the chickens are finally starting to lay eggs. teeny little guys.
too delicate to eat (or, i just don’t really have the heart to).
so, a girl at work also has chickens. she said that they had recently been eating a lot of pumpkin and thus tasted like pumpkin. we’ve been feeding the chickens a lot of Pie in the Sky. well hell … if the eggs came out tasting like a croissant, then i could skip the bread all together.
the blue eggs is much more rich in color in person
a little mini guy that i made – fits just perfectly in my hand.
as well as a tuna fish sandwich…
thanks SAM MOORE for photo
extra chocolate chips.
rolling out croissant doughs is an exercise everyone should practive. even oprah.
diagonals
don’t even start with your “perils in baking”. you haven’t imagined anything more stressful and complicated than yeast.
those bastards will involuntarily rip out your hair and cause endless nights of restlessness.
i’ve made pizza dough as many times as i can count on both hands, but BREAD … REAL BREAD, my friends, will deduct years off any pizza dough’s life. it will pity even the thinnest of brooklyn’s crust or the deepness of a chicago pie.
oh my goodness … where do i start? baguette.
baguette has a dough that needs to be “velvety”. beth is a pie girl/coworker of mine and i marvel over her french bread every time she makes it. using words that would later leave me walking home imagining the daggone things having “feelings” and “body parts”. it also needs to be kneaded like crazy. and watching it in the bowl – spinning around and around and morphing is the coolest. if i don’t brace myself or, much less, keep a distance, i’d probably dive into the mesmerizing sight – all the little “tendons” starting to criss cross and tighten; so tight that i’d swear i could pick it up and stick on the back of a pencil and go and erase all the drawings at Louvre in Paris. speaking of …
anywho, then weigh out the dough for rolls and baguettes. rolling out the baguette is even more of a tightening and pinching process. pressing and rocking the dough against the baker block – all the while lengthening and stretching it into an evenly rolled-out baton.
mind blowing.
four ingredients by the way: bread flour, salt, water, yeast. that pesky yeast. but how i love thee when you can give me product as such ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ …
i sure hope my dogs would save me before something tragic as such happened.
i can’t say that i’ve made a roast beef sandwich and my dog has told me that i forgot the mustard. but then again, i never really took the time to listen…
for years and years midnight and friends would sit and wag their tails as i’m prepping a snack or a meal and i was always under the frustrated assumption that they were begging to nibble on whatever i had my hands on.
perhaps they’re nervous that i’m leaving out the tomato in my grilled cheese or i overlooked the salt in my scrambled eggs.
folks, just imagine a black lab saying, “jess, you’re not supposed to dice the onions. you’re supposed to MINCE them.”
dogs are so smart … that black lab is probably friggin right!
this guy right here … BUMMED. he probably took that canine piece of love for a solid 6 mile hike. no brie at the end …
before you tell your pup to “forget it”, just remember he’s just trying to be a bud … ALL THE TIME.
crabs and bubble flip
a classic scenario.
invite the nieghbors over and pour the food all over the table. create a mini bar of sorts (tub of beer) and pull it right up to the edge so it seems that you have created some sort of “shrine” on one side of the dining table. mow down and drink. sounds like college, but in this case your wife (secretary) spent 4 hours on her hair do.
its crab season. old bay and extra napkins are necessities. put out your pots or throw down your wallet!
burgers, homie
these guys are a little more complex – imagine meat loaf complex.
they need fillers and binders. the meat is so lean, that the fat content practically doesn’t exist and there is nothing to “hold” your burger together. thus, you’ll need an egg and a handful of breadcrumbs (maybe none at all if you can swing it) when you’re fixin’ up enough meat for four or five people.
while you’re at it, throw in some chopped garlic and a tad-o-onion. salt, pepper too.
mash, form, sear, nom nom nom
we have all “felt up” the peaches
thank you Rhymes with Orange
dedication
no shortage of dedication whatsoever.
it was an amazing evening and we threw some venison tenderloin on the grill. cape weather. epic.
im eating some now, actually, and i’m licking my fingers before i type on the keyboard.
as you all know, if you’ve read my posts, we are serious venison fans and there is no holding back whatever time of year it is.
thus, voila!!! a journey through the mouths of 23 nobska rd, woods hole, masssssssssssss …
and the close up. i dont have the conclusion because, well, it didn’t last so long! char grilled goodness!
product
dali or a rembrant?
i asked myself the same thing.
when food styling doesn’t even end up being less appetizing but moreso just works of art. i’m sure you’ve heard the phrase, presentation is everything. 
don't even think about it
"special" iced tea into the brooklyn sunset
Good food is my life.
It drives some people crazy how obsessed and particular I am about something as day-to-day as food. But, what most people don’t realize is that it has extreme potential to be a lifestyle, which it has become for me. My mother coined the name “food snob” for everyone in my family, but I blame her 50% and the other half, my father.
Food is, besides a ways and means of survival, an art, love, and fulfillment in my life. In other words, it is my passion in all of its many forms – all of which I will do my best to show you.
My love for food stemmed from my childhood. So you have a better understanding, I’ll describe to you my situation:
maybe he ate too much
for once, be honest with yourself. no one can resist the true temptation of an honest to God good cookie.
some of my favorites:
milk.
some foodie quotes that i rather enjoy.
“I wish they had aperitivo places, like in Italy. You go there, get a drink and there is a whole buffet of FREE food you can serve yourself to (and its usually amazingly good – prosciutto with melon – cold salads – ahhh to be at Colle Bereto in Florence one more time…amazing cocktails and free Asian food on Wednesday…ahhh).” – Ghislaine … are you serious?
“No man in the world has more courage than the man who can stop after eating one peanut.” – Channing Pollock
“How does a cake not fall apart? How does an ice cream cake not melt?” – Matthew Arrow
“What did the dentist’s wife ask his wife when she told him she was making a pie? (What.) Can I do the filling?”
recently on Grub Street in New York magazine, eric ripert picked out the best fish tacos in manhattan. great choices, considering there aren’t a lot of taco joints to choose from that toggle with fish… for tacos, but there are a few he might’ve over looked and one that, well, i agree to disagree.
this is not a fish taco... this is barrio
and sorry eric, not that i’m really trying to watch my waistline considering all the chocolate i eat, but fish shouldn’t be fried in my opinion. i’ve been to Pinche Taqueria a handful of times, but fried fish makes me timid – it’s probably not fresh. leave the fried to chicken and conch fritters. pinche does serve little neck Corona’s at their nolita location. if you can tell me where to actually buy these wholesale, we can probably be friends.
hot sauce… lots of hot sauce.
such a beautiful movie and such a memorable scene. “Big Night” is an absolute favorite of mine. this is such a wonderful clip of Stanley Tucci bustin’ out a frittata (italian-style omelette) in one single shot and assumingly hungover. no music. still camera. five minutes. take note: that’s definitely how you properly beat an egg! i didn’t post the insane dinner party scene, so you have to watch the movie to truely understand the meaning and impact of a really good get-together. so old school and so right on SO many levels. here’s another funny scene that might get your juices rollin’. don’t get me wrong, i love meatballs.
weekly (well, i hope) updates. new flavors. new inspirations.
flavors i have recently attempted and been relatively successful with:
mango, key lime, blueberry, apple, and sweet potato, chocolate pear
*crust:
2 cups flour
1.5 sticks of salted butter
quarter cup of sugar – granulated or light brown
1 egg yolk
2 teaspoons vanilla
half teaspoon nutmeg
touch of orange zest
“cut” the flour and butter (mix with hands). add the yolk, vanilla, sugar, nutmeg, orange zest. stick those hands in there and give it ago. i mean take it like a 6 year old to silly puddy. feel the dough as it starts to form and try and make a solid ball. does it feel crumbly? add another yolk. yolk acts as a cement to hold that dough together. or if you like it super buttery and flaky, add butter in smidgens instead. does it feel too sticky? add flour gradually.
eat a little bit (aaaaah yes). it shouldn’t taste too sweet, the filling should be the main source of that sugar rush. also, don’t OD on nutmeg. you don’t want anyone to ONLY taste nutmeg. all i’m sayin is, you be the judge of your own dough.
wrap in plastic wrap and stick in the fridge for an hour atleast. perfect opportunity to make your filling and catch up with all that hub bub you missed.
when it’s time, follow directions accordingly to your filling. double check to see if they need a “pre-baked” pie crust or an “unbaked” pie crust. i trust y’all know the difference. remember to butter and flour your pie dish before rollin’ it out and stickin’ it in. if you need to “pre-bake” it, poke the crust with a fork (not a spoon or a knife) a few times all over after it’s been placed in the dish. put it in at 350 degrees for a solid ten atleast.
makes only 1 crust, guys, for a 9 incher.
holy moly. ya done.
