Sweet Tooth: La Newyorkina

 

Walking around in the heat in on July 4th weekend in New York? Happen to be in the Lower East Side? Stop by the Hester Street Fair and get a popsicle this weekend! ( Listen to me sounding like an advertisement). I have posted about their pops before, and their new flavors are absolute successes.

Pina con Menta

This was absolutely refreshing. The pineapples tang bit back at your tongue, while the mint pieces added fresh earthiness that lingered on your palette. The perfect cool treat while shopping outside.

Price: $1.00 for a mini

Hester Street Fair

Hester at Essex

New York, NY 10002

Sat-Sun 10am-6pm

www.lanewyorkina.com

Dinner: My Attempt at the Art of Sushi making

Since I am kind of a cheapo,  I subscribe to about 1 zillion different New York and Philadelphia deal websites. This time I got a deal from the Dealist. 25 dollars for a sushi making session at Satsuko in the LES. Sushi making?? Only 25 bucks?! I had to drag my friends, Janet and Priscilla with me.

Sake Bomb

When we first arrived, the very charming bartender talked Janet into doing a sake bomb. This is essentially a car bomb, but super asian. They use Japanese beer (Sapporo) and the house sake. Balancing the sake ever so delicately on chopsticks, you pound your fists down and scream "ichi...ni...san..SAKE BOMB!!!" The chopsticks go FLYING and you chug your little heart out.

Price: $5.00 all night special

Chardonnay and Nigori Sake

Janet got the Chardonnay, but I got the Nigori Sake. Nigori means "unfiltered", so the rice residue is still in the drink. It gives it a milky look and creamier texture. I really enjoy unfiltered sake, and this one was particularly sweet and creamy.

Price: $8.00 (per drink)

They started to bring out our "tools". A bowl of water and a washcloth....later on in the night, these turned out to me by be my best friends.

Sushi Rice

Hot and fresh from the pot, my stomach was already rumbling. Half from excitment, and half because I was hungry!

Our ingredients

4 slices of tuna, 4 white fish,4 yellowtail, 4 salmon, 2 shrimp, 2 crab sticks, 4 avocado, cucumber matchsticks and carrot shreds. 

Rice Demonstration

She was trying to teach us how to properly put the rice onto the nori( seaweed). You first have to get your hands SUPER wet, I mean drench those suckers or else sticky rice will get everywhere!

Success so far. I added avocado, crabsticks and cucumbers. The teacher was impressed at how pretty it looked!

After rolling....okay so it looks a little less pretty. And maybe I added a little TOO much avocado. When you roll, you have to keep it tight, only roll half, then release and roll the other half.

Okay...so maybe sushi making isn't my forte...maybe it looks like a bull dozer ran over it.Repeatedly. My asian ancestors are probably rolling over in their graves.

Since trying to cut it made it even worse, I decided to eat it like a wrap. It was still edible after all! (By the way, I don't think I ever picked up my chopsticks that night, but sushi IS a finger food!).

Okay, so just to point something out. I am ALWAYS surrounded by other asians upstaging me. They are somehow always smarter, faster, or better in everyway possible than I am. I will forever be the lesser.

Anyway with that being said... the girl sitting next to me was whipping crazy sushi skills left and right, I asked her how she learned so fast. Her reply? " Oh, I make sushi all the time at home"....cricket sounds...then why are you here?!?! Obviously to make me feel stupid.

  However, she was kind enough to give me some pointers. First off, the nori was too short, which gave me less room for stuffing. She suggested I flip the rice to the outside so that I have more room for filling. I did this, and added my array of yummy fish.

Success!! No gushy innards coming out! I then added spicy mayo on top, but that just ended up making it look like puss was coming out of it....

The sushi expert sitting next to me also said to wet the knife when you cut to make the rolls and to wipe it clean every time.  They almost look professional! (Other than the failure in the upper left corner and the gross spicy mayo poops on top!) I ate these th next day for lunch at work, it was actually very tasty and the fish was fresh.

