I have officially been a new york resident for three weeks. As of this moment, I have been an official solo NYC resident for two weeks. My mom returned home to Seattle two Saturdays ago. I was sad to see her go. So sad that I broke down in tears in the middle of Whole Foods. One must be on the verge of depression to break down in tears while surrounded by beautiful food, flowers, and wholesome goodness.
It was incredibly helpful to have my mom here for the first week. I would not have been able to get settled without her, and that is a fact. Although I am 28 and should be able to move to a new city without the assistance of my mom, I am not ashamed to admit that I would not have been able to do it. Growing up on the East Coast and being a NYC resident herself (when she was younger), she has a great deal of NYC knowledge. Including the train system...which I am still trying to figure out. She taught me how to take the train, the general layout of New York, and many more pieces of NYC survival mechanisms. Not only did she help me get settled in a new city, she also gave me a lot of smiles. My moms departure left me with swollen eyes (from a few tears). Luckily, I am in culinary school so I could blame it on the onions. My first two weeks alone in the city went better than I expected. Looks like I won't be blaming the onions on swollen eyes too often, I am going to survive on my own.
While she was here, we spoiled our taste buds with many delicious meals. One particular dessert we had still makes it way into my dreams... The Tartufo from Aramone, an Italian restaurant in Hells Kitchen. Tartufo is an Italian ice cream dessert. I wanted to crawl under the table and lick the plate clean. It was that good.

ITALIAN TARTUFO

Prep Time: 25 minutes
Ingredients:

* 3-1/2 cups chocolate ice cream
* 1-1/2 cups frozen pitted cherries, thawed and chopped
* 1 cup chopped milk chocolate
* 20 chocolate sandwich cookies, finely crushed
* 1-1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
* 1/2 cup milk chocolate chips
* 2 tsp. oil

Preparation:
Let ice cream stand at room temperature 10 minutes to soften slightly. Mix chopped cherries and chopped chocolate into the ice cream. Scoop ice cream mixture into eight balls using an ice cream scoop. Roll in crushed cookies to coat. Place on wax paper-lined cookie sheet and freeze until firm, about 3 hours.

In microwave-safe glass measuring cup, combine semisweet chocolate chips with oil. Melt on 50% power for 3-4 minutes, stirring after every minute, until melted and smooth. Remove from microwave and stir in milk chocolate chips, stirring constantly until chips melt and mixture is smooth again. Cool to lukewarm.

Place frozen ice cream balls on a wire rack. Spoon melted chocolate over each ball, coating the top and sides. Place the coated balls on waxed paper and freeze again until firm, at least 2 hours. After 2 hours, place each Tartufo in a paper muffin cup and cover tightly. They can be kept in the freezer up to 2 weeks. Remove from freezer 10 minutes before serving. Serves 8

Use the highest quality ingredients possible. When choosing the ice cream, buy the one with the least amount of ingredients (and ingredients you can pronounce). Buy organic cherries and chocolate. It may cost a bit more but is well worth. Higher quality/organic ingredients ensures good taste and, more importantly, is less harmful to the body.