*this is a recipe that i usually eyeball. please feel free to post comments and results. it’s all trial and error. different people, different results. you’ll start to understand what this means when you make dough again and again.
the image below does not portray and confection of my own. it is only a joke. haha funny. however, you’ll notice the pan that is being used. do NOT. i repeat…do NOT use this pan. if you use a pan like this, it probably means a) you bought a pre-made crust
moment of silence
obsession – n. – an unhealthy fixation.
precisely why i’m going to die from it.
finally! a post about the “big kahuna” in my life…
i can’t really tell you how it all came to be. i do remember two things though from my childhood. 1) my dad keeping a price club-sized box of peanut butter m&ms in the back of his old 79 blue chevy van. i was so little when this was a reality that i couldn’t even finish a whole bag by myself. 2) my first taste of dark chocolate was a king size special dark chocolate bar in cape cod. i never knew it existed until my girlfriend Virginia from California and I biked up to the pharmacy in Davisville and she pulled one down off the shelf. we biked home and jumped on the bed listening to Tom Petty’s “Wildflowers” album… eating dark chocolate and – more than likely – getting sick to the stomach.
anywho, ten… twenty… whatever, fifteen years later, i’m still figuring this stuff out.
so we all experience the excitement when we go out to eat. you read the menu, you have an idea of what your food is going to look like in your head, you wait, drink, and the plate comes out of the kitchen and (get excited) …
don’t think. first reaction. maybe you’re stoked, shocked, disgusted, disappointed, thrilled, hungry, not so hungry. it’s all in the face really. all in all, there’s something super satisfying in my opinion about looking at food, taking photos and trying to portray every characteristic possible. the smell, temperature, texture, and of course the TASTE. as follows are a few photos of well, food and diners, and you be the critic. please disregard photo-quality. this is the poor man’s food photography that we got goin on here. yes, i want and NEED a real camera which i can’t wait to finally purchase and get REALLY raw and nitty gritty with food, but iphones and blackberrys (even flip ups) can do some serious justice. maybe even chip your tooth. feel free to comment and post your own if you want to add to the plate.
morgan, beard, bread, baked eggs, greens, lattes - Brown Cafe
barrel of you-know-whats - third avenue street fair
Curtis Ripley's waffles - homemade from the Chalkley kitchen, Charles City, VA
yellow carrots - Union Square market
homemade shortbread
oysters at Marlow and Sons, BK
focaccia "occhio di bue" - Morandi brunch
so sexy.
if “i had a farm in africa”, i’d definitely grow coffee and cocoa beans. meryl streep can convince a good audience that she can start and successfully maintain a coffee bean farm in the movie “Out of Africa”, but who are we kidding? it’s a chick flick and all the gals really wanna do is stare at robert redford and live in that gorgeous house. needless to say, if you’re a fan of dining al fresco, you might consider going on safari just for the sake of camping and eating outside (and hunting lessons from Redford) after watchin this film.
hoppin' haupt's
as a kid, the Boyd family that lives just down the dirt road from us and my family would go to the Weyanoke area of Charles City to go camping in the fall. clear the land, set up camp, build a fire. provisions were always gathered at haupt’s country store. charles haupt can grind up a righteous sausage patty, bacon, pet milk, eggs, s’mores stuff. everything else most likely came out of our backyard – ducks, doves, deer, greens. cooking this stuff over the fire in an iron skillet – even brought a pot to make rice over the roaring flames was always thrilling to watch. juicy smokey goodness… mmm. s’mores for dessert to make it official, then maybe top it off with some skinny dipping. whatever, we’re talkin about Robert Redford… or Out of Africa. i chose this film because there is no shortage of fabulous dining scenes, however, (word to the men in the audience) if you really wanna impress a woman, i’d take some **notes:
(SORRY GUYS YOUTUBE REMOVED THE CLIP… PLEASE SEE THE FILM!)
old fashioned for sure, but wow… down to the wine glasses, china, silverware, fresh oranges for dessert, even a record player. assuming that the game they’re eating was shot on the very same day and cooked on site. budget? no. lots of space to pack? yes. they weren’t hikin’ around with a low alpine, obviously, but scenes like this prove the efficiency of a good fire, a few groceries, good wine and company can really prove an outta-sight outta-mind camping experience. even in a field, in the middle of nowhere, with a box of matches.
this brings me back to my point – anything’s possible. even in the most minimal of settings. don’t be a puss and bring a Bunsen burner. get creative. and if you’re really clueless, stick some good weiners on a treebranch. horseradish. spicy mustard. yes.
**not tryin to crack on gentlemen a-typically armed with power tools or the stock market. it always doesn’t hurt to know how to cook a thing or two. a man over the stove armed with a spatula… melts my face. worked for robert… look where they ended up. sheesh.
bummed for about two seconds that i missed a brunch date with two girlfriends in Ft Greene Brooklyn, but perfect excuse to hit up a small joint that had been rackin’ my brain for a solid week.
a lazy morning on sunday evolved into an increasingly starved tummy and a promise date to the brooklyn flea. the impossibility of breaking away from a very comfy bed decreased my chances of a nice afternoon in brooklyn, however, my luck and mood changed… after i exited the subway to find that my lovely ladies had already consumed their egg-dishes at General Green, i immediately put myself back on the subway and walked to east 7 street manhattan from canal street. cold and starved, i walked my stiff leather boots into a lovely tiled sliver of a counter-type-restaurant. hesitant at times about food with a limited menu, i couldn’t help but stare at the hunk of meet under the heat lamp in this dig called Porchetta.
funnies. ha.
Black Hound makes a down right sinful rum ball. At two bucks a piece, you get a golf ball sized dense chocolate … with a little bit of nut … mouth full. rum is prevalent, but not overwhelming. yes you can fit the whole thing in your mouth. do i recommend it? you betcha. dunno if they’re open on christmas eve, but on the weekends i know they’re open until 11 pm. and they have samples ALL THE TIME. go in and pretend you’re “checking out a menu” for ”an order”. just don’t tell them i told you so. no idea where you can find a good set of dentures. oh my.
sooooo poppable
choppity chop chop chop
that’s willie nate haulin the chainsaw to snatch up that tree. the only beauty in the whole field.
so chalkley christmas means a few things… all involving food of course: meat and egg nog.
i’m just going to throw a few “food porn” images at you regarding the 3 day celebration. yes christmas is technically two days – eve and christmas day – but you always have to sneak in the extra day for leftovers. waistline killer.
clams for clam chowdah
christmas eve lunch: baked raclette cheese, homemade coleslaw, billy bread, lisa's spicy pork bbq, red rooster sauce
beluga caviar, toast points
my christmas present to my family was making christmas eve dinner. this is what came outta the kitchen…
typical media these days
M&Ms never thought they’d cause such a stir. compliments of the chalkley refrigerator… thank you vic lee for eating M&Ms. and thanks to all those lovely lady news anchors that have spent decades and hours on that fabulous bubble flip.
our venison doesn’t just sit on the grill with salt and pepper. that slab o’ charles city protein sits in a marinade for a full day. here’s the recipe for a fabulous venison marinade. also may apply to any “gamey” sort of meat: ducks and geese. if you live out west it’s good for any other kind of “antlered” species as well.
takes patience
for a 3 lb. tenderloin of venison:
a 12 oz bottle of hard cider or a belgian blonde
a quarter cup of apple cider vinegar.
1 cup of apple cider
1 cup of red wine
half a medium onion sliced into thin wedges
one medium fuji apple sliced into thin wedges
3 sprigs of rosemary – leaves removed to only use the leaves
1 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of tiger seasoning or crazy jane’s mixed up salt
1 teaspoon of ground pepper
2 cloves of minced garlic
1 tablespoon of olive oil
place all of ingredients above except for the olive oil into a deep dish that snuggles with the tenderloin. mix and stir it up. place tenderloin in dish and let it rest and soak up in the fridge for a solid 6 hours. flip every few hours or so and make sure that the majority of the meat is submerged completely.
rub it down with the olive oil and place on a covered grill at medium heat for maybe 15 minutes. take that thermometer and check it! the temperature should read a solid 120 degrees. if not, check the meat every minute or so. it should be 20 minutes TOPS to cook.
let the loin rest for ten minutes. slice. fall in love.
because that holiday egg nog is still being polished off in the fridge, here’s a little christmas laughter to keep ya smilin’ in all that grill smoke.
poor rudolph
save those onions and apples. sautee all them marinated jammers in a sautee pan with 2 tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat until onions are soft. garnish.
dinner at west 106
never seen so much champagne in one fridge in my life. new years eve is the biggest overrated holiday of the year-in my opinion. however, over past years, i’ve come to realize that it should be treated just as any other celebration. close friends, good food, NO FRONTING ZONE.
exactly what we ended up doing. me plus 7 other kids as you can see in the photo above. except lilli who’s hiding!
pulled tables together in a darling harlem apartment. whole foods run that ended up being more like a 20 minutes trip to the zoo on new years eve. but, never the less… this is what we came up with. besides massive amounts of the bubbly.
old school
january 3rd … what a great day. wow. marks the day adrienne stillman (23 years ago) was born… something pounds something ounces. speaking of pounds … put on a few pounds over the holidays. thought i might like to put on a few more.
maybe it’s southern, but pound cakes are a running tradition in my family. i heard the history of pound cakes was the idea of a pound of everything. not too sure that rule applies to this recipe. i hit up the google machine and found a few recipes. one of them from this website caught my fancy. i decided that i’d tweak it just a bit to make it somewhat different. grocery run down the street and calling in delivery to ask for a few extra items i’d forgotten, i finally rolled up my sleeves in my funky little new york kitchen, put on some ongoing good tunes and put myself to work!
here’s whatcha need, betty crocker:
a holiday. a spectacle really that comes once (maybe even twice) a week. brunch in the city is almost as common as swiping your metro card and is hyped as christmas before halloween even hits. i might even be able to name a few people that wouldn’t really know what to do with their weekend if it wasn’t for brunch. i admit… i love the idea of rolling out of bed at 1 pm and still having the opportunity to get eggs and pancakes at fairly respectable dining establishments, but i still want the non-pretentious aspect as well. it’s a meal kids. i gotta FEED myself!
what part of town you live in, how far you want to travel with that achey liver, budget, atmosphere, etc. all play a part in the decision making process. very rarely do you see people brunching alone. i do a lot actually. this is only because sometimes getting everyone together midday for some grub on the weekends is almost as stressful as it was planning your friday night -which literally only happened about 12 hours before. unless you’re a creature of habit, then you probably already have in mind what you want to eat, when, where, with whom – in which case, it all turns into a mindless excercise of showering, clothing, and getting yourself there.
me on the other hand, always want to try something new. it also helps that i have friends that keep an open mind for suggestions. a few places that i’ve rather enjoyed in the past and have revisited on various occasions are as follows (all of them are downtown, yes, but as the brunch oddessy continues, the list will grow) and items that i recommend as well:
sweet potato pie for you
love you. happy birthday.
referring back to my post about brunch and how sometimes all ya want is a solid sandwich? had one of these moments about a week ago. i’ve been scoping out the deli scene. seriously… a good sandwich should not have to cost ya ten bones for a nice one. shaved boar’s head brand on toast wheat with lettuce, tomato, mustard, i like the jalapenos on there, and sliced right down the middle? sound really good? yeeeeeeaah and guess what… it’s right on your corner most likely i.e. that DELI!
all the countless old timer diner’s that sprawl this amazing city have an appeal that puts you at ease and you enjoy the simple perks of food and the undying comfort of the “diner experience”! i live on east 11 street but just up 3rd ave at 15 street is Joe Junior. i was walkin my way up to the whitney museum on a steaming hot 17 degree day last week and popped into joe’s to check out their sandwich board.
