jewish and israeli food

santy claus, benjy, santy claus*

in ,
{a few of my birthday giftees}

meet my latest thing to hit.
my teacher calls it a desert island instrument.
i'm thinking of calling it:
stan
the doumbek 

{thoughts?}

also under the birthday tree were these pretty little rings:

the leftsky is a gem my mum got for her 16th birthday
{she was/is a swank lady}

on the right is
esther


this is esther junior.
a turtle mbira from two of my most favorite people, becca and billy!
she is esther junior because she was born a few hours after esther senior
{her mass has nothing to do with it}
wouldn't you say turtles are the darndest things?
imagine the possibilities if you had a shell.


stoop made me a
mustard making kit
"the possibilities make me so excited i might explode" {frank}

plans to take over the world via mustard manufacturing might finally become a reality.
options discussed at this eve's dinner table were:

whisky mustard
vodka mustard
mango mustard
panda mustard...

{i actually can't give away most of the good ones before i patent them and drown the world in them}

i die.

sarah shu, a.k.a. co-dim sum monster, a.k.a. my brother, a.k.a. jewelry maker extraordinaire
designed for me the statement necklace of all statement necklaces:
the babakoo pok ban pendant.
just pretend for a moment that you're chinese
and that you don't really speak english
and that you work at dim sum a go-go and someone says 
i want one of them fluffy white lookin dumpling with the barbecued pork inside
you're response may be bewilderment 
and an
oh, you mean babakoo pok ban?

dang, is that offensive?

i can't wait to wear this with my tiffany's star of david, btw.

dang, is that more offensive?


xoxo


yeh



*perhaps the best line from faulkner's masterpiece 



birthday dinner...

in , ,

...at the 




was drunken,


bretzeln-filled,
{accompanied by mustard, yay!}


 meaty,


and wiener-y!

and it was all accompanied by an
oompa
band
that wouldn't let me take over the drumset for just one tune...
maybe it was for my own good?




the cake
from the bakery across the street from the brauhaus,
was an almond torte covered in marzipan and chocolate
and was delicious.
{since my elaborate marzipan pig collection in the third grade, i've been a sucker for marzipan}



the schnitzel
exceeded my expectations
{even though my expectations have sadly been lowered, thanks to new york city's b-rated efforts when it comes to the deutsches essen}
the shell was thick & crispy
 the spätzle doughy
and the green beans--
hah who are we kidding? i didn't eat green beans on my birthday

...and may we all just pause for a second and recognize how photogenic a schnitzel and his friends are?
if it's done right,
the earthy brown color of the schnitzel,
with the creamy white of the spätzle,
and the forrest green veggies,
{and the small portion of bright yellow from the lemon}
just compliment each other so well,
they may as well be 
the supermodel of meat. 

it's just another reason to eat schnitzel often.


i digress.

my birthday dinner was great!
beautiful people + beautiful food... what better way to celebrate??


xoxo


yeh


p.s. i promise i had enough water

week 19: fairway cafe and steakhouse

in ,
someone's been a bad girl.


this post is one week behind.



and it kind of sucks.



but the food looks good, right?

it was.

it was fantastic.

and finding a crispy schnitzel on the upper west side is as satisfying as finding a hundo in the couch cushions. 

pictured top to bottom:
polenta with bolognese {good}
schnitzel {really good}
molten chocolate cake {HELLLL YEAH}


33 to go.


xoxo


yeh


fairway cafe and steakhouse is located above the fairway market on 74th and broadway.


week 14: seasonal

in , ,
the buzz about
is that it's got the hot new schnitzel in town.
{what's that sound? oh that's the sound of seasonal zooming to the top of my places to try list...}

and after a walk up to midtown from the village,
mum and i deserved it!
the amuse bouche set a high precedent:
taleggio cheese, 
potater soup, 
spec, 
dill powder
how cute is it that it was made to look like an egg??
this picture makes it look like it was huge,
but really, 
it was about two bites
of creamy, smokey, dill-y goodness.

next,
mum and i got our fork and knife, 
flexed our muscles,
and got ready to dig in to some thick and juicy
meat!

except,
what i got when i dug in was something much much less satisfying...
the sound of a fork hitting the plate prematurely.
and,
"ma, where's the crunch?"
...

it became clear why this schnitzel is
"the hot new schnitzel"

it's diet schnitzel.
refer to the above photo to see what is the thinnest piece of meat i have ever seen in my life.
with a crust that was more like a helium balloon encasing the meat,
that refused to stick to the meat,
even though i begged.

whaaaa???

i looked around.

i looked to my size 0 waitress. 
is she going to shout april fools?

are these people kidding?

gustav mahler did not eat his schnitzel in a balloon.

authentic, my derriere. 

i mean,
the crust wasn't soggy,
i'll give it that. 

and it was seasoned well.

but
 a paper thin veal slice plus a paper thin coating of breading does not a schnitzel make.

i get it, schnitzel is supposed to be thin and pounded out.
but, no no no, not like this.

also what was frustrating was
the way the lemons were cut into circles as opposed to wedges,
which made them impossible to squeeze.

the spätzle didn't help much either.
it was watery.
and unhot. 


the dessert was tasty.
it was a chocolatey and hazelnutty.
but i mean, 
it wasn't a donut.

actually one of the best things was the little quark cheesecake {on the left} at the end of the meal.
the truffles on the right were coffee flavored.

i enjoy little amuse bouches and little second desserts. 


...


oh dear,
i feel like i'm a h8er.

i'm not, i promise,
i just had a certain expectation for my schnitzel.
and this was just a whole new take on it that i simply wasn't ready for.
it's like when fancy restaurants put mushrooms in mac and cheese.


overall it was a nice experience.
the atmosphere was lovely,
and all of the wait people were very nice.

but,
if i can have a crispier, meatier, piping hot schnitz for a few bucks from the schnitzel truck,
there's no point in going back to seasonal to drop 30 on some skimpy meat that's about to fly away.

good thing i have 38 restaurants to go...


xoxo


yeh


seasonal is located on 58th between 6th and 7th