New York City - NYC

Hi there,
Going to New York City the last weekend of July. Do you know of any romantic/different restaurant outdoors? Indoors is just fine too.
Thanks for your help!

http://www.oneifbyland.com/

http://bluehillfarm.com/home#

http://www.brguestrestaurants.com/

http://www.fourseasonsrestaurant.com/index2.htm

http://www.ilmulino.com/

My husband and I really enjoy restaurants that are a little unusual. Fondue restaurants, hibachi grills, renaissance restaurants, revolving dining on the 50th floor… you get the idea. We are planning a trip to I KNOW there have got to be some wonderful dining experiences in New York City… but searching through a conventional search engine is proving difficult. Has anyone been to NYC or lives there and knows anything exciting to visit?

BEST BURGERS: Jackson Hole in Manhattan
city center- 55th btwn 6&7th
85th 7 columbus
fresh steak fries, mmmmm
nice salads

Coney Island - Nathans hot dogs and a little shop around the corner for Knishes

Peter Lugers Steak place - pricey bu very delicious

Chinatown - any basement place, just ask for whatever the people around you are eating that looks interesting.

I’m going to New York City in June for my birthday and wanted to know what the best (not overly expensive) Chinese buffet (all you can eat) restaurants are in Manhattan?

Thank you (:

Check out this website http://www.menupages.com / restaurants / all-areas / all-neighborhoods / chinese / tags / . Most of the restaurants are not in Manhattan but in surrounding boroughs. If you really want Chinese, try Ollie’s on Broadway and 68th Street. I do not believe they have a buffet, but the food is good and the prices are reasonable. You can check the same website, menupages.com, for the exact location and menu. If you’re going with a bunch of friends, just share the food, and you’ve made your own buffet.

Gourmet cakes are served during birthdays, anniversaries and other special occasions. Although you can just buy the cake online or at any bakeshop, the best gourmet cake can be done at home. The steps are basic and easy.

Gourmet cakes are delectable desserts that can be bought in stores. It can be given as a gift, as a dessert, or for anniversaries, birthdays and other special celebrations. You can also bake one yourself and save a lot from it. You can look into recipe books to guide you.

Here are some of the famous gourmet cake recipe cookbooks:

Junior’s Cheesecake Cookbook

This cheesecake recipe cookbook made by Beth Allen and Alan Rosen contains 50 delectable recipes for cheesecakes, New York style.

This is based from the best cheesecake selling restaurant known as Junior’s Restaurant. They are now revealing their all-time favorite recipes so that everyone can enjoy their award winning cheesecakes. Some of the cheesecake recipes they included are the All Cream Cheese, On a Sponge Cake Crust, and No Sour Cream among others. This is from the Junior’s Original New York Cheesecake, which started everything, up to the cheesecakes with a twist in flavor like Rocky Road, Pumpkin Mousse and Banana Fudge.

It also includes small cheesecake recipes like Little Fellas to their newest creation, their Skyscraper Cheesecakes with layers of cake flavors like Lemon Coconut, Carrot Cake and Boston Cream Pie among others.

This recipe book was released just last October 2007. It is illustrated with English texts. It has about 176 pages. The author of the book is Alan Rosen, Harry Rosen’s grandson. Hence, Harry Rosen is the founder of Junior’s Restaurant situated in Times Square, Grand Central Station and Brooklyn.

The Cake Mix Doctor

This recipe book was made by no less than Anne Byrn. The book mainly focuses on cake recipes with a touch of doctoring for the actual package. This is thru touches of cocoa powder, sweet butter, poppy seeds, and eggs, vanilla yoghurt, grated lemon zest and sherry that make up the delicious Charleston Poppy Seed Cake.

With the recipes in this book, even beginners can learn recipes like Toasted Coconut sour Cream Cake and Devilishly Good Chocolate Cake to Caramel Cake, Holiday Yule Log and various cheesecake recipes. There are also sheet cakes, coffee cakes, bars and brownies and pound cakes.

The book comprises of 175 quick and easy-to-cook cake recipes. The foods are tender, moist, deep, rich and even complexly flavored. This is all thanks to Anne Byrn, a self-described purist and award-winning food writer. Her recipes promote ease-of-use, convenience and dependability. It also has a Q&A portion where in all possible questions and tips about cooking cakes are indicated. This recipe book comprises of 464 pages in paperback material. It was published last November 1999 in English text.

