Thursday, August 19, 2010

Dean & Deluca Snack


On the first floor of The New York Times building (8th ave and 41rs st), and a mere 2 blocks from where I work in Manhattan, Dean & Deluca lure me with all their delicious, fresh (and overpriced) goodies. I can never resist a good scone; the one above is cranberry, but the oat scones they get from Balthazar's are memorably tasty. Another treat is a Siggis yogurt - they are made with a grass-fed cows' milk, very little sugar (actually, agave syrup), no additives, and no starch, pectin or other junk despite ending up pudding thick. Here is how it works: Skyr is the traditional yogurt of Iceland. It is made by incubating skim milk with live active cultures. The whey, the water naturally found in milk, is then strained away to make for a much thicker, creamier, concentrated yogurt. So to make just one cup of skyr, with all that water going out, you need 3 - 4 times the amount of milk required to make a regular cup of yogurt. As a result of this process skyr comes out with 2-3 times the protein count of standard yogurt.
As for the ginger ale pictured, it is a simple blend of fizzy water and actual grated ginger, with some cane sugar syrup.
I love sitting there with a book - such as Mind's Eye, by Hakan Nesser, a super smart and chilling crime novel set in Sweden.

Writer's Almanac: Federico Garcia Lorca, supreme musician amongst poets, was killed this day, in 1936. See Susan's great post about him. I wrote about him here.
Verde que te quiero verde.
Verde viento. Verdes ramas.
El barco sobre la mar
Y el caballo en la montaña.

15 comments:

marie said...

yum:)

Gabbi said...

Yum is right! Did you move to NY?... Don't want to be nosy, but it's exciting!

Mary-Laure said...

GABBI - no, I am only here for a month, for work. And believe me, I'm enjoying it thoroughly!

donna baker said...

Mary-Laure, there is nothing better than a scone. I long for a perfect Scottish scone. I don't think I've ever had a bad one. That ginger drink sounds good. I can't believe your life is so adventurous. I have to live vicariously through you.

Laura in Paris said...

Very interesting what you say about yogurt. Sound more like fromage blanc to me ... when milk cirds and you get rid of the wey ... what about the taste, does it taste like yogurt (acid)?

Mary-Laure said...

DONNA - can you believe I've never had a Scottish scone?! This MUST be remedied..........

LAURA - as always, you are right. Like fromage blanc, it's very thick.... The ones I have are blueberry or vanilla so of course they don't taste acidic. I'll have to try the plain one.

Anonymous said...

Interesting about that yogurt. I love yogurt, but why is starch or pectin so bad? I simply don't pay attention to it. Maybe I should, I don't know.

Sandy

Sammi said...

I love Lorca. He was kept in a concentration camp on Fuerteventura for a time during Franco's reign. The place no longer exists, but the town does.

Mary Laure, what do you do for work?

I assume Benji is not with you in New York, as you said you missed him on my blog? I hope you enjoy New York x

Fifi Flowers said...

You are quite the world traveler... je suis très jealuous!!!

Rina said...

mmm que rico se ve todo eso! me encanta ese fragmento de Federico Garcia Lorca! el verde! uno de mis colores favoritos!

Mary-Laure said...

SANDY - what an excellent question! There is nothing wrong with starch in itself; but in yogurt, in brings nothing but empty calories by thickening it without adding any nutritional value.

SAMMI - no, Benjy is not with me... I miss him!
As for work, I am a translator.
I'm happy you too love Lorca. I'll remember the name of that town you mention in case I'm ever in the area.

Etrapar said...

^.^ great words
kisses&take.care

Giulia said...

Mary-Laure--thank you for the lovely link. I wish I could pop up to NYC to have lunch with you in the park. Alas, this week is full of unwanted, but necessary, appointments. (Not that I would impose w/out asking!)

Just a little side note, sometimes skyr is on sale at Whole Foods & then I snap it up. (It does remind me of fromage blanc, as Laura pointed out.)

Maybe tomorrow. For tonight, as I got home late last night from house/cat sitting gig, I could only make it to the corner for some milk, a bit of fruit. As long as Julie has her fancy cat food only at Whole Foods (of course:), then we're OK. And wishing we could see Mad Men tonight rather than waiting for iTunes. Which I realize makes me sound like a spoilt brat.

xoxoxo

Susan & GG

Mary-Laure said...

GIULIA - oh but you ARE invited! It would be so great to meet you and walk around the city together.
I get Benjy's fancy dog food at Whole Foods as well (with all those scary pet food recalls with Chinese rat poison in it, I don't want to take chances). It's called Party Animal. Yeah, really.

Miss Cavendish said...

I miss Skyr--Mr. C bought it when we were in Iceland . . .

I took my daughters and son to D&D a few weeks ago. They loved D&D, as did I when I discovered it so many years ago, connected to the Paramount Hotel.