Keko Cafe

Not too far removed from the touristy location of the Empire State Building, you’ll find tucked away on Madison Ave Keko Cafe. This little cafe claims to be French, but I say it’s more of an American/French twist. Never-the-less, it’s a recommendation from the locals and will not disappoint.

My close college friend heard about Keko Cafe through his friends and just longed to take us there for breakfast one morning during our escapade in NYC. The five of us women searched and searched for this Cafe where we were meeting our friend. It was a blustery and FREEZING morning. Corners we turned, and street signs we read, hoping that each direction would bring us closer to Keko. Finally, we found Madison Ave and walked down the street until we could walk no further, delightfully realizing Keko was tucked away just to our left. The small staircase brought us to the welcoming, glass door reading Keko Cafe. Hurriedly we shuffled inside and grabbed as many small tables as possible to fit six.

Keko is a cozy little Cafe, not meant for big parties, and I might say that our party was even too large. It was a relaxed and close setting with friends with mustard-yellow wall color, teapots and teacups displayed on knick-knack shelves, wooden coffee storage bins and pictures of France’s past. The little table tops were made of coper, stained with rings from coffee mugs, but not in a messy way, just enough to make you feel at home.

Crepes were on the menu that day, well they always are, but our bellies were craving a crepe party. We ordered several to share because the options were too appealing to each just have one. Nutella and banana crepes, spinach and feta crepes, fruity crepes, and Mediterranean crepes filled our tables, aligned with sides of bacon, glasses of fresh water and imported coffee and lattes. Conversation and laughter resounded

over our crepes and coffees, a right way to start the day.

It was a delicious morning.

Short is More

Turning a classic into an obsession. I'm talking about coffee and sweet drinks that local coffee shops sell. We love them. They taste so great and keep us coming back for more. Coffee shops have us hooked, right where they want us, and the country in excess we call the United States is practically married to these delicious treats. We have forgotten how to taste and how to be satisfied because we are always welcome to more and more is readily accessible. Well, did you know that there was once a time more was not always available? Our local, yet far removed, neighborhood coffee shop called Starbucks has a history of Less is More.

People in other countries who order a coffee from a local cafe will expect to receive a small 8oz or less cup of purely, fresh brewed coffee and sip on it for a while over conversation, or at the dinner table for dessert or to warm them up in the morning. They know how to taste and respect where the food came from. We have lost that in the United States because we just want more more more more. Starbucks, in its beginnings, had only two sizes called the Short and the Tall. The Tall was created for America to please their excess loving, and has since booted the Short off the charts to make way for the Grande and the Venti. BUT... the Short is still available. It's less expensive and is just enough to enjoy without taking the "sip that pushed you over the edge."

So next time you go to Starbucks, ask for a short. Learn to enjoy without being excessive. Another Canadian coffee compnay called J.J. Bean also offers this size. I do think that J.J. Bean roasts better coffee, but it is not yet in the States. I hope someday it will be, and I hope they stick to their short size, not conforming to excessive standards we have created.

One Manhattan Day

I birthed the idea on Saturday afternoon from the conception of a desire to explore and a need to be with my family. A trip to Manhattan, SoHo to be specific and to be yet more precise... Dean and Deluca.

To all you masters of the mixers, sultans of the spatulas and czars of cooking I believe you comprehend the whimsy of gourmet and over-priced grocers. For some, it's more than just a knife. In fact it's a silver blade which smoothly spreads creamy, churned butter on the crisp on the outside, hearty, yet soft on the inside bread. Now let me just pause to say food is not an obsession of mine, just a part of my life that I take great joy and delight in.

