Have it Your Way

Summer weekends may have come to an end, but it's still hot, hot, hot! I spent most of my summer meal times sipping rosé rather than cooking anything (and is quite evident by my blog posts). I may have had a few cashews on the side for good measure. When it was super hot, I branched out and picked up some fro-yo or made this simple granita. What's great about a granita is that you don't need a fancy ice cream maker or other gigantic contraption, and you can really make any flavor that you want (maybe I should have made a rosé granita). This espresso version gives you a little caffeine jolt alongside the icy cold sensation, so go ahead and have it for breakfast. It's iced coffee weather!

Espresso Granita

2 cups strong hot coffee or espresso
1/3 to 1/2 cup sugar, to taste
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1. Stir espresso, 1/2 cup sugar, and vanilla in a medium bowl until the sugar dissolves.

2. Pour into a 9x9x2" metal baking pan and freeze for 1 hour. Stir, mashing any frozen parts with the back of a fork. Cover; freeze until firm, about 2 hours.

3. Using a fork, scrape granita to form icy flakes. The granita can be made 3 days ahead. Cover tightly with foil; keep frozen. Give it a quick scrape before serving.

Coffee Cookies

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas! I've already been to my company holiday party and strung some Christmas lights (on a friend's tree - I have yet to decorate). Clearly I need to get baking! (And should probably start my holiday shopping...) Instead of making my usual 37 dozen cookies, I'm going to go the minimal route and just bake as needed which is to say...not very much. I just end up eating the cookies I don't bring to the office so why go crazy? These shortbread cookies are fab not only because they are delish but because the recipe makes so few cookies, you won't find yourself eating them for days on end or trying to pawn them off on everyone you encounter, including the not-so-subtle mail carrier who leaves a holiday note in your mailbox. (Really??) The chocolate espresso kick reminds me of my favorite candy, Pocket Coffee, the best candy invention of our time. Incidentally now is the time to stock up as they are a seasonal candy and are only shipped during cold weather months (hint hint). Maybe I should hang a stocking or two just in case.



Mocha Shortbread
Adapted from Martha Stewart

1/2 cup plus 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons finely ground coffee beans, preferably espresso
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar, plus more for sprinkling

1. Preheat the oven to 350˚F. Sift together the flour, cocoa, and salt. Stir in the coffee, and set aside.

2. Beat the butter until smooth. Add the sugar, and beat well. Add the flour mixture, and beat until combined.

3. Pat the dough into an ungreased 8-inch round cake or springform pan lined with parchment paper. Bake until firm, 20 to 25 minutes. Remove the shortbread from the oven, let sit for 5 minutes, then cut into wedges. Let cool completely. Sprinkle with confectioners' sugar before serving.

Home Brew

Is it Iced Coffee Weather? Hell to the yes. But is that iced coffee worth $3? Probably not. The place I usually go for a morning iced joe suddenly decided to raise their price from $2 to $3. For the same sized serving! For the same crappy coffee! Astounding. I need to get back into making my own.

Fortunately The NY Times has convinced me that I need to buy yet another coffee making device so that I can perfect the ultimate glass of iced coffee. I've tried the cold brew method, and am really happy with adding coffee ice cubes to my iced bevies, but now I think I have to hit the MoMA to buy a Chemex just to make this version of iced coffee.


Classic Chemex

This new and hopefully improved method (once I get around to trying it I will share my experience) looks very interesting. All you do is whip up some classic pour over coffee, remembering to add ice to the vessel before brewing, and...ta-dah...instant iced coffee! I am totally down with this idea and thanks to the folks at Intelligensia, I can follow their already perfected instructions for making coffee with my soon to be purchased Chemex.

Intelligentsia Chemex Brewing Guide from Intelligentsia Coffee on Vimeo.

Iced Method Coffee
(The New York Times)

1 ounce fresh-ground coffee
7 ounces ice
8 ounces water heated to 200˚F, plus extra for rinsing the filter

1. Place a filter in a Chemex (or any filter brew system) and rinse the filter with at least four ounces of hot water. Remove the filter, discard water, place Chemex on a kitchen scale, and add 7 ounces of ice.

2. Replace the filter, add the ground coffee and slowly add 1 ounce of water heated to 200˚F, until the grounds are saturated. Let the grounds “bloom” then deflate, which might take up to 1 minute. Reset the scale to zero and add the remaining 7 ounces of water heated to 200˚F, in a slow, steady stream. Drink immediately.

