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Photo: Courtesy of WunWun.

The dream of a world where we can all afford personal assistants to run our errands and bring us anything we want, on demand, is getting closer to reality than ever before. A new iPhone app called WunWun is about to streamline our lives with a service that picks up and delivers items from any store in Manhattan, for free. Need a new pair of Levi's but don't have time to run out and grab them? No worries, WunWun will take care of it. Run out of orange juice right before you have guests over for brunch? Yeah, WunWun will pick that up, too. WunWun will also offer a carrier service for items not from a store, like dry cleaning or food from a restaurant that doesn't deliver for $20. Between our hectic work week and over-booked weekend calendar, this is one app we'll definitely be downloading.

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Photographer and filmmaker Haik Kocharian was down in the Financial District last year during the Hurricane Sandy surge, wandering the deserted streets as the dark waters rapidly devoured much of the neighborhood. His eerie photographs of the area's unprecedented flooding evoke the nightmarish, surreal atmosphere that pervaded many parts of the city during the hurricane and its aftermath. The work is currently on view for the first time as part of a large group exhibition on Governors Island that continues through September 29th. Below, Kocharian reflects on hurricane's shocking power: [ more › ]

From Drinks

[Photo: Liz Clayton]

There are a great many coffee lovers who've embraced the idea of a full-immersion brew combined with a cone filter. And there are many people who hate the idea of plastic making contact with their hot water or their coffee. Until now, these people have not had a lot of options. Times have changed.

We've talked in these pages before of the lauded Clever Dripper, an invention from Taiwan's Abid (who appear to have advanced from "clever" to "miraculous" coffee-making though the latter requires use of "magic" spoonfulls—but I digress). The principle behind the Clever dripper is a Frankenbrewer-hybrid between a French press and a filter cone: you steep your coffee in the conical vessel for a matter of minutes, allowing the grounds and water to be in complete contact and the sweetness and fragrance of the coffee to develop—and dispense a clean, sludge-free cup of delicious coffee at the end, via the ingenious gravity valve built into the bottom.

But many of us don't prefer to mix hot water with plastic, for any number of reasons, including taste, residual oils, temperature control, and health concerns relating to the plastic itself. Though the party line on the Clever has long been that it's made of "Japanese medical-grade plastic" that won't leach bad chemicals, what many full immersion enthusiasts have long since longed for is a ceramic version of this delight.

And lo, enter Bonavita, answering yet another call from the coffee world with yet another solution. (You may recall this European/Chinese company's prior adventures as fulfilling the need for an electric pourover kettle in North America, or their affordably priced Technivorm knockoff). The Bonavita porcelain immersion dripper does everything what the Clever does except with very little plastic—there is a lid included for heat retention, and the assembly of the open/shut valve is plastic-built but only the stopper contacts your coffee itself—and with a fair bit less theater, too. (Unlike the Clever, which "magically" dispenses your coffee into a cup or server when you set it down on top of said vessel, the Bonavita dripper actually requires that the user flip an "on/off" switch...you can't win 'em all.)

Is it a success? Yes. It does exactly what we wanted—it makes a clean, full-bodied and full-flavored cup like the Clever. Of course, it's heavier and more likely to break than your workaday Japanese medical-grade plastic, but you're willing to take chances in this life, right? And since it's opaque you can't actually see when you're going to overflow the cup: Bonavita's perfect excuse to sell you their dripper stand, I guess.

It's no prettier than Clever, that's for sure, with a blocky black BONAVITA logo clouding up the bone China landscape, but on the other hand it's dishwasher safe, which is a good thing for its rather complex valve assemblies that can become a bit coffee-covered (and hopefully, though time will tell, will hold up durably over time.) For now, we're happy to report this three-way compromise between the French Press, cone dripper, and plastic Clever dripper is a win-win-win.

About the author: Liz Clayton drinks, photographs and writes about coffee and tea all over the world, though she pretends to live in Brooklyn, New York. She is the creator of Nice Coffee Time, a book of photographs of the best coffee in the world, published by Presspop.

One thing you learn quickly if you travel to, or somehow explore otherwise, the various cuisines of the Middle East, is that every country, and seemingly…every single person, has their own idea of what za’atar is. And they’re very (very) attached to it. So much so that a chef in a restaurant in Jerusalem rolled up his sleeve to show me a tattoo of what he told me was hyssop, a name for an herb that’s used in some places to make Za’atar, one of the world’s great seasonings.

