Nice Matin

Last week I headed into the city for some Halloween debauchery with my sister, her boyfriend, and some of their friends. It was destined to be a memorable night, and I even got to create another alter ego. Maya “Off-the-Hook” Rook—a tough, guidette bitch from the Jersey Shore. (Note to my readers: if you don’t have an alter ego I highly recommending getting at least one. I now have two, and they are both fabulous.)

But before hitting up the New York City nightlife scene, we had to eat. My sister treated me to a wonderful meal at Nice Matin, located at 201 West 79th Street. The menu was inspired by Chef Andy D’Amico and Simon Oren’s trip to Nice, France. The result? An excellent menu and lovely restaurant.

After we each ordered a glass of red wine, first up for the meal was the escargot, which was baked en cocotte with tomato fondue, garlic butter, and bread crumbs. The bread crumbs that topped the escargot were crunchy but quickly melted into a buttery, cheesy softness in the mouth. Each little dish had two snails rather than one, which is how I’ve usually had it. Bonus snails! It was a perfect appetizer—garlicky, buttery, warm, and succulent. 

I knew I needed real food. For the past week I’d had my nose to the grindstone with grad school work and I’d also run out of money, so basically I’d been living off of bread and pasta and vitamin supplements. Not cool. My body was craving vegetables and meat. It was an easy choice to order the soup du jour—butternut squash soup.

When I usually make butternut squash soup I do it as a puree, so I assumed that’s how it would be prepared here. Au contraire, mon ami. Instead, it was a hearty soup with large chunks of butternut squash, mushrooms, onions, and lentils, all simmered in a lovely chicken stock. With the first spoonful I felt my body start to revive. It was exactly what I needed—delicious, healthy, and satisfying.

Sonya ordered the spinach salad, which I partook of as well. Her plate brimmed with baby spinach, aged French goat cheese, roasted beets, pickled onions, hazelnuts, and nut oil vinaigrette. The spinach was fresh and green, the cheese was luscious and creamy, and those beets…wow. They were really incredible, like little cubes of ruby goodness sprinkled over the plate. I really need to start integrating beets into my own cooking. The salad was superb.

After my body replenished itself with the vegetable loveliness of the soup and salad, it was time to move on to meat. I ordered the Raviolis Nissarda—short rib ravioli flavored with orange and sage, red wine daube sauce, and parmesan. It was exquisite. Each ravioli was a pocket of hearty short rib decadence—the perfect balance between pasta and meat. I opted for the smaller order, and it was just the right size for me. I was able to enjoy every tasty bite without being too full.  

Instead of ordering dessert, we each ordered another glass of wine. That’s just how we do. I don’t think I could have eaten another bite, but if I go back I’d definitely want to try dessert—the menu looks phenomenal.

After the meal I was replenished with delicious food and good conversation with my sister. The sun had gone down and darkness was setting in over the city. It was Halloween weekend, and now I was ready for shit to get off the hook…

Song of the Week: Trick or Treat

Best and Worst Halloween Candies

Every year at this time the internet becomes filled with commentary on what the best and worst Halloween candies are to give out to trick-or-treaters. Taste in candy can be subjective so it makes it difficult to gage what others will enjoy. However, the one rule of Halloween that everyone should follow is only give out candy! Trick-or-treaters do not want to receive raisins or other dried fruits on this long-awaited, candy-filled holiday, and they definitely don’t want toothbrushes. Let the children’s parents worry about cavities—Halloween is one night when teeth are supposed to be coated in a thick, sugary mess.

My personal dislikes for Halloween candies are candy corn and Smarties. Otherwise, I’m not too picky. Candy corn seems to always come up in lists of worst Halloween candy, and I have to agree. It’s so perfectly themed for the season that I want to like it, but every time I eat it I just don’t enjoy it. Since this candy seems to cause such debate, my recommendation is to get a stash for yourself to eat if you enjoy it, but don’t subject others to the sickenly sweet, waxy pieces of corn. Smarties are probably the most boring candies to get for Halloween. Their not actually that bad, they just can’t really compete with candy bars, Pop Rocks, or gummy candy shaped like pumpkins and monsters.

This leads me to my favorite Halloween candies. Pop Rocks are probably the best thing to get for Halloween—not only do they come in tasty flavors, they are actually exciting to eat. And there’s nothing better than receiving a candy that both turns your tongue colors and creates odd, sparkling sensations in your mouth. You also can’t go wrong with candy bars or anything chocolate. My personal favorites to hand out are Snickers, Milky Way, and Hershey’s varieties, but almost any candy bar is a great thing to get in a Halloween bag. I don’t know how other people feel about gummy candies, but I love them. This year I discovered Lifesavers gummies shaped like witches, pumpkins, mummies, and other Halloween symbols. They are great, but I’ve mostly eaten the entire stash and it’s still a few hours before trick-or-treaters will be arriving.

