It's in Amenia!

                                         

Can you believe this???  A drive-in theatre?  Yes - in Amenia, NY!  About a 2 hour drive from Queens up Route 22 parallel to the Hudson River, Amenia boasts a rural feel similar to some of the further reaches of Long Island, while also offering some intensely delicious food and just about the best bed and breakfast I've ever experienced.
My husband and I had driven up to Amenia on a jaunt from housesitting in Westchester in early July, and from some cursory internet searches, read some positive reviews about Amenia, and in particular, the restaurant Serevan.  We have been keeping an eye out for places to possibly buy a weekend home, and thought, let's go check out Amenia, and have a meal at Serevan.
We were utterly charmed.  Amenia has some horse farms, a green market and a tiny center of town,  where you can find the post office, library, gas station, pizzeria and several quirky antiques stores. Using our trusty (read:it's now more like a family member) GPS, we drove around and scouted some houses for sale, and then sailed on over to Serevan as it opened its door for dinner.  What a lovely building - an old house converted into the restaurant, it has well tended gardens and we lingered outside for a few minutes.  Then we headed inside - the attentive staff directed us to a table by a window, and the owner himself, Serge Madikians, swept by our table, and we chatted for a few minutes. Serge took a photo of us silhouetted by the window, and it appeared on facebook, a few days later. 
But back to: the food!  We got a hummus appetizer, which was fresh and tasted homemade - there is a stark difference between hand crushed chick peas and the store bought hummus - this was handmade.  We gobbled that up.  We then moved on to our main dishes; now I am a BIG fan of Kaesespaetzle - my favorite iteration coming from Zum Schneider on Avenue C in Manhattan; this was from the same family.  The spaetzle I ordered had a mix of herbs, mushrooms and goat cheese - forkful after forkful was gooey, slightly crunchy and very satisifying.  I finally raised my head to look over at my husband, and he was immersed in his plate of chicken with lemons, olives and couscous.  He offered me a bite, and I could see the slight reluctance to let a forkful of this get away from him; but when I finished my dish before him, he felt bad for me and my cow eyes and I scored a few more bites!

I ordered baklava - because I knew it would be good and I was right - real honey and a mix of nuts - just - no words.  My husband got a mix of fruits with pistachio ice cream.  REAL pistachio ice cream.
We will be back here - this place is a real showcase - a place to take guests and to celebrate.

We returned to Amenia at the start of last weekend.  We were looking at some properties nearby, and decided, on the fly, to stay overnight.  Again, checking out reviews, my husband found great reviews for a Bed and Breakfast called Hilltop House Bed and Breakfast - he called them and they readily agreed to put us up for the night.
First, we decided to grab a bit to eat - and thought we would try out the pizzeria that is off the center of town, called Four Brothers Pizza and Restaurant.  We ordered the artichoke dip, and shared a medium sized pizza.  We thoroughly enjoyed our food - the artichoke dip was what we expected - a concoction of artichoke and cheese; and the pizza was very tasty - a crispy crunchy crust and they were able to do one of my favorite toppings - fried eggplant.  (That's an extra bonus point in my book.)

As we stepped outside of the restaurant, we noticed, directly adjacent - a sign for a drive in theater.  We trotted over - what  - really?  And yes - with a little ice cream shack to supply snacks during the movie, this was a real working drive in theater.  What a delightful find!  The last one I ever saw was near Rocky Point, NY, already defunct, but you could see the screen from the roadway.  We vowed to come back one time and do the whole drive-in experience.

Then we were off to our B & B. 

We arrived at the enormous home at the corner of Depot Hills Road and Prospect Avenue.  The house and the neighboring homes reminded me of the homes from Anne of Green Gables -   I immediately had a cozy feeling.  We opened the wooden screen door and our eyes were drawn to the light from the kitchen - a huge kitchen - my dream kitchen - and off to the side was a little nook with a table where we were greeted by Sandy, one of the owners.  We chatted and found out that she and West, her husband, both hail from Brooklyn - also Noo Yawkas!  She showed us up to our room - the Sunshine Suite - a corner room with en suite bathroom - with double basins (I thought it was called Jack and Jill, but that describes a bathroom with 2 exits). And there was a little chandelier above the headboard.

 

OH the quiet!  OH the greenery out our windows. 

