Baby Shower Cake Catering Order

This weekend I had a cake catering order for a baby shower. Armelle was going to be the proud mommy of a baby boy so I wanted to make sure her cake was extra special. She ordered a 12 inch Frasier cake with strawberries and vanilla mousseline cream:
The sides are my favorite part!

And 24 cupcakes, devil's food with mocha buttercream and vanilla buttermilk with vanilla buttercream:

I had extra batter so I made a few mini cupcakes:


It was also my dear friend Mark's bday so I made him an 8 inch frasier also:

Basta Pasta's Tobiki and Shiso Spaghetti

Basta Pasta is a very interesting restaurant in that it is a Japanese restaurant that specializes in Italian cuisine. When you walk in you pass the open kitchen where you see all Japanese cooks. Some of their dishes are more traditional Italian, like the fettuccine in a Bolognese sauce or spaghetti with proscuitto and parmesan, which are all very tasty, but their outstanding dishes are the ones that integrate Japanese flavors and flair with old Italian recipes. My favorites are the spaghetti with tobiko and shiso, the linguine with uni and basil in pink sauce, and the spaghetti with shitake mushrooms, basil, mozzarella cheese, and fresh tomato sauce. Another exceptional dish is the bow tie pasta with salmon, sugarsnap peas in tomato and tarragon grain mustard cream sauce. I like that you can order a half portion of pasta to accompany your entree but I can finish an appetizer and a full serving of pasta plus an entree. But that's me, I'm a pig. If you haven't been to Basta Pasta you have to go. The Japanese style of cooking, attention to detail, and code of honor (if they make a bad pasta dish I think the head chef has to drown himself in the pasta water) make for a yummy Italian experience.

Basta Pasta's Spaghetti with Shiso and Tobiko
My rendition of course!

16 fl oz. of clam juice
2 garlic cloves, sliced
Thin spaghetti, enough for two
15 leaves of shiso, chiffonade
6 big spoonfuls of tobiko
salt and pepper
olive oil

1. Boil pasta in heavily salted water *thats the trick to tasty pasta.
2. Boil clam juice with garlic slices. Add olive oil to the water. When pasta is half way cooked, remove and boil in clam juice until al dente.
3. Remove pasta and toss with tobiko and shiso chiffonade. Add a little bit of clam juice broth. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve while hot.

Basta Pasta
37 W. 17th street
New York, NY 10011
(212)366-0888

Pickles Pack a Perfect Punch

Salty and sour are two of my favorites taste profiles. That's why pickles are so perfect. I can't do without them in my burgers and I love them on the side with my sandwiches. Making your own at home is so easy you'll never buy store bought again. It only takes 2 days to a week to brine. Along with salty and sour I added some of my other favorite flavors: garlic, dill (fresh and seeds), mustard seeds, and chili flakes. The pickles have a nice garlicky and spicy kick to them.

Perfect Pickles
makes 1 jar

1/2 quart of boiled, cooled to room temperature water
1/2 cup white vinegar
3 tablespoons salt
1 tablespoon pickling spice
1 tablespoon mustard seeds
1 tablespoon dill seeds
1/2 teaspoon chili flakes
1/2 teaspoon black peppercorns
2 garlic cloves, sliced
half a bunch of dill, slightly chopped
5 persian cucumbers, cut in half lengthwise

1. Mix water, salt and vinegar together.
2. Place all of the spices into the bottom of the jar with half of the dill.
3. Pack the cucumbers into the jar and add the rest of the dill.
4. Cover the cucumbers with the brining liquid until the jar is filled.
5. Leave out in room temperature for one day and then transfer into the refrigerator.
6. Pickles are ready to eat anywhere from 2 days to a week depending on how sour and salty you like them.

Bad Bad

I am a very very bad blogger. I apologize. I am sorry. I cook and I go out to eat and I never take pictures. Most of the time, ok all of the time, I'm hungry like an animal and I can't wait to devour my food so I don't take pictures. And I know all of you readers love to see pictures because really what's better then food porn? I put up this blog not because I love to style my food and tease other people with it. I started this blog because really I just love to eat. I love to eat and that's why I cook. And sometimes I get so excited about it I want to shout it out to the whole world.

Yesterday I went to Hyo Dong Gak for some Korean chinese food. I had some delicious jjam bong (spicy seafood noodle soup), ja jang myun (noodles in brown sauce), and ggan pun gi (fried chicken in garlic and chili pepper sauce) except we had it with beef and squid. Hyo Dong Gak is my favorite place for korean chinese food. The noodles here have a nice toothy texture, the seafood noodle soup full of seafood, and the fried chicken or beef or squid crispy and crunchy.
I highly recommend coming during lunch time for their lunch menu.

Just the other day I had xiao long bao (chinese soup dumplings). I love the vinegar and ginger sauce.

Tonight I went to this awesome underground undiscovered Japanese restaurant that serves home style cooking. It's omakase only so there's no menu. Tsukushi is the name of the restaurant but if you weren't looking for it you would never find it. The door and awning are so obscure that it looks like some side door where workers take out garbage. Once you walk in, you enter what seems like an underground secret cove. Almost everyone eating is Japanese and they all stare at you when you come in like you had just interrupted their cult meeting. For a second they look at you like "how did you find out about this place", but only for a second because they go right back to concentrating on their food. The room reminded me of my grandmother's house. It was warm and inviting. The floor had cheap carpeting and the walls were made out of wood paneling and none of their table wear matched. I felt like I was in some little old japanese grandmother's basement eating the home cooking she made with love. Some of the stellar plates were the fatty pork with macaroni salad, the sashimi plate with uni, the braised tripe and turnip, and the miso cod. I would definitely go again. I feel like there's more to discover about this place but since it was my first time they didn't want to indulge all of their secrets. Not quite yet atleast.

Hyo Dong Gak
51 W 35th St, New York 10001
Btwn 5th & 6th Ave
(212) 695-7167‎

Tsukushi
31 East 41st Street
by 2nd Ave
(212) 599-8888

My New Morning Addiction

My new breakfast addiction is a bowl of thick and creamy Fage yogurt with blueberries and a drizzle of chestnut honey.