New York: Dinner at ‘Inoteca

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A restaurant almost everyone recommended in New York was Freeman’s, a cosy restaurant on the Lower East Side and I soo wanted to go. But unfortunately I didn’t get to reserve a table online so we chanced it on Thursday night, but without luck. It was a 45 minute wait and at that point, with low blood sugar it was (unfortunately not an option). Instead we chose another of the cute and cosy restaurants on the same street.

The place we ended up in is called ‘Inoteca and is a cosy Italian restaurant where you can sit either out on the sidewalk or inside. We chose the former since it was a warm evening and it was good fun sitting there people-watching, sipping wine and eating our supper.

We started with three bruschette that were all delicious. Ricotta and honey (left), pesto (right) and tapenade (at the back). They were really fresh and yummy and the bread was gorgeous. Perfect way to start a casual meal.

Emma chose chicken piccante and received this huge chicken breast. It was served with a salad with corn and croûtons and was nice and spicy.

Claes  chose the lasagnette, and as the name suggest it was a small portion of lasagne, but it was very nice and very filling, Claes said.

I chose the lamm ragu. It was really nice and full of umami flavours. Served with toasted bread and a fried egg it felt like quite a light dinner. Yum!

 

For once we were in the mood for pudding and we all chose the same; chocolate pudding. It was nice and had a velvety texture, but it was oh so filling. It was really sweet and tasted almost like chocolate fudge, so the whipped cream was a fresh contrast.

98 Rivington Street at Ludlow
New York, NY 10002
212 614 0473

 

New York: Cocktails at the rooftop of The Peninsula Hotel

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Only a few blocks away from our hotel you find the five star Peninsula Hotel. It lokks very old and grand with a marble foajé but if you take the lift up to the rooftop bar the ambiance is more casual. It is a fabulous bar with views over the rooftops of New York, nice cocktails and a cosy setting.

The cocktails aren’t cheap but still worth it for the view and ambiance. We only had one before heading out for dinner.

Emma and I had a refreshing and not very sweet cocktail that consisted of raspberry vodka, Chamboard raspberry liqeur and Prosecco. Perfect after a hot day out and about in the city.

 Claes followed the theme and had a bright red raspberry margherita.

Happy girls on holiday

The view

New York: Longest walk ever part II

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Due to problems with WordPress, I had to split one post into two, and this is the latter half. Please read the previous post for more NY pictures.

Brooklyn Bridge

Trapeze School New York is situated on FDR Drive and is featured in Sex and the City

The last part of our walk was along FDR Drive and onto Brooklyn Bridge, a walk around Brooklyn and back over the bridge. FDR Drive felt very cosy, walking along the waterfront.

Claes at Brooklyn Bridge

Cool, huh?!

NYC Skyline

We continued over the bridge with its fabulous views of the city. Back on Manhattan after the Brooklyn detour our feet were pretty tired, and we realised in the cab back to the hotel how far we had actually walked. Great day though!

New York: Longest walk ever, part I

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Times Square

We were extremly excited our first full day in New York. So much that we ended up walking for 6 hours straight, breaks excluded.

Madison Square Garden

We started the walk at our hotel in Midtown and walked down towards Times Square and Madison Square Garden.

Typical external fire escape

Cosy tree-lined streets around Bleecker

We then walked towards Bleecker Street and on towards Ground Zero and all the tourists. But it was worth the long queue to see the memorial.

Skyscrapes around Worldtrade Center

Ground Zero – World Trade Center Memorial

I love this photo with the mirror image of the houses in the scyscrape – Ground Zero

The memorial felt very calm with the open spaces, large ponds and lots of trees.

We then proceeded down to Battery Park, where we had lunch. You can see both the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island from there and half the park was full with people queueing for one of the ferries to go there. We were happy to take photos from a far and continue our walk.

Battery Park

The Statue of Liberty from afar

Ellis Island

We then walked along FDR Drive to Brooklyn Bridge, but I have to show you those photos in the next post as WordPress doesn’t seem to cope well with the amount of photos in this long post. To be continued… klyn Bridge och FDR drive, som publiceras precis efter detta.

New York: Dinner at Lavo

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Last Wednesday I left London for New York to meet up with by best friend Emma and her husband Claes who flew from Sweden. Once we got there it was pouring down with rain and we were all delayed, so we wanted food pretty quickly after arriving. So I thanked myself for asking all New Yorkers and ex-New Yorkers for food recommendations and compiled a list. So we chose a place off that list that evening, one only a few streets away from our hotel. We were so happy when we got the last table available and sat down with our (first) glass of wine.
As we were starving we thought sharing a few appetizers before having our maincourse was a good idea. And it was. We had just forgotten that thing about big portions in the US… We got A LOT of food, and did our best to finish it, but it was as impossible as climbing Mount Everest in flipflops.

