An Egg Cream

According to various websites, the egg cream was originated in Brooklyn by Louis Auster, a candy shop owner.

According to various websites, an authentic New York Egg Cream can only be made using Fox's U-Bet chocolate syrup. If you want a Seinfeldian version, use Bosco Chocolate Syrup.

Most sites seem to concur that you first pour the seltzer into the milk, then add the chocolate syrup along the side of the glass.

Gathered are my ingredients, seltzer, milk, chocolate syrup flavored with cinnamon, a glass, and somewhere is a tall straw from Starbucks to stir in the syrup.

That is one scary abuelita

Instead of measuring the seltzer I just poured it in. It was a bit much, so I had to drink some of it before adding the syrup.

Pour the syrup in along the edge of the glass and stir carefully but thoroughly so as not to disturb the foam on top.

There is the finished egg cream. I don't think I vigorously stirred the milk and the seltzer to create a really bubbly foam, and I don't particularly like the way the foam tasted because, well, it was rather tasteless, but the contrast between the milk and the bottom part looks cool! (Judging by the pictures of egg creams on various websites and the recipe below, the foam isn't supposed to be such a thick layer, thus reducing the tasteless factor.) Later on, I'll post a recipe for my mom's version of an egg cream.

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New York Egg Cream
From Egg Cream, History of New York City Egg Cream

Ingredients

• Approximately 1/2 cup cold whole milk*


• 1 cup bottled seltzer


• 2 tablespoons chocolate syrup**

* Skim or 1% milk won't foam as well

** Fox's U-Bet Chocolate Syrup is used in New York.


Directions

1. Pour 1/2 inch of cold milk into a tall soda glass. Add seltzer or club soda to within 1 inch of the top of the glass; stir vigorously with a long spoon (this will cause it to become white and bubbly with a good head of foam).



2. Very gently pour 2 tablespoons of chocolate syrup slowly down the inside of the glass; briskly stir with a long spoon only at the bottom of the glass where the chocolate sits. The resulting drink should have a dark brown bottom and a 1-inch high pure white foam top (if you mix it too much, the foam disappears).

NOTE: Do not let Egg Cream sit for a long period of time-5 minutes or more; it will go flat.

Makes 1 servings.

Mother's Day Eats Wrap-Up

Because all mothers deserve (or maybe not all... um, if this does not apply to you then disregard what I'm about to say) a nice breakfast, especially one that's a bit up from a standard breakfast, I decided to make orange buttermilk waffles with strawberries.

What's different about these waffles than the ones I normally make is that the egg whites are beaten separately. It took me exactly eight minutes and forty-five seconds to produce stiff peaks and a very sore shoulder/forearm/wrist. Hehe!

Anyhow, the texture was dense yet light (due to half the flour being fine whole wheat, though it tastes good so density be damned), with a subtle hint of orange and tanginess from the buttermilk. I'm going to have to tweak the amount of shortening because it oozed orange fat around the edges of the waffle maker. Very disgusting. And although I used melted Smart Balance shortening instead of melted butter, it's just a disgusting thing to look at. Orange fat is something you expect to see coming out of an Oompa Loompa, not waffles.

Since we had decided on barbecue chicken sandwiches, I figured I'd make hamburger buns so we didn't have to eat straw in the form of bread.

The recipe I used is from The Martha Stewart Baking Handbook - The Original Classics. The dough was pretty easy to work with and was just on the verge of sweet without tasting like Hawaiian Rolls. Also, it was rich enough to be on a different level from regular white bread without being overly rich, which isn't the role of a hamburger bun, and most importantly, it tasted like a hamburger bun.

My mom cooked the chicken and made the barbecue sauce, and she found the perfect method for making tender, moist chicken breast. (We all hate overcooked chicken.) First, the chicken breast should be at room temperature, then you sear it on both sides and finish it in the oven. It stays in the oven less than if you completely made it in the oven, thus, hopefully, reducing the chance of drying out.