perched myself at the counter across from an old-timer just reading and suckin’ on some chicken bones. i took a look at the faded plastic menus… breakfast all day (typical), burgers, funky fried things and SANDWICHES. a dude came up to my left and before he sat down, he yelled out “special soup, bread, salad with that dressing i like and a coffee…thanks.” … “Right away boss.”
that's a dude right there
this guy poured me a nice one and check out that oven
had a ladies brunch on sunday this past weekend at August, which i wrote briefly about below in “BBB”. more photos and laughs to add to the memories and archives. adrienne, ghislaine, michelle, and i waited a small amount of time for a nice table upfront. near the oven – thank goodness because i took out my new bike sunday for a good ride in 27 degree weather. stood by that hot son of a gun and had a nice dry french cider beer. we watched and caught ourselves pointing and “oh man”-ing as the hot food was being dished out to each hungry soul. we all read, reread, and read again the menu and i couldn’t really decide on much until i closed my eyes and did a “finger point wherever” kinda deal.
i’m sure you’ve encountered articles, or first hand, the recently transformed recession-friendly restaurants around the city this winter. a couple of weeks ago i had a casting in tribeca on chambers street and had a run in with one myself. i used to live in this part of town awhile ago for a significant amount of time. things were starting to pop up here and there. some bars and restaurants have been around since the beginning of time, but when Robert DeNiro discovered the potential of real estate in tribeca, he bought the whole hood (almost) and started an empire. money started flooding the streets and little shops and restaurants/cafes took over abandoned spaces and took over a few other strugglers. all a little sad in some respects, however, i gotta say… there is some SERIOUS food being turned out on these ancient cobble stone streets.
i left my casting on chambers street and started to walk up Hudson street and came upon Bouley Market, formerly known as Bouley Bakery. the arched glass window dawned beautiful baguettes and loaves of fresh made bread. i mean… do you honestly think i just kept on walking? i walked straight in, and you know it!
beautiful carbs
so, one huge dinner party last saturday evening (february 7) left everyone that attended in a food coma that lasted until the morning coffee. waking up feeling a little gross, my buddy made a nice observation, “the birds are chirping outside.” just bought a new bike, and the no-brainer came to mind: BIKE RIDE.
colin and i rallied up morgan and we set a meeting place in east village. everyman espresso at noon. then, nomads until whatever hour. we wanted to bike this town to shreds. our tire tracks covering as much ground as we could possibly stand. we set out northward on 3rd avenue. adrenaline running, legs pumping, excitement about whatever hood, area, people, places, new digs we might encounter. 3rd ave skipped over to the park. up through the park and across 125 street to st nicholas ave. st. nicholas ave to 149 and we ended up at St. Nick’s Pub. a harlem institution that is magically blessed with unforgettable memories… old school and ones of my own. great jazz. cheap top shelf. and sugar hill beer (only made in harlem). it was closed, but we had a few photo moments and already plan a swift return one of these evenings.
149 on the fingers... backwards
Shrove Tuesday is the correct term for the day before Ash Wednesday. aka Mardi Gras. aka what i like to call FAT TUESDAY. Westover Parish church is the church i used to attend in Virginia as a child and fat tuesday meant that they were going to be serving up all kinds of breakfast goodies for supper. at 6 pm the fam would head on over there and do it right – indulge on pancakes, waffles, bacon, sausage (most likely homemade), eggs, syrup, biscuits and cheese, gravy, etc. it was a really great time and the ONLY time when we got to stuff our little cheeks with syrup and pancakes instead of chicken and rice. the other county kids and i would storm through the doors and pile more gluttony on our plates than we could possibly eat in one sitting. everyone joined together in the community room around long, brown foldable tables and chairs. we skipped across old 70′s tiled floors, and under blinking white lights. yellow painted centerblock walls sporadically dawned with children’s graffiti. scarce bulletin boards with dated events newsletters and photographs hung by an old water fountain in the corner. in the opposite corner sat an anceint grand piano. dusty and extremely mangled over decades of use and abuse. a sad sight, really. the keys slowly stopped making any sort of beautiful sounds. i admit that i can recall a few times when i’d peek my head in to look (and touch) the strings. even tried pulling a few Ray Charles moments and banged on the keys with my eyes closed making up words and noise. we were a wild bunch of kids.
so, back to what i’m really trying to say, this is a holiday that i hate to pass up even though i no longer get to “do it right”, it’s a great time to throw the health kick out the window and just get down and dirty on whatever you’re really wanting. next day is lent so i’d go real deep and dark. it’d been awhile since i’d seen my buddy Kerrigan, so i thought i’d see what he was up to and make some supper by my way. i wanted steaks and pancakes. Kerrigan is just so rad in the sense that he’ll eat just about anything, but knows when it’s good. he agreed on the set menu. easy right? so, tuesday afternoon, i’d finally finished running my errands and wandered down to SoHo to snoop around Pino’s on Sullivan and Houston for some filet cuts.
probably walked right by this one a few times
i had an amazing breakfast today…
yes, that's mustard
Grey Dog Cafe on University and 11th street. fluffy egg white omelette with spinach and tomato with an english muffin. and, as you can see, lots of mustard. best way to start the day.
i used to eat yogurt religiously. the organic bomb that his this planet in the past few years has doubled the yogurt market and now the shelves don’t just dawn Yoplait or Dannon, but a slew of others with the most outrageous flavors and made from atleast 3 different types of milk … probably more. i walked into a wonderful organic market down the street from my apartment on 1st ave between 10th and 11th streets and pulled a few off the shelf to do a small taste test this week.
a long time favorite of mine is made by a french-quebec brand called Liberté. they make several different types of yogurt but mine is in the Méditerranée group in the passion fruit flavor. extremely creamy and slightly sweet and tart hints from the passion fruit. devine, but not the BEST for you. you’ll want to sit down and eat a boatload because it’s that good, but you might wanna take a small glimpse at the nutrition facts… oof! not fun!
i picked up a new brand that i’d never heard of before, but had seen on the dairy shelves a few times in the past couple of months. it’s called Siggi’s. it’s an “Icelandic style skyr strained non-fat yogurt… Grade A, 0% milkfat”, which in all honesty means absolutely nothing to me. the flavor was outrageous sounding though – orange and ginger. the packaging is a draw as well. nice 6 ounce container with a matte wrap around label. i bought it and i tried it this morning in bed in my pajamas.
last spoonful
edith piaf perhaps?
we all know that when you’re mixing those cookies, you wanna jam to some aretha franklin, or when you’re flippin’ burgers maybe some old funk is goin’ out the speakers, mexican makes me want to belt out some santana perhaps. did you know that you are not alone? big names with bonafied record labels sang about vegetables, ice cream, and how they like their eats “lightly salted”.
Theme magazine put a great post up on their site recently “Sound: Food Makes us Happy” by Cool Calm Pete. 26 buzzworthy songs that are all food related. check out this yummy track list:
edible album art
9th Creation, “Bubble Gum”
Audio Two, “I Like Cherries”
Gary Bartz, “Drinking Song”
The Beach Boys, “Vegetables”
Beastie Boys, “Egg Man”
BO Junior and Keb Darge, “Coffee Pot, Pt. 1”
Willie Bobo, “Fried Neckbones and Some Home Fries”
Cameo, “Candy”
The Dynamics, “Ice Cream Song”
Fat Boys, “All You Can Eat”
Monk Higgins, “Little Green Apples”
JBs, “Pass the Peas”
KMD, “Plumskinzz”
Kool & the Gang, “Chocolate Buttermilk”
Galt Macdermot, “Coffee Cold”
The Mar-keys, “Banana Juice”
Jackie Mittoo & The Soul Brothers, “Chicken and Booze”
Idris Muhammad, “Bread”
Elvis Presley, “Song of the Shrimp”
Frankie Seay & The Soul Riders, “Soul Food”
Booker T. & the MG’s, “Mo’ Onions”
Norma Tanega, “Bread”
Maggie Thrett, “Soupy”
Barry Ungar, “Lightly Salted”
The Who, “Heinz Baked Beans”
Wu-Tang Clan, “Ice Cream”
i know you’re looking at that list and saying to yourself, “really? they came out with this stuff?” yeah, it’s on the B side of that number one Billboard hit that made them millions. a great mix of music genres all across the board. put this on before your next dinner party, might come up with some really eclectic creations. hey man, that’s alright with me. all in all, you got something to sing while you’re helming the stove.
good thinkin, Theme. pass those peas, please.
Download it HERE if you wanna take a gander.
that spinach... look at it... just SPILLING OVER
heyyyy…. uh… what happened? it’s been a roller coaster these days my friends, that’s for sure.
