David Lebovitz's Blog, page 122

Frozen Melon Margaritas

When I was in Mexico last year, after they were able to uncurl my iron-clad grip on the airport entrance door frame because I was having a hard time leaving all those corn tortillas behind, on the walkway to the departure gate, I realized I had a few extra pesos in my pocket. Thankfully aside from a lot of great Mexican peanut candies and lime-spritzed peanuts that I could stuff into every pocket of my carry-on, the duty-free shop had a pretty large selection of tequilas so I could spend...

Farro Salad with Tomatoes, Mushrooms and Basil

In August, most of the businesses in Paris shut down while a vast number of people take their annual holiday vacations. And in case you think that's a grammatical error, in French one says les vacances, in the plural. So if you have a problem with that, I would tell you to take it up with them yourself, but right now most of them are unavailable at the moment.

It sounds odd, but I know several business in America that follow the same model of shutting down for a few weeks so everyone can go ...

New York City Dining and Travel Notes

I had a wonderful trip to New York City recently and shared some of the places that I visited (see links at end of post), but there were plenty more places that I ate at, which didn't get mentioned in previous posts. So here's a round-up of them…

Katz's

Most of the good delis are gone in New York City, but Katz's is an institution and I like to believe it's never going to let me down. I've had great meals there, but on this visit, my corned beef was tough and almost all of the meat inside my s...

How to Find and Use Free Wi-Fi in Paris

On a recent trip to New York City, I was surprised (and delighted) to find many businesses are now offering free Wi-Fi, from department and electronics stores to the local coffee shops as well as national chains like Starbucks.

Although the private businesses in Paris have been slow to catch on, the city of Paris hasn't been and they offer complimentary Wi-Fi in 400 locations around the city, including public parks and municipal spaces. The Wi-Fi (pronounced wee-fee) is available from 7am...

Les Tomates

The French have a lot of protests and manifestations. Some of the issues they march for are a bit of a reach and we roll our eyes. And it's annoying when the trains and other forms of transport go on strike and you need to get somewhere. But on the other hand, it's good that they feel strongly about certain issues, enough to hit the streets. So yesterday there was a mouvement social in my neighborhood. But the one yesterday was an issue I could easily get behind.

Many people have an image of F...

Tech Issues

As mentioned a bit back, we're doing some work behind-the-scenes here on the site. Consequently, there are the inevitable glitches; RSS feed issues, comment log-in situations, server problems, and on occasion, the site being unreachable by your browser.

You may need to reload the page if you're not getting access (if you're on a Mac, you can hold down the command key while you do it), or just wait a few minutes and try again.

We're hoping to get all these things ironed out as soon as possible. ...

Salted Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

When I worked in the restaurant business, if you happened to walk in during staff meal, you could always tell who were the pastry people: we were the ones dousing our food with vinegar and salt. That is, when we had time to sit down and eat. I like sweets, but I like them tempered with something not-necessarily sweet, which is why sometimes you'll see a squeeze of lemon juice added to a fruit ice cream base or bakers like me include a pinch of salt in batter, to balance things out.

Fo...

Baking Ingredients and Substitutions

Because the question comes up from time to time, I thought I'd answer some questions about making substitutions in my recipes and swapping out ingredients.

The short answer is: When you substitute or swap out ingredients, results will vary and won't be the same as mine. Some will work, and others won't. The most common is folks who want to reduce the sugar or fat in a recipe, but in most instances, people are not happy with the final results. So unless you have health issues, it's best t...

Salted Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

When I worked in the restaurant business, if you happened to walk in during staff meal, you could always tell who were the pastry people: we were the ones dousing our food with vinegar and salt. That is, when we had time to sit down and eat. I like sweets, but I like them tempered with something not-necessarily sweet, which is why sometimes you'll see a squeeze of lemon juice added to a fruit ice cream base or bakers like me include a pinch of salt in batter, to balance things out.

For many...

Baking Ingredients and Substitutions

Because the question comes up from time to time, I thought I'd answer some questions about making substitutions in my recipes and swapping out ingredients.

The short answer is: When you substitute or swap out ingredients, results will vary and won't be the same as mine. Some will work, and others won't. The most common is folks who want to reduce the sugar or fat in a recipe, but in most instances, people are not happy with the final results. So unless you have health issues, it's best to...