Feeding Umi

So tonight I came home around 7pm, trying to prepare myself for a late night. You see, tonight is the NBA Draft and I had to wait for the picks by the Knicks. I didn’t feel like fussing over dinner and Tracy found this arepas place in the hood. I had to be home at around 9:30 to wait until potentially midnight. Yeah. So, we all had dinner at this new place that opened up in Bushwick Brooklyn. We all being REALLY big fans of Caracas Arepas Bar, we were all pretty excited.

Guacuco Restaurant
44 Irving
Brooklyn, NY

The Restaurant just opened last week and was really spacious and cute. It wasn’t completely trendy or hipsterish, but it wasn’t completely divey or local, either. There was tons of light, it seemed like a family run business, and there was a good mix of diverse backgrounds there… and it’s not yet too crowded. We sat down and our host was really sweet and nice.

First of all, there was fresh juice, coconut milkshake, which I got, tamarind drink, which is what Tracy ordered, and sugarcane/molasses in lemonade, which is what Ryan ordered. They were all really good and Ryan and Tracy’s drink was tart and refreshing. Mine was creamy and delicious with lots of shaved coconut chunks. Actually, mine was quite filling. The drinks were a good size, but still pretty expensive, considering… around $3-4 dollars a cup.

Next we ordered fried plantains with Venezuelan cheese. The plantains were candied, and pretty delicious. The serving was a pretty large and the plantains were hearty with a thick fried outside. It was good, but I don’t think I would be able to finish the whole thing on my own. Definitely share. It was a great snack, though and we poured the arepas sauce that they offered over them. There was a “pink sauce,” the “house blend,” and finally a “spicy sauce.” I was a big fan of the “house blend” and the spicy sauce” together.

Tracy ordered the vegetarian arepas, filled with plantains, avocados, a chunk of delicious white cheese, and tomatoes. Ryan and I ordered the vegetarian arepas, as well, along with the ham and cheese and the shredded fish in herbs.

The vegetarian arepas was delicious. The cornbread was crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. I think we are still a little partial to Caracas, but this place is a great substitute. The arepas are around $6.50, which I am told is not a little cheaper than Caracas. The cheese is different.

The ham and cheese was surprisingly delicious and different than what Caracas offers. It was hearty, a little salty, and the cheese was melty. There was a lot of ham and it was a great combination.

The fish… was VERY fishy and hearty, but in a good way. Does that make sense? It was really greasy and it actually made the arepas break and fall apart. Very hearty with herbs and cilantro and very satisfying… if not a little bad for you and FILLED with grease. All in all, I was very satisfied with everything I had. Come, visit me, get some arepas, and then get a drink at Bodega.

I’ve been a little MIA these days and I’m not really sure why. It’s not as if work is any more hectic at the new place (switched jobs in March), but I think I had tunnel vision. I also got a little sick of sitting in front of a computer. As a nerd, you think I wouldn’t, but maybe it’s a certain glow from imac, just SICK OF IT. So, the perfect cure? LOBSTER and OYSTERS, duh.

I’ve been getting really fixated on lobster rolls and oysters lately. I barely spend money during the week or really go out, but on Friday’s it has become a little obscene.

Pearl Oyster Bar

This is a little place on Cornelia Street near West 4. We heard about it and after my incessant nagging about, “I WANT OYSTERS! I WANT LOBSTERS!” He researched a couple of seafood places that we could check out. This place had a solid reputation on Yelp! so Ryan was excited about that. This place isn’t too tiny, but was packed. They had a counter area, though, with little table space that was available right away. And who am I to complain? I just wanted to be fed.

Once we were seated, the waitress was warm and great. (It’s stressful with a line down the street and people crowding by the door.) I got an Amber beer that was delicious and we ordered some fried oysters (for Ryan), raw oysters (for moi), and a lobster roll to split. The fried oysters here were the best I’ve had. They were crispy and flavored well, but the oysters weren’t mush either. They held together well. Raw oysters were delicious, of course, as long as they are fresh and tight, there’s nothing much to say. For $11-13 each (for some reason the market raised the price of the fried oysters, but not the raw ones?) they were a pretty good deal. The lobster roll came out on a butter roll with shoestring fries and a bottle of malt vinegar. The lobster was buttery, creamy, and full of sinful calories. Seriously, they must have put that thing in a vat of cream and butter. Loved it.

