adventures in weekending: the day before father's day

The Saturday before Father's Day, you can always find me out and about - somewhat frantically - trying to find a gift for my Dad. After Bob and I walked the High Line from 23rd St. to 14th, we headed to Bowery's Kitchen Supply at the Chelsea Market.

See, my Dad loves to cook. And he's really great at it. So a professional restaurant supply store seemed right up his alley. Surely there must be something he doesn't own already! How wrong I was. The entire store is his kitchen! I walked around with a pair of bamboo utensils used for salad tossing before I set them down and said to myself, a giant bamboo fork and spoon for Father's Day? Maybe not.

And so I headed out the market empty-handed. But not before stopping for Jacques Torres cookies. I needed that consolation.

Speaking of food (and since when am I not talking about food?), we had a terrific lunch at Pipa's. I've had a love affair with jamon Serrano, since I tried it at a Spanish restaurant some months ago. So imagine my delighted surprise when I learned Pipa's served it in a sandwich with melted Manchego, toasted crusty bread and honey aioli - done and done.

You need to go there. Now.

By the way, I ended up getting my Dad this. You just can't go wrong with some good cuts of meat.

adventures in weekending: city evenings

A good weekend filled with tons of sweet, fun, surprising and hilarious moments: celebrating my friend Tanya's birthday, dancing like we were back in her dorm to a song we haven't heard in ages, filling up on bakery treats, glorious views of the city from a rooftop, finding out an acquaintance carries hot sauce wherever he goes, thrifting a kimono jacket for $5, sharing Thai-French appetizers with friends, long conversations about butter (for and against) and late late nights. Exhausting, yes. But so very fun.

It felt great to put down my bulky DSLR and put my camera phone to good use. And as you may have noticed, I'm now on Instagram! Username: jillianm55, if you want to follow along ;) I'm kind of addicted.

p.s. For those of you who were curious about how Mac's Russian Red lipstick looked, peep the third row photo!

i hid the nutella

For a couple of reasons. 

One for my own benefit. If it's out of sight, it will be out of mind. 

Another reason being that Bob can not be trusted around Nutella. He can eat an entire jar in one sitting - and that's not an exaggeration. 

I was hoping to save it for a rainy day. Maybe to be used for a batch of  brownies to share with friends?

So I hid it, so that he wouldn't be tempted. It was for his own good and mine.

But then one night, while I was sleeping, he caved and went on a search and found the jar. When I woke up, I saw this note:

adventures in weekending: gallivanting in the village

I had every intention of just getting a slice of pizza for lunch and making a beeline for the Bowery Kitchen store, and though I did fulfill my goal (and got myself a brand spankin' new skillet!), there were a few unexpected stops along the way. What was supposed to be a two hour outing ended up being eight hours of long walks, talks, impromptu concerts in the park, Japanese barbecue, cheap Guinness, bumping into familiar faces, gelato on a stick and cool street art.

With the hoards of rambunctious people in green celebrating, it was hard not to catch that infectious energy. I could blame it on the magic of St. Paddy's Day. Or the beautiful spring-like weather. But it was probably a combination of the two. I'll stick with that.

adventures in weekending: janey's birthday party (and a little good news)

We helped celebrate my sister's birthday this weekend with not one, but two birthday cakes, close family and friends, a huge tub of Magnolia's famous banana pudding, a special gift from Jimmy Choo, some silliness here and there and excited talk about The Hunger Games (eeeeek!). Party animals were certainly in attendance, but one of them knocked out before the first guest left (while his little brother mischievously jumped on the bed right next to him).

And although many people didn't know it, the boyfriend and I were also celebrating his acceptance into the NYU grad program with a few toasts of our own. Yeah Bob!

baked pumpkin pudding

Yes, I know pumpkin is soooo last fall. But when you have a can of pumpkin puree just staring you in the face every time you open your cabinet, you'd be craving a good ol' pumpkin recipe too. So there.

Now that I've gotten that excuse out of the way, let's see what this baked pumpkin pudding is all about:

Baked Pumpkin Pudding (adapted from Better Homes and Gardens)
Serves 4


Nonstick cooking spray
1cup canned pumpkin
1/2 cup milk (I used 2%)
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 egg whites, lightly beaten
1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1 teaspoon butter, softened
 
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. 
Lightly coat four 6-ounce ramekins or custard cups with cooking spray. 
Place ramekins in a 2-quart square baking dish; set aside. 
In a medium bowl stir together pumpkin, milk, brown sugar, egg whites and pumpkin pie spice. 
Divide pumpkin mixture among ramekins.
Place baking dish on oven rack. 
Pour boiling water into the baking dish around ramekins to a depth of 1 inch. 
Bake, uncovered, for 40-45 mins or until a knife inserted near the center of each pudding comes out clean. 
Carefully remove ramekins from water. 
Cool on a wire rack at least 15 minutes before serving.
Garnish with extra brown sugar or cinnamon.

Good stuff, good stuff. Then again, I'm a big fan of pumpkiny desserts. Especially in the lovely form that is creaminess. Lately, I've been bookmarking pudding recipes like mad (Chocolate! Caramel! Vanilla! Butterscotch!). So naturally, pumpkin pudding was an immediate response to my pumpkin surplus.

Although, I will make this note: the consistency leaned more towards pie than pudding. I'm not complaining though. But it should probably be called pumpkin pie in a cup (sans crust).

Oh...and you know what makes pumpkin pudding even better? Nutella (a last-minute addition).

But then again, Nutella makes everything better, right?

-jillian m.

adventures in weekending: the cook(ie)-off

Recently, I'd come across articles regarding where to find the best cookies in NYC. And the two places that were most often mentioned were Jacques Torres Chocolate and Levain Bakery. I've tried Levain's monstrous cookies several times before and have practically fell over from sheer delight. But I was intrigued by the comparisons. Could Jacques Torres' cookies be better? Last weekend, I went on a quest to find out.

Contestant 1: Torres' Chocolate Chip Cookie. No small chips here, only long pieces of quality disk-like chocolate chunks made exclusively for Torres. Chewy texture with a very buttery dough. Perfect for one hungry cookie fiend.

And contestant 2: Levain's Dark Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookie. Giant and over-sized. Crisp edges with a warm, almost-doughy inside. Can be shared, but why would you want to?

As I had expected, Levain's remained closest to my heart. Torres's cookies were absolutely amazing in that there was an abundance of delicious chocolate in every chewy bite. But there's something about the soft, slightly under-baked, ooey-gooeyness of the inside of a Levain cookie that makes my knees weak. And in this case, size does matter.

Bottom line: Torres is for the cookie traditionalist, while Levain is for the type of person who likes to eat the cookie dough before it's put into the oven (and has no regard for calorie intake). Enough said.

However, let me just say this: finding the best cookie is like finding the best slice of pizza in NYC (or anywhere). There is no be-all and end-all. It lies in tastes. Some people like gigantic cookies with rich, soft interiors. Others prefer their cookies flat and crisp. Or chewy. Or slightly burnt. Or with nuts. How do you like yours?

Are you craving cookies now? Here are some tried and true chocolate chip recipes from around the web:

• Jacques Torres' Secret Chocolate Chip Cookie (discovered and repinned this one from Monica. Thank you, m'dear!)

• Our Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookies from Smitten Kitchen (Deb can do no wrong).

• Best Chocolate Chip Cookies from AllRecipes (more than 3,300 people from around the web have tried and reviewed this recipe, which averages 4.5 out of 5 stars)

-jillian m.