And then, as evening came on, we went out for a walk in the neighborhood - more of the charming Green Gables houses, and on our return - the scent of cinnamon and cookies baking greeted us.  Simply enchanting!!! That scent of cookies wafted through the house for the next couple of hours - and to me, there is no smell more inviting, homey or trance-inducing than that!  I was hoping that we would see the baked goods at breakfast the next morning, and I was not disappointed!

Sandy asked us what time we wanted breakfast, and we told her 8 a.m., as we had to get back to the city for work.  We had a peaceful night in the room - there is no television, and we quite liked that - we had our various electronic devices, but it also allowed us to give ourselves permission to relax and not be so connected.

We bounced down the stairs at 8 a.m, and there the cawffee was waiting, and Sandy greeted us and told us to sit wherever we liked.  We sat out on the covered side porch - I cannot describe how delightful this was - here are some pictures to help relive it.

And the breakfast was scrumptious - as you can see - scrambled eggs from local farmers, crunchy toasted bread, a pat of butter, stewed plums, the most perfectly crisped bacon, and then the source of the lovely baking aroma - zucchini bread!!!  This is what Sandy had been baking the night before - it was evenly browned, you could see the shredded zucchini in it, yet it had the beckoning cinnamon and brown sugar taste that a breakfast bread should have. 
My husband at first was hesitant to try the zucchini bread - he thought zucchini should not be a breakfast food - but I begged him to try, and his eyes expanded 2x at the first bite. 
We were so enchanted with the whole experience, we were sorry to finish our breakfasts and to have to leave.  My husband is a big bacon fan, and Sandy shared with me her secret to that perfect bacon. 
Off we went on that sunny morning, vowing we would be back.
Yes it's all in Amenia!

Foiled; search for the old time German style bakeries in Queens

After much ado reading about the Stork's Bakery in Whitestone, Queens, not far from the beloved and much missed Cake Box in Bayside, Queens, I drove over to Stork's; I had memorized the directions on Google maps; I chugged my way down 150th Street in the 90 degree temperature, and sighted the bakery!

I parked, paid the Muni Meter, and skipped across the street to Stork's on the corner - what a huge bakery from the outside!
But as I neared the door, I saw this:

Darn - July 7- August 15th closed!  The German bakery has the German vacation (I wish the U.S. had more Urlaubzeit).  We shall have to return mid August.

Bicerin-finally finally tasted one!

Ever since reading about the famous Bicerin drink from Turin, I have longed to taste it; having travelled in Italy in the cold winter months in the year we did our study abroad and so been introduced to the thick chocolatey pudding heaven that is an Italian hot chocolate, I had no doubt that combining this superb hot chocolate with espresso and cream would be an experience akin to reaching the peak of a chocolatey Mount Everest.
I thought I might have to travel to Turin, but as fate would have it, Turin came to me, or rather, to Manhattan; the food emporium/ restaurant/ cafe/ almost all things Italian enterprise of Lidia Bastianich and Mario Bataly, called " Eataly" , on 23rd street, selling the coveted Bicerin. Here was my chance!
I confess, it took me a little longer to get there than I had planned-simply because, as a New Yorker who has worked in and commuted back aNd forth to Manhattan for over a decade, I was reluctant to travel into Manhattan on an off day.
But last Monday, I finally did it; I stepped into Eataly at lunchtime ( if you go, I do not recommend lunchtime because of the swelling crowds), and at the caffe bar, ordered my Bicerin.
At close to $5, and just the size of an overfilled espresso, it is a little painful on the wallet, but again, how much would airfare be to Italy? I stepped out to Madison square park and found a bench amongst the lunch breakers to sit and savor my drink.
I found it thick and rich as expected; a drink to be sipped slowly, but not too slowly as the extreme heat of the espresso wears off quickly. The coffee and chocolate meld nicely in the palate; I don't know if this is blasphemy, but the taste, after a few sips, reminded me vaguely of a Starbucks' caffe mocha. The cream slowly sifted down and dispersed, like marshmallows on hot cocoa.
I was sorry the drink was over, I shook the cup for the last drops. Was it what I had expected; yes, I would say delightfully so!
Here is my cellphone pic of my Bicerin:

 

Yes - that is chocolate on the rim of the cup...ooh lala!

Good eats in Alabama!