Za’atar consists of herbs, sesame, and sumac, varying them by proportions depending on culture and country. But I can say that Abu Kassem of Za’atar Zawtar makes the best za’atar I’ve ever tasted, anywhere.

Continue Reading A Visit to Abu Kassem Za’atar Farm...

There’s a big difference between lucky and fortunate. Luck is a winning lottery ticket blowing in your window. Fortunate means that you’ve taken the initiative and done something. And because of it, there was a positive outcome. So I would probably say that I was lucky because my mother was a good cook but it’s debatable whether I am lucky, or fortunate, because my partner is a good cook as well.

Before dinner a few weeks ago, I’d grilled off some vegetable beforehand and left them in a plat à four (baking dish) on the counter, ready for dinner. Right before we were to eat, I asked him to make a dressing for them, and went about the rest of my business, finishing up the prep for the rest of dinner before realizing what he’d done.

Continue Reading Grilled Vegetables with Za’atar Vinaigrette...

From Serious Eats: New York

Hakata ramen at Hide-Chan. [Photograph: J. Kenji Lopez-Alt]

It's been three years since we last investigated the best ramen in New York, and we're getting ready for an update. Our winner then was Hide-Chan in Midtown East, but New York's ramen world has changed quite a bit since then.

There's a new Ippudo in midtown for starters, chicken broth ramen in Hell's Kitchen, and the surprising success of Yuji Ramen at Whole Foods. We have some new Japanese imports and some outer boroughs newcomers as well.

So that's us; how about you? Who's serving your favorite ramen in New York, and how do you order it? Sound off in the comments.

The luxury home at 238 E. Fourth St. (just west of Avenue B) has been on and off the market the past year or so ... When we last checked in on the property in the spring, the 6,500 square-foot condo with an "Open Eat-In Boffi Stainless Steel Chef's Kitchen with a Wolf Stove" was asking a now-reduced price of $6.995 million.

But! Those first four floors were also available to rent for $27,500 (a month).

Apparently someone took up the realtors on that generous offer. The listing reappeared on Streeteasy this week... According to the listing at Meisel — "For Investors: Unit is leased until 2015. Purchaser can buy with tenants in place."

So there you go. Buy it now... let someone else keep the Wolf Stove warm for you for the next 15 months or so.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Is this home fit for James Bond?

[238 E. 4th St. in November 2008]

Besides that I adore it staying light much later, I regret it hasn't felt incredibly summery over here. We have done a few picnics by the beach, my shoulders are tanned and I'm eating my weight in fruit, but I can't say I have felt this season. I think it's easier to see summer with kids or a school schedule, as these three months are marked by a break in routine. Now it's nearly Labor Day, the holiday that reminds us summer is fading, I just now feel called to be more present in this time. Maybe I'm not in school and my work demands carry on just as they did in the spring and winter past, but I want to be here. It's likely not just summer I'm needing to witness, I think it's the curse of the (primarily) self-employed that there is always something to do, which takes away from rest and presence. There is so much wonderfulness to take in if we'll stop and pay attention. I wish I'd stop and pay attention. Luckily September and October are my favorite months around here. Time to suit up and jump in. 

I keep tinkering with granola bar recipes to find just the right texture. Typically, I use brown rice syrup in granola-type bars, but wanted to try the maple route this round. I will say that the rice syrup creates a stickier bar, making everything hold together more easily. The maple is great, but expect the bars to be more loose and fragile. I added a few more dates and peanut butter in the written recipe than the photos reflect so they stay together a bit better. I toast the oats for a little extra favor, but otherwise these guys are no-bake, so they yield a chewier bar, not the crispy shattering sort. You can play around with the nut or seed butter, maybe a different dried fruit besides dates, but it's nice to have a tasty snack for your beach bag or lunch box. 

PEANUT BUTTER GRANOLA BARS // Makes 12 in an 11x7 pan

An adaptation from Minimalist Baker

I used a 7x11inch dish. Try to use something close, they will be thinner bars in a 9x13 or super thick in an 8x8. 