May One today. just last weekend the temperature hit a whoppin’ 87 degrees here in new york. you know what that means? yeah, i knew you were thinkin’ sangria and bbqs, but what about that stuff that goes with it? you ever heard of greens?
made some supper the other night with colin. he sniffed cheese and gave words of encouragement: “that looks delicious… i’m going to go sit down and eat some of this cheese.” just joking. he helped slice avocado and i am kind of a hog when it comes to the kitchen knife. yes, you’ll need a nice sharp one for this recipe. we couldn’t really decide which kind of fish we wanted, but we went with tuna. colin learned how to sear tuna. and he put some nice citrus on top. FYI: citrus was the theme of the night. and we “hit the motherload” on that one.
this “citrus-y” salad played a big part in that mother of a load…
ingredients:
1 medium fennel bulb chopped or shredded (like cabbage in chunky cole slaw)
2 cups baby spinach leaves
1 medium navel orange sliced into thin half-moon sections
1/3 cup of shredded carrots
1/4 medium red onion – chopped
1 small thinly sliced fuji or honey crisp apple
pepper to taste
1 avocado thinly sliced, but put it aside
extra half of a lime, put this aside too
3 T roasted sesame seeds, aaaaaaaaand put it aside!
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eating out. try to avoid it. however, it’s an addiction of mine (not as much as chocolate).
someone coming to your table and saying, “what can i get for ya?” is just music to my ears. so lovely i have to hold myself back from ordering something like the seafood tower at Balthazar or the rib eye with a nice bottle of red (that goes for anywhere).
however, not all places involve dollar signs. and not all places are about the extravagant culinary experience. rainy days are all about warm feelings, good friends, a solid beer and something to fill your stomach that is honest and simple.
a warm, downpour-ish evening involved ducking and hiding under awnings. al fresco seemed outta the question, but colin, sean, morgan, ozzy and i shared a few caipirinas under well-covered sidewalk seating. it all seemed kind of surreal. staying dry and not really thinking about the drenched umbrellas just an arms-length away. a sidewalk spat at us a little bit, but not enough to wipe the smiles off our faces.
a bit on the hungry side and taking notice that the daylight was running away, burgers and beers were on the brain. LUCKY STRIKE was just down the street so we decided to get our shoes more wet and stroll over to one of the Keith McNally empires, but the biggest “no-front-zone” of them all …
corner table, rounds of beers, damp clothes, wet shoes, hum of voices… ticking clocks … time and curfews didn’t deem worthy of our time and worries. only mussels, burger, chicken, and french bread and butter.
i’d just gotten a an old Nikon FE2 fixed up (thank you Jestena!) and decided to try it out. colin supplied the film – slow ASA of 1600 – that gave off a wonderfully grainy image and suit our relaxed moods and frame of minds just perfectly:
bluuuuuue moooooon
so,
just stoked now reading the NYTimes at my desk. they did an article on cut-rate/low-cost restaurants. Bouley Market was one of their diggs!
they do raise an interesting point though. instead of calling it a restaurant, they’re calling these kinds of venues “markets” to make a more relaxed feel setting and “managers aren’t so anxious to turn tables in order to accomidate.” sit back, relax, munch on your cheap gourmet and read this article HERE kids…
FYI – my article ran first. hey Times … ya hiring? jokes!
aka the south. disregard the steamy hot weather and the thick sweetness of the air. disregard the southern draaaaaaawl and the big open fields of peekin’ up corn stalks. disregard the rocking chair.
why in God’s good earth do those “suthuhnuhs” move so slow? maybe because you slip into a food coma three times a day. just to throw a few hints at you … all the cliches should be a dead ringer: cornbread, fried chicken, grits, grease, pound cake (as mentioned in a few posts below).
colin and i had two tremendously wonderfully ludicrously successful trips down south this past month. first stop: savannah, georgia, where colin went to school (which i actually find so hard to believe … you can actually study in that gorgeous town?) and has a house that he beautifully restored of which i got a grand tour. second stop: charles city, virginia, where my lovely mom and pop fed me crazy food and helped me realize that life is too short (much more than just that and ALL of which i thank them for).
savannah is much like virginia from an architectural stand point. big porches, windows, victorian, emphasis on facade – wood, stone, and brick. the cuisine is not far off either. had a few firsts! but proportions, booze, and ways of dining are almost parallel.
first night we arrived, it was so late. so, colin took me to his favorite dive: pinkie masters (he says “pinkie blasters”) we hadn’t eaten dinner yet and we were starved, so we bought about 7 bags of various chips from behind the bar and 4 wheat beers. (click on images to enlarge)
that's a dorito
that's the damage
after hopping around for a bit – “bar hopping” – we split a few cajun BOILED PEANUTS. now, i ain’t nevuh had me onuh them before, so this was QUITE an authentic experience. what a delight. it was like savory/spicy/almost-there-peanut-butter in a shell. maybe it’s for all those people losing teeth.
baaaahled p-nuts
my mom makes amazing gazpacho – and it’s just how she describes it. having enough texture that you can feel the macerated fresh vegetables on your tongue, but not puree’d to the point where it becomes tomato soup, and not chunky where it feels like a soupy salad.
had an insanely lovely lunch with Adrienne at Benoit in midtown. we had a darling sidewalk table that faced the madness on 55 street. if you want the full 411 – we were looking straight at a plumber’s van. bless his heart he’s doing a good thing for someone in nyc.
anyway, glancing at the menu – prix fix no, entrees too heavy, cheese can be for later, cold appetizers mmm yes. my friend Matt Arrow had just described this day as “thick as maple syrup”. nyc has finally been hit by the humid summer weather, but all things aside, i was exactly where i really wanted to be.
Adrienne is a foodie like me and deciding things on the menu is borderling telepathic. we read eachother in between the lines. vocal tones. gestures. pitch. etc. we’ve got it down really. “Chilled Tomato Soup” is what they call it. “gazpacho,” our waiter noah said. blam-o. we got two (one for each).
YUMS. right on the button. small bits of vegetable in a fresh tomato base. little cubes of avocado and croutons (which normally i’m not so jazzed about, but this was an exception – light, crunchy, and there wasn’t an insane amount of them).
hit the spot:
deceivingly lite-fare
you can see the nice hunk of cherry tomato (always allowed) which was a pleasant surprise and a sweet explosion in my mouth. a good cherry tomato, as such, could parallel a fine hunk of chocolate any day for me.
following, i had a truely amazing nicoise salad. just perfectly dressed and exceptionally pleasing to the eye. the tuna was not seared, but hey, can’t be picky sometimes – and that kind of tuna is very “rarely” found. har har.
all in all – lovely experience. highly recommend this place for a leisurely lunch. very pleasant service and overly accomidating (which is not bad when you’re having a bit of rose alongside).
cheers and good eats my lovers.
back a few months ago, i wrote a small blip on my favorite brunch spots.
i gotta admit, that i have had a few shortcomings in my life. obviously, i haven’t been around to breakfast in a few months, nor have i hit enough spots in the city before i had the guts to pick and choose my favorites, but i did say i’d add more soon – so, VOILA!
the steamy, hot weather has put me on two wheels 24/7 and i’ve been cruising to the different burroughs trying to figure out what i’ve been missing out on. a little off-sounding i know. who wants to sweat so much? well, something about sweat reminds me of summer.
Walter Foods, erected by Dylan Tood, owner of Barrio Chino, is one of the latest brooklyn experiments. daggone. i thought i knew what was up when it came to burgers and the corner of roebling and grand in williamsburg is the last place i thought i might hit the money on a nice beef patty. but of COURSE – barrio chino is one of FAVES … duh.
the brunch menu is extremely diverse. but i was torn between two lunch-type items – a lobster club and the shortrib burger. i am SO sqweemish (SP?) about lobster clubs/sandwiches outside of the new england area, but the waiter assured me that they don’t “skimp” on the lobster meat. i kinda thought to myself, “B.S”.
i love burgers. i’ve kinda started eating one a week. mainly because i’m on a world record budget at this point, and i’m full after eating one for the entire day. it was sunday. perfect. i got a brunch cocktail and a short rib burger. the waiter then kindly chimed in and sold me on a popular “breakfast item” known as a blueberry muffin while i waited. two minutes later he came back with a dish of tiny fresh-out-of-the-oven blue-b muffins. scrumptous. i even put a little bit of butter in between to melt into the squishy cake. i don’t usually take the butter, but recently, i’ve been indulging on it’s simple pleasures. my aperol spritz (new found favorite thanks to G) was probably the best i’ve had YET in this town.
the most beautiful color
the burger came out finally. perfect timing because i’d just looked up to glance at the tiny kitchen window to see if anything was on its way. magic.
walter's volcano
magic is right. so. incredibly. juicy. wonderful brioche bun, crispy bacon that hadn’t been sitting around to make it crispy, and SHARP cheddar cheese. i ain’t nevah eaten anything like it (except that steak at Minetta Tavern that i swear on my chocolate addiction they rub with truffle oil before they char grill it). i wanted – and i made such an effort - to eat the entire thing, but it was so rich and i had a lot to make of my day that i didn’t want to spoil my afternoon activities. it definitely helped fulfill my hunger pangs and give me a much needed protein boost.
can’t wait to go back for a nice steak, shellfish, and another one of them cocktails. it’ll be several months before i’m able to do so, but Walter Foods follow up – you got it, dude.
blueberry muffins were free, by the way. cheers.
look at this poor guy … just chillin on 13th street between broadway and university.
half moon
judging the texture of the bread, despite it’s negligence in the middle of the street, this is a quality hunk of baked dough. just when i thought the moon might be made of cheese, this “half boule” has convinced me otherwise.
i love this strip. Rhymes With Orange … it honestly never lets me down. on monday, when you got the whole work week ahead of you, there is nothing like a good honest chuckle at your desk.
childhood hangover
oh, those were the days.
after a sugar high, disastrous things can happen to you when you’re a youngster. the thing is, i never really had the hawaiian punch when i was a kid. i thoroughly enjoyed Capri Sun. but if i’m going to relate to this strip, do you remember Crystal Pepsi?
that and a king size Twix. the car ride home blasting The Beatles’ “Magical Mystery Tour” sent me into world-class comas by the time we hit the dirt road. sometimes i’d wake up and be completely relocated. oye! now that i’m 24, they call it a “hangover”. at least these kids are up for a bike ride the next day!
hi!
didn’t see this one coming … DEFINITELY DIDN’T SEE THIS ONE COMING!