Southern Cakes: Sweet and Irresistible Recipes for Everyday Celebrations

This recipe book was written by renowned cooking teacher, Nancie McDermott. Residing in North Carolina, she was able to make this book possible with the help of Becky Luigart-Stayner, a photographer of various magazines and living in Alabama.

You will love the cake recipes of Southerners, especially the chocolate goodness of the Mississippi Mud. This book consists of 65 recipes like Peanut Cake, Humble Pear Bread, Jelly Rolls and Jam Cakes among others. It even has a whole chapter for coconut and chocolate cakes. You will also learn from its section on Baking 101 about cake basics and finishing touches such as frosting the cakes. It also has tips on storage, assuring fresh and long-lasting flavors for every slice.

It was published last June 2007 in English. It has 168 pages and paperback bound.

David H. Urmann
http://www.articlesbase.com/cooking-tips-articles/famous-cookbooks-on-gourmet-cakes-1104333.html

Pizza is the most ubiquitous of fast foods. It can be bought everywhere. It has a soft base and is loaded with a variety of cheeses, meats, salamis, fish and even pineapple. But this modern Italian-American pizza is a far cry from the original pizzas.

Pizza has a long history in Mediterranean food. It goes back to the kind of flat bread that was made and sold all over the Mediterranean and Middle East. Flat bread of this kind would often be spread with oil and seasoned with olives, garlic and herbs, or dates.

Flat bread is still often served for breakfast in the Mediterranean. Originally the main meal would be served on bread of this kind. It could also be used for scooping food out of a common dish like the modern Indian paratha bread.

In Italy flat bread of this kind became known as pizza. The word was also applied to sweet dishes made of flaky pastry.

Pizza as we know it with its characteristic covering of a tomato based sauce only came into being after the tomato was imported into Europe from the Americas. The legend that the pizza was invented by Marco Polo who missed the Chinese green onion ommelettes he had enjoyed in China is probably untrue.

In the course of the eighteenth century the poor of Naples began to season their flat bread with tomato. As Naples began to attract tourists so interest in the local specialties grew. The first pizza restaurant was set up in Naples in 1830. From there the pizza has spread all over Italy and the rest of the world as migrants from Southern Italy have taken their cuisine with them.

Pizza began to appear in the USA during the nineteenth century. It was sold in the streets of cities that had large Italian populations such as New York, Chicago, San Francisco and Philadelphia. The first pizzeria is thought to have opened in New YOrk at the beginning of the twentieth century. Lombardi’s in Manhattan claims to descend from this original pizza restaurant.

After the Second World War pizza began to become a genuine international food. New varieties of pizza began to appear and the big commercial chains of pizza restaurants began to appear.

The idea of the take away pizza began to emerge and the pizza began to encapsulate all that is enticing and excessive about modern convenience food. Customers could demand any topping they wanted. They could consume vast amounts of fatty cheese and meat. Like the hamburger a once simple food has become a source of obesity and ill-health.

There is no reason for a pizza to be unhealthy. Eaten in moderation and not dripping in high fat cheese and meat it can be a healthy food. Getting back to its roots is surely the way for pizza to go in the future.

Purists claim that there are only two kinds of authentic pizza: the Marinara and the Neapolitana. They are both covered with tomato paste and mozzarella but the Marinara has anchovies added. Both can be seasoned with oregano, basil and pepper.

The base of a traditional pizza is typically much thinner and crisper than that of commercial pizzas available elsewhere. This base is brushed with a light coating of olive oil and spread with tomato paste. It then has rounds of fresh mozzarella added. The grated mozzarella often served even in Italy tastes nothing like the real thing. The masses of cheap grated Cheddar type cheese that is often used in commercial pizzas is an abomination and should be avoided. It has no flavour and is high in heart-stopping cholesterol.

A few anchovies can be added before the whole thing is baked quickly in a wood fired oven. When it comes out of the oven a few basil leaves can be scattered on it. The whole result is light, crisp and flavoursome.

Those who have tried a traditional pizza baked in a wood fired oven, especially if it is fired with vine prunings, will seldom willingly go back to the commercial kind. At its best the pizza, especially when eaten out of doors on a summer evening with friends and a bottle of red wine captures the essence of simple rustic fare.

Abhishek Agarwal
http://www.articlesbase.com/cooking-tips-articles/italian-pizza-its-true-story-revealed-708798.html