Obica Mozzarella Bar - A Little Piece of Heaven in New York, NY

Hi friends! I just went to Obica Mozzarella Bar with a friend from work, and wanted to share my experience. Obica is a chain, they have various locations all over the globe. I have a passionate love for all things cheese, and was delighted when my coworker suggested that we go to Obica during lunch. There are two locations in NYC – we went to the one on Madison avenue and 56th street.

Atmosphere: Obica is inside a big atrium building – very high ceilings and the whole building is glass. It’s really beautiful! The restaurant is set up for two different dining experiences – there is a long, modern looking bar along the window (perfect for people watching) and a restaurant side with tables and chairs. Although the restaurant is inside, the restaurant mimics an outdoor dining experience – trees, tables with big umbrellas, and patio floors. Think chic café.

THE CHEESE: The most important part, right? Obica does this awesome thing called Mozzarella Box. It just sounds glorious, doesn’t it? Basically you choose your cheese and your accompaniments as an appetizer:

Choose one mozzarella:
Mozzarella Selection: Bufala Classica Mozzarella - Delicate Taste
Bufala Affumicata Mozzarella - Naturally Smoked
Burrata Mozzarella - Deliciously Creamy

And accompaniments:
Cherry Tomatoes & Basil Pesto
Marinated Artichokes
Prosciutto Crudo Di Parma Dop
Bresaola Della Valtellina cured beef
Smoked Wild Alaskan Salmon
Selezione Di Salumi felino, crudo, mortadella and speck.

We chose the Burrata Mozzarella. It was so delicious and creamy. It was basically falling apart with yummy creaminess. The waitress brought over bread and olive oil to start, so my friend and I were spreading the mozzarella on the bread and making mini sandwiches. So good. For our accompaniments, we went with the Cherry Tomatoes and Basil Pesto and it did not disappoint! The tomatoes and pesto came arranged beautifully on another plate. I’m not a big tomato fan, but the basil pesto was probably one of the best pesto sauces I have ever tasted. It was so unexpectedly good – I put it on my cheese AND bread. It really complimented the cheese well.

The main course: My friend and I shared the Schiaffoni pasta with tomato and basil. It came with a little dollop of mozzarella on top. The flavor of the pasta was great, but it was cooked a little too al dente for my taste. I like my pasta soft, even though that’s not the proper way to prepare it. I was glad we shared the pasta dish – after the bread and olive oil and the burrata mozzarella with pesto, we were both in a carb coma!

In closing: I would definitely go back here. My friend and I went for lunch, but I could definitely see my husband and I going to have a glass of wine and sharing a mozzarella sampler before heading to a show or dinner. The presentation of everything is beautiful, and the cheese was fantastic! They also offer their food to go if you don’t have time to sit down. Thanks for reading!

Huli Huli Chicken

How good does this look?! Continuing our journey of easy weekday recipes, I present to you: HULI HULI CHICKEN!

My sister in law shared her awesome meal prep idea with us and we have been trying it out. She buys 3 pounds of chicken breast at Costco, then cuts them all up in one day. She pre-portions them in ziplocks, and freezes them. Each ziplock bag is portioned for two people. When she wants to use the chicken, she defrosts it (you can stick it in the fridge the night before) and makes a sauce to go with it. She has a few sauces in her arsenal that she’s shared with us - they are easy, delicious and QUICK! This specific post is how to make Huli Huli chicken. Enjoy!



How to make the sauce:
3/4 cup ketchup
1/3 cup soy sauce
3 TBSP packed brown sugar
3 TBSP lime juice
1 TBSP grated ginger
4 cloves of garlic

How to cook the chicken:
In a skillet, cook diced chicken in pan with some oil until browned. Stir in sauce and cook together for 20 minutes. Serve over rice or egg noodles!

If you want to cut down on calories, you could use less brown sugar. We also used a little more lime. This sauce was great! We will definitely be using the chicken prep method going forward. It kinda sucks having to cut all the chicken at once, but it saves you so much time during the week. Hope you guys enjoyed!! xo

Muffin Pan Popovers

Hi friends! Hope everyone had a great weekend! The weather here in the NY/NJ area is just AWFUL and makes you want to stay in bed and binge-watch Netflix all day. Although there’s not many times that I DON’T want to do that. Anyway I digress.

My husband made this kick ass muffin pan popovers. They are like little works of art. I’ve never had a popover before, and I have to say – my first experience got me hooked! They are so delicate and light – kind of similar to a croissant but not flaky. We ripped our popovers open and slathered some butter right in the middle. AH-MAZ-ING. They are best served right out of the oven. I had 4 of them in one sitting. FOUR. Not proud of it but I couldn’t help myself. They are so light and airy that I felt like I could allow myself to have a few =)

So, let’s get down to it.

Here’s What You’ll Need:

• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
• 2 large eggs, at room temperature
• 1 cup whole milk, at room temperature
• 1 teaspoon granulated sugar
• 3/4 teaspoon fine salt
• 1 cup all-purpose flour

How To:

1. Heat the oven to 425°F. Remove all of the racks from the oven except one arranged in the lower third position. Place a baking sheet in the oven while it heats.

2. Place 1/2 teaspoon of the butter into each well of a 12-well muffin pan; set aside.

3. Place the remaining 1 tablespoon butter, eggs, milk, sugar, and salt in a blender and blend until smooth, about 30 seconds. Turn off the blender, add the flour, replace the lid, and blend until just smooth, about 30 seconds. Set the mixture aside in the blender.

4. Place the prepared muffin pan in the oven on the heated baking sheet and bake until the butter sizzles, about 2 to 3 minutes. Remove the muffin pan and the baking sheet from the oven. Pouring from the blender, fill the wells of the muffin pan halfway up with batter.

5. Return the muffin pan and baking sheet to the oven. Bake until the popovers are puffed and the tops are starting to brown, about 20 minutes. (Do not open the oven door during the baking time.) Reduce the oven temperature to 350°F and bake until the popovers are golden brown all over, about 15 minutes more. (Do not open the oven door until the popovers have baked at least 35 minutes.)

6. Remove the muffin pan and baking sheet from the oven and place them on a wire rack. Remove the popovers from the pan and serve immediately.



The original recipe is from Chow.com (click here for original). Hope everyone stays dry!