A Visit to Murray's Cheese Caves

We were invited by Google to have a tour of Murray's Cheese Caves on Bleeker Street. Did you know that Murray's makes their own cheeses?

Murray's Cheese Shop

 It's a very interesting process. From start to finish there are a few steps.

• Collect milk from cows and goats. 
• Heat the milk. An agent called rennet must be added to the milk which will cause the curds to separate from the whey. 
• Cut and cook the curds. Drain and salt. 
• This state is then molded and pressed into the shape of cheese needed. 
• Dry the cheese and take to the cheese caves!

Compliance with sanitation and food safety first! Hairnets and lab coats.

Safety socks for shoes.

Cheese comes in a variety of shapes and sizes. Burrata!

Cheese can get very stinky. Stinky cheese is kept in a separate part of the cave.

Like fine wine, cheese needs to age. It can take a few weeks, even months, to get the desired taste. This aging process can get very smelly and moldy. A cavemaster will have strict watch over the cheeses and do additional steps to preserve the cheese and get it to perfection.

The finished product.

There are many different styles of cheese to choose from. Sharp, mild, soft, crumbly, blue, stinky, the choice is yours to what tickles your fancy!

Pair cheese with nuts and dried fruit to enhance flavor.

Murray's Cheese
254 Bleecker Street
New York, NY 10014

Tapas Barinn- Icelandic Tapas and Exotic Meats

Dinner at Tapas Barinn was a truly unique Icelandic experience. Tapas Barinn is the one restaurant I recommend if you had to eat out somewhere in Reykjavik.

What I love about tapas are that the portions are small enough just for a taste but large enough to share with one or two other people. Sure, you only get a bite or two, but the point is to sample your way through a variety of tastes and textures until you are full.

At Tapas Barinn, we specifically went to try the Icelandic Gourmet Feast Tasting Menu. Instead of getting two portions for ourselves, we opted for one only and added a dish of kangaroo. There was so much to choose from on the menu. We wanted to try something we have never tried before. Hence, the kangaroo to round out our dinner.

Our meal started with shots of Brennivin, the Icelandic liquor nicknamed "Black Death".

Brennivin

We were served bread with two spreads, one of which was an olive tapenade.

Complimentary Bread

Our first dish was smoked puffin with blueberry Brennivin sauce. Yes, those cute and cuddly tiny birds are served for dinner. The texture was like raw fish and the taste was definitely enhanced with the blueberry sauce.

Puffin

Icelandic sea trout with a pepper sauce was a more familiar taste. No complaints or anything exotic here.

Trout

Lobster tails baked in garlic sauce was outstanding. The lobster was on the small side. Perhaps it is due to the temperature and location of where it came from.

Lobster Tails

Pan fried blue ling with lobster sauce was another delicious fish dish. We had no idea what a blue ling looked like so we googled it. Not the prettiest of fish.

Blue Ling

The grilled lamb Samfaina was so juicy and flavorful. Not gamey at all.

Lamb

Minke whale with cranberry sauce is not a dish I would like to have again. I just couldn't stomach the whale and enjoy it. The flavor was just not for me.

Whale

The kangaroo was like steak.

Kangaroo

For dessert, the white chocolate skyr mousse was phenomenal. Skyr is Icelandic yogurt and they whipped it into the mousse until it was airy. It was served with a side of sorbet and passion coulis. Absolutely amazing.

Sykr Mousse

Photography Credit: Desmond Chow and Roxwriting

Tapas Barinn
Vesturgata 3B
101 Reykavik, Iceland

Snacks in Amsterdam

It's very easy to get the munchies in Amsterdam. Even if you don't partake in the cafe culture, there is plenty to snack on in Amsterdam. Here are a few treats we came across on our trip.

Grocery store ice cream sandwiches.

Apple Taart from Winkel 43. Wash it down with mint tea.

