Macaroons & Misery

HOW I MANAGED to not take pictures of a star-shaped bowl full of macaroons, I will never understand.

We were invited this evening to a Seder dinner with the Fader family in Boerum Hill, Brooklyn. I was not personally raised of the Jewish faith but Mint in large part was and the Fader family are good friends of hers. This is offered in explanation of how I came to partake (for the second consecutive year, might I add) in the great Passover feast, and it is a prelude to a week's worth of unleavened bread-tastic recipes.

Macaroons, it turns out, are incredibly simple to make, which is fortunate because we were asked to bring them to the dinner, and if you love coconut as much as I do then it's likely you too already have everything you need to make macaroons a reality in your life:

1 1/3 cup flaked coconut
1/3 cup sugar
2 tbsp flour
1/8 tsp salt
2 egg whites
1/2 tsp almond extract

Combine coconut, sugar, flour, and salt in a bowl. Stir in egg whites and almond extract, mix well. Grease a baking sheet lightly and preheat oven to 325-degrees. Bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown on edges. Cool off of baking sheet.

Now, I doubled this recipe and thus used four egg whites. This was way too many egg whites and my macaroons went runny in the oven. Slightly disastrous. I also used larger-flaked coconut (some would call it "shaved," perhaps) and I wonder if this didn't contribute to the problem. Mint bought some much finer-flaked coconut (itty bitty little flakes!) and this, along with only three eggs whites in the now only sorta-doubled recipe, was perfect.

As an added bonus, we stuck tiny pieces of candy bar chocolate into the tops of some of the pre-baked macaroons and they emerged from the oven with the appropriate amount of chocolate deliciousness melted right in with none of the trouble of needing to double boil water to melt chocolate and add wax and crap and dip them later.

The Seder dinner itself was delicious. I'm always a big fan of starch, so dishes like kugel, in both potato and vegetable varieties, are always a big hit with me. Even the sweet gifelte fish turned out to be just fine, sliced cold with tomatoes and cucumbers. Mix in way, way too much wine (and a religious tradition that mandates you very quickly drink all of it) and you know damn well you're going to have a good time.

Afterwards, we went to the Cherry Tree on Fourth Avenue in Brooklyn to watch the last half of the Ohio State game. I'm not even going to bother mentioning the team that beat them, but suffice it to say that I'd rather talk about Michigan than That Team from Down South.

Greg Oden, please don't leave us now.

Mid-March Madness

Patsy's Pizzeria
61 W. 74th Street
New York, NY 10023
(212) 579-3000
www.patsyspizzeriany.com

Dive Bar 75
101 W 75th Street
New York, NY 10023
(212) 362-7518

Jacques-imo's
366 Columbus Avenue
New York, NY 10023
(212) 719-0150
www.jacquesimosnyc.com

AFTER WORKING ALL morning on St. Paddy's Day, I was happy to head home early. I was pretty tired after three days of shooting with a documentary crew (which is at least more fun than a film or television crew), and after spending the entire morning taping inside a mosque, St. Paddy's Day seemed to lose some of its lustre. Today was, however, the third day of March Madness, we were finished early, and with 16 games on television part of me did want to sit, drink, eat and be with friends while watching the games.

Standing on the subway platform waiting for the E train to take me back towards Brooklyn, I literally turned around and walked to the opposite side where the cross-town E train was arriving--I would head east instead, and up to Dive 75. There, I could sit, drink, eat and, since Steph was working, have a friend to keep me company while watching the games. Perfect!

Now in the best of all possible moods, I arrived just in time for the last half of the Ohio State game. I quickly lost my appetite upon realizing OSU was losing by ten with a few minutes remaining, but shock and horror turned to disbelief as they rallied (and won in overtime), my appetite returned, and in this way Steph and I came to order some pizza.

Patsy's is arguably New York's greatest slice of pizza. There are personal favorites in every corner of the city, but it is generally agreed upon that either Patsy's (with a few locations scattered about Manhattan) or Grimaldi's (in Brooklyn, tucked away in the shadow of the Brooklyn Bridge) is the absolute tops.

We ordered a small white pizza with garlic and an order of fried zucchini and eggplant (which Patsy's will deliver until early evening, but check their website for locations, hours, etc. and remember that it's cash only.) We ate everything. And while I don't usually write about bars, technically Dive 75 does leave copious amounts of candy sitting about in martini glasses, which counts as food. They also let you have food delivered to the bar, which facilitates eating.

Aaron joined me for drinks later on, while Steph finished her shift and headed home for a bit. We proceeded to get ever-drunker, called Steph, and decided to all meet Mint and Natasha for dinner around the corner at Jacques-imo's.

Jacques-imo's is New Orleans food at its self-proclaimed most authentic, though I question that slightly. The food was good, but inconsistent. The fried green tomatoes were a bit stale, but the calamari was soft and damn good. My shrimp creole was way overcooked, but Mint's fried chicken was huge, audibly crunchy, and looked amazing. Aaron was wasted.

Our waitress clearly got a kick out of us, and decided to bring us key lime pie and a round of green shots to celebrate, then sat down and enjoyed them with us. Aaron was still wasted. Of course, I then spilled an entire drink on myself. So, you be the judge. All things considered, it was better than taking the E train home.

MIKE EATS NEXT TIME: Patsy's, yes; Dive, weekly: Jacques-imo's, maybe, but only if our favorite waitress is working.