Results tagged “maplesyrup”

Out of all the International Houses of Pancakes in the nation, only one gives diners the option of sweetening their cakes with authentic maple syrup, for an additional charge of 99 cents. That House is in Vermont, and guess who's jealous? Our own Senator Chuck Schumer, who has become something of a crusader for New York's maple syrup industry. Last month he co-sponsored a bill to help small American producers get access to maple trees on private land. Now he's taken a special interest in IHOP, firing off a letter to CEO Julia Stewart encouraging her to let the 40 franchisees across the state add New York State maple syrup to the menu. Unfortunately, Stewart has yet to respond, so it may take some more sweet-talking from Schumer before we'll be able to drown our Harvest Grain ‘N Nut Pancakes in fancy-boy natural syrup—for now, at least, it's strictly BYOS at New York's IHOP locations around the city.

The cost of maple syrup has skyrocketed due to increased demand and depleted supply. Last year, a warm April shortened the tapping season in Quebec to 3 days, instead of the normal 20; now the retail cost of syrup has soared to over $100 a gallon. Quebec, "the OPEC of maple syrup," produced 5.35 million gallons last year, more than 70 percent of the global supply. (By comparison, Vermont produced just 500,000 gallons, and New York produced a pitiful 322,000 gallons.) Quebec produces more because it taps over a third of its trees, and Senator Chuck Schumer would like to see New York State and the rest of the nation get a bigger share of the maple syrup riches. This week he co-sponsored a bill to help small American producers get access to trees on private land and to create centralized storage and bottling plants. Schumer tells the Times, "Listen to this, we have 289 million maple trees in New York, but we tap less than one-half of 1 percent of them. It's a large, untapped resource, shall we say." Something tells us the only reason Schumer sponsored this bill is so he could make with the goofy puns.

Folks who smelled the sticky sweet smell yesterday, your cries were heard: City officials are holding a press conference at 11 a.m. to discuss the origins of the mysterious maple syrup smell... dunh dunh DUNH.

Two readers have e-mailed us with reports of strange, pretty lights over Brooklyn or Queens last night. Here's an account of one sighting:

I saw something weird in the sky last night, and a bunch of other people did, too. Disclaimer: I am NOT a U.F.O. person, nor do I think that's what I saw. I'm just very curious to figure out what exactly it was. I'm sure there's a scientific explanation of some kind.

Continue reading "Mysterious "Northern Lights" Spotted Over NYC Last Night"

The mysterious maple syrup smell made its first 2009 appearance early in the month, with dozens of smellings spanning Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens. And now, as if to say good bye to January, we've had two smelling clusters: One on Tuesday night, concentrated around Hell's Kitchen and the eastern part of NJ, and the other last night, mostly in upper Manhattan and even in the Bronx. So... Yonkers, watch your back, the Maple Syrup Smell is coming for you?! Click on the map below for what our readers told us:

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If you like the sandy, gritty texture of cornmeal and the intense burst of flavor of dried strawberries, these biscuits are the breakfast treat for you. The recipe comes from Dorie Greenspan's Baking: From My Home to Yours, and our only adaptation was the addition of the strawberries for extra richness. Strawberry Maple Cornmeal Biscuits 1 C all-purpose flour 1 C yellow cornmeal 1 tbsp baking powder 1/4 tsp baking soda 1/2 tsp salt 6...

Are you playing host this year and still trying to decide what to make for Thanksgiving? We've pulled together some of our old and new favorite recipes for traditional, and not so traditional, Thanksging fare. First, the turkey. We firmly believe that brining is best. This cider-brined and glazed turkey is a simple brining recipe -- you just need to make sure you've got a big enough vessel for the turkey and plenty of room...

While the maple syrup smell remains a two-year-old mystery to us, 30 Rock entered the fray with a hypothesis. On last night's episode, Liz Lemon, who smells waffles from her Upper West Side apartment, calls Tracy Jordan to remind him to practice his Re-Run dance for the What's Happening! sketch. But Tracy, in his NJ home, says that the smell of waffles is distracting him. Then Liz gets another call - it's Jack Donaghy,...

