what are you eating?

[rischka]

of course!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsr-OX4qVNA

[nrh]

late year favorite meal at little tong noodle shop - mixian noodle soup, poached chicken, pea shoots, black sesame, tea egg, perfect dish...

[rischka]

be careful there's a flower!

can you eat that

[nrh]

be careful there's a flower!

can you eat that

I ate the flower. Seema was not interested. She asked if it tasted green and I admitted that yes that was more or less the case (for the record the pea shoots also tasted green but in a more interesting way). edible flowers are kinda cool in theory but always end up dull.

[rischka]

dammit i should've got red AND green bell peppers for my stir-fry; woulda been more festive. oh well

cheers e-fam

[thoxans]

@nrh my boy andy is in nyc until thurs, and he's lookin for food spots. i already mentioned little tong noddle shop cuz of your post above, but are there any other amazing spots you rec? money is no object

[nrh]

@nrh my boy andy is in nyc until thurs, and he's lookin for food spots. i already mentioned little tong noddle shop cuz of your post above, but are there any other amazing spots you rec? money is no object

do you know what area they're in and what types of food they're excited for?

[thoxans]

tribeca/downtown. he's doing nobu tonight, and he'll try anything, from tasting menus to street food

[nrh]

tribeca/downtown. he's doing nobu tonight, and he'll try anything, from tasting menus to street food

these are all kind of cliched but -

honestly frenchette and estela are totally worth it.

kopitiam, a small malaysian cafe that sells street food type and malaysian comfort favorites is my go to recommendation for that kind of thing (on some days i think the pan mee is one of the best nyc dishes at the moment).

if he likes wine wildair is my favorite of the newer wine food bars, it's by the same people that do contra but i actually prefer the food at the more informal place.
it's a hard reservation but atoboy is great - very good korean where you get 3 course meal for $46, but reservations can be pretty tough to get (atomix, their tasting menu restaurant, is even harder to get into but i haven't been yet).

it's not traditional but my favorite thai in manhattan is uncle boon's. great options in queens but not sure i'd recommend the trek if you're just visiting.

best indian in nyc is adda, which is in queens and closes kind of early, which can make going for the much more interesting dinner menu a little irritating.

for pizza i guess prince st in manhattan (which is kind of an irritating service counter) and paulie gee's slice shop in brooklyn (where you can actually sit down and get a beer).

just went to lokanta, a new turkish restaurant in astoria and thought it was incredible, definitely worth the travel if turkish food sounds fun.

restaurant i most want to get into is llama-san. feel like i'm forgetting some really obvious choices though. besides shabu shabu macoron we haven't really done any major tasting menu places in awhile so don't really have anything to add there.


edit - for italian i'd think either i sodi or via carota, which are totally beloved for good reason.

[thoxans]

nice! thx for the recs. he's doing estela tonight, and had frenchette and prince st pizza on his radar. he said nobu last night was decent, but not worth it. he and i did otoko in austin a couple years back, and he said that was way better than nobu. unfortunately, i haven't been to the city in like a decade, so i didn't have any recs for him that i could offer

[thoxans]

forgot to post this, but for xmas i got an italian cookbook, so for nye i did a little italian fest. for the antipasto, i did some warm olives with rosemary, garlic, and lemon zest. then for the primo, i did a shaved mushroom and pecorino salad, with a dressing of olive oil, lemon juice, parsley, and red pepper flakes. both the antipasto and primo were paired with a sicilian pinot grigio. then for the secondo, i did a tuscan-style porterhouse, with a contorno of blanched and roasted broccoli rabe, served over salsa rossa, and topped with fresh grated parmesan; and these two dishes were paired with a nice chianti. dessert was a mascarpone torta that i got from the store cuz i don't do desserts

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[nrh]

he's doing estela tonight

did they end up liking estela?

[thoxans]

very much! he sent me some pics, and i can def say it looked great. he started with some oysters and mignonette. then this endive dish with some sort of little crunchies that you eat like a lettuce wrap. then some ricotta dumplings in a mushroom and leek stock. then this duck dish, with foie gras, quince, and some other delish lookin stuff. of course, had a glass of champagne, a cocktail, two glasses of wine, and a digestif. all in all, a damn fine meal. i was kinda jelly

[rischka]

trying to convert to green tea because i think drinking loads of black tea may have given me a kidney stone. it's hard

edit: made pineapple chicken



still reigning queen of stir-frys

[josiahmorgan11]

does anybody have any recommendations for cheap, fast vegan meals?? (or meals that are almost vegan but include egg??) i have an INSANELY busy month ahead and need things that can be thrown together in kind of 30min. or left, or cooked in bulk and eaten over a few days.

