what about the plastic animals?

Lyndell's Bakery Half-Moon

New York City is known for its black-and-white cookies.  It is a mystery why as the cookies are almost uniformly mediocre.  The NYC black-and-white is based on a dough that is somewhere between a cake and a cookie.  The black and white icing is hard.

Venture to upstate New York or New England and you'll find the morphologically similar, yet gastronomically different, half-moon cookie.  The half-moon is actually a small cake with buttercream frosting on top.  Half-moons are classically made with cocoa in the batter, though the cocoa-less form seems to be more popular nowadays.  Upstaters take a lot of pride in knowing that half-moons are better than black-and-whites.

The whole upstate vs. downstate argument is pretty boring so let's skip to Somerville, Massachusetts.  Lyndell's Bakery has been in Somerville since 1887.  I went there a couple of weeks ago on National Doughnut Day, after first having a doughnut at the Gail Ann Coffee Shop in Arlington with my sister.  The powered sugar doughnuts at both places were great - light and not at all greasy.  (Why does anyone ever by the crappy greaseballs from Dunkin' Donuts?)  The half-moon cookie was for later in the day.  It tasted even better than it looks.

Five Pillows and Four D's

Five Pillows

DeAngelis Delightfully Different Donuts (the donut rotates!)

Pumpkin Donut

The Clarion I stayed at in Monaca, Pennsylvania couldn't have been open more than a week or two.  It smelled of fresh carpet and paint and there was nary a scratch or scuff mark to be seen.  They also had a guest laundry room.  Even though I was only going to be on the road one more day it was nice to have a chance to wash my clothes.

DeAngelis Delightfully Different Donuts is just over the river in Rochester.  I don't know about "delightfully different" but the pumpkin donut was deliciously delightful.

Five Spiced Pork Belly

Saturday was unexpectedly dry so I opted to have lunch in Union Square.  This is the very delicious five spiced pork belly sandwich from Num Pang, the new Cambodian sandwich shop on 12th Street.

Popovers

For breakfast this morning I tried something new:  popovers.  Popovers aren't new but it was the first time I've made them.  I started out with half of this recipe.  The cooking time and temperature seemed way too long, so at 30 minutes I lowered the temperature to 325.  Twenty minutes later they were done.  I didn't bother with the slitting and extra time mentioned in the recipe.  I cut them in half and spread cherry jam on some and honey on  others.

Unrelated:  This has made the rounds lately, but if you haven't seen it The Lost Tribes of New York City movie short is entertaining.

Birth of the Cold

Ha!  Now I remember what I was going to write tonight.  Over the weekend I made a batch of ice cream.  Guinness ice cream.  It was the custard type, where you make a custard of milk, cream, eggs, and sugar and later add flavoring. 

If you want your kitchen to smell wonderful cook down a couple of cups of Guinness.  The yeasty, malty smell is most excellent.

Anyway, being prudent, I tasted the cooked down Guinness before adding it to the custard.  It wasn't really to my liking so I only made half a batch.  The finished ice cream had a bite to it.  It wasn't great to eat by itself but it did make for an excellent milkshake.  Next time I'll use less beer.

Last night I made the other half of the custard, unflavored except for vanilla.  It is really fabulous.

The birth scene above is from the front of St. John the Divine.

Portsmouth Creme

Portsmouth had at least two businesses with the word "creme" in their name so you know it's a good town.  Although this location, which is strategically located across the street from the high school, apparently opened in 1992, Crispie Creme is older than the homonymic donut chain.  Here's someone's video of a visit to Crispie Creme.  I had an original recipe glazed donut.

The Dari-Creme is open year 'round.  A long line formed a few minutes after I took this picture.  The above average small vanilla cone cost me ninety cents.  Thus fortified, I was off to see the famous Portsmouth murals!

Mary Todd Lincoln Cake

One last presidential-themed missive before returning to the Ohio River.

Last week my officemate and I were simultaneously struck by the need for cake.  There was no cake to be had.  We decided something should be done for Lincoln's birthday.  I googled something like "Abe Lincoln's favorite dessert" and eventually found several recipes for Mary Todd Lincoln's White Almond Cake.

The Lincoln Home National Historic Site has the recipe, which I assumed was authentic.  It turned out well.  The recipe called for six whipped egg whites to be folded into the batter.  That made the cake fairly light, but still denser than an angel food cake.  It looks better upside down here in the pan than when I flipped it over and dusted the top with confectioner's sugar.