Priscilla, Janet, and I

Sake Shot

In the end, with all our hard work, we got a free sake shot. This one was filtered and a lot more dry then the sake I had been drinking that night.

Verdict: If you are seriously trying to learn how to make sushi, this might not be the thing for you. The sushi making demonstration was very short and not too informative. The teacher only told us how to put the rice onto the nori, but didn't teach us any tricks or gave any tips. We were also packed in a very tight space. All the important information I learned was actually from the girl sitting next to me. I think that next time, I would spend the 25 dollars on prepared sushi! This deal is normally 42 dollars, so I would suggest finding another place to learn how to make sushi.

Satsko

245 Eldridge Street

New York, NY 10002

www.satsko.com

Brunch: Earth Matters

Late sunday morning, Buddy and I met up with some friends to get brunch together. We all wanted a relaxing, calm and roomy environment. Nikoma suggested we head to Earth Matters,  an all organic vegan/ vegetarian friendly cafe that also serves meat.

The room was spacious, roomy and had a lot of light coming through the windows. There was seating upstairs, as well as downstairs. They serve micro brews and wine and also carry groceries. Talk about a one stop shop!

Very Berry

This was 14 oz, and made with blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, bananas, and cranberry juice. I enjoyed this because it was not too sweet, and all of the berries blended together nicely. Tart and tangy, a great cold and refreshing drink to start the day.

Price: $7.50

Small Bowl Combo

This was at the buffet where you can order hot combos of your choosing. I got the "small", but they STUFFED it until the food was basically falling off of the sides. I picked 3 dishes, the tofu veggies stir fry, the mixed kale and collard greens, and the curry seitan. After asking for a plate so I can actually eat my food without it all falling on the floor, I dug in.

The seitan was my favorite, the perfect amount of curry, tender and not rubbery, just a dash of pepper was all it needed. I also enjoyed the stir fry and greens mix. However, there was too much oil for my liking. My mouth felt coated with it, but over all the veggies were not over cooked and still tasty.

Price: $5.50

The Gandhi

My friend Casey ordered this one. It was a homemade veggie burger with lettuce, tomato, avocado and humm

us. I didn't have any, but she seemed to really love it. Doesn't it look yummy?

Price:$9.95

Vegan Brownie

We had to top off the meal with a brownie. This was more like a piece of fudge than actual brownie. Extremely dense, moist, and chocolatey. Before I could blink, it was gone down in my belly. None vegans wouldn't have been able to tell the difference!

Price: $2.50

Casey, Melissa, Nikoma, Buddy (isn't he so photogenic?) and I

Verdict: The people here are really friendly. Though service was slow for not being busy, they did make everything fresh to order.  If you are looking for a relaxing and healthy meal, this is the place to go!

Earth Matters

177 Ludlow Street

New York, NY 10002

www.earthmatters.com

Quick Bite: The Hester Street Fair

Usually I would post my yummy and money signs at the top, but since I was at the Hester Street fair, there were a number of different vendors to review, so I will post them before each one. 
I love going to street fairs, you never know what you are going to find (or eat!) Usually I go to these things to dig for unique and interesting jewelry and clothing, but sometimes my tummy finds more things than I do.

Entrance at Hester street.

Sweet Jewel Cake Balls

This was the first thing I saw entering in the fair, and as soon as I saw "red velvet cake ball"" I had to get one since I am such a sucker for red velvet. I went with Buddy, and he insisted we try both flavors, I wasn't going to complain. :)

Both flavors were coated with chocolate and coconut shavings and were a hybrid between a cake and truffle( which was also how big they were)

Vietnamese Coffee Cake Ball

This one was the more successful out of the two. There was a definite strong coffee flavor (though I'm not sure how "Vietnamese" it was). The coconut and chocolate coating cut through the sharp flavor of the coffee nicely and the cake itself was dense and very moist.