Dean and Deluca welcomes you in with cathedral ceilings and fresh produce right at the entrance. Exotic mushrooms sit in perfect rows as if just picked fresh that morning and waiting to be prepared that evening. For Autumn, pumpkins line the front rows of the grocery garden and remind those who celebrate to be thankful for every scent climbing up your nose. Lying behind this produce garden is a vertical field of flowers, delicately arrange and mindfully prepared to please the eye. As my mom and I took a gander, a kind woman offered her assistance with pride. A glimmering reminder of how blessed she is to have employment she enjoys. Moving further into the jungle of exotic blends we find the coffee square with roasted beans from around the world. As I lift the lids from the coffee jars to breathe deeply, a fresh, crisp fragrance fills my lungs, leaving a calming after shock. Who would think coffee when roasted fresh and well could calm the senses and appease the taste buds. Making my way around the coffee corner is the candy and dried fruit; just looking at the apricots made my mouth water. Sniffing these fruits was all I did while passing them, but the delightful colors have painted a beautiful pallet in my creative mind. Onto the pastures of cheese was next on my list. The counter was high and marble covered with clean glass casings, but not too far to reach and ask for assistance. That day we delved into the purchase of new cheese; a sheep milk cheese, an delightfully aged gouda and a stinky bleu cheese for my dad.

A day worth while because it was spent with my parents and allowed my mind to explore the corners of the world via food through one small yet grand store. Food is a blessing; let us never take it for granted. May it always be used to bring people together and reveal care.

Cows Outside? Yes.

How can one not enjoy cheese?

Cheese! I’m not sure why we say it when we’re taking pictures, but I DO know that it’s a delicacy all over the world. One is able to experience it in a variety of flavors, sharpness, scents and textures. It is a food for the senses no doubt. Funny to think that in order to create it, bacteria has to be very hard at work. I believe that a little more healthy bacteria in all our systems would improve our lives more than we can understand.

But again on to the good stuff. Cheese. Kraft and store brands do not count, I’m sorry, but a cheese connoisseur would not approve of that as genuine. I’m talking about the kind that you only need a few bites to feel fully satisfied and the kind the French have for dessert. Several weekends ago my fellow lover of food, Dad, and I went to this cool farm called Bobolink Dairy to take delight in this thing we call Cheese.

Our excursion was sparked because we heard Bobolink Dairy had moved from Vernon, NJ to Milford, NJ [I cannot fathom how much work it is to move an entire farm, only Noah would have true empathy]. Bobolink Dairy is committed to raising and selling grass-fed beef, creating the delicacy of aged cheese and selling smoked duck. To put the cherry on top, they are quite seasonal, as a farm they have no choice. At Bobolink, one is able to purchase an entire calf and have it prepared by the farmers for the customers winter storage or summer if you choose. One is able to purchase fine cheeses (cave-aged cheddar is one of their bests in my opinion), and what cheese farm is complete without a brick oven to bake the crispiest and freshest bread.

While there, my dad and I bought about 3 pounds of excellent cheese; nearly perfect cheese, and some of the best I have ever tasted. Duck prosciutto, something I had never tasted before, was also made there. And BREAD! Again, not the store brand breads, bagged breads and precut loafs. This bread was freshly baked in a fire brick oven. We walked out of Bobolink with 5 ciabatta loafs and 2 cranberry-walnut sticks, though this clearly was not enough with the way my family enjoys authentic artisan bread.

On they way home, I just could not resist tasting one of the cranberry-walnut breadsticks. They were about 1.5 ft long and 3 inches in diameter. That breadstick was to me as blood is to a vampire... I ate the whole thing. Call me a glutton if you choose, I say I’m just treating my taste buds to what they’ve been missing all these years. While driving back home we enjoyed the drive, the smells of fresh bread filling the car and snacking on cheese that we could just not resist. Before reaching home, we picked up some farmstand grape tomatoes that were first sour then sweet in your mouth. Bodily chemistry is amazing how it reacts to food.

If bread and cheese is your particular thing, check out Bobolink Dairy in Milford, NJ. It’s a beautiful drive and well worth the excursion. As one of my closest friend’s grandmother says, “Food is Love,” which I do not beg to differ. Enjoy :)

Baked Pumpkin Pasta

Pasta... It's that lovely traditional and easy dish almost everyone likes. A little variety goes a long way. It was in Canada that I truly was introduced to the idea of pasta without red sauce and immediately my brain juices started flowing, imagining all the different combinations one could create.

