Pickles and Pies from New Amsterdam Market

There’s not much to say here except I really like pickles and I really like seeing pickles in a giant, big bucket for sale. These particular ones I found at The New Amsterdam Market and they had some mustard flavor (note the yellowish hue) and a bit of a bite.

If you haven’t been to the New Amsterdam Market yet, there’s only a thousand City Mitten posts already telling you to go. So here’s one more. It’s every Sunday through just before Christmas. And there’s always artisanal ice cream, I can promise you that.

And also, there are pies:

These babes are from Pie Corps in Brooklyn and in the front we have chocolate pudding pies with caramel, and grasshopper pies behind them. They were so so tempting but I think I had already spent five kajillion dollars that weekend on something so I was just at the market to look. And to buy a pickle. Which I did.

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New Amsterdam Market Valentine’s Day Mini Market

Last weekend The New Amsterdam Market had a mini (and we mean mini) Valentine’s Day Market. We hit it up for some snacks. Above is Shandaken Bake and some squirrel cookies that made me think of my little sister.

Here is some apple monkey bread that I bought and had for breakfast the following morning.

But the *real* star of the show. The Bent Spoon. As always. We came for the market for The Bent Spoon, really. It’s just the most fabulous and inventive flavors of ice cream. I wish they would open a store in the city. See our excitement:

Here are some of my peeps, trying flavors and deciding what to get. You can get mini cones, which is awesome. I think they were $2?

Yeah, you’ve seen this before. But it’s the BEST. Bitter chocolate on top (amazing) and chocolate-covered strawberry on the bottom. I need to start planning my New Amsterdam Market adventures so that I can take a pint home with me afterward.

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Ice Cream Tasting at New Amsterdam Market

Okay, here’s the deal. Went to an ice cream tasting at the New Amsterdam Market last weekend and met up with Hagan, who is a “real” food blogger. Not sure what I mean by “real,” but he definitely takes it more seriously than I do. Don’t get me wrong, I love you, City Mitten, but for me it’s just about having a little fun.

Let’s get the ice cream rolling shall we? The first photo above was husk cherry from Roberta’s I believe. If I’m wrong, Hagan will tell me. The ice cream tasting was a madhouse. $20 for six tickets which granted you the tiniest scoops I have ever seen in my life. They probably weren’t each worth $3.33, but hey. Hagan almost bit my head off when I was going to eat one of the tiny cones by myself cause I had not realized the obvious: that we were sharing every cone so we could try more. Duh! But I just wanted the whole thing!

It was a madhouse. And the tables were wayy too close together. Sometimes it was hard to tell what was a line and what was a mob. And since Hagan is a “real” food blogger, he thought it was acceptable for us to stand at the front of each table (after waiting in line, of course) and have the ice cream people give us each individual scoop as we were ready for them. At one point, a guy tried to give us another flavor we had requested as Hagan was like, “It’s going to melt! I can’t take a picture of that!” and he made the guy get us another one. Another time, an ice cream man stood aside, right in front of us, patiently waiting like a butler for our next ice cream command. I know for a FACT that guy was thrilled when he finally got us out of his hair. My goodness. I felt SO awkward standing in front of the tables while everyone tried to maneuver around us, not to mention while the other ice cream people were trying to work. Hagan, you are crazy!

Here’s Hagan taking a photo of Grange Sorrel (I have no idea what that is) ice cream from Roberta’s.

Here’s Hagan holding beet ice cream from Early Bird Cookery.

And here’s some Lemon Verbena (maybe?) from Marlow and Sons.

I did not get a picture of my absolute favorite which was from the Bent Spoon: Bourbon Vanilla Sea Salt Caramel. Yes, yes. Would have bought a pint of that had I been going home directly after.

After the ice cream tasting, we were like, “So… want to get something to eat?” and so I took him to Cowgirl Seahorse, where once we received our food, he disappeared with our dishes for five minutes taking them to an empty table across the room that had better lighting. I mean, my friends put up with me making them wait three seconds for me to take a picture, and now I’m really appreciating it, but they would not put up with me for doing that.

Now the funniest part, I was talking to Hagan and asking him when he was going to put up his ice cream post after all the trouble we went through and the special treatment he demanded and he said, “I might not. It was lame.”

Ha! And for the record, Hagan gave me permission to write this semi-snarky post about him. And by gave me permission, I mean I told him I was going to do it when we were at Seahorse and that was it.

Have a good weekend!

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New Amsterdam Market Returns

The New Amsterdam Market is back! And it’s way better than last year. Meats, seafood, breads, cheeses, chocolates and wine, as well as many other vendors dishing up some fabulous eats. Here’s some Mozzarella bread, which Laura, Chad, and I each bought for later. The problem is I have no idea which vendor that was.

Here are some apple turnovers that I kind of regret not buying. Looked like they had the perfect amount of sugar on top.

