K and I once spent a weekend in San Francisco, visited all the major sights downtown and also took a daytrip to Carmel-by-the-Sea. It was lovely. And over the years, San Francisco/northern California became a top candidate retirement place for us. It has both mountains and ocean, we can continue hiking and cycling, we can expand into ocean sports; it's also close to the best skiing destinations in the Rockies, and it has a good one of its own- Lake Tahoe; it is diverse in culture; it has good restaurants as well as abundant resources for gourmet cooking at home; its cost of living is much lower than NY and offers much more value. Earlier this year, a thought occurred to us, why wait until retirement? It's like saving sex for old age! Maybe we should move there earlier?
Regardless, we should visit there again. It's been five years. During the time, our domestic travels have been almost exclusively skiing-related (or hiking), or we'd go to Europe and Asia. Time to do some urban travels in US again. So in June, we spent one week in Northern California, half in San Francisco, half further south in the Carmel Valley.
San Francisco is so different from other American cities. You walk up the hills, a casual slant, a spans of blue water dotted by sail boats fall into your view. The Golden Gate bridge "hanging" in the fog, with the blue sky and water as backdrop invokes nothing but awe. Even the name, "san-fran-cis-co", so different from "Chicago", "Boston", "New York"; "san-fran-cis-co", just by pronouncing it, feels exotic with a touch of romance and mystic.
I planned 3 nights and 2 days for SF, with simple agenda and clear objectives :-)
Food: Gourmet market in Ferry Building (particularly Acme Bread), dinners at Alice Waters' Chez Panisse & Micheal Tusk's Quince.
Hotel: Natural and clean design at Hotel Vitale
Sports: rent bikes and ride across the Golden Gate Bridge to Marin Headlands and Sausalito
Arts & Design: Japonesque Gallery, Limn Furniture and Gallery
San Francisco turned out a bit disappointing, you'll find out why by reading the captions in the slideshow below. Yet there are feelings that are just hard to express, I expected to be more excited about visiting it again. Maybe a blue sky above the bridge would have made the difference? Maybe an extraordinary dish? Or maybe SF is no longer exotic enough for me as a city? I think they all played a part.
However, this trip did create a very special impression through Hotel Vitale. We enjoyed its modern design with natural touches, its airy lobby, its high-quality everything and its smoothing scent. The scent is in the lobby, in the hallway and in the room. It is faint and I can not associate anything with it, but I felt it is more than clean and fresh air. Months after we returned to NY, that scent still lingers in my memory. I called the hotel concierge to find out and was told it's the lavender-soaked towels (given upon guests' arrivals) and dried lavender on the walls. I wasn't convinced. I remember seeing the hotel group (Joie de Vivre Hospitality) CEO's email in hotel magazine, so I emailed the CEO Mr. Chip Conley! He wrote me back right away (!) telling me it's probably from the scented candles burned in the spa, and he got the Managing Director of Hotel Vitale to respond with the specific scent -- Moroccan Chamomile Apple Blossom candles from Pacifica Perfume. Isn't it amazing how these high level management people care about answering (very promptly too) such a small question from an unknown customer?
I was very impressed, but I also felt guilty and silly for impulsively contacting the CEO of this big hospitality group (it has 30+ boutique hotels in California). If not the hotel concierge again, I could have called the hotel manager. Why I skipped that? I asked myself and tried to analyze. Obviously, the CEO made his email address available in the magazine given to all guests. But subconsciously, it was perhaps because of his writing, and his life and management philosophy. He had a greeting letter on the inside cover of hotel magazine, very standard corporate approach. The message and tone were nothing but though-- he started with a question "What's truly important in life?" and talked about "our material possessions aren't what sustain us. Instead, what's significant is the daily little vignettes (memories) we create in our lives". And he connected celebration of the joy of life and creation of lasting memories with the hotel experience. It was very real, personal, poetic and sincere. What's more, we shared the same thoughts about life. In the Prelude of this blog, I have written "Richness in memory is the wealth I most desire for" and "Life does not just diminish, it takes another form-- memory. Memory for oneself, memory shared by and influences given to others around ". And in various posts on my blogs, I also wrote "Good restaurants and hotels are not just expenses, they are investments for good memories".