A few readers let us know that they smelled the sickly sweet smell of a maple syrup-like substance last evening. Now, this brings back a flood of memories from 2005, when a maple syrup smell blanketed much of Manhattan. The smell, which has made return visits in early December 2005 aJanuary 2006, March 2006 and November 2006, leading us to believe this is a cold weather phenomena. One reader noted that it was detected around...

Michael Dory is expanding the definition of graffiti, with his non-visual sonic street art (presented last month at Conflux). His inconspicuous concrete crickets (pictured) recently got some NPR and Boing Boing love, and his own site explains:

Graffiti is one of the most powerful and most personal displays in the urban experience, and can be used to make statements, tag territory, spread messages — urban markup language in practice. However, the output is nearly always visual in nature, making this experience one-dimensional. Furthermore, rarely does the work have a brain of its own, and is usually incapable of reacting to anybody observing it.

Continue reading "Concrete Crickets Are Amongst Us"

These days, using seasonal, local, and organic ingredients are old tricks for New York's top caliber restaurants. Rose Water, the Park Slope neighborhood spot opened in 2000 by John Tucker, formerly of Savoy, is no exception to this market rule. Champions of the earth's bounty and offering a perpetually changing menu, Rose Water is celebrating its seventh anniversary this year as a neighborhood fixture in its Union Street (between 5th & 6th Avenue) location.

Gothamist is just recovering from the food coma that followed Wednesday night's preopening party at Borough Food & Drink. By the time we got there the room was jammed with all manner of food bloggers, writers and restaurant industry insiders all gleefully sampling items from the menu of the new Chodorow-Pelaccio venture.

This week in the Times, Bruni goes to Esca, calls chef Dave Pasternack a "fish whisperer" (um, OK Frank) and awards the restaurant three stars. "In an era when too many restaurants try to be everything to everyone," he says, "Esca has a specific agenda: show what the sea can yield." The restaurant was previously awarded two stars by William Grimes in 2000.

No, not the maple syrup smell weather, but warm days and cool nights –the ideal weather to get the sap running in maple trees. You may have noticed a few clouds earlier this morning. They heralded the passage of a week cold front. The front didn't bring much in the way of cold air but it is much drier. The dew point temperature has plunged from the mid-40s this morning to 20 degrees this afternoon.

Police Commissioner Ray Kelly discussed the scourge that are LED devices with Aqua Teen Hunger Force characters on them yesterday. Kelly said, "In hindsight, [Interference Marketing] should have thought a little more about this, certainly in a post-9/11 world. They had wires hanging out of some of them. It's reasonable to look a little askance at these things." Also: "We get about 6,000 suspicious-package calls a year in New York, but we got no calls for this." Hmm, we wonder if adult swim has demographic info on ATHF viewers - are there more in NYC than Boston?

Brooklyn newcomer Brooklyn Label serves breakfast, lunch, and brunch in the spaciously remodeled ground floor of the historic Astral Apartments building in Greenpoint. Maintaining original ceilings and floors (where possible), bright sunlight pours in in windows on the South and West sides illuminating bright orange walls and a steadily crowded room. Open six days a week (except Mondays), Brooklyn Label's hearty menu offers generously sized servings of creative variations on all-American favorites with breakfast sandwiches on weekdays (like a grilled challah roll with spinach, eggs, and pepper bacon and bacon, eggs, and cheese on homemade biscuits), and vegetarian entrees, homemade soups and salads, and sandwiches at lunch.

The cocktails at Death and Co., a new watering hole in the East Village, are as serious as a heart attack. Here they are not just pushed out in sweatshop fashion to the herds of thirsty folks that crowd the bar. At Death and Co., the cocktail is treated with respect. From the two inch double-freeze ice cubes to the highest quality spirits and ingredients, it's carefully crafted with that perfect balance of skill and whimsy that leaves you patiently, or not so patiently, waiting for your first sip.

