Tea Box

If you ever want to experience a quiet, relaxing place to shop where you can't afford anything but everything is beautiful - try Takashimaya. If you ever want to experience a quiet, relaxing place where you can afford to buy something - try Tea Box, located in the basement of Takashimaya.

Takashimaya is a luxurious Japanese department store located on 5th Avenue between 54th and 55th Street. Takashimaya consists of 5 floors, each one with their own mood depending on the merchandise. My favorites are the travel floor and the home and garden floor. On the basement level you can find Tea Box. The front section has teas, teapots, and accessories for purchase. Dried tea leaves are on display, along with cookies and candy. The back section is a cozy place for a hot pot of tea or a well executed bento box.
Tea Box is opened Monday through Saturday, and lunch is served from 11:45-2:45 p, and afternoon tea service is between 3:00-5:30 p. The atmosphere is lovely, decorated with metallic fabric covered walls and modern lighting. The servers are always sweet and accommodating, but sometimes the guests are a little obnoxious. Be prepared to be surrounded by fur coats, heavy perfume, and bags from Bergdorf Goodman and Tiffany. Aside from the lousy company, the menu is concise and appetizing - bento boxes, sandwiches, salads, and an assortment of over 30 teas.
I love to get genmaicha tea. It is a sweet, nutty green tea that has toasted rice and popcorn. To read more about genmaicha click here. All tea is served in special pots and cups, depending on the variety you ordered. Some teas are accompanied by a small rock candy to use as a sweetener. I find it very charming and clever.
I always get the vegetarian bento box (there is also a meat bento box option - see menu picture below), and I am never disappointed. The boxes come out covered with a lid and server lifts the lid off for you - giving the "ta-da" effect. The vegetarian bento box comes with the following:

-Green Tea Noodles with Seaweed
-Tempura Vegetables with Seaweed Dipping Sauce
-Grilled Seasonal Vegetables
-Seasame Crusted Tofu with Sesame Sauce
-Petit Salad
-Chestnut and Mushroom with Rice
-Warabi Mochi
The box almost feels like a gift, each small compartment has a small treasure for your mouth. The vegetable tempura is delicious. The tempura is light, flaky, and not greasy at all. The rice is well seasoned, I definitely could have eaten a larger portion. And the the noodles and seaweed are cold and refreshing. Overall, I feel full (not in a stuffed way) and satisfied.
If you are ever strolling along 5th Avenue, I definitely recommend stopping by Takashimaya to rest your feet and relax with a hot cup of tea.

Snickerdoodles

Snickerdoodles are my favorite cookie for sure. They can be soft or crunchy, but always sweet and scrumptious. Snickerdoodles are one of the first things I can remember baking with my mom, and they always seemed to be a favorite with the whole family. Whether it was baking mini cookies for my dog (he was blind, but always knew they were in the oven), or for my Grandpa Mike's birthday, snickerdoodles always seemed to be in the oven. I remember my sister and I anxiously waiting for my grandpa to open his cookies so we could get our hands on them. He would loved to pair the cookies with a cold glass of milk, and was always so sweet to share them.

Speaking of Eating Locally...

Photo by Haraz N. Ghanban for the Associate Press

Today I noticed an article in the New York Times about Michelle Obama giving a White House kitchen tour before their first official dinner. She also gives her views on why it is important to eat locally. Click here to read!

CSA!

Photo by x-eyedblonde via flickr

Last year I moved from Kansas to New York. Although at times it feels like I am living in a concrete jungle, there are some wonderful spots to remind me that there is greenery here. Besides Central Park, there are a variety of Greenmarket Farmers Markets throughout the city. At the markets, vendors sell fruits, vegetables, meat, poultry, fish, as well as baked goods, jam, and even yarn. The markets I most frequent are at Union Square (Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday - All year round) and Morningside Park (Saturdays - June through November). Every Saturday I would wake up and head down to Union Square to get some apple donuts and hot cider and then buy whatever fruit or vegetable suited my fancy. At Union Square it is pretty crowded, but it is still worth going and meeting the people that made, raised, or grew your food. When you go to a farmers market, you know that you are getting the freshest produce and eating in season.

Tortilla Soup in a Flash

Sometimes when I get home from work I am really tempted to ordered something in. When I give into temptation, I end up with a mediocre meal that just leaves me with a stomach ache and greasy Styrofoam. Now, when I feel that urge I think about the simple recipe of Black Bean Tortilla Soup. I found this soup in Everyday Food a month ago, tried it out, and have made it a few times since. Besides being quick, hearty, and great leftovers, the best part about the soup is that I usually have a lot of the ingredients in my cupboard. The recipe calls for chicken broth, but I use vegetable and I add a lot more lime than it calls for because it really freshens up the soup.

Adrienne's Pizza Hut

A couple weeks ago, I ventured down to Wall Street to eat at Adrienne's Pizzabar. I had read about the restaurant on roadfood.com and had to try it. I love pizza, especially New York style. So I was really excited to go, plus I have never been down to Wall Street. I went on a late Sunday afternoon and was pleasantly surprised by the quiet charming area. The buildings were tall, yet still adorable and unique, and the streets were narrow, crooked and cobble stoned. I was pretty enamored.

Tomato Soup

Last weekend I made Pecorino Romano crackers (I will post that recipe at a later date-I am still working out the kinks). The crackers weren't as crisp has I would of hoped for, so I started thinking of the crackers as more of a garnish. They would be great on salads, but they sounded even better in tomato soup. An ode to grilled cheese if you will.

I have been wanting to make something out of Martha Stewart's Cooking School: Lessons and Recipes for the Home Cook and tomato soup sounded like a good place to start. The recipe was really simple, which is the whole point of the book (good ingredients, straight-forward steps, informative techniques).

The soup contains the following ingredients:
-1 can (28 oz.) of whole tomatoes. (You can use real tomatoes and blanch them, but tomatoes are not in season so I wouldn't waste your time).
-1 medium onion - diced
-3 cloves of garlic (peeled, but left whole)
-1.5 cups of vegetable stock or water (I used Better Than Bouillon stock)
-2 Tablespoons of unsalted butter

Note: You can use less garlic, Martha only called for 2 cloves)

First, melt the butter on medium high heat, then add the onion and garlic. Saute until the onions have softened and are translucent. Stir frequently so that the garlic does not burn.
Add the can of tomatoes with juice and the 1.5 cups of vegetable stock. Let simmer covered for 10-15 minutes until the tomatoes start to break down.
Now it is time to blend your soup. You can do this in a blender, food processor, or an immersion blender. The blender creates the smoothest soup, then the food processor, and then the immersion blender last. Reserve 1 cup of liquid from the soup before you blend. The reserved liquid is for thinning your soup to the consistency you prefer.
After you blend the soup, place back in the pot and reheat through and add the remaining liquid if you want. I blended mine in a blender and the soup was pretty smooth, but there were still some chunks of onion. Next time I will use a sieve when I pour the soup back in the pot to reheat.

Martha suggests adding cream if you want a richer version. The great thing about this recipe is that is a wonderful starting point to a more interesting tomato soup. You could add herbs and spices, but honestly I like it just the way it is :)