• 1 1/2 cups old fashioned oats
• 2 cups crisp rice cereal
• 1/2 cup almonds
• 2 Tbsp. chia, buckwheat, flax seeds or a mix of these (I used this blend)
• 2 cups pitted dates (about 14 large Medjool dates)
• 1/3 cup maple syrup
• 1 cup natural peanut butter (or nut or seed butter of choice)
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• pinch of sea salt
• 4 oz. dark chocolate

 

 

 

Preheat the oven to 350'. Toast the oats on a baking sheet for 10 minutes. Set aside to cool completely.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the crisp rice, almonds, seeds, cooled oats and stir to mix. Chop up the dates well to make a chunky paste (this could be done in the food processor but I hate cleaning it for one small task). If your dates seem dry, add a splash of warm water to get them tacky. Think toothpaste sort of texture.

Warm the maple, peanut butter, cinnamon, salt and stir to mix. Pour the PB mix and dates over the dry ingredients and mix everything together, breaking up the date clumps with your hands to disperse. Just get your hands dirty, you need a big sticky heap.

Line a 7x11inch pan with parchment paper. Press the mixture down in an even layer, using the bottom of something flat to push the mixture down tightly as possible.

In a double boiler or a glass bowl over a pot of simmering water, melt the chocolate until smooth. Drizzle the chocolate (or spread it evenly) on top of the bars. Chill in the fridge for one hour before cutting. Keep covered in the fridge for optimum freshness or wrap them individually and store in the freezer.

The bars will keep for about 5 days in the fridge.

[Leshko's on Avenue A at Seventh Street circa 1979]

Through the years, we posted some of the 1970s-1980s photography of Michael Sean Edwards (like here ... and here) ... as well as some of his more recent work ...

[Outside Life Cafe, 2011]

Michael now has a few of his large prints up at 9th Street Espresso (on East 10th Street near Avenue B)...



9th Street will feature his work through Sept. 27...



Find more of Michael's photos here.

One might say he died of a broken heart, because as humans, for whatever reason, it soothes our existential dread to anthropomorphize nature's simpler creatures. The Wildlife Conservation Society has the more scientific but still sad story: "Gus was euthanized yesterday while under anesthesia for a medical procedure conducted by ... More »

{ Ghost chairs surround a dining table overlooking the lake at Chitwa Chitwa. }

Thinking back to our stay at Chitwa Chitwa, I immediately get a homesick feeling. We were only there four nights, but I admittedly held back tears as we drove away on our last day. True, wild animals roam the grounds but there’s something incredibly peaceful about being in the bush and I instantly felt attached. Plus, I wouldn’t mind if my home looked just like Chitwa Chitwa. Designed by the owner’s wife, every inch is impeccably put together with a balance of antiques and modern elements combined in a Safari chic way. I had a handful of “favorite spots” where I could lounge, listen to the hippos and birds, sip rooibos iced tea and watch the game surrounding the lake in front. Every once in a while I close my eyes and pretend I’m there again, taking a mental note of all the sounds and smells so I’ll never forget.  { The main lodge. }{ The best iced tea I’ve ever had made with Rooibos tea. }{A perfect blend of modern, antique and African pieces. }{ After every day we’d write down all the highlights from the animals we saw, the things we laughed about, people we’d met and favorite foods we tried. } { Before the afternoon bush drive high tea was served with sweet treats. I had to ask for recipes a couple of times, which I’ll share soon, but the cinnamon iced coffee was a regular pick for me. } { Since nights were chilly, we’d light up our fireplace and drink port before dozing off in bed. Falling asleep to a crackling fire is undeniably romantic if you ask me. }{ Lions basking in the sun. } { Our spotter Rodney saying hello to some elephants who were quickly coming towards us. } { Watching elephants eat was one of the most amazing things to see. } { A leaping impala was a daily sight on our drives. }  { Waking up for an early morning drive was one of my favorite parts of the experience. Seeing the landscape in a misty haze was beyond beautiful. Layers, coffee, blankets and hot water bottles made it all the more cozy. }{Fresh guava juice served at breakfast. } { Smoking elephant dung, which clears sinus and cures migraines. } { One night we came home to candles and rose petals leading to the bed and a bubble bath. It was the most romantic surprise of our honeymoon. }{ The sun setting over the bush. } 
{ A rare Cheetah sighting. }{ Our private deck outside of our villa. }{ A collection of crystal decanters in the main lodge. }

The post Chitwa Chitwa appeared first on could i have that?.

