If I wasn’t THAT lazy to get off the F train on East Broadway then back onto the F train to go to work, I would totally get breakfast from this food street cart lady. Chinese street food vendors are pretty much everywhere, mostly right by subway entrances/exits. When I used to live on the Q line I would get out of the Canal stop to go to my to-go Chinese food street cart. My usual items were chicken congee with peanuts and rice rolls with fish balls. I love that combo. Definitely more healthy than a sausage, egg and cheese on a roll. But I had a problem and that were the peanuts in the congee. I’m not a big fan of peanuts (I do love peanut butter and peanut sauce) and most of the pieces of chicken in the congee were actually peanuts. Now that I’m in a different part of Brooklyn and the F train (I hate the F trains) is the closes train, I get off at E.Broadway to go to Chinatown. One morning I went to Chinatown to get some buns for breakfast. When I walked out of the bakery I noticed a street cart vendor across the street. I walked over and took a quick peak of the menu. Instead of chicken and peanuts congee she served pork with preserved egg congee. Now I’m not a lover of preserved eggs either but they don’t really have a taste to them. So…I’ve been going to this street cart since last November and everytime I would get congee and rice rolls with fish balls. Then last week, after a long hiatus for me, I went back to her and was prepared to get the same thing UNTIL I saw something different on the menu. First off, the menu was no longer hand-written but typed out. Second, she had lotus sticky rice!!! WOOOOOOOOOOOOO. They’re basically sticky rice stuffed with chicken and mushroom wrapped in lotus leaves, mainly served in dim sum. I split it down the middle to see the fillings. It was kind of lacking in stuffing but it was still good and I most definitely welcome this new addition to the cart. Now if only she start selling ha gow and sui mai.

Rugters and E. Broadway

With the Red Hook Ballfield Vendors returning this coming Saturday, I thought I’d take the opportunity to point out that there’s plenty of great food to be found in Red Hook all year long. Last week I went for lunch at the new coal-fired brick oven pizzeria Anselmo’s and then stopped at Baked for dessert afterwards. Red Hook may be one of Brooklyn’s best neighborhoods for walking when the weather is nice, and when you add in great the great food it only gets better.

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While dining at ['brook•vin], the new Park Slope wine bar, Donny asked me if I preferred beer or wine. After thinking seriously about it I told him I preferred wine, much to his surprise. I think I like both of them for different reasons — beer I prefer when drinking on its own, but wine I prefer with food. I think that’s what gives wine the slight edge in my mind. It’s also why I’m slightly fascinated with wine bars.

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The 80+ degree temperatures may make us think it’s Summer, but the first appearance of asparagus reminds us that it’s only Spring. This is the moment I’ve been waiting for — I’ll be gorging myself on asparagus for the next 2-3 months.

My sister currently lives in Wisconsin, a place I don’t ordinarily associate with maple syrup. She recently went to “Maple Syrup Sunday” at Ledge View Park, and here’s what she had to say about it (all photos are by her as well):

Wisconsin has a number of very unique food experiences, including maple syrup harvesting in late March through early April. Last Sunday, Ledge View Park in Calumet County, WI (website here) had their annual Maple Syrup Sunday.

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seriously, these are not grubs

I first heard of crosnes, pronounced crones, last year on one of the many food blogs I read. Then I saw them on a Spring-themed episode of Emeril Live. I think they really intrigued me for two reasons: their unlikely shape (a cross between a caterpillar and a tiny potato) and the fact that they are also called Chinese artichokes. Because I love artichokes. In any case I was near Union Square for some reason a couple of days ago so I decided to head over to the Greenmarket there to see what I could find. To my great surprise I found crosnes, and despite their relatively high price I purchased a full bag of them.

Raw they taste sort of like a water chestnut, cooked they were more like a potato. I wasn’t totally blown away by crosnes, but I am glad I had the opportunity to taste them.