Blackberry Rosie Palmer

Hot weather in the summer calls for a cool summery drink. My favorite (non alcoholic) drink is half lemonade and half iced tea, or better known after the man who made this drink famous, the Arnold Palmer. What makes this drink so refreshing is the mixture of the equally tart and equally sweet lemonade with the briskness of tea.

To start off my summer, I decided to make my own version of the Arnold Palmer but with twists on both the lemonade and the tea. For the tea, I decided to brew the black tea with a couple of dried rose buds and cardamon – hence the name Rosie. Rose buds have found their way into a lot teas giving simple teas a more vibrant flavor. Cardamon provides a balancing spicy and woody flavor.I found dried rose buds at an Asian store, and cardamom is always available at any Indian store. But these days, you can find these type of ingredients in the international section of many supermarkets. For the lemonade, I gave more sweetness and fruitiness by adding blackberries to the mixture.

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Agava – Ithaca NY

Agava
381 Pine Tree Road
Ithaca NY 14850
607-319-4366

The newest restaurant in Ithaca comes to us courtesy of a team-up between executive chef Andre Jacquet (formerly of the renowned Buddakan , Emeril’s, and House of Blues) and owner Gregar Brous (locally famous for his ownership of Collegtown Bagels and Ithaca Bakery). Located in East Hill, Agava is tucked away on Pine Tree Road at the historical site of a large train depot (East Ithaca). The out-of-the-way locale hasn’t been a detriment as of yet, as Agava has been at or close to full capacity since their grand opening just around 2 months ago.

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Caramel-Walnut Oatmeal Bars

Sometimes I just crave caramel. Here is a simple recipe to sate caramel craving while adding some nutritional value, oats :). These bars are absolutely delicious and will certainly satisfy your sweet tooth. The caramel just oozes through the bar and the extra nuts we added really give the bar the extra crunch to a really moist dessert. This recipe makes a nice size portion that can be cut into small pieces to share with your friends and neighbors (or not!).

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Shanghainese Buns (Mantou)

For Thanksgiving at Siddharth’s house, I decided to skip the typical dinner rolls and make authentic Chinese steamed rolls called mantou. These are steamed wheat buns that are shaped like little pebbles, a staple in northern China.  I had these at my grandma’s house a lot in lieu of a bowl of rice. They could be purchased at any Asian food markets in the frozen aisle. The texture of the mantou is similar to the buns you would order at Chinese restaurants for dim sum also called bao, but these buns don’t have anything inside. Our family would eat it as a side with our meals. Some people eat them as snacks by dipping them in condensed milk or even deep frying them! I’ve never tried, but I’m sure these would be delightful too.

The recipe is quite simple but it takes some time because the dough has to rise. If you do decide to deep fry them, we suggest you steam first, let cool, and then deep fry.

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Goat Cheese-Caramel-Walnut Brownies

Listen up, bakers! This recipe is to die for, the brownies are superdense , not cakey like Duncan Hines. This recipe was completely thought out by Siddharth and it’s great. The brownies are gooey and the caramel gives the extra zing to the chocolate, although I must warn you, it will require some work and a lot of patience! The flavors are really well balanced, with the goat cheese cutting the sweetness, and the walnuts adding extra crunch. I wasn’t a huge brownie fan to begin with, but these brownies were enough to convert me!

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