Wow. This was SUCH a winning experiment that I wanted to share it with you all. I’d been getting into a bit of a rut with my lunch salads and decided to change things up a bit today based on some cool ingredients that were on sale at Fresh Direct. I started by steaming some rock shrimp and chopping them up. I mixed those up with the following list of ingredients, let it sit for 15 minutes and then stuffed it into the emptied avocado shells and I must say, I have outdone myself with this one. 5 stars Carey, if I do say so myself!

:0)

As always, the amount of each ingredient is up to you. This, like ALL of my recipes, is merely a concept to by toyed with to your liking.

Chop and combine the following:

rock shrimp

english cucumber

radish

jicama

pineapple

grape tomatoes

baby bok choy

avocado

mint

cilantro

fresh ginger

Toss all of the above gently with:

the juice of a lime,

salt & pepper

a little olive oil

Let the salad sit and marinate for 15 minutes or so and then scoop into the emptied avocado shell for a pretty presentation.

YUM! I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

Anyone who thinks you need to be in NYC to have an amazing 5 star meal, PLEASE go try this place. Up in suburban Pleasantville, NY in the old train station, is a lovely, small, incredible dining experience waiting for your visit. The owner, Philip McGrath, has a ridiculously impressive resume having chefed at many of NYC’s top restaurants, but as a family man he wanted  a quieter, more intimate setting to call his home. His attention to detail and integrity comes through as he comes out to personally meet each of his customers, engaging in friendly conversation, and making sure that every plate is perfect. It’s special touches like these that set Iron Horse apart from the sea of above average restaurants as far as I’m concerned.

Nothing trendy about the atmosphere here, just classic, traditional decor and wait staff who not only know their stuff, but clearly look at it as a career and not just as a job.

My mother and I were celebrating her birthday and since we have the same tastes in food, we decided to share all of the apps, entrees and dessert that we ordered. How wonderful was it that the kitchen was willing to half-plate everything for us so there was no clumsy plate-swapping involved? It was so luxurious to be served our 3 courses in what felt like a 5 course meal.

A lovely , fresh bread basket and crisp, green olives were brought out promptly to wet our already voracious appetites. The first course served was a chilled carrot/dill soup, complete with homemade, waffled potato chips and a small pile of delicious flaked crab. This soup was phenomenal and light- no cream, just the veggies and crab. Perfect for a warm summer evening.

Next we had the peakytoe crab with corn, avocado and caviar and WOW, this was a perfect dish. Also incredibly summer-ific, light and totally succulent. Each flavor stood on it’s own as well as complementing the others that sat beside it. One of the things I love about this chef is that he never overwhelms flavors with excessive seasoning or oil. The dishes are all quite healthy and unmasked and you really get to enjoy the flavor of each top-quality ingredient without disguise. The actual plating of this dish was really quite beautiful as you can see in my photos.

For our entrees we shared the sole over mashed potatoes and the special of the day: my favorite, soft-shelled crabs which were served over wild rice, fiddleheads and almonds. This was a remarkable dish- that stood out to me even among it’s exceptional menu-partners. I don’t think it’s possible to go wrong at this restaurant.

By this time we were SO full, but it WAS a birthday so we HAD to at least look at the dessert menu. And okay, maybe we didn’t exactly need our arms twisted to try the special of the day, a key lime pie with coconut sorbet. I was really glad we went for it, with it’s crisp meringue topping and the delightful coconut sorbet, this key lime was refreshing and as light as can be and perfectly polished off our outstanding meal. This is officially one of my all-time favorite restaurants and I would love to return.

If you are ever in the area, or want a lovely escape from the city, take metronorth up to Pleasantville and you are right there at the Iron Horse. You will thank me, I promise.

>What better way to replenish iron levels after blood donation than indulging in a ridiculously large burger?? None that I know of. I love a good burger. I probably eat one every 2 months or so and looked forward to this for a couple of weeks knowing it was coming. The burger menu at Cozy’s is an entire page long. Burgers with just about everything you can think of on them. I decided to go for their signature burger with cheddar, fried onions and mushrooms and Mmmm, good choice. Although I ordered it ‘medium’ it came out closer to well done, but that was just fine by me. Smothered in cheese and toppings, it was basically just a melty, delicious pile of more protein, carbs and fat than one person should really ever consume in one sitting….but ohhhhh so worth it. I figured at that point, I may as well have the classic chocolate egg cream that compliments such an overdo, and compliment it did. So chocolatey good and creamy. To amuse myself, I ordered a side salad instead of the french fries that would have made this a ‘deluxe’ platter. Making the healthy choice at this point is pretty much laughable. That said, I did taste the fries and thought they were kind of undercooked and mushy. I didn’t miss out on those at all.

 The service at this diner was actually pretty awesome. Our waiter was super friendly and funny- when we asked him exactly who had awarded their milkshake as #1, which was boldly written on the menu, he chuckled and basically said that they had given themselves the award. He was attentive and quick to serve our food and refill our water. The atmosphere is exactly what it should be, a cozy, little, old-fashioned, greasy-spoon diner. The burgers are a step or 2 above typical diner food but are priced very fairly. Is this the best burger in the city? No, but it was damn enjoyable, and I will happily be running long today to compensate.

