Restaurant Review: L'Ecole

462 Broadway (between Broome St & Grand St)
New York, NY 10013
(212) 219-3300

We recently went to the French Culinary Institute restaurant - L'Ecole. It's an old favorite of ours because of the diversity in the menu. For this meal, we chose the 5 course meal (appetizer, fish course, meat course, salad and dessert) for only $42. They also offer a 4 course option but it's really not as tasty. It's difficult to choose from all delicious choices. Here are some pictures from the meal.

Yellowtail Tartar with Parsnip Purée and Warm Meyer Lemon Vinaigrette
Thon Tartare, Purée de Panais et Vinaigrette Tiède au Citron

Escargot with Red Wine and Gruyère Cream
Escargot aux Vin Rouge, Crème de Gruyère

Seared Scallops, Pickled Grapes and Smoked Potato Cream
Coquilles Saint-Jacques, Raisins au Vinaigre et Crème de Pomme de Terre Fumé

Poached Halibut, Potato Terrine and Spiced Chicken Consommé
Flétan Poaché, Terrine Dépomme de Terre, Consommé de Poulet Épicé

Juniper Smoked Rack of Lamb with Pickled Chanterelles and Sunchoke-Cheddar Purée
Carré d’agneau Fumé aux Geneviève Purée de Jérusalem Artichaut et Cheddar Chanterelle aux Vinaigre

Milk Chocolate Hazelnut Tart with Malt Ice Cream
Tarte au Chocolat Praline et sa Glace de malt

Trio of Pot de Crème
Trio de Pot de Crème

Red Velvet Cookie Sandwiches

This year for Valentine's Day, I decided to bake some treats for Jander. He had a choice between cupcakes or moonpies. Intrigued with the second option, he decided that was what he wanted. I was inspired by Bakerella's treats, and these cookies were very easy to make and deliciously moist!

Ingredients for the cookie:
A box of white cake mix
red food coloring
1/2 cup of butter
2 eggs

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix ingredients together. Drop spoonfuls of the batter on a cookie sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes. Let cool.

Note: Depending on the size of the cookie drops, leave 1-2 inches of space between the dough. (Don't they look kinda look like Play-doh?) Here's how my cookies turned out - I'm so proud of my evenly sized cookies!

Next, make the cream cheese filling!

Ingredients for the cream cheese filling:
8 oz Philadelphia cream cheese
1/2 cup of softened butter
1 tsp of vanilla extract
confectionary sugar

Directions:
Mix all the ingredients together until creamed. I didn't exactly measure how much sugar to add. I would say add to your taste!

Then add a dallop of the cream cheese filling to one side of the cookie and press together to make a sandwich! Enjoy!

From Karen's Kitchen: Green Tea Ice Cream

This is another one of those recipes that's so easy to make that you will never have to buy it from the supermarket or order it at a Japanese restaurant ever again. Another lovely reason is that you don't even need an ice cream maker for this... but of course, if you have it, use it. Mine is still sealed in the box, somewhere in the basement.

(adapted from Harumi's Japanese Home Cooking)
Below are the ingredients for double the original recipe which makes 1 1/2 quarts.

1/4 cup matcha powder
1 cup granulated sugar
6 egg yolks
1 1/2 cup milk
1 1/2 cup heavy cream

1. In a small bow, mix the green tea powder with 2 tablespoons granulated sugar.


2. In a separate bowl, mix together the egg yolks and remaining sugar.


3. Pour the milk into a small pan and gently heat taking care not to let it boil (ideally the temperature of the milk should be 176 degrees F). Remove the from the heat and mix a few spoonfuls of the warm milk with the green tea powder and sugar in a small bowl. When you have a smooth paste (it looked like green mud), add it to the remaining milk in the pan. Temper the eggs and then gradually combine with the egg yolk mixture.

4. Return mixture to the stove and heat slowly over low heat (taking care to not let the mixture boil), until the mixture coats the back of a spoon. Remove from the heat, strain through a fine sieve, and allow to cool completely.


5. Whip the cream until stiff peaks were formed and then fold in the cold green tea-milk mixture.


6. Transfer the mixture to a large container and [chill for an hour or two in the refrigerator] and then put it in the freezer. As ice crystals start to form, remove, and mix well with a spoon (use a wooden spoon and stir very vigorously) to break them up and return the mixture to the freezer. Repeat this a few times as it freezes to ensure that the ice cream is smooth.

NYC Tokidoki SoHo Capsule Store Opening

From Karen's Kitchen: Thai Green Curry

This is so easy to make and delicious that I refuse to order this when we go out for Thai. Most ingredients can be found at Thai and most Asian Supermarkets.