The dinner was light and delightful, but I will say we had to get hot dogs at Crif Dogs later… which is a whole different other story.

Mary’s Fish Camp

Mary’s is very close to Pearl Oyster Bar, but a little closer to Christopher Street than West 4th Street Station. It’s on Charles St and West 4th. This place looks a little more laid back, but ended up being pricier than Pearl Oyster Bar. It’s cute, smaller, with a much more diverse menu full of fish and all sorts of fried stuff. However, I was a girl on a mission and wanted the lobster roll, of course. Oh yeah, and we saw Parker Posey there, too!

We ordered white anchovies on a baguette, with olives and mandarin oranges to start. Mandarin oranges and olives were such a different accompaniment to the usual caramelized onions. Of course we got some raw oysters, for me, and some fried oysters and clam strips for Ryan. Then, we split a lobster roll with thin cut fries. The oysters were pricier, but just as delicious. The fried oysters and clams were good and substantial, nice and crispy. The lobster roll was on a buttery hotdog bun, which was really yummy and the lobster was piled up in large chunks. And but of course, the lobster was also dipped in tons of butter and cream.

The above picture doesn’t do the lobster roll justice. When it came, just without thinking, I cut it in half, took a big bite, and then remembered the photograph. Oops. It came with lots of fries, which was delicious covered in malt vinegar. Mmm. I had some Coney Island Lager and was a very happy (fish) camper.

Next time… I want my own roll. :P

I wanted to make cream puffs for Sunday’s dinner. Saturday, we slept in and then went off in search of 1) cream puff ingredients and 2) brunch ingredients. We got two carton of eggs, some bacon, and other groceries. Then, I spent the day making 30+ batch of pâte à choux. (So, the first batch, I thought I made a mistake, so I just didn’t bother baking it and made a second batch. In the end, I baked most of them and they all came out pretty well… In the “mistake” batch, they collapsed only minimally. But on a whole they were a great sight when they were fresh out of the oven. So puffy! I made a batch custard, some strawberry puree… not quite jellied jam.

Then we headed for Ryan’s friend’s place for a small get together. I decided to bring like 9 cream puffs to share… you know… guinea pigs. It ends up that I didn’t make enough custard, so Sunday morning I had to get another carton of eggs to make the custard. Overall, during the entire weekend, I used 3 carton of eggs. Man.

Overall they got a pretty good reaction. Ryan’s friends commented that they give beard papa a run for it’s money (although my choux isn’t quite as crispy as beard papas. I don’t think I wanted it to be, but beard papas is quite another thing…) Shai was kind and said he liked my “pâte à choux,” and unfortunately I was still brain dead and it took me a full 10 seconds for me to register what “pâte à choux” was referring to. I’m just not used to hearing that word uttered. Oh, yeah, my cream puffs!

choux pastry (for around 10 medium puffs)

• 1/2 stick butter
• 1/2 cup water
• 70cc flour
• 4 eggs

** (My mom uses couple of egg whites instead of all the eggs above, since she wanted to make judicious use of materials and you have like 6 egg whites from the custard recipe. She does like 3 regular eggs and supplements 1 and a half of eggs’ egg whites. I am wasteful and didn’t do that sort of thing. I have a tupperware full of egg whites now for a lame healthy omelette or something.)

