Roasted coconut
In case you missed it, awhile back we quietly tweeted that May is FOOD CART MONTH here at Ridgefood. We will attempt, weather and energy permitting, to visit every food cart in Ridgewood. There aren’t very many, so this isn’t really very impressive, but hey!
Previously we’ve told you about several borderland carts: Tacos La Carcachita, where the cemitas are big and meaty, and an eponymous Sundays-only Ecuadorian cart that serves salchipapas (french fries and hotdogs, basically) and whole fried fish to voleibol players in Evergreen Park.
The nut cart needs a better sign.
The nut lady sets up shop in front of Gem — a Myrtle Avenue discount store that specializes in holiday decor — usually in the evening and at other busy times. She roasts and bags a standard variety of nuts — peanuts, cashews, almonds — coated in an un-spiced sugary mix.
We chose coconut since we’ve been coconut-crazy lately, having recently made coconut milk, coconut-oatmeal–chocolate chip cookies, and coconut blondies (follow the regular recipe, but put coconut ON TOP). The coconut bits were chewy, lightly sweet, and tasty in a novel sort of way. We’d prefer a more spiced coating, or perhaps a healthy unsweetened version.
HOT TIP: Say hello to the nut lady, then pop into Gem, where you can find big bottles of “Dr. Organics” soap (faux Dr. Bronner’s) for only $5.99. Use it to make your own household cleaner, hand soap (mix 50/50 with water), bubbles for kids that aren’t made of weird chemicals, etc.
Nut Cart
In front of Gem (5408 Myrtle Avenue) [map]
I’m totally making those bubbles.
I’m taking my next vacation to Ridgewood!
We followed the bubble recipe and it needs tweaking; we couldn’t produce more than two bubbles at a time and they sort of fell to the ground quickly and/or popped instead of floating. We’ll work on it.