Crab dip + dumplings = delicious
So this is following up on the subject, of, well . . . nothing in particular, but I had to share a new guilty pleasure food that I discovered tonight at a fab restaurant in my neighborhood that I’ve walked by a million times in the past few months (it’s a little non-descript looking). It’s called Zemi, and it’s right here in my Chelsea hood. Here’s a little write-up by Time Out NY: http://www.timeout.com/newyork/restaurants/chelsea/21071/zemi
I finally went tonight with a group of friends and discovered a food that I’m afraid will be my diet nemesis for 2009: crab rangoon. Now, I’ve had crab rangoon before, but these little temptations are in a class of their own: like tiny molten crab dip dumplings, with a salty and tangy soy dipping sauce. Completely delightful. I feel the same way about them as the first time I ever tried Artichoke Basille’s crab pizza slice: more than a little obsessed. Speaking of Artichoke Basille’s, if you’re in NYC, run, don’t walk to get a slice. The line is totally worth the payoff.
Gobble gobble gobble . . .
Woo hoo – it’s almost Turkey Day! Any holiday that centers around eating is great in my book. So in honor of the impending holiday, a turkey tribute:
Turkey Soap Party Favors by SpecialtySoapSh
Good for washing away the guilt of eating 80,000 calories in one meal.
Turkey Leg Baby Rattle by MayaBella
Great for keeping the little ones busy while you’re mashing the potatoes.
Walkers Roast Turkey with Paxo Sage & Onion Flavour Crisps
Arrgh, why do the Brits get all the best flavored chips? Seriously, they’ve got Prawn Cocktail chips, Pickled Onion chips, Worcester Sauce chips, and now this? What could be better than turkey and gravy in the form of a light potato crisp?
Sour and sweet
Maybe I’m inspired by my blog’s name, or maybe by the completely strange and fascinating Pickle Soap that I featured in a previous post, but I’m all about pickles right now. My blog name, by the way, popped into my head after my husband and I ordered BBQ for takeout the other night, and when we opened the delivery containers we realized they had forgotten to send us sweet pickles, and instead sent us a double portion of dill pickles. Actually, they also forgot to send almost all the meat in our order, but that’s another story (beware Hill Country BBQ delivery). Anyhow, I love all kinds of pickles, so the double order of sour pickles was definitely not a tragedy.
A quick search of Etsy for pickle products revealed a crazy plethora of items - felted pickles, clay pickles, magnet pickles, pickle photography, angry pickles. Even real pickles! Deeeelish.
Pickle Cat Toy, Kosher Dill Size, by Casbahkitten
Atomically Hot Garlic Dill Pickles by Sardineandnchovy
Angry Pickle Magnet or Brooch by Bittersweets
If you’re hungry AND dirty, I would probably just stick with this . . .
DirtyAssSoap's Super Bacon Cheeseburger Soap with Fries and Pickles
Thankfully, it doesn’t actually smell like a cheeseburger.
Smells good enough . . . to shower with?
Ok, so my interest in licorice scented bath and beauty products has turned into a full-blown obsession with weirdly scented, food inspired soaps. Here are a few more weird and wonderful soaps from my fellow Etsy sellers MollycoddleSoap, amandalouise, and DirtySanchez (who just might have some of the funniest descriptions on all of Etsy). Oh yeah, and one more irresistable-sounding soap from Savor. Yum!
Another licorice soap, this one by amandalouise
Dammit Soap by Dirty Sanchez - scented with gingerbread and brown sugar, yum
Polenta Soap by Savor
And last but certainly not least, In a Pickle Soap by Mollycoddle Soap. It's even has a pickle scent!!! Must. Have. This. Soap.
cheesy puffs
New York City is a fantastic place. It’s the kind of place where a person can leave their apartment at ten o’clock on a Monday night and obtain a slice of pizza, a bottle of rose, and a box of red henna, and be back on the couch watching Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations within ten minutes. Living in New York, however, means you have to accept that there are certain things that are harder, if not impossible to obtain. Like toilet paper in those super-large bulk packs, or Mr. and Mrs. T’s Bloody Mary mix in the hefty-sized jugs with the pour-handles, or Chik-fil-a, or Patio Enchilada Dinners. But the most egregious of all these Big-City omissions is the insanely paltry variety of snack foods. Now don’t get me wrong, NYC the most fantastic city in the world for finding whatever you love when it comes to food, but what I’m talking about here is good old-fashioned chips, cheesy puffs, and corn chips in all the varieties that our suburban neighbors are lucky enough to enjoy.
Let me give you an example. In March, I flew to LA for my friend Matthew’s birthday. Within twenty minutes of de-planing, I had obtained a pirate’s booty worth of snacks: Cheetos Flamin’ Hot Limon, a special edition bag of Cheetos Enchilada flavor snacks (!), and a bag of Combos Egg, Bacon and Cheese flavored snacks *. I mean come on! Until recently, in New York I couldn’t even find a bag of the regular Flamin’ Hot Cheetos, and I emailed Frito Lay to see if I could order a case, which they denied. I also emailed them to see what ever happened to the Ranch Flavored Combos that I remember from my youth, and they told me they never existed**. So it was a double whammy.
So here’s my point: I never get any of the really cool flavors of snack foods. At least not before people in Scranton and Boise and Topeka get to try them. And if you had just found out that Ranch Flavored Cheetos actually EXIST, you would want to get your hands on them ASAP, right?! Here’s the proof:
Who doesn’t want to try these!?! Seriously, what could be better than ranch and Cheetos!
* if you ever see these, back away slowly. I am not kidding, I like some pretty weird stuff, but “egg” flavor totally has no place in a snack food.
** they DID exist, right!!?! I mean, I couldn’t have totally made this flavor up! They were completely insane!