1. Time wise, the prep doesn’t take long. However, the beginning part of this recipe dictates whether the choux will puff up fluffy and hollow. In a saucepan on high heat, boil the water and butter together.
2. My mother gave me the recipe, so the measurement is cubic centimeters. It’s .295 cups, which is a little less than 1/3 of a cup. (like .033 cup or 1.5 teaspoons less). I admit that I eyed it and was very careful about the consistency of the mixture when I added the eggs. So, sift the 1/3 cup (taking off around 1.5 teaspoons on top) flour well while the mixture is boiling. Once the mixture is boiling rapidly, and I give it a few seconds to REALLY boil, throw the entire flour contents in. Do not mix slowly, dump it in.
3. Mix the flour in well. Continue stirring until the mixture sticks together. You want the flour to coat the bottom and some of the sides of the pan, and then you know it’s ready to be taken off. Although, if you are using an iron or thick sauce pan like me, it might not quite stick to the sides. You need to keep heating the dough for a good 3-5 minutes after dumping the flour. It should stick together like a ball, be soft and not sticky.
4. Once the pot is covered with a thin layer of dough, turn the heat off and slowly one by one add in 4 medium eggs. I recommend specifically getting 4 medium eggs for this, until you can eye the consistency of the batter. I’ve used in the past around 2 jumbo eggs and the egg whites of an additional egg for one batch, for example. The consistency should be soft, not too smooth, and hard to keep it’s shape.
5. Also, don’t be forgetful like me, and lightly coat them in egg whites, and they will come out with a nice sheen. I generally forget to do this all the time with mine. You will be using tons of yolks for the custard, so you will have tons of egg whites.
6. Oil a baking pan and dust a layer of flour on top, so that it’s easy to peel off. When placing batter on the pan, try to pile it high. If you make them golf ball size, the choux will be medium-small. Or you can be like me and make monstrously sized ones. You can also be smart, unlike me, and use a pastry bag. Keep in mind that the choux should grow vertically. Then, I baked it at 400 F for around 40 minutes. I would check on them at 30 minutes to see if it is a golden color. Don’t open them before they’ve puffed up and cooked, since they might collapse.

custard cream

• 6 egg yolks
• 1 cup of sugar
• 1 and 1/2 cup of milk or heavy cream
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
• 1 and half tablespoon of corn starch

1. Custard is a lot easier to make than the choux, only because the only thing you can do wrong is not stir frequently enough and burn it. And even then, with little brown bits, I’ve eaten it and it’s kinda delicious with a little bitter edge. However, that’s really easy to avoid. JUST STIR!
2. Add 6 egg yolks and sugar, and mix well.
3. Then add the cornstarch. Mix until smooth.
4. Add the milk in small increments and dissolve the mixture and mix until smooth.
5. Pour into a sieve into a saucepan. (This allows for a smooth creamy custard) If there are sugar and egg bits that did not dissolve, add some more fluid and slowly work their way through the sieve.
6. Put the mixture under high heat and stir continuously.
7. Like seriously, keep stirring so it doesn’t burn.
8. You will notice that you are scraping small lumps of coagulated custard from the bottom of the pan, now you know it’s starting to harden. Keep stirring. If the mixture bubbles you can turn the heat down to medium. Keep stirring until the mixture thickens. Once it thickens to a smooth pudding texture, take off from heat. Let cool for a few minutes.
9. Once cool enough to put into tupperware and fridge, add vanilla extract and stir.
10. Store in the refridgerator. When using, take out of the fridge for 15 or so minutes until slightly cooler than room temperature. Mix to soften a bit. Taste and then tell yourself you can’t have any until the choux are filled. Then fill the choux pastry. Try not to eat the custard.

strawberry puree (I’m not very exact with this…)

• one package of very ripe strawberries, hulled and cut into chunks
• 1 cup of sugar, or more…
• 2 wedges of lemon
• 2 sheets of flavorless gelatin

1. Put gelatin sheets in water, let soften for a minute.
2. In the meanwhile, mix strawberries, sugar, and lemon juice from the wedges in a saucepan and put on high heat. Mix and mash the strawberries in the pot.
3. Continue to mash and stir until boiling Since I’m not interested in it really jellying, I add just a little gelatin (if you don’t have flavorless gelatin, heat it longer and leave it be), heat it for a bit and let cool.
4. Store until you’re ready to construct cream puffs in the refrigerator.

You definitely *don’t* need the strawberries for the cream puffs. Just the custard is delicious. Originally, I was going to top the custard inside with fresh fruit, but the strawberries were a little too ripe and I couldn’t resist drizzling a teaspoon of strawberry puree on top of the custard in the choux.