Lavo (21 in the Zagat guide), is an Italian restaurant, bar and nightclub, but as well as Italian dishes they also had steaks, and that’s what most of us went for.
But first the appetizers.

Prosciutto with fruit, grissini and cheeses. More like a platter to share than an appetizer. But good of course.

Aubergine parmigiana, size XXL. It was really nice too, and it was a shame we couldn’t finish it.

Emma’s maincourse; lovely seared tuna with a nice marinade.

I chose the smallest steak on the menu, about 225 g, which I was very grateful for after those killer appetizers. It was really nice steak but not as blue as I had ordered it.

Claes also chose steak but went for the bigger valde New York Strip cut.

Our two sides: potato wedges with onions and rosemary (left) and really nice mash (right).

We had a great time here. The food was no-fuss but very good, the atmosphere great with the buzzing bar and it felt nice and laid-back, and definitely not touristy (thank God).

Lavo
39 East 58th Street  (vid Madison Avenue)
New York, NY 10022

Jet lag and holiday blues

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Close to 7am this morning we touched down at Heathrow and a tube ride and a shower later I was back at work like nothing happened. It is also my first time to experience jet lag. I’m not a fan. But it wasn’t as bad as I expected either.

Something much worse is the post-holiday blues I am feeling. Is the fun over now? Sob.

It is a rather weird feeling after a month and a half of a whirlwind of fun (Sweden, New York, London Olympics, visitors. Oh, and some work.)

Good thing I have pulled pork in the freezer, huh?!

Wedding dinner at Ängavallen, Sweden

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My best friend’s wedding (not the film),took place my last weekend in Sweden, and we had a fabulous day with blue skies, sunshine and plenty to keep us busy and prepare for the wedding ceremony and the dinner party afterwards at Ängavallen.

As I always focus on food, I was in charge of the lunch for the bride and us bridesmaids during the day, and made sure I took some pictures of the food during the evening meal as well, as everyone was busy taking pictures of the bride and groom.

As this was a wedding and not a restaurant visit, I will not analyse the dishes, just show them to you. But I can assure you it tasted as nice as it looks and both bride and groom and all the guests were very happy. Enjoy!

Vichysoisse with panfried scallops, caviar and pork belly crumbs.

Lamb from the farm, homemade lamb sausage, roasted new potatoes with rosemary and jus.

Rhubard, salted caramel icecream with crumble and rhubarb crème.

A few wine recommendations

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It is not often I feel confident recommending wines, but at least I know what I like. And when I, for my birthday party, managed to pick wines that everyone raved about I just feel I should spread the word.

The white; a Sauvignon Bland from Marlborough, New Zeeland, was a fresh-tasting wine with hints of elderflower. It felt very summery and goes well with seafood.

The red; a Rioja that was very easy to drink; neither heavy nor light worked well with meats or to drink on its own.

We also had some bubbly before dinner, that I can recommend if you want something nice but not pricey.

Wines:

Louis Buillot, Crémant de Bourgogne Brut, France

Crystal Bay Sauvignon Blanc 2010, Marlborough, New Zeeland

Gran Familia Rioja, Rioja, Spain

Roast beef and venison with potato parcels and Madeira sauce

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The main course at my birthday party consisted of two types of roast meat; beef and venison, puff pastry and potato parcels and a creamy Madeira sauce.

The meat was simply prepared by trimming it, letting it reach room temperature, season and sear it all around in a hot pan and then transfer to the oven until pinkish red in the middle. Cover and let rest for 10 minutes and then slice finely.

Served with a simple yet delicious Madeira sauce (reduce Madeira wine and beef stock with fried onions, then add cream and Maizena starch to thicken, season to taste) this was a wonderful meal. But what really made it come together were the puff pastry and new potato parcels with parmesan and parsley. So yummy!

Puff pastry and potato parcels with parmesan and parsley, serves 3-4 portioner

6-8 large new potatoes, diced and par-boiled

1 roll all-butter puff pastry

100 ml grated parmesan + extra to top

2-3 tbsp creme fraiche

1 tbsp chopped parsley

salt and pepper

Roll out the puff pastry and divide it into six squares. Use a cupcake tin and place cover six of the holes with the puff pastry squares. Mix parmesan, creme fraiche and parsley in a bowl, season. Press as much of the potato you can into the buff pastry shells and top with a dollop of the parmesan mixture. Add some grated parmesan on top. Season and bake in 200C for about 20 minutes. Can be reheated.

NYC, baby

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‘Start spreading the news
I am leaving today
I want to be a part of it
New York, New York…’

It is finally time, for our New York trip! I’m leaving from Heathrow, meeting up with my Swedish friends at the hotel in NYC. And on Friday another friend is joining us too. It feels appropriate to say that I think this trip will be legend- wait for it- dary!

Our first evening in NYC we’re thinking cocktails at a rooftop bar followed by fabulous sushi and probably more cocktails. Bring it on!

Note:The image is borrowed.