These were the reasons I wrote to the CEO, but only through hindsight analysis. I certainly had no intention to test him out, and I did not mention anything about shared philosophy behind his greeting letter and my blogs. I just asked this big shot a tiny question, and he answered at airport on route to SF. Clearly he did not just say "creating lasting memories for the guests", he meant it and he really delivered it. He managed his business with heart.
Northern California: (1) San Francisco, A Bit Disappointing, A Bit Touching
Romantic Farm, Extraordinary Gourmet
About this series "New York Living-- Nature & Countryside":
We often feel fortunate to live in Manhattan-- get to enjoy its rich cultural life and, with a short drive, beautiful nature. This series shares the nature and countryside near Manhattan that we like to visit/do outdoor sports.
Blue Hill at the Stone Barns
In an article in Wall Street Journal a couple years ago, Blue Hill at the Stone Barns was cited as better than Equus in Castle on the Hudson. We've dined at Equus four times, always happy with the food and experience. If Blue Hill is even better, of course, we've got to try it!
I checked out Blue Hill's website first, only three pictures, one aerial shot of the Stone Barn, two food shots. I was immediately intrigued by its beautiful and European look. (The current website has more pictures, but I like the previous design more.) Its "Farm to Table" style sounded very attractive too, I called to make reservation right away, only to find it’s fully booked in the next two months! I tried again a few months later, and got a reservation.
After 5 weeks' wait, finally, we were heading to Pocantico Hills for the dinner. After the highway, K and I were winding through a residential area. An open farm just props up all of sudden, and what a beautiful farm, is this really in New York? Felt like in European countryside.
At Blue Hill, there is no a la carte menu, only three tasting menus. We chose the Farmer's Feast, 6 courses for $110 plus drinks+tax+tips (it’s $125 base charge now). While most tasting menus offer the exact same plates for each party at the table, Blue Hill served 6 different dishes for each of us, so we actually got to enjoy 12 dishes. Plus, there were 4 shared amuse-bouches. It was extraordinary, better than Equus, and many other top restaurants we've been to, such as Thomas Keller's Per Se. Per Se is rated at one of the best restaurants in NY, in the US and even in the World by many. K and I and our friend Echo went there once, Blue Hill is far better than Per Se, and Per Se was far more expensive (about $350pp). It's hard to articulate what makes Blue Hill stands out so much, everything just tasted extraordinarily delicious.
Some restaurants etch long-lasting memories through one or two specialized dishes, some through the overall experience. Blue Hill is the latter, the farm, the taste and service make it a delicious, enjoyable and romantic treat. What's worthy of special mention is its custom designed wood serving ware for the amuse-bouches, they highlight the foods' characteristics smartly, and truly excited the taste buds and showcased the chef’s approach to cooking together with the foods. We recommended Blue Hill to friend Echo, and she tried to go on almost all her business trips to NY (weeknights’ dinner reservations were much easier). And her most memorable dishes were the amuse-bouches after four or five dinners there. She also mentioned to me that Blue Hill recognizes her as repeat patrons and sends more than usual complimentary amuse-bouches each time.
We dined there in 2007. Have tried to return, but had difficulty getting reservation at preferred weekend dates. Blue Hill has another location near Washington Square in Manhattan, never been there yet. But it does not seem to have earned the same reputation as the location at the Stone Barns. Blue Hill at Stone Barns is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays. Reservation is almost a must unless you just want to dine at the bar counter.
Castle on the Hudson
About this series "New York Living- Nature & Countryside":
We often feel fortunate to live in Manhattan-- get to enjoy its rich cultural life and, with a short drive, beautiful nature. This series shares the nature and countryside near Manhattan that we like to visit/do outdoor sports.
