Baked French Toast

I've always enjoyed Challah french toast from various brunch places but truth be told, always thought it was too difficult to make myself. Then J. reminded me that there is a baking recipe and I had not been diligent enough to document our baking session in my blog. In an attempt to bring french toast baking recipe back, I browsed the web for some inspirations and made a few french toast breakfasts in the past week. 

The star of the show today (cue arcade game music of your choice)

no Pacman was harmed during this cooking session

Ok, on with the show.

Baked French Toast

ingredients:

• sugar (brown is probably best, but I had regular sugar, so I just used it)
• cinnamon
• nutmeg (optional, to taste)
• milk
• eggs (2-3 per each batch)
• salt
• egg challah (3 or 4 fat slices will be fine. you can also use brioche)
• butter (enough to coat pan)
• citrus zest (optional but is also life-changing. orange zest is best, but lemon is fine too)

directions:

day before making french toast

• leave bread out to harden (about an afternoon or so)
• make mix by combining 2-3 eggs, 1/2 cup of milk or more with a pinch of salt.
• melt butter (i used about 1 tablespoon or so). 
• butter bottom of baking pan. note that I used a circular one because it's my smallest pan. You can use larger pan if you plan on making more.
• Spoon out enough sugar to coat bottom of pan lightly.
• Add spices to taste. For me, that means a lot of cinnamon and nutmeg
• place bread in the pan
• pour on egg mix

• cover with foil and place in fridge overnight

day of cooking french toast

• preheat oven to 350 F.
• add zest to pan
• bake for 30min or until golden brown
• wait for pan to cool a bit and gently flip entire round french toast onto plate (this was an unintended surprise during my experiment, but hey, I'll take it)
• Optional step: Decorate with smiley face (can use syrup or sauce). Cut into funny shapes.
• Serve with any favorite french toast embellishments (powdered sugar, maple syrup, berries, etc). I actually didn't have maple syrup so used apricot jam and chocolate sauce instead. They also work nicely.
• Bonus: your room will smell like heaven. You are welcome.

source recipes:

baking (this is the main one I used, although I mostly guesstimated the ingredients):
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/best-oven-baked-french-toast/

frying:
http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/french_toast/

tips for frying:

http://www.bonappetit.com/test-kitchen/common-mistakes/article/the-7-most-common-french-toast-cooking-mistakes

more tips and inspirations

http://food-hacks.wonderhowto.com/how-to/12-food-hacks-for-perfect-french-toast-every-time-0157474/

Spring DC Trip Write-Up

Food

• Georgetown Cafe Bonaparte // crab artichoke egg Benedict, moulin rough crepe
• DuPont St Arnold's // mussels (eastern shore seasoning which includes old bay, house seasoning which has duck fat and beer)
• Dolcezza sorbet / gelato // - grapefruit, coconut, mascarpone berry, sesame, blood orange
• Adams Morgan Meskerem Ethiopian food // lamb, beef
• Dangerously delicious pies // chicken pot pie, smog (steak, mushroom, onion, gruyere), strawberry and rhubarb
• Cafe Mozart (right behind the deli) - potato pancakes, beef goulash

Fun

• Georgetown water front http://www.georgetownwaterfrontpark.org/
• National zoo giant pandas (see pics on previous blog entry)
• Post Museum Pacific Exchange http://www.postalmuseum.si.edu/pacificexchange/index.html
• Cherry blossoms 
  

Books read on train

• Bartleby – Herman Melville (full text).
• Ocean at the end of the lane - Neil Gaiman (author’s page)
• If Beale St Could Talk – James Baldwin (wiki)
  

Food Roundup

Vineapple Cafe (brooklyn heights)
http://www.vineapple.com/

-comfy counches make this coffeeshop feel like your living room. free wifi and decent lighting for getting some reading done.

-the cafe is on Pineapple Street, how cool is that. or am I the only person who loves funny street names and stores that use them!?

 

Wahoo Tacos (near flatiron)
http://www.wahoos.com/menu.php

-I got the two taco entree with grilled fish taco, carne asada (grilled steak) taco, black beans, and brown rice.

-this is a Hawaiian chain that finally made it to NYC, yay! great for casual group food get together. there is also a bar out front with various alcoholic beverages.

 

Sanctuary T (west broadway and grand)
http://www.sanctuaryt.com/menus/

-fresh ricotta / bread to start

-coffees are served in insulated clear glasses. nice touch.

-I had country breakfast. T. had BLT and E (bacon, arugula, tomato and fried egg on a croissant).

need to see about their afternoon tea menu next time. probably best for meeting a friend, maybe difficult for large groups.

