hot off the presses

I am always on the look-out for healthy alternative desserts. Sometimes I buy chemical-laden products straight off the shelves of a supermarket, but I prefer to create my own. When it comes to calories coming from dessert, I’d like to know where they are coming from and what ingredients are involved. Enter my attempt at a Pumpkin Cheesecake.

Here’s a view of all included items:

Plus some whipped egg-whites:

separate and not equal

whip it

After everything is incorporated into one bowl, this is what we’re dealing with:
Without any specific measurements, the final product came out better than expected. It was smooth-ish, but also has a semi-pudding consistency that was best used as a yogurt topping, rather than a slice of pie. You can’t expect the best cheesecake when substitutions are widespread, but this was one of my best efforts –

It’s been FAR TOO LONG since I’ve visited my own blog. Attempting to ease back in after my 3 readers demanded a new post. This dates all the way back to November, but since I want to finish this eating series, well……. I am (plus I already have the pictures ready to go.)

On my way to the La Guardia airport, my dad took me to lunch in Flushing for some self-proclaimed ‘authentic’ hellenic cuisine. Hellenic (it’s all Greek to me) food is probably one of my top 2 favorite cuisines (tough match with Japanese) and Mythos had fresh and well-prepared food.

We started with a variety of dips with pita and cucumbers:

eggplant, red pepper, yogurt, fish roe

We also shared grilled calamari and octopus – I definitely dominated the octopus portion:

simply grilled with fresh lemon

And there you have it. Let’s see if I can make this a habit….

Mythos Authentic Greek Cuisine (names vary per review site)

19629 Northern Blvd
Flushing, NY 11358
(718) 357-6596

Hi Octosquidlets! Even before this baby blog was born, Octosquid loved to look at pictures of food. So last summer, when OctoBrother-in-Law and I went on our honeymoon in Greece, I made sure to document many of the delectable meals we ate so I could share them with my sister. Today, I will share two of the more unusual ones with you, and it seems appropriate to ask — would you eat this?

The wedding diet is OVER.

On our first night in Athens, OctoBrother-in-Law dove right in and went for a big, juicy octopus. He was kind enough to let me taste it. Like most of the Greek delicacies we would come to know and love, the octopus was prepared simply — grilled with olive oil and seasoned with simple salt, pepper and other spices — to allow the succulence of the octopus meat to shine through.  OctoBrother-in-Law recalls, “It was grilled nicely and was squishy on the inside.  The suction cups were sticky on my tongue, and the olive oil had fresh citrus notes.”  As you can see, it was served over a salad of fresh tomatoes and cucumbers.

A few Greek islands later, I tried an adventurous meal of my own:

Way too good to be canned.

We were on the island of Naxos, dining Aegean Sea-side, so seafood was a no-brainer. This lunch of sardines was perfect! Grilled in olive oil and served over a bed of arugula, their flavor was reminiscent of whitefish.  (As any self-respecting New York Jew knows, this is a good thing.)  The fish meat was white in color and flaked easily off of the bone.  The sardines were accompanied with a light vinaigrette and some lemon for the diner to use as desired.  Since the best way to eat these little fishies was to use my hands to pull the meat off the bone, the lemon served an important second purpose of cleaning up my sardine-scented fingers when lunch was over.

Foreign slimy octopus and bony fish that require you to get your hands dirty — would you eat it? (I would. And did!)

If you love seafood (and who doesn’t?), and you live near Hewlett, NY, then it’s definitely worth a trip to the Hewlett Fish Market. Here you can find a vast array of both fresh fish and seafood, as well as a plethora of delectable prepared salads, soups, main dishes, and vegetables.
Recently, I purchased some of my favorite “ready-mades” to have for lunch and/or snacking.
The marinated mussels are rich and flavorful – swimming in olive oil, loads of diced garlic, chopped scallions, and a touch of red pepper.

Savory specialty from the sea

What more could you want?

Picking out the best parts

Waiting to be fired

I may not be pretty, but I am delicious!

captivated

We went to Beyoglu on Third Avenue and 81st Street; a short walk from their abodes. The waiters are friendly and the atmosphere is casual and laid back. The restaurant achieves it’s goal of transporting the diner into a lively, European meeting place. The decor is adorable, with tiled tabletops and an inviting bar at the entrance. There is some confusion about the type of food that is served at Beyoglu, but not of the quality. Whether you call it Turkish or Greek, the Mediterranean cuisine is top notch.

