breakfast

the hurricane club, featuring donuts and coconuts




the best thing about having a friend from jewish summer camp who now lives off the path and who is friends with the guy who wears the ear piece at the hurricane club is that you get secret crab donuts. 
mmm hm.
i'll start from the beginning:
the hurricane club is not a restaurant i would normally choose for a friday night dinner. as of late my friday night dinners are spent at the greasy pizza place around the corner where the guys behind the counter know me by moelly. but when summer camp boy said the magic words {secret menu items!} i hopped on the next cross town shuttle, hurry scurried down park avenue and rolled through the entrance corridor with negative three minutes to spare. 
 sporting a secondhand red leather jacket and a scarf the size of france, i immediately saw a bump-it and said to the imaginary terrier at my feet,
we are not on the upper west side anymore.
so fast-forward to the part where we eat warm sugar donuts filled with crab meat and catch me while i die. because you know how the only thing you ever want in a crab cake is more fried shit? this is the answer. yeah, it's weird, especially because they were dusted with powdered sugar, but it worked. it was the whole sweet/salty thing with a spritz of the sea and a doughy texture. you want them now. why they're not on the menu, i don't know. 
maybe because it would force the place to strictly be a donut joint.
the rest of the meal included some super tasty ducky sandwiches,
and the highly anticipated croque monsieur spring rolls. 
a croque monsieur spring roll, as i found out, consists of cheese and hammies inside of spring roll wrappers and served with mustard. which is a little anticlimactic when you're imagining the filling of a normal spring roll colliding with béchamel and pigs and then broiled for a crispy edge. but they tasted good, so i'm done complaining. 
the cocktails were out of this world and then some. my second one surprise arrived and it was in a coconut. that's never happened to me before. it was delicious. i have no idea what was in it, but something* tells me they're all that quality. 
{*i swear i didn't taste about a third of the menu. promise.}
and that was before the rum fountain. there's a rum fountain. in the basement. did you know that rum fountains exist? i didn't. you just get a little bottle and fill her up. just like a water fountain!
...in the end there was steak, chicken brushed with gold dust, and a delicious chocolate cake.
it was a total experience meal. 
and forever those donuts will be in the history book that is my diary of favorite things.
-yeh.


the hurricane club is on 26th and park. wear heels.

this is not a joke. it is national donut day.



it is as if someone combined all eight days of hannukah with boxing day and the day i first tried a pat lafrieda burger and my birthday into one. 
this is monumental.
this is the height of the summer.
this is going to be the best day ever.

free krispy kremes.
free donuts!!!!!
ohmygoodness i'm going to gain twelve pounds today.

in honor of this holiday, 
i'm gifting you a recipe.
it's for donuts
it's vegan
and it's what inspired the note on the fridge in above photo.


these donuts are
the best motherfucking donuts ever
that's the official name

loosely based on recipes by judith and evan jones and isa moskowitz,
edited/veganized/pulverized by friend frank

you will need:

...for the dough...
2 tablespoons "butter" (earth balance)
 1/2 cup "milk" (light coconut)
1 tablespoon active dry yeast
1/3 cup sugar (vegan-sans bone char, etc.)
1/4 cup warm water (c. 105 degrees)
2 1/4 cups white (unbleached) all purpose flower
1 "egg" slightly beaten (flax replacement)
1 teaspoon coarse salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground mace
some peanut oil (for frying)
a bunch of confectioner's sugar (again, vegan)

...for the filling...
1/3 cup "butter" (earth balance)
1/3 cup non-hydro veggie shortening
1/3 cup "cream cheese" (tofutti)
1-1.5 cups confectioner's sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt 

you will do:


...for the filling...
in a bowl of indeterminate-yet appropriate-size, beat together "butter," "cheese," and shortening. add the sugar (in graduated segments) and continue to beat mercilessly for a liberal 10 minutes. until painfully fluffy. add vanilla and salt and beat somewhat less mercilessly for another single minute. add extra sugar, as needed, for a medium-firm texture. chill in ice box until needed. 



