I Are A Baker

Today i baked cookies!


And they're pretty good, too, though i should get some pecans for 'em instead of the walnuts i used.

Next: candlesticks!

Monk Fish Liver

Friday was Keith's birthday celebration, at the East Village sushi outfit Jewel Bako. The food was amazing, beating out even Kitsho, and the restaurant was a perfect combination of New York going-out elegance and East Village nonchalance -- i.e. classy without stuffy.

Keith and i both asked for the tasting menu (thankfully this restaurant doesn't force the entire table to follow along, like some). Everything was crazy-good, and the shining star was three quarter-sized slices of monkfish liver, which i had never eaten before. AM (of the fruit sushi) had recently mentioned the monkfish liver at Taro Sushi, but we hadn't made it there yet, so it was a treat to find it at Jewel Bako. The liver is pure silky smoothness, like a sushi pâté (which is how everyone seems to describe it), and without the strong organ overtones that make cow liver so awfully vile unappealing. More than three little slivers would have been too much, though i would still have eaten it.

Fruit Sushi

Last Sunday My Better Half and i had a little family dinner here in Brooklyn, with Chuck, AM, and Todd. Since it's always such a crowd-pleaser we served up the kaddo and vegetable biryani combo. We couldn't find any sugar-pie pumpkins this time, so we made the kaddo with kabocha; it was darn tasty, but perhaps a bit too sweet. We'll have to experiment with the amount and kind of sugar.

AM brought a mystery dessert, and after dinner revealed...
fruit sushi!

Dried strawberries, dried cantaloupe, dried papaya-like thing, and my favorite (because i'm so partial to unagi): plantains! All done up with sushi rice, sweetened with coconut milk. It wasn't too sweet, which made it a perfect chaser for the sugary squash.