The tonka bean, a wizened-looking South American seed, is beloved for its complex almond-vanilla scent, often appearing as an ingredient in perfumes. Outside the United States, it has also long been utilized by chefs, but studies have indicated that coumarin, a chemical compound in the plant, can cause liver damage in animals, and the Food and Drug Administration banned the bean in commercial foods in 1954. Now, with reports that the minuscule amounts used to impart big flavor are harmless (and the F.D.A. seemingly not particularly interested in enforcing the ban in recent years), tonka is showing up on dessert menus here. Thea Gould, 30, the pastry chef at the daytime luncheonette La Cantine and evening wine bar Sunsets in Bushwick, Brooklyn, was introduced to tonka after the restaurant’s owner received a jar from France, where it’s a widely used ingredient. Gould says the bean is an ideal stand-in for nuts — a common allergen — and infuses it into panna cotta, whipped cream and Pavlova. Ana Castro, 35, the chef and owner of the New Orleans seafood restaurant Acamaya, discovered tonka as a young line cook at Betony, the now-closed Midtown Manhattan restaurant. Entranced by the ingredient’s grassy, stone fruit-like notes, she’s used it to flavor a custardy corn nicuatole, steeped it into roasted candy squash purée and grated it fresh over a lush tres leches cake. And at the Musket Room in New York’s NoLIta, the pastry chef Camari Mick, 30, balances tonka’s richness with acidic citrus like satsuma and bergamot. Over the past year, she’s incorporated it into a silky lemon bavarois and a candy cap mushroom pot de crème and whipped it into ganache for a poached pear belle Hélène. “Some people ask our staff, ‘Isn’t tonka illegal?’” she says. Their answer: Our pastry chef’s got a guy. —
I took my girlfriend on a 10-day multi-city trip for our first vacation together. The risky choice paid off.
13.08.2024 - 21:53 / insider.com
My girlfriend and I have always enjoyed traveling. Although we'd been on vacations with family and friends in the past, we'd never traveled abroad with a partner until recently.
After dating for a few months, I planned our first official couple trip: a 10-day multi-city vacation in Spain.
We'd spent a couple of weekends away in hotels here in the UK, but our first real trip together would be our longest and most ambitious yet.
Many people we spoke to about it were surprised by its length. In the UK, a more conventional first trip abroad as a couple might be a weekend in Paris or Venice or a few days in a laid-back resort.
I was also aware that going on a grand vacation like this early in a relationship can go poorly.
Fortunately, our trip went better than I could've ever imagined.
I began planning the trip after seeing an ad for a Spanish music festival near Málaga. Some of our favorite artists were on the lineup, and it began on the last day of August, a few days after my girlfriend's birthday.
Tickets and a trip seemed like a cool birthday present. Plus, we were both quite familiar with Spain, and I could speak some basic Spanish after studying the language in school.
Although I usually try to be a little more frugal, I bought two tickets to the festival on the spur of the moment.
When booking flights and hotels, I also reserved train tickets and added an extra leg onto the trip to see Barcelona, a city my girlfriend loves. Overall, we'd spend five nights in Málaga and five in Barcelona, with a train ride in between.
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