Gourmet @ Castle
NYC living seems to have endless pleasant surprises. Previous posts shared beautiful nature at surprisingly close distances. This post is also about a surprise and delightful find, Castle on the Hudson.
The Castle is perched on a hill in Westchester County, surrounded by gardens and woods, with views of the Hudson river. The medieval Castle was built by the Carroll's family in 1897 and 1910 for private residency and entertaining. It borrowed design of Norman fortification in Wales and Scotland in the UK and Ireland. After 1940, the Castle was rented to a boarding school, later was bought by an investment firm as its headquarter office. Now, the Castle is a small luxury hotel, serene and romantic.
We stumbled onto it while researching for wedding venue a few years ago. A Castle wedding probably is very appealing to many girls. K and I love to visit traditional architecture on leisure trips, but for things directly relating to ourselves, like our home decor and clothing/accessories, we prefer modern and clean-lined design. I got my wedding gown from Vera Wang, not to follow her fame, more because she had a modern and clean lined piece that I liked. Also I requested cutting off the long trail of the gown to be less traditional. A traditional castle was not a top choice for our wedding, but it turned out to be a very satisfied and happy choice.
For our own wedding, we prefer small and simple, but have special requirements for the venue and food. We'd like to have the civil ceremony, cocktail and reception at one place and with outdoor space, and food must be excellent and beautiful. There are many gourmet restaurants and event venues in Manhattan, but often our small wedding (28 guests) did not meet their minimum, and few has outdoor space. The Castle, other than architectural style, met all our preferences. And it accepts small weddings. Its Equus restaurant also receives great reviews. After two satisfying meals at Equus, we decided to have wedding at the Castle.
The slideshow shares the Castle's scenery and gourmet creations (from our wedding and one of our anniversary dinners.)
The Perfume of Pasta
About this series "Gourmet: Homemade Bread Pizza Pasta Noodle Dumplings":
I do almost all the cooking in our home, I love it. K's interest and expertise in cooking lies in dough-related food only. So when making bread, pasta, pizza from scratch (no bread machine), K and I do it together- and I love it too. This series is about "dough-food" we made together.
The Perfume of Pasta
"The world is divided between those who have had Babbo's pasta and those who have not." This was part of what I wrote on the comment card after our first meal at Mario Batali's Babbo restaurant. That night, K and I tried its pasta tasting menu. Since then we've been to Babbo five times and Del Posto once, ordered pasta tasting menu again as well as a la carte menu. Pasta lingers most in memory. The sauce was spare, yet the flavor so intense, as if Mario Batali had mixed in drops of perfume, perfume of pasta!
I had an Italian cookbook, which contains fresh pasta recipes, but I never tried them. A few months after our first Babbo dinner, I got "Babbo" cookbook as a gift from friends. This book and our dining experience at Babbo motivated me to make fresh pasta at home. Soon I developed that perfume of pasta too! The "secret formula": fresh pasta + precisely al dente + spare sauce+a little pasta water. I suspect Batali's "formula" also includes a touch of butter sometimes. We are not crazy about butter, and usually try to minimize it as much as possible. For us, without butter, tastes just as good.
Dried pasta can be delicious, but fresh ones is worldly different and better. However, to bring out the superb taste, you need to be precise in boiling. Perfection is defined as "al dente"- fully cooked yet firm to the bite. Boiling plays a make-or-brake role. Sauce? I'd say only 10% importance, and you really need just a little. A little pasta water helps "loosen" the pasta and infuse the sauce flavor.
Below are pictures of some fresh pasta we made (not from Babbo book or any other book): mint ravioli with corn and chicken, short rib red wine ravioli, chiptole apple and turkey ravioli, tequila jalapeno shrimp tortellini, pumpkin pappardelle with veal bolognese, chestnut pappardelle with ginger yuzu sake chicken and woodear.