>I’d been wanting to try BLT fish for a while and a super sticky summer day provided the perfect opportunity. When my date and I found out that happy hour oysters and clams were just a buck each, we were all over it.  Arriving right at the start of happy hour, it was clear that we weren’t the only ones who knew about this deal and the bar filled up very quickly.
Not pictured is the awesome mojito I ordered. I drink very rarely, but love a mojito on a hot day and it went oh-so-well with the seafood we shared. Filled with tons of freshly muddled mint and lime, it totally hit the spot. Deeeeeelcious and so refreshing without totally knocking me on my ass. Okay, maybe it knocked me on my ass a little bit.
On to the food! We ordered an assortment raw shellfish and apps.
The blue point oysters, top neck and little necks arrived quickly on a bed of shaved ice. The two sauces, one cocktail and the other a wine/shallots/vinaigrette mixed really well together and were the perfect topping on the fresh shellfish. They were all so fresh and succulent that we polished them off and ordered more. At $1 per, how could we not?!?!
The peel & eat shrimp arrived and were surprised to see they weren’t the typical boiled or steamed ones that are commonly described that way. These had a strong rosemary flavor and were either broiled or grilled which added a lovely smokiness to them. Cooked perfectly, they didn’t need any sauce at all but were even better with a squeeze of lemon over the top.
We also ordered the stuffed jalapenos and WOW. They were so awesome. A light batter coating added to the triple layers of texture. The jalapenos themselves were still slightly crunchy and stuffed with a gooey melty cheese,       they were pretty much perfection. Add a spicy aioli dipping sauce and voila, couldn’t be better.
Our bill came to around $60 total, and considering the amount of excellent food and drink we’d just enjoyed, I thought that was incredibly reasonable. I will definitely be back.

>What an absolute honor to be invited to an industry-only tasting event at the finest chocolate shop in New York. I was warmly greeted by Haley-the-hostess who presented me with my press kit detailing the delectable chocolates I was about to enjoy. I was led into the back room to find a dozen other food writers schmoozing around small tables of the sweets I was about to indulge in. I found Horacio, the gentleman who invited me and profusely thanked him for allowing me in on such an exclusive event. I honesty felt privileged to be there and was treated like a V.I.P the whole time.
I was then given an extensive tour of the desserts on each table, and had plenty of one-on-one time to learn about the specifics and ask my many questions. I took my photographs during this tour so that I’d be able to taste everything afterwards without the distraction of my camera.
I started with the Salvador Raspberry Mousse Cake. As beautiful to the eyes and it was in my mouth. The slight crunch of the raspberries in the filling contrasted wonderfully with the smooth, creamy mousse. The ganache on top glistened and melted in my mouth. The overall flavor was incredibly rich, but somehow light and airy as well. A perfect first course.
Next, I moved on to try the BEST macaron I’ve ever had in my life. Not to be confused with coconut macaroons, macarons are a French pastry, more like a crisp meringue cookie made of egg whites and almonds and filled with various delicious creams. This one was the Macaron Sylvia: made of a shell with cocoa, and filled with luscious milk chocolate ganache, notes of biscuits and honey.  The flavor and texture was unbelievable and it turned out to be my favorite treat of the day.
Ready to move from the pastries on to the ‘hard stuff’, I sipped on a glass of cold water to cleanse my taste buds before the next adventure. The collection of chocolate is the new summer offering from Maison, and they are each little pieces of art with tastes as exquisite as their designs. The first was Etzia, a creamy milk chocolate ganache with a hint of 2 honeys, one which was floral and the other which was from chestnuts. What a unique flavor this combination was, I thought about having a second piece, but alas there was still so much more to save room for. I moved on to the Txokolate Iluna (what a lovely name) which was a dark chocolate with a hint of smokiness. Next was the praline macaron which was smooth with almonds and the slightly crisp bits of macaron inside. I loved the texture of this one, and thought it was quite different than the smoothness of the others. My favorite piece was the Almond paste with Patxaran. A mouthwatering dark chocolate with almond paste inside. Totally and completely delicious. This is the one that I will most likely return for, a crave-able flavor for sure. Last was the Espeletako Piperra, a dark chocolate with two different kinds of pepper. I found the pepper to be extremely subtle, and had to wait for it in the aftertaste as it was not immediately noticeable. The chili pepper pattern on top was a delightful touch.
I thought it was really charming that the next step, as my host explained, was the palette cleanser: a quintet of ice creams and sorbets to finish the day. They were presented in icy shot glasses, each with their own little perfectly fitting lid. Having been in to try the fantastic chocolate sorbet on a prior occasion, I decided to start with the caramel ice cream. Creamy, smooth, rich and complex, this flavor is perfect on it’s own- no need to follow the trend of adding salt like so many restaurants are hip on doing these days. The pistachio was outstanding and I must add it to my list of favorite foods. No fake, chemically green color here, oh no. This pistachio ice cream has way too much class and integrity for shenanigans like that. Both the strawberry and raspberry sorbets are light, refreshing, and truly did work as a perfect end to a delightfully rich afternoon. It’s very hard to find anything less than perfect about this ‘meal’ although I did find the fruit sorbets slightly too sweet for my own preferences. Then again, maybe that was just because I was in complete state of sugar overload at that point and anything aside from water might have been one step too far.
As I said my goodbyes, I was handed a gift bag and was thrilled to find a couple of truffles and two more the best macarons ever inside. Oh, I am a lucky girl indeed.
 All in all, La Maison is a true treasure and I am incredibly flattered that my blog allowed me to take part in this event. My hobby has come full circle at this point, turning something that I started just for fun into a truly valuable passion. I think the famous saying can now be changed to “Do what you love and the chocolate will follow.”  To me, chocolate of this caliber is worth far more than it’s weight in gold.