Pretzel Bites

One of my very good friends had a baby last December and I was involved with planning the baby shower... I knew I wanted to make the favors from day one so I set out to create unique treats that everyone would like.  I had plenty of candy melts leftover for another project so I set out to find something to make with them.  I came across this Baked Perfection blog post and after realizing I had all of the ingredients in my house I made a batch.  I cut the recipe by 1/3 as I did not want to make an entire bag of pretzel bites as this was just my test run.  I also decided to just stick with white candy melts as it was easier than three different colors.

I started out by lining up lots of window pane pretzels to form an assembly line...



Next I mixed up the filling mixture (note: even at a 1/3 of the recipe this made a lot of filling) and as you can see it was quite dry so I used a small measuring spoon to form half spheres of filling...

Next I assembled the pretzel bites and let them set in the fridge...
Finally I melted the candy melts and dipped each bite in.. while still wet I sprinkled little white sprinkles over some.  I let them harden and dry then re-melted the leftover candy melts and put them in a zip

Mr.K and I ate way too many of them that day so I took the rest to work and my colleagues loved them.  I knew they would be a hit for the baby shower a few months later.  Note: For the baby shower I used green and white candy melts mixed together to create a pastel green and used the same white sprinkles and piping trick.  Unfortunately I have no photos of the finished product but use your imagination.. they were very cute and went over extremally well.

Grissini

For years I have been trying to find out the name of the super thin long crispy bread sticks that are served in Italian restaurants and finally last Friday I found out they are called 'Grissini'.  Immediately, I googled for grissini recipes and was amazed at how many recipes were available.  However, this one from the Los Angeles Times stood out as sounding relatively easy and I loved the associated picture.  Fast forward to Saturday afternoon when we decided to have a few friends over for dinner.  I decided to make a batch to go with the prosciutto and cheese plate we were planning (crackers were purchased just in case).

The dough came together easily but looked very dry but I allowed it to proof for an hour and to my surprise it had actually risen as planned.  The dough was very easy to roll out and I used a pizza cutter to make 4 dozen grissini (I need to work on making them a bit more even but as Mr.K said they looked more homemade)!

I sprinkled sea salt across all of the grissini and smashed up dried rosemary to a handful.  After a second proofing they puffed up a small amount and in the oven they went.  Th grissini baked up quickly and were crispy yet tender.  The sea salt and rosemary did not really stick so I will have to work on that next time  Our dinner guests showed up a few minutes after they cooled and were wowed by them (the crackers were not even touched)!  Most of the grissini were eaten through out the evening but here are a few pictures from Sunday morning. 

Asia de Cuba at Morgans Hotel

Mr.K and I met with our tax accountant this past week and we had planned to just get a low key dinner in NYC afterwards but while waiting for the accountant we decided that a low key dinner was not in our future.  We were playing with our iPhones and both came across the prix fixe menu at Asia de Cuba.. after realizing we were looking at the same menu we had to book it (love Opentable).  A few hours later we were at Asia de Cuba (this week's fav restaurant) enjoying a wonderful meal. Neither of us thought to take any pics (I think we were in shock from our meeting with the tax accountant) so I borrowed a few images from the Asia de Cuba website.  

http://www.chinagrillmgt.com/images/phocagallery/adc_ny_01.jpg

The restaurant serves family style and recommends two appetizers, one entree and a side dish. 

We both love miso black cod so we quickly veered away from the prix fixe menu!  Our choices:

• CALAMARI SALAD ‘ASIA DE CUBA' - CRISPY CALAMARI WITH CHAYOTE, HEARTS OF PALM, BANANA, CASHEWS, CHICORY, AND RADICCHIO, SESAME ORANGE DRESSING (Minus the bananas as I really dont like them)
• LOBSTER SHIITAKE POTSTICKER - WATERCRESS CHERRY TOMATO SALAD, VANILLA RHUM AND LOBSTER CORAL SAUCES
• MISO CURED ALASKAN BLACK COD - CUBAN BLACK BEAN AND EDAMAME SALAD, TEMPURA SHISITO PEPPERS
• THAI COCONUT STICKY RICE

Everything we ordered was delicious .. I am a huge fan of coconut sticky rice steamed in banana leaf and this side dish was amazing.  We actually brought the leftover sticky rice home and ate it the following night along with grilled chicken salad!

 Calamari Salad

http://www.chinagrillmgt.com/images/phocagallery/gallery_adc_food04.jpg

Miso Black Cod

http://www.chinagrillmgt.com/images/phocagallery/gallery_adc_food05.jpg

Right before we left I realized I forgot to take any photos so here are a few.



Mr.K and I have also been to the Asia de Cuba at the Mondrian Hotel in South Beach and the food was just as amazing.  So if you get a chance to visit NYC or South Beach check out this restaurant.. if not for dinner at least a drink at the bar. 

