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Picture 1 from 4: I think I found my new favorite neighborhood coffee shop!

Down the street from my apartment is a coffee shop called the Roasting Plant. It’s shtick is freshly ground coffee beans that are brewed to order for each cup of coffee or shot of espresso. And to top that, they even roast all the beans in their storefront, brew their coffee at the perfect water temperature and serve their drinks in heat-insulating glass mugs. Wow. Pretty thorough, huh?

Last Monday I had tea at Takashimaya, a fancy Japanese department store on NYC’s 5th Avenue.   The tea was fabulous.  A friend and I shared two pots–one was a sweet tea flavored with peach, rosehips and citrus that was garnished with a stick of rock candy to sweeten the cup, the other was a savory tea made of toasted buckwheat soba.  However, the best part of out midday snack were the pressed rice sandwiches.

The sandwiches were made of triangular shaped patties of pressed sushi rice that had the slightest flavor of rice wine vinegar and wasabi, and were topped with paper thin slices of fresh cucumber and smoked salmon, and laid on a bed of seaweed salad.  The perfect accompaniment to the teas were ordered and a great Asian alternative to the English pairing of cucumber-watercress sandwiches and tea!

With the spate of cold weather several weeks ago, one of our local sushi bars got in a whole Blue Fin tuna, which made him and many diners (especially me) very happy.  When I got the call from Yoshi, I hightailed it into the restaurant where he was conducting a tuna tutorial.  Among many things, I overheard him teaching about the different types of tuna (young, Bigeye, Bluefin, and Yellow), he slid his ever-sharp knife through a lacy filet of the tuna neck section - “kama.”  The richness of the tuna yields particularly flavorful, mouth watering morsels.  As a “treat,”  Yoshi served us some “Negi-Toro” maki - fatty belly scraps, diced extra-fine with scallions and tucked onto a rice ball wrapped on seaweed.  He also dotted the top of each maki piece with a curl of nubbly, golden uni (sea urchin).  The combined flavors were heavenly - creamy, rich, mineral, ocean-fresh.  No soy or any sauce, just a small swipe of wasabi to lend a whisper of sharpness.   Sipping on a cool, low intensity sake didn’t hurt either.

Hey folks!

So I’m now doing this Twitter thing on the web.

There’s already lot of stuff happening on there. Even my good friend Martha is on.

I think it’ll be a fun way to share what we’re cooking up in the kitchen.

Hope you’ll follow along. Check it out…

http://twitter.com/Emeril

- Chef E

Now this is the way to eat and shop!  Lucky guy.  I wonder if I could get someone to push me around in a grocery cart?  I wonder if I could get in a grocery cart?  Hmmmm…

These hand-built wraps are healthy, delicious, and very easy to duplicate at home.

Simply saute some very thin slices of pork in canola oil, seasoned with fresh garlic, chopped scallion and grated ginger.  Next, cook rice vermicelli noodles in boiling, salted water; once tender, drain and cool.

Then layer the pork slices, rice noodles, whole fresh mint leaves, thin strips of carrot, sliced cucumber and chopped peanuts onto large romaine lettuce leaves.  Squeeze a small wedge of fresh lime juice on top, roll up, and dig in!

Loved Jenny’s blog on churros and thought I’d toss out the New Orleans version - classic crunchy, sugar-dusted churros with a deep dulce de leche (caramel) and banana sauce, a la “Bananas Foster.”  The flavor combination is spectacular!!

In Spain, it’s chocolate con churros for a late-night snack. In Mexico, it’s cafe con churros for a early-bird breakfast. But down the street from my apartment, at my neighborhood doughnut shop, it’s Indian chai tea with churros to satisfy my mid-day munchies! All combinations are delicious, but this one is the best I’ve had so far. But that may be because it’s only a block away…

Dress up your tuna salad Italian-style!  Instead of using the traditional tuna salad ingredients–mayo, celery and onions, try using these Italian-inspired flavors for a great alternative!

Simply add: chopped fresh basil, yellow bell pepper and shallots; cherry tomato halves; use extra virgin olive oil instead of mayonnaise; and season with salt, black pepper and a pinch of red pepper flakes.

Mangia buono!

Crawfish started coming in about two weeks ago, and they were small and expensive (as crawfish go).  Over the incredible Mardi Gras weekend, our favorite neighborhood spot for boiled seafood, Big Fisherman, got in some crawfish that were a bit bigger than the week before, a bit less expensive, and just outstanding - spicy, loaded with bay leaf, lemon and garlic.  20 pounds of crawdads later, five of us were seriously happy campers, wrinkled fingers, tingly lips and all.  As the season comes into full swing, the crawfish will be larger and the price will drop considerably.  That likely makes no sense unless you know that the supply grows along with the size of the crawfish, and by St. Patty’s Day when we boil over 300 pounds for our party, the mudbugs will be big and fat, the shells just starting to get hard, signaling the beginning of the end of the season.