If you’re a latte enthusiast like me, someone who craves a daily caffeine buzz, you may want to check out this Latte Art Throwdown at the Dean & DeLuca in Midtown, in the New York Times Building. The baristas from Dean & DeLuca stores around the country will be turning milk foam into works of art in hopes of winning prizes. It’s next week. Hope to see you there!

I hope you enjoy my insider’s guide to Chinatown tastes and treats in The Boston Globe.

Happy Year of the Tiger!

Sometimes the purest tastes are the best. Case in point: oysters, when they’re fresh and chilled and prepared properly, hardly need the usual accompaniments of sauces and mignonettes. When I spoke with Eric Ripert of Le Bernardin for my article in Hauteliving.com, he said he doesn’t like the sauces, and always asks that the oysters not be rinsed. He loves the briny, fresh, ocean taste. I’m certainly on board with that.

I know there are so many places to eat oysters in NYC, but here are a few:

Haute Eating: The World is Your Oyster

Simply saying the word chocolate is intoxicating to her. Her face lights up with a wide smile, those hazel eyes twinkle and then she coos, bird-like, with an inimitable “Ooooohh.” My husband is the guilty one. He’s given her tiny morsels of chocolates he buys at The Sweet Life. When he takes a piece out of the box, our daughter runs to him with the above affectations. They learn young, toddlers, discovering what they like and what they do not. It’s that simple.

So now we’re at City Bakery for the month long hot chocolate festival that takes place every February. Her face lights up again, this time for rich, creamy, decadent hot chocolate with a singular but oversized homemade marshmallow that floats on top like a cloud. We are here on Earl Grey tea hot chocolate day, a marriage of two appealing flavors that’s like candy melted on your tongue. Other flavors, like banana peel, creamy stout and bourbon make their appearance throughout the month. I’m curious about the “happy” hot chocolate as well as the “ode to the polar bear,” so just might have to return.

“Ooooohh” indeed.

Homemade marshmallows

City Bakery/3 West 18th St near 5th Ave/212-366-1414
Visit City Bakery for more hot chocolate festival details.

Add a dash of nigella seeds to sweet potato chickpea dip

At A Voce Columbus Circle, after marveling at the verdure, their stellar small vegetable dishes meant as appetizers, I realized how convenient it would be to keep such snacks in my refrigerator either for lunch or to appeases those hunger pangs when I’m super busy and can’t cook. And though I am not able to recreate A Voce’s offering, I can certainly make my own renditions of stellar snack food to keep on hand (see, also, my earlier post on tzatziki), as is the case with this orange, vitamin-rich dip that goes perfectly with flat bread. It’s made all the more inviting with cayenne pepper and a sprinkling of nigella seeds. Serve warm or at room temperature with flat bread and other goodies, like olives and cheese—and perhaps a glass of your favorite wine.

Sweet potato and chickpea dip

Ingredients
1 medium sweet potato, scrubbed
1 can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1 small clove garlic
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus a dash more for drizzling
fresh ground pepper, to taste
nigella seeds, to taste (optional)

Make the dip
Preheat oven to 425°. Prick sweet potato several times with a fork. Place on a cookie sheet and roast until flesh is tender, about 50 minutes. Remove from oven and set aside to cool.

Combine chickpeas, garlic, cayenne pepper and salt in large bowl. Mix with an immersion blender until smooth. Scoop out sweet potato flesh, and add, mixing for another minute. Slowly add olive oil and mix until combined.

Transfer to a serving bowl. Grind pepper over dip and drizzle with extra olive oil. Sprinkle with nigella seeds (optional).

The lasagne at Mia Dona

I love how chefs are using old recipes from their parents and grandparents. Check out my article in Hautliving.com

Tangy tzatziki: one of my favorite dips

Titan Foods in Astoria is one of my favorite shops for Greek goodies, but I can’t believe I used to drive all the way there to buy tzatziki when it’s so incredibly easy to make. (But please do visit the store for other things, like the large variety of feta cheese and olives). I even drained regular yogurt so that it would have the thick consistency of its Greek cousin. Chop up some garlic. Slice half a cucumber. Combine olive oil and lemon juice. Add yogurt. The creamy and tangy dip with only five ingredients is ready in minutes…it’s that simple.

Tzatziki

Ingredients
2 cups thick Greek yogurt
5 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1/2 cup diced cucumber
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
2 teaspoons lemon oil

Make the tzatziki
Chop garlic and dice cucumber. Mix oil and lemon in a medium-sized bowl. Fold in yogurt to mix completely with oil. Add garlic and cucumber. Mix to combine. Serve chilled with flatbread.

For olives, feta cheese, peppers and more food to go along with dips and flatbread, I highly suggest visiting:

Titan Foods/2556 31st St/Queens, NY/718-626-7771

Canella, cinnamon's sister, is used in these easy-to-make scones

To read more about this spice, and for an easy scone recipe, check out my article on Deandeluca.com

White truffles from Alba

Who doesn’t love truffles? They can make the most mundane dish an elegant one.

Find out where to eat truffle dishes in NY restaurants in my article on Hauteliving.com

Check out my review of Spot Dessert Bar in Papermag.com

My recommendations: Vietnamese coffee cupcake, yuzu eskimo and the jackfruit cake. And definitely order a Thai milk coffee!