While walking on 23rd Street towards the Hudson River to catch the display of Fourth of July fireworks, my friends and I stopped for an ice cream cone at one of the many trucks dotting each corner along the route from subway to river.

I ordered my favorite, a simple vanilla soft-serve cone dipped in chocolate.  But, in a moment of genius, I asked the ice cream man to top my dipped cone in coating of chocolate sprinkles!  Delicious!  A perfect marriage of textures and flavors!  How did I not think of this as a child?!

Because I now feel like I have to make up for nearly 30 lost years of chocolate-sprinkled ice cream cones, I’m certain that I will have a problem in the warmer months ahead.  Even though the ice cream truck that is parked outside my restaurant everyday is very convenient, I’m not sure my belly will appreciate this new endeavor…

According to the gang at Yumsugar, Sprinkles cupcake shop is serving .75 cent shots of their rich and decadent buttercream frosting…frozen.  Although it never ocurred to me to eat frosting frozen, it sure sounds terrific.  We don’t have a Sprinkles in New Orleans, but I did just get the latest Martha Stewart Cupcake book (genius by the way) and so I’m planning on whipping up a bit of extra frosting to pipe into mini tasting cups and toss into the freezer.  The lazy person in me is also considering going to the local cupcakery and asking them to do it.  Either way, I’m checking it out.

What a sight to see a heaping mound of shell peas at the farmer’s market this week!  I dropped by for a bit of lemon-thyme to use in a sorbet I am making for the dinner menu tonight and couldn’t help but snap a picture of these peas on my way through the market!  So impressive!

Emeril’s BFF, Mario Batali, is serving some fantastic bar snacks at his West Side eatery, Del Posto.  My favorite of the little plates menu was a fancy-pants version of a club sandwich.  The “Hare Club,” sandwiches layers of wild hare and rabbit pate, homemade tomato jam and baby spinach between the thinest slices of white toast I’ve ever seen.  Not too shabby for the end of a toothpick.

 

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Picture 1 from 3: Chive and Pork boiled dumplings are 4 for a $1.50!

Can you believe that this take-out box of four boiled dumplings cost me at $1.50?!  And, better yet, the cooking demo and people-watching comes free of charge!

Way back in April, Lorin wrote about the Ponchatoula strawberry festival and since then, I’ve barely been able to contain my berry-envy!   Thankfully, we’ve finally got some great local strawberries making their way onto the farmer’s market tables here in NY!  While the berries aren’t from New York just yet, Connecticut and New Jersey have been so kind to sell their goods on our side of the state line!

A moment of silence please, for these tiny, yellow, rounds of beauty…..ok, there.  Simply awe-inspiring.  There’s a vendor at our Farmers’ Market who grows an insane number of tomato varieties and I went gaga for these sweet, itty-bitty cherry tomatoes.  Poised to be the salad of summer, I tossed my tomato stash with torn bits of milky-creamy burrata (fresh Italian cheese, made from mozzarella and cream) and a small amount of a very clean and breezy vinaigrette.  Then I cried.  Tears for tomatoes?  Yep, I’m a big geek.

 

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Picture 1 from 21: The marbling of the fat in the steak is still so evident after being cooked. Even though I used a steak knife, I probably could have just used a butter knife! It was perfectly pink, tender and juicy!

Last weekend, I bought a $40 steak at Japan Premium Beef.  It’s a new butcher shop on Great Jones Street in New York City that specializes in wagyu beef.  And for $40 I got a 12 ounce ribeye that was beautifully marbled, rich in flavor and simply melted in my mouth.

At first, the hefty price tag seemed a bit much.  But when prepared according to the directions given to me by Taiki, the store manager, and paired with a simple salad of herb from my garden and a bottle of Lambrusco, my fancy steak experience certainly went pretty far.

To see how I cooked this fine piece of meat, follow the directions in the photo slideshow above!

I just had these for brunch yesterday.  They seem so easy to make and were absolutely delicious that I definitely plan to make them at home!   They would also be a great treat to make with kids!

Simply take store-bought cake doughnuts and lightly grill them until they are slightly charred and warmed through.  Sprinkle them generously with cinnamon sugar and serve with coffee immediately.

Asian-inspired hot dogs.  One smothered in barbequed pork belly, the other with the fixings found on a Vietnamese sandwich (including pate!).   I never would have dreamed up these combinations, but I am certainly glad someone else did!  They were delicious!!!