Another recipe still has me scratching my head.  And I quote (emphasis added):

Because I love a challenge, I took this recipe home and made Mary Todd Lincoln's cake.  Even with today's modern technology, the process was slow going. In all, it took about four hours to cream the butter, whip the egg whites, chop the almonds and get it all mixed and baked. I used a mixer and a mini chopper...

Four hours?  Discount the baking time and there's still three hours left.  What task could have possibly taken three hours?  I don't mean to brag but it took me all of 15-20 minutes using an electric hand mixer, a mini food processor, and a large wooden spoon.  Did she shell, peel and blanch the almonds?  Were the almonds chopped one at a time?  Did she forget to mention that she has no arms?  I am baffled.

Combo Meal

It's February!  Time for City Bakery's annual Hot Chocolate Festival.  First up:  Beer hot chocolate.  The hot chocolate is so intensely chocolately that you barely taste the beer.  It does remind me that I need to make Guiness ice cream one of these days. 

What goes with beer hot chocolate?  Well, a pretzel goes with beer and a croissant is nice with hot chocolate so why not have a pretzel croissant.

Harlem Wings

There's been an explosion of chicken wing emporiums in Harlem lately.  Atomic Wings, Just Wingin It and New Wing City are within five blocks of each other.  All opened last year.  The most cleverly named of the three, New Wing City, is practically across the street from where scenes from New Jack City were filmed.  Alas, there's only so many wings a neighborhood can eat and it has already closed.

When Life Gives You Donut Muffins

Recently, I ran across a recipe for donut muffins.  Muffins that taste like donuts.  What could be better than that?  Everybody likes muffins and everybody likes donuts, but eating both for breakfast is overkill.  But if the two great flavors could be combined... well, that could be as revolutionary as the pretzel-croissant at City Bakery. 

The muffins were delicious but tasted only faintly of donuts.  It is interesting that baked nutmeg imparts almost the same flavor as deep-frying grease.  I altered the recipe slightly by using buttermilk instead of the soured milk but I doubt that would have changed the flavor much.  I also did not add the  butter and sugar topping, which might have enhanced the donutty ambiance.

I ate a few muffins on Monday and a few more on Tuesday.  Muffins go stale pretty quickly.  I began to think about what to do with the donut muffins that taste only faintly like donuts.  Then I had a thought. 

It was a beautiful thought. 

What could be done to donut muffins that taste only faintly of donuts?  Why, slice them up like this:

and make...

White Hut

In the last post Dane left a comment saying I visit the most interesting places.  Downtown Springfield was not one of them.  I got to Springfield before the Hall of Fame opened because I dropped my father off for his early morning bus ride home. 

My plan was to get eat at a downtown diner.  The flaw in the plan was the one time I had previously stopped in Springfield it was an earlier visit to the Basketball Hall of Fame, which is separated from downtown by the interstate.  Thus, I had no clue what downtown was like.

Downtown Springfield has seen better days and I couldn't find any diners.  Urbanspoon failed me.  Or should I say I failed to heed Urbanspoon's blank search results.  I kept wandering further afield.  I did come upon a combination Italian bakery-cafe-market.  The bakery looked nice but after Christmas I needed something more than a cream- and sugar-filled breakfast.  The cafe next door was a bit too Sopranos-like and didn't appear to have any food other than what I could find in the bakery.

I drove further afield.  Finally, really hungry, I gave in to Urbanspoon's suggestion for Manhattan Bagels across the river in West Springfield.  Luckily, before finding the bagel place I ran across the White Hut.

The White Hut was as good inside as it looks from the outside.  Inside there is a counter and twelve stools.  No menu.  No prices.  The customers were all locals.  Well, Zippy the Pinhead once visited but he was confused.  The people behind the counter were very friendly.  Breakfast was fried egg sandwiches.  I ordered ham, egg and cheese on a water roll.  I had no idea what a "water roll" was but that's what the locals were getting.  A water roll is otherwise known as a hard roll, kaiser roll, or a bulkie (in some sections of New England but not Springfield).

Next time I'm getting either a two dollar hamburger or a cheeseburger for a quarter more.

Slow-Cooked Ribs

Sunday was forecast to be cold and blustery so it seemed like a good day to break out the slow cooker.  This turned out to be an excellent idea.  I made these ribs by improvising from several online recipes found when "crock pot ribs" was googled and accommodating ingredients I had on hand.  They were really easy to make, only used two exotic ingredients, and were delicious.