NYC is full of things that are overpriced just because they CAN be. not because it’s necessary. but, even though we know that bag of M&Ms costs ten bucks, we’re still going to buy it because – say you’re really craving that chocolate peanut concoction – are you really gonna go to Yonkers (of all places) to get a pack for a dollar 25?
i’d read about this place called Xie Xie (pronounced “shay shay”). i also saw a lobster roll someone was eating there – excuse me – asian lobster roll. i’ll tell you what’s on my mind … cha-ching. but, to my ultimate surprise …
the thing costs 14 DOLLARS – and LOOK AT IT:
are you kidding me?! i can’t even take a focused picture – the chunks of lobster are buldging out of the brioche roll! this mother needs 3D glasses!
perfect chunks moist of lobster, not too much mayonnaise, a refreshing amount of dill and just the right amount of small crunchies on top. the actual roll is brioche – and it wasn’t dry at all.
inhaled it ina bout 4 bites, maybe. wanted more. thought to myself, “well, that’d defeat the whole purpose of getting a 14 dollar lobster roll. i would’ve bought two and it would’ve added up to about 30 bucks,” (like Ed’s Lobster Bar … never again). market price my sweet tooth – then you can justify 30 bucks a roll, boss man.
yeah, so maybe you’ve already clicked on the link and your shoulders slumped a bit like one of those fresh steamed lobsters on your dinner plate jammer. it’s kinda in the middle of nowhere (9th avenue and 45th street) but, you can’t eat lobster roll every day. make a trip and make it special!
cute al fresco seating too! i know at least one of you digs that.
i love weddings. i REALLY love weddings. i have to admit and say that the biggest seller for me is actually the wedding cake. and all the free shampoo. yes, of course i’m there to celebrate the joining of lives of two very special people – and successful (no objections) – but can i be honest here? (yes please, Jess) i’m all about food when an invite comes my way! just kidding. but not really.
colin invited me to a wedding in Connecticut for a friend of his named Chris Healy. sean came too. so it was the three of us going to Grand Central on a steamy saturday this past august. we were on our bikes, i must add. colin and sean were wearing formal/casual attire and i was in a dress and platform heels. interesting crew (and friggin’ amazing sight) – to say the least.
sean on his bike, lookin fresh
no pictures of me. i was busy keepin’ my dress down.
so the wedding is actually at a small house on a marsh, just by the coast. a tent with some quaintly set tables, two bars, and a small tent for food. what really caught my eye, as we waltzed in, were the two HUGE smokers! maybe three? just to the right of the driveway entrance. i was glad that i hadn’t really eaten much that day and i was also glad that i was finally getting a bbq fix in (or so i rightfully assumed).
the wedding was perfect – “totally vegas” – it went something like this,
“do you?”
“yes.”
“do you?”
“i do.”
“ok. kiss her.”
then we all went and “et”.
delicious appetizers – some buffalo wings that were incredibly tastey, some homemade dips and fresh vegetables, mozzarella and tomatoes on skewers. not to mention yummy bar nuts – next to the kegs.
i saved myself for the real deal. and boy – this stuff got REAL! when the main grub came out, i stood in line like a super happy camper. smoked chicken, parmesan and tomato mac and cheese, corn bread, roasted vegtables, corn on the cob, homemade baked beans, and the last bit i’m going to fill you in on, blew my mind – VINEGAR based spicy pulled pork!! VINEGAR-based is the key description, here. remember when i was telling y’all about my christmas eve bbq? how it’s my favorite? well, this company that catered the party (All Smoked Up) did JUST that. it was soooo perfect. it wasn’t mushy, it wasn’t dry, too tart, too sweet, too much sauce, and just the right ratio of small shreds to tender morsels of marinated pork. and a wonderful detail that they added on the side of the pork was fresh strawberries and sweet cherries. a very clever (and culinary expert-driven) decision. it cut the salt and savory of the meat and put little fresh punches of juice in your mouth after a big bite of that finger-lickin bbq.
one guy that had just gotten out of line when i grabbed my plate, had the MOST amazing looking palate of food that i had to ask him if i could take a picture. he kindly obliged:
flippin' beautiful
so, obviously stuffed and ready to have another drink, i noticed a cake wasn’t around. i mentioned that this was a shot-gun type wedding (and just perfect and the best type of “no fronting zone”). well, in place of where the food was, there was a teared platform. in a few minutes, cupcakes adorned it. carrot, chocolate, red velvet, and plain old vanilla. now, i didn’t think i could eat a different kind of cupcake in my life as i work in the bakery and the icing was just a bit too over-the top decorated and piled on, but i can’t help it – it’s wedding and a sweet tooth comes hand-in-hand ALWAYS after a good meal for this lady right here.
it continued to be a lovely evening: live and local music, some dancing, and a few more beers. colin and i caught the 10:15 PM train back into the city. home before i turned into a pumpkin.
i strolled through the Union Square Farmer’s Market the other day. i always like to feel inspired by the fresh fruits and veggies that are always in abundance. even fresh pastas and free-range meats. the root vegetables are starting to kick in season now, so i was taken by the carrots and their vibrant orange colors. not to mention their unique shapes:
i’m not trying to say that this reminds me of any human limbs, but i couldn’t help but piece together a Quasimodo hand of sorts? let me know what you think. i didn’t buy it, instead i put it back with the other guys down below. even if i did, it would seem a little INhuman to eat it. in my mind.
i’ve been baking for a surf shop that colin and other buds morgan collett and josh rosen have just opened up in soho. it’s a coffee bar in front which has been brewing and pulling shots from La Colombe coffee roasters as well as my baked goods and some croissants from Ceci Cela.
i bake out of colin’s apartment or my place. pies sometimes on the weekends, cookies, mostly muffins and sweet loaves though. here are a few examples:
fresh green plum muffins
raspberry almond loaf, banana chocolate chip cookies, mango muffins (in the back)
come by and meet the boys, have some great coffee, hang in the deck out back, and eat some of my treats!
Saturdays NYC
31 Crosby St., New York, NY
also, buy some surf boards, look at the merchandise, but also check out the artwork as well! will post some samples soon!
i went home last week to virginia for not even 48 hours. i got in far too late the first night to have a home cooked meal. sadly. (siiiiigh)
however, the next day before i went to my job, my mom asked me a simple question, “so bird, do you want ribs or venison for dinner?”
duuuuhh…
ribs are everywhere in NYC. maybe not everywhere, but easy to find. i don’t think i paused for more than a second before i gave the obvious thumbs up to venison tenderloin.
mom made julia child’s famous mustard marinade (dijon, rosemary, ginger, soy, garlic, olive oil, pepper) and rubbed the tenderloin, then let it sit for awhile. when dad got home, he fired up the grill and threw that nice piece of meat on the fire over a medium/high flame.
when venison is cooked over fire, the effect is so rich and the meat turns so juicy. cooked just until it’s rare in the middle, it then needs to sit on a wood cutting board just for a few minutes or so until the meat lowers temp and all its juices settle.
dad got the sharp knife and started slicing it very thin – each piece just ribboned and melted onto the cutting board.
deer meat
i ate an insane amount. i hadn’t tasted anything like it since the last time colin and i grilled venison on his roof early this summer. there is nothing that is so satisfying as a well prepared piece of meat. and even with just salt, pepper, and some olive oil. takes no time at all. and a pure and simple cooked vegetable to accompany is a wonderful counterbalance. my mom baked some butternut squash with our venison and it was so sweet and somehow creamy. just a lovely dinner. and we sat on the porch (al fresco).
so bummed i didn’t bring any back to NYC with me. saving it all up for christmas!
at Babycakes, sometimes we get to go super nuts on our baked goods and do a few specials.
the first few weeks of September is when NYC started to get a little cooler. all of us at the bakery got a little melancholy at the thought that summer hadn’t really hit any of us. what a terrible feeling? but what else than a cool summer cocktail kicks things off again?
we pulled out a bottle of Bacardi from the basement and some mint from the fridge. mojito cupcakes … check.
hubba hubba
vanilla cupcake soaked in a half shot of rum, green mint frosting, a sugar rim, and of course a mint leaf garnish.
these were hardcore, but of course they sold (out) and we carded everyone (kinda).
so glad fall is here – bring on the bourbon!!
it’s starting to get cold – real cold and real fast. halloween hasn’t hit yet. bah!
besides my soy lattes that i choose to frequent on cold days to warm up the innards, chocolates and spices claw at my tastes buds. my tongue and my tummy grow starved for some of them goodnesses.
at Saturdays, I’ve started to make pumpkin-raisin loaves and mini bread puddings. today i made a savory – dense sweet potato with roasted scallion and squash. very wintery and very soothing especially if you choose to dip it into a bit of beef stew.
on to what i’m really trying to get at – it’s also the time of year that i drop the dollah$ on a hot somethin’-somethin’. more accurately – i’m on a liquid-type diet of sorts.
drink this
Les Confitures à l’Ancienne puts out a dope, dope hot chocolate called Chocolat en Poudre. I don’t know what it is because it’s made up of just bitter cocoa powder and cane sugar, but it’s the quality of the cocoa power that makes my heart skip beats and the cane sugar that might as well sell for gold. go here and take a gander at the bottom of the page to read a bit about it and get an idea of the company’s amazing philosophy (because we all know there must be one when it comes to good chocolate, right?). you’ll see a bit about it, but you will have to go here to buy it.
stir this amazingness in with some hot milk. i love soy milk for its nutty/earthiness, but whole milk does the trick as well or ORGANIC skim (because it tastes closer to real milk if you’re calorie conscious).
enjoy, sip slow, and add a little cinnamon or a touch of nutmeg if you want some zip.
obviously the ones that get the most excited that venture over to Babycakes are the kids.
everyday we write with chalk pens on the glass what all our products are, price, gluten free or not, sugar or none, etc. when the kids come in, they press their faces up to the glass and run their fingers across the writing that magically erases at the touch. our daily routine always requires rewriting of our baked goods and special items. but we don’t mind. mainly because we are able to snag photos like this one:
this is lyla
i was obviously shocked at the strength of this little girl’s one hand grasp on two dense gluten free cupcakes. and despite the rather distressed look on this cute thing’s face, her mother didn’t budge, but simply said, “she’s very good with her hands.”
well gosh, i hope so. the cupcake insurance boxes oughtta keep those two jammers in place because all that icing better stay in tact to do some noshing and finger licking later.
ripped from the internet - gourmet RIP
my mom taught me a trick on how to keep pasta creamy after adding sauce. it’s like a zap zing zippidy doo to your din din.
i didn’t know that this is uniquely her trick (in the states – as far as i’m concerned) but if i’m not mistaken it was something she caught on in Italy from Senora Mingarelli. my spelling, and if you say it out loud, the pronunciation is way off as well, but that’s what i can remember for now.
here it is …
per every four servings of pasta, use ONE EGG plus TWO TABLESPOONS OF BUTTER.
beat these together as well as you can in your serving bowl.
boil the water for your pasta with a few pinches of salt and cook normally slash as instructed.
drain the water from the pasta through a strainer.
discard cooked pasta in serving bowl and toss VERY QUICKLY.
if you let it sit, the eggs will cook, but if you toss toss toss like a mad woman, you will get wonderfully creamily coated noodles.