Something I did buy was the house cured ham sandwich from Marlow and Daughters with pulled pork, pickled relish, scape mayo, mild cilantro and fontina cheese:

Mmmm. I’m a fan of Marlow and Sons and this is the first thing I’ve had from Marlow and Daughters, their butcher shop just down the same street. Marlow is your friend.

We tried lots of chocolates:

The salted almond chocolate from Taza was my favorite. It has a kind of grainy texture and it rocks. Makes me wish it was Christmas and I have no idea why. Am I really thinking about stocking stuffers in June? I am so weird.

Now these bars blew my mind:

I couldn’t really figure out what exactly they were but they looked delectable and I somehow resisted

Finally we ended things with ice cream from The Bent Spoon.

I regret not taking home a pint of their sour cream and cherry ice cream. Sure do. Good thing the New Amsterdam Market will be back next month!

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Bent Spoon, with Bourbon.

When I bought a pint of Bent Spoon ice cream at the New Amsterdam Market last month, they handled me a brown paper bag with a weird shaped container inside. I remember thinking it wasn’t the usual shape for a pint of ice cream but I just threw it in the freezer, with bag, when I got home.

Imagine my surprise to finally open the bag this week and see this cute little container inside! They wrote the flavor (egg nog!) on it and all the other fancy ingredients! Have you ever had an ice cream with dark rum, bourbon and courvoisier in it? It’s good!

I just think it’s too cute. It even says, “Wow.”

Thank you, Bent Spoon!

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Luke’s Lobster

You can get anything in New York. The best lobster roll from Maine? In the East Village, baby. That’s why I live here.

Yep, Luke’s Lobster. I’ve had Luke’s once before at the New Amsterdam Market, but I’ve been dying to go to their little food shop on 7th stree. I went my friend Lucy last night and she was impressed x 10. The lobster is so good. And it should be, it’s from MAINE. We probably could have eating four rolls. A piece. Actually, no, we might have died. But they’re that good.

It was kind of packed when we first got there but we ended up finally getting seats. One woman was sitting at a table reading a magazine and I wanted to be like, “Lady, this is not a Barnes and Noble!”

But alas, some other girls were leaving and they gave us their spot. Then I took pictures.

This is what I’m going to try next time:

I hope my mom comes to New York soon, just so I can take her to Luke’s Lobster. I know she’ll love it.

So, yeah. Go to Luke’s. Just don’t bring a magazine. :)

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I love: New Amsterdam Market (part two)

It finally snowed this weekend. Like crazy. I first saw it Saturday, when I was getting out of the train station in Williamsburg with my friend Laura. There were flakes everywhere and I was so happy! Then it continued snowing. A lot. When I went to bed Saturday night, the sky was still bright with flakes. I loved it. Prospect Park was covered in snow Sunday morning. Also this weekend, I was sick. I’m still sick actually and it needs to go away because it’s about to be family time back in Detroit.

But anyway, I was quite the champ on Sunday morning. I braved my sickness and the cold and snow to get to the last New Amsterdam Market of the year. And I was not disappointed.

The first thing we saw when we got there was the guy in the cupcake hat from the craft fair last weekend! We saw him and I whispered to Laura, “He’s on my blog.” Haha. Oh, and yes, Laura and I hung out Saturday AND Sunday. :)

The next thing I saw that I felt was truly amazing were these giant gingerbread cookies from Breezy Hill Orchard. They were HUGE.

So cute.

Next up was some Moroccan bread, which looked pretty good, especially since it was served warm and we were quite cold.

It was perfect cause while I didn’t want to try any of the cheeses or spreads with me being sick, a little bread sounded just right. Laura and I each got one to try.

Laura’s all tough with her “Hell Yeah” gloves and here I am all “La la la”:

I think the contrast in our expressions in hilarious. Like my pink hat? Haha.

Next up, I got some duck, lamb and sausage cassoulet from Jimmy’s No. 43 which I actually cannot believe I haven’t blogged about yet, because I went there a few weeks ago and I love Jimmy’s.

That was preeeeety tasty.

Then we saw hot pockets from Quality Meats which looked pretty good and came with some strawberry thing on the side (yes, strawberry “thing,” my knowledge and handle on the English language is stellar).

From there, Laura got the lobster bisque from Luke’s Lobster:

It had HUGE chunks of lobster in it, to which Laura would look at and say, “I am so glad I still eat seafood” (she’s a vegetarian).

I also bought a pint of eggnog ice cream from the Bent Spoon, the same place I had that lovely scoop from the last New Amsterdam Market. I don’t even know if I like eggnog itself, but the ice cream was quite delicious so I bought some to take home. Can’t wait until I’m not sick and I can eat it.

I’d say the New Amsterdam Market was a success for Laura and I. We just walked around talking about how awesome it is and how we can’t wait for our friend Missy to move to New York in January and start joining us in all our activities.

I think the snow scared a lot of people away, some of the booths were even empty, but for those who made it to the New Amsterdam Market this weekend, I’m pretty sure it was worth it.

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