midsummer night's update

hello everybody (or nobody) !

here is a mid-summer update.

my time in paris ended on a sweet note at breizh cafe with the amazing crepe briochine (sautéed banana, vanilla ice cream, and breizh's famous housemade caramel sauce). if you are ever in paris, for the love of god, GO (but you'll have to make a reservation first). oh and for pre-dessert get the gallette maraîchère, full of fresh market vegetables.

new york summer started with some fried octopedes because, well, when associated supermarket is selling many pounds' worth of baby octopedes for only $8, why not buy them?

next came the momofuku bo ssäm. i think the topic has been exhausted on this blog but let me just reiterate one more time in case you didn't get it: FATTY PORKY HEAVEN.

there was some excellent banh mi from banh mi saigon, which gives you pretty good bang for your buck. i have since been to v-name cafe on 1st & 1st, and it was equally cheap & delicious. recommend both.

then came a few rounds of dim sum at our fave 88 palace, the first better than the second, further reinforcing the fact that sunday mornings are the only real time to get dim sum so as to get the best selection. pictured here are two of my absolute favorites, jia leung and ham siu gok.

okay now i'm getting confused about the order of things. somewhere in here was a visit to the big gay ice cream shop, at which max & i shared the monday sundae and holy hell let me just say: why doesn't anyone else put nutella in their ice cream sundaes???

we made a berry pie for july 4th because this pie dough from david leibowitz is pretty fun / easy to make and also because fresh homemade whipped cream is da best. we were a little too eager though and decorated the pie before it cooled, which resulted in a melted cream berry crumble creation. still delicious.

after a long, long, long and arduous process of stephen + his friends trying to find an apartment to move into, we finally found a great place in the east village that has been fun to move into. it has also been fun to break in the kitchen with healthy dinners like this veggie mung dal thing i made that actually looked like the picture in the recipe (!)

aaand less healthy creations like homemade mint chocolate chip ice cream (there it is!), a favorite from last summer's ice cream endeavor.

last but certainly not least, i got a $5 stick blender off craigslist for stephen me, thus forever smoothies on the fire escape!!!

here's to many more before the summer's end.

battle of the toppings

How do you like your Mister Softee's?


On another note.

ice cream endeavor, part 9: vanilla

okay, back from ice cream hiatus. my family moved from the house we'd been living in for 15 years to an apartment half the size in the city. exciting, but stressful and tiring and time-consuming. hence, no time to make ice cream, nor blog about it.

i made this vanilla ice cream before the chaos, but didn't get the chance to write about it. simply put: the best vanilla ice cream, ever. EVER. seriously! it's not quite as creamy as french vanilla but is much creamier than your standard vanilla bean, and so much more flavorful than any store-bought variety, from french vanilla to vanilla bean and everything in between.

vanilla ice cream (from the perfect scoop)

(makes about 1 quart)

1 cup whole milk

3/4 cup sugar

2 cups heavy cream

pinch of salt

1 vanilla bean, split in half lengthwise

6 large egg yolks

3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

warm the milk, sugar, 1 cup of the cream, and salt in a medium saucepan. scape the seeds from the vanilla bean into the warm milk and add the bean as well. [the tiny beans were stuck in clumps and i wasn't sure if they would de-clump while churning or not, so i did a few quick stick blender pulses and they separated immediately.] cover, remove from the heat, and let steep at room temperature for 30 minutes.

pour the remaining 1 cup into a large bowl and set a mesh strainer on top. in a separate medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks. slowly pour the warm mixture into the egg yolks, whisking constantly, then scrape the warmed egg yolks back into the saucepan.

stir the mixture constantly over medium heat with a heatproof spatula, scraping the bottom as your stir, until the mixture thickens and coats the spatula. pour the custard through the strainer and stir it into the cream. put the vanilla bean into the custard, add the vanilla extract, and stir until cool over an ice bath.

chill the mixture thoroughly in the refrigerator. when ready to churn, remove the vanilla bean, rinsing and reserving it for another use, and then freeze the mixture in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions.

also delicious with any topping ever. pictured here with fruit, korova cookie crumbles (best cookie ever btw), and homemade magic shell topping.