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Summer Came and Went Plus a Bok Choy Salad with Soy Ginger Dressing

September 13, 2015 by Renee

Bok Choy Salad-2Just like that, summer is over.

I can’t believe that the last time I was here was right after I returned from France. I still want to tell you all about the wonderful gardens and Chateau du Rivau in Chinon, but that will have to be another time. I have a bit of catching up to do!

May turned into June and July and then August in a frenzy of activity. While I would like to say that I, myself, was the cause of all the busyness, really, it was the kids that kept me on the go this summer.

We began the first of what is now dubbed, “The College Sweatshirt Tour”. We amassed quite a collection of collegiate logo wear, not to mention several hundred miles in the car each weekend! I am proud that the girls are both spending their summers at various colleges taking classes and getting a sense of college life and what will be necessary for their applications and their aspirations. We are already planning the classes for next year.

Boston

During one of our (three) trips to Boston, we stayed in Providence one night and visited with one of my very best friends and dined at a fabulous restaurant, Bacaro.   Hungry after the long drive, we ordered nearly the entire menu- platters of tapas, grilled pizzas, entrees, and desserts.  Each dish was extremely flavorful and beautifully presented. It was nonstop eating until we just couldn’t anymore. Then, moaning from fullness, we walked back to her house in an attempt to digest before we collapsed for the night. Lunch the next day was a feast of leftovers from all the doggie bags we ended up bringing back. We will definitely return there again- but maybe not order so much food next time!

Bacaro

In Boston, we were able to do a little sightseeing  (The Boston Science Museum was terrific!) and ended up dining at Summer Shack on three occasions. When traveling with kids, sometimes you find a place that everyone likes so you stick with it. Honestly, it was mostly me that wanted to go back. I absolutely loved their grilled fish with sweet potato and grilled corn hash. It was sweet, spicy and had little bits of crispy bacon- so good, I wanted more!

Summer Shack

We also tried Griddler’s Burgers and Dogs  for some better than fast food hotdogs (fun spot for the kids) and Hannah introduced us to Insomnia Cookies that was a daily ritual during her BU stay.

We also met up with Jackie Gordon of The Diva That Ate NY  who was visiting with Lisa Goldfinger of the beautiful blog, Panning The Globe. Lisa opened her home to us one evening and she and Jackie prepared platters of glorious food. I’ve followed Lisa’s blog for quite some time so it was truly wonderful to meet her in person. If you have not seen it, please do go visit.

Lisa Goldfinger

For my birthday, which I don’t really celebrate, after a breakfast crepe cake we ventured to Jackson Heights, Queens where I ate arepas, momos and more. We made an afternoon mini food crawl, but we are clearly amateurs since we only went to three places before everyone was full. I also finally got a chance to visit Despaña in Soho where we had tapas of patatas bravas, tortillas, and cervezas.

Birthday

 

Labor Day weekend we went to a blow out barbecue hosted by my dear friend Lora of Diary of a Mad Haus Frau. There was much eating and deliciousness there, not to mention the awesome company. Jackie (Gordon) and Lora cooked up so many terrific dishes and Paul (Jackie’s partner) ran a liquid nitrogen ice cream bar and manned the grill. Ben also had a great time with Vicki Winters and her husband Daniel flying his drone. Fun!

BBQ

In addition to my chocolate ganache tart,  I brought one of my favorite salads to make, Bok Choy Salad with Soy Ginger Dressing. I’ve had this recipe for many years. Mine is a hand written and photocopied version that was given to me. I honestly have no idea who actually invented it, but a search of the internet it seems like it is a quite popular recipe in its many incarnations. So to whomever can claim this as their own, my many thanks. It’s a crowd pleaser. I hope you enjoy it as much as we do!