Frozen Yogurt

Bloodsinaasappel (blood orange) sorbet

Hot dog with sauerkraut, fried onions, and bacon

Stroopwafel

Photography Credits: Roxwriting, Desmond Chow

San Francisco Ferry Building

San Francisco Ferry Building

The San Francisco Ferry Building is one of my favorite places to visit when I am in the Bay Area. It's a good place for lunch, a quick snack, and just a stroll. The building was transformed into a retail space filled with bakeries, seafood stalls, plant shops, and food vendors. It's similar to Pike Place Market in Seattle and Reading Terminal Market in Philadelphia. In short, if you love food, this is a must visit in San Francisco!

If you really want to experience the space in all of it's glory, I recommend visiting during the farmer's market hours. The farmer's market happens three days a week. The smaller markets are on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10 AM - 2 PM. The Saturday farmer's market is the largest of the three days. The space occupies the front of the Ferry Building as well as the backside. There are lots of tables to enjoy your purchased food and coffee all while overlooking the San Francisco Bay Bridge. You can even watch the ships and sailboats pass by. The Saturday farmer's market happens much earlier in the day from 8 AM - 2 PM. Get there early to avoid long lines. You can park along the Embarcadeo or in one of the nearby lots. You can also take BART or the streetcar to Embarcadero.

Streetcar to Embarcadeo

Once you are at the Ferry Building, enjoy! Remember to sample all the fresh fruits and veggies. Don't double dip. Use a fresh toothpick each time.

Community Supported Agriculture!

Eat up!

Kale Chips

Falafel and Dips (tahini, hummus, baba ganoush, etc.)

The best pie ever from Frog Hollow Farm

Shishito Peppers

Squash Blossom Recipe

Hybrid Fruit

Rainbow Chard

Lobster Mushrooms

The best brittle ever from G. L. Alfieri

San Francisco Ferry Building
One Ferry Building
San Francisco, CA 94111

Whole Foods Cooking Class- Small Budget, Big Flavor

Whole Foods hosts a variety of cooking classes at The Bowery Culinary Center in the Lower East Side. The Bowery Culinary Center is located inside Whole Foods on the second floor behind all the beauty products. It is a private room complete with a kitchen and television screens to broadcast the cooking demonstrations.

Most of the cooking classes offered are for a fee. Once a month, they offer a free cooking course entitled Small Budget, Big Flavor. There are only 20 slots available for the course. Everyone can bring a guest. I felt like I won the lottery by getting a spot in this class, especially in New York City.

Small Budget, Big Flavor focuses on what is on sale during the week of the class. It encourages people to shop at Whole Foods and use Whole Foods products to create a tasty meal while keeping to a budget.

This particular cooking class was not hands on experience. It was more seminar like. Seating was bar style in the front. If you didn't get a seat in the front, there were individual tables set up classroom style. They have tv screens with cameras positioned so you can watch them cook. This is actually a better view since it is difficult to see what food is in the bowls, etc.

Whole Foods Cooking Instructors

Cooking Demo

We learned how to make spicy sweet potatoes, bread dressing, and Salmon Wellington. They jazzed up the meal with hot sauce, a wine sauce with butter and shallots, and chai tea with almond milk. It all turned out very good and tasty. Best of all, easy enough to make at home.

Thanksgiving Sides

I left inspired to cook and was very impressed. Over Thanksgiving, my sister and I made the Salmon Wellington. It was a success and simple enough.

Salmon Wellington Recipe

Ingredients:

2 salmon fillets
defrosted frozen puff pastry
1/2 cup frozen chopped spinach, squeezed dry
thyme
pepper
salt
1 shallot
1/4th lb. mushrooms
2 tablespoons butter

Directions:

In a skillet over medium heat, melt the butter, add the mushrooms, shallot diced finely, pinch of salt, pinch of pepper, and a sprig of thyme. Cook until mushrooms are tender. Add in the spinach and heat over the flame until the liquid of the ingredients have cooked off.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. On a floured surface, roll out the puff pastry into two rectangles (7 x 8 inches). Place the salmon fillet in the middle of the pastry, top with mushroom and spinach mixture, then fold the pasty around the salmon completely covering the it like a package and press to seal. Place on the baking sheet and chill in the fridge for about 15 minutes.