Often I make the dough and the filling/sauce, K helps to roll out/cut/wrap, and I boil it. We had many pasta meals that after the first bite, both of us would give an "opening statement": just like at Babbo! Wow! So good! Then silence and diligent digging.
I'd say, Babbo's pasta tasting menu $69 (plus drinks+tax+tip), worths every penny; making pasta at home with loved ones, priceless.
Below are more detailed comments and recipes from my experiments:
Basic Pasta Dough:
Pasta dough involves only flour, egg and olive oil. We use KitchenAid mixer, but kneading with hands is easy and fast too. (However, in the second stage- roll out and cut the dough sheets , electric pasta attachment is much faster and easier than hands.) My basic pasta dough recipe is slightly different from Babbo book. I find Babbo book's suggestion of flour portion a little too much. Certainly one should adjust according to the humidity in the air and size of eggs.
My basic dough recipe:
about 1 1/4 cup flour
2 eggs (I use Eggland's Best Grade A Organic eggs, they are not big)
1/4 tsp extra virgin olive oil
serving: 4
As a rule of thumb, don't put all flour in the beginning. I always start with 1 cup flour, add eggs and oil. Then use "stir" on the KitchenAid, if too sticky, I gradually add more flour (most of time up to about 1/4 cup). When a rough ball forms, I use setting "2" to mix for a few minutes to make a smooth ball.
Wrap dough in plastic wrap tightly and rest it in room temperature for 30min. This allows the gluten in the flour to develop.
Semolina flour or whole wheat flour?
You can use 100% semolina flour or mix in just some. I found semolina flour has lower yields. Have not tried whole wheat yet, certainly should try. (In pizza dough, when we mix in whole wheat, we add honey to mask its grainy taste.)
Other ingredients?
I've mixed in shocked mint, black pepper, roasted pumpkin and chestnuts too.
Cutting/Shaping:
We have the KitchenAid attachment set: a roller, a fettuccine cutter, a speghetti cutter. We most often just use the roller to flatten the dough into sheets, because we like to make pappardelle and ravioli most.
For Pappardelle, we roll out the dough to setting #4. For ravioli sheets, we roll to setting #5. (In Babbo book, it suggests the thinnest setting for ravioli, it did not indicate if using KitchenAid. We tried it on KitchenAid and found it too thin. We like the dough part to have some body, not paper thin.)
I don't use any mold to make ravioli. To use any mold, you have to roll the pasta sheet into a size that fits the mold first, that requires some exact "calculating" (which adds nothing to taste). Using mold also means having to washing it, need for storage space, etc. I prefer the simplest and fastest: fold pasta sheet corner to guide cutting into squares, put filling in the middle, fold diagonally to form a triangle and press the sides to close. (As seen in album above.)
Boiling:
In my experience, for perfectly al dente, it often means 1 minute's boiling for pappardelle, and about 1.5-2 minutes' for ravioli. It's crucial to remember that pasta continues to cook after you take it out of boiling water and put it on the plate.
Sauce/filling:
As a Chinese, I learned about pasta making and traditional sauces like bolognese from cookbook recipes. But I did not follow any recipe to create sauces/fillings I mentioned above and presented in the album. My creations are based on principles in traditional recipes, with inspirations from what's fresh/seasonal in the market, what I had in the fridge/pantry, my travels, and with a desire to always make something different, interesting and tasty.
And principle in traditional pasta sauce/filling is simple, the main ingredients often consist of base vegetable flavors (onion+celery+carrot), fragrance enhancer (such as garlic), meats, liquid flavoring (such as wine/liquor, tomato sauce), herbs and salt & pepper. Play with the elements! In my red wine short rib ravioli filling, I used only onion, celery, boneless short rib, red wine, thyme, salt and pepper.
