Lunch in Morningside Heights

Last weekend, I had the pleasure of spending some time in Morningside Heights, the neighborhood of the students of Columbia University and Barnard College. Luckily, there was a small, food stand packed street fair on Broadway. This is the only picture I snapped of the street fair. Places you must check out when you're in Morningside Heights: Book Culture, Nussbaum & Wu's, Joe, Columbia University's Lewisohn lawn. How amazing is that flower bush? So ridiculously vibrant, no? There's also a cute little Italian speciality store. As I was walking up toward 116th, this window caught my eye. (Hi, I'm Nicole and I'm a carboholic.) Things I bought that day: two bags of kettle corn from a Kettle Corn NYC stand, a pumpernickel bagel with scallion cream cheese and lox, Anthropology of a Girl, and the April issue of Paper Magazine. (Gabe Saporta is on the cover. Y-e-s.) Have you been to Morningside Heights? Where are your favorite places to eat/drink/shop/browse/mingle?

A couple of muffins

I've been eating a lot of chicken breast and poached eggs over steamed greens lately. The creamy yolk on the vibrant green is REALLY pretty. But I don't eat them because they're aesthetically pleasing. It's because of my excessive baking during the past weeks. I made three types of muffins, a clafoutis, banana bread, pumpkin bread, cheddar herb quickbread, choquettes, and cinnamon pull apart bread. I ate all those lovely treats and enjoyed them fully. Now it is time to do a little healthy eating, no? 

So, muffins. I'd pick them over cake any day. Cookie or cake? Cake. Cake or cupcake? Cake. Cake or muffin? Muffin! My favorites are the classics: blueberry and corn. After strolling down the baking aisle at my local supermarket, a small, yellow sack of cornmeal caught my eye. I immediately planned to transform the coarse meal into tender corn muffins. Scrolling through Smitten Kitchen's recipe at the supermarket, I picked up everything I needed... except the frozen corn kernels. Darn, I thought as I waited for the muffins to cool. Then I bit into one. Delicious, with or without corn kernels. (For the record, I have a bag of kernels, chilling in my freezer, waiting to be slipped into corn muffin batter.) Notes: I used white whole wheat flour and it gave the muffins a nice, slight nutty flavor. 

Banana bread is freaking delicious. There's no other words to describe it. Lately, my younger brother always rushed to school without packing himself anything for breakfast. I decided to make a hearty banana bread into portable muffins. I roasted the bananas, let them cool, then gave them a spin in the processor. We both love pistachios so I just added some crushed nuts into the crumble topping. The best banana bread made better with pistachios. Yes. Notes: I used white whole wheat flour. Like I said, pistachios in the crumble topping make it special. Roasted bananas gave it a touch more sweetness but I didn't really get a different flavor profile. I didn't have honey so I used agave nectar. 


Now, for something a little different. Music. I'm not really a "music person." I have a few friends who live, breathe, eat music. I have a few favorite artists who sing mostly teenybopper/ Top 40 music. (Mike Posner, Vampire Weekend, Maroon 5, Justin Bieber, One Direction) Then, I came across Hoodie Allen in Jake and Amir videos. And. I. Fell. In. Love. A UPenn grad and an ex-Google employee, Hoodie Allen (real name: Steven Markowitz) could do anything he wants. Seriously. He chose music and he excels at it. I bought his EP, All American, on the first day of its release. 4.99 - a bargain! This is one of my favorite songs off his EP. Listen! Love! (Then buy his EP!)

chouqettes

Hello, spring. Hello, reader. Welcome to Kimchiburgers. Thank you for joining me here. All recipes from BREAD & SILK will be still up here.

I see and smell spring. The graininess of pollen, the delicate pink petals of cherry blossoms, the fishy scent of pear trees. Spring tastes like sweet and delicate desserts, like these adorable chouqettes.



I was inspired by Rachel Khoo from The Little Parisian Kitchen. She's a lovely British chef, living in Paris and cooking like a true Parisian. She made chouqettes on one episode and they looked absolutely delicious. Chouqettes are French pastries made from choux pastry dough, the starter for eclairs, profiteroles, and beignets. After a bit of browsing, I adapted David Lebovitz' recipe.



These delicate beauties are everything I want in a spring dessert. I dusted them off with powdered sugar before sliding the tray into the oven because I didn't have any pearl sugar. I sifted some sugar on top after they came out and even MORE after they have been sitting out for a bit. These chouqettes were delicious when hot, warm, and cold. Filled with peanut butter and raspberry jam, smeared with fig butter, drizzled with melted chocolate. Or you can follow tradition and stuff their little middles with sweetened whipped cream.


Chouquettes
Adapted from David Lebovitz
I used a cookie scoop that produced tablespoon sized dough balls. They expanded to become the size of a toddler's fist. I had some difficult with scooping because they started to melt and form spreading puddles. Don't wait too long before incorporating the eggs. I waited for fifteen minutes. No, no, just wait for a few minutes; you should be good.

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1 cup water
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons sugar
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small chunks
1 cup white whole wheat flour
4 large eggs, at room temperature

Read the instructions here.