NYC - Day 3

Morris-Jumel Mansion (Washington Heights) - George Washington slept here while it was his headquarters in the fall and winter of 1776. He returned 14 years later as president for a dinner party with his cabinet. In attendance were future presidents Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and John Quincy Adams, as well as Alexander Hamilton (who would later be killed by the man of the house - Aaron Burr in our country's most famous duel). I took a pic of the dining room where the victuals went down. And it gave me shivers.

Pierre Hotel (2 E 61st St) - Just for high tea. I've had high tea in Chicago at the Peninsula, Burnham Hotel, and the Drake. This was better. This was three generous, gorgeous tiers of dainty tea sandwich and petit four heaven. Uniformly great food and service in a setting that transports you back to the golden age of 1920s New York. The tea itself was quite nice too. I didn't want it to ever end.

But end it did.

Next time we go: That dinner at Red Cat, a guided tour of the UN, and the second floor of Zabar's for cookware.

Recipe: Matcha Hottie Latte

Between Starbucks' green tea lattes and Jamba Juice's matcha smoothies, I developed a full-blown matcha addiction about two years ago. For once, it's a culinary Siren song that I don't have to resist. Matcha has a long list of health benefits, including the ability to detoxify blood, instill a relaxed state of alertness, boost metabolic rates, and flood your system with twice as many antioxidants as red wine. So I bought a little tin of it from Stash Tea a while back, looking forward to all the matcha magic that I would make in my kitchen. My ardent enthusiasm was met with defeat. Following a couple of recipes for lattes I found online, I achieved vaguely green soy milk with a ton of bitter powder clinging to the bottom of the mug...and a big honkin' hive on my upper lip. Lesson One: in high doses, I'm allergic.

This weekend I dug a little deeper and found an enlightening web site that describes all the different methods people use at home to coax the beloved froth out of their matcha powder, with most recipes calling for a 1/2 teaspoon of the green stuff. After researching Japanese whisks and Bodum's cute (although somewhat sex-toy-like) electric frothers online, I decided what the hell? Let's just try a martini shaker first. SUCCESS! Beautiful froth, deep green suspension of the tea in the milk, and no hives anywhere on my person. It totally works. Here's how:

1. Using a Cobbler martini shaker, pour in 6 oz. of cold soy milk
2. Add 1/2 teaspoon of high grade matcha powder
3. Toss in a bit of sweetener if you like - I use stevia leaf powder, another super-concentrated antioxidant source
4. Cap and shake it, shake shake shake it, shake like a Polaroid picture...for about 30 seconds
5. Pour this green loveliness into a deep cup or mug, making sure to tip out all of the froth from the bottom of the shaker
6. Nuke it in the microwave for one minute. The green froth will expand as it heats - once again reminding you that physics can be our friend.

When is physics not our friend? When we put hot soy milk into a metal martini shaker, that's when. Unless you miss the nice folks at the ER and/or cleaning explosive gunk off your kitchen ceiling, don't try this experiment at home.

While We're on the Subject of Coffee Stores...

My husband works near the Starbucks at Washington and Canal, which he tells me is directly across the street from SBUX's regional headquarters. Why do we care? Because it's their model training store for Chicago, so the service and competence of the baristas there outshines that of any other we've been to in the metro area. By a whole lot. This is delightful when I want my green tea latte done exactly right...which seems to be the Jeopardy Challenge of drink orders.

Taos Ashram Chai Tea

I spent one blissful summer during college living in dramatic Taos, NM, where the mountains are steep and the food is lovingly made by hippies. My favorite place was the Neem Karoli Baba Ashram, where there was always music, flowers, chai, chanting, and a fragrant meal just around the corner - usually served up in one of those giant 10 gallon stockpots you see in movies. I was 20. I didn't have anything to worry about, and neither did anyone else at the ashram, where the kitchen is considered a sacred space.

That was my first encounter with chai tea, which I loved immediately and have been happy to see eventually fill the menus of every barista joint in the nation, even if the mix they use isn't quite the same. The ashram's recipe is from India, and it's far superior. The warming qualities of the ginger, cardamon, and cinnamon are perfect for the middle of winter. It makes three quarts to serve a crowd, or just to last a little while in the fridge:

Maharaji's Taos Ashram Chai

2 quarts water
3 oz fresh ginger, grated
1 tbsp cardamon, crushed
1 cinnamon stick
2-3 black peppercorns
1/4-1/3 cup loose black tea (depending on strength, Assam is ideal)
1/4-1/2 cup sugar (depending on how sweet you like it)
1 quart milk or soy milk

Boil the water with the ginger, cardamon, cinnamon, and peppercorns for 10 minutes. Turn off the heat and add the loose tea leaves. Let steep for five to seven minutes. Add the sugar and milk. Bring to just barely to a boil, and then strain out the spices before enjoying.

Speaking of Chocolate Infusions...

Clearly we suffer from a dearth of ways to get our daily chocolate. As such, our friends the French have figured out how to infuse it with some bodacious black tea, and then spiced things up a bit for that little extra exotic kick. All of Kusmi's teas are pretty gorgeous inside and out, but this Spicy Chocolate one is something special among them.

My friend Dar is a legit Francophile, meaning she can actually speak some of language. Me, I'm more of a poser (poseur?) because I'm just too lazy. Nonetheless, when she sent me a tin of this after her trip to Paris, I nearly wept tears of joie de vivre. I keep it at work to cheer up bleh winter afternoons.