Bok Choy Salad with Soy Ginger Dressing
 
Print
Prep time
10 mins
Total time
10 mins
 
Author: Renee
Serves: 8-10
Ingredients
  • For the Salad:
  • 3 heads of bok choy, chopped with some of the white stems
  • 2 bunches scallions, chopped with some of the green stems
  • 1 cup sunflower seeds
  • 1 cup sliced almonds
  • 2 packages Ramen noodles, broken up and you can save or discard the flavoring packet
  • For the Dressing:
  • ½ cup of sugar
  • ½ cup Evoo
  • ⅓ cup white vinegar
  • 2 tsp soy sauce
  • ¼-1/2 tsp grated fresh ginger
Method
  1. In a large bowl add the chopped bok choy, scallions, sunflower seeds, and almonds. Sprinkle the broken Ramen noodles over the top and give the salad a quick toss.
  2. Mix the ingredients for the dressing in a jar with a tight fitting lid. Shake to combine.
  3. Just before serving, dress the salad with as much dressing as you would like for your taste. Save the remaining dressing in the refrigerator for up to one week.
Notes
Optional. Add more or less nuts, noodles and seeds as you would like. The addition of pumpkin seeds and/or craisins also makes a nice variation.
3.3.3077

 

Bok Choy Salad-1

Now that I am back home each weekend, I will be in the kitchen a lot more and writing again. I already have a few posts in draft that will be coming, so stay tuned!

 

 

Filed Under: Eat, Travel, NYC/Metro, Appetizers, Sauces, Dressings and Condiments, Side Dishes Tagged With: Bok Choy, Salad, Summer

Bagatelle – NYC Bloggers Night Out

February 26, 2014 by Renee

I recently had the opportunity to dine at Bagatelle, NYC, located on Little West 12th Street in the West Village of Manhattan.  Bagatelle is primarily known for their brunch and for their club like atmosphere, but it’s actually a great place to enjoy some modern French cuisine, while a live DJ spins some dance tunes.

Chef Sebastien Chamaret joined Bagatelle in July 2013 bringing his own flare and refined style of French dining and comes with many years of experience, most recently at the helm of the kitchen of Le Comptoir in Williamsburg and previously at La Goulue and Daniel.

The night I visited, our group was treated to an incredible variety of Chef Sebastien’s specially crafted fare including large platters of tuna tartare with taro chips,truffle gnocchi, Cote de boeuf, roasted chicken with truffles and potatoes, grilled Atlantic salmon, asparagus, Brussels sprouts, spinach and of course, truffle French fries. It was quite a feast! And there was a lot more than just these items to try. The kitchen was very generous!

I would have to say the truffle and onion flatbread pizzas were some of the best I have had. I loved the tuna tartare and of course the Cote de boeuf.

Bagatelle Apps Bagatelle-10 Bagatelle-8

Desserts were abundant as well. With profiteroles, chocolate mousse, apple tart tatin, a large floating island and a brioche and pear bread pudding. I didn’t try the floating island, but the mousse and the apple tart tatin were some of my favorites. I also really enjoyed the profiteroles. But it’s dessert. What could be bad?!

Bagatelle Desserts - Copy

The wine and food flowed and it was lovely to see many of my NY Blogging Friends. So a huge thank you goes out to Blue Polo Interactive for setting up this terrific event.

Not only was it nice to see everyone, it was fun to learn about this St. Tropez inspired restaurant and experience some tasty French fare in the heart of the meat packing district.

Bagatelle-7 Bagatelle-3 - Copy

Reservations are highly suggested!

Bagatelle
1 Little West 12th St, New York, 10014
(212) 488-2110
 
Disclosure: I was among several NY Bloggers that were invited to this special dinner by Blue Polo Interactive. No compensation was provided for this post and the opinions are my own. 

Filed Under: NYC/Metro Tagged With: Bagatelle, NYC

Food, Food and More Food- Del Frisco’s and More

November 19, 2013 by Renee

We ate a lot this week. There was food, food and more food! With my friend Michael visiting here (and the U.S in general) for the first time, I wanted to make sure he experienced several of NYC’s good eats. We had amazing Tapas and wine at Bocqueria in Soho. We had beer and French fries at Connolly’s in midtown. We had deli sandwiches at Katz’s on the Lower East Side and Italian at Briciola in Hell’s Kitchen. We had salad bar (mostly Indian food) at Whole Foods in Columbus Circle and cheese from Murray’s at Grand Central. Sadly, there was no time or room left for pizza or dirty water dogs or even diner fare. We’ll have to save that for next time.

Last night, to celebrate his birthday,  we had a terrific meal at Blue Water Grill. I don’t think you can go there and not have a great meal. The service is tailored to helping you find exactly what you like. From the wine straight through to dessert- kind, knowledgeable, meticulous and impeccable service.

