The E-Mooks!

There's a Japanese bookstore in Midtown called Kinokuniya. Kinokuniya houses a Cafe Zaiya, tons of Japanese books (cookbooks included!), stationary, and most importantly, E-Mooks.

Funny word, right? A Mook is a cross between a magazine and book. And an E-Mook is a Mook that comes with a freebie which is also known as a furoku. The freebie is most often a tote or makeup bag. Each E-Mook is tied to a brand or designer and the purpose of buying an E-Mook isn't for the magazine/book but for the freebie! Last summer YSL came out with a E-Mook - the Mook itself was fairly boring, lots of fashion shots and make-up tips. But the real reason I bought the mook was for this...

...black tote bag! How cute is this? The E-Mook was $25 (Is this cheaper in Japan? I've always wondered if Kinokuniya sells at a big mark-up?), and worth every penny. I used this tote throughout the year and even folded it up into my luggage for travel. It has a silky bow on the front and the inside is lined in a deep pink cotton. There's a magnetic closure, and it's the perfect size for carrying magazines and whatever edibles I accumulate throughout the day.

Kinokuniya carries 6-10 different E-Mooks at any given time, though I bet you can find much more variety in Japan. The good part about Kinokuniya is that if they don't have a specific E-Mook they'll place special orders for no extra charge. I saw this Mariage Frères E-Mook on Kat's blog last week and totally fell in E-Mook lust!

So I went to Kinokuniya later that afternoon and though they didn't stock the Mariage Frères E-Mook, they placed a special order. The lady said it would three weeks but they called five days later and said it arrived. So quick, huzzah! $22, just slightly cheaper than the YSL one. The E-Mook is cute - a showcase catalog of all the tea flavors...

...and pastries and cakes they offer at the tea salons. Now this is my idea of eye candy ;)

The tote is much smaller than the YSL one, only about eight-inches in height, and no inner lining. Regardless, it's still over the top adorable if you're a Mariage Frères fan, heheh. The other side of the tote...

...looks like this. A bit cheesy, no? I prefer the other side so will make sure to hold the bag with this side facing in ;) Can't wait for warmer weather when I can replace heavier winter bags with something this light. It'll hold a wallet, cell, keys and a few other knickknacks. Now if only all the other tea companies would come out with E-Mooks!

Kinokuniya Bookstore
1073 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10018
(212) 869-1700

Sugar Rush'ed...

...for the week at Serious Eats New York. Plus, 'Lunch for One' at Clinton Street Baking and a peek into the refrigerated section of Murray's Cheese! Happy Friday ^_^

Lunch for One: Banana French Toast at Clinton Street Baking Co.

Sugar Rush: Keste's Tiramisu

Sugar Rush: Rice Pudding Tempura at 15 East

Lunch for One: The Refrigerated Section of Murray's Cheese

Sugar Rush: Praline Parfait at Pearl Oyster Bar

Sugar Rush: Cranberry-Sage Pie at Four & Twenty Blackbirds

Hot Drinks, NY: Buckwheat Matcha at Ten Ren

Sugar Rush: Gummies and Marshmallows at Sunrise Mart...Matcha Marshmallows and......Mangosteen Gummies

A Little Job Posting

As some of you know, I recently left real estate sales for freelance writing opportunities and to work full-time on a new project.

I am hiring (with much help from Monsieur P!) an NYC-based Senior Web Developer with front and back-end experience for this new company. A love of food and experience creating and handling high volume marketplace and payment systems is key. Compensation is equity-based.

Email me at kathyylchan@gmail.com with resume. Please pass this to anyone you know who is qualified and interested.

Hope to bring you some very exciting news soon!

Breakfast: Wonder City Coffee & Donuts @ Brindle Room

Good morning!

9am at the Brindle Room. Just happen to be reading this doughnut article by total coincidence. Lucky we live NYC, no?

Peppermint Tea for a cold day and two Doughnuts ($1.75 each) hot out of the fryer. They only make cake doughnuts, but they're extra-tender cake doughnuts. The culprit? Mashed potatoes mixed into the dough. That's the Powdered Sugar Cake Doughnut and a...

