Caffe Falai in NYC

Fellow food blogger, Kitchenography (Julie) and I, went to NYC to meet up with an ex-Baltimore food blogger, Raspberry Eggplant (Roopa) for lunch.

Roopa suggested Caffe Falai for lunch, since it was just a short jaunt from her office at City Hall and it was easily accessible by the subway. It was an inspired choice!

For starters, we all had salads, with Julie and Roopa having an avocado salad (avocado with mixed greens, radicchio, and black truffle dressing) and I had Spinach e Fragole (baby spinach, strawberries, sliced almonds ,reduced balsamic with mozzarella pearls). Isn’t that a beautiful salad? For mains, we all had different things. Julie got Gnudi, spinach and  ricotta balls and a sage-infused brown butter sauce, but instead of the sauce, it had a foam on top. Roopa had Pappardelle Alle Mandelore, an almond flour flat pasta with mushrooms, cauliflower and parmigiano sauce, which was just gorgeous. I had a panini with fresh figs and gorgonzola. It was an incredible mélange of flavours. It was just great fun to see Roopa again, and to hear all about her recent wedding and appearance on Jeopardy.

 

After lunch, Julie and I walked through Little Italy and Chinatown. We saw a store with loads of fresh durian on display. They were cutting them open and selling them. I asked for a tiny taste, but was turned down.

Durian fruits are very forbidding in a lot of ways. Their skin is hard and spiky. Their smell is incredibly offensive to the point of being forbidden on public transport in Southeast Asia. But the taste is reportedly smooth, custardy and quite good. So I was very curious to try a bit, if only to say I’d eaten some.The vendor was opening the durian and scooping out the flesh, which was a creamy yellow. There seemed to be five sections, as well as a seed, and the pulp came out in one piece. A couple buying a durian told us that durian are high in protein and are useful in healing after surgery. The box with the dollar bill is to tip the vendor after he’s cut and boxed the durian for you.

Sunday Market – November 8

This morning was just glorious. Upper 50’s and clear as a bell. It was a foreshadowing of the beautiful day to come. We arrived at the market and each found a great parking place, a sign that there weren’t too many people at the market yet.

We did our two laps – the looking and the buying – and had the chance to say hi to some friends.  I got apples and some smoked chicken and bacon soup for the week.One of the oddest thing I saw was something called cardoon,a member of the aster and daisy family! It looks like gigantic celery, but not the bright green colour of celery, more of a dark dull green of some of the winter vegetables. The flower buds can be eaten like artichokes, but it’s usually the stems which are braised and seasoned for serving. After the market, we headed up to Clementine for breakfast. Clementine’s becoming one of my new favourite places. They open for breakfast at 8:00 on Sundays and had a steady stream of people coming and going. Excellent coffee from Zeke’s… a special blend called “Oh My Darling” and a delicious French Bread casserole, so big I couldn’t finish it.Let me end by saying welcome back to my Sunday morning partner in all things Market, Kitchenography. She’s finally blogging again with her lovely stories and gorgeous pictures… and amazing food!

Clementine

I’ve been meaning to try Clementine for a while, but the problem, and it’s a very small one, is that it’s close to my office, and not downtown. And I didn’t think that they were open for lunch. With Connor-pup, I have to go home after work, and can’t stay uptown for dinner. Anyway… the Blonde and the Redhead took me to dinner there for my birthday last night and we had an amazing and fun dinner. I was thrilled to see that they had escargot on the menu, as you rarely see them. I ordered them as my starter. They were sauteed with shitake mushrooms in a garlic cream sauce over toast points, and were fabulous!The B&R split an order of macaroni and cheese, which is similar to the mac & cheese at Sobo Cafe, where the chef at Clementine used to cook. This is made with the traditional elbow macaroni, instead of Sobo’s penne pasta, but it was every bit as good. For my main, I had the smoked pork tenderloin with smoked gouda mashed potatoes and asparagus. The Blonde had the Baltimore Grill, a lovely piece of steak, with shredded horserashish and the same mash and mixed vegetables. The Redhead had a pork chop with mash and asparagus. Two friends of ours stopped by for drinks at Clementine and sent over a piece of coconut cake with seven-minute icing, which was perfect to end the meal!

Clementine specializes in charcuterie and makes their own sausages and smokes the meat on premise. They’ve just expanded from the original space into the space next door, more than doubling the size of the restaurant.

It was a great place for a celebration dinner in a casual setting and I am sure it will become a new favourite for all of us!

Thanks again, B&R for the lovely presents, the wonderful dinner and the exceptional friendship!!!

Sunday Market – October 25

I bailed on the Market last week, since it was so rainy and dark. I know that it’s a steady downhill slide towards winter from here on out, but the time will change soon and it will be a tad lighter in the mornings.

This week, Halloween is all in evidence, from the vast number of pumpkins to the vendors in costume.

Seriously, how cute is this guy? His grandmother gave him and his father hats. One’s before and the other’s after!

Lady Liberty made an appearance. As did the Buffalo Man… Dude!!! Pumpkins from very, very large to very, very small and every shape and size between. One of the funniest things we saw was two bees on sunflowers. It was so chilly up in the country, that the bees were basically in a suspended state and were not moving.

See you next week @ The Market (if it’s not raining).

Sunday Market – October 11

As soon as we started walking through the Market, I found my theme for the day. PURPLE!

A Ravens home game, combined with some of the late season fruits and vegetables prompted this choice. I was thinking that there wouldn’t be a lot of non-clothing selections, but I was wrong!

This cute little girl with her purple glasses also had on purple shoes. A fashion plate at age five!

Purple flowers with someone’s purple toes.  Turnips? Rutabagas? Swede? Lovely purple and white, whatever they are…Spanish onions? They’re considered purple, no?Purple cauliflower! I am so curious how this cooks up. Anyone try it?   Aubergines. Eggplants. Whatever you call them, a deep glossy purple is gorgeous.Plums! Plummy plums. Yummy plums.  A green bug on some purple sage.Purple basil  Pet in purple. I wish I could carry my dog like this. It would never work though. He doesn’t like purple. Romanesco broccoli, with just a hint of purple. Purple paintbrushes. See you next week @ the Market!

FTC: Bloggers Must Disclose Endorsements

A few months ago, I posted about a Blogger Code of Ethics in which bloggers who receive goods or services and then write about them, should disclose this fact to their readers. It’s not an unrealistic expectation because perceptions change when you know whether the writer is benefitting from what they are writing about. Objectivity may change if a blogger thinks the pipeline of goods and services might stop.

The US Federal Trade Commission has announced that bloggers who make an endorsement must disclose the material connections they share with the seller of the product or service. If they do not, the FTC may levy a fine of up to $11,000.

Here’s more:

“The revised Guides also add new examples to illustrate the long standing principle that “material connections” (sometimes payments or free products) between advertisers and endorsers – connections that consumers would not expect – must be disclosed. These examples address what constitutes an endorsement when the message is conveyed by bloggers or other “word-of-mouth” marketers. The revised Guides specify that while decisions will be reached on a case-by-case basis, the post of a blogger who receives cash or in-kind payment to review a product is considered an endorsement.”

A link to the announcement is here.

Thanks to my friend Julie for telling me about the FTC alert.

Gourmet Magazine Closing

Another one bites the dust! In shocking news, it was announced today that Gourmet magazine is closing. Although I have a food blog, I don’t really cook at all (not that I can’t cook, I just don’t cook.)

I love reading recipes and looking at all of the gorgeous pictures and I have always found great insider tips on places to visit when I am travelling.

Such a shame for everyone involved in Gourmet.