We started the meal with Hendricks Gin and tonics.  Off to such a great start, we knew it was only going to get better from there!

Michael had a half dozen oysters and determined that he preferred the west coast ones over the ones from the east coast and six was just not enough, so we ordered six more of just the variety he liked. I am a fan of neither, or any, for that matter, so I didn’t partake. However, my pumpkin ravioli was simply amazing and I almost forgot to share a bite! Made with pine nuts, fried sage, shaved pecorino and served in a creamy brown butter sauce, this ravioli was lighter than I expected and I could have eaten a whole bowl of just this for certain.

Michael thoroughly enjoyed the simply grilled Red Snapper, with potatoes and broccolini  while I feasted on the grilled branzino (which they removed the tail from upon my request) with butternut squash, fried Brussels sprouts, gala apples and fig vinaigrette. It was such a great dish there was nothing left! Both were delicious, but I secretly think mine was better!

We had also ordered a side of steamed baby spinach with golden raisins and pine nuts as well as their creamy. three cheese polenta.

By the time we finished a bottle of wine and all this food, and walked around the block (not really but we should have) it was time for dessert- a caramelized banana ice cream tower- a tasty hazelnut shell, toasted marshmallow sauce, home made ice cream, and chocolate sauce. Well wow! That’s a decadent dessert and worth every last calorie bite!

Sorry there were no pictures of this special celebration dinner. Just trust me when I say it was divine.

Still full from last night’s extravaganza we had a small breakfast of yogurt and cereal and made our way uptown just in time for lunch. Michael really wanted to try an American steak. The steaks you get in Europe are nothing like the giant slabs of meat you get here. The concept of just meat on a plate without any type of side just isn’t the norm. I went through my mental list of the best NY steak houses- Smith & Wollensky, The Palm, Frankie & Johnnie’s, Sparks (with it’s notorious Mob hit), Old Homestead and Peter Luger’s. But my mind settled on one of my personal favorites- Del Frisco’s.

Del Friscos--2

Hands down, Del Frisco’s is the best steakhouse in the city- in my humble opinion. The wine list is vast and impressive and the bread is so good and rather dangerous- because once you start eating it,  you can’t help but keep eating more of it.  But try your best not to fill up because the best is still to come.

Here, I skip appetizers because it is just too much. And I’m there for the meat. Michael on the other hand had the crab cake- which is not a breaded crab cake at all. It’s simply a pile of crab, held together by a mixture of red peppers, corn and onions.  There is also a very little bit of mayonnaise in there to act as a binder, but not much else.  The result is simply wonderful.  Jumbo lumps of crab that is perfectly sweet and served with a zingy Cajun lobster sauce. Not your typical fish cake!

Del Friscos-

I had the filet (as always) and he had the bone-in filet, an off the menu regular special. While the bone in filet was perfectly tender, the bone does require a bit of knife work clean all the meat off- you may actually be tempted to gnaw on the bone- but please don’t- unless you take it home- then by all means!

Del Friscos--4My regular petit filet

Del Friscos--5

The bone-in filet- Look at the thickness of that meat! Wow!

The creamed spinach and gratin potatoes are the standard sides ordered.  They just seem to be the perfect steakhouse side. It would have felt weird to deviate too much from these this time around. NYC Steakhouse authenticity and all.

When I say we cleaned our plates- we took our time and ate every last bite of meat- there was some serious carnivore action happening. It was amazing! And surprisingly, there was no unbuttoning of pants or the feeling of a food coma… yet. We even had room for dessert! The choices were tough, but we skipped the chocolate cake and the cheesecake (which could really serve 3-4 people a slice) and opted instead for the 6 layer lemon cake-which is also enough for several people!

Del Friscos--6

I ended up taking more than half of it home- it made for a great midnight snack.

All in all I don’t think we had a bad meal.  Not one!

We also saw lots of sights and I got to be a tourist in my town. Something I vow to do more often. It’s so easy to slip into the “I live here and it’s all the same mundane.” It was nice to experience the awe and wonder of New York City again. It really is one of the greatest cities on earth! (Next to Paris of course!)

 

 

 

 

 

Filed Under: NYC/Metro Tagged With: Blue Water Grill, Del Friscos, NYC, NaBloPoMo, Restaurant

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