A scene from yesterday morning over on East Sixth Street, where David Schwimmer is apparently moving into a newly created mansion ... someone left the above message on the plywood for the actor who played Ross Geller on "Friends" ... Marc, who lives across the street, snapped the photo and noted that workers later painted over the Rossffiti.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Is David Schwimmer the 'Friends' star who now owns the demolished 331 E. Sixth St. townhouse?

Outrage over total demolition of historic East Sixth Street townhouse

Here is David Schwimmer's East Village home

The giant panda cub born on Friday at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo had it’s first exam today. The baby panda is healthy and weighs 137 grams, which is as big as an iPhone 4.

In this photo provided by Smithsonian's National Zoo, the giant panda cub born on August 23 at the Smithsonian's National Zoo receives a 10-minute exam from animal care staff on August 25 in Washington, DC.

Handout / Getty Images

Courtney Janney / AP

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If the bus or train is your usual mode of getting to and from work, take a gander at this roundup of tablet apps designed for killing time in transit. The best part of this roundup is that all of these apps do not require an internet connection, making each addictively uninterruptable...

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Okay, we may be biased, but this little guy, born on April 9th, is not only cute but he's super fast too! [ more › ]

Say hello to Komala.

Komala was the first greater one-horned rhino to be born at Chester Zoo.

Chester Zoo

Under the watchful eye of mum Asha, she made her first public appearance.

Chester Zoo

Curator of mammals at Chester Zoo Tim Rowland stated “Komala is a proper little bruiser".

Chester Zoo

Komala was born on 7 July 2013. Her name means ‘delicate’ in Hindi.

Chester Zoo

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Waiting in line for popular vendors at Smorgasburg is just part of the experience these days, but sometimes the stars align and you arrive at your desired stall to find it blissfully uncrowded. That's the scene GQ's Alan Richman stumbled upon when he visited Smorgasburg's DUMBO outpost recently. The venerable food writer arrived at the Mighty Quinn's setup just after the 11 a.m. opening time, found it line-free and ordered a sandwich. Then they dropped the bomb: they wouldn't serve him until there was a line. Richman explains: [ more › ]

The City Council overrode Mayor Bloomberg's vetoes this afternoon, affirming the passage of two laws that would strengthen existing profiling bans, allow citizens to meaningfully challenge discriminatory police practices, and install an Inspector General to broadly review NYPD policy and make recommendations. Mayor Bloomberg has already announced he will sue to block the implementation of the profiling law. [ more › ]

This collection of hand-colored lantern slides brings to life a bygone era.

Attending a funeral in Cairo.

Oesterreichsches Volkshochschularchiv/Imagno / Getty Images

Here's a wedding procession in Helwan, a city just south of Cairo.

Oesterreichsches Volkshochschularchiv/Imagno / Getty Images

Beggars and locals at a sidewalk cafe in the Place De L'Opera in Cairo.

Oesterreichsches Volkshochschularchiv/Imagno / Getty Images

Passing through Bab Zuweila, a medieval gate in Cairo, dating back to the Ottoman empire.

Oesterreichsches Volkshochschularchiv/Imagno / Getty Images

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From Drinks

Almost every time I use Delectable, I end up convincing whoever I'm with to download it right away. It doesn't take much pushing: this iPhone app does all sorts of things wine lovers want.

At its most basic, Delectable serves as an automated wine diary. It recognizes wine labels, making it easy to collect a list of wines you've tried without having to type in long producer or vineyard names. You just take a picture of a bottle you're enjoying, and through a little computer magic (well, a combination of label image recognition, algorithmic matching, and wine-smart people behind the scenes) the app knows what wine it is. You can rate the wine and take notes on it, tag the restaurant where you tried it or the friend you tried it with, and share to Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram...or keep your list private if you're not the social type.

If you are the social type, you can follow friends you know in real life, or see what other folks are drinking...including, say, wine writers like Jon Bonné of the San Francisco Chronicle, or sommeliers like Thomas Pastuszak, wine director of The NoMad in New York.

There's more: Delectable also helps you track down that amazing bottle you tried at a restaurant or a friend's house—in fact, they'll arrange for the wine you loved to be shipped right to your door (if the state you live in allows such things.) They're not a retailer with an inventory; instead, Delectable serves as a 'wine concierge'—they know where to find the exact bottle you're looking for. In the app, you can click on the little shopping cart for any wine that's been posted and find out what that bottle would cost to purchase. If possible, wines are sourced directly from the winery or importer, otherwise there are trusted retailers who ship the wines.

