bread, and the color red

 

outside Balthazar, Soho 

elbow bread

bakeries, and those of us obsessed with visiting them, have been on my mind lately...

these are photos taken on a sunny day in january, at elbow ludlow on the lower east side.

this is jezabel, who traveled in from 
philadelphia to visit; she owns her 
own bakery, restaurant, market
for over fifteen years
@jezabels.phl

@elbowludlow
at elbow bread, ludlow street, nyc

it's only a silver moon

but it's everything to the neighborhood during the current stay home order.

so grateful for owner Juidth Norell of Silver Moon Bakery,  still open daily with her dedicated team, sharing her beloved seasonal offerings of artisanal breads, French pastries and cakes.

silver moon bakery, broadway
www.silvermoonbakery.com

Happy Passover, Happy Easter to all.
stay safe, New York! we hope to be sitting in the sun together again soon outside Silver Moon!
xx

six degrees of separation

six feet apart and third in line yesterday at the farmers' market, after mom, baby and Elmo....

She Wolf Bakery has been baking bread in Brooklyn since 2009, starting in a wood oven in Roman's, a Fort Greene restaurant. 

a natural leaven (sourdough culture) is used in most of the breads, with a fermentation process that leads to signature textures and flavors that have us happily waiting for the miche, pullman, sesame and classic batard loaves currently offered for sale under the bright blue tent.

a delightfully crumby treat for crummy covid times...

she wolf bakery
www.shewolfbakery.com 
www.grownyc.org 

baking bread

the recipes that follow are from the Daily Bread installment of Mary Cooks, a food memoir and recipe collection my family created together just over 15 years ago to celebrate my mother's 70th birthday. 

as a child, i loved the Casatielli, though i did not know its formal name back then.   it was my Uncle Richard who offered that detail when he shared the recipe for the cookbook project.  

as at Christmas, my Grandmother Marie made this for her family along with other traditional Italian treats.

to me, it indeed tasted like a buttery brioche and had the added magical feature of the egg tucked beneath the 'cross' of dough in the basket ...  

the Easter Braid was another favorite, with sugar glaze, lemon and raisins flavoring the bread.
this recipe is credited to one of my mom's friends in our  neighborhood.

my mother is famous for her cakes, too.

Easter in our house is traditionally time for the Lamb Cake, baked in a cast iron lamb shaped mold and decorated with marshmallow icing and coconut sprinkles, and for Glazed Egg Cakes, delectable pound cakes with either chocolate or marzipan glaze and decorative rosettes on top.  

i will feature those by the weekend as we move closer toward the holiday. 

wire baskets in my city kitchen along with a butter mold from my mom's collection....

stay home, stay safe. stay connected, 

xx

buying bread

west 97th street...

pretty as a peach

peaches, mango, mint, cheese, fig jam, arugula, sourdough, lemon tea cake, pistachio ice cream 

after altro paradiso...

a few endnotes:

it was the first time i attended the Cafe Altro Paradiso fundraising bake sale to benefit Planned Parenthood, and after waiting in line for just over an hour, foolishly bought only 5 tickets, each ticket good for one sweet or savory item from the tented area outside, we were told by the event volunteers, with alcoholic beverages served inside going for 2 tickets per drink... 

my advice for anyone attending next year -- 10 tickets minimum are a must, maybe 20, then eat and drink your way through the day....    the program offers you a map of all the participants and their respective serving stations but once you enter, it is kind of hard not to want to try something from everyone, for the cause, of course!

plus, as you are surrounded by fellow foodies (i met the sweetest NYU Food Studies scholar in line) and beloved chefs (from the likes of Flora Bar, Frenchette, King, La New Yorkina, Le Cou Cou, Mah Ze Dahr, Olmsted and more), why not linger longer?  

feeling a bit like Charlie with his winning golden tickets to the Chocolate Factory,  i savored my goodies at home later, sampling from famous (some five star) restaurants of manhattan in four mouth watering, memorable bites.

thank you to Natasha and Ignacio and all the participating chefs, teams and volunteers, for pastries with purpose!

an elegant banana loaf from racines ny

light as air concha bread from cosme/atla 

a chocolate espresso whoopie pie from le bernardin

rhubarb and cinnamon and so much more from gramercy tavern
(this was a two ticket item but so worth it)


www.cafealtroparadiso.com 

bake sale

i thought that i went for the food but quickly realized that we were all there for the politics.

last Sunday's third annual bake sale organized by Cafe Altro Paradiso raised almost $100k to be donated to New York City's Planned Parenthood. 

baking is always a community crowd pleaser and sometimes, too, especially in light of recent events in the world, the sweetest revenge...

cafe altro paradiso hosted its 3rd annual bake sale to benefit ny planned parenthood!

click the links below for past and present stories on acclaimed pastry chef natasha and her fundraising initiative: 

https://www.bonappetit.com/story/bake-sale-ideas-natasha-pickowicz
https://heritageradionetwork.org/podcast/natasha-pickowicz-the-passionate-pastry-chef/
https://eye-swoon.com/cafe-altro-paradiso-bake-sale-planned-parenthood/