When putting together the choux, take a small knife, or even a clean cooking/kitchen knife and carefully cut the top of the choux, so that it resembles a bowl with a lid. Fill with cream, custard, etc… Powder confectionary sugar on top, and voila!

(I made a tiny little cream puff with a small amount of batter I had left. I had Ryan taste the mini cream puff!)

As an aside, on Sunday, when people would talk to us… Ryan couldn’t stop mentioning the cream puffs. I got embarrassed.

Person 1: Ooh! Who made dessert?
Ryan: MY GIRLFRIEND BROUGHT THE CREAMPUFFS!!! SHE MADE IT FROM SCRATCH. I LOVE THEM. LKHWELKQAlkhaw!!!

Person 2: I made the pasta, its garlicky tossed with lemon and herbs. The pasta is animal shaped!
Ryan: MY GIRLFRIEND BROUGHT THE CREAMPUFFS!!! SHE MADE IT FROM SCRATCH. I LOVE THEM. LKHWELKQAlkhaw!!!

Person 3: Bla bla bla (something unrelated to food. Maybe Poland?)
Ryan: MY GIRLFRIEND BROUGHT THE CREAMPUFFS!!! SHE MADE IT FROM SCRATCH. I LOVE THEM. LKHWELKQAlkhaw!!! (You know… you get my point.)

It’s sweet. And I am maybe (JUST MAYBE) over exaggerating, but … I’m not a delicate flower that grows towards the sun. I don’t know what to do with that attention. I just look horrified like a deer in headlights. I probably responded with, “I LIKE SUGARY THINGS! CREAM PUFFS ARE EGGS AND SUGAR!!!” This is why they don’t let us out often, probably. They let me come to these things, because most of the time, my mouth is filled with food.

This weekend was rough. I don’t know what it was, but the very idea of going ALL THE WAY to Port Jefferson to do my taxes was very… taxing. And in fact it was SO TIRING. And Sunday was just SO stressful… that the very thing I needed at the end of the day was a way to let off steam. For me, that very perfect thing is eating tons of pork.

All weekend, the two thoughts in my head were CREAM PUFFS and TAXES! I had it planned that on Saturday, I was going to plan for both, then we head into the city EARLY Sunday, come home, and then off to the dinner. I thought we would have some time in between and it wouldn’t be a big deal. Then certain things came up, namely WORK things, which were really annoying. I’m not going to get into what I do here, but I work in interactive online marketing, namely email marketing, and there were urgent messages that needed to go out Sunday morning and possibly Sunday night for two different properties within my company.

I feel like all I did Saturday was, cook brunch, bake some pâte à choux, egg custard, strawberry puree, and try to get stuff done for work. Those cream puffs… man. They aren’t too time consuming, per se, but you use SO MANY EGGS. Did I mention I went through 3 full carton of eggs for those things? I also have a tupperware filled with like 12 eggs work of egg whites. (the custard)

SUNDAY… I was still unprepared for. I usually always wake up right before 7am and go back to sleep… most days, even on weekdays. However, on Sunday, I forced myself to pick up my iphone and look up LIRR schedules. Fuck. I had to leave for the 9:42 train in order to make it for our 1:15pm appointment in Port Jefferson. The train ride itself is two hours, but the next train after that gets us in around 1:30 (at 11:20). Shitty, right? AND I was planning on making extra custard in the morning. AND I had to send messages to our database in the morning, but I didn’t have the lists I need. Regardless, I hop out of bed and I need to run out for more eggs and milk. CUSTARD requires like 6 egg yolks. Like wtf, right? There were no stores open in my neighborhood at that time, except for a 24 hour scary bodega. I take it. So at 7am, I’m making custard, and I calculate that we should get out of here at 8:30. I kick Ryan awake and of course we end up at Penn Station at around 9:25… like minutes after the train left.
: (

I call the accountant and I explain my situation and that I’m traveling 2 hours to see them on the weekend where there is a train only every 2 hours. They claim that they will see us as long as we come in before 2pm, so we decide to buckle up and find some breakfast. You know, not many places are open around 9:30-10am. We walk all the way to Resto, on 29th between Park and Lex, but they only open around 10:30. We spoke to someone who worked there and he suggested we go to Les Halles, because he wouldn’t risk waiting and missing our train. We weren’t very interested in Les Halles, so we went to K-town to have some Bibimbap and stew for breakfast. MAN. Delicious, filling, and hit the spot. The only damper to that situation is that I found a stray wifi signal and started trying to do that piece of work… I couldn’t log into marketedge and a coworker and I started to freak out. Yes, I could have gone to the office, but I didn’t want to subject Ryan to that and deny him his breakfast. That would be cruel and … you know, f it. Readers, I have my priorities in place. Bibimbap before slaving away for an annoying piece of work.

