Jul 24
Would you rather…
drink blue wine?
WOOHOO!!! Blue algae lattes with @from.the.core because blue lattes is a thing now!! Not gonna lie, it tastes pretty good … Almost as good as it looks! Yayay for the most nutrient dense food in the world! A photo posted by M A T C H A // M Y L K B A R (@matcha_mylkbar) on
Or blue lattes? (They’re also doing green matcha and black charcoal buns, if that sways you.)
Jk. Neither. Butterfly pea Witch Mojitos 4eva!
It never would’ve occurred to me to use my favorite Southeast Asian flower that’s a source of blue food dye in a patriotic American dessert. Genius.
It did occur to me that my favorite Southeast Asian flower that’s a source of blue food dye would start mainstreaming through cocktails. (Wild Hibiscus Flower Company’s, b’Lure, an extract marketed specifically for cocktails, appeared at the Fancy Food Show last year.) . The Times is on it.
It’s a strange sensation to be irrationally possessive of a thing that no one is scrambling to really own. I have this with places and times like late-‘90s Ridgewood and pre-Portlandia Portland, also particular chain restaurants, Sizzler especially, Bonefish Grill too (no one’s fighting me for that one). Ok, so I have a thing for butterfly pea flowers.
Achieving those brilliant hues isn’t as easy as it looks, though. My first attempt at dyeing rice for nasi ulam, a Malaysian salad that doesn’t traditionally use blue rice but whatever, resulted in a gray-ish periwinkle batch of grains.
The ratio was off. I was winging it. I used a generous handful of dried petals in 1.5 cups of warm water. Next time I’ll use more.
Like I said, nasi ulam isn’t supposed to be blue anyway. If you want to make one (there’s this), it’s really just an herbed rice salad, which is pretty summery and less gross than pasta salad, and you can use any herbs you’d like because you’re probably not going to find the ones you need in the US anyway. Have at it though, if you have access wild betel leaves, daun kesum/laksa leaves (I’ve seen this in NJ but not NYC), turmeric leaves, and torch bud ginger. At the minimum, I recommend the mint, cilantro, Thai basil trinity. It also includes slivered lime leaves, lemongrass rounds, shallots, and shredded coconut and dried shrimp (pounded afterward) both toasted for deeper flavor and makes it start tasting Malaysian. The belacan, shrimp paste that can really overpower an apartment, ensures that, though not every recipe calls for it and I didn’t use it not because of the small but because I’m lazy. It’s seasoned with salt and sugar. I eat it with Auria’s sambal because I eat that with everything already.
Ok, happy birthday, America!
May 31
Literal charcoal black ice cream was potentially my favorite eye-grabber of last week (no, I don’t post this weekly—just mentally). Also, I was wondering how Mic was going to handle its new food coverage, you know, food coverage for millennials as opposed to all that other food coverage for the coveted old people demographic, and now I know.
But in the end, blue food will always win out. There is some serious butterfly pea flower power being harnessed at Koptiam, so powerful I watched a food video for once. I’m not likely to make it to the LES any time soon for breakfast, so the real question is why isn’t there any blue pulut inti in Queens (that I’m aware of)? Don’t steal my idea, but I think cute and colorful Nyona kuih are ripe for artisanal appropriation, especially since Malaysian food hasn’t really broken-out in a big way in NYC (R.I.P. Pasar Malam) and might seem fresh.
This ube ice cream sandwich (should really just start calling this Ube Patrol) currently at OddFellows Sandwich Shop was my pick for amazing purple edible thing of the week. A Danny Bowien/Sam Mason co-creation, it also includes coconut dulce de leche and shiso granola, and I want it.
But then Dallas BBQ posted a purple long island iced tea, and in its own typical lily-gilding fashion, adds a Peep, shot of rum, and upturned bottle of moscato. Wow?
