Manhattan Offender

Here's a simple meal that even an idiot (see Townsend, Rod) can make, impress a date, and get them tired enough to sleep over on a cold night.

Skinless salmon steak.
- Brush with olive oil.
- Sprinkle chili powder and pepper.
- Broil about 6 minutes (be sure to pre-heat).
Brussel Sprouts
- Clean and boil on medium in a covered saucepan.
- Salt, pepper. (Some would say butter, but I say NO!)
Cous cous
- Put a little olive oil and salt in the water.
- If you can't make cous cous you should really order in.
Wine
 - Gewürztraminer, less sweet than a Riesling, yet not too dry or fruity.

So it's next to a construction site and it's Cuban food as prepared by Peruvians and even though yo hablo español that crazy Peruvian lithp caused some difficulty, but it was all worth it.

Recommended: Sophie's Cuban Cuisine. 

Beautiful weather makes me crave onion rings

Even my wholesome activities are tainted to a point of Freudian notice.

Pictured at right are the chocolate chunk cookies which were made Sunday morning for a picnic that day.  This sounds wholesome and should be left at that.

The fact that the cookies were "special" is not all that important to know.  The fact that a Venezuelan came over to, um, learn how to bake should not be necessary of mention.  The fact that my arrival to the picnic was delayed by three hours of baking instruction is unimportant to the story.

The Freudian Maddona-whore complex as expressed in the baking of cookies, while uncommon, is possible.

Family of faggot fans fly the flag

"The great British faggot is full of flavour and a great belly warmer at this time of year."

Link: BBC NEWS | UK | England | Family of faggot fans fly the flag.

Time goes by. So slowly.

Emailed to me from Chris, and as seen here.

Past, Over: Dirty

No clues to offer this week, except that I was out on a walk with a camera and this week's article just sort of happened.  It totally just wrote itself.  Writing it made feel dirty and, well, like a bad person.  The stating of which hopefully absolves me of guilt.  The link will be up later now.

Because a box of Russel Stovers just says, "I was thinking about you while I was refilling my Valtrex."

Maybe it's the snow, but sometimes only the slightest excuse is needed to bake.  Seeing little heart-shaped cake tins at the store was just the impetus to get started.

The keys to making individualized brownies are slightly upping your liquids to allow for increased evaporation and controling your amount of dough in the tins as any excess will just cause a mess. 

As the usual is usually avoided, instead of the simple, traditional brownie or blondie, there is a self-created recipe that is used which, if it were not Valentine's Day would be called my Nutty Blonde recipe.  You will need the following:

• 2 eggs
• 2 cups tightly packed light brown sugar
• 3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3/4 teaspoon almond or pecan extract
• 3/4 cup melted butter
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 1/2 cup unsifted flour
• couple of pinches salt (optional)
• 3/4 cup chopped pecans
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
• 1/2 cup sliced almonds
• 1/2 cup snowflake coconut (optional if you are trashy like myself)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  In a grinder, finely chop 1/4 cup of pecans.  Add these pecans to the butter and melt.  Proceed to lightly saute the pecans.  You will lose some butter at this point, but I've allowed for this in the quantities.  (If, by the way, you were making pot browies, you would treat them just as you do the pecans (same quantity  of schwag finely chopped, then sauteed).)

Whisk the eggs, butter, brown sugar and the extracts so that all is airy and light.  Slowly add in the baking powder, then the flour and salt.  If you're a big wuss, use a mixer, but real men stir with a wooden spoon until all seems as one.  Stir in all of the assorted nuts, creating a nice stiff lump of dough.  Add your dough to the individual tins. stir in nuts (mix is stiff).

Fill each tin to no more than 1/2 full.  Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until light brown. (See photo below).  Cool at least 15 minutes, longer if you are applying icing.

My Sweet Hearts are certainly sweet enough without icing, but the icing adds a nice decorative holiday touch.  A sour cream store-bought variety was chosen.  Consider using excess chopped nuts or nonpareils as a nice topper to the icing. 

These little hearts are great to bring some Valentines cheer to your office or a Sexual Compulsives Anonymous gathering.  They clearly send the message to your recipient:  I [heart you], but just a little, although not in some tacky-ass store-bought kind of way.

Friday Food: Manna Express

Restaurant:  Express Manna Kitchen
Location:  Just north of Union Square on 18th Street, near Broadway
Occasion:  Lunch  delivered to the office
Cocktail(s):  If only we could drink at work.  Instead the Izze's Clementine did the job nicely.
Wine:  See above
Appetizer:        The kim-chi is just enough to make a bit of sweat bead up on the scalp, just as kim-chi should.
Entree:  If you have a love for Korean food, the shredded beef stew will not disappoint.  Served with scallions and egg, medium spicy, over rice the only complaint is that it is a huge quart-sized container.  Generally speaking, unless ordering from the lunch menu, the portion sizes are huge here.  The side dishes were okay, but not memorable. 
Dessert:  n/a
Service:  Possibly the fastest delivery in the Union Square area and clear-spoken phone service. 
Atmosphere:  This has always been a delivery option; however, the space is clean and small, but never seems to be crowded. 
Pricing:    Great value for the large portions.  Again, if you are ordering for a lunch, stick to the lunch menu.
Rating:  "Pretty much".

Friday Food: Kenka

Restaurant:  Kenka
Location:  East Village (St. Marks Place near Second Avenue)
Occasion:  Meeting with a couple of friends with the mutual realization on a Friday night that if this level of drinking continued that we would all be hospitalized so perhaps we should eat. 
Cocktail(s):  $1.50 Sapporo's!
Wine:  A bottle of sake
Appetizer:      There are over 100 items and we ordered at least eight appetizers for three people.  Everything married very well with "oo's" and "ah's" for every dish as it arrived to the table.  A favorite was an eggy item that was fluffy and spicy.  Octopus balls met with trepidation, but it could be an issue of the name alone.
Entree:  Again, dishes were shared and there was booze in the system, so detail are sketchy.  The pork tenderloin was memorably awesome.
Dessert:  On departure, you are given sugar with which you can make your own cotton candy.
Service:  There is a wait for tables and no reservations are taken on weekend nights.  After a 45 minute wait, entering the packed place the expectation is for some stutters in the service.  That expectation is met, but the $1.50 Sapporo's assuage everything. 
Atmosphere:  Some focus is required as you are surrounded by great traditional imagery and music out of Tokyo radio of the 1950S.  With the packed room full of a mix of Japanese and NYU kids and assorted others the key thing to note that although this is the East Village of the middle aughts, there is nary a twat nor a douchebag in sight.  The crowd is there to have fun. 
Pricing:    Amazingly cheap.  We ate like pigs and drank like fish and paid like (some animal that is frugal).
Rating:  "Yeah, so totally".

Image from  ptuft on flickr.