red wine soaked burger with gouda, caramelized onions and rosemary aioli

I love New York City. I know that probably seems like the dumbest and most obvious thing out there that any person could say - akin, perhaps to announcing that you enjoy oxygen - but believe it or not, it's not. Adam is not a lover of New York City. He's not big on noise or crowds. He doesn't get the crazy eye when shopping. If anything, he gives the stink eye when shopping. He hates stuff and pretty things. Adam and New York City don't really get along. He is good to me though - he indulged me a few years ago when I wanted to visit the city for ten, yes TEN, days. Ten glorious days of shopping, eating, museum-going and generally gawping at things I'd seen on TV.

Now that I live in Montreal, it's a little easier visit New York. When my mom came to visit last month, I suggested we take a mini vacation, since a) it's fun and b) she's never been. After a long day of doing touristy things, and after having spent the day with all the good intentions of going somewhere a little less cheesy for dinner, we admitted defeat and picked the first restaurant we could within a one mile radius of our hotel. Proximity and rosemary aioli won me over to the Union Square Five Napkin Burger, which admittedly is fraught with Cactus Club style douchebaggery, but actually had a pretty good burger.

Of course, I planned to recreate this burger as soon as possible. As soon as possible ended up being about 2 weeks later (and one week ago). Here it is. Delicious and amazing.

ciabatta burgers

Yes, I overcooked the fries. Whoops! Let me tell you why.

I am one of those girls who squeals with delight when she passes a cat on the sidewalk and insists on stopping to pet it. There is another orange cat in our area and from time to time I see him passing through the back alley, in our landlord's back yard, or on the neighbour's balcony. This weekend, he was close enough to my balcony that I said "hello kitty!" and made kissy noises at him through the open window. He quickly bounded down the fire escape, crossed the roof of my landlord's shed, made his way up our fire escape, and attached himself to the windowsill.

vij's ground beef curry

Do you ever feel like a cookbook "gets" you? Do you feel like you are totally on the same page as the chef? Do you have a cookbook that has never, not ever, failed you even once? I do, and it's Vij's Elegant and Inspired Indian Cuisine. Vij is consistent. So far, he has knocked every single recipe in this book out of the park for me, and I've made quite a few of them. I have learned to trust Vij. If he says to put whipping cream and beef in the same dish, I will do it. I will do just about anything the man tells me to do in a recipe, the only exception being that his salt content is astronomical. No average sized recipe should have a tablespoon of salt in it. Sodium aside, when it comes to the kitchen, Vij makes my toes curl. Who does that for you?

sizzling beef with cilantro and hoisin sauce

Last night, I had a dream that I borrowed Lady Gaga's bathroom scale and broke it. So tonight, it felt like the right thing to do to make a somewhat more health conscious meal. I have to say, blogging about food isn't spectacular for a girl's figure, you know? Especially one who spent the entire day napping, baking, reading in the bath and watching Being Erica and Six Feet Under (what a perfect rainy Saturday!). In any case, even though tonight's fare wasn't exactly vegetable heavy (and was perhaps a bit high in sodium), at least it did not contain any butter or cream, which I have been consuming way too much of lately.