After sitting together and gabbing for a bit (as girls do), we noticed beautifully large rounds of bread delivered to each table. We instantly decided to share dips to put the bread to good use:

starting off right

While the girls munched on gorgeous, fresh looking salads:

salad one

salad two

I opted for a protein-rich salad for myself:

my kinda salad

Thanks friends, for picking an awesome place

Beyoglu
1431 Third Ave.
at 81st St.
New York, NY 10028
212-650-0850

Last week I blogged about a wonderful Thanksgiving gift that my sister presented to me. This week, she sent me a New York Magazine article outlining just how great of a gift macarons can be. (you don’t have to convince me of that!)

Check out the article below, and if you want to give your friends and family something special, go with French pastries. You will be loved.

NY Mag Article link

A family owned business with a loyal following, Mother Kelly’s is a five towns restaurant that is never empty. With a huge menu, mainly focused on home-cooked Italian food, there is a dish for anyone who visits. Whenever I travel home, a visit to Mother Kelly’s is usually in the itinerary. The consistently great food makes it a go-to place for everyone who lives within a 5 mile radius.
Time to look at the food, but before we get into the main courses, I would be brain dead if I didn’t mention the complimentary garlic rolls and bean salad every patron receives:

complimentary starters

After a few plates of the bean salad and around 10 minutes of deliberation, Lauren and I decided to split a meal. The portions could feed 2-3 people as it is, so I was not worried about going hungry. Here’s what was delivered:

makes me melt

Per usual, I saved the best bites for last – in this case, the calamari tentacle-y pieces:

to me, this is art

And my sister decided to test out her camera skills with my last beautiful specimen:

squiddie

My family ordered envious dishes and I made sure to taste each one:

Mom's shrimpies

steroid clucker

I'm a beautiful chick

As if that wasn’t enough food, the Mother Kelly includes a side of spaghetti:

don't ignore me!

If you can possibly manage it (and I never can), the desserts look like they are worth a food coma:

this pic does NOT do me justice

Forget the 5 mile radius, if you can get your butt in a seat at Mother Kelley’s……..GO!

Mother Kelly’s
490 Chestnut Street
Cedarhurst, New York 11516
(516) 295-5421

My first New York meal was spot on. I went to the Greek Corner in Carle Place. The decor was bright and reminiscent of a Disney flick (or even Disney World):

wall mural

look up and order

#1

superstar lunch

delicious-ness dragged on

The guys (waiters, cooks, owners) were not used to having the restaurant photographed, so after some weird glances in my direction I explained my baby blog. Once they heard the word internet, the posing began:

owner on the left; green haired guy on the right

All in all, a fantastic way to start off the holiday weekend in NY.

More to come….

I'm Swedish

The only benefit to my foodie friend moving across the country is my accumulation of her uneaten (and unopened) goods. She does not want to ship heavy boxes full of jams, spreads, and pantry items from Atlanta to Los Angeles, so I generously offered to take everything off her hands. The first thing I dug into was a jar of cloudberry jam. Imported from Sweden, the jam is sweet but also slightly tangy. The seeds of the fruit create a crunchy texture that does not bode well for people with proclaimed ‘texture issues’. I for one am not one of these people and enjoyed the jam by itself:

you can see the texture

But I prefer it combined with peanut butter on a toasted Arnold Thin:

pour some jam on me

Would you try cloudberry spread?

We had some leftover quinoa in the refrigerator that needed to be eaten. One of my favorite meal bases (as opposed to rice, couscous, pasta), quinoa is sometimes called a superfood. According to the wiki, “It is a pseudocereal rather than a true cereal, or grain, as it is not a grass. As a chenopod, quinoa is closely related to species such as beets, spinach and tumbleweeds”.

use it or lose it

A box of Nasoya tofu was purchased to pump up the protein:

It comes all cubed up – what a convenience:

I'm easy

Throw the tofu and some baby spinach into a wok with flavored broth (I used vegetable bouillon):

wok it up

Add in the quinoa:

Mix it all up with heat below:

And dinner is served:

Enjoy! (and feel no guilt)