Today, the Delectable team is launching a new version with spruced-up design and a faster photo-submission process, plus a few other cool features. If you tap on the name of a wine, you're taken to a profile that shows what everyone in the Delectable community has been saying about it, how different vintages of the wine have been rated by Delectable users, and all the photos taken of that wine.

For me, it's the community of users that sets Delectable apart from other wine apps. The new version offers a few new ways to find interesting people to follow. The lists of recommendations include a collection of sommeliers, another of people who work in winemaking (like Steve Matthiasson or Cathy Corison), a list of wine writers and educators (like Jordan Mackay or hey, me!), and those who work in the trade as importers, retailers, and distributors.

There are also a few new tools for figuring out what to drink next. You can see a chart of all the wines you've tried from France, for example, that shows which French growing regions you've explored and which you haven't tried yet. You can see which subregions in, say, Burgundy, you've tried or have yet to sample.

The 'Discover' section offers wines you might like that are similar to bottles you've tried; say, wines from the same region as something you tried, or the same grape variety, as well as wines that are different from anything you've tried in case you want to sample something new. You can also see a list of wines that are recommended by the people you follow, as well as some highly rated bottles under $25.

Are you on Delectable? Have you tried out the new version? What do you think?

Delectable 3.0 is available on iTunes today. (Sorry, Android users; they're working on a version for you, but it's not out yet.)

About the Author: Maggie Hoffman is a Senior Editor at Serious Eats, based in San Francisco. She founded Serious Eats: Drinks in 2011. You can follow her on Twitter @maggiejane.

From Serious Eats: New York

[Photographs: J. Kenji Lopez-Alt]

Note: First Looks give previews of new dishes, drinks, and menus we're curious about. Since they are arranged photo shoots and interviews with restaurants, we do not make critical evaluations or recommendations.

"We're moving a little bit closer to Japan," says Ivan Orkin, the New York-based chef-owner of Tokyo's famed Ivan Ramen. His own New York ramen shop is slated to open later this year.

Sitting at the subterranean, yet still light and airy bar at Bassanova a week after their opening, there's a veritable supergroup of ramen chefs populating the dining room to test out their newest competition. Orkin and his crew exchange handshakes with a tableful of chefs from Ippudo.

Why the attention? "These were the first guys to really do something different with their ramen," Orkin tells us, referring to their signature green curry bowl. The dish is the best-seller at the popular original Setagaya branch of Bassanova in Tokyo, and was created when a chef from Thailand overhauled the lunch menu. The results is a bowl with the meaty richness of their signature tonkotsu broth, but the flavors of coconut milk, makrud lime, galangal, and other herbs and spices.

Chef Keizo Shimamoto, the restaurants most recent chef has since moved on from the new location (under rather mysterious conditions), but the doors remain open under the helm of Chef Shoushin Yanaura, with a menu that currently offers only three large bowls of noodles, all for under $15.

We were dining and shooting photos as guests of the restaurant for a first look so can't offer a completely unbiased opinion on what an average diner's experience will be, but suffice it to say that these are some serious contenders in an already ramen-packed city.

The simplest bowl is their Tondaku Ramen, a tonkotsu-style long-simmered pork broth made with Berkshire hogs, served with slow-cooked pork loin chashu, ginger, cloud ear fungus, sesame, nori, and scallions, along with thin, straight noodles made by the Sun Noodle company (is anyone not using their noodles these days?).

The Tondaku Wadashi Ramen is their pork broth enhanced with a ton of dried seafood in both broth and powdered dust form. It's an Orkin-esque flourish, intended for diners who dig on the whole umami thing.

Finally, their signature Green Curry Soup comes in a thick, rich, Thai-style spiced coconut and pork broth with grilled okra, red bell peppers, pork, scallops, a big handful of fried garlic, and (oddly) some mixed mesclun greens that quickly wilt in the hot broth. It's the heartiest dish on the menu by far and comes with thicker, wavy-style noodles, also made by Sun.

The shop is only a block away from Serious Eats World Headquarters, so it'll be interesting to see how the noodles shape up once the restaurant has been open for a few months and hit its stride. You can expect a full report down the line.

About the author: J. Kenji Lopez-Alt is the Chief Creative Officer of Serious Eats where he likes to explore the science of home cooking in his weekly column The Food Lab. You can follow him at @thefoodlab on Twitter, or at The Food Lab on Facebook.