 

Veselka Ukrainian Restaurant (east village) 
http://www.veselka.com/

-pierogi of all kinds. I liked the potato and cheese ones best out of my selection.

next time I need to get the platter. hearty and warm foods make for a good group outing. 

 

Otafuku Okonomiyaki Stand (st marks)
http://otafukunyc.com/

-be prepared to wait and stand (no seats) for delicious oknomiyaki (somewhat similar to omelette). I ordered the shrimp one and have no complaints. I recommend it on a week day when the weather is nice and the crowd hasn't quite started yet.

Georgetown Cupcakes (SOHO location, there are more)
https://www.georgetowncupcake.com/menu.html

-I liked the double milk chocolate birthday cake (chocolate frosting on chocolate cupcake). wanted to see what the hype was.

Chopt Salad (various locations)
http://choptsalad.com/

-there is a reason why this place gets crowded for lunch. very hearty salads with limitless combinations. I am usually too indecisive to make up my own salad so I usually look at their classic combos for ideas. They also have a few seasonal features which are inspiring.

-if you find the salad too large, you can also order it as a "wrap". they put the chopped salad in a wrap and it's slightly more manageable.

-my favorites: shrimp palm beach, steakhouse.

 

Dorado Tacos (near union sq)
http://www.yelp.com/menu/dorado-tacos-new-york-2
-good quick eats. it’s finally been enough months since my San Diego trip and I can have fish tacos again. yay.

Summer in NYC

Assorted shout out and photos for H., T., and the lovely S. Cheers for good times and beautiful new found friendships.

Cheering on the Mets at Citifield
Take the 7 to Mets-Willets Point.
First Mets game for T. and S. The Mets may have lost 13-0 but the experience  of the beautiful stadium and lobster roll outweighed all of that.

Chilling with Comfort Food at Wonjo
23 W 32nd St. New York
http://newwonjo.com/
After a night of happy hour specials, I had the idea to get some good hearty food. While I’ve been to Wonjo for Korean BBQ a million times, I stayed from that this time. Cold noodles in beef broth was just the right dish for hot summer nights. I probably should have ordered the regular bibim bop instead of the cold veggie version (which was more like a salad with rice…) Made the right call to order a small seafood pancake for a group of four, just enough food to get people interested but not so much to get all greased out from them. We also ordered the tofu… (I still prefer BCD tofu house but found out they moved recently).

Waving to Statue of Liberty from Staten Island Ferry
White Hall Terminal
http://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/html/ferrybus/statfery.shtml

Midtown Night from Brooklyn Bridge
Look for the benches near the middle and enjoy the skyline and the cool evening breeze. There’s nothing quite like crossing the bridge at night. It’s a completely different experience from the day.

Walking together on Summer Streets
This is a NYC city sponsored event where an entire stretch of the city becomes car-free, and the streets are clear for biking, roller-blading, and walking. My two favorite sections of the entire walk were the roadway leading up to Grand Central and the entire downtown section (below Astor or thereabouts). First Saturday I took the entire route from City Hall to 72nd (around 2.5h). Second Saturday I went with T., H., and S. and we had a blast walking south from 51st to 23rd or so. We also tagged on other activities along the way.

 

Eating Brunch at Spoon
17 West 20th street (between 5th and 6th avenues)
http://www.spoonnyc.com/
Three of us ordered the Hungry Man Special, which consisted of two sunny side up eggs, blueberry pancakes with the best syrup ever, toast, bacon and shitake hash browns (the best!). While I didn’t realize this at the time, Spoon is actually my first proper Manhattan brunch after I moved into the city. I guess this is what people call one of the essential city experiences, hanging out with good friends and catching up over good food. I liked it even better since I didn’t have to wait in a long line or anything.

Browsing Books at the Strand and the B&N
Strand 12th Street and Broadway.
http://www.strandbooks.com/index.cfm
B&N Straight on Union SQ north side
http://store-locator.barnesandnoble.com/store/2675/

Lounging at Ginger Man
11 East 36th Street
http://www.gingerman-ny.com/
Every bar should have comfortable couches in dim-lit corners and 60+ beers on tap. Feel so incredibly spoiled! Before you order any bottled beers, read this wise quote we found at the entrance:



Walking up the steps of NY Public Library at Bryant Park

Taking a break with Ginger and S’Mores Gelato from Ciao Bella in GCT

Admiring the Cloud City exhibit of the Metropolitan Museum
http://www.metmuseum.org/en/exhibitions/listings/2012/tomas-saraceno

Obviously the complete Met experience also included American Wing, Egypt Temple, the Knights and Armor Room, Chinese Garden, and even sitting on the front steps. Pleasantly surprised that T. liked this museum as much as I do.

