Suzee's Apple Crisp a la Dean and Deluca's

Yesterday, while making our way back from the park, we happened upon Dean & Deluca. I hadn't yet been in this landmark gourmet store, so I dragged Rick in (literally). It's a nice little store with beautiful produce, a fish counter, meat counter, cheese counter and a sausage and pate counter. Who knew there were so many types of pate in one place?

While looking at all the gorgeous Fall decorations (including a perfectly formed pumpkin that must have been several hundred pounds), Rick very sweetly asked me to make him an apple pie. I was up for that, but I would have to go the grocery store to get a crust. I was sure I had the makings for a crisp and I was glad when he agreed to apple crisp instead :) I picked out 5 big Roma apples thinking that would be perfect for my 8x8 square pan.

This morning I started peeling, coring and slicing. Hmmmm.....these are pretty big apples. I filled a bowl with water and started looking for lemon juice. Hmmm don't have any - no lime juice either (how did that happen??). I just tossed the apples in the plain water. By the time I was done there was no way they would fit in the square pan, so I moved to the deep dish apple pie pyrex. Once I got them all in, I started thinking maybe I should have used the 9x13. They were piled so high I wondered if the topping was going to stay on.

I had taken out the stick of butter a while ago, so it was room temp. Normally I would work it in cold with a pastry blender, but now it was too soft for that. I mixed the butter and flour well and cut in the sugar and stirred in the oats. I had looked for my brown sugar, but couldn't find it so I used white. And I just totally forgot the cinnamon on the apples.

Despite all the mistakes, the apple crisp was still tasty :) The topping was more cookie like than crisp like, but Rick liked it :)Here is the recipe - you can leave out my mistakes :)



Apple filling
6 cups apples (pick a nice cooking apple - the tart ones are best)
water and lemon juice
1/2 - 1 t cinnamon
2T sugar
1T butter (for dotting)

Topping
1/2C chilled butter
2/3 C Flour
2/3 C Brown Sugar
2/3 C Old Fashioned Rolled Oats

Preheat the oven to 375.
Peel, core and slice the apples. Put the cut apples in a bowl filled with water and a couple teaspoons of lemon juice.

Prepare the topping. Cut the butter into the flour. Cut in the brown sugar, and stir in the oats.

Drain the apples and toss them with the cinnamon, and 2T sugar. Put them in the pan and dot the top with butter. Sprinkle the topping over the apples. Bake for 40 minutes or so.

Top with vanilla ice cream if you are feeling decadent :)

Brunch at The Uptown

On the way back from the park, we stopped at the Uptown for Brunch. I was thinking they are on the sunny side of the street so it could be fun to sit outside or maybe just inside near the open doors. It's very cool how the outdoor seating becomes part of the dining room as the big wall of windows is folded back opening literally the entire wall. It was too cool, though, and that big wall of windows was closed :( But, the Brunch menu - woo!

Brunch is $15.95 at the Uptown, and it includes 2 drinks (either Bud Light, Bloody Mary or Mimosa) as well as food. There are about 20 items from which to choose including the usual eggs benedict and omlettes, as well as sandwiches and a big burger.

Rick actually ordered the burger with cheese, lettuce and tomato. It comes with fries but they will give you salad if you prefer. I tasted it - very good.

I was bad. Really bad. I had croissant french toast stuffed with bananas. That is how they describe it on the menu. But really it's stuffed with something akin to bananas foster - sauteed with butter and sugar. It's copiously garnished with fresh sliced strawberries and blueberries, and comes with a side of maple butter and real maple syrup. Be careful when eating this one - they are made to order and that banana mixture stays very hot for a very long time.

This is where I'm sure my Mom will want to come when she visits us in the city. She may even have a mimosa :)

Saturday Afternoon in Central Park

What a beautiful day. We finished our chores around the house and decided to go to the park to read a little bit and enjoy the sunshine. I thought about taking pictures on the way over on 91st street. There were beautiful brownstones, each with their own stoop, all decorated for fall. One entrance actually had stuffed blackbirds wired to the wrought iron rail. Very eerie!!

We made it to the entrance of the running track - a beautiful memorial is here. Rick was happy to take a seat. His sneakers were not working very well today.