[liquidnature]

does anybody have any recommendations for cheap, fast vegan meals?? (or meals that are almost vegan but include egg??) i have an INSANELY busy month ahead and need things that can be thrown together in kind of 30min. or left, or cooked in bulk and eaten over a few days.

https://gatheringdreams.com/vegan-meal-prep-ideas/
https://www.onegreenplanet.org/vegan-fo ... gan-meals/

[flip]

when i was vegan six days a week, i used to make a chickpea-tamarind recipe, basically cook onions, garlic and fresh tomato in oil until they are barely recognizable, add tinned chickpeas and tamarind (i'd use those compressed bricks of tamarind which you soak and strain). serve with rice or naan. couldn't tell you the proportions now but it was surprisingly good, and you could add other things to it as you like.

vegan tacos can also be fast and cheap depending how you fill them, black beans, salsa, then whatever vegetables etc you want. and minestrone soup, you just throw a bunch of stuff in a pot and you have a meal, if you add beans and pasta and make a lot it will be good vegan food for a while.

[josiahmorgan11]

thanks to you both

[brian d]

couscous is always a good option. cooks in 2 minutes once the water is boiling and you can toss in pretty much whatever. omelets are also a good choice, and work well without cheese.

[nrh]

what we've been doing (with help of rancho gordo mail order service) is make a bag of very good beans or lentils on weekend and use them throughout the week, at least for a couple of days, in different preparations - sautee with onions, cooked with rice, quick soup or stew, skillet chili. obviously you can do all this with canned beans but it's much more pleasant if the beans are good.

if you like stir fry or fried rice at all you only really a handful of condiments (soy sauce, sesame oil, plus ginger and garlic) to make a meal with a few things from grocery.

when i was a student and needed extremely cheap meals fast variations on these were my go to -

https://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/sea ... milk-curry
https://souvigne.pagesperso-orange.fr/f ... matoes.htm

[thoxans]

thinking about doing some duck noodle soup for chinese new year this weekend, so i'll probs be brainstorming and daydreaming about that until saturday...

[thoxans]

so, i did end up doing duck and noodle soup, but not ncessarily duck noodle soup. ended up serving the duck breast on the side, with a hoison dipping sauce. cooked it pekin style, complete with the five spice lacquer. turned out really delish, if i do say so myself. the noodle soup meanwhile was like an asian fusion type thing. the broth (which i tinkered with for like three days) was a combo between pho (lots of roasted beef bones, onion, and ginger) and ramen (used a basic tare of soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, mirin, and sake). then i added buckwheat noodles, baby bok choy, beansprouts, enoki mushrooms, green onion, parsley, and cilantro. good stuff

[nrh]

maybe the best thing we had at Benno - smoked eel and foie gras terrine. people should put smoked eel in things more often.

edit - only got one other photo, of the duck with (more) foie, cotechino sausage and castelluccio lentils. it was good but not quite as good as everything else, but also wonder if I’m no longer so interested in this kind of end of menu meat course...

[thoxans]

gonna do some homemade banh mi tomorrow. got my pork, which i cut up into strips, already marinating in a pureed concoction of fish sauce, honey, sugar, green onion, and garlic. i'll roast it tomorrow. also have my carrots and daikon pickling in some rice wine vinegar, sugar, and salt. i'll quick pickle some seedless cucumber like an hour before i'm ready to put the whole sandwich together. and got my cilantro, jalapeno, mint, mayo, sriracha, and pate set aside to complete the whole thing when i'm ready to chowdown. the bread is always the trickiest part. this time, i'm gonna go with some take-and-bake french baguettes, and see where that gets me with the crunchy exterior/chewy interior

[thoxans]

smoked eel and foie gras terrine

[...]

but also wonder if I’m no longer so interested in this kind of end of menu meat course...

one belated question, and one belated comment: so, was the eel and foie pureed together to create the terrine? also, agree about heaviness rounding out a meal! i understand the idea of going out on top, but sometimes it's just too much. the segue is hard to pull off. i've had badass tasting menus where even the off-the-menu amuse buche was abs amazing, but then five plates later, by the time i get to the seared wagyu beef course or whatever else, i'm sitting there thinking to myself 'cool but fuxxxxxxk'

[nrh]

so, was the eel and foie pureed together to create the terrine?

not quite sure how the terrine was made (i am not a chef) but the white parts you see in the photo were definitely pure smoked eel. the more pink meat parts of terrine were definitely lighter and more balanced than what i think of as pure foie terrine so i am sure there were some balancing agents just not sure what.

[thoxans]

ah ok, i thought the whites might have been the eel, but wasn't sure. interesting

[---]

frosted flakes = second tastiest "treat" cereal? corn pops gotta me #1 imo

[thoxans]

peanut butter cap'n crunch ftw

[flip]

froot loops

i always thought the orange froot loops were the best, but i recently learned that every froot loop has the same flavour no matter what colour it is. another childhood myth shattered