Because I had a busy week ahead of me, I created a larger bowl of this Baked Pumpkin Pasta to last me a few days. I first started it off by cutting up some butternut squash in small half inch pieces, combining it with some sliced onions, crushed fresh garlic and tossed this all with some olive oil and salt and pepper. I then placed this on a baking sheet and put it in the oven for about 20 mins at 375 degrees. While this mixture was baking I got ready some penne rigate pasta until al dente. In a separate bowl I placed a small block of goat cheese in which I then put the fresh al dente pasta on top, adding about a cup and a half of the pasta water to help create a creamier sauce. I then mixed in the baked pumpkin, etc., topped the pasta with some fresh parmesan and parsley. I did enjoy this, but I will say it was not my favorite meal and it still needs some perfecting.

Bon Appetite!

Scrambled Hollondaise

I have not been up to date, yet again, on my food blogging. Yes, cooking is still something I love doing and find it relaxing. Most often I share with you my successes in cooking, but today I will share with you a failure.

This morning I was craving something slightly different than the normal egg, english muffin, bacon and fruit, so I thought a nice twist on things would be to create some hollondaise sauce and pour that on top of the egg and english muffin with some sauted spinach. Let's just say that nothing turned out as planned. The hollondaise sauce is supposed to be smooth, creamy and deliciously unhealthy for you, but mine turned out to be a more or less scrambled egg yolk in melted butter. I will not give up, though. I will try again, and I do hope to write about the success of the Hollondaise :)

Almond Crusted Chicken & Kale

Well, recently I made some almond crusted chicken breast... really good and not too difficult. You can find an assortment of recipes online which all have different additives. I put bread crumbs, brown sugar and crushed almonds in mine. Before dipping the chicken in a beaten egg so that almonds etc. would stick to it, I seasoned the chicken with some salt and pepper to help enhance the flavor of the almonds and bring out the slight sweetness of brown sugar. While the chicken was roasting in the oven for about 45 minutes, I added a little bit of water and lime juice to the chicken to enhance the flavor even more and also keep it moist.

Though this chicken would not be complete all by it's lonesome. So Today -- after I received my first paycheck from the hotel --- I stopped at the grocery store and picked up some kale and lemons. After getting home, I cut and prepared the kale into bigger than bite-sized pieces. I placed a bunch full into a large saucepan and added oil to begin the saute process. Letting saute for about 30 seconds, constantly moving it so as to keep the process even, I then added some salt, pepper, crushed red peppers and freshly squeezed lemon to taste. I like my kale a little crunchy, but you can saute it as much as you like or as little as you'd like. It was a refreshing, inexpensive side dish to my almond crusted chicken :)

Calm of the Cook

YES... you're correct. I have been a poo poo blogger and I too have missed my writing, though you get to be the judge of it's caliber.

This week has been quite hectic. I've been rising at 6am to train at the new job while getting home around 1am to finish my old job. Though, this week I have still found time to enjoy friends and family and of course cooking. Whenever I'm stressed my hands desire creativity and I find that pleasure often in cooking. So naturally after my accident I had the urge to cook. Cooking is so relaxing for me, enjoyable and can be done alone or as a social thing. This last week I made tomato blue cheese soup. I loved the recipe because of all the textures that were involved in making the soup; the tomatoes needed peeling and the blue cheese needed crumbling. The carrots needed chopping and the finished product needed blending. A bit of salt here and a splash of pepper here and the soup was ready to be devoured. I say it was the perfect fix for a rainy day, car-crash afternoon. Plus it lasted me into this week. That's the great thing about cooking at home.

