Akiko's Cookie

        Akiko Nishimura, an editorial photographer, took on a job as a part time pastry chef at Chinoyo, to help pay the bills. When she began baking for her friends, the response to her cookies was overwhelming. She took on a restaurant and a few private clients which forced her to solidify the recipes and create a brand: Akiko’s Cookie.

These “sweets for adults” are just what they sound like, delicious treats for a matured palate. Not too sweet and made using whole grains and organic ingredients, the flavor of these little bites is pure and satisfying. You can even heat them up in their individual wrappers for a fresh-baked experience.

The bite-sized cookies come in two flavors, Kagoshima (green tea) and Aphrodite (chocolate). The chocolate cookies use Belgian cocoa along with macadamia nuts, vanilla bean and whole-wheat pastry flour to make a rich and chocolaty cookie. The green tea cookies are a blend of whole-wheat pastry flour, green tea, almond, shochu and they really taste like green tea! They are earthy, aromatic and a refreshing change in flavor from the usual suspects in deserts.

Akiko is currently working from a Manhattan kitchen and developing her third cookie recipe, which will be vegan. After trying the first two, I can’t wait! You can find Akiko’s Cookie at Greene Grape Provisions in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, but if you want to find them closer to home, ask for them at your local specialty market, and tell them to contact AkikosCookie@gmail.com

Check out Akiko's Cookie on Facebook for updates, events and cookie fun!

Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution

        More than just another reality show, Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution is a noble project aimed at waking up Americans to our fatal food supply system.

        It is refreshing to see celebrity chef-stardom being used responsibly toward the bettering of society rather than shameless self-promotion with cable shows and lines of cook-wear. Jamie, who has already revolutionized the food system in England’s public schools, takes on the schools of Huntington West Virginia, the town recently named the unhealthiest city in the United States, based on diet-related mortality. Met with hostility and resistance from adults in the town and schools, the positive reaction of the youths he interacts with fuels the desire for change.

         His message is very basic: eat food made from fresh ingredients. As basic as that is, many Americans eat a diet based on, if not entirely made up of, processed foods. This includes school lunches approved by government nutritional guidelines where pizza counts as two servings of vegetables. As Jamie points out, kids in third world countries are getting fed better than American school children, and parents should be pissed! While these are not new concepts, he is reaching out to those that don’t know. Regardless of how absent-minded one would have to be to allow their third grader to eat pizza for breakfast, the children should not be the ones to suffer. Theoretically, government regulations should have our backs, not exacerbate the problem for financial reasons.

         More compelling than his own tears of frustration are the stories of the youths he mentors. Rather than preaching, he shows America the problems and how unfair it is to the youth; it’s not their fault yet they are being hurt the most, like the young teenage girl who is already morbidly obese and has been told by doctors that she could have as little as 7 years to live.

          Through Jamie’s Kitchen, an educational cooking center in town, he gives free cooking lessons to the public, working with families and individuals on a personal level. He encourages healthy eating with the use of fresh ingredients like herbs and spices and simple techniques like stir frying to make cooking fun. He also infiltrates the school systems to get fresh ingredients on the menu proving that within days, children will eat healthy foods like veggie pasta and roasted chicken as readily as processed nuggets and pizza.

          People who are at the forefront of thought about food and food-politics are often too sophisticated to get down to the level of the everyday Americans, who need awakening the most. While New Yorkers and Californians worry about GMO’s and growth hormones, much of the country doesn’t even bother with fresh produce and whole foods, organic or not. Those masses are the ones that can demand change at the national level, and before we can get back to a farmer-to-consumer food system, the demand for farmed food has to be significant.

          These are the types of values Jamie instills in the community of Huntington as well as the viewers: eat real food. Cloaked in the drama of a reality show on an entertainment driven network, he knew that this would be an opportunity to reach millions, and he went for it. A definitive step in the right direction, his effort is admirable and hopeful.

Peaches Hot House: Keep it on the radar

          Partners Ben Grossman and Craig Samuel behind The Smoke Joint in Fort Greene and Peaches in BedStuy are at it again, and regardless of a rocky economy, risky location, and two other busy restaurants to run, they’ve opened yet another neighborhood spot. Peaches Hot House is located on the corner of Tompkins and Hancock, it is just a short walk from the A and C subway stops. With great food, atmosphere, and soon-to-come full bar, this is definitely a new Brooklyn hot spot.

The team’s first restaurant in the area, Peaches, is a neighborhood favorite, and the Hot House embodies the community spirit in just the same way. The intimate space is comfortable and friendly, a place to be amongst neighbors and make new introductions. Ben and Craig know their community and their establishments contribute to the mingling of its people, whether they are young artists and entrepreneurs new to the hood or members of the community for decades.

Another reason for their repeated success is that they are on premise owners. For the first few weeks both Ben and Craig have been in the kitchen and serving guests, interacting to find out what people like and don’t like. At the same time as listening to their customers, their own diverse backgrounds bring an unrestricted passion to the menu, and the results are inspired items, which are excellent.

Conceptually the menu is southern, but the techniques and composition of the dishes borrow from international cuisines. Comfort seems to be a theme, served up as a big bowl of black-eyed-pea soup with homemade smoked chicken sausage, or fresh pasta salad, or crispy grit cakes, and talk of biscuits and waffles for brunch. As they continue to tweak the menu it’s a pleasure to taste the evolution of dishes (stay tuned for an article documenting the evolution of their already infamous fried chicken), and sample the changing specials like short rib salad with baby spinach and strawberry shortcake. Be sure to keep an eye out for the desserts, with serious baking ovens they hope to supplement their enticing list of Bourbon-glazed pound cake, chocolate brownies, and cobblers with things like cream pies and éclairs.

While shortcake and fried chicken may not seem health-centric, Craig and Ben understand the importance of healthy and sustainable living. Sourcing ingredients from local farms, they know that fresh ingredients contribute vibrancy to flavors and improve the overall quality of a dish. In so many ways, it is easy to see, and taste, that the Hot House is committed to culinary and dining excellence.

What you can expect from your experience at Peaches Hot House is personable and professional service, thoughtful touches like complimentary homemade cornbread, fresh and changing specials, and all with a refreshingly fair price tag. They are open for dinner Tuesday through Saturday from 6-10pm, and will be opening soon for brunch. Their culinary prowess extends to mixology, be sure to sample the impressive selection of house-infusions and artisan cocktails as soon as the bar is open.


Peaches Hot House is located at 415 Tompkins Ave at Hancock St, Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn (718-483-9111). Accessible from the A train to Nostrand Avenue, C train to Kingston-Throop, B43 to Halsey, or B52 to Tompkins.