-brainers. My favorite of the bunch, however, was the ricotta. It tasted just like cheesecake. But I have to say, the Gelotto wasn’t as good as I’d hoped. In Italy, the gelato flavors explode in your mouth (chocolate gelato tastes like the highest quality chocolate bar, and fruit gelato tastes like the ripest fruit imaginable). At Otto, the flavors were more subtle.
Also, David shared fava bean bruschetta with everyone. It came with crusty artisan bread. The fava bean puree tasted like buttery, garlicky mashed potatoes. It was an awesome combination of soft, chewy and crunchy. Otto’s now one of my favorite restaurants! Supposedly the main dishes and pizza aren’t so hot, but I’d be content just ordering the appetizers and gelato. If you can’t get a reservation, the bar area is spacious and provides instant gratification.
We bloggers were so inspired that we’re getting together again for a potluck! If you’re interested, leave a comment at Lulu’s Gonna Love Manhattan or e-mail her with the subject “NYC Bloggers Potluck.”
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June 7, 2005 at 1:08 am
· Filed under Freebies
Don’t you just love freebies? Stop by
your local Godiva store on these days for a chocolate fix. Yes, chocolate purists turn up their noses at Godiva, but it’s free samples!
June 9-11
Chocolixir (at select stores offering Chocolixir)
June 23-25
Chocolixir (at select stores offering Chocolixir)
June 23-25
Chocolate Bars
Warning: Newsweek reports that the drink has 700 calories. I made an unwanted purchase when Godiva tricked me into buying the drink. A couple weeks ago, my local store advertised free pomegranate truffles and Chocolixir samples. I enjoyed the truffle, and when a sales rep asked me if I wanted to try the drink, I said, "Sure." I thought it was a sample but noooo, she made me a full-size drink that I had to pay for. It was way too sweet and not worth $4.50 or the 700 calories. In fact, half of it is still sitting in my infamous freezer.
If you’re in NYC, Grand Central Station is hosting A Taste of Germany from June 3-9 in Vanderbilt Hall. It’s a really fun exhibit complete with samples of full-size granola bars, fruit jellies and a cooking demo from 12:30-1:00 and 5:30-6:00. There’s also live performances and artwork.
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June 5, 2005 at 4:39 pm
· Filed under Frugal Gourmet
Somewhere along the line, oat cuisine got elevated from standard horsefeed into gourmet granola. Nowadays, you can get granola in designer flavors like apple cinnamon, mocha, sunflower seed this and dried cranberry that. I don’t understand why companies charge $5 for little sacks, especially when the main ingredient is what Romans considered a diseased version of wheat (according to Good Eats).
Homemade granola is dirt cheap and more delicious than commercial varieties. It puts a certain “grrrreat” cereal to shame. This Good Eats recipe makes seriously addictive granola. Other recipes were either too dry, flavorless, or didn’t get the ratio of the add-ins right. But Alton’s version is sweet, salty and crispy but not dry.
Notes/tips:
- Unlike most baking recipes, this recipe is open to ingredient substitions. I halved the amount of nuts and also chopped them so I would get more in each bite. Instead of coconut, I used toasted okara, or soy bean pulp, that was leftover from my homemade soy milk. Okara is a nutritional powerhouse: it’s high in fiber, protein and isoflavones. The granola was a bit too sweet for me, so next time I’ll reduce the sweeteners by 1/4 cup. I didn’t stir in dried fruit, for fear of the moisture transferring over to the crispy oats. But I have a whole slew of choices from Sahadi’s 🙂 that I can add in on a case-by-case basis.
- You may substitute other nuts and seeds for the standard almonds and cashews. You can also use your favorite dried fruit instead of raisins. Some flavoring ideas:
- Holiday spice: use cranberries and add a pinch of cinnamon, nutmeg, all spice and/or cardamom to taste.
- Nutella: use hazelnuts and add a couple tablespoons of unsweetened cocoa powder, or to taste.
- Chunky monkey: use banana chips, walnuts, and add in chocolate chips after the granola has cooled.
- Tropical: use pineapple and/or banana chips and macadamias.
- To get chunky granola, pack it in the pan very tightly, as if making one giant bar. After the first stir, the granola will break up into pieces.
- For the best nut flavor, use whole raw nuts and toast them for about 10 min. shortly before consumption. Most nuts, including almonds and hazelnuts, go in a preheated 350 F oven. Walnuts and pecans go in at 325 F. Stir the nuts occassionally and pull them out when they turn light brown, as they’ll continue toasting with the rest of the granola. Raw macadamias are delicate and should brown up fine with the granola.
- Since Alton’s sweetener of choice, maple syrup, is expensive, you can substitute honey, brown rice syrup, or concentrated fruit juice. You may have to tinker with the recipe, as the sweeteners all have varying moisture and sugar content. Imitation maple syrup is not recommended, as it does little for flavor.
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