Mr.K's Pet Dragon

Mr.K always asks if we can get a dog.. and I always say not yet. So today Mr.K made his very own pet... Dragon. If you want your very own Pet Dragon follow these 'easy' steps.

Who needs a dog when you can have a dragon.

A treat...

Good Day or Bad Day here is a treat to make it a bit sweeter!

England Baby!!

If you don't already know Mr.K is English (he is my Prince) and his entire family lives in England.  He grew up in the hills north of Manchester and his mum and dad still live in the area.  His brother moved to London a few years ago and lives in Camden with his wife and our adorable niece.  I have been to England a few times with Mr.K but we had not been there since 2007 so we planned a trip to see everyone in January.  We started out at his father's house in Saddleworth (Mr.K's home town) for a night and then went to his mum's in Marsden for a night. Saddleworth is a picturesque village and I love everything about it.. all of the houses (new and old) are made of stone, you can walk to the local pub, and stare out at the rolling hills (if it is not raining.. although it rained the entire time we were there).  

Pics of Saddleworth

Mr.K, Mr.K's mum, h0b0wife and two large wheely suitcases piled into a Mini Cooper bright and early Monday morning and drove 4 hours to London to see the rest of the family.  I have been to London several times in the past for work and fun but this was the first time I went to London with Mr.K so it felt extra special.  Our niece was born in 2010 so this was our first chance to see her and I could not wait.  We spent the next 4 days visiting with our family and sightseeing around London.  We watched the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace, walked from Harrods to the London eye, crossed Tower Bridge, ate at Gordon Ramsay's York & Albany and The Ivy Restaurant, enjoyed cupcakes from Laduree in Harrods, sipped mocktails at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel Bar, visited my work colleagues in Canary Wharf, and played with our niece!

I hope you all get a chance to visit England soon... who knows I may live there someday.

Newport, RI

Newport, RI is approximately 3.5 hours from NYC so it is nice weekend trip for us.  We set off early Saturday morning and arrived a little before noon.  Mr.K went to Newport for the first time pre-h0b0wife with his mum and they randomly found the Mill Street Inn.  Mr.K and I have been to Newport three times and we always stay at the Mill Street Inn (which happens to be part of Small Luxury Hotels).  It is centrally located in the heart of Newport which allows for easy access to a lot of restaurants and bars.  Each time we stayed at the Inn we have booked a different room.  I have always been intrigued by the Townhouse Suites but they are generally quite expensive compared to the Junior and Deluxe Suites.  However this time the Townhouse Suite was quite reasonable so we booked it.  When we arrived the Front Desk manager mentioned our room would be ready in 15 minutes (which was fine as we arrived hours before official check in time).   As we were heading out to the car he came out and said the room was ready (5 minutes max).  We entered the room and realized why he said 15 minutes... there was a chilled bottle of white wine, strawberries and grapes waiting for us.  I had completely forgot I mentioned in the reservation that we were celebrating our anniversary (engagement anniversary).  The room had a small living area downstairs with a nice brick wall, welcoming sofa and tv.  Upstairs was a large bedroom, bathroom and balcony.  The room was perfect.. clean lines, modern comfortable furniture, plenty of light and high beamed ceilings.

After relaxing in the room for a bit we decided to drive to the Cliff Walk and go for a nice long walk.  We ended up walking close to 5 miles but when one side of the Cliff is the ocean and the other side is McMansion followed by super McMansion it is easy to walk 5 miles without even realizing.  In the past we took a tour of the Breakers Mansion so we did not venture into any Mansions this time.. just enjoyed the views.  Later that evening we had a wonderful dinner and walked around for a while enjoying the cool salty ocean air.

 

Chinese Surf & Turf

This week's Weekly Fav Restaurant is Mr. Chow Tribeca.  Mr.K proposed 3 years ago and I love to celebrate anniversaries so we ventured to Mr. Chow Tribeca to celebrate the past 3 years.

We have been to Mr. Chow Tribeca three times and would definitely go again.  The restaurant is on the corner of Hudson Street and N. Moore Street which is near plenty of interesting bars and restaurants.  The space is modern, open and has plenty of clean lines. 

The food is served family style which is perfect for us as we love to share our food.  We began with Mr. Chow Noodles and Salt and Pepper Calamari followed by Ma Mignon (thinly sliced very tender beef filet) and lobster cooked in a delicious sauce (a perfect Chinese Surf & Turf dinner).  The entrees were served with lightly fried rice and sauteed beans.  Mr.K drank a glass of Veuve Cliquot Champage and a few TsingTao beers.  We skipped dessert as we could not eat another morsel.