Don't Speak

Since I've had laryngitis for the past few days you'd think that I could at least write a blog post...but you'd be wrong! I haven't been cooking OR going out to eat. I have nothing to say. Literally. But while I try to mend by ordering takeout and eating super spicy Thai soups like Tom Yum Goong, I figured that I could at least share my latest discovery: THE BEST COFFEE ON PLANET EARTH.

Macaron Cafe is an unassuming fabulous little place on a crappy block on West 36th street. (Actually I think there might be another location uptown too.) I discovered it when I needed to find some macarons for a photo shoot for work. Since my assistant and I trekked all the way over there from our office, we decided to treat ourselves to an iced coffee for the walk back. Now iced coffee may not be the best predictor of the quality of coffee, but it was outstanding nonetheless. And fully loaded. We were bouncing off the walls for the next 12 hours.

After that unexpected experience, I dragged another co-worker to Macaron Cafe after a recent photo shoot in the neighborhood. This time I ordered a cappuccino, and it was 5:00 pm. I thought that I should have some caffeine before my 3 hour wine class, naively thinking that my last experience with hyperactivity was a fluke. My friend had a sip, deemed it the best coffee she ever had, and agreed that she too would never sleep again when I called her after my class at 10:30 pm. Aha!

I'm not saying that this coffee is the best ever simply because of the caffeine. It's because of the flavor, the freshness, the preparation...total perfection. The heightened alertness is simply a by-product. By the way, Macaron Cafe sells macarons too and they are delish, and super cute. (Don't they look like adorable little hamburgers??) My current fave is the caramel fleur de sel. Can't wait until I get better to actually taste food again!

Photos from macaroncafe.com

Caramel Fleur de Sel


Cassis


Cappuccino

Breakfast, Lunch and...

Mornings were fab at Villa Pimpinella. How could they not be with the terrace and view that we had?!? I made myself daily lattes and together we made frittatas with leftovers from the night before, and then got ready for a strenuous day...at the beach. The beach. No hamburgers and hotdogs here! Fresh mozzarella, prosciutto, figs, panini, and salads were on the beach bar menu. And the occasional complimentary limoncello. (Nap time!) Then we would hike back up to the villa, carrying a few bottles of wine, have an aperitivo and get ready to eat again. Ahhh.

The North Shore

The North Shore of O'ahu is famous for surfing. (Blue Crush anyone?) I tried to sneak a peak at the Pipeline, but we were driving by a little fast and I think I might have been stuffing some chocolate haupia cream pie (or regular chocolate cream or pumpkin haupia - depending on who's slice I was sampling at the time) in my mouth. (Haupia is a traditional coconut milk based dessert not unlike flan.) Plus I think the wave size gets smaller as the year goes by (winter is where it's at!) so the ginormous waves might have been harder to spot between the Tacomas and Jeeps.

Ted's Bakery in Sunset Beach was the post lunch destination after our roadside shrimp extravaganza at Romy's. It's known for the pies, specifically the chocolate haupia cream pie. (This guy got a good photo of it. I was too busy eating mine to remember to take a photo.) Locals stop in for breakfast sandwiches and plate lunches as well.




Since we were on a tight schedule, there was no time to linger at Ted's. We had coffee to drink and more chocolate to eat! (The North Shore has a lot more going on than just big waves.) Waialua Estate Coffee and Cacao is located just down the road in Waialua on what was formerly one of the largest sugarcane plantations in Hawaii (and operated by Dole). After the plantation's closure in 1996, Dole sought to diversify their agriculture so coffee and cacao trees were a few of the new modern, healthful crops that were planted. I tasted the end results and I say, good on you, Dole. The coffee and chocolate rocks!


Sample cacao tree (not in the orchard).


Harvested cacao pods.


Splitting open the cacao pods to get at the seeds, which are actually quite fruity (and a little slimey - I tasted it!) in their raw state.


Fermenting the cacao seeds - this takes about a week. I had no idea that there was a fermentation process!


Fully fermented and almost fully dried cacao beans.


Somehow all of those dried beans turn into this. Waialua Estate dark chocolate.


Sample chocolate bar on a pile of cacao beans.


Wailua Estate milk chocolate.


Coffee berries on tree (delicious beans hidden inside).