Here is my twist of traditonal veal Bolognese. I used very little tomato sauce and used dry Vermonth instead of wine.
onion 1 small
celery 2 stalks
carrot 1 pcs
garlic 4 gloves
veal, ground* 1/3 Ibs
pork, ground* 1/3 Ibs
crushed tomato sauce 4 tbs
milk 1/4 cup
Vermonth 1/4 cup
thyme sprigs
S&P
*I like to ground meat myself using my santoku knife. I found the ready ground meat too fine, I want a little more body and texture. I got veal stew chunks and pork butt from Whole Foods, cut them into smaller pieces and with the Santoku knife, just a few minutes, I got the ground meat in fineness I prefer.
Snowboarding @ Hunter Mountain
About this series "New York Living- Nature & Countryside":
We often feel fortunate to live in Manhattan-- get to enjoy its rich cultural life and, with a short drive, beautiful nature. This series shares the nature and countryside near Manhattan that we like to visit/do outdoor sports.
Snowboarding in Hunter
While we liked mountains in upstate NY for hiking, for skiing we always go to Vermont or the West where the terrain, the snow, lodging and restaurant choices seem to be far better. In the 2007-2008 season, we decided to expand our snow sports "portfolio" and learn snowboarding & cross-country skiing. We checked out Hunter Mountain. For beginner snowboarding, Hunter is good enough. And it's really great to be able to take day trips and practice-- it's over 2hrs' drive (one-way) from Manhattan.
I found snowboarding more difficult to learn than skiing. Snowboarding also requires more protective gear than skiing. Lucky that our friend Simon knows a lot about gears and helped us pick out appropriate ones. We absolutely loved the Burton glove with build-in wrist guard and the 661 Knee Pad-- it felt so comfortable to fall on the knee with the pad! I also loved the Red Impact Short (a.k.a. "Butt Pad"), except I could not pull it down when I needed to go to bathroom :-)! I got the older model (maybe 2007?) which looked more sturdy and effective than the new model (maybe 2008?). But the older model has tight legs, and the knee pad blocks its way to come down :-)
Checkout our snowboards, they actually match the color theme with our road bikes. Did not plan it, just turned out by coincident.
NY Living- Nature & Countryside: Surfing in Long Island
About this series "I Love New York-- Nature & Countryside":
We often feel fortunate to live in Manhattan-- get to enjoy its rich cultural life and, with a short drive, beautiful nature. This series shares the nature and countryside near Manhattan that we like to visit/do outdoor sports.
Surfing
For many years, I admired about surfing, even though I could not swim. That aspiration, together with some determination, helped me to overcome the fear of water and learn swimming two years ago. This summer, finally, I was ready to learn surfing.
We took our first surfing lesson in Carmel, northern California. It was end of June, but 55F with fog and drizzle! And while sitting on the board and paddling out to the ocean, I felt as if walking right into a wall, a wall of powerful water--the waves were higher than my head. Before the wave hit, there was a little fear. After the wave hit, there was pure bliss. The instructor cut the lesson short though because the waves were too high for beginners.
After California trip, we found a surfing school "Surf2Live" locally in NY. No, not the Hamptons, that's too far. "Surf2Live" is based in Long Beach, Long Island. On weekend mornings, just one hour's drive from Manhattan. We were surprised
(too) such place exists so close to Manhattan. It's a nice little quiet town, clean beach and not crowded, and the waves are good for beginners (maybe intermediate level surfers too). We took both group lesson and semi-private with instructor/founder Elliot Zuckerman. Elliot brings assistants into the water too. I'd recommend semi-private or private lessons for more focused attention/owner and more ride practice for the the same amount of time.
(Image above: At Long Beach, Long Island, NY. I was practicing popping up before lesson started. Everyone was in the water during the lesson, so we don't have any actual surfing shots.)