Last week we asked readers to share some of their favorite apple varieties as well as ways to use them. After reviewing the responses, it seems that Macintosh, Pink Lady’s and Fuji apples were your favorites and baked dessert applications were certainly the most popular uses for apples.

Sometimes you have to leave the city to realize how impatient we can be. Don’t have your breakfast order at the tip of your tongue? Expect to be passed over. Fumbling for your Metrocard at the turnstile with a train approaching, you’ll get dirty looks. Walking three-abreast at leisurely pace down Lexington Avenue during rush hour might get you stabbed. Our little conveniences of efficiency have led us to expect things quickly. It’s not that we never wait -- the lines in Whole Foods are a testament to our resolve -- it’s just that if we’re willing to put in the time, the reward at the end better be worth it (assuming our ice cream didn’t melt). It’s likely that it is this general impatience that has kept us from steeping our own spirits. However, we’ve been newly converted. After a sip of the Vanilla steeped rum at Town this week, we can unequivocally say it’s worth the wait.

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.

Maple syrup smell, UES, E96th and 3rd, 2 am...And we feel like someone smelled it a few weeks ago, too. Who knows, maybe the Upper East Side is the new bastion of sickeningly sweet smells, but this is for certain: We will welcome any opportunity to bring out 1010 WINS's brilliant Mrs. Butterworth-Empire State Building graphic.

THEATER: Harold Pinter’s taught two-hander, Ashes to Ashes, is running through Wednesday at the intimate Paradise Theatre in the East Village. The cryptic 45 minute one-act examines a refined couple’s quiet life at home, with the usual brutality menacing just beneath the surface. In a previous interview, Pinter blamed the male gender for the cruelty dramatized in his work, insisting that “God was in much better trim when He created women.” - John Del Signore

Ack! Some crazy, noxious smell seeped into Staten Island yesterday and made people so sick that the city's Hazmat team was brought in! People were made nauseous, anxious (where is that gas leak? I can't find it!), and nervous. Then the smell headed to the Rockaways, but it was less disgusting there and no one needed hospital attention as the Staten Island smell victims did (air conditioners sucked in the smell and concentrated it in homes and offices). The DEP isn't sure what caused the smell - Con Ed and the NJ city of Bayonne has denied that they had anything to do with the smell while KeySpan was working to see what had causing it. Samples are being tested though (how do you collect air samples, exactly?).

Aurora--with an open, airy dining room, exposed brick walls, wooden tables, and a large, plant-filled garden--is named after one of owner and Roman native Gaspare Villa's favorites places in Italy. "Rustic" is the best word to describe both the food and atmosphere--like an urban farmhouse where chef Riccardo Buitoni makes sure you are both cozy and well-fed. Pastas, breads, and desserts are all made on premises with a special emphasis on seasonal ingredients, reflected on the menu. Though on our visit, weak coffee proved a poor initiation, shortly afterwards baked eggs with salmon, avocado, and goat cheese arrived literally bubbling hot, eggs crisping in a trace of oil with a lightly buttered slice of toasted country bread on the side. Eggs Norwegian, served atop lusciously rich pan-toasted brioche, adds salmon and spinach to the traditional eggs benedict. Taste aside--which was excellent--presentation made the mouth water even before the first bite.

Even though that strange maple syrup scent that pervaded the air a few months back has left, our fair city’s less-than-fair air may be making our kids dumber. A new Columbia University study, which tracked 183 3-year-olds from Harlem, Washington Heights, and the South Bronx, finds that kiddies exposed to high levels of air pollution in the womb have higher rates of mental deficiencies. Women in the study were asked to wear air pollution monitors while pregnant and levels of exposure were correlated with their kids’ performance on cognitive tests. Not surprisingly, kids who were exposed to the highest level of pollution (mostly caused by vehicle exhaust) did worse than their counterparts who were exposed to less. This is worrisome as these deficiencies may translate into later difficulties in reading and math when the tots finally get to school.