Tag Archives: sliders

Social Saturday – 13th Annual American Cancer Society Taste of Hope

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On May 10, 2018, I attended the American Cancer Society 13th Annual Taste of Hope event in New York City. I purchased my VIP ticket at $275 which included a gift bag and early access to the food and festivities.  The event had two honorees:  Sarabeth Levine was this year’s culinary honoree and Chef Antonio Prontelli was this year’s survivor honoree.

My top 5 favorite savory tastings from the event were the:

  • The Smith’s Toasted Ricotta Gnocchi with White Truffle Cream
  • Calle Ocho’s Pastelillos Cubanitos
  • Jing Fong’s BBQ Roast Pork Pastry Puffs
  • Casa Nonna’s Siamese Agnolotti
  • L’Amico Fontina Cappelletti with Wild Mushroom and English Peas

My top 5 sweet tastings from the event were the:

  • Bonsai Kakigori’s Strawberries and Cream Kakigori
  • Loi Estiatorio’s Yiaourti Me Meli
  • Melt Bakery’s Mini Ice Cream Sandwiches
  • Java Melts
  • Frose & Campari Popsicles

Below are images from the event.

There were a lot more stuff at the event. The event set up gets better and better every year. There were a lot of wine tastings, beer tastings and emerging food companies promoting their products.  More importantly a lot of the food tastings were on the healthier side; there were salad variations, ceviches, and barbecued dishes.

I can’t wait to visit these restaurants during the upcoming restaurant week if they participate.  Stay tuned.

Social Saturday – Andaz Kitchen and Bar – Wall Street

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Happy Saturday and I’m counting down the days until I’m able to eat food with refined/processed sugar again. As I stated in my last post, I gave up sugar except for the natural sugars in fruits and vegetables for 40 days for Lent. It’s been really challenging and hard especially this last 10 days with the gatherings for St. Patrick’s Day.

Ten days ago I’ve have had the privilege to see a preview of the food and drink at the revived Andaz Kitchen and Bar at the Andaz Wall Street Hotel in Wall Street. Previously named Dina Rata, which I learned was an Indian name meaning moon. It was deceiving that a place with that name was serving Italian food. Anyways, I preferred the new name.

When I arrived, I was greeted with champagne which I did not drink due to the sugar content. However, I settled for the Chianti which has low sugar, thanks to one of the general managers who suggested the wine as he also gave up sugar. The wine went well with my selection of crudites containing fruits, and vegetables with no hummus, dressing and/or dip to avoid the possibility to ingesting sugar.

I was impressed by the food display and presentation. I loved the color of the vegetables indicating that it is fresh. I also liked the cheese and cold cuts selection.

Next, the passed food samples from the menu, which included a variety of dishes inspired from different cultures including Jamaica, Dominican Republic, Italy and Vietnam.

Below are images of the food created by Executive Chef Pietro Consorti from the event:

Crudites

Cheese and charcuterie display

Tasting plate of cheese and cold cuts

Tasting plate of fresh and colorful vegetables

Bread, butter and anchovies

Jerk Pork Sliders

Toasted prosciutto and baguette

Puntarelle e stracciatella

Panzarella red snapper and green olives

Beef Peccadillo plantains

Fruit berry tart

Rum babba

Flan de leche

Liquid Lab mixology interactive cocktail session setup

It was obvious that I did not eat everything due to the 40 day sugar sacrifice. As a result I did not try anything containing bread and dessert. However, my favorite even from just looking at the menu was the Beef Peccadillo plantains.

Thank you to the management team at Andaz and Andaz Kitchen and Bar including Executive Chef Pietro Consorti for making me feel welcomed. I can’t wait to return and sample the remaining dishes.

Big shout out to the Liquid Lab team for a great demo on making the cocktails, which I could not participate. I do look forward to seeing them in the future.

Stay tuned for more.

Sunday Game Plan – Superbowl 2018

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After months of obligations and commitments, today is my lucky day. I visited Stop & Shop to do my weekly grocery shopping and I decided to go crazy by buying items that was applicable to the Blood Type Diet such as ground lamb and turkey wings. In addition I had plan B if either or both dishes failed, which was Kidfresh Little Jammin Chicken Sliders and Gold Metal Sliders rolls, both on sale this week.

Let’s cut to the chase and show you the plan for this year’s high protein Superbowl feast.

1) Roasted Turkey Wings inspired by Iron Chef Alex Guarnaschelli

2) Lamb Meatballs with Lemon Cumin Yogurt inspired by Chowhound

3) Kidfresh Little Jammin Chicken Sliders

Keep in mind this is the first time I am making the Turkey Wings and lamb meatballs.

For the Turkey Wings, I marinated the wings with 5 tablespoons of canola oil, salt and pepper. There was difficulty cutting the wings into smaller pieces that my mother had to help. The wing pieces were placed on a greased baking sheet.

The wing pieces were baked in the oven for 90 minutes (1 hour & 30 minutes) to 105 minutes (1 hour & 45 minutes) at 375 degrees.

While the wings are cooking, the baste/sauce was prepared using the following mixture:

2 tablespoons minced garlic

2 tablespoons honey

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons Datu Putu (sugar cane vinegar)

1 tablespoon Worchestershire sauce

Curry powder

Before mixing

About 10 minutes before the wings are completely roasted, place a table spoons of the mixture and baste across each wing.

While the Turkey Wings were cooking, prep the lamb meatballs. To prepare the lamb meatballs, mix the following until blended:

1 pound ground lamb

1/2 red onion, chopped

Cilantro

1 tablespoon minced garlic

Salt

Pepper

Cumin

Cinnamon

Take 2 tablespoons of the mixture to form a ball.

Place the meatballs at 375 degrees for 15-20 minutes. In the meantime, prepare the lemon cumin yogurt sauce by mixing:

4 tablespoons plain yogurt

1 tablespoon lemon juice

Cilantro

Cumin

Then with plan B, the sliders were prepared using Kidfresh Chicken Sliders according to packaging instructions.

Toast the slider rolls with butter until toasted.