Um, and there’s a Dallas BBQ just four blocks from OddFellows…
Well, shit, I would’ve paid more attention to that gold doughnut if I knew it contained an ube mousse. And I feel kind of like a perv, but all I really want is a glimpse of some of that purple. Every online example is just pristine gold, gold, gold, which makes me think no one has actually spent $100 and ripped into one. I will just have to imagine based on Manila Social Club’s purple frosted ube bae donuts instead.
Update: Brooklyn Magazine was given a gold doughnut. “After everyone took a lot of pictures of the doughnut in various settings, I cut into it, and took a bite. Cameras went crazy as I put the first yam-Cristal-gold nugget in my mouth.” And yet not one picture exposing even a flash of purple.
Same thing with Grub Street. “I’m going to cut it with a knife. Oh! It’s purple inside. What’s that?” But no damn photos.
Follow
The 19 best doughnut shops in the world—period – https://t.co/1kHS3d7Vol pic.twitter.com/tLWc39BywO — First We Feast (@firstwefeast) January 10, 2016
Thankfully, this photo appeared in my Twitter feed while scrolling in effort to motivate myself out of bed this morning. It didn’t work, but it did satisfy that part of my brain that wanted to see a doughnut’s purple interior. That’s a poi malasada from the Kamehameha Bakery in Honolulu, by the way.
Nov 22
The week in which I fell victim to social media marketing. Despite being slightly irked by that matcha custard pie showing up all over Instagram, I also really wanted to eat that matcha custard pie showing up all over Instagram.
Photo: Dina Litovsky/New York Magazine
Then I got all caught up with the coconut blue punch that was so tangentially featured in the New York spread on Mission Chinese chef Angela Dimayuga catering a meal for the cast of Hamilton (am I the only human who knows nothing about this show and am indifferent to learning more?) that the recipe wasn’t even included.
A photo posted by heartofqueens.com (@heart_of_queens) on
Oof, but Silk Cakes, the Forest Hills bakery with Smorgasburg Queens presence has a green tea cupcake topped with blueberry buttercream, uniting blues and greens in a single morsel. And the circle was complete.
I really need to see these Doritos, available with a $10 or more donation to the It Gets Better Project, up close and personal. Blue chips!
In semi-related news, Burger King is finally bringing black buns to the US (for Halloween, duh) but at this point do we really care?
Like black holes of the international chain restaurant scene, Burger King and KFC suck up all of the black bun attention. Now Hard Rock Cafe is playing me-too, and quite charmingly, with a series of “locally inspired burgers,” unique to particular branches, one which happens to employ a black roll.
Universal Citywalk’s offering in Osaka, the eho-maki burger, is meant to mimic the girthy, un-sliced good luck sushi eaten on February 3. It uses seven ingredients “to represent the 7 gods of happiness,” which include an 8 oz patty, onion, tomato, lettuce, monterey jack cheese and bbq and doro sauce (the Worcestershire-esque sauce served with takoyaki and okonomiyaki in Osaka).
Apparently, the roll must be eaten in silence while making a wish for the new year, which kind of contradicts the whole hard-rocking concept.
こいつ光るぞ 月末のイベントで出す予定のエレクトリカルうどん（味は普通のきつねうどん） http://t.co/woiwdSOkeM pic.twitter.com/GKZd08ZrDE
— くられ／れらく (@reraku) August 20, 2015
Just your run of the mill neon udon. Munchies has the details on the Japanese (duh) “mad scientist” behind this beautiful atrocity.
Mar 6
It’s Shamrock Shake season (I think? Also, I just remembered I given a promo McDonald’s gift card to try one two years ago and never redeemed it–could is still work?) which for me just means more pretty green food and drink to ogle.
These two images, neither related to St. Patrick’s Day, showed up in my life in a single scroll and now all I can think about are green desserts.
Pandan paste makes the #tresleches #cake green at #houseofinasal. (Photo: @anrizzy) A photo posted by NYT Food (@nytfood) on
I don’t see South Carolina in my immediate future. Woodside, though? Oh, yes.
The #pandancake hashtag is killing me.
Natural…
and not so much.
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