FRESS:

[yiddish] To eat like an animal, i.e., quickly, noisily, and in great quantity.

Thursday, April 30, 2009

Cafe con Leche: if you like pina coladas, and getting caught in the rain


Cafe con leche is the one place I know I can go to on the upper west side for affordable and consistent food. Most importantly though, they serve up a mean pina colada in an actual pineapple, during happy hour you can get 2 drinks for the price of one ($9). They serve other drinks as well, including sangria and mixed drinks in coconuts. Its not a huge amount of drink or as boozy as what I usually like and I am not one who often orders something like a pina coloda, but I can't resist them when I dine here. Double check with the happy hour, because sometimes they are weird about it. With my cold, frothy pina colada in my hand, a paper drink umbrella behind my ear, sitting outside under a raffia umbrella, I could almost pretend I was in the Caribbean... almost. I usually order the same things when I come here. The mofongo appetizer could easily pass as a main dish, there is nothing like mushed plaintains and pork skin to fill up your belly. Their version of ropa vieja is perfectly acceptable; its hard to screw up beef that has been braised, shredded, and sauced up. A special of ceviche was also enjoyable. Though it wouldn't have hurt them to add some shrimp. On this occasion, the service started out a bit brusque, but that could not kill our pina colada and pork induced good moods.

Chocolate Balls


Lookie here what I made for my office.  Oreo truffle bally thingers! And guess what, you can do it too. My apologies if these little guys are not so easy on the eye, but trust me, they taste like a dream. I used 2 sleeves of one oreo container and crushed them up. Then I added a package of cream cheese and smushed it all together. I rolled them into about 40-50 little ballies and chilled them in the fridge. While they chillaxed, I melted 3/4 a package of semi-sweet chocolate chips in a make-shift double broiler. I rolled the chilled balls in the chocolate, added some more oreo crumbs on top and popped them back in the fridge. Use your imagination for other toppings and coatings. I have had a request to make peanut butter chocolate truffle balls next. Easy breezy, and everyone loves them.