We walked around in the park and enjoyed the day - it was a little too cool for sitting around for long, and we decided that lunch was important. On the way back I snapped a couple of shots of the tiny gardens on the side streets - all dressed up for Fall. Very pretty :)

The Dollar Menu at Papaya Dog

This week I treated myself to the .99 cent special at the Papaya Dog on the way to work. 2 eggs on a roll. They automatically come over easy :) for .75 cents more you can have cheese. This has to be the best special in all of Manhattan - the 2 egg on a roll sandwich is all of $1.07 including tax.

Very tasty in the morning, and a good for you breakfast :)

Maybe I'll add a picture later :)

Revel - a restaurant in the meat packing district

While in the Meat Packing District for the Food and Wine Festival in New York City, we needed some dinner!! I'll admit - I made reservations via Open Table at Paradou, but we walked by and were a little scared. We stopped next door and were quite pleased with the space and the food!

Revel had a nice covered garden for dinner - it usually opens at 5:30 for dinner, but since we stopped by at 5:00 they stopped everything and served us :)

We started with cocktails. The server suggested the Pummello Martini and I agreed. Wow it was tasty. Grapefruit vodka along with grapefruit juice according to the server is what made this fabulous cocktail. Something tells me they left out the secret spice :)

The birdhouse was made from wine crates and attached to a tree in the middle of the dining room, which was in the "garden". So pretty.

Rick and I both had the filet mignon - a nice piece of meat, and I was surprised to see that Rick had to cut away fat and gristle. I ordered mine medium rare, and it really came almost medium well. Only a little pink left. The steaks were served in heated cast iron pan, and this further cooked the steaks, but the heat was needed because the steaks were luke warm. It tasted good so I just ate it. He had the Pomme de Terre for a side -thin layers of potatoes with cheese and a cream sauce, also served in a cast iron dish. I had a side dish that isn't on the menu on the web - roasted beets with stilton cheese. Oh Yum! The beets were cut in a jullienne, the bottom was crispy and the stilton salty. A nice combination :)

Chelsea Market and Rachel Ray!

After our wine tasting at Del Posto, we took the time to visit the Chelsea Market. I'd compare this to a Fanuel Hall in Boston - lots of great places to get food (not quite so squishy which is NICE!), and unlike Fanuel Hall, lots of stores with amazing ingredients!!!


Right up front we found Rachel Ray signing autographs. It was about 4:30 and she was on schedule till 5:00. I did't think we could get through the line for a signed book, so we didn't wait. I was able to snap this quick photo!



Visting the Chelsea Market looks a little like this:




We visited Buon Italia, a gorgeous Italian Market with more types of olive oil than you count. These crates are all olive oils.

I stopped into The Lobster Place - Rick refused - too smelly - I found lots of great fresh fish. We were planning to go out for dinner so I wasn't interested in actually buying something, but I was interested in understanding what I could get there. LOTS OF GREAT FISH!! I would be able to get Chilean Sea Bass for less than I could have in Portsmouth, but at the same price as Cod. Kinda funny:)

Great foodie experience! I got some cook shaped pasta, and an interesting chocolate for later :)

Food and Wine Festival - Ruffino Wine Tasting

Today we made our way to the meat packing district to attend the Ruffino Wine Tasting as a part of the Food and Wind Festival in New York City. We bought tickets back in June. I knew this was one of those things I wanted to attend. Heck - if I still lived in Portsmouth, I'd want to come just for the weekend!

This wine tasting was at Del Posto. A beautiful restaurant with a gorgeous private room in the basement. We got there about a 1/2 hour early. I wasn't sure what to expect since usually activities in NYC are pretty well attended, and I didn't want to be in the back of the room. We sat up front and were greeted with eight gorgeous Sangiovese wines from Ruffino - vintages 1985 to 2004 - the special reveserve gold.

Adolfo Folonari was the speaker - the CEO of Ruffino Wines. He gave us a complete history of wines in the Tuscan area of Italy, and the family history of Folonari and why he was the CEO of Ruffino rather than Folonari. He suggested we start from the oldest to the youngest. Initially I thought hmmmmm.... that's strange ......... But after tasting I do appreciate why. You taste from the more delicate to the more strong. the older Sangioveses were delicate and the younger ones were strong. I think after 10 years, I really don't prefer these wines - they are not nearly as nice. Which I suppose is good since I no longer have a wine cellar!!

I very much enjoyed this wine tasting, and we headed over to the Chelsea Market (just across the street) after. A very fun time!!!