Enjoy these self-'splaining pictures:

For dessert, Mother's Day seems like a bright, airy holiday that shouldn't be weighed down by a heavy dessert, or maybe it was a reaction to the fact that usually the weather is nice and calls for a citrus dessert, or that it was raining and the sun wasn't out, so I needed a "bright" dessert to counter the weather.

I chose Lemon Custard Cakes from an Everyday Food magazine.

I forgot that I had bowls that could be cooked in (I don't have ramekins!), so I made it in a large dish instead.

The egg whites in this dish were whipped by hand, as well.

STAND BY FOR A PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT:

Do your part for the environment! Instead of using an electric-powered blender to whip egg whites, do it by hand. Not only will you not be using an energy-wasting appliance, you'll be exercising at the same time! (Don't forget to use both arms so as not to unevenly develop the muscles.)

To accompany the lemon cake, I made shortbread. It seemed to fit. The recipe was from the same cookbook as the hamburger buns is from.

After eating many shortbread slices, I cannot believe I haven't made it more often. It's the perfect cookie because it isn't too sweet and is seemingly more filling than the average cookie, without causing a stomach ache (of course, you really shouldn't be looking to get filled up by a cookie). The taste, slightly butterscotch-y-caramel-y because of brown sugar, melded perfectly with the buttery taste and sandy texture. It was in the middle of sandy and flaky, leaning more toward the sandy side.

Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers out there in the blogosphere!

Epically Late Weekend Dinner Wrap-Up

Midway through Sunday, I got hungry after lunch and before dinner. I've been wanting to try the recipe for spaghetti frittata (recipe at end) from Everyday Food for a while now, so since I had leftover spaghetti I decided to make it. Finally. The recipe calls for peas, but I used seeded and chopped pickled cherry peppers and avocado slices on top.

The texture was really good, ranging from eggy and noodley in the middle, to crunchy on the top where the spaghetti took the hit from the broiler. Again, I love cherry peppers with eggs because it's an amazing combination that really works. The avocado was a great addition, its smoothness combing the egg-spaghetti combination and melding well with the cherry peppers.

Dinner was salmon patties with tartar sauce on a bun with coleslaw on the side. For the record, I prefer coleslaw with an oil-vinegar dressing to those with mayonnaise. And I like salmon patties because sometimes I don't feel like eating beef.

If you remember from the last post, I decided to go with a non-chocolate pastry instead of chocolate. I ended up with a passion fruit trifle. I figured it had to be pretty dang tasty.

Passion Fruit Trifle Review -

- The tapioca seemed undercooked, meaning the tapioca balls didn't "roll" off your tongue but felt grainy. -5

- Pastry cream was seemingly whipped, very light and smooth. +3

- On the tart side, but bursts of sweetness with the crumb topping. +2

- A lemony-pineapple taste, because that's the best I can describe passion fruit. +2

- The fruit chunks were good, sort of almost pineapple-ly-banana, very tropical. +1

In total, that's +3, which means I probably won't get it again.

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Spaghetti Fritatta
From Everyday Food

Ingredients

• 2 large eggs


• 2 tablespoons milk


• ½ teaspoon coarse salt


• 1/8 teaspoon ground pepper


• 1 ½ cups plain cooked spaghetti


• ½ cup shredded Jarlsberg cheese (I used Italian blend)


• ¼ cup thawed frozen peas (I used five seeded and chopped cherry peppers)


• 1 teaspoon olive oil


• I topped the frittata with sliced avocados

Directions

1. Heat broiler. In a medium bowl, whisk together 2 large eggs, 2 tablespoons milk, ½ teaspoon coarse salt, and 1/8 teaspoon ground pepper. Mix in 1 ½ cups plain cooked spaghetti, ½ cup shredded Jarlsberg cheese, and ¼ cup thawed frozen peas.



2. In a small (7-to 8-inch) broiler-proof nonstick skillet (I used a cast iron skillet), heat 1 teaspoon olive oil over medium-low heat. Pour in spaghetti mixture; cook until top is almost set, 5 to 7 minutes. Transfer to broiler, placing pan 4 inches from heat source; cook until set, about 1 minute.