Friday favorites 9/30

A new-to-me coffee shop, Tarte Tatin time travel, and lots about unique ice cream flavors

Happy last Friday—and last day—of September!

It’s been a good but busy month here at Come como Kiki. Along with my weekly Friday Favorites, we’ve talked about suckling pig, my love for lentils, soup classification, and kicked off the new Ask a Madrileño feature with the one and only David. I’ve also (mostly) come to grips with the end of fig season, and the attendant from my local fruit shop finally stopped teasing me about buying so many of them (I should tell him to just wait until it’s persimmon season…).

Check out how I’ve celebrated the last week of septiembre¹ below:

• Earlier in the week when David and I were walking to meet with a friend we passed by Maison Glacée on Calle Alcalá. As someone who is milk-protein-free, I usually have to go with more standard vegan flavors—like raspberry and mango—in local gelato shops. Not that there’s anything wrong with those flavors, but sometimes I wish there were more dairy-free versions of the crazy concoctions that pepper gelato cases throughout the city. So naturally when I saw a flavor on the menu board of Maison Glacée called Melocotón con azafrán y piñones (Peach with saffron and pine nuts), I knew we had to stop by on our way back to investigate.

  

  Maison Glacée coming through with a unique sorbet flavor for the dairy-free crowd

  Even if a gelato is labeled as a sorbet, I always ask to make sure it doesn’t have milk because I’ve had some surprises in the past. Luckily, I was good to go with this one. The sorbet was made up of a peach base with a saffron syrup drizzle and pine nuts scattered throughout. I have to admit that on the first bite, the pine nut flavor was a little unusual, but the more I ate, the more I loved it, and by the time I had polished off the tarrina pequeña² I was telling David that it was my new favorite flavor.

• As I’ve mentioned previously, I literally have a list on Google Maps of new coffee shops to try in the city. This week I got to cross one off my list when I found myself near the new location of Religion Coffee close to El Retiro. I had been to their main location (and had a killer vegan bizcocho³ while I was there) and was excited when I noticed this new spot a couple of weeks ago. This time I was having my coffee para llevar,⁴ so I skipped the sweets and went straight for an americano.

  

  Americano from Religion Coffee enjoyed while sitting on a bench in El Retiro. No music, no scrolling, no talking on the phone—just coffee and taking in the scenery.

  Not only was it a high-quality americano, but I appreciated that the barista filled the cup almost to the top (even if this made my walk somewhat precarious). Recently I’ve been perplexed when I’ve gone to specialty coffee shops and ordered an americano or iced coffee and been presented with a cup that’s half full (and this wasn’t because I was asking for room for milk, or they had run out of small cups), so even though it was a small detalle,⁵ it scored Religion some points in my book. Plus I spied some pretty delicious-looking cookies in the display case while I was in the shop, so a return trip is clearly in my future.

• Looping back to ice cream, Jen at KitchenWitch recently had a super fun interview with Ryan Kurr of Clash of the Cones fame. I loved reading about his process of choosing what flavors to create (particularly the music-themed flavors!), as well as his background and his comparison of cooking to alchemy. Read the full interview below:

  A Chat With Ryan Kurr, Ice Cream Witch

• I absolutely adore Jolene’s newsletter Time Travel Kitchen and I always know I’m in for a treat when it lands in my inbox. Earlier this week she wrote a bit about the history of Tarte Tatin (one of my favorite desserts) and included a recipe for making it at home. My dad is a huge apple dessert fan, so I have the recipe (along with Jolene’s helpful tips) bookmarked to try when I visit my family next month. Check it out for yourself below:

  Time Traveling to the House of Tatin

In case you missed it, in the current Sunday Sobremesa we’re talking about our favorite food-related movies and TV shows. Head over to get some new ideas for your To Watch list, and add your own favorites while you’re there! The most recent Sobremesa is always pinned on the newsletter homepage, or you can navigate to the current edition using the link here.

And with that we close out the last Friday Favorites of September! Summer’s over but ice cream is always in season, so I’d love to hear your favorite flavors in the comments below.

Have a great weekend, and see you back here on Wednesday!

Ki

1. Septiembre: September

2. Tarrina pequeña: Small cup (a tarrina is what you call the little cups that gelato is served in)

3. Bizcocho: A type of cake with a texture similar to pound cake

4. Para llevar: To go

5. Detalle: Detail