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Picture 1 from 4: This is what the tea balls look like before they are brewed.

This afternoon I stopped at a Chinese herbal pharmacy in Chinatown that specializes in herbal remedies and tea. After smelling several varieties of Chinese teas, I decided to purchase an assortment of “flower teas.” These are teas that are made from jasmine or green tea leaves tied in little bundles that hide blossoms of amaranth, chrysanthemum and/or marigold flowers.

This tea, which is the first of the five varieties that I purchased and brewed, has an oblong-shaped green tea base that blossomed to reveal a small tuft of marigold petals, a string of rising jasmine flowers and a bright pink globe amaranth. The flavor of the tea is quite savory, considering all of its floral components and reminds me of toasted rice and bitter marigold. It’s really lovely in both its visual appeal and taste.

 

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Picture 1 from 15: Next, once the candy has hardened, it is cut into bite-sized pieces. The woman cutting the candy said that this is the hardest step to learn in the candy making process. She said it is easy to break the candy into tiny shards and not into nice slices.

In October, I blogged about a great shop in Manhattan’s Lower East Side neighborhood that hand makes hard candy called Papa Bubble.

The last time I was there, they were just finishing a batch of lollipops, but today I caught them earlier on in the process and photographed several of the steps involved in pulling sugar candy by hand. The candy makers were really fun to watch and chatted with me about where they learned to make candy while myself and several others observed. Pretty cool…

There is nothing better than holiday baking, so when I thought up a new seasonal take on  one of my favorite southern sweets–red velvet cake–I decided they were going to be on my list of desserts to make for Christmas!

Instead of making a basic red velvet layer cake with cream cheese frosting, I am going to bake little cupcakes and spice up the frosting with ground cinnamon.  I may even stack them to look like a Christmas tree!

Here’s a really simple recipe for red velvet cake to try.  And if you’d like to make cupcakes instead, simply line a muffin pan with paper baking cups, fill them about two-thirds full with the batter, and bake them for about 15-20 minutes.  For the cinnamon-flavored frosting, follow the recipe given and add ground cinnamon to taste (about a 1/2 tsp. at a time) after you’ve added the vanilla.

Last night I went out for a burger at a restaurant that prides itself in being something of a modern soda shop. They offer shakes, floats and sodas in a wide-array of flavors and combinations, most of which are pretty uncommon.

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When I saw pickled eggs on an appetizer menu this week, I had to order them. I’d never had them before and am always up for a new food experience. And am I glad that I did because they were delicious!

The eggs were hardboiled and then soaked in pickling liquid until they absorbed a good deal of vinegary flavor and a strangely pink exterior. Because of their pink color, I figured they were pickled in red wine vinegar. But, upon doing some research, I found that pickled eggs that have a pinkish hue are made by following a traditional Pennsylvania Dutch recipe using whole beets to tint the eggs.

I have a good friend who lives in NYC’s Chinatown neighborhood, so inevitably I find myself buying all sorts of different foodstuffs when I go to visit her.  It’s impossible for me to pass block after block of Chinese fruit stands and fish markets without finding something new to pique my interest.  This evening’s surprise, after a dinner of dim sum, happened to be a wooden stick of what looked to be candied apples.

The little skewer pierced through four little crab apples, dipped in a bright red hard candy coating, was way too tempting to pass up.  And once we arrived back at her apartment, we decided to cut into one to see just what lie underneath that shell.

Crab apples they were indeed!  However, they had been pickled!!!  A very startling discovery (that I may not want to have again…), considering the candy apples I grew up eating have always been sweet and juicy, not chewy and tart!

As I perused the shelves of a little gourmet food shop in my neighborhood, I came across a tube of remoulade sauce.  I was appalled.  I did not live in New Orleans, proud home of many a homemade remoulade-smothered dish, to find it neatly packaged in a tube reminiscent of toothpaste!

Of course, I had to try it.  So, of course I slapped down the $4.99 and bought it.

I hate to admit it, but to my surprise it wasn’t that bad.  It tasted like jarred tartar sauce.  I would never use it to substitute any remoulade sauce I’ve ever had before, but if I ever needed a portable and quick squeeze of sauce to don a child’s frozen fish sticks, this would certainly do the trick.

Last night I went out for pizza and came across something on a menu that I had never eaten before—bottarga. I quickly assumed it was a type of Italian cheese and proceeded to order a pizza topped with that, fennel and mozzarella. However, I was very wrong in my assumptions. Bottarga is NOT Italian cheese. It’s dried fish eggs (tuna eggs to be exact)!!! Definitely a delicacy that requires an “acquired taste….”

As a child, I hated peanut butter and simply ate jelly sandwiches.  But now, as an adult, my tastes have changed and I love peanut butter and jelly sandwiches!  However, on my most recent visit to the Doughnut Plant (my favorite NYC doughnuts), I ate a giant peanut butter doughnut filled with homemade plum jelly and am now wondering if a regular old PB&J will still satisfy.  Maybe if I deep-fry it?!

So, after my visit to MOMA, I decided to have a potato knish from a cart located down the street. What a mistake!

The potato-filled pastry that I had was flavorless and really chewy—as in stale. Now, I realize these things are beloved by many a New Yorker, so if someone can point me in the direction of one of the city’s finest, I’d really appreciate it. I have a sneaking suspicion that I’m missing out on a great local food…