Time to Make the Bagels

Sundays are the day we usually have bagels for breakfast, sometimes with lox, sometimes with cream cheese... sometimes in the car on the way out of town...and sometimes at Murray's, our favorite bagel place in Manhattan. This past Sunday we learned how to make our own bagels and cream cheese at The Brooklyn Kitchen in Williamsburg. So fun! We took home extra dough and enough information to try this baking experiment on our own.

Indian Take In

Michelle and Andrew visited our apartment for the first time this past weekend, an occasion worthy of a special dinner. They both love Indian food, and since guests make great guinea pigs for new recipes, I decided to make our favorite Punjabi dishes: chicken tikka masala and saag paneer. Everything was homemade from start to finish, including the chai coconut ice cream!  My favorite part of the night was seeing the look on Ronak's face when he came home and realized that the familiar scents of Indian spices were actually coming from our kitchen.

Taste of the South

Sari Organik | Bali

We had our most memorable dining experience at Sari Organik in Ubud, a working farm that serves organic farm-to-table food. Our driver dropped us off at the beginning of a dirt path and we embarked on a leisurely half-hour walk through the rice fields to get to the farm's elevated restaurant. As we overlooked the lush landscape we ate a vegetable curry served with nasi goreng (fried rice), topped with cripsy shallots. On the way back we admired the farmers working in the fields and bought a few handmade goods from the local artisans.

Rhode Trip

While in Newport, RI a couple of years ago we tried out The Mooring restaurant. We reveled in their seafood laden menu and their house specialty: the 'bag-o-donuts,' a bag of deep fried shrimp and lobster fritters. Yum.

Selamat Pagi | Brooklyn

Instant Gratification

We received a beautiful All-Clad waffle iron, thoughtfully paired with waffle mix from Bouchon Bakery, as our first wedding present. Having arrived right to our doorstep, within 24 hours we broke down and whipped up our first satisfying batch.

Tis the season

...for pumpkin bread!

Breadzel

I have even more respect for the art of making bread after having made these pretzel challah rolls. While few ingredients, there are many steps before the dough can actually be called bread. Three out of the four hours it took to make the rolls was spent waiting for the dough to rise-- which it did so nicely I even impressed myself.

Once the rising, rolling, knotting, and proofing were completed, I plunged the puffy little knots into boiling water before baking them for 20 minutes in the oven. The rolls came out shiny and golden, and perfect for dipping in dijon mustard.

Ibu Oka | Bali

Ibu Oka is highly rated, but the kind of place where its best not to look at anything too closely if you want to keep your appetite. For $4 we tried the babi guling (suckling pig) recommended by Anthony Bourdain. Suckling, yes... crispy, YES... it was delicious and worthy of a visit if you ever find yourself on that side of the world.

Balinique | Bali