If you find yourself in Tribeca and have a need for upscale modern Chinese food check out Mr. Chow Tribeca.  If you fancy a drink (or two) after dinner head over to Bubble Lounge for a glass of bubbly.

Pretzel Rolls

Unfortunately I do not remember where I first had a pretzel roll but I do remember instantly loving them. When given the choice of different breads at restaurants I will always pick a pretzel roll over the other choices.  Let me first say that I love salt.. for years I would salt all of my food before tasting it as I was convinced that everything needed more salt.  Once I met Mr.K he convinced me to try foods without salting first and I must say I am much better now.  Pretzel rolls combine two of my favorite things.. bread and salt.  I was recently in the grocery store and came across Thomas' Mini Pretzel Bagels and I could not resist so I bought them. 

They are very good but not like real pretzel rolls.  After a lot of research I came across this link and decided to try the recipe myself.  I have only made yeast based bread once in my life.  My adventure started badly.. the yeast did not foam (assuming the water was too cold).  Fortunately the second yeast did foam and I was off.  The dough came together quickly and after an hour of rising the dough was ready to be formed into rolls.  I read the directions on the original recipe and realized it was very similar to rolling pizza dough balls (luckily my family has owned a pizza restaurant for my entire life so I have lot of experience with pizza dough).  Sure enough a few minutes later I had 16 perfectly shaped rolls. 

After proofing, boiling, egg-washing, salting and cutting a slash they were in the oven.  Fifteen minutes later and they were done.  Even Mr.K was impressed with how nice they looked... and tasted.  We both ate 2 that night and froze half of them as they do not have a long shelf life.  I defrosted a few in the microwave and toasted them for a delicious breakfast.

Enjoy!!

Big East Tournament 2011

You are probably thinking why is h0b0wife posting about a sporting event. Well let me tell you.  This past Tuesday Mr.K calls me at work and asks if I want to go to a Basketball game at Madison Square Gardens... my intial thought was this must be a joke.  Mr.K does not follow sports and I have never seen him watch a Basketball game on TV let alone got to MSG.  One of Mr.K's good friends had extra tickets and invited us.  We met up with our friends a few hours later and found out that the tickets were for a suite!  Up to that minute I was not sure about this little advenutre (I had never even heard of the Big East Tournament before).  But as soon as I heard the word 'suite' I knew this would be fun.  Mr.K's friends friend (the host) was having a work event for a powertools company so there was a random mix of colleagues, customers and friends.. funniest part.. I was the only girl.  There were around 15 men ranging in age from 15 - 65 .. no one seemed to mind that I was there and a few of them even took the time to talk to me about non-sports things!

My Weekly Fav Restaurant

Mr.K and I love to go out for dinner... we go out way more than we should but we both work long hours and the idea of cooking every night is daunting.  When we first started dating we would have every meal out... (it made sense as we never wanted to have food at our own houses because who know where we would be that week).  Once we moved in together we started to get better and cook at home.  However, we still love a nice meal out once in a while (ok ok more than once in a while).  So starting this week I will post once a week about my favorite restaurant from the previous week. 

We recently visited Newport, RI for a short get-away and had dinner at Fluke Wine Bar and Kitchen.  This was our third time to eat at Fluke as we try to get to Newport once every year or two.  Fluke has a great setting.. it is upstairs in a small building and it over looks an area near the water.  They offered a small bread basket served with a garlic oil spread.  I am not a fan of garlic but the bread was quite nice.  We ordered the Chicken Empanada small plate which was accompanied by a tomatillo sauce.  The empanada crust was nice and flaky and the sauce was delicious.. it was really good on the bread!  We then ordered two large plates.. after a lot of contemplating I went with the Wild Mushroom Risotto and Mr.K went with a Hangar Steak with a Red Wine Mustard Sauce, Crispy Fingerling Potatoes, Romesco sauce.  I am always hesitant to order Risotto in restaurants as it tends to be not cooked properly (too hard, to mushy, to dry, to wet) but I had ordered risotto years ago at Fluke and it was great so I went with it.  I definitely made the right decision.. it was cooked wonderfully and had an excellent assortment of mushrooms.  Mr.K also really enjoyed the steak.  We always share our food at restaurants and both agreed that each others choices were very nice.  Mr.K drank beer and I chose a Ginger Lemon Spritzer drink (once I added sugar it was really nice).  I always want to look at the dessert menu even though I rarely order dessert.  They had cookies and biscottis so we asked for them to go.  This was the only course I was not satisfied with.. there were no cookies in my box. Just sunflower seed brittle (which was nice but not a cookie) and a few very dry flavorless biscottis.  Overall I would definitely recommend Fluke if you find yourself in Newport (just skip the dessert).

We did not have our camera with us at dinner so here is a pic taken from there restaurant website.


Main Dining Room at Fluke.. we had the table closest to the camera.