That’s just my personal opinion on appropriate Halloween candy. Whatever you decide to hand out, just make sure it’s something you will enjoy eating if you have any left over.

Happy Halloween everyone—I hope you all have a fun, spooky, and sugary night!

One more rule: don't hand out rocks!!

Jack-O'-Lanterns

Myths are driving forces in our lives—they are stories based on fact that became central to our understanding of the society we are in. Even though we often know that myths are not real we still embrace them because they define our culture and our place in time. Halloween is one of these myths in American culture. Though it is based on historical events and has roots in Celtic and Christian traditions, we often don’t think about the reality of the myth—we prefer the fantasy. Halloween is one night of the year when over-protective parents decide it’s okay for their children to take candy from strangers, rambunctious adolescents can egg and toilet paper helpless suburban homes with no fear of punishment, and everyone gets to wear a disguise.

The myth of Halloween perpetuates itself through the practice of different traditions. Many of these Halloween traditions involve food—bobbing for apples, trick or treating, and carving pumpkins into jack-o’-lanterns. The sight of those bright orange bulbous gourds always evokes the sense of autumn harvest and, of course, the coming of Halloween. They provide food in the form of pumpkin pie, pumpkin soup, and roasted seeds, but one of the greatest joys a pumpkin can provide is the jack-o’-lantern.

The introduction of the jack-o’-lantern to America is generally associated with Irish immigrants who came to America in the nineteenth century. The Irish believed in the tale of Stingy Jack, who was a man that tricked the Devil so often that when Jack died the Devil wouldn’t let him claim his soul in the afterlife. Stingy Jack was forced to wander the earth and carried with him a hallowed turnip with a burning coal held inside. In an effort to keep away Stingy Jack and other evil spirits the Irish traditionally carved scary faces into turnips or potatoes, placed a light in them, and set them out on All Hallows Eve. The English also followed this tradition but usually carved the faces into beets. After immigrating to America in the nineteenth century, the Irish chose pumpkins as the best choice to keep away terrifying spirits.

The tradition of carving jack-o’-lanterns is based in these past events but has transformed and evolved in our modern culture. Today, although the pursuit of processed sugar and polyester costumes has become a focal point of this ancient holiday, we still take the time to carve our jack-o’-lanterns every year, passing on this tradition to future generations. We continue to spook ourselves with ghost stories, listen for the sounds of the supernatural when we switch off the lights, and let the myth of Halloween glow strongly through those scary pumpkin faces.

Happy carving everyone!

Trick or Treat!

Be warned--if you don't treat you might get tricked!

Quote of the Week: A Feast for Ghosts

Lord Henry and his lady were the hosts;
The party we have touch'd on were the guests:
Their table was a board to tempt even ghosts
To pass the Styx for more substantial feasts.
I will not dwell upon ragouts or roasts,
Albeit all human history attests
That happiness for man—the hungry sinner!—
Since Eve ate apples, much depends on dinner.

—Lord Byron, Don Juan, Canto the Thirteenth

Song of the Week: Purple People Eater

Quote of the Week: Fire Burn, and Cauldron Bubble

"Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and cauldron bubble.
Fillet of a fenny snake,
In the cauldron boil and bake;
Eye of newt, and toe of frog,
Wool of bat, and tongue of dog,
Adder's fork, and blind-worm's sting,
Lizard's leg, and owlet's wing,—
For a charm of powerful trouble,
Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.
Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and cauldron bubble."

—William Shakespeare, Macbeth

This is Halloween

For the next two weeks this blog will be dedicated to one of the greatest holidays of the year—Halloween. This candy-filled and spooky holiday generates some of the most fun for children in America. It’s the one night of the year where they get to go door to door and demand candy from strangers. What could be better?

Fond memories for me involve trick or treating, going to the haunted house at the local fire department, and then coming home and sorting through my candy while watching The Simpson’s tree house of horror specials on TV.

To get into the Halloween spirit this year let’s take a look at one of the most basic recipes of the season—roasted pumpkin seeds. When you are carving your pumpkin don’t throw away those seeds. Instead, keep them in a bowl and rinse all the pumpkin guts off them.

Preheat the oven to 300°F. Toss the seeds with some salt and vegetable oil, olive oil, or butter. Spread the seeds out on a cookie sheet and bake for about 45 minutes or until golden brown.

It might not be as exciting as trick or treating, but this simple, crunchy, and salty snack is a great way to get ready for the ghouls and goblins of Halloween. So is watching a little Nightmare Before Christmas...