50 pound bags of Waialua Estate (green) coffee beans.


The Wai'anae Range is the backdrop for Twin Bridge Farms.

Our final destination, quite literally down the road, was Twin Bridge Farms (also located on former sugarcane land) and is the only company in Hawaii that commercially grows asparagus (though they grow other things too). I tasted it fresh from the ground and then prepared on my dinner plate later that night. How many times can you say that you've done that?

Merry Christmas!

Christmas morning breakfast: Chocolate chip scones and a latte made from my V60 dripper

Christmas Jolt

Is it iced coffee weather? I don't know, but it's definitely Pocket Coffee weather! Ohhh, yeah. Now that it's finally cold enough to ship these delicious confections, I made the trek to Buon Italia in the Chelsea Market to make my annual purchase. They're the best! So if you are still looking for a little holiday gift to give your kid's teacher, your personal trainer (ha! you know that all they want is cash), or that pesky postal worker who leaves holiday notes in your mail box obviously soliciting you for, oh, I don't know, a holiday ($) gift? For doing their job? Buy them Pocket Coffee! Or buy them for me. I need to stock up for the summer.

Japanese Coffee

I didn't start drinking coffee until I was a junior in college, studying abroad in Italy. Once I had my first cappuccino (and espresso), I got it. When I came back home, I stopped altogether. Obvs! I mean, how could I drink the crap served in American restaurants when I had just had the elixir of the gods? Since then I have had an on-again off-again relationship with coffee. I still really like it, but drink much less than I used to because it triggered headaches for me. (Yes, the coffee triggered them, not the withdrawl.) I once went cold turkey and my headaches went away entirely. Now I try to drink decaf or just wait until I can get a really good cup of coffee and take my chances. That's why I was excited to get the...



What is the Dripper V60 you ask? (Watch this video!) It's apparently the only way to make proper coffee in Japan. (Wait. They drink coffee in Japan?) My friend Sonja brought back my very own V60 drip coffee vessel from Tokyo and I just tried it out. Sadly I realized that I probably didn't do it exactly right after comparing my experience to the numerous You Tube videos available for reference. (Should have checked those out first!) I had a hard time pouring the boiling water, taking pictures, not causing 3rd degree burns on my person, yet still trying to get the coffee to do the right thing...like make it "bloom!"

Aside from not having a kettle with the perfect spout, I also think that my grounds were not quite the right texture. Need to work on that. My cup of coffee was still delicious though! I actually turned it into a latte, so that might not be exactly proper, but it was fabulous. If anyone has any tips, please feel free to share. I am going to try to perfect my technique over the holidays and I think I need all the help I can get!

Mornin'!

Is it Iced Coffee Weather?



Try a latte instead!

Is It Iced Coffee Weather?

Hell yes, it's iced coffee weather! Finally. And I've decided that I don't care what the coffee snobs say. Making cold brewed coffee is not significantly better than just brewing an extra strong pot of joe and then throwing it in the fridge. Here's why: A) You can brew a greater quantity of hot coffee. B) Your daily $1.99 iced coffee from the corner coffeeteria is definitely not cold brewed anyway. C) You'll never do a side by side taste test. D) The real key to perfect iced coffee is coffee ice cubes, just as I originally thought in my first iced coffee post.

You know how your iced coffee only tastes good until you're halfway through it, and then it just tastes like coffee flavored water? (Mmmmm. Can I have some more stale ice cubes to melt in my room temperature coffee?) Coffee ice cubes change all that! If anything, your iced coffee gets more intense as you drink it. It's fabulous!

(Sidebar: While enjoying my iced coffee during Breakfast at Wimbledon on Sunday morning, I was completely distracted by the woman in the black and white gingham number seated behind Pete Sampras. Did anyone else notice that her top was unbuttoned, revealing her unmentionables and stomach EVERY time NBC panned to Pete? It was crazy! You think someone could have told her. Or maybe she did it...on purpose?) Update: Check out this YouTube video at 2:48 when the wardrobe malfunction appears.

The Perfect Iced Coffee How-To


Step 1. Brew extra strong hot coffee. Chill. Make coffee ice cubes.


Step 2. Gaze lovingly upon said coffee ice cubes.


Step 3. Place coffee ice cubes in a glass.


Step 4. Add iced coffee (and milk and sugar). Stir. Enjoy!