For those in NYC, there are two Thai grocery stores in Chinatown:

• Bangkok Center Grocery: 104 Mosco St., New York, NY 10013
• Udom Grocery: 81 Bayard St., New York, NY 10013

You will need:
One can of coconut milk


Thai Green Curry Paste


Bamboo Shoots


Straw Mushrooms


I set aside the 1/2 cup of the bamboo shoots, 1/4 cup of the straw mushrooms and also some julienned orange & green peppers (about half of each)

Other ingredients:
- sugar
- fish sauce
- meat of your choice (i used chicken)

To begin, refrigerate the coconut milk for about 20 minutes. This will cause the milk to seperate and a thicker, top layer will form once its cold. In a heated pan, spoon about 3-4 tablespoons of the creamy (solidified) layer of the coconut milk. It will start boiling/sizzling. Add in 1 tablespoon of the green curry paste. (If you like it SPICY, add in more. But be warned: I used two HEAPING tablespoons and it was SUPER DUPER spicy.)

Cook the coconut milk & curry paste together (about 5 minutes). It'll be dry & look like its gonna burn... but it's getting the oil out of the coconut milk & curry. Then add in the rest of the coconut milk. Bring to a boil and then add in your meat & veggies. Bring all that to a boil once more and then add in 1 tablespoon of sugar, 2-3 tablespoons of fish sauce, pinch of salt (to your taste).


Simmer for 15-20 minutes more (to ensure that the meat is cooked thoroughly) and then serve.

From karen's cookies cakes & more

Serves 4.

Audience Gifts at the Martha Stewart Show

As previously posted on this blog, I attended a taping of the Martha Stewart show last week. As a member of the studio audience, we received some awesome gifts in two of the show segments. The segment featured Stephen Kress, vice president for bird conservation for the Aubudon Society. He talked to us about creating the perfect bird environment including a bird feeder, the Clever Clean Removable-Base Sunflower Feeder.

According to the Martha Stewart website, the Onyx Clever Clean is the newest innovation in bird feeders. The base of the feeder easily twists off so that it can be cleaned with a brush to prevent gunk and mold toxin build up. Birds that use this feeder include: cardinals, chickadees, finches, flickers, goldfinches, grackles, grosbeaks, jays, juncos, kinglets, mockingbirds, nuthatches, redpolls, siskins, sparrows, starlings, titmice.

In addition, Martha gave us Wingscapes BirdCam to help capture digital bird photography and bird videos. This is a weatherproof, motion-activated to help monitor bird-watching experience. I am looking forward to using this in the spring and taking pictures of the birds (and animals) that visit my backyard! According to the stage manager at the show, it might also serve as a spy camera too, hehe.

Weddings at the Empire State Building

With Valentine's Day less than a week away, romance is certainly in the air. What bigger celebration of love is there besides getting married? Well, in NYC, the most romantic location for a wedding is certainly the Empire State Building. And do you know that only 440 couples have actually officially gotten married at the historic building? Since 1994, the landmark has only chosen a handful of couples to get married on-site. This Saturday, only 14 out of 400 couples who entered the Empire State Building wedding contest by writing their love stories, will have the unique opportunity for exchanging their vows on top of the Empire State Building.

One year ago, Jessica Chan and Nicholas Liu won the opportunity to get married on the Empire State Building. To read more about their story and other previously married couple, click here. This couple was also featured in the local news for winning this contest, currently organized by Brides.com. Winners are chosen from their heart-felt stories.

(Say awwwww...)

FREE Bare Minerals Make-up

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Valentine's Day Cookies

As featured on the Martha Stewart show today, The Jewels of New York is offering their unique and dazzling Valentine Day coookies. They are sugar cookies topped with a special jam, consisting of lychee, prosecco, and tart raspberries. The cookies are beautifully decorated to look like a jewel.

The company is founded by two young women, Diana Yen and Lisel Arroyo. I saw their segment taped live on the Martha Stewart show. The cookie itself is a simple sugar cookie (without baking soda, which surprised Martha). To make the jam, they blended the lychee and poured the mixture with a jar of raspberries and prosecco. I would imagine this to be quite sweet and tasty! The application of the jam and sprinkles looks to be the most time consuming part of the process. At $25 for 4 cookies...even Martha said that they should be charging more money!

As for myself, I think I'll eat chocolates on Valentine's Day!

To order these cookies or see food pictures by Diana and Lisel, click here to go to their website.

My Birthday Cake

Thanks to my dear colleagues for surprising me with a birthday cake! It was a yummy vanilla and chocolate cake. Ignore the plastic knife, I caught this picture on my cellphone before it was cut.