The pancakes at Clinton St. Bakery are famous for a reason. But that doesn’t mean you can’t make them at home.

Photos by Izy Hossack

My daughter and I love the pancakes over at the Clinton Street Bakery, but she is a lazy teenager sometimes (she will kill me for saying that), so she never wants to wait on the line. I did some research to see if anyone had published a recipe for them, and it turns out that someone did. Man, I love the Internet. We make the pancakes all of the time, and it's also become my go-to meal contribution whenever I'm staying with other people on vacation, like ski trips. Sometimes I'll mix the dry ingredients the night before so I only have to deal with the eggs, buttermilk, etc. in the morning. And when I'm cooking, the low hum of sports radio is always playing, much to the chagrin of my daughter, who would rather hear top 40. —Chad Stoller, 42, managing partner IPG Media Lab, NYC

You will need:

(exact amounts in the full recipe at the bottom of this post)

eggs
buttermilk
unsalted butter
all-purpose flour
salt
sugar
baking powder
baking soda
blueberries (preferably wild blueberries, if available)

Separate two eggs — yolks in one bowl, whites in another.

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“There’s something romantic that comes from placing a dancer in these surroundings.”

Photographer Luis Pons, a native of Washington Heights, wanted to combine the stoic beauty of ballet dancers and iconic New York City backdrops.

Eve Marinelli, 215th street, 1 train stop.

Luis Pons

"There’s something romantic that comes from placing a dancer in these surroundings," Pons tells BuzzFeed.

Dawn Gierling at Grand Central Station.

Luis Pons

"We dwell in all of these areas."

Bryn Michaels in SoHo.

Luis Pons

"For us, they're routine."

Melissa Chapski and Adrian Blake Mitchell at Little Red Lighthouse in front of the George Washington Bridge.

Luis Pons

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These days our produce guy is all about tomatoes -- big and small, ribbed, smooth, or pointy, red, yellow, green, or pearl -- and at the rate I'm going, I am bound to turn into one very soon. I've been making tomato salads and sandwiches like they're going out of style, I've been making tomato tarts* and tomato tarragon bread soup, and I've been mixing batches of gazpacho.

Another one of my top uses for this tomato bounty is shakshuka, a preparation that can be found in slightly different incarnations across North Africa and the Middle East. My first encounter with it was in Janna Gur's excellent Book of New Israeli Food, which I told you about here and here, but I have since become acquainted with the Tunisian version as well.

A not-so-distant cousin of Provence's ratatouille, Corsica's pebronata, and the Basque piperade, shakshuka is most commonly a dish of tomatoes stewed with onions, bell peppers, and chili peppers until they form a thickish sauce, in which eggs are cooked -- either scrambled or, as is my preference, undisturbed so they're halfway between poached and sunny side up.

It is a simple, family-style dish that is quickly assembled, and highly flexible. You can:
- add other vegetables, especially zucchini or eggplant that you'll cook in the sauce; artichoke hearts, drained from a jar; and diced potatoes, which you should boil beforehand,
- substitute quality canned tuna or merguez (spicy beef sausages) for the eggs,
- garnish the dish with black olives and parsley or cilantro, as I like to do, or serve it plain,
- serve the sauce with lamb skewers or other grilled meats (just not pork, for cultural consistency),
- freeze the sauce for later use: think how thrilling it will be to eat shakshuka in November!

Some recipes call for roasting the bell peppers first, which is good if you find them hard to digest, but I don't think anyone wants to fire up the oven more than strictly necessary when it's hot out. Others suggest you peel the tomatoes, but it seems unnecessarily fussy to me.

If your spice rack boasts a Moroccan spice mix, such as ras el hanout, now would be a good time to use it, in place of the separate spices (cumin, caraway, paprika, turmeric, and cinnamon) I've included. And if you don't have a mix, and you don't have all the spices listed either, don't worry about it too much and just use what you have.

Join the conversation! Have you ever had or made shakshuka? What's your ideal version like? And what is your preferred way of using tomatoes at the height of summer?

* My two stand-by tomato tarts are the tomato tart tatin and the tomato mustard tart respectively featured in my first and second cookbooks.

Continue reading "Shakshouka"
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Name: Anne Herbert
Location: Austin, Texas

Anne's parents wanted to create a special tree house for their grandchildren while staying true to the style of their late 1930's Modern/Prairie-style house. They found the perfect spot, but wanted to build something that wasn't attached to the tree. 

