Results tagged “cookie”

And they said it couldn't be done. While countless idle dreamers have fantasized about uniting the flavor of potato chips, pretzels, and cookies in one transcendent mouthful, nobody ever actually did anything to make the dream a reality, besides stuffing each separate entity into their mouths at once and hoping for the best. Until now! (Or, until recently.) Meet the Chipn'etzel, the apotheosis of the pretzel, the cookie, and the potato chip. We did it, America!

On Monday, Condé Nast trimmed the fat by folding four of their magazines: Modern Bride, Elegant Bride, Cookie, and Gourmet. Jon Stewart promptly followed that news with a pragmatic solution, consolidating those four titles into Jon Stewart's Pregnant Gourmet Bride. Surely there's an audience who would eat that up! Stewart himself says, "what's going to happen to those modern and/or elegant brides who enjoy high-end cuisine and who have or are having children?"

The magazine massacre rolls on at publishing empire Condé Nast, with the company reportedly cutting three more magazines: Gourmet, Cookie and Modern Bride. While NY1's Pat Kiernan is sad about Cookie crumbling, the gourmands out there will not be happy with the news of the nearly 70-year-old Gourmet folding, a mag the Times declares reached "biblical status in the food world."

Naturally, My Fox NY's Arnold Diaz, who broke the story with in one of his classic "Shame" segments, has been following up, and reports that State Senator Thomas Duane pressured Kefalinos to take a racial sensitivity training session. But Duane says, "He really needs to undergo much more sensitivity training because I'm not sure that he's completely got the message yet. If he doesn't... the marketplace will put him out of business." (Watch the video below.)

After the controversy over the "Drunken Negro Face" cookies he claimed were in honor of President Obama, Lafayette French Pastry proprietor Ted Kefalinos has finally apologized. He told the Daily News, "I'm sorry that people were offended by the cookie. We were just trying to make a large number of people happy, and instead we made a large number of people confused and angry."

[UPDATE BELOW] At at a time when any decent baker should have been selling racially harmonious black and white cookies by the truckload, one Greenwich Village bakery popular with celebrities and shows like Sex and the City has outraged neighbors by selling a "Drunken Negro Face" cookie in, um, "honor" of President Obama. [Video below.] A shocked customer tells My Fox NY that Ted Kefalinos, proprietor of Lafayette French Pastry, asked her, "Would you like some drunken negro heads to go with your coffee? They're in honor of our new president. He's following in the same path of Abraham Lincoln; he will get his."

The Zaro's in Grand Central Terminal has whipped up a political pastry whose sales are turning into an unscientific (but delicious) poll; their black & white cookies can now be purchased with the faces of the four candidates on them. That's right, all you Joe Six-packs out there can now sink your teeth into the former Miss Alaska hopeful, gosh darnit.

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: three pedestrians struck on 65th St. and 7th Ave. in Brooklyn, a tourist bus vs. building incident on 51st St. and Broadway in Manhattan, and a train derailment on East 239th St. in the Bronx.
• 47 years ago, two planes bound for Laguardia and JFK collided over Miller Field on Staten Island in mid-air. As body parts, Christmas presents, and debris rained from the sky over Staten Island, 132 people lost their lives. One of the two planes crashed in Park Slope, Brooklyn.
• A $35 million to $45 million renovation at Lincoln Center will displace the New York City Opera through the 2008-09 season.
• A Jewish family in Orange County, NY was the victim of a campaign of harassment by other Orthodox individuals. The local cops had to discontinue their investigation because no one was snitchin'.
• Aw, just in time for the holidays the Reds have gone Green. The Communist Party spent $1 million to make its NY headquarters more environmentally friendly.
• The driver in last week's passenger van-Q46 bus collision will not be facing criminal charges resulting from the accident that ejected a young girl from his vehicle, while she is still in critical but stable condition.
• Another grenade-related police shooting--this time of a man in Orange County, NY.
• A round-up of Christmas star cookie recipes.

The tcherek (sometimes spelled cherek) is a traditional, crescent shaped Algerian cookie stuffed with almonds that have been pulverized into a paste bound with orange blossom water and sugar. After the cookie is baked it is briefly steeped in more orange blossom water, then rolled in toasted almonds. Nomad’s tcherek recipe substitutes confectioner’s sugar for a less nutty exterior, and on the dessert plate ($6) of 4 house-made cookies at the East Village restaurant, what...