...for the dough...
boil, briefly, the "butter"+"milk" then let cool. in moderate-sized bowl, dissolve the yeast and 1 teaspoon of the sugar in the lukewarm water. once cooled, stir in the afore boiled "dairy" mixture. beat in flour, "egg," salt, and spices(!). this should, in all likelihood, produce a sticky yet manageable dough. turn out on to a lightly-floured work surface for one minute of vigorous kneading. place dough in recently-cleaned and greased bowl--to be covered with plastic wrap--until doubled in volume.

once risen, turn out dough to a lightly-floured work surface and roll out to 1/4 inch thickness. cut out 3-inch circles. place a heaping teaspoon of filling in the center of half of the cut circles. wet the rim with water and place an empty circle on top. seal both halves around edge using a fork. cover lightly with towel and let rise (take two) until doubled in size (again).

heat two inches of oil in cooking pan to 370 degrees. slip in donuts one at a time, but don't fry more than four at once. fry for two minutes on each side. place on paper towel-lined cookie sheet in warming oven. when all be done, sprinkle with confectioner's sugar. serve while warm. or, whenever.

stuff your face.


happy donut day everyone!!!

xoxo


yeh




that time my stomach exploded.

this is not another april fool's joke.
in the 48 hours that mum was in town, we actually ate all of this:

every good explosion begins with poached eggs.
these ones on focaccia with spinach at
on broadway between 89th and 90th

dessert was a macarella
{macarella = nutella sandwiched between two coconut macaroons
...at least we tried to keep kosher for passover?}

and as soon as we got down to the village,
we decided that the hot weather called for some
on bleecker and cornelia
red velvet cake yogurt and taro yogurt to be exact.
with strawbees and mochi, of course.

and i kid you not,
we literally sat on the bench outside of 
on bleecker accross from phileo
finishing off our yogurt,
so that we wouldn't have to bring it in with us to order a hot cross bun.
it was easter, after all.
...and as mentioned before, 
it was a definite room temperature cross bun. 
delicious and doughy and yeasty and tasty nonetheless. 
{i wanted a bread bunny too. but i'm allergic to bunnies}

schnitzel @ seasonal.
on 58th between 6th and 7th
more on this later.
but, duh, we friggen had schnitzel.

day two: the poached eggs were on english muffins this time at
on amsterdam and 79th
i had a lorraine omelet. 
they know their omelets, those nice people.

ok i swear we didn't eat all of these bomboloni from
on 68th and columbus
they were for the percussion ensemble concert dress rehearsal.
i only ate one. or seven. no really, just two.
and i think i made the alice tully stage hands love me.

dinner number one at
on amsterdam and 73rd
made me feel like i was in a cute vacation town.
we had a crispy focaccia sandwich with prosciutto and robiola cheese
that was superbly tangy...


...and gnocchi in a shape i've never seen gnocchi in before.
with fabulous out of this world red sauce.

dinner number two at
at east 12th and 1st
was at the golden section of mum's stay for good reason.
more on this later.

day three: poached eggs on scones
...at the customary trip to 
at 73rd and columbus
where mum always gets coffee.
when will she learn?


this actually happened.

and that doesn't even include the fresh baked cookie bars that mum brought for me,
or all of the bread baskets,
or the amuse bouches...


seriously, we deserve a medal.
or a jenny craig membership.
{worth it.... soooooo worth it}


stay tuned for more details on a few of these for restaurant challenge posts!


xoxo


yeh



today i was old-fashioned


tap dancing to sing, sing, sing

an afternoon sit at the farmers' market

a donut.
{a 75 cent apple cider one}

a stroll down to the village
via broadway/lexington/east river

a new pretty flowery scarf when it was chilly
a step in and out of the  strand bookstore
{mainly because, i really can't face the embarrassment of someone asking me if i've ever been to the strand before and me having to say no}

a {vegan} picnic at washington square park
dandelion greens

and a silent movie at film forum

it was pretty, though i didn't cry like i half expected to.
the adorable actress and the marvelous carnival scene
{were not enough to redeem itself from the bothersome plot line {which i won't give away}}
much of the music sounded very similar to verklärte nacht.
which now that i think of it, is very pertinent, considering the story lines of the two. 



to bed now to rest up for mum's visit tomorrow.



xoxo


yeh


pictures: {bored} {bored} {bored}