If you're cooking for a family, you can always make extra and portion it out for the week; planning ahead is always helpful. And I do believe cooking should be fun, should be enjoyable and should not always feel like it's a chore. Find ways to enjoy it by preparing meals for the rest of the week at the beginning, middle or end of one week. Dot it with your family, do it with your friends. Food and gathering go hand in hand like forks and knives ;)

Yuckcake...I mean cupcake

Starbucks. It's a household name, a place of convenience and to convene; a place to ponder and to and wander. They have decent coffee -- not my personal fave, but good in a pinch -- and TERRIBLE desserts. Today, with my gift card flipping between my fingers, I stood far enough away from the register, you know so the barista wouldn't interrupt my decisive monologue I had going on in my head. My taste-buddies were asking me to try something new, so figuring I had a gift card I didn't have much to lose.

I made my selection... A grande, iced, vanilla latte accompanied by a red velvet cupcake. It just spoke to me through the glass; it just looked so delicious and I haven't had a cupcake in a long time. The barista kindly handed me my selection and I strolled out to my car to head home. Not wanting to wait till I got home to eat it, I took a big bite right in the car to get the process started.

WHOAHOHOO!

I was sorely disappointed. There wasn't much taste to it at all, and I could almost taste the red food coloring. Starbucks would never want me for an employee because my buddies are too honest. I'm sticking to homemade and learning to pray for wisdom from deceit... ik.

To all you lovely pastry chefs, bakers and coffee roasters... Keep baking and keep brewing.

We love you very much.

Potato Salad to Go...

I have come to realize that I like doing things last minute sometimes because I like to be busy, and when I need to do things last minute I'm running around and really busy or FRANTIC as one of my summer staff campers called me. I went to a "galintines" party (valentines party for the gals) and all of us who went were told to bring a dish to share. I was going to make cucumber sandwiches, but found out that someone already was bringing them. So quickly I decided that I'll whip together a potato salad, only I was missing essential ingredients like mayo and sour cream. So, I made everything I could ready at home; cleaned, cut and boiled the potatoes, mixed together the balsamic vinegar, mustard, parmesan cheese, chives, and spices and placed these in a bowl in the back of my car. On the way to my friends house, I was already rushing to get there, I stopped at the Grocery store and bought some mayo and sour cream, and proceeded to mix all of this in the back of my car and head on to my friends house.

The potato salad turned out great and no one would have even known I mixed it all in the back of my car, except for the few passerby's that saw me doing so in the grocery store parking lot.

Yummy Yummy Chicken in Wine

Today I found out that the job I was accepted to interview for requires me to work on Sunday. Needless to say, I turned it down, but it left me pretty sad. I was disappointed and needed to channel that energy somewhere. So I painted my room, the first coat at least, and then I cooked an amazing dinner. I'm just so proud of my work :)

As you know, I love food and have been discovering more and more how much I love it. I engaged all 5 senses today while cooking and that's the way it should be. Though I wasn't sure what I wanted to cook tonight, I decided to poke around the internet and see what kind of french foods tickled my taste buds.

(Here are my ingredients and then all of them cooking)

I clicked on a link that said entrees and voila... Coq Au Vin caught my interest. It consists of chicken thighs and legs combined with onions, blanched bacon (Yes... I did blanch something for the first time today and was amazed), parsley, thyme, salt + pepper, chicken stock and red wine. When I first began this adventure I needed to blanch the bacon to rid it of saltiness. Mostly the bacon is browned and the grease is used for cooking. Next the chicken and onions are browned for about 10 mins, and once browned well on all sides, I added the chicken stock and red wine. Oh yeah, and right before that the garlic, parsley and thyme are added for more aromas and flavor :) I let this cook for about 20 minutes meanwhile cutting potatoes to prepare them for boiling and chopping mushrooms for the last and final step... sauce. Once the chicken was done I strained everything from the pan, leaving just the wine sauce and added the chopped mushrooms. I reduced this then added everything to the pan again.

Served over potatoes or noodles, this tastes delicious. Go ahead, give it a try. It only took me about 2 hours haha.

(Finished Product)