In Spain, it’s chocolate con churros for a late-night snack. In Mexico, it’s cafe con churros for a early-bird breakfast. But down the street from my apartment, at my neighborhood doughnut shop, it’s Indian chai tea with churros to satisfy my mid-day munchies! All combinations are delicious, but this one is the best I’ve had so far. But that may be because it’s only a block away…

Buon Italia, an importer of Italian foods, sells a 5 kilo jar of Nutella.  That’s 11 pounds of chocolate-hazelnut goodness.  Wow.

 

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Picture 1 from 6: They even have milk chocolate sardines which are conveniently packed in a little tin box!

I just stumbled upon a candy shop in my neighborhood called The Sweet Life. It’s been in business for 25 years and carries every kind of candy imaginable! Of course they have the classics–Jawbreakers, Jelly Belly jelly beans and Pez. But what makes this shop really special is that they also have a wide variety of hard to-find-European treats, sugar-free candies, organic and kosher sweets. How sweet is that?!

Does this pistachio, fig and goat cheese Danish look as good to you as it did to me?  Take note that I used the past tense, “did,” because the second I heard “fig, pistachio, and goat cheese Danish,”  I ordered one as dessert, but promptly devoured it before lunch.  The soft, golden, brushed-with-honey dough was wrapped around beautifully sticky, gooey fig filling, dollops of creamy, tangy goat cheese and small pieces of pistachios.  This is Danish Heaven.  I can’t handle it.  Tears are rolling down my face.  I’m emtotional about a Danish and making a complete fool of myself.  Everyone’s staring.  If they tried this Danish, they’d understand; I know you do.

After reading Lorin’s post on bacon praline (yum!), I was reminded of a candy I just read about in a magazine–Pig Candy! They are chocolate-dipped strips of crunchy bacon made by a New York chocolatier named Roni-Sue (which you could very easily make yourself at home).

Pair this with Lorin’s bacon praline and you’ll make your sweetheart very happy this Valentine’s Day!

Molecular gastronomy, which is the popular description of food being manipulated by science instead of general cookery techniques, has recently become a very fashionable type of cuisine. Many restaurants that specialize in this type of food offer guests a dining experience more akin to theater, at a hefty price. However, some are using these methods of cooking and making them much more accessible. Just last night my friend’s 8-year old daughter introduced me to a new form of ice cream called “Dippin’ Dots.”

When she showed them to me in the freezer section of the local grocery store I thought, oh great, another wacky ploy to get kids to convince their parents to buy junk food. But, I was kind of intrigued by these candy-colored pebbles and convinced myself that I needed to buy them for the sake of new experiences…

Here’s my verdict: These little things are really cool! Although they do not substitute a good old-fashioned banana split, the banana split-flavored dots weren’t too bad! They were an assortment of banana, chocolate and strawberry ice cream beads, that went eaten, are incredibly cold and melt in a slow and peculiar way. I don’t really know how to describe the texture or mouth feel because it is so different than regular ice cream!

After visiting the “Dippin’ Dots” website, I found that in 1988 Curt Jones, a microbiologist invented this method of freezing ice cream. The process is called cryogenic encapsulation, and uses liquid nitrogen to instantly freeze into little beads. Pretty neat huh?!

Fennel pollen has become a very popular spice amongst professional chefs. However, it need not be left to the pros and makes a great addition to a home cook’s spice rack.

Fennel pollen is wonderful—it tastes like fennel, with a more floral quality and a stronger intensity that makes a little go a very long way. Hence the reason its price is not to far from saffron. And like saffron, it is made from the tiny blossoms of wild fennel that have been hand-harvested, dried and ground into a fine powder.

To use this delicious spice, simply sprinkle just a bit on roasted fish, steamed veggies or a salad of delicate greens just before serving. It adds a lot of flavor to dishes cooked without a lot of seasoning and can really help along a dish that lacks a lot of butter or oil, giving something prepared healthily a nice touch.

One of my favorite Mexican drinks is horchata—a sweet beverage made from rice, water, milk, sugar and cinnamon. In English, it is often called “rice milk,” and can be found at many inexpensive taco shops in larger cities. It is the perfect accompaniment to a very spicy meal because the milk and rice has a cooling effect and helps sooth sensitive taste buds.

While having dinner at an asian restaurant last week, I came across a pumpkin version on the drink! It was a little less sweet and didn’t have the same cinnamon spice that I was used to in traditional horchata, but it certainly did the job and helped me to work my way through a bowl of very spicy mussels covered in red chilis.

I’m not sure how they made it exactly, but if I had to guess, I would say they juiced fresh pumpkin and used that as the base for the rice milk drink instead of water. Delicious!

 

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Picture 1 from 4: After one bite of this mini sfogliatelle, I realized I should have gotten a larger one!

Sfogliatelle is a delicate Italian pastry that is made from many layers of paper-thin pastry rolled around a sweet ricotta filling. It is baked to a light golden crisp and served with a dusting of powdering sugar. It is divine and makes for a perfect espresso accompaniment.

Ferrara, one of NYC’s oldest coffee shops that is known for it’s baked goods sells these little delights, along with several other traditional Italian treats like pannetone, torrone, pignoli cookies and cannoli.

If ever in the area, they are well worth making a stop for.

 

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Picture 1 from 3: It's best to eat them quickly while they are still hot!

My favorite of all the varieties of street vendors in New York City are the candied nuts sellers. On a cold winter evening, nothing is more comforting than a paper bag of warm candied nuts that have been freshly roasted just minutes before being handed over. They come in either cashew, almond or peanut mixtures and have a crunchy, caramel coating that tastes like butter, vanilla and brown sugar. Delicious, and well worth the $2 price tag.