Before taking surfing lessons, I looked for books on surfing. Sound funny? I agree that one can't learn surfing on paper. But I don't know anything about it and would like to start with sort of an overview. Plus surfing is more than a sport, it is a culture. I checked out a book from the public library "Surfer Girl, A Guide to the Surfing Life" by Sanoe Lake (with Steven Jarrett). This was the first and only surfing book I read so far, but I felt it very well-written:
It gives a comprehensive overview, starts with Mental Aspects, then Outfit, Fitness, Wave and Ocean Knowledge, Safety and Etiquette, Surf History, Board Knowledge and Surf How-to/Techniques.
Books like this tend to be dry. But this book is fun and easy to read, with magazine-like colored layouts, pictures, illustrations, cartoons. And humor runs through out the text and images.
Perhaps most important of all, I could totally relate to the author's reflection of surfing in context of nature and character-building (courage, confidence, persistence, focus, discipline and respect), from my own skiing experience.
A few quotes from the book:
"I love surfing because you can make it your own, your own form of self-expression."
"There aren't too many other sports that allow such simultaneous beauty, grace and power."
"Spend some time surfing, and the ocean will start to get into your blood. Connect with nature like this and you'll start to understand why surfing is so spiritual."
"Surfing makes me feel strong and confident but also vulnerable and humble. It teaches me patience but makes me all the more ambitious. It shows me that I must seize the moment, yet it always allows me another chance."
"Everyone had the kind of courage it takes to surf. It's just a matter of finding it and tapping into it."
"While focus is internal, respect is external-- it's something you give. You'll respect other surfers and you'll respect the ocean. You don't beat or conquer the ocean; at best, you work with it and harness its energy for a moment. Its power is practically infinite, while yours is minimal. "
And seriously, I recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn about surfing, not just girls.
P.S. For my thoughts on relationship between surfing and investing, Pls see:
http://www.thoroughliving.com/2008/10/financial-crisis-and-surfing.html
How to Peel Chestnuts?
About this series "Small & Smart Tips": Tips for everyday cooking tasks and challenges.
I usually cut a cross on the chestnut shell, roast them in 425F oven. The shell cracks open during roasting. When they cool a bit, I peel them. It works, but not perfectly. Problems:
Hard to cut a big enough cross. I have a set of Shun Classic knife. I tried w/ the smaller knives to saw-cut a cross on the shells, not sharp enough and hurt myself a couple of times. I ended up using the Santoku to "chop" crosses. (Bad for the knife.) Chestnuts hardly provide flat horizontal surfaces, so often the crosses can not be made big enough with the Santoku chopping method. This leads to difficult peeling afterwards.
Last Fri evening, I was at the Fifth Ave & 58's street area, and noticed the chestnuts at the street vendors' are cut differently-- no cross cut, a single straight cut horizontally across the nuts' "belly". The yellow nut are generously exposed after roasting. There was no peeling almost, just pick up the nuts inside. What a smart cut idea!
But what knife to use to cut it this way? I asked the vendor. He pointed me to his two helpers on the side, there they were, leaning against a wall corner, cutting the shells with a utility slide cutter! They offered to let me try one-- just hold a chestnut in one hand, slice cut open across the surface with the other hand. Cutter is very sharp, so super easy. How come I never thought about that? I not only walk by them all the time but bought roasted chestnuts from them before. How come I never even noticed that?!
For chestnut lovers, get a new utility knife from a hardware store, cleanse it thoroughly and dedicate it for chestnut use. And please be grateful to the street vendors for their smart invention.
(Williams Sonoma website and Amazon.com sell "chestnutter", which is a more proper looking kitchen tool than a utility knife. But reviews are mixed. I have not tried it. But I am convinced that the street vendor's method is very effective and easy.)
Sea Urchin Shooter
Sea urchin is interesting. It's rather bland, but tastes good. Maybe because it's refreshing and yet creamy at the same time?
We like to get it from Mitsuwa Japanese Market. Quality is excellent, melts in your mouth just like those you pay $15-25/a couple pcs at high-end restaurants. At Mitsuwa, 7-9 pcs on a wood tray sells for about $11.
