Made it through another year! Huzzah!
Archive for the 'Uncategorized' Category
I am alive, in case you were curious. Major life changes have prevented me from writing in here, but I hope to get back on track later this month. Stay tuned!
Oh dear, how could I let nearly a month go by without wishing the blog a very happy birthday? Shame on me.
Well, happy 2nd birthday Le Gourmet Pipette!
Restaurant experiment: Fatty Crab
Published July 25, 2009 Uncategorized 2 CommentsTags: malaysian, manhattan, restaurant, stacy
Fatty Crab
2170 Broadway between 76th and 77th Streets
New York, NY 10024
212-496-2722
This place had been filed away in my food rolodex as a “To Try” since February (thanks Mike). The Upper West Side outpost is relatively shiny and new; the original is in the West Village, but I’ve never been.
The service was not very attentive. Or they would come and drop off plates but not pay attention at the end to see if I needed anything else. I had to blurt out my requests quickly just when they were about to run away.
Since Stacy and I couldn’t decide on our selections (the waiter suggested the non-spicy dishes for me since most of the menu is heavy-handed with the hot), we decided to get a few things to share.
Kaya toast & teh tarik ($7)–this was an appetizer but ended up appearing after the other two dishes. That actually worked out well since the sweetness of the coconutty Nutella-like filling between the toast was dessert-like and pleasing. The teh tarik was like chai flavored milk. Not bad.
Watermelon pickle and crispy pork ($15)–pictured on the right of the photograph. Pickled watermelon was a curiosity. Slightly ginger tasting. The pork was a pure delight! Crispy on the outside, a taste sensation. Yeah.
Curried bacon sandwich with ramps, aioli, egg garnish ($14)–pictured on the left. Bacon. Really, is there anything else I have to say? How could I not order this? I could do without the cilantro in that and in the other plate, but oh well. I’ll suffer if the positives tremendously outweigh the negatives.
The bathroom is a character. It’s darkness, and there are some photographs verging on lewd being displayed. The dishes are wonderful but the prices/portion size are not wonderful. Malaysian food shouldn’t be this costly!
Despite not eating any crab, I was down with the Fatty Crab. Phat!
Restaurant experiment: Phoenix Park
Published July 15, 2009 Uncategorized 3 CommentsTags: american, burger, manhattan, stacy
Phoenix Park
206 East 67th Street between Second and Third Avenues
New York, NY 10065
212-717-8181
Stacy’s new go-to bar was our go-to for dinner as we wanted a solid meal which meant for me, a welcoming burger. Phoenix Park is divided up into several room and even has an outside area but that was full so we resigned ourselves to a back room. It was pretty empty at the onset but filled up rather quickly.
The fries were excellent! Just the way I want ‘em: crunchy, slender, salty. Mad praise for the generous white onion quantity. The patty was cooked slightly freakishly because I ordered medium well, and the beef was charred on the outside and then verging on medium or even medium rare on the inside. Oh well. Overall, the package worked.
The paper menus on the table declared PP to have been open since 1998. How ancient. Hah!
Happy birthday to my blog!
To celebrate, I will give a prize to the first person who makes a comment. Hopefully today, but I’m patient. Comments are coolness. Cash value of prize not to exceed $7.09.
Rules: you must be someone I know in real life, and we can’t be related. If you don’t want to comment here, send me a message by other means. Not telepathy.
Hello friends!
Would you like to write a post? I would love to paste it in this here blog. I can’t pay you in shiny ducats, but I uh, uh, I can foist glorious praise upon you. Or when the weather’s a thousand degrees, I can buy you a Pinkberry.
I do have posts in the pipeline, promise. I just want to feel what it would be like to be God an editor.
in vino veritas, in aqua sanitas
Published January 16, 2009 Uncategorized 1 CommentTags: Food, Science
I like wine but an not a wine snob or wine enthusiast even. I love visiting wineries though, such fun! Drinkable fun!
So we all know basics about wine (meaning it comes from grapes, blah blah), but since Wayne asked more about chemicals and additives tossed into the elixir, I thought it might make for an informative and drinkable blog post.
Basically you have grapes, you ferment them, you have wine. Yeast is actually present in grapes, but a lot of winemakers add their own yeast for greater control of the process.
Sulfite is right: you may have noticed your bottle of vino bearing the words “contains sulfites.” Each bottle in the US cannot contain more than 350 miligrams/liter of sulfites which should be safe for those with sulfite allergies. Sulfites means that sulfur dioxide has been added during the winemaking process. SO2 is an anti-oxidant and preservative, zapping bad yeast and unwanted bacteria.
You’re so sweet: I thought dessert wines just had sugar added to them, but boy was I off-base. There are a couple different ways to produce sweet wines.
- A fungus called Botrytis cinerea whisks away the wetness from the grapes, leaving them much more sugary.
- If you leave grapes on the vine for a long while, they become sweetness-filled.
- Raisins can be used as source material.
- Another method is to add unfermented grape juice to the fermented liquid.
- Or you can stop the fermenting process early on so that all the sugars haven’t yet been gobbled up by the yeasties.
Cheers!
References
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