Dessert By Candy

Picnic At Eleven Madison Park

My love for picnic is well documented at Dessert By Candy. Last weekend, I was treated to the ultimate picnic on my birthday at New York’s revered Eleven Madison Park. No, the restaurant is not offering takeout for parkgoers next door. I will explain that in a bit.

On that sunny afternoon, M and I experienced the full tasting menu combining the restaurant’s signature dishes, seasonal ingredients from the tri-state area, novel take on iconic New York bites, and classically prepared luxurious dishes. Our senses were wowed and entertained by the playful dishes. With equal amount of elegance and whimsy, we enjoyed one of my most memorable meals in recent years.

Here is a slideshow of what we enjoyed:

Gluten Free Sandwich Bread Success

I have been curious about gluten free baking for some time. Some recipes are inherently gluten free, like macaroons. I consider them entry level items. A step up the difficulty meter is recipes that benefit from little gluten development, such as quick breads. You probably come across muffin or pancake recipes that urge you to stir gently or the baked good would turn tough. My personal favourite is using buckwheat flour for these kinds of application. The holy grail for gluten free baking is of course bread whose texture and structure depend on gluten development. Those lovely open crumb is the direct result of the elasticity of gluten.

More and more of my friends have chosen a gluten free diet for health reasons. Few are intolerant of digesting gluten but many confess that their overall physical wellness improve. Personally, I choose to maintain a balanced diet that does not exclude any particular food groups. However, the challenge of gluten free baking intrigues me. With the extra time of staying at home last week, I took the chance to experiment with gluten free sandwich bread.