With a simple dip of soy sauce and wasabi, it's heavenly. For a fancier version, I accentuate the refreshing aspect of the little morsel with a mix of dry sake and sparkling pear juice. To add texture, color and taste balance, I mix in sweet-tart green grapes and top up with Hawaii pink salt and minced chives. (My sparkling pear juice and sake proportion is 3:1, it's more a personal preference.)
I tried both Champagne flutes and shot glasses, Champagne flutes looked more sexy but it was easier to enjoy it from the shot glasses.
Give Pizza Some Justice!
About this series "Gourmet: Homemade Bread Pizza Pasta":
I do almost all the cooking in our home, I love it. K's interest and expertise in cooking lies in dough-related food only. So when making bread, pasta, pizza from scratch (no bread machine), K and I do it together- and I love it too. This series is about "dough-food" we made together.
My Pizza Revolution
1995, Pizza Hut, Beijing, that's when and where I had the first bite of pizza in my life. It was an exotic and interesting experience with two take-aways: pizza was similar to some Chinese pancakes except pizza put everything on top, and except Chinese pancakes tasted better.
1997-2001, my first 4 years in the U.S., I probably had less than 10 slices of pizza in total, and they ranged from chains like Papa John's, Pizza Hut, Domino's, Pizzeria Uno and local pizzerias. They were ordered by friends/colleagues for parties or group/business meetings. I never liked pizza.
2002, somehow I was tempted enough by a review and tried a pizza at "New York Pizza Factory" restaurant in Ridgewood, NJ. It was really good! Thin crust but with spongy and chewy body, interesting and tasty toppings. Each pizza was named after streets & sights in Manhattan. I went there a few times later. This restaurant pivoted my opinion towards pizza.
2003, I met my husband K and he is a BIG pizza fan. I took him to the Ridgewood pizza place once, he was very impressed by the food and also by me-- that I not only knew about fancy gourmet restaurants but also great pizza joints :-) (Sadly, when we went for the second time, the restaurant disappeared!) Since then, together we visited and revisited many iconic "pizza institutions" or restaurants with good pizzas, like Lombardi's, Grimaldi's, John's pizzeria, Di Fara's, Adrienne's Pizzabar, Olives in NY; Sally's, Pepe's and the Bar in New Haven; American Flatbread in Vermont. We also tried Roman style pizza while in Italy. We prefer the NY/New Haven style crust over the Roman style. After many and many enjoyable slices of pizzas at restaurants mentioned above, my personal most memorable pizzas are:
Pork sausage with maple syrup and herbs @ American Flatbread in Sugarbush, Vermont
Steak Tartare @ Snake River Grill in Jackson Hole, Wyoming
Prosciutto with fig jam, rosemary, Gorgonzola cheese @ Olives in W Hotel (Union Square), NY
Mashed Potato, pickled Jalapeno @ The Bar in New Haven, CT
Sometime in 2004, I became a fully converted pizza fan and we started to make pizza at home from scratch.
Give Pizza Some Justice!
Now I want to defend for pizza, defend it against the accusation of "unhealthy food".
Pizza is a wonderfully healthy food to me, it provides lots of nutrition in one-- carb (from the dough), proteins (from the meat), vitamins (from the vegetables) and calcium (from the cheese). Yes, there are many unhealthy pizzas out there. But if you know the right places to get it and the right toppings to choose from, pizza is a tasty healthy food. If you can make pizza at home, even better. (It's not difficult actually. And tossing and swirling the pie in the air is not a must.)
Make Pizza from Scratch at Home
The slide show shares pizza we made from scratch from our "L&K Pizzeria" :-). You'll find no pepperoni, no sausages there (although we did try replicate American Flatbread's pork sausage & maple pizza once, and successfully). You'll find toppings like caramelized onion, mushroom, roasted & spiced squash, kale, fig, clams, prosciutto, potato, Jerk chicken, Thai spicy chicken, Buffalo wings, etc. Pizza toppings are about what's fresh and seasonal in the market and what's left in the fridge. You'll also notice that our pizzas are not cheese-heavy, but trust me, they are tasty nonetheless. You'll also find our dessert pizzas with chocolate, with fruits (like apple, peach, plum and even kiwi). For these dessert pizzas, we like to roll out the dough Roman style thin.