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Guys, we should definitely, definitely talk about these. Here, I’ll go first: I think it’s essential that you not let another tomato season pass without making them. I realize that you might imagine rice-stuffed tomatoes to be something unappealing. Maybe you had a cold, stomach-turning one at a buffet wedding too many years ago that its squidgy horror should still be fresh in your mind, and yet. Maybe you cannot imagine why anyone would consider rice stuffed inside a tomato to be something noteworthy, being just rice and tomatoes, possibly two of the most generic foods out there. Maybe you’re waiting to hear what I dolled these up with to make them interesting — was there bacon or cheese or caramelized onions? Did I amp it up with whole grains or kale? Maybe I cooked an egg inside, like that one time? And maybe you’re going to be disappointed when I tell you that I added nothing, just about nothing at all, and that’s the best thing about them.

I started obsessing over rice-stuffed tomatoes a year ago. At the time, I loved them because they felt to me like the essence of simple Italian and Mediterranean cooking, this idea that you don’t need to lay 16 outside flavors onto things as simple as seasonal tomatoes and plain rice to make them taste amazing. You could coax the maximum flavor out of them with seasoning, by toasting the rice, by cooking them with a tiny amount of onion and garlic in olive oil then slowly in the oven. But, at the time, I never told you about them because they made me a little sad. At the time, I was moping that the family vacation to Rome — a place I imagined did a fine job with these throughout tomato season — we’d been trying to take for as long as we’d been a family had gotten postponed again due to all of those real-life things that have the nerve to get in the way of a good time. I mean, I know that sometimes as a grown-up you don’t get to do everything that you want, but I was starting to question the point of working all of the time and spending scrupulously if it didn’t, at least every few years, lead to things we really wanted?

... Read the rest of rice-stuffed tomatoes on smittenkitchen.com

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© smitten kitchen 2006-2012. | permalink to rice-stuffed tomatoes | 187 comments to date | see more: Gluten-Free, Grain/Rice, Italian, Photo, Summer, Tomatoes, Vegetarian

[Photograph: Mastrad]

If you like fizzy sodas but you don't like (or can't have) the ingredients in the commercial products, there's a new way to make your own fizzy drinks at home. The PureFizz Soda Maker ($79.99) is a streamlined product that's little more than a bottle that can withstand the pressure of adding carbonation to liquid and has a way to inject the carbonation. But really, that's all you need.

Similar to a soda siphon, but without the jet stream pressurized release of the liquid, you use small CO2 cartridges to add carbonation to the liquid of your choice. Then, unlike a soda siphon, you release the excess pressure, open the cap, and pour.

Woah, that's easy. And fizzy.

A second cap, without the carbonation-injection mechanism, is used to cap the bottle if you're not serving it all at once. The only other piece is a funnel that doubles as a measuring tool to make sure you don't overfill the bottle—some empty space is required for proper carbonation.

I'm not a huge fan of commercial soda (or pop, depending on where you live) because they're usually too sweet for me. But I do enjoy the occasional fizzy drink, so it's nice to be able to make one—in any flavor—whenever I want it. You can use this soda maker to carbonate anything you can drink—water, wine, juice, just about anything you can think of. Fizzy iced tea is interesting, and fizzy lemonade is pretty refreshing. For fans of commercial sodas, you can buy syrups and make whatever flavors you like. You can also add pieces of fruit to the carbonated liquid to add flavor to the liquid and make the fruit pieces a little fizzy. Or, if you want to go all molecular-gastronomy, you can use this to carbonate the fruit.

Even though the instructions don't mention it, you can also use this to infuse flavors into vodka. I've done it with a regular soda siphon, but this is less messy—no risk of spewing vodka onto the kitchen ceiling.

Like any bottled carbonated beverage, the fizz starts leaving the bottle after it's opened, so you won't be able to store leftovers for a long time, but you can't do that with commercial soda, either.

What I really liked about this soda maker is that it's a portable, self-contained device that doesn't take a whole lot of space. And I got a good amount of carbonation in everything I've tried so far.

The unit is a little spendy upfront, but all the carbonation systems are. If you make a lot of soda, you can buy the CO2 cartridges online in bulk for good prices, and since they're made from steel, they're completely recyclable.