I always do my taxes myself… and last year I did Ryan’s taxes for him. However, I thought it might be beneficial for Ryan and myself (I had some questions about my mother) to have someone look over them for us. Gabby RAVED about this guy’s company (family owned) and he answered some questions for my mother’s old taxes for me months before… so I decided to check him out. I traveled over two hours, on two trains and a taxi ride to get there. They got me a good refund, AND they saved the day and put me in their conference room so I can work on my day job. YEAH. REALLY. I was like, “I know you’re doing my taxes, but… can I use your internet to finish my work? I have my laptop and everything” – yes, I’m a dork and a nerd. That piece of kindness allowed one of my coworkers to not have to go into the office (Oh yeah, something I did Saturday night … GRRRR – which added to my loss of time). It all worked out. The timing was good, but we were so close… like 5 minutes too close to missing our train back at 3:40, which would have meant waiting 2 hours until 5:30 and get back into the city by 7:30. DO YOU KNOW HOW PISSED OFF I WOULD HAVE BEEN? All these things are just… man. Got to me. Tired me out. I passed out for 2 hours back. Thankfully, we got back to our apartment before 6:30. I hadn’t drunk any water since 11am, and I was head achey and dehydrated. We were both pretty cranky. We would not have survived that trip without the Bibimbap to fortify us.

Ryan had to sit and he watched few minutes of Prison Break (like really? Is that what relaxes you? Seeing a prison inmate television show?), and I had to check up on a few evening work things. Then I had to fill the choux, which took a few minutes. I was stressing out that we were late and I couldn’t find the address to the place… etc. I just want to mention here that this morning I checked my personal email during a lull at work and there it was… his address in the last email he sent. DUH. I have a bad habit of not checking personal email in the weekend. I just… don’t. I usually don’t want to be near a computer on the weekend, so … yeah.

Ryan needs to be recognized for being able to put up with my Type A-ness sometimes. It crops up at times of stress and I have a list… and if things don’t stick to MY LIST, I freak the fuck out. And he just sits there and reasons, “Finish your Bibimbap, sweetie.” And he eats there in silence while I have my head buried in my laptop, and not once complains.

I didn’t have much to worry about, since everyone at Shai’s place is SO CHILL. They greet us warmly, I have a drink, and I feel a little better. Then, I saw it… the Porchetta… and angels sung and my shoulders relaxed… and my stomach grumbled. It’s so funny. I keep seeing Shai in that shirt, with the pig cuts. And he proceeded to demonstrate on his shirt (I guess that was the point), where the porchetta came from. It’s the area from the loins to the pork belly, and he rolled it up with delicious herbs, tied, brined, and cooked. It was SO moist and so juicy. I don’t think I have ever cooked a pork that juicy. (I NEED TO COOK IT WITH SOME PIG FAT, THAT’S FOR SURE) And everyone brought sides and there was SO MUCH food left.

The mac’ n’ cheese was awesome, haricot verts was refreshing, and all the potatoes with the pork gravy was great. I had like… almost 4 … technically 3.79888 plates of pork… Mmmm… I don’t need dessert, just pork. I’m not ashamed to say that I ate the big chunks of fat on the pork belly and it melted in my mouth. One of the best porks I’ve eaten ever.

Oh yeah, and there were cream puffs, and people seemed to like them. The best compliment of the evening was by the chef himself. Yay.

I might have been a bad guest and ate and run. I was exhausted, and it might have been too much of substances, like alcohol… snorting pig fat… pig coma… I got home, and in bed by 11pm. And this morning I was still tired, but in a much better mood.