Red Velvet Cake Ball

I was kind of disappointed in this one, it seemed to lack the flavor I was looking for in a red velvet. I wished the center had a cream cheese filling of some sort and the coconut flavor kind of threw me off. Buddy really enjoyed this one because it seemed more moist than the vietnamese.

These were cute and fun to eat, but next time I'm looking for a cakey treat, I might just settle for a mini cupcake.

Price: 1 for $3.00 or 2 for $5.00

Sweet Jewels Cake Balls

www.sweetjewelsnyc.com

www.etsy.com/shop/sweetjewelsnyc 

Kumquat Cupcakery

Coincidentally after walking past some vintage jewelry vendors I found a stand whos bakery is devoted purely to miniature gourmet cupcakes. They had flavors ranging from chocolate lavender, to peanut butter and jelly. Considering I just ate two cake balls, I decided to go with just one. My staple red velvet.

It was about the size of large gum ball and surprisingly packed a flavorful punch in such a small bite! Extremely moist with the perfect hint of cocoa, the cream cheese frosting was silky and not overly sweet. I wished I had gotten more for later to pop in my mouth! 

Hopefully they will be at the fair again next weekend, but if not then you can always order them online.

Price: $1.00

www.kumquatcupcakery.com

La Newyorkina

Since the weather had been getting nicer, a lot of  specialty popsicle shops have been "popping" up, from Popbar to Peoples Pops. La Newyorkina seemed to be a new name in the biz, and their menu looked interesting, making me weak to resist their modern Mexican twist on popsicles.

Guayaba (guava)

This was a little bigger than the size of a business card and boldly tart, this was Buddy's favorite out if the two. It tasted like papaya with lemon juice, and was very refreshing. The texture was smoothly blended and equally juicy.

Price: $1.00 for a mini

Horchata Cinnamon Rice Milk

I loved the flavors in this, but it seems that they still need a little more time perfecting the technical aspects of making it. The texture and flavors were very inconsistent. Some bites I got a dense almost powdery texture that tasted sour, and other bites I got very sweet icy bits. The overall underlying flavor that was kept consistent was the milk and cinnamon.

Perhaps I got a faulty popsicle, but thats not going to stop be from wanting to try their avocado flavor next time which looked creamy and delicious.

Price: $4.00

www.lanewyorkina.com

Sigmund Pretzel Shop

Okay so after eating 2 cake balls, 2 popsicles and a mini cupcake, you would think I would have enough self control say "no" to this pretzel stand right? Umm... have you looked at this display? What human being could say no to melted cheese on a pretzel??

Bleu Cheese and Walnut with a side of Beet Relish and Honey Mustard

I was first drawn to this because of the bleu cheese, it looked bubbly and plentiful and was about 5x4 in size.They toast the pretzels in a portable oven, but only toast them for the length of time it takes to squirt you your mustard ( which was literally 10 seconds). 

I have to say, this was disappointing. It looked SO good, but the pretzel tasted day old. The bleu cheese flavor was barely there and was dry and crumbly. The walnuts were untoasted chopped bits mixed in the dough,added nothing to this pretzel.  There was not much textural diversification and was dense, tough, and like of bland. The winner was the honey mustard; spicy, tangy, gooey and sticky. The beet relish tasted like blended beets with horseradish mixed in. Not worth the money.

Price: $4.00

Gruyère and Paprika with Mustard Seed Dip

The cheese flavor was more prominent in this one, however I couldn't taste the paprika (though I saw specks powered on top). Again, its good looks deceived me and tasted day old. The mustard seed dip was fantastic however, bold and spicy.

Price: $4.00

I really wanted to love these pretzels but they failed to impress. I might try their store to see if I have a change of heart (they also have more flavors)

Sigmund Pretzel Shop

29 Avenue B
New York, NY 10009

www.sigmundnyc.com

This fair was a lot smaller than I had expected, maybe only 10-15 vendors but its fun to walk around on a nice sunny weekend day. 

Hester Street Fair

Hester & Essex Street

New York NY 10002

April- December Sat-Sun 10am-6pm

www.hesterstreetfair.com