MORNING FRENCH TOAST

Simple Recipe:

1 egg

1/3 c of half and half

2 TB sugar

3 drops of vanilla

Grated nutmeg

Beat the ingredients above together

Dip the 1 inch wide sliced French Brioche bread and fry in butter.

Serve with warm maple sugar and some butter.

I used my old French made brioche bread from Whole Foods with French flour de del butter, organic maple syrup

Batter has a little unbleached sugar, vanilla and nutmeg

Nitrate free bacon, boiled in little water till it evaporates - using a press to keep them evenly cooked.

#WholeFoods

My Breakfast

Majority of the time, I have smoked salmon from Russ & Daughters and berries - plus Sullivan Bread's Filone bread.

On WASA Norwegian bread, I spread a tablespoon of organic cream cheese, 2 slices of smoked salmon and chives on top and if I have capers, some capers. 

I toast a slice of Sullivan Bread's Filone bread and spread some mascarpone on it; arrange the raspberries on top and using a sugar sprinkler, shake some confectioner's sugar on the raspberries.

I always have a small cup of whisked matcha tea, a cup of fresh green tea, and 1 or 2 cups of espresso or cappuccino and about 3oz of grapefruit juice for my 2 vitamin pills with this.

Variation to my normal breakfast of smoked salmon is using omelette instead of cream cheese.

This is my energy breakfast most of the time.

MAMAN - French Cafe

I had to come here as a Francophile! They did not disappoint me.  I now vote that MAMAN had the best most buttery, flackiest croissant and very light ever yet. Even better than most Parisian croissant.

I just could not stop with 1 croissant - since I could not, I had to buy 2 of the plain ones and a chocolate croissant to take home.

I saw the raspberry tarte as well. I wish I could eat bit as well.

I did have Maman's croque Monsieur with bechamel sauce.  It was very French as well. I was enjoying it that this all the piece I had left when I remembered to shoot a picture of it.

The squash soup was smooth. No photo in that as well but the chocolate chip cookies were large, chewy and crisp outside. 

 It just came out of the oven so the chocolate pieces ministered still swirling at every bite.

I wonder what it would be like to have dinner here?  Unfortunately it is a real cafe serving only light breakfast and lunch type meals. Dinner would be so wonderful!

Specials for the day are written on the mirror.

I need to tell you to order their latte. It's so good!

Superb!

MAMAN

Maman, 239 Centre Street (between Grand & Broome), mamannyc.com.

QUICK EGG BENEDICT

Sauté the spinach, some onions, mushrooms, some chili pepper and then season them last with some salt and pepper.

Make your poached egg.

If you have hollandaise sauce or make them from scratch, toast your English muffins and first pit the spinach mixture, the egg on top and the poached egg.  Top it with your hollandaise sauce.

And if you have smoked salmon on the side you can also serve it on the side or put it under the spinach as well.

Good Morning!

Waffled Grilled Cheese Breakfast

INGREDIENTS:

Good quality brioche bread slices 3/4 inch thick.

Block of very good sharp cheese (I used Beecher's - originally from Seattle but also now in NYC)

Melted butter

Serrano ham or prosciutto slices

Good quality eggs

Belgian Waffle machine

DIRECTIONS:

First you butter one side of the bread. Then you put slices of cheese on top - about 1/4 inch thick on the unbuttered  side.   Top it with the slice of buttered slice of bread, buttered-side up.

Put in a pre-heated Belgian waffle maker and cook for about 2-3 minutes till golden brown with some dark brown waffle edges are formed.

You can eat it as is like above or serve it as the base of your sunny side egg and ham/prosciutto/Serrano ham on top for breakfast.

Above was my breakfast this morning - plus half a chocolate croissant from my favorite Eric Kayser boulangerie/Patisserie.

#MATSUNOSUKE (New Japanese treat spot)

This is a new Japanese cafe and pastry shop originally from Tokyo and Kyoto - now also in New York!

Only 5 weeks old in this Greenwich Village spot by the 8th Street crosstown bus stop, is this delicious heavenly find for one with sweet tooth.  Their specialties are worth trying!

They specialize in the light as a cloud pancake which I still have to try but can imagine.

I just had lunch so I opted for their blackout cake. Chocoholics out there would certainly appreciate this super moist, dark chocolate cake topped with lighter pieces of crumbled chocolate brownies or cake?! Decadent and yet less rich than it's usual Western counterpart.

 The place is a small neat spot in this wonderful uplifted block.

The pancakes are usually not flavored but if plain, comes with their version of homemade maple cream. Below are other pancake options.

There are several treats you can order in this sweet spot:

The menu is in the board:

Welcome to Japan!

MATSUNOSUKE

JAPANESE Chiffon Pancakes

58 West 8th St

New York, NY 10011

1-212-529-5888

Closed Mondays

matsunosukepie.com
http://matsunosukepie.tumblr.com/

#King's #Cake

Per Wikipedia:

A king cake (sometimes rendered askingcake, kings' cake, king's cake, or three kings cake) is a type of cake associated with the festival of Epiphany in the Christmasseason in a number of countries, and in other places with the pre-Lenten celebrations ofMardi Gras / Carnival. It is a popular food item during the Christmas season (Christmas Eve to Epiphany) in Belgium, France, Quebecand Switzerland (galette or gâteau des Roisor galette des rois), Portugal (bolo rei), Spain, and Spanish America (roscón or rosca de reyes and tortell in Catalonia), Greece and Cyprus (vasilopita) and Bulgaria (banitsa). In the United States, Carnival is traditionally observed in the Southeastern region of the country, particularly in New Orleans, Mobile,Pensacola, Galveston, and other towns and cities of the Mississippi Gulf Coast. In this region, the king cake is closely associated with Mardi Gras traditions and is served throughout the Carnival season, which lasts from Epiphany Eve to Fat Tuesday.

Therefore, I decided to compare Sucre's if New Orlean's King cake with 3 of the traditional French versions:

Above:

First King cake on the top left corner is my favorite from Laduree.

On the right hand top corner photo is New Orlean's version of King cake from Sucre.  This version is like a brioche dough filled with sweet cream cheese.

My conclusion is that the French Version are all flakey like a croissant filled with some type of marzipan based filling; except for Eric Kayser's Boulangerie which filled it with apples plus some marzipan. (As explained to me by the sales person when I bought it). All have surprise charms in it. And whoever gets the charm in their slice is King!

The sliced flakey King cake was from Benoit which was close to Laduree except Laduree's filling seemed a bit more moist.  Which is why it is my favorite of them all.  And my 2nd favorite is the one from Sucre which is a different recipe from the traditional French King cake. A little sweeter but it was moist.

I wish I could check out the King cake from Portugal and maybe even in Bulgaria and see how they make them.

Whatever the other versions may be, these cakes traditionally only appear in January - except for New Orleans - they're available through Mardi gras.