...Chocolate-Hazelnut Cake Doughnut topped with sliced almonds. Shhh, don't dare tell Monsieur P...we're supposed to be eating healthier! ;)

Bonus: free wi-fi at Brindle Room when they do a morning morph into "Wonder City Coffee & Donuts."

Brindle Room
277 East 10th Street
New York, NY 10009
(212) 529-9702

Saturday Morning: Russ & Daughters

Morning wake-up, clean the apartment, hot pot of tea. And the wind! We practically flew down Broadway and across Houston, making our way to Russ & Daughters. Monsieur P wasn't too excited about the Saturday morning crowds inside this New York institution, but I assured him that it would be well worth it. Do you remember my first visit to Russ & Daughters? Hard to believe that was four years ago.

A fifteen-minute wait, then "serving number 42!" Here we are! One Classic please, an everything bagel with Scallion Cream Cheese and Scottish Smoked Salmon. Pricey at $10.95, but oh, the quality!

There's a rainbow of cream cheese flavors to pick from, and a choice of:
- Gaspe Nova Smoked Salmon
- Scottish Smoked Salmon
- Irish Organic Smoked Salmon

For $12.45 there's the choice of:
- Loin Cut Smoked Salmon
- Wild Western Nova
- Double Smoked Danish Smoked Salmon

We also shared the Heebster ($8.45), a bagel sandwich with Horseradish-Dill Cream Cheese and Whitefish & Baked Salmon Salad.

Each sandwich was sliced in half making it easy to share. Coupled with fresh squeezed orange juice and I wouldn't trade this Saturday morning for anything else in the world.

We bought a few extra bagels and "salads" for afternoon snack. A quarter pound of Smoked Salmon Tartare ($15.96/lb)...

...and the Eggplant Salad Romanian ($7.97/lb) with peppers and garlic. This and the Eggplant Caponata from Otto are my two favourite cold eggplant salads in the city.

On the rest of today's agenda: warm bubble bath, baking cheddar biscuits, afternoon on the couch with Breakfast at Tiffany's, and then dinner at ABC Kitchen. Bon weekend!

Russ & Daughters
179 East Houston Street
New York, NY 10002
(212) 475-4880

Sugar Rush'ed...

...for the week at Serious Eats New York. Plus 'Lunch for One' at Chinatown Brasserie and Yuba. And 'Afternoon Tea' at recently opened The Tea Set in the West Village. Happy Friday!

Lunch for One: Mushroom Noodles at Chinatown Brasserie

Sugar Rush: Smith & Wollensky's Coconut Cake

Sugar Rush: Topfenpalatschinken at Cafe Katja

Lunch for One: Yuba

Sugar Rush: Everything Cupcake and SoCo Creamery at Tribeca Treats

Afternoon Tea: The Tea Set

Sugar Rush: Effie's Oatcakes

Sugar Rush: Turnovers at Falai Panetteria

No More Coffee, Only Tea

Coffee or tea? The answer used to be both, but now it's only tea.

I grew up with tea, and ventured into coffee during college, when I moved to NYC. And then last year, in the midst of the city's coffee revolution, I found myself shunning it all for tea, hot and iced. I could drink tea all day long with no worries about the caffeine effect and it was easy to prepare at home. It was something I could drink with grandmother on visits to Hawai'i, her big tea pot stored in a bamboo basket. Whereas coffee made me jittery, tea was soothing...simultaneously comforting and luxurious. It started with oolong and darjeeling my parents mailed from their travels to China. And then our trip to Paris involved just as many tea salon as it did patisseries. I whittled away days inside the castles of Dammann Frères, Kusmi, Le Palais des Thés, and the queen of them all, Mariage Frères.

