Archive | July, 2009

Stinkin’ Up the Joint

17 Jul

Mike and I decided to endeavor on grilling fish in my apartment.  One of my favorite kitchen tools is a stove top grill (I bought mine on sale for $50 from Williams Sonoma a few years ago but it does not appear they have it any more).  It fits across two burners and makes mean pancakes on the flat side and great chicken on the ridged side.  Fish was a new undertaking, however.

Now I have a large kitchen by NYC standards, however, it is poorly ventilated and the smoke alarm is in a tiny hallway right outside the room.  The tragedy of this event involved me standing below the smoke alarm for upwards of 20 minutes waving a magazine.  This paled in comparison, however, to the even greater tragedy of making my entire apartment smell of fish for the next four days.

I will sidenote here for a second to talk about the request that went out to all of my friends on Facebook for advice on how to get the smell of fish out of ones apartment when opening all the windows, lighting candles, febreezing, spraying air freshener, and putting out baking soda didn’t work.  I got some very interesting responses.  Lavender oil, scrubbing everything down with lemons, oil reeds, and roasting coffee beans in a skillet came up.  The most creative response, however, came from Mike’s Aunt Helene who gave us his Aunt Meggie’s trick: Boil water in a pot and then cover it and put cinnamon on the lid.  Wouldn’t you know it? It worked!  The smell was hardly detectable after about 30 minutes of boiling.  Good to know!

As for the food itself, it turned out pretty well.  I have come to the conclusion though that I need to accept that I just don’t like salmon.  Smoked is fine, but when it’s cooked I’m just not a fan.  Mike made salmon for himself and a tuna steak for me.  He also prepared an awesome, off the cuff soy, garlic, and ginger sauce for us to dip the fish in.  We paired it with some boxed butternut squash risotto and threw tomatoes and zuccini on the grill pan when the fish was done.  We then enjoyed our labors on the balcony, which was lovely.


NYC Nom Nom FAQ

17 Jul

What is a Nom Nom?
This is the number one NYCNomNom question.  Any repetition of the word “nom” is an onomonopia for the sound of someone chewing or eating something.  Urban Dictionary defines that it is a sound usually made when food is enjoyed.  My first encounter with “nom nom” was while reading lolcats.  They have a LOLspeak dictionary that defines a nom as “to eat fuds.”  I’m glad we could clear that up.

What are Nom Points?
Nom points are a purely subjective ranking system where I rate the food on the taste of the food ONLY.  Sometimes I may take away some nom points for poor service (such as when waiters try to commit murder), but for the most part this takes into consideration the quality of the food for the environment it’s in.  I don’t expect a diner to be as good as a 5 star restaurant, however, I do compare it to the other diners I have been to.  If you don’t agree with a rating, feel free to comment and speak up!

Who am I?
My name is Sara and I have been working/living in New York City for over five years now.  I work in the rewarding field of Digital Media Planning and Buying where I am treated to meals at some of the finest restaurants in NYC quite often.  It’s a wonderful perk and I am very appreciative of the publishers that make it happen. 

As for my love for cooking, it was really more of a late blooming love.  I have always baked, and thought for many years that I just did not have a talent for cooking.  Turns out, I just didn’t have the guts.  Cooking requires a lot of hope, and more often than not, what I make turns out well! It just took jumping in (and some encouragement from my wonderful boyfriend Mike) to figure that out.

Why this blog?
I found myself trading restaurant war stories and recipes quite often, and decided to start chronicling it just for fun.  It has very quickly established itself as something I enjoy writing about and sharing with anyone who wants to read.

What makes me an expert?
Nothing. I’m not.  I’m just an average New Yorker who loves food and loves conversation about food. 

How can readers contribute?
#1- Vote for my blog!  There is a button on the top left side of the blog itself.
#2- Comment! 
#3- Send me an email at sara@nycnomnom.com

If you have any more questions, feel free to drop them below!

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Going Dutch

13 Jul

I am not overly familiar with the east 50s area of NYC, so when we found ourselves up there at FAO Schwartz to make a Muppet (best. birthday present. ever!), we wandered until we found an interesting place to eat.

Danku caught my eye with their tag line “Naturalicious Dutch Eatery” and my inability to recall what Dutch food exactly consists of.

Each table had a cute wooden tulip and Mike and I both tried the “Steaz” which were soda-like green teas with fruit flavoring.

Their trendy, digital flat screen menus were quite flashy and offered a lot of tasty sounding options from gluten free rice wraps to healthier frozen yogurt to splendid looking krokets.

I went with the “New Amsterdammer” hot sandwich that consisted of chicken, canadian bacon, arugula, tomatos, and “Danku Sauce” (which appeared to be a slightly more mayo version of Russian dressing and tasted pretty good.)  I really enjoyed my sandwich, and the flavorful canadian bacon really set it apart.

Mike went with the hot steak sandwich which consisted of grilled steak with tomatoes and lettuce and more danku sauce.  The steak was very tasty.

The shining star of this meal, however, was the kroket.  Mike ordered a spinach and artichoke version that came with the Danku Sauce (again) for dipping.  I would absolutely make a meal out of these and they could be served at a 5 star restaurant as a appetizer for a lot more money and they would be all the rage.  I may make my way back to West 57th between 5th and 6th Avenues just to have the kroket again!

Total Nom Points: 7 out of 10