Top the salmon with spinach and mushrooms like so.

Fold the puff pastry over like you are wrapping a present.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Brush the top of the puff pastry with an egg wash. Bake for about 25 minutes until golden brown. Enjoy!   

Baked to golden brown perfection.

Salmon Wellington with Red Wine Sauce

Whole Foods Bowery Culinary Center
95 East Houston Street
New York, NY 10002

Dining In The Dark- Camaje New York

Dark Dining Blindfolded

I have seen dining in the dark many times on television and in the movies. I was finally able to experience it in New York thanks to Google. What an experience it was!

Camaje, a French bistro in the West Village, takes their Dark Dining very seriously. Till this day I have no idea what the restaurant looks like. At Dark Dining, we were lead into the restaurant, seated, walked to the bathroom, and walked out all blindfolded.

Dark Dining at Camaje was a multi-course meal with wine and entertainment.

This is what we ate and drank.

Crunch Course One:
- Toasted Stirato (Italian baguette) with Extra Virgin Olive Oil & Garlic
This opening course was meant to experience the scale of the room. Everyone took a bite of the baguette and we listened to the crunches echo.

One Fallen Bread

 Course Two:
- Chilled Avocado & Cucumber Soup with Herbs
- Creyssels 2010 Picpoul de Pinet, Languedoc, France
The soup was delicious, cool, and refreshing. 

To Sip or Spoon?

Course Three:
- Arctic Char with Garlic Scape-Arugula Pesto over a Raw Salad of Rainbow Swiss Chard, Tuscan Kale, Napa Cabbage and Toasted Pine Nuts
- William Cole 2009 Chardonnay, Casablanca Valley, Chile
While the fish was tasty, it was already cold from sitting out for awhile. Some thought it was salmon.

Arctic Char

Course Four:
- Spice-Rubbed (Cumin, Coriander, Cinnamon & Smoked Paprika) Grilled Pork Tenderloin with Israeli Cous Cous & Lentil Salad
- Les Violettes 2011 Côtes-du-Rhône, Rhône, France
The pork tenderloin was also cold, as well as dry. I didn't finish the dish since I didn't care for it much. A lot of people thought it was beef.

Cold Pork Tenderloin

Course Five:
- Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp (oats, spices, dark brown sugar, toasted coconut) with Our Homemade Mint Ice Cream
- Casa de Sta. Eufemia Tawny Porto
Dessert was quite yummy and I am glad the meal ended on a high note. I just wish there was more of it. The serving portions at Camaje are very small. It was enough to taste what you were eating but not enough to get full from or really appreciate when it was good. Many thought the rhubarb crisp was apple and the ice cream flavor was unidentifiable since it was very faint. Nonetheless, the texture and flavors of the dish paired well.

Mint Ice Cream and Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp

Throughout the meal, we had a singer and a masseuse. We were asked to sing with the singer quite a few times and the massager went around touching everyone.

Singing Opera

Sense of Touch

The food was meant to heighten your senses. Since we did not have sight, we relied more on our sense of taste, touch, and hearing to experience the meal. It was difficult and uneasy as it just sounded like chaos around the room. Within 15 minutes of the meal, I had already spilled a glass of wine on my date. Apparently, I was waving my arms in the air to high. Camaje graciously excused my faux pas by cleaning up the mess immediately and explaining that it happens all the time. I would not recommend dining in the dark for first dates.

Be Careful With Your Wine

Dark Dining Photography

Dark Dining happens twice a month. Check the website for event dates. Reservations suggested. Meals are $120/pp and cocktail parties are $75/pp. Taking pictures and video is allowed, however they will be blindly taken and the results can be a hit or miss.

Camaje
85 MacDougal Street
New York, NY 10012