options:
add a quarter cup of permesiano reggiano with a tablespoon of cracked pepper and half a teaspoon of salt and you can have a yummy meal right there. could perhaps add roasted veggies as well. however …
a wonderful characteristic of this egg and butter mixture is that it enables a pasta sauce of choice to remain creamy and not dry out the noodles. it also makes the sauce stick to the noodle and lets you slurp it down faster. don’t mind that. keep in mind: if you’re using a cream based pasta, it won’t be necessary. but this works lovely with pestos (pesti), bologneses (bolognesi), marinaras (marinari), and any kind of primavera (don’t have one for that) as well.
leftovers are still fantastic too – the next morning, it’s great for breakfast. drizzle a little water over the pasta in a plastic container and throw it in the reactor for a minute. stir and nosh nosh nosh.
please do try! so simple – so true.
i made a pizza last night using a yeast-free crust.
i was craving salty and an easy pick up concoction, so i did the following:
2 cups of flour
2 teaspoons of sea salt or kosher salt
3/4 cups water
1/4 cup of olive oil
2 teaspoons of baking powder
in a mixer – mix well until it forms a ball that is being thrown around the bowl.
take it out and knead it on a well-floured surface for about a minute. it will be sticky, but just keep flouring the surface and it should be smooth, have elasticity, and round out easily – AKA not hangin on to your dialin fingers anymore.
flatten the ball of dough on the floured surface and push the sides out with your fingers quickly and moving the dough in a circular motion so that the circle grows larger and evenly.
when you have reached the max “thinness” possible, carefully transfer your circled-out dought to a non-stick baking sheet. and brush the dough with a thin layer of olive oil.
i made a raw sauce, which i was enlightened upon at Babycakes, in the blender:
4 tomatoes with the seedes and juices squeezed out
2 tablespoons of olive oil
salt and pepper
2 teaspoons of dried (or fresh) basil
2 cloves of garlic
blend until it’s pourable. spread over your raw dough. top with whatever you want. i’m on a no dairy diet, so i did onions, eggplant, jalapeno, chorizo, some red peppercorns, and a little more olive oil, AND more sea salt (a sprinkle or two)
in a 425 degree oven for 35 minutes or until edges are crispy and brown.
up close
finito
morgan and colin had a few pieces – as did i. just because the boys love queso, i grabbed some queso that is used for frying at the mexican deli down the street – threw that in a hot pan – brown on both sides, sprinkle with some pepper and a little hot sauce.
they ordered pumpkin loaf and coffee - i'm going to eat that every day for the rest of my life.
i’m making an apple pie for Saturdays NYC tomorrow. of course in putting all the ingredients together, it requires a bit of prep work and a little waiting. i made the dough, which you can find a recipe for the crust in a previous post, but i’m going to tell you what i did to the apples. boy, i really did them in!!!!
5 large granny smiths, peeled and diced
1/2 cup of sugar
3/4 cup of flour
1/4 cup of bourbon
1 T of cinnamon
**
toss and mix all together until the flour starts to turn an even toned light brown color from the cinnamon and it sticks well to the diced apple chunks. the bourbon is overwhelming and will smack you in the face as you keep mixing, but once it looks about right, cover it with plastic wrap and stick it in the fridge to marinate a bit while your dough is still hardening on the shelf next to it.
apple bourbon pie. can you tell at all i’m from virginia?
**if you want to go real holy roller deep, throw in some pecans – about half a cup of crushed ones.
i’m figuring out website design – its been in the works for over a year now, but since it’s doing its wear n’ tear … makes for a nice boost of motivation!
colin blessed me with a new camera – the one and only camera, god’s gift to earth after dark chocolate – for christmas. the CANON G10. i flipped and might’ve made colin pee his pants.
anywho ….
since i lost my old iphone, i haven’t been able to take adequate photos and (okay… i know… camera phones blah blah blah) BUT if you imagine what i’ve taken photos of in the past, then well, surprise! it’s all iphone. look at what i’ve been “dealing with”
ugh
see the blurry grossness?
that photo actually has a story and here’s the short version: dad driving me to the airport on my last day in VA for the early Christmas celebration. i said i wasn’t leaving until i had some of mom’s special family recipe eggnog. i’m waiting in the truck and don’t see dad. i walk over to the kitchen and there he is – putting the good stuff in a styrafoam cup and sealing the lid. mom is going on how the recipe erected and then going on how her grandpa used to let it ferment or whatever in the bathtub? wow. this cup is about 16 ounces by the way. i’m on the way to the airport and the windy roads turn into a roller coaster ride as i’m sipping this stuff through a straw. conversation gets a little funny (whether it’s funny or not) and the topic turns to how loose i’m already starting to feel and i haven’t even had half of my serving, yet. my sinuses were clear and i was already holding an airline ticket and wondering how i got the airport with a cooler full of venison tenderloin and some air-tight packaged wild duck.
what was i talking about?
ooooh yeah … crepes.
so here you are… a few days after christmas and i’m sleeping 10 hours a night. colin is getting sick. poor guy is in bed and i asked what he wanted. he said, “crepes”. he might’ve been joking, but i think he knows what i believe i’m capable of AND love to do by now:
from left to right:
maple syrup, apricot preserves, crunchy peanut butter and banana. sprinkled with sifted powdered sugar.
they are a little bit smaller and a tad bit thicker than the a-typical crepe you would find en paris or on the street at a proper crepe joint. however, the taste and consistency were about right. i had a few mess-ups, but turned them into cooked/doughy balls in my cast iron skillet that i nibbled on in my pj’s.
i adapted the recipe from … duh … Julia Child’s The Art of French Cooking, but added a few extras to the Savory version to make it slightly sweet a la jessie mode. of course i didn’t wait the 2 hours that they’re supposed to stand in the fridge, which probably didn’t give them a certain “something” that i have no idea what is. but if you wanna skimp (all you quitters) on the Real Deal, you can just do a watery version of pancakes. i cant believe i just said that.
enjoy!
happy new year and hope you all had a lovely christmas!
i made my pie recipe but in a spring form pan and pressed the dough way up the sides to make a deep dish.
thinly sliced my apples, and prepared them just like i did my apple pie, but baked it like a tart … without a top and baked a little bit longer.
i was a little nervous to take it out of the pan and have it still all together, but it worked and it was delicious …
chicago
excuse the wine glass, but JD brought a really good white wine. it was perfect. i gave everyone the option of pouring cream over top if they wanted a “cutter” of sorts.
i’ve never done a deep dish pie crust, but the spring form pan is a beautiful and multipurpose tool. i can’t wait to do it again and possibly with a filling that rises or another seasonal fruit.
not to mention, it was a TOTALY Aix en Provence reunion and there are SO many more photos that i can’t possibly share. too good. too funny.
love all of you whom attended, especially the Canadians!!!!!
whenever friends come into town, it’s always the greatest chance to go somewhere to eat that you have never been to. my brother came into town and i kinda laid down the usual questions – what are you feeling? what are you craving? into these days?
i kinda didn’t let him speak, but when i mentioned BBQ becuase i’d be DROOLING over this joint in Williamsburg that i hadn’t been to yet.
fette sau – aka “fat pig” in german … or so i’m told … is the name.
if you read my post on christmas at the Chalkley’s residence, you’ll totally understand that i am not a sweet sauce BBQ kinda gal. i love the smokey, salty, vinegary taste and hints. i read a thing or two when this place had just opened and as i could recall that is exactly how the BBQ is prepared.
and it was. we got a TON because i hadn’t really eaten anything all day.
Nat my brother and i shared pulled pork, belly strips, some boneless beef rib, and some pork spare ribs. side of baked beans and broccoli salad.
then Colin bought a whole gallon of Coney Island Lager.
before
and yes, they plate up all your food onto a parchment covered sheet pan – all to make the gluttony look more glorious.
so, as any New Yorker knows, the coffee scene has become a cult-like society and artisanal coffee shops are spreading like wildfire. the art and craft of perfecting an insane espresso or drip coffee has grown to become serious competition and the better the “latte art” you can come up with, the higher you are ranked on the coffeehouse coolness factor.
Starbucks has dissipated and has stooped to only a figment of one’s imagination. those poor guys. they are SO circa 1995. grande non-fat mocha frappucinos, no whip are locked and stored in the cellar with Constant Comment tea. move over coffee monopoly … the underdogs are surfacing.
i should’ve posted something about New York coffeehouses before this, but US Weekly and Star Mag thrive on Los Angeles movie stars pulling into the drive-thru Starbucks and now that i’m hanging out in LA for a bit, i’m happy to inform everyone that Intelligentsia has made a solid, SOLID mark on LA and is making a ground-[brewing] effect on the hippest parts of town. Venice Beach and Silverlake.
Intelligentsia prides itself on artisanal coffee growers and roasting in small batches to assure quality consistency in all of their beans. different beans from different regions bring different flavors to each cup – some fruity, some chocolatey, some having notes of cinnamon, some having notes of honey or liquorice – as odd as that may sound, it ultimately makes you try different “blends” as you frequent the shop, and you really do start to learn that those flavors and aromas do in fact exist. amazing? yes!!! definitely.
i’ve been to both branches of Intelligentsia. even on the same day. i biked 37.2 miles one day. starting at downtown LA, i went to Venice Beach, then up to Santa Monica, through Beverly Hills, across Hollywood, to Silverlake, through Echo Park, and back downtown. amazing, but couldn’t have done it if i hadn’t stopped to have a few ice coffees while the sweat dripped down my back and forehead.
my jam - soy latte
i got the usual – soy latte. of course it had all the characteristics that a good latte should contain – a rich espresso shot (triple ristretto aka three shots pulled into one long draw) with a good crema (not over heated to burn the espresso which brings a “creaminess” into the tail end of the shot). the milk was wonderfully steamed (not too hot so it burns the milk, but just hot/warm enough that it is truely drinkable on the first sip).
also, take not of the “latte art”…
different shapes and variations come out of the foam. it also depends on how good your barista is. you can also judge (of course, jokingly) how good it will be by the quality and name brand of their fixed gear track bike and how old the Chuck Taylors they’re wearing are. at least in NYC. in LA, it’s also about how old-school you can appear and if your two-toned vest is actually backed in real silk and the front is finely woven wool with leather buttons. not to mention vintage Brooks Brothers. love it all and the nature of these crafty hipsters. but, sometimes you’ll get hearts (or multiple), a shamrock, i’ve even heard one barista did a dog? (think that was at Saturdays NYC).