Just an appetizer from Ooki Sushi
1575 3rd Ave. New York NY 10128  ( between 88th - 89th Street )
http://www.ooki-sushi.com
I can definitely recommend the tuna tataki here (next time will try toro) and it impressed both people in the table next to us (awesome!)

Williamsburg Rainy Day Adventures Part 2

You may recall from a previous entry, I visited V. in Brooklyn during a downpour in March and I had wanted to plan for another trip when it’s warmer and sunnier out. Well, the weather was not cooperative when I made my second trip last weekend, but at least we had a good time nonetheless.

Soundtrack
this entry was written with Beirut playing in the background. feel free to check him out! Go Brooklyn.
http://www.myspace.com/beruit

Park
With recent spring weather I thought it would be nice to volunteer with my company to beautify local parks. The weather turned out to be freezing and rather windy but luckily I had good company. I found out that I really enjoy using rollers for painting (I really should take advantage of this and paint my walls or something). 

Coffee
My park event was supposed to end in the afternoon but due to weather and our efficient use of time, the leader dismissed us early. Instead of waiting in the cold for lunch, I opted to head out and meet up with V. earlier. A cup of whole foods breakfast blend coffee with soy later, I finally recovered from hanging out in the cold all morning. Reading up on colorful CB2 catalogues made me wish I had an empty apt to decorate. Sigh.

Brunch
Creative food place with fantastic decor, a very Brooklyn soundtrack and ridiculously well-dressed and fine-looking crowd. Another reason to come back to Williamsburg even if it’s pouring. 
http://www.traifny.com/

This place had good coffee in cute cup/saucer sets and we ended up drinking way too many cups (my entire week’s quota was filled up).

course 1: Starting off, V. had a greens dish with figs and I got a pineapple section with pomegranate molasses and grated lime (superb, and we were literately licking the plates for the last drop of pomegranate molasses). Just looked up a recipe, it actually doesn’t look that difficult. Since I already make pomegranate juice from scratch, this is nothing. alternatively we should just get a bottle from Trader Joes or Whole Foods.

course 2: Egg-in-a-nest with portabella and truffle cream. If you order this, take a whiff and prepare to die from happiness. Mushroom lovers, this is a must! Egg-in-a-nest means they cut a round hole in your toast and put in a fried egg. It looks much prettier than it sounds.  

course 3: bacon donuts with coffee ice cream. I think Williamsburg must love donuts because last time we had some nice cinnamon sugar donuts at the other brunch place. Anyway, bacon bits on donuts was interesting but I loved the combo of bacon and coffee ice cream. does anyone really get anything done after a 3 course brunch?

Chill out
The weather turned out even worse after brunch, and while we walked through the rain on my last visit, we weren’t as motivated to check out anything this time. Super Mario for the Wii actually looked quite difficult. I’m glad I don’t have time to play games anymore (except for the occasional phone games).  I ended up finishing my latest book on my phone (yea nook mobile app) while waiting for the rain to die down. This made me realize just how important a comfortable couch with good natural lighting is. I never seem to have both at my disposal. Something to consider when I look at available housing in the future.

Next time
-waterfront (even if it rains, this is getting ridiculous, truly)
-concert! (already on the calendar for June)
-dinner (instead of brunch, although I expect huge crowds)

Rain, Cat, and Brooklyn

My friend V. had moved out to Williamsburg last summer and somehow or another, I’ve managed to delay my visit until today. What better day than a rainy day in early spring to venture into the unknown?

Awful commute aside (made worse by rain and the fact that I was going to a new and strange neighborhood), I had a great time. V. is the best host ever, this was apparent even when we were students, living in cramped dormitories. I still need to get him inspired by Mad Men to throw a theme party or something.

Coffee
First time I had soy with coffee (I’m still skeptical about the lattes people rave about, but maybe I’ll try it next time). It was quite good and helped me recover from the rain. V always had quite an influence on my drink habits. First it was adding milk to Lipton (which I never do, until I met the guy), now soy to coffee? Maybe the see-through mugs helped. Any beverage is made infinitely better by see-through containers. Quick apt tour later, I realized that V’s paint job and décor skills puts the rest of us to shame. I never thought too much about interior décor but now I’m itching to get my own place and do it up with tasteful color schemes and containers. The rooftop was impressive too, with a view of the bridge, empire state building, and more!

Brunch
http://www.jimmysdinerhome.com/Jimmys/Breakfast.html
having had amazing corn bread in DC and Chicago, I was not ready to believe there’s good stuff to be had in Brooklyn. Glad I was wrong. Jimmy’s corn bread is amazing! 