When we returned to NYC, I cleared out half our kitchen cabinets. This part, I told Monsieur P, will be for tea only. So much fun! We filled it up with tea and tea pots and tea cups. For awhile I concerned that I was more interested in having all this tea stuff, than I was actually into the art of drinking tea. No worries. I eventually phased coffee out of my life, though Monsieur P drinks both. On occasion I find the scent of coffee unappealing, a notion that would seem crazy just a year ago. I will however, always love tiramisu and coffee ice cream.

After we returned from Paris, all these tea shops in NYC open, literally out of nowhere. There was In Pursuit of Tea in the old Matcha Box pop-up on Crosby Street. It's a tiny space with a selection of teas on a daily basis. You can have tea by the cup or purchase their loose leaf teas in this space. Don't miss the collection of tea sweets baked by French Culinary Institute's chef-instructor, Melanie Franks. We just signed up for a Tea Dinner they're hosting at In Pursuit of Tea next Monday. I'm not sure if openings are still available, but it sounds like a fun experience. $60 a person for a 5-course dinner...it will be a surprise dinner for Monsieur P!

Around the corner on Broome Street, Harney & Sons opened in a long, narrow space. Here the walls are lined with tea, all the way up to the ceilings, just like it was in Paris. Beautiful. You can taste any of their teas and then make your way to the fine tea salon in the back. Tea by the pot. Scones! Savory tea snacks. Of course, tea-flavored ice cream. There is The Tea Set in the West Village, The Tea & Honey Store in Grand Central, and don't forget Kusmi which opened near Bloomingdale's last summer. A little birdie also told me that both Mariage Frères and Le Palais des Thés are shopping for retail locations in NYC. Exciting indeed.

The best part? It's only the tip of the iceberg. This doesn't even begin to touch on the numerous places for afternoon tea in the city. Which is why I started writing a bi-monthly Afternoon Tea column over at Serious Eats. We've been to Podunk and Crosby Street Hotel in the last month, and there will be many more to come!

Till then ^-^

Sugar Rush'ed...

...for the week at Serious Eats New York. Plus, 'Lunch for One' at Tamarind Tribeca and Cha-An. And a few little extras including Valentine's Day gift ideas, Dorie Greenspan's super awesome CookieBar pop-up, a visit to City Bakery's annual hot chocolate festival. Hope everyone is having a good Friday!

Valentine's Day Gifts: The Best Chocolates and Desserts. That's the Pretzel-Covered Sea-Salted Caramel from Bespoke Chocolates. Only one word: GLORIOUS.

The City Bakery Hot Chocolate Festival. I marked my calendar for the 7th - Earl Grey Hot Chocolate! See the rest of the month's offerings here.

Lunch for One: Tamarind Tribeca ... the appetizer as part of the $24 lunch prix-fixe, an excellent deal.

First Look: The Return of Dorie Greenspan's CookieBar 2011. We visited the pop-up cookie shop inside Park Avenue's Mizu Salon in 2010, and came back on the first day she opened this year. The shop was here just for a week, but the good memories will last till 2012! If only there was a way to have these cookies year round...

Sugar Rush: Twinkie Trio at Lulu Cake Boutique. Red velvet (center) is the most popular flavor, but the one all the way at left is my personal favourite. Working our way inside-out: chocolate pudding filling, chocolate cake, dark chocolate shell, chocolate cake crumbs. Ahh indulgence.

Sugar Rush: Speculoos and Feuilletine Chocolate Bars at Neuhaus. Speculoos are those crispy, cinnamon cookies from Belgium (remember the ones we had from Dandoy Biscuits at Borne Confections?) and the feuillentine comes from Brittany.

Lunch for One: $10 Lunch Special at Cha-An. The unagi bowl is pictured above - all that plus a pot of genmaicha for only $10. Specials change daily.

Sugar Rush: Lemon Souffle at L'Artusi. Beats out the olive oil cake with raisin marmelatta as my favourite dessert at L'Artusi.

Sugar Rush: Boozy Apple Preserves by Anarchy in a Jar. Boozy is no joke—the rum comes though as clear as the apples.

Sugar Rush: Chipless Wonder Cookies. Chocolate chip cookies minus the chocolate chips ;)