it was delish. and so were the other treats that come with the coffee. Colin and i visited the Venice branch (before i made my long ride) and shared the following:
cookie sandwich and chocolate/carmel shortbread
the build out of the Venice Beach location is amaze-amaze. super modern and just totally refined. they out did it – even for NY standards!!! gasp.
gorgeous. there is wonderful indoor and outdoor seating in the “alley way” that leads to this big shop. another barista station mirrors what you see in the image. superstardom times two y’all.
here are some more photos that i took on our little rendez-vous:
still good to the bottom
outdoor seating - in february
highly suggest you go. it is a wonderful cup of coffee at a wonderfully expensive price. but, if you are a top dog at limited locations, well that’s an authority that you can’t really mess with, huh?
cheers my loves!
colin has been to Palm Springs, CA for coachella. i couldn’t come because, well, i don’t have the money. but, the thing that i was most intrigued about was the fact that they ATE SO WELL WHEN THEY WERE THERE!!!!!!! jealous!
colin told me about the ACE Hotel in Palm Springs that is a super honky tonk kinda place, but Alex Calderwood (the brains behind all the ACE hotels), put the urban chic and cool in the desert and brings the think-you’re-cool-enough crowds.
desert and mountains - atypical palm springs
pool pushes lounging, of course a spa, a pop-up store, a cowboy-for-kickin bar called the Amigo Room, and a restaurant called Kings Highway and it’s totally california appropriate.
the pool
we ate out a fancy supper the night before, but we were craving a good bite to eat before we hit the road to orange county. not to mention we took an amazing hike through Palm Canyon that AM. good thing we hit cool(er) weather because i couldn’t have done it if it was even a few degrees warmer!!
so colin and i took a booth at Kings Highway and ordered the same sandwich but different meat fillers. colin loves bacon and will probably one day figure out how toultimately breathe bacon. i’m a grilled chicken girl. so i got the C.L.A.T. (Chicken, Lettuce, Avocado, Tomato) with some other veggies that i was definitely okay with.
it had beaucoup de sprouts
it also had the hot sauce. the bread was the only downer – it was too soft and not substantial enough to hold in the chicken plus fillers. although there was that one think that bothered me a tad, it was still toasted in the end! the chicken was so moist. and of course the avocado was the perfect texture. good tomatoes. and the sprouts handed over a good earthy/nutty taste. yum! and because i was on vacation, of course i had a small glass of chardonnay. which i shared with colin. almost forgot the jicama, sweet pepper, onion and cilantro side-salad that came with it! cleaned up with gums. lick your lips.
can’t wait to come back. the menu was SO diverse. check it here and make the trip if you’re on the west coast! it’s hot in the desert. hang, sweat, and be lazy kids!
eatible planets
i really wasn’t so sure that downtown LA had it in her, but seriously. Pam and i were on our way to Macy’s of all places, and passed by this fancy pantsy place called LOUIE. It is kind of like a small gourmet grocery like dean and deluca in the front and then fine italian bistro dining in the back. the place is huge as i am pretty sure it used to be a bank of some sort. the build out is beautiful, lots of white, it looks so pristine inside. amazing pastries, good selection of cheese, meats, butter, wine, confitures, moutardes, salt, sugar, bread, ya know? pate and little doo dads like that. nothing involving fresh produce, sadly. maybe soon?
well, what really made me come in here is the fact that right the glass door entrance there is a beautiful color array of MACAROONS. colin and i have a few places in our hood and our girlfriend ghislaine brought us back some from France one time, but the quest is still on and i think that i’ve come to the end and final conclusion – LOUIE makes a friggin “nasty” macaroon aka i’m blown away aka i’ll never taste another one the same way (almost positive).
i’ve been able to buy all 6 flavors at once and not really have a chance to sit down before i’ve finished eating them all. which is why i literally forced myself to save three (my favorites… for last) for a photo!
ABOVE FROM LEFT: coconut with REAL coconut flakes, tangerine with REAL zest in the filling, and chocolate with REAL salted caramel inside.
take that y’all. digest it and think if you’ve had the same? nuh uh….
Go to LOUIE!
what is this place? israeli, tapas, small plates, kosher, american? well despite the questions, there is always something good on the menu. pam frequents this place. she got pork with deep fried beets, over soft and sweet beet puree and some fresh finally chopped tossed greens on top. the colors were amazing and so was the meal apparently.
oye!
i had the potato latkes one night that were dipped in a smokey apple sauce. unbeweeeeeevable. and fried boccoli that were tossed in a tangy vinagrette that was extremely diverse in flavors. great wines and beers on tap … including a small selection of bourbons and whiskeys.
it’s located through the lobby of the Alexandria Hotel and downtown LA.
site: The Gorbals
my last day came a lot faster than i imagine. whirlwind. whoo. okay plane time.
my girlfriend Pam said let’s BBQ on the roof. she made her special homemade BBQ sauce and bought some meats. Tatiana made her jalapeno poppers that she’s super famous for (as well). Pam bought my favorite beer and Tatiana brought Tim and Emelia along with their son Elton and friend Emily. great crowd called for amazing energy and therefore, duh, amazing weather.
marination
this is chicken and it’s being taken over by Pam’s homemade BBQ sauce. she used something like 5 different kinds of peppers which i could never detect individually, but it works as a whole! it was the perfect combo of sweet and spicy. i have strong dislikes of the “saucy” kinda of BBQ sauce usually. if you haven’t read about the BBQ at the chalkley christmas, then i suggest you review that post. Pam converted me – and from now on i’ll be most willing to atleast try the variety – to the saucy/glaze genre. we also marinated some pork ribs along with the chicken wings and thighs, mushrooms, and then also just plain grilled some chicken.
the view
tatiana made simple jalapeno poppers that were friggin amazing. so simple and so backyard 1960′s easy-type. jalapenos hollowed out, then stuffed with a cream cheese and roasted garlic mixture.
mmmmmmmph!
they brought guacamole as well and the trick was to leave the pit in the guacamole mixture to prevent it from browning AKA rotting. that is something i will never forget. look at the photos!
spread
cute crowd
my job
some things i’ve been doing lately are these sorts of fun things. i love my job. period.
this was a cake i decorated in LA for the Babycakes NYC that just recently opened. you have to go and say hi to the crew for me.
tatiana opened up a whole new world of the ice cold creamy stuff in LA – close to one of my last days there. we went to this vegan place called Pure Luck just off east Melrose. i’ll write more about that place later, but what really blew my mind was the ice cream shop across the street called Scoops.
when you walk in, you see a dry erase board on your left that has BONKERS combinations of flavors that customers have written up as suggestions on new lickable goods. blueberry-cap’n crunch-cream cheese or maybe chocolate-almond-chutney. i seriously just made those up, but they aren’t too far off. for reals.
i chose after ten minutes of pulling my hair out. pistachio hefeweisen.
that's my jammer - right in the middle (Green)
incredible. pistachio (including the little nut pieces), creamy, not too sweet, a bit of honey and the soft wheat-y after notes. it was seriously one of those “damn, i wish this bowl of ice cream had no bottom.” i’ll never forget it.
couldn’t find the legit site, but here is a site that really just tells ya where to go (most important).
great puns and all involving food – good for a small chuckle, and they’re visibly easy to read, thus appealing for most.
this is for colin
did a really really rad vintage food editorial in this month’s (april) bon appetit magazine. the idea was to bring back old dessert recipes like your classic coffee cake or chocolate mayonnaise cake. imagine lots of butter, sugar, and hellman’s mayonnaise. very circa 1950-1960 something. i really dig the music that they put out in those days, the food however, i’m a bit questionable about? but hey, bon appetit is a publication that has survived the deepest and darkest corners of the recession, so i’m only somewhat optimistic about the turn out of these old school confections. why would they lie??
the photography is what REALLY caught my eye. very vintage-y tones, graininess, and lighting. lots of browns, pinks and yellows ya know?? check it:
chocolate mayonnaise cake
maple cake with maple syrup frosting. don't forget the walnuts.
vanilla bean bunt cake with vanilla glaze and strawberries
i really couldn’t stop staring and i was extremely intrigued by the simplicity. the spread is in fact brilliant. the nostalgic photography and the every popular recipes can only make any curious individual try their hand at these. we all know that the magazines come in the mail and sit on the average joe’s coffee table for visual stimulus. but there’s peanut butter, maple syrup, chocolate and mayonnaise? … come ON! recipes are included. go HERE to look at pictures and get recipe links~!!
new york style crumb cake
banana cupcakes with peanut butter frosting
doughnuts. baked not fried. gluten free.
chocolate gooey glazed goodness
my brunch life really evolves around omelettes. i work in a bakery, so something sweet for breakfast is out of the question. i can’t look at sugar and if i’m putting my money into a meal, it daggone well better NOT be sweets. i get that for free and it’s the best (see below post).
pam lived in santa monica when she was a california girl previously. she is in LA again now, but we’re all downtowners. she took the liberty of showing my a few favorite spots and she took me to Swingers on Lincoln Blvd.
egg white omelettes amongst the bagillion other amazing things they had on the menu. it reminded me a lot of Kings Highway at the Ace Hotel in palm springs. extensive and extremely diverse. and from the look see around me, methinks the quality parallels as well! funky fresh waitstaff: questionable amount of clothing, tattoos and eyeliner, all super super kind.
i got the california omelette. wasn’t trying to play the tourist, but i couldn’t disagree with the ingredients. ”3 organic eggs, stuffed with jack cheese, bacon, avocado, and alfalfa sprouts”. grapefruit juice (freshly squeezed).
done me good. it was tremendous in all its glory. spicy potatoes to accompany and i even got leaves with mine too. of course the hot sauce was in abundance and a plentiful amount of mustard. mixed and shmeared on my english muffin. hit the beach afterwards. california girl… !!