Last week a group of parents in the West Village were up in arms about the S&M street festival hitting a street too close to home. Yesterday the fest, which was part of New York Leather Weekend, hit Weehawken Street -- or shall we say whipped? Those in attendance perused a plethora of whips, chains, blindfolds and other S&M garb.

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: Hostages(!) on Geranium and Kissena Blvds. in Queens, a pedestrian struck at Stillwell and Mermaid Aves. in Brooklyn, and a bank robbery on Columbus Ave. and 72nd St. in Manhattan. Knicks coach Isiah Thomas says that the stress of lawsuits are no distraction. He can keep doing what he's doing regardless of legal problems. A boat full of gadget-minded men. There was a stop-off at Liberty Island; and slide...

Our mother gave us a bag of dried cherries the other day. She'd picked them up for herself, but after tasting them she decided that they weren't for eating. They were for baking, she said, and while she doesn't bake herself, she loves it when we do. In search of sustenance to get us through apple-picking last weekend (yes, it's apple season again!), we turned to those cherries at last. What goes better than cherries and chocolate, after all?

Last Monday was one of those sweltering August days, which is why Gothamist was quite glad to kick off the evening at Kyotofu with the house cocktail, a refreshing combination of sesame shochu and raspberry. Refreshing as the cocktails were, we must admit that's not what drew us to Kyotofu that night. We were there to drink (and talk) sake.

AARON: To that extent, I'd say Benten is a sort of fan-based promotion.

It was reported last week that the 71 year-old Hartsdale, Westchester Carvel -- the very first outpost of the ice cream shop -- will likely be demolished at the end of next summer to make room for businesses that presumably make more money. Yes, the 68% milkfat solid, sidereal softy known as Cookie Puss is crying tiny crunchy tears as we speak; Flying Saucers are slowing down for their final approach. While the building’s current location is the site of the original Carvel store, the fact that it has been renovated over the years to look more retro apparently complicates bids for historic preservation. Tom Carvel, the chain’s gravelly voiced founder who also used to narrate its television commercials (vintage WPIX, anyone?) once lived with his wife Agnes in quarters behind the shop.

Also, if you're having trouble getting the texture you like when you make ice cream, head over to read David Lebovitz's Tips For Making Homemade Ice Cream Softer. We wish he'd written that list years ago, back when we were first figuring out these tricks through trial and error ourselves.

At the Ethnic Market highlights international specialty foods and ingredients that you're very unlikely to find at your local Gristedes

We get our baking equipment at a number of places in town: Williams-Sonoma, Broadway Panhandler, Bridge Kitchenware, and they've each got a decent selection of baking sheets and silpat and tart molds.

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a residential hi-rise fire on 10th Ave. in Manhattan, a double shooting on Beach Channel Drive in Queens, and a transformer fire at Barbey St. and Pitkin Ave. in Brooklyn.
• Entergy was fined $130,000 for not installing a warning siren system at its Indian Point facility by a required deadline. That would be the nuclear power plant that just had its safety rating downgraded by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
• The City Council distributed a memo reminding workers that even though Casual Fridays were in effect, flip-flops, shorts, and other too-casual clothing items are inappropriate for city government.
• A mugging by an 11-year-old who wanted another child's change after he bought candy ended with the victim's skull impaled with a stick. He survived, but is expected to leave the hospital for a nursing home.
• The niece of Tom Carvel, the man who brought us Fudgie the Whale, is claiming that he was murdered with poison and wants his body exhumed so an autopsy can be performed. We never trusted Cookie Puss.
• A gravedigger in Yonkers noticed four black bags in a freshly dug grave he had recently prepared. The bags each contained one smoked fish and pictures of unidentified people. Police are investigating but the bags' meaning is yet to be determined.
• The city medical examiner ruled that the jump rope-involved death of five-year-old Monet/Monique Flugham was an accident.
• The shutterbug photographer who caught American Idol lingerer Sanjaya hobnobbing with Gov. Spitzer––or is it the other way around?––is none other than Valerie Bertinelli!
• The case of NYC vs. Deadbeat Diplomats is being heard in the Supreme Court this week.

- Is New York going to go the way of LA with posted letter grades for restaurant health inspections?