As mentioned, for dough-food, K & I make it together. K developed a wonderful pizza dough recipe (see at the end). He usually is the one that mixes (with KitchenAid Mixer) and rolls out the dough and I am always the one that creates the toppings. We'll watch the pizza baking in the oven together, often over sips of sparkling apple cider.
Pizza Dough Recipe:
"Must Have" Tools: pizza stone, pizza peel
Highly recommended tool: KichenAid Mixer
Serving: This amount is good for pizzas for two adults over three meals. Save leftover dough in a sealed container (we use recycled 2Ibs yogurt containers) in the fridge. Fill the container only halfway because the dough will continue to rise. Finish within 2 weeks. (When you open the container of leftover dough, it will have fermentation smell--this is fine.)
1 cup water, heated for 1 min in microwave
1 cup cold milk
Combine water and milk, it should be lukewarm to the touch
Add:
4 tbs sugar, dissolve
1 tbs active yeast, sprinkle on top
Let stand 10 mins
Add 3.5 cups of flour*
1/2 tsp salt
Start mixer on "stir"
You'll probably need to add an additional amount of flour* (less than 1 cup), but don't add at once. It's a bit of judgement how much additional you need and also depends on the humidity in air. You want a soft consistency to the dough but not too soft-- enough so that thee dough bunches up around the mixer. The dough will be a little sticky to the touch.
(*You can also use flour-whole wheat flour mix in proportion you like. Add a couple more tablespoonfuls of honey if mixing whole wheat flour. Honey masks well the grainy texture of whole wheat.)
Mix on KitchenAid setting "2" for 5 mins or so. Stop. If the mixer gets too hot on top, wait till it cools off a bit.
Continue to mix on setting "4" for 5 mins or so. (You need to hold mixer so it doesn't move around during this time.)
It's done when you can stretch a small piece of dough thin enough to let through light without ripping it (this is called the windowpane test).
Cover with plastic wrap and let sit at room temp for 2 hours.
Baking:
Put pizza stone in middle rack of oven. Heat the oven @500F for ONE HOUR. (High heat on the stone makes the pizza pie nicely crisp on the bottom.)
Depending on the thickness and size of the pie and the toppings, it takes about 6-10min total to bake. (Turn the pizza around after about 4 min.) Check, after 6min. It's done when the edge is browned.
Mohonk Mountain House
About this series "New York Living-- Nature & Countryside":
We often feel fortunate to live in Manhattan-- get to enjoy its rich cultural life and, with a short drive, beautiful nature. This series shares the nature and countryside near Manhattan that we like to visit/do outdoor sports.
Mohonk Mountain House
2,200 acres
1 lake
85 miles of hiking trails
Location:
-- 90miles northwest of Manhattan, in Ulster county.
This is a resort that offers remarkable outdoor experience. I'm not a world traveler (although I'd love to be), but a decent one (vacationed in 10 countries in the past 8 years), Mohonk's dramatic rock formations and sparkling lake still rank high on my list of magnificent views. It's even more special because of its close distance to NYC. And its beauty holds on its own anywhere you move it to in the world if you can.
You can take day trips there for an easy stroll or a strenuous hike with rock scrambling (my favorite). Or spend a few days there in the Victorian castle, there are many outdoor activities to do in addition to hiking. We have not stayed there overnight yet, but have had dinner at its restaurant. The food was OK but not as impressive as the scenery. That was a few years ago, it could have been improved.
Generally I am happy with pictures I took& posted :-), but I feel this slideshow did not fully present Mohonk's beauty. I look forward to going back, hiking and photographing more in the future.