"eeeyyy....!"
coming out of the LCD Soundsystem concert in LA, the exit doors are practically blocked by these street vendors. hands out and within an arm’s (and pocket’s) length to snag your money and hand over a dog in exchange.
these dogs are special though. and extremely unappetizing in appearance. a hot dog wrapped in bacon. then on your traditional bun, they put the mammoth thing and dress it with sauteed peppers and onions. looks good after the toppings, but needless to say, i couldn’t get a good or even appealing photo of one of them cooking on the hot plate. in reality, the hot plate that is nestled inside a shopping cart. who needs a license to sell these? if you’ve had one, i’m curious as to what your opinion is.
great. phenom concert. face melter!!!!!!!!!!!!!
of all the things you can’t find in downtown LA, there are the things that you can find which are so unique in their own right that it sets them apart from the rest of that massive palm tree village. gems people like to call them, but i prefer to call them “digs”.
everywhere you walk, you’re walking through a mass of scary people. the locals that make up the majority of this area of LA aren’t ones that i choose to mingle with or stand on a corner too long with – at first glance you might categorize them as “crazies”, but it’s taught me quite the lesson in life. get. tough. friggin. skin. build it and you better build it now cuz life don’t get much easier. that being said, “cruising” downtown has become natural for me and the girls that work hard over at Babycakes.
Pam and i went out cruising one night – i think it was in search of something like Big Lots or something else. we walked past the Wooden Spoon. an ex gallery space. warm yellow tones. tall ceilings. quaint and small tables. bench seating that lines the walls and adorned with pillows. we told ourselves we’d go there soon. and we did – pretty much the very next day.
i’d blog about the brazilian sausage over the yummy beet salad. but, my biggest “wower” meal was the pork burger.
mammoth.com
it is so gigantic in size. it was inconceivable as to how i would even fit a proper bite (a little bit of everything) in my mouth at one time. the third try, i managed to load everything in and probably at the risk of dislocating my jaw. but the amazingness of this THING would ease any hospital bill. the potato roll was toasted, the pork was SO thick and tender. the caramelized onions and sauteed cabbage was just the perfect complexity. so simple, right, but slightly vinegary/butteriness. pam scored a bite before i finished it off. we were floored. i finished it only to have gained “the bottomless dish” syndrome. which you say to yourself when you’ve tasted something so yummy that “you wish that it would just never end … you could keep eating it for the rest of your life. the salad? salad shmalad … who cares?
we also enjoyed the sangria. cinnamon was a big puncher in it. not to mention the wonderful, wonderful berries:
marriage in heaven
great lil guy
food just IS happy. look at this crumb. that is a SMILE it’s wearing!!
so many great colors
shack food. straight forward. you MUST be hungry to appreciate. not to mention, that open mind of yours …
chorizo and deep fried (gasp… i know) fish with gucamole. homemade pickled carrots, fresh radish, cilantro, cabbbage, and the “green stuff”.
starved after sitting on the gross beach of Rockaway. ”ya should’ve gone to 67 street.” well yes, i know, but i really made this trip for the tacos, not the beach. so i hit the 98 street stop and it was just fine. swam in the grimey waters and prayed that i wouldn’t see a turd or a body part float by. got crazy burnt and managed to find some aloe that cost 4 dollars at a “99 cent store”. but rest assured, i mapped my way to this awesomely funky old dig:
is this the projects?
walking here i passed a whole block of homes that had been abandoned and probably burned down at different time periods. there’s a crew of guys across the street tearing down a without-a-doubt asbestos infested building. but with a whining tummy, i walked briskly up to this window:
cash only
and sat out here nine bucks poorer:
first come first serve
a woman came up to me as i was eating and asked “what the wait was?” and “where’s the server?”
i said, “first come first serve, ma’am.”
and then i stuffed my pie hole!
virginia plates
dad is so awesome to send me text messages sometimes with some sort of culinary delight.
all homemade.
all from my home.
this time they had squirrel and baked potato. don’t under estimate. it’s a mighty fine bite if you do it right.
you going to let something like this slip?
either “Rock Fish” or “Striped Bass”. oye!
even the guy behind the counter knew what i was talking about. and even HE said, “i hope you’re not callin’ ME the idiot!”
who's in charge here?
trifecta
pumpkin ginger with orange spice crust, chocolate bourbon pecan with orange spice crust, calvadose[d] apples with a cheddar crust.
all recipes adapted from cookbook PIE by Angela Boggiano
troublemakers
the easiest recipe ever that was taught to me…
take your normal Nestle Toll House recipe (staple).
use just one cup of the semi sweet chips AND add an extra 2/3 stick of butter.
THEN add 1 cup of crushed salted pretzels, 1 cup of chopped walnuts, and 1 cup butterscotch chips.
form balls that are about 2 inches in diameter and spread them evenly – about 2 inches apart – on an ungreased cookie sheet.
bake for 14 minutes in the instructed 375 oven.
YUMMMMMM!
deal with it
this is seriously … a whatever salad. but it was delish.
take the citrus dressing from my last “motherload salad”
get some good greens (here is a mixed mesclun and baby arugula)
thinly sliced sweet pepper
blueberries
cucumbers
blue cheese.
drizzle, toss.
and if you’re curioust as to why it’s a whatever kinda salad … well … i just kinda used whatever veggies/fruits i could find in the fridge. and it was delicious.
don’t be silly and fussy about salads. nobody really cares anyway, right? it’s greens …
savory steez
thinly sliced regular and sweet potatoes
dress with olive oil (we use coconut), cayenne, sea salt, and thyme (or rosemary).
spread out and bake on parchment in 325 convection oven until golden and the potato slices curl up at the edges.
you want them crisp too, of course.
le pavillon restaurant, formerly accross from the st regis on east 55 street
i vant
except for that weird white lamp on the right hand side
shredded baked chicken
pour over gravy
top with biscuits
in the oven until golden brown
SO SIMPLE!
servin' hot in the kitchen
fay's carrot birthday cake
carrot cake has a phenomenal open-ended policy.
it’s extremely easy to adapt carrot cake recipes. part in part, to my belief, that there are so many different solid ingredients, that it doesn’t need much to give it structure. it’s like brick v mortar.
i’ve never really made a REAL carrot cake. i’d taken the reigns at vegan carrot cake while working at Babycakes, but never anything of my own and that including nuts etc.
so i did a lot of studying at the book store. snapped a few recipes with my iphone. and went to the grocery store to put my ideas together while cruising the isles. by the way … which is my absolute FAVORITE thing to do.
the following recipe is closest to that from the Gourmet cookbook:
3/4 pound of carrots
2 and 1/4 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons plus a pinch of baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 and 1/2 teaspoons of salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon ginger
1 teaspoon nutmeg
2 cups of packed brown sugar
1 1/2 cups of sunflower seed oil
4 large eggs
1 teaspoon of lemon extract
8 ounces of crushed (NOT diced) pineapple – totally different, but amazing for moisture and diversified texture.
1 cup sweetened flaked coconut
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (pecans are good too)
2/3 cup gold raisins
frosting:
3 8 oz. packages of soft cream cheese (full fat)
1 and 1/2 sticks of soft butter
1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon of imitation rum extract
2 and 3/4 cups confectioners’ sugar
for cake:
preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. grease and flour 2 nine inch spring form pans.
grate the carrots with the “medium-hole size” on a cheese grater. set aside in a bowl.
beat on medium speed with stand up mixer the eggs, oil, lemon extract and sugar.
add salt, baking powder, baking soda, and spices.
add flour and pineapple.
remove bowl from stand up mixer and fold in coconut, walnuts, raisins and carrot with a sturdy spatula.
once mixed well, divide up batter evenly amongst the two 9 inch pans.
place pans on the middle rack in the oven for 45 minutes.
cakes are ready when there is a nice cushion-spring-like poke in the middle of the cakes AND a tooth pick comes out clean.
put aside to cool.
when the cakes have FULLY cooled, even after having removed the sides of the spring form pans, then you can start making the frosting:
whip on high with a beater the butter and cream cheese until fluffy (a few minutes).
add powdered sugar. whip some more.
then add the vanilla and rum extract.
whip until nice and smooth and stiff peaks form from beaters.
frost your cake – obviously a double layer and finish off with a nice and smooth half inch layer on the outside.
use extra frosting to pipe lettering/doodles/designs.
*also a great idea is to sprinkle with crystallized ginger bits on top. a fun, yummy, and great texture addition.
set in the fridge for an hour at least!
BANG!
truely exception bottle of wine.
one of my most favorites.
some quote it “a great fine dining accompaniment”. others quote it “even a great burger wine”
it’s just lovely and rich in all of its powers. Jenny and Francois describe it like so:
“Blue-black in the glass with a deep purple rounding the rim. Scents of red and black fruit intermingle with Blueberry ink, a warm note of garrigue, pine and pounded limestone. The palate is a delectable expression of juicy plum, blackberry, black cherry and deft flavors of sweet herbs. A buoyant note of minerality emerges near the finish and that is given a nice boost by the wines silken acidity. L’ Enclos will age gracefully for more than a decade, however, it drinks beautifully in its relative youth.”
i think it’s pretty spot on. but needless to say, i love depth and mind-blowing flavors.
not to mention, it’s organic and biodynamic. can’t beat that homies …
correct date - yes, 1977
great old menu images from the world dominated el bulli restaurant in spain:
now just think, they have a publishing deal with Phaidon press. i swear by the looks of these pages, i just pulled up to a curbside joint. but then again, Ferran Adria (let’s face it) is way ahead of the times. take a look around nyc – it’s cool to write the menu … on the table cloth … where you are seated … as you explain each menu item. trust me – i’m not stretching the truth by all means. then let’s think, not even a year after he designed this menu, he was creating what we know as “molecular gastronomy”. meanwhile, over in London, the Sex Pistols are dropping their first EP. honestly though, if you plan on just waltzing into this joint or pullin’ up to the curbside – well then, FORGET IT! reserve now – or after a few years (it’s closing temporarily) – because they accept a year in advance. daggone!
“i pity the fool!”
courtesy of the New York Crimes
pierogies for days
i’m such a sucker for old labels. i remember being so young and not really understanding changes in marketing and how companies base their designs off of consumer interests. i still fondly recall old m&ms labels. not to mention pepsi. i found this picture tonight and it immediately brought back my strange obsession. it all apparently parallels with my music and wardrobe taste. i can’t help it though! there is something so humble about antique labels that i think has such an intense originality that can never be replicated.
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