NYC: Day 7

NYC: Day 6

NYC: Day 5

NYC: Day 4

NYC Restaurant Week: Day 3

NYC Restaurant Week: Day 2

Day 2 Lunch: Ai Fiori
Appetizer: chilled zucchini soup with lemon and basil
Main: pan-roasted skate wing with blistered cherry tomatoes, zucchini and artichoke puree
Dessert: dark chocolate mousse with olive oil gelato

This was a one-star Michelin restaurant in NYC that we invited N’s cousin, John, to join along with us. John is a student at Columbia, so after our meal, we met up with him again and he gave us a quick tour of Columbia! So cool! We were actually supposed to go to Cafe Boulard for this lunch, but the reservation was at 10:45am..which in turns does not allow us to qualify for the restaurant week deal, but Cafe Boulard would have been amazing because it is owned by Daniel Boulard, a chef that was a judge on Masterchef and has over 10 Michelin stars! For dinner today, we will go to his other Michelin-rated restaurant DBGB, which was seriously amazing. Ai Fiori did not disappoint, as his dessert was really good and the gelato did not taste like what I imagined from the olive oil gelato it was called. 🙂

Day 2 Dinner: DBGB Kitchen & Bar
Appetizer: west coast oysters
Main: flat iron steak with bok choy and tater tots
Dessert: apricot cheesecake with vanilla bean tapioca and passionfruit sorbet

The steak was amazinggggggggggg. It was seasoned beautifully and the tater tots were a strange combination, but it worked! (I feel like I am a judge on MasterChef) This was definitely one of the best meals in NYC, if not, the best. Daniel Boulard, I’m coming to eat at your restaurants!!! DBGB was located in Bowery, kind of close to Chinatown, but it was definitely a more hipster neighborhood, but we reached a homeless area and kind of got ghettoed out, so I wanted to head back and leave. We did meet up with my fried Ruphen and her friend at a bar nearby called the Living Room. There was live music by a really good artist, but unfortunately…we were one of two tables there, of which the other table were her friends/roommates. She had the most amazing energy for playing to a disappointing audience! Will find her name!

Day 2: Banana bread & brownies

Today for a potluck/farewell party, my friend P and I decided we were going to bake banana bread and ended up also making brownies. This was my very first time making banana bread and brownies! Sad I know 😦

Anyways, these are the recipes used:
Banana bread – http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/banana_bread/
Brownies –

Banana bread (prep 5 min; cook 1 hour)

Ingredients

• 3 or 4 ripe bananas, smashed
• 1/3 cup melted butter
• 1 cup sugar (can easily reduce to 3/4 cup)
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• Pinch of salt
• 1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour

Method

No need for a mixer for this recipe. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). With a wooden spoon, mix butter into the mashed bananas in a large mixing bowl. Mix in the sugar, egg, and vanilla. Sprinkle the baking soda and salt over the mixture and mix in. Add the flour last, mix. Pour mixture into a buttered 4×8 inch loaf pan. Bake for 1 hour. Cool on a rack. Remove from pan and slice to serve.

Yield: Makes one loaf.

Note to self:
-do not add 2 extra bananas for more flavour (it will just make the loaf super soggy and it will SEEM undercooked, but it really is cooked hahaha)
-manage your time well…do not show up to a party 2 hours late
-know that the loaf also needs cooling time if you have to transport it to a the party
-we made one loaf of regular banana bread and one loaf of banana blueberry bread (which was also really good..but also soggy)
There are no banana bread pics :((

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Brownies (prep 25 min; cook 35 min)
Ingredients (16 brownies):
-1/2 cup butter
-1 cup white sugar
-2 eggs
-1 teaspoon vanilla extract
-1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
-1/2 cup all-purpose flour
-1/4 teaspoon salt
-1/4 teaspoon baking powder

Icing:
-3 tablespoons butter, softened
-3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
-1 tablespoon honey
-1 teaspoon vanilla extract
-1 cup confectioners’ sugar

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour an 8 inch square pan.
2. In a large saucepan, melt 1/2 cup butter. Remove from heat, and stir in sugar, eggs, and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Beat in 1/3 cup cocoa, 1/2 cup flour, salt, and baking powder. Spread batter into prepared pan.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes. Do not overcook.
4. To Make Frosting: Combine 3 tablespoons butter, 3 tablespoons cocoa, 1 tablespoon honey, 1 teaspoon vanilla, and 1 cup confectioners’ sugar. Frost brownies while they are still warm.

   Note to self:
   -THE ICING RECIPE IS AMAZING – such delicious icing and its easy to make!
   -the brownies turned out surprisingly well! Success!