Hello - it's been a while since we posted here!  Sorry - been busy and time flies by - but food is never far from our thoughts!
Here are a few more delish dishes I had on our trip down south - a couple of restaurants - one that is beloved by my mother -in-law and her husband, and another we discovered on our journey to Alabama.
Here is superb Italian food - Frank's Italian Restaurant, in Sheffield, Alabama.  We started with the bread dip - I believe this one is tomato pesto - we just couldn't get enough of it:

Darn - I see this photo is a little blurry - I thought it was clearer, sorry.  But you can see the herbs mixed in the sauce,and the sauce was a pink color, kind of like vodka sauce.

I also ordered the eggplant parmigiana - just lovely - fried cutlets of eggplant - I  love deep fried cuts of eggplant without the skin, and that's just what this was!  Smothered in sizzling cheese.

My husband and his Mom ordered the lasagna - it looked cheesy and perfect.

When we go back down to Florence, we are definitely returning to Frank's - if you are in the Muscle Shoals area, and there are many reasons to be there, besides being beautiful it also has a rich musical history-stop in at Frank's!

And I want to give a shout out to Sapphire, in Knoxville - it was right next door to a popular sports bar; the sports bar had an hour wait, and so we tried Sapphire next door, and were delighted.  So delighted, in fact, that on our trip back home to New York, passing through Knoxville again, we beelined it right back to Sapphire.  They had a lot of non-traditional takes on traditional food.  They had outstanding sweet potato potato chips, but also, brussel sprouts that were flash fried on the outside, so that the outer layers were shriveled but hugging the curve of the brussel - and perfectly soft on the inside.  We ordered them both times.

Ok, that's my tale for now. 

Southern New Year's

Since my husband and I spent New Year's with his mother and step-dad in northern Alabama, we were treated to an authentic Southern New Year's dinner!  I was thrilled!
My mother-in-law prepared us a delicious meal in her lovely home - and it was so good, I think I'm going to make this a Northern tradition too.
We had the black eyed peas, turnip greens, and ham, sweet potatoes, green onions, rice, and cornbread.  I didn't know where to start - the ham was beckoning - there's a reason they say bacon is boss! 
We ate the green onions as you would a carrot stick - I had never done that before, but I sure enjoyed it! 
I read later on that the peas are supposed to signify coins, and the greens - either the turnip greens or the green onions, signify green paper money.  I like the symbolism and the hope and good wishes it bestows on a new year.

Cinnamon Roll Redux; Startin' the New Year Out Right!

So I took it upon myself to make the cinnamon rolls again, from the recipe in last year's "Taste of the South" (note: they do have another receipe in this year's iron skillet issue for orange cinnamon rolls, but I wanted to stick to these).  Also, I had to address the taunts, snide remarks, sarcasm, etc. about how poorly those last rolls turned out.
I made these mostly according to the recipe; 4 cups of flour, 1 packet of yeast, 4 tablespoons of sugar, 1 egg, canola oil, salt and vanilla extract, all mixed together in my trusty mixer, "Ice"(thank you again Aunt Marge!).  The dough endures three risings; after being mixed, it rises in a buttered bowl for an hour; it gets punched down, then rises for another 15 minutes; then rolled out and buttered and sugared and sliced up and then it lays in the pan for another hour before being placed in the oven.
Tonight though, the last rising turned out to be about 3 hours, because I had to step out, and I figured, it should be ok to let them rise a bit more.

 

Well, when I got  home, I scurried to the kitchen to check on them - they had risen a bit more than expected, but it wasn't like they had strong-armed their way out of the pan! 
So I popped them into the oven at 350 degrees, and 25 minutes later, they were browned and ready!
I had the glaze ready; the recipe calls for 1/2 cup of whipping cream, 2 cups of confectioners sugar, and 3 tablespoons of light corn syrup; my version was 1/2 cup of half and half (because it has 1 gram less of fat per serving), and the 2 cups of confectioners sugar, and then 2 tablespoons of agave syrup.  I think it tastes great - and my husband agrees!  It smelled like Cinnabon in here while they were baking, and he was dancing around as I pulled them out of the oven and lifted them from the pan. 



May I just back up a moment here - I just want to point out something that I skimmed over - right before the last rising of the dough, when I said I had "rolled out and buttered and sugared and sliced  up...", the buttered in this case is a brown butter that the recipe recommends - it is simply melting the butter until way past simply melting it - it is letting the butter burn, so that it is a nice caramel color and scent.  I think that really adds to the caramelly sweetness of the whole cinnamon roll endeavor!