Come to the Table

New York: Day Three

On our last whirlwind day in New York City, Eric almost got run over by a grocery cart. 

After enjoying a lunch of a cheese blintz with strawberry rhubarb sauce and crab asparagus soup (me), spinach & feta croissant and chicken noodle soup (Eric) at Zabar's Cafe, we ventured next door.  It was around 1:00 p.m. and the specialty food store was chock-full of ladies of a certain age with fur coats.  One of them sighted Eric and charged at him with her cart at full speed.  For no apparent reason.  I guess she could tell that we were not native to her store.  We ducked out of the way and headed over to the coffee bean section where things were a bit calmer.  But we kept moving since we didn't know what other determined grocery cart drivers were lurking around the corner waiting to strike.  We came away with Demerara sugar (which I could not find in Baltimore), a "Dagoba" dark chocolate bar, and a new tea ball.  (Ever since reading Chez Pim's "For the love of tea!" post, I'd been on the lookout for a larger mesh tea ball.  Zabar's upstairs kitchen shop seemed a good place to get one.)

We left Zabar's with our kneecaps intact, and headed for the Museum of Modern Art, again, and this time it was open and teeming with people.

New York: Day Two

We started our second day in New York City with food for the mind.  While having Thanksgiving dinner at a friend's house, Eric happened to notice an ad they'd cut out and put on the fridge for the New York Public Library's special exhibit, "The Splendor of the Word."  The exhibit offered 100 of the library's illuminated manuscripts from the Middle Ages and the Renaissance.

The artwork and calligraphy were beautiful.  It's hard to imagine holding something that elegant in your hands and reading from it, whether it was a Bible, prayer book, or science text.  We peered into the cases with the manuscripts for over two hours, listening to the audio guide and soaking it all in.  If you like medieval or Renaissance art or calligraphy or the history of the book in general, I highly recommend the exhibit.

We certainly deserved some lunch after our morning of history and culture.  We headed for Grand Central Station and ate calzones at "Two Boots," a Louisiana-style pizza place.  My andouille calzone was hot, cheesy, and hearty which was exactly what I needed.  We explored the Station and then walked up Madison Avenue toward the Museum of Modern Art.  There we were greeted by the friendly yet firm notice: "MoMA is closed today and every Tuesday."  Oops.  Should have checked the guidebook.  Oh well.  The lobby was open so we warmed up a bit and made a new plan.

New York: Day One

Some people say that going to New York City is overwhelming.  I say that telling your friends who love New York that you're traveling there is overwhelming!  In a good way, of course. 

In the past few months, as Eric and I have asked for recommendations about places to go and things to eat in New York, we have collected a list that will keep us going for many trips to come.  Add to that the amazing amount of suggestions about New York that one can find in food bloggerland and you're set for life.

Before I describe our trip and our eating adventures, many thanks to Clotilde for her "Edible Guide to NYC," a compilation of her reader's recommendations, on Chocolate & Zucchini.  (Clotilde's own travels inspired two bakery trips for us that I'll write more about when I recap Day Two and Day Three.  Her delectable accounts can be found here.)   Also, thanks to Manhattan User's Guide for some neat holiday shopping ideas.  After we returned from the trip, I found this wonderful series of reports on bakeries in New York on Lovescool-For the Love of Dessert.  Since Eric said he was fairly "bakeried out" by the end of our 3-day trip, it's probably a good thing that we'll have to save Lovescool's recommendations for next time.

St. Michaels, Maryland

The first thing to note about St. Michaels, Maryland is this: there is no apostrophe in the name of the town!  Now that that's over with, I can tell you about all the wonderful things there are in this town on Maryland's Eastern Shore.

Eric and I headed over the Bay Bridge in late August for a mini-vacation.  We stayed at a beautiful bed and breakfast, Folly's Cove.  We chose it sight unseen from the Internet list of bed and breakfast establishments because it met some key criteria for us: full gourmet breakfasts, a pool, and a water view.

For breakfast every day we enjoyed a large pot of coffee, juice, a muffin or sweet bread appetizer, a fruit parfait, and a main breakfast dish such as french toast or waffles or eggs with cheese and vegetables.  One of the many nice touches with the breakfast in the sunroom was the pewter knife rest at each place setting.  It was also a treat to have fine china, a tablecloth, and cloth napkins at breakfast time.  We had our own table for two overlooking the water and the pool and the meal was leisurely while fueling us for the vacation day ahead.

We're excited to return to Folly's Cove and St. Michaels someday!

Pure Chocolate Pilgrimage

It wouldn't be a vacation without at least one food pilgrimage.  On this past summer's annual Washington State visit, it was Fran's Chocolates.

I first heard about Fran Bigelow and her amazing confections on NPR almost one year ago.  A few months later, I acquired her book, Pure Chocolate.  Then one of my friends raved about her dark chocolate caramels topped with gray sea salt. 

Eric and I stopped at Fran's in University Village near the University of Washington.  We bought the caramels, coconut gold bar, and chocolate wafers.  The caramels and wafers we took outside to the Village courtyard and savored under a blue Seattle summer sky.  The coconut gold bar I managed to hold off eating until we were back home and it was worth the wait.  Sometimes I go to bakeries and come away disappointed because their offerings have a bland and processed taste.  Not so at Fran's.  Everything we tried was satisfying.  The flavors were pure and the delicious chocolate brought a sweet ending to our pilgrimage.

Now I'll have to try some more recipes from Pure Chocolate.  I like how the beginning of the cookbook serves as a "chocolate 101" course for those who want to learn "everything you need to know about chocolate" (that's the title of the introductory section).  Bigelow even addresses "chocolate kitchen clean-up" and recommends stocking dark brown or black kitchen towels and aprons so the chocolate doesn't stain your kitchen linens. 

Oh!  I almost forgot to mention the other Fran's recipe we've tried and loved: Pure Chocolate Sauce.  On ice cream or straight off the spoon, it's the best.

Pure Chocolate Sauce
From Pure Chocolate by Fran Bigelow

1 cup heavy cream
8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped

In a small saucepan bring the cream just to a boil.  Remove from the heat and add the chopped chocolate.  Let set one minute.  Stir with a heatproof rubber spatula until smooth.  Set aside to cool slightly.  Serve warm or store in a sealed container in the refrigerator.

To reheat, place the container in a pot of warm water until the sauce is warm and loose.