Pomegranate 101

I was super-excited that the folks at POM Wonderful selected me as one of 100 bloggers to host a pomegranate-centered party! They said they'd send fresh pomegranates, instructions, giveaway bags, and more...all I had to do was feature their fruit and blog about it...woo hoo!

First things first. Until now, I'd never handled a fresh pomegranate. I was intrigued and also nervous, but the POM Wonderful folks made it SO easy.

They had videos on their website to walk you through it, and they even sent a sweet pomegrantate-shaped guide that I consulted numerous times.

POM also encouraged us to post videos of the process, so I shot some (coming soon)! ABF was a sweetheart and agreed to do the chopping while I did the shooting. Here's the still shoot first. That awesome knife he's using was my Valentine's Day gift a few years ago (I loooove it!)!

It's actually quite simple! Slice off the top, exposing the 5-6 individual sections.

Then cut out each section, slicing it out just like you would section out a grapefruit or orange.

See? Not difficult or intimidating at all!

Once you've taken apart all the segments, take a moment and enjoy the beauty of it!

Remove each section and loosen the arils (the seeds) into a bowl of water. The remaining membranes will float up to the top,and you can scoop out those bits.

After you strain out the seeds, you're ready to go!

Recipes and videos coming in the next post!

Gossip Girl Gimmick

My friend the NewsHawk was in town recently, and I joined him and his friends for a wandering along the Upper West Side (including lunch at Niko's). We stepped in to the lobby of the Empire Hotel for a drink, and we were surprised to see an entire drink menu devoted to the "Gossip Girl" show, a guilty pleasure show that many people reluctantly age 18 & over confess to watching.

Niko's

***February 22nd, 2011: The folks at Jeremiah's Vanishing New York just broke the sad news that Niko's has CLOSED!!! I'm sad to see such an institution leave our city. And while one commenter laments the probability of a Starbucks, I'll take that over another stupid BANK. Feh. Thanks, Niko's staff, for many delicious memories.**

I met up with friends on the Upper West Side last week for a place I hadn't visited in years: Niko's Mediterranean Grill & Bistro.

Spaghetti Squash & Sauce

I finally got around to make spaghetti squash, thanks to another timely sale by FreshDirect.com. Sometimes these suckers can be huge and quite unwieldy, but this one was the perfect size.

I've heard a few folks say it can be tough scooping out the innards, but I disagree.. I scooped out the seeds with a spoon and used a paring knife to smooth out the edges.

Milk Bar

After a birthday dinner at Ma Peche with That Sara (see the review here), we walked out to the adjoining Milk Bar to get some dessert. There's a Milk Bar on 2nd Avenue I'd been meaning to hit forever (I STILL want to try their crack pie with its oat cookie crust!), but like so many items on 'The List,' I just hadn't gotten to it. The newer outpost in front of Má Pêche opened earlier this year, and I was just as happy to get to this location.

Má Pêche

It took us long enough, but That Sara & I finally met up for our joint birthday dinner (our birthdays are two days apart). We hemmed and hawed (we! the food bloggers!) over where to go, and Sara finally came in at the last moment to suggest Má Pêche ("My Peach" in French--momofuku also means lucky peach in Japanese, one of the David Chang outposts I'd yet to try. (Sara's take on things is at the end of this post!)

Ted's for Happy (?) Hour

Oh, Ted's. Why can't you just let me love you? I want to love you. But your service. Dear God, your service. Why does it always suck? Gah. It sucks so bad that once we actually walked out. We left money for our bill and maybe even a dollar tip, but the server (who ignored us for 30 minutes, then brought us a drink and ignored us for ANOTHER 30 minutes, all while serving tables around us) literally chased us out the door and asked if we were going to pay our bill. We informed her that we left cash on the table. Gah. And swore amongst ourselves never to return.

Roll N Roaster

One of my friend Kelli's favorite spots in Brooklyn is Roll N Roaster. She'd taken me there years before, but I ordered a non-specialty item (the equivalent of going to a steakhouse and ordering fish..yes...I did this!) On our most recent visit, on a freezing cold Saturday night, I did not make the same mistake--I ordered their famed roast beef sandwich, which is just under 5 bucks (most items on their menu are 5 bucks or less!)

Kashkaval

My friend Patty's birthday falls on Halloween--I mean Halloween falls on her BIRTHDAY--so a group of us rounded up on Friday evening for a birthday dinner. We decided to try a spot off our normal roster and we hit up an old favorite of mine: Kashkaval, on 9th Avenue. I used to work across the street from here when I was at the talk show, and every once in a while I would pop in for an out of this world lunch--or to take a slice or two of baklava home.

One of my favorite things about this place--their cold dishes. Their spreads are outrageously delicious, especially their tzatziki (crazy powerfully garlicky), their ajvar (red pepper spread), and their olive tapenade. Oh man..soooo good. For $18, we got a plate with up to 6 items (we got the hummus, ajvar, tapenade, baked beets, and TWO servings of the tzatziki). Everything was insanely scrumptious. I could easily make a meal of all these spreads.

Up next, we got the Basic Fondue, which has Swiss & Emmenthaler ($10 per person). It comes with bread cubes, or you can pay extra for veggies or meats. Emily & I loved this, especially when it got to the bottom of the dish and all those yummy bits of garlic came to the surface. Patty thought this was just meh--"just cheese and bread," she said, to which I say JUST cheese and bread!? Just DELICIOUS cheese and bread!! :)

We ordered the chicken kabobs ($11), which come with 2 skewers and a bed of orzo, as well as a delicious mix of veggies and feta on the side. Two people could easily split this as a meal--we each took a piece of chicken and onions/peppers as a snack.

For dessert we got the chocolate fondue (also $10 per person), and this came with bananas, pears, strawberries, and marshmallows. The chocolate was super yummy--the only drawback was the way they sliced the fruit--usually you get big chunks, all the better to dip securely. These were sometimes paper-thin slices and tougher to manage. Still, any fruit and chocolate is a good thing.

We also got an order of baklava--which I love. Theirs is super-soaked in the syrup, so you can eat a bite and not have it fall apart in your hands. The nuts are finely ground, which I like, and the overall texture is just scrumptious to me. I LOVE this baklava. Love, love love it. It's actually cheaper if you get it to go than if you order it at the table, but I resisted the urge to bring more home with me...a move I'm now regretting!

Kashkaval also has a great, affordable wine list, and you can eat and drink quite well for not too much per person. I've eaten there for anywhere to 15-35 dollars a person (depending on if we ordered wine, etc.) and I ALWAYS feel it's worth the money and the trip.

Kashkaval
856 9th Avenue
New York, NY 10019-4451
(212) 581-8282

Gemini Diner

You can't beat NYC diners for cheap, delicious breakfasts. Little did we know we'd also find a fabulous dessert...but first..the savory stuff!