Step 1:

2 lbs baby back ribs
salt
pepper

Turn on the broiler.  Cut the ribs into pieces small enough to fit in a crock pot.  3-4 inches across should do.  Salt and pepper both sides of the rib chunks.  Cook in broiler for ten minutes.  Flip and cook another ten minutes.  This gives the ribs a nice char and gets rid of some fat.

Step 2:

Mix these liquids:

1/2 c  maple syrup (the cheaper dark kind is best)
1/2 c  apple cider
3 TBS  cider vinegar

Step 3:

Combine these dry ingredients:

1/2 c  lapsang souchong tea, finely ground
2 TBS  sweet paprika
1 tsp  urfa pepper
1 tsp  salt
1 tsp  black pepper
1 tsp  cumin
1 tsp  dried oregano
1/2 tsp  dry mustard

Lapsang souchong is an intensely smoky tea.  It smells like the ashes in a fireplace and imparts a smoky flavor to the ribs.  Most any tea shop will have it.  If not look for Russian Caravan, which is a blend of Lapsan souchong and another tea.  Urfa pepper is a smoky, earthy pepper from Turkey.  I've found it at spice markets and Middle Eastern shops.  If you can't find it I imagine adding a little more paprika, or even a pinch of chipotle pepper would be a fine substitute.

Step 4:

1 onion
3 cloves garlic

Slice the onion into four thick slices and peel.  Peel the garlic.

Step 5:

Turn the crock pot on to low.  Line the bottom with the onion slices.  Pour a little liquid over the onion and top with a bit of the dry mixture.  Add a layer of ribs.  Add liquid and dry mixture.  Top with garlic cloves.  Repeat layering until the ingredients run out.  Put the cover on the slow cooker and cook for 6-8 hours.

Step 6:

Enjoy!

One Bad Apple

This was the last apple that I cut up for applesauce making this evening.  It did not make it into the sauce.

Jumbo and Jimbo's

The Famous Jimbo's Hamburger Palace, Lenox Ave between 124th and 125th

The Original Jumbo Hamburgers Palace, 116th near Lenox

The Famous Jimbo's Hamburger Palace, 145th near Broadway

The Original Jumbo Hamburgers Palace, 145th near Frederick Douglass

There are two mysterious burger mini-chains mostly in Upper Manhattan and the South Bronx.  One is The Original Jumbo Hamburgers Palace and the other is The Famous Jimbo's Hamburger Palace.  Aside from their slightly different names the two are almost identical.  The awnings are the same, the neon signs are the same, the interior decor (red and white tiles) is the same, and the overhead menu (yellow lettering on red background) is the same.  All advertise an ATM that dispenses ten dollar bills.  Look closely and you'll see the ATM signs at Jimbo's have two horizonal blue stripes while the signs at Jumbo only have one stripe.

I've had the cheeseburger deluxe at the Jumbo in the second photo and at a Jimbo's in the Bronx.  The burgers at each were grilled then cooked under a metal cup.  Both were decent burgers.

So, what's the story?  There seem to be more Jimbo's than Jumbos.  The Jumbo awnings say "Since 1968" but the one on 116th St. opened three years ago.  Do these places have the same owner?  Or is the Jumbo/Jimbo's phenomenon similar to the infinite variety of Ray's Pizza places?  Interesting, don't you think?

Pumpkin Pizza

It would be a shame to go to the Circleville Pumpkin Show and only eat a fried bologna sandwich, especially when there is a wide variety of pumpkin-containing foods such as:

• Pumpkin Waffles
• Pumpkin PIzza
• Pumpkin Cream Puffs
• Pumpkin Bread
• Pumpkin Chip Cookies
• Pumpkin Blossoms
• Pumpkin Burgers
• Pumpkin Ice Cream
• Pumpkin Pie
• Pumpkin Chili
• Pumpkin Butter
• Pumpkin Seeds
• Pumpkin Pancakes
• Pumpkin Cake
• Pumpkin Elephant Ears
• Pumpkin Cheesecake
• Pumpkin Roll
• Pumpkin Brownies
• Pumpkin Taffy
• Pumpkin Fudge
• Pumpkin Brittle
• Pumpkin Buckeyes

The pumpkin pie consisted of pumpkin sauce dusted with a generous helping of cinnamon sugar and lots of mozzarella cheese.  It was not as bad as I had feared.