They started us out with some cinnamon sugar covered donut holes on the house. Sweet deliciousness. Then I had to order their fried okra because I haven’t had that since my DC days (and that restaurant had gotten rid of that item on the menu, sad but true). Crispy on the outside, slimy on the inside. Also came with chipotle mayo, which was a nice touch. To tell you the truth though, mayo was not even necessary. I think I polished off 70% of the okras. For the main event, V had the Big Boy (with fluffy pancakes!) and I tried the Cornbread Bowl.

Cat
While we were walking back from brunch, V. pointed out a pretty orange cat near the window on the second floor. Being a cat lover, I naturally asked to be introduced to the cat (and its owner, who is a friend of V’s). We met D. and his cat Conan shortly after we stepped inside the building. D. is also in the middle of working on painting his apt. The orange boxes he started were lovely. I hope to see how it turns out next time I visit (maybe tiered like staircase? maybe regularly spaced? maybe some kind of gradual orange to yellow to another color, who knows?) You know how lions and other big cats like to strut their stuff, especially with those muscular shoulders? well, Conan was exactly the same. Inside that orange cat is a fierce and proud lion (and his majesty doesn’t drink out of a bowl, but out of a glass cup just like the rest of us). In short, after I got to know him, I was in love. Both D. and V. showed me how to entertain the cat. Besides a little feather attached to the end of a string and stick, Conan’s favorite toy is a paper covered straw (but not just the straw sitting still, you have to poke it out of doors, boxes, and other devices). In short, you have to work it to get him interested. If you can imagine us three adults in that apt, entertaining a cat, it’ll probably make you howl with laughter. I should have tried to take a video of us chasing and teasing Conan. Totally hilarious. I can just see the ironic title/caption now. “Just another typical Sunday afternoon in Brooklyn”.

Tea
V. brewed some Roobois Cream Caramel Tea after we returned from D’s apt. It went well with the vanilla sweets I bought from an Asian bakery (kind of like macaron, but not as sweet or creamy). Perfect for a rainy day.

Walk
It started to pour outside, but I didn’t come all the way to Brooklyn to stay inside. We stepped out and walked around the neighborhood with our umbrellas to find a number of cute shops (orange décor! fun posters! arts&crafts llamas!).  I was told the “BEST” bagels were found just around the corner (gives me an excuse to drag J. out to Williamsburg next time). I was also introduced to a new breed of Duane Reade with a full super market section and beer on tap. You can buy a growler and fill up on brews such as Brooklyn Lager and Six Point and Kelso. For those of you unfamiliar with Duane Reade, it’s a chain of pharmacies in New York (I’m pretty sure the other branches don’t have growlers). V also lives within walking distance from Brooklyn Brewery (somehow I was never told this, and now I really have no excuse for delaying my Brewery tour). Some of the buildings and architecture on the walk were quite nice. Will have to take some photos next time I visit.

Stuff for next time
Scrabble game
Korean tacos (?)
Bagels
Brewery Tour / Duane Reade Growler
Concert in McCarren (summer?)
Photography

Strawberry Noisella Crepe

Part of your amazing Sunday breakfast menu. Makes 1 serving. Takes less than 15 min.

ingredients
-2 generous tablespoons of flour
-2 tablespoons of sugar (optional)
-1 egg
-half a mug of milk. I think it measures to be a cup or so.
-cooking oil

filling
-strawberries (sliced)
-noisella (nutella, other chocolate sauce)

directions
1. mix first four items under ingredients together
2. heat up pan and add cooking oil to coat
3. pour mixture carefully into pan, swirl around to make the edges round, cook until there's no more liquid mix visible
4. use spatula to flip crepe and cook the other side (did you coat your pan with oil? If so, this shouldn't be too difficult)
5. Spread crepe on a plate and add filling
6. Fold in half if desired
7. Yum!

notes
1. you can probably use honey if you don't have any chocolate sauce.
2. Noisella needs heat to spread evenly, so I scouped out a glob and waited for the heat of the crepe to soften it. Then it was very easy to spread.
3. easy recipe, delicious results, impress your parents/friends!
4. Somewhat related is my mango crepe recipe. It's funny that no matter how many times I've made crepes, I still have days where I just don't get the proportions or they turn out crispy brown. Practices makes perfect though.
5. The reason sugar is optional is because the noisella will make your teeth rot by itself. However, if you love sweet things (I do!), you'd better put sugar in the crepe mix so the crepe itself is sweet, too. This is especially important if you end up not having any items to fill the crepe.
6. For presentation, add some strawberries to the side with mint leaves. (not pictured)