About the author: Resident yeast whisperer and bread baking columnist Donna Currie also has a serious gadget habit. When her father-in-law heard about this column, he upgraded the nickname for her kitchen from "gadget world" to "gadget heaven." You can find her on her blog, Cookistry or follow her on Twitter at @dbcurrie.

Disclaimer: Testing samples were provided to Serious Eats.

From Drinks

Exploring unusual cold coffee drinks, like the espresso Julep at Toby's Estate Brooklyn. [Photos: Liz Clayton]

Earlier this year in Montreal, we came across Cafe Sardine's lovely Filtre Froid en Soda, a seltzery, fresh-tasting rendition of cold coffee with a soda fountain flair. As the mercury's climbed in New York, cold, fizzy, and sweet-treat summer coffee drinks have spiked as well. We hunted down five local takes on sweet refreshment.

Coffee Seltzer at Northern Spy Food Company

The talents at Northern Spy know their way around a housecrafted seltzer, and when we were tipped off to their Coffee Seltzer we had to try it. It's a crisp combination of iced coffee, simple syrup, chicory, and Seven Stars organic cream, topped off with seltzer—creating that cascading-fizzy-cream effect that's impossible not to get entranced by. The tartness of the seltzer harmonizes nicely with the cold brew concentrate made from local Plowshares beans—it loses a hair of dimension as the ice cubes dilute it, but then again, why would you be nursing such a thing?

Espresso Egg Cream at Irving Farm

If you're going to turn iced coffee into a soda-fountain-style dessert drink, why not go all the way, right? This little number from Irving Farm on the Upper West Side—weighing in at just shy of six bucks!—is actually really delicious. Extremely chocolate forward, the drink is espresso-based rather than a mixture built upon cold brewed coffee, allowing for a bit fresher coffee flavor and a good harmony with the housemade chocolate and vanilla syrups, as well as the cream. Served in a mason jar with the rest of the Saratoga seltzer bottle alongside, you're able to attenuate the drink's coffee-to-fizz concentration to your preference (or, you've got a great seltzer-back to cleanse the extreme richness of this straight-up dessert drink.)

Espresso Julep at Toby's Estate

It's an iced coffee! It's a nonalcoholic mint julep! It's what the who now? Toby's Estate in Williamsburg throws its hat into the summertime signature drink ring with this extra-sweet iced espresso with a hint of herbs. It's not cloying, but it's rich for a summer refresher, and like many of these signature summer concoctions, distribution becomes an issue. This julep could use a swizzle stick to better meld the intense espresso flavors at the bottom with the basil-and-mint syrup and steamed milk that mostly mask any immediate coffee presence. The concept is intriguing, but any herbaceous-coffee-cream blend will always be a balancing act, and this one tips a bit too much on the sweet and milky side. Disclaimer: we did not enjoy this drink at the Kentucky Derby, so perhaps we were doing it wrong.

Thunderbolt at Smith Canteen

As much as the people behind Smith Canteen and sister restaurant Seersucker have wonderful ideas, pouring an espresso into fresh-squeezed lemonade is not one of them. This beguilingly conceived drink piques one's curiosity too much to pass it by—and indeed, it even starts off quite refreshing. But then the flavor combination truly hits you as the espresso—which has sunk to the bottom of your color-separated drink like a black sunset—passes through the sunny lemonade. Though Counter Culture's Ethiopia Haru espresso is a fruity enough coffee, the combination loses points for a strangely medicinal aftertaste. Thunderbolt, I wish I loved you, but I can't.

Chaivan at Pudge Knuckles

It's possible we knew what to expect from a coffee bar namedPudge Knuckles that's located in a Williamsburg condo building, but those of us seeking refreshing summer coffee drinks are well known for keeping an open mind. Though it's not that unusual to see variants of the Iced/Dirty Chai—cold chai with an espresso shot thrown at it—this cold brew coffee-chai combination resonates more as a desert than a pick-me-up. Which is to say that even if it were a scoop of mocha chai ice cream, it would be a bit too sweet. Spice-rich and sugar-heavy, this drink starts out as a guilty summer pleasure, but quickly ends as pure guilt.

Do you have favorite cold coffee drinks in NYC? Share them in the comments below!

About the author: Liz Clayton drinks, photographs and writes about coffee and tea all over the world, though she pretends to live in Brooklyn, New York. She is the creator of Nice Coffee Time, a book of photographs of the best coffee in the world, published by Presspop.