Magnolia Bakery

On a brisk Saturday afternoon, I stood on the block long line outside of the famous Magnolia bakery. It was long. I was cold. It was so worth it.

This is what I got (Sorry - don't have pics for these):

-Banana Pudding (12 oz - $4.50; 16 oz - $5.50; single bowl - $24; double bowl - $36) A heavenly concoction of vanilla wafers, fresh bananas and creamy vanilla pudding. I can't wait to get this again. I want to throw a party, just so I can buy the large bowl size and have everyone bring a spoon.

-Cookies (5o cents a pop) I got an assortment of chocolate chip, oatmeal raisin and peanut butter cookies.

Their cookies are amazing. I don't think I ever had such delicious cookies. It's soft, moist, chewy, and a little crisp (in a good way). I don't know if it's the oven, the recipe or perfect timing, but the cookie has perfect consistency in every bite. My favorite is the chocolate chip =)

-Cupcakes ($2.25 each) I got the vanilla cupcakes with vanilla icing in pink, blue and green. I love cupcakes and was eager to get my fingers on these. I'm sad to say that I was disappointed. The icing was tooo sweet and kinda hard. The cake should be light and airy, but was heavy, dense and a little dry.

The bakery is small and is packed on Fridays and Saturdays. The cupcakes go fast, but are replenished quickly. There's a limit of one dozen cupcakes per customer. You can imagine why, since they did start the cupcake craZe.

Check out there menu http://www.magnoliabakery.com/MAG_webMenu3.pdf

Frozen Shrimp

My dad baked these babies and we ate them. It was a pretty straight foward procedure that went well. LOL!

Doesn't it look kinda cute. Too bad it looks tastier than cute.

Il Corallo Trattoria

If you are looking for a cozy authentic Italian restaurant and you are in the Soho area (176 Prince St, near Thompson St), look no further than Il Corallo Trattoria. I was taken here a couple weeks ago and I have been craving their hand made pasta ever since.

Here's a look at the dishes we got:

Gotta start off with delicious fresh bread

A little olive oil and balsamic vinegar for dipping

Looks like a good salad
I really want to have soup now.

Rigatoni Padani - pasta tubes in a tomato cream sauce w/ parmigiano, fresh smoked mozzarella and pecorina cheese. I am recalling what it tasted like. It truly was heaven. The pasta was perfect - al dente of course!

Tortellini Parmigiano - cheese filled pasta with fresh green peas and prosciutto in a light cream sauce with parmagiano cheese. No peas are in this one b/c a certain someone just doesn't eat it. I won't name names.

Fusilli Boscaiola - a spiral pasta with mushrooms and fresh green peas in a light cream of tomato sauce. Peas are present.

It's nice to end with a cappuccino

I don't know if I have convinced anyone to try this place, but I think I just re-convinced myself that I need to go back. =)

Canadian Crabs

Hello crabby!!

Sauteed with shallots, garlic, eggs, and a whole bunch of other stuff. It was amazing!!! I wish I could have some right now.

Let's go cherry picking!

I wish I could go cherry picking again. I'm ready for the summer. No more half-ass winters for me!

You know what's the best thing about cherry picking? You can eat while you pick!

Here are a couple pics of my nephews and nieces picking their own cherries.

Can't climb with the big kids.

Monkey arms come in handy for those high branches.

Thai

A little bit of Thai for the night.

Tom Yum soup. It's nice and sour. Not to mention, packed with heat. I love this.

Thai spring rolls with a sweet sauce. Not sure what type of sauce that is.

Tilapia and sweet potatoes with yellow curry sauce.

I had to post this. That straw is just too cool!

Babka (Part 2)

This took us over 6 hours to make. At least we finished before midnight. We now understand why bakers make bread so early in the morning.

First out of the oven are the pretzels.

Then come muffins...
Finally the loaves!

Now it's time for butter

And more butter
Somebody looks proud~
Admiring his work. The babka did turn out really well. We were really surprised. I expected the worst, but it was delicious and moist.

Live on babka! Live on!

If only your parents were here to see this babka palooza, Dan. They would be so proud.

Yup! That's a whole lotta bread. We have no idea what to do with all of that.

Babka (Part 1)

Dan's mission this weekend was to carry on a cherished Polish dish passed down by his great grandma Mima. Soo, I decided to help and made sure to take a lot of pictures!

Dan you look confused. Maybe a little overwhelmed by the fact we have no idea how to make any type of bread!?

First step- getting the yeast ready. Mix 2 packets with a teaspoon of water. Let it sit for ~10min.Preparing the flour mixture. Milk with a stick of melted butter is poured in bowl.

Flour, eggs, butter, milk, salt and yeast all mixed together.

Cover and let rise.
Flour the table. Time to get the hands dirty!!

Knead it for a good 8 min! (Raisins were added at this time.)

Put it in a bowl and cover with aluminum foil. Let it rise for ~1 and 1/2 hours.

We put it on the floor near the heater. A little heat will make it rise faster.
It should double in size by now. Take it out and knead. Try to get the air out. I have no idea how that works, but we just punched and folded the dough.

We can now split it up into loaves, muffin pans and maybe even into pretzels.


Dan and his pretzel making skills. How sexy!?

After you portion it off - you gotta let it rise again. Another 1 and 1/2 hours or so. Then you will glaze with egg yolk before you can finally bake the damn thing.

It's finally ready to be baked. Into the oven you go!!!

How did the Babka turn out? To be continued...

Best SQUASH ever!!

It's so simple to make too! All you need is a little salt and ground pepper for seasoning, a couple garlic cloves and some sundried tomatoes. You then sautee in olive oil until slightly golden/crisp. Voila! You now have a delicious, but yet very healthy dish. Who needs a steak now!? ** Special thanks to Chef House. You're pretty good at making squash.