Sunday, August 26, 2001


excuse me, but i'm in a trance . . .

just got back from dinner at the brooklyn wing of the famed blue ribbon restaurant. where the chocolate bruno, a flourless, moussy-cake with a deep espresso flavor is . . . .ineffable. modest on its white chocolate base, ornamented by three dollops of ciao bella and hot fudge sauce. . . . a must. the profiteroles will also do ya, trust me.

all-in-all an amazing day. . .mr. right managed to fix the saeco 2002 grinder, so i could start the morning with a sublime cup of the mohonk roasters' shawangunk morning blend. i just can't stop talking about this coffee. . .the harrar received excellent reviews from everyone who happened into a 1/4-lb of it, including john from two for the pot. high praise indeed.

the day improved from there: having received an excellent ayurvedic thing, a rasayana, i ate some. the kind given to me is basically a delicious carob jam. being li'l ms. experimentalist, i decided to follow the advice and take it. you can just eat it as is, dissolve it in hot water or -- and here's where it got interesting -- stuff some into dates.

naturally i rushed out to get fine medjool dates. before i stuffed the creamy substance into the center, i tasted some plain. unlike anything i'd ever tasted: that kind of cocoa taste associated with carob, as well as cardomom, fennel, honey, butter, rosewater, and a little minty something in the aftertaste. it was like an arab dessert! after the initial surprise, i decided this was good stuff. but if you're the type who dislikes rosewater in food, it might not be for you. . .soaked the dates to soften them, filled 'em with this stuff . . .yummm.

then i got lucky: mr. right just bought a gorgeous new trek hybrid bike and took it out for a spin. rushing down atlantic avenue he ran into some fresh dates! fresh dates are hard to find: a gentle butter color when unripe; ripe, a darkened gold, with an almost bruised and wet appearance as the delicious sticky sugar comes to the surface. naturally i had to try this carob jam with a fresh date -- now that's a delicious surprise.

often when i tell people that i'm interested more and more in ayurveda they give me a look, like uh-oh, she's gone off the deep end with this yoga stuff now. but honestly, who could object to a system whereby one absolutely has to eat honey, butter, cardomom every day? and bathes in scented almond oil? who can't get behind these concepts?

since i spend so much time at the computer, i pretty much have a permanent furrow in my forehead from squinting at the screen. often i have a little ache right in the center of my forehead, like a dull push-pin is lodged underneath the skin. it's pretty much a constant feature for me nowadays. but i must say that within a short time after eating the fresh date with carob jam, it went away for the first time in at least two weeks.

if this keeps up, i'm living on the stuff. . . did i mention the chocolate bruno? did i??

posted by fortune | 6:03 PM | top | link to this | email this: | | | 0 comments