Hello and welcome back to Five Things I Ate! This week, we go shopping at my favorite spice store, Kaluystans. Read past posts here, and please follow my Instagram, @fivethingsiate.
Super jumbo dates at Kaluystans
123 Lexington Ave, New York, NY 10016
For my holiday gift to myself this year, I decided to go to Kaluystans and allow myself to buy whatever I wanted.* It felt really nice to go to my favorite grocery store on the second day of the year. Whenever my brain is filling a little low, nothing fills that hole more kindly than the stimulation of going down aisles of all different kinds of foods and spices. As we all know I love a good date, however apparently previous me did not dare buy the super jumbo version! Well, lucky for current me, the super jumbo dates were available for what seemed like a cheaper price of $14.99 for a fancy cardboard gift box. Tbh, they didn’t seem to be that different from the jumbo size, and I also violated the previous newsletter’s tip to skip the fancy gift boxes, lol. It’s almost like I should have heeded my own advice. Still, pretty good, 8/10.
*Without it being too heavy to subway home, and then take up six flights of stairs, so I couldn’t go too wild.
Pistachio ma’amoul at Kaluystans
123 Lexington Ave, New York, NY 10016
I really like ma’amoul, but these ones from the bakery section at Kaluystans that came in a plastic tin were mediocre . They’re a bit grainy in the exterior and the crust both lacks flavor and tastes too much like perfume. I would still definitely eat them with tea, but it’s best if you bite into it all at once, so you can get the pistachio flavor. Next time, I’ll stick with my favorite filling flavor… You guessed it, dates.
5/10.
“Gingerbread” coffee with Hawaij and brown sugar at home
Hawaij from Kaluystans, coffee beans from Joe Coffee.
Forget your Pumpkin Spice Latte, my favorite coffee seasoning is hawaij, the Yemeni spice blend. I got mine from Kaluystans but you could also order it online (haven’t tried this brand, so can’t promise it’s good), or blend your own. I am not exactly sure what is in this particular mix, but it’s very warming and slightly spicy, maybe cardamom and cloves and ginger. (Note: Be careful not to get the wrong spice blend, apparently there’s a hawaij for stews that is different!) For the best morning brew, throw about ½ tsp into your coffee filter (I use pourover, and about 20g coffee to 10oz of water). Finish with half and half and a heaping teaspoon of brown sugar. It’s seriously so lovely I look forward to my mornings when I go to bed at night. Although historically I’m a fan of light roast, recently it’s not really been resonating with me, and for this you’ll want ideally a medium or even a slightly dark roast (I still think dark roast just tastes like burnt toast, though). I used this one from Joe Coffee, which is a perfectly solid but not super complex morning brew, perfect for this.
10/10
Chewy Carrot Halwa Cookies at home
My friend made carrot halwa cookies for the holidays and gave me a few to take home. They are sort of subtle at first, but I became totally hooked on them, and had one with coffee each morning (it goes great with gingerbread coffee above!). When I ran out, I had to make a batch of my own. If you follow the recipe instructions and use 3 tbs per cookie, they end up pretty large and cakey (as my friend originally did). I decided to make them more petite, using a tablespoon scoop, and they ended up more crispy-chewy (although they softened the next day). I used a convection toaster oven, so I lowered the temperature to 350F and baked for approx 10 minutes, making 32 smaller cookies total. I also upped the almonds to 2 cups total, so I could roll them in more almonds for the crunchy crust. The key is to use really fresh cardamom as it’s the only spice. My friend used freshly ground cardamom in her mortar and pestle and it was really amazing and fragrant. I used pre-ground green cardamom and the scent was much subtler. Either way, this is a fantastic cookie, perfect for carrot cake fans. It’s rich, buttery, and the sliced almonds get nice and toasty as they bake. I love that it’s Not Too Sweet. Note that although the ingredient list is short these do require some time and effort (especially coz I grated the carrots by hand) and an overnight chill. Make sure to weigh the carrots to make sure you have the right amount.
10/10 but minus .5 for hand grating labor
Clear Mind Kombucha by Brew Dr. at Whole Foods
If you’re practicing Dry January and looking for a nice beer replacement, I love this kombucha by Brew Dr. Even if you do drink alcohol, as I do on occasion, I like to have something other than beer in my fridge for when I really just want a fizzy tasty beverage but don’t want the sweetness of soda. A lot of times when I drink alcohol, it’s not necessarily because of the alcohol, it’s just that I like beverages and all the NA feel too sweet. I am not a huge kombucha fan tbh because it tastes like swamp to me often, but I really enjoy this one, specifically in can form. You can get a four-pack at Whole Foods. Something about cracking open a can and pouring it into stemmed beer glass fires off the exact same brain neurons as get fired when I crack open an ice cold beer, maybe because it’s also the same color. But pls be warned this doesn’t taste like beer, it is indeed kombucha, so don’t say I didn’t warn you.
8/10. Also no idea why I’m rating everything, lol.
Happy New Year!
Soph
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