...back to the French Quarter, NOLA, that is: Next Monday the 12th from 6-8 pm at ACME Bar and Grill, join forces with the Culinary Corps, a group wielding a powerful combination of outreach, philanthropy, and culinary prowess -- something their website has dubbed “culanthropy.” In order to raise funds for their inaugural service-oriented trip to New Orleans taking place later this month, the group will host a light-duty fund-raiser at ACME; door prizes, such as a mind-blowing, year-long subscription to the “cookie of the month club,” and a dinner for two at L’Ecole at the French Culinary Institute with Sommelier’s Choice wine pairing, will be up for grabs. Snacks and one free drink are included with the $20 donation price of entry.

Eric Greenspan might be the best chef you’ve never heard of. The 31 year-old Jersey born, California raised, and one-time New Yorker spent the better part of the last decade working his way through several top-rated restaurant kitchens- Bouley, Union Pacific, and Alain Ducasse to name a few- before landing his first high profile chef’s job at Patina in Los Angeles four years ago. Later, a stint at the highly-regarded but short lived Meson G left Greenspan without a kitchen to call his own. “I was doing cookie demos in combi-ovens at trade shows,” says Greenspan, “but it paid the bills.” Now the chef will put everything he knows about food to test when he opens The Foundry on Melrose, a place that will serve what he calls “fine dining for the everyman.” This past weekend, Greenspan came back to New York to catch up with some old friends, and to survey the current restaurant scene.

writer and performer, popping up on stages at parties and bars across town to rattle off his unique musical blend into the mic. Whether reporting on Comic-Con, waxing lyrical about Alan Moore, performing with Kochie Banton, auditionining for Gizmodo's theme song competition, or throwing wild parties, he puts 100% of himself into the task at hand, and has a wonderful time doing so.

VINYL SALE: If you're looking for some rare vinyl, you might want to check out this monthly event: Shakey's Record Fair. A meatpacking district locale seems...a little off, but as FreeNYC points out, if you're "looking for that super rare old school funktified 7"...Shakey's Record Fair is probably the only place you'll find it."

Gothamist recently trekked to Lai Yuen in Bay Ridge to sample what neighbors called (in punchy, Brooklyn dialect) “Chinese food to make Confucius proud.” Confucius likely turned in his grave at the suggestion that Lai Yuen’s Americanized offerings, while delicious, even remotely resemble the simple fare of his 5th century BCE brethren, but the experience was vivid nonetheless. It revealed, in white-gloved detail, the fading state of the disused Chinese restaurant concept; a fact which, in spite of itself, may have turned a place like Lai Yuen into a kind of relic.

Holiday cooking may provoke a state of panic as you try out a buche de noel or tuna tartare recipe for the first time, but Gothamist assures you that with local classes and instruction abound, the home-chef need not fear their next party. Gothamist recently attended a recreational class entitled "Make-Ahead Holiday Cakes" at the Institute for Culinary Education, located on 23rd Street between 5th & 6th Avenues, which granted five hours of delightful access to a professional teaching kitchen with instruction from Chef Jeffrey Yoskowitz, a former chef and bakery owner who teaches both professional and recreational courses. The cakes class is just one of this season's numerous holiday course offerings which also includes Holiday Cookie Design, Jewish Sabbath and Holiday Breads, and several sessions of a New Year's Eve make-and-take hors d'oeuvres class on Saturday, December 30th and Sunday, December 31st. The classes run approximately four to five hours and range in price from $95 - 185 per person.

It's Law & Order: Concerned-Child- Who-is-a- Police-Officer Squad! An identity theft ring that targeted the elderly or people with "foreign-sounding" names was busted when a scammer called an old man, only to speak to an NYPD deputy chief - the man's daughter. Eleven people were indicted in Queens for duping people into giving up their credit card number, Social Security number, and other personal details. They would randomly call people, and one of the people they called was Deputy Chief Joellen Kunkel's father. According to the Sun, they called twice, leaving messages, "before Chief Kunkel finally called a phone number left by one of the supposed federal agents to demand that he identify himself." And the Daily News had their exchange:

"He kept saying, 'I'm a fed. I'm Homeland Security. I'm a fed,'" Deputy NYPD Chief Joellen (Cookie) Kunkel said yesterday of the phone call she received from the scammers last May. "And I said, 'I happen to be a chief in the New York City Police Department and I don't know who you are.'

Continue reading "Identity Theft Ring's Number Was Up"

If you have been reading along you know that last week the column covered tips to successfully producing a moist turkey and the week prior it was about how to select a turkey. This week the topic is what you can to serve with the Thanksgiving turkey.