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Nowadays, I spend 10 times the amount of time I spent in the kitchen one year ago, as living on my own has compelled me to cook at least once a day. I make a myriad of dishes - mostly savory and try to keep it as healthy as possible. We eat out so much and there is such a variety of dessert to be had in NYC, that I have *almost* stopped making my own. However, once in a while I make things that remind me of home. Take for instance these chocolate balls - I use crushed graham crackers (any kind of digestive biscuit will do, really), a half can of condensed milk, a dollop of butter, a few tablespoons of chocolate powder and mixed it all up. Voila, childhood!

We have been planning to go to South America but being lazy as we are, have not managed to plan a trip. So the next time I made the chocolate balls, I took it up a notch - a bit of the vanilla pod, a teeny pinch of chilli powder and sea salt, a sprinkling of cinnamon and dulce de leche instead of condensed milk. Who needs to go to South America when you have it's flavors (at least that's how we console ourselves!)?!

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To Read: Medium Raw by Anthony Bourdain is a page turner - honest, vicious and funny! He writes about life after Kitchen Confidential as well as well-known restaurants and chefs.  

I also loved reading The Last Chinese Chef by Nicole Mones. Its fiction about a young chef cooking traditional Chinese in modern China but interweaves a lot of food history, a few cooking techniques and knowledge of flavors and textures in Chinese food. I had to watch Eat Drink Man Woman all over again after reading this!

To Buy: Definitely, definitely get a subscription to Oyster, the Netflix of books! 

Ghirardelli Hot Chocolate Mocha - drink it hot or cold.

To Watch: The movie Chef: Jon Favreau is a delight!

This video about separating eggs. 

Melt Bakery, NYC

Imagine walking down the streets of Chinatown on a hot New York summer day. The heat is blistering and the sun (the same one you wished for during the long winter) is harsh. You would love a cold drink or perhaps even some frozen treat. There doesn’t seem to be much here except clothing retailers on Orchard Street though. You swivel your head from side to side in the vain hope that you might find something interesting to eat or drink when suddenly you chance upon a small bakery / shop tucked away between two big establishments. It is Melt Bakery.

The Jackson and The Morticia

Be careful though. You might just miss it and you definitely do not want to do that. It has bright colorful round signs of all sizes with mysterious sounding words like “The Classic,” “The Morticia,” “The Lovelet,” and the “The Elvis.” The signs themselves look so appealing that they pull you into this small shop that is also a bakery and has big freezers everywhere. You are greeted with a cheerful hello by the girl who is perched atop a high stool and you look at the models of these beautiful ice cream sandwiches sitting on the counter. Should I get the red cookie one or the chocolate one with the sparkly sugar on top? You finally decipher the mysterious words. The Lovelet, it turns out, is cream cheese ice cream sandwiched between two red velvet cookies and The Elvis is a peanut butter cookie sandwich with banana ice cream.

cinnamon cookies for The Cinnamax

My favorite is The Jackson though. You won’t read the name on any of the signs but ask the shop girl and she will dig deep into the freezer and pull out a mini sandwich for you. It is a mango lassi flavored ice cream with pistachio cookies and the flavors just burst in your mouth. They are authentic Indian flavors and ones my grandmother will be proud of.

The Lovelet

Julian Plyter is the creative head and chef behind this enterprise. He and his partner Kareem started vending these sandwiches at the Hester Street Fair in 2010 when they felt that the market needed some ice cream in between cookies! Local sustainable and honest food is their goal and Julian has been known to pick his own peaches and figs for the ice creams straight from his parent’s farm in upstate New York.

They are currently vending from their store on Orchard Street as well as every weekend at the Hester Street Fair.