Kitchen Shenanigans

2008-03-10T08:17:00.000-07:00

I live like a celebrity (well, for a weekend):This is my breakfast at the Raleigh Hotel in Miami. That's where all the celebs stayed during the Miami Film Festival. You know those pictures of Kate Hudson in a red bikini that have been up on all the gossip sites? Yeah, she was at this hotel. What with all the celebrities about, they didn't take too kindly to me pulling out my camera to photo my breakfast....but it was just so cute that I had to.

2008-03-10T08:09:00.000-07:00

when bad things happen....
There is a fat girl living inside me. Lord knows she was living outside me for enough years, but I beat her back, and now she just lives inside....lurking, waiting. Every once in a while the right combination of events will unleash her, and she will go wild. Saturday was one of those nights.
Let me start this by saying that I've been doing Weight Watchers, and I've been doing pretty good. I lost 10 lbs in the last few weeks. I gained one back when I was in Miami, but you know, I was keeping it in check, and despite a slight run-in with some red velvet cake, I was fine. Then came Saturday. I ate olive pizza, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, a poppy seed cookie, 1/2 of the bus boy's sandwich at this bar we went to, toaster strudel, more pb&j. I'm pretty sure I woke up with peanut butter still in my mouth. It was disgusting. The scale this morning was even more disgusting. Am I the only person that can gain 6 lbs in a weekend? I'd like to think no. I'm crossing my fingers and hoping it's bloat, water weight, anything but fat....but the voice of reason inside keep telling me "no, it's peanut butter."
Here's a picture pre-binge:

2008-02-08T07:42:00.000-08:00

I come from a family of feeders. Some may call us food "pushers," but that sounds so negative. I prefer to thing that we just have an unhealthy need to make sure that the people around us are fed. "Are you hungry?" "Did you eat yet? I know this place you'll love." "Not feeling great? You should probably eat something." And so it goes until we make the people around us fat. We don't mean to make them fat...we just want to make sure that they are happy and full, and in making them full all the time, we inadvertently make them fat.
Now, there have been a few people (AL) who have entered into our ranks who have a little thing that I like to call "will power." You just can't feed these people all the time....they won't eat it...and this, my friends, is very frustrating.
"No, I'm not hungry." "No, I don't really like that." "No, we just ate 5 minutes ago."...I tell you, it's enough to drive a feeder mad.
Denying our food is like denying our love.

Now, I come from a long line of feeders, especially on my dad's side, and I'm not about to change now. I better damn well not have kids like Al who don't enable my "feederism." Oh, sure, my kids may be a little rotund, but that will just be a sign of my love for them. Besides, I was a fat kid, and I think I turned out pretty well. I deveolped a sense of humor and I wasn't out getting pregnant at 16, which I think are things that we hope for all of our children.
When studies come out about childhood obesity all I can think is "good on those parents..chances are they won't be taking their daughter to pick up pre-natal vitamins at 14...who cares if her ticker is a little worse for the wear, she can always loose the weight later in life and come home pregnant then."

(I tried to find a good picture of me as a fat little kid to plug in here, but I would have had to scan one in, and I just don't have the patience for that this morning)

2008-01-31T09:42:00.000-08:00

Best Vegan Food Sites

I have to say, that in an effort to get back to the healthyness that I was striving for at the beginning of this month, I have to re-innundate myself with vegan cooking and recipes.
The auther of Vegan With a Vengeance said that if you're doing it for health reasons you are not nearly as likely to stick to being vegan as you are if you do it for ethical reasons...and I think she's right. Health is great and all, but it takes constant vigilance and awareness to think about the suffering of animals.
I can't remember if I already talked about this, but before Jan 1st, I joined PETA and got their starter kit (no, I won't be throwing blood on anyone any time soon) and I was pretty shocked at how animals are treated...but when you're so used to eating meat and cheese it's really hard to think about everything that you put in your mouth (especially when it's -4 degrees and your in Sundance and your tired and you forget your New Year's resolutions and order prime rib).
Here are some sites that I really like for vegan recipes and info:
Vegaliciuos
Everyday Dish
Karma-Free Cooking (okay, this is vegetarian, but there's lots of vegan stuff)
Notes from the Vegan Feast Kitchen

Happy vegan site surfing!

2008-01-31T07:28:00.000-08:00

PT
Last night Rachel and I went to dinner at PT in Williamsburg. It was delicious. I haven't spent a lot of time in Williamsburg. I tend to get lost there. The streets are all crazy. Why would S. 3rd run parallell to N. 3rd. The whole layout just doesn't seem logical to me...plus it's one of those areas where the cool hipsters hang out, you know, one of those places where you question if you're cool enough to be there. There is a definite uniform that most of the people there strictly adhere to and I am just not keen to it. I swear that almost all the girls were wearing the same hat. It's weird.
But dinner was great. The waiter and the bartender were both from Italy and had strong Italian accents. We started with the cheese plate which was served with pollen on the side. The pollen was interesting and really fun. Then we shared the artichoke salad. It was more of a slaw really and I don't highly recommend it. The bread was great, the olive oil was great. We shared the tuna and it was pretty good, served on a bed of chickpeas and spinach.
In all honesty what we oredered wasn't amazing by any means, but I felt like there was a lot of potential and maybe we just made a couple bad choices. It was the ambiance that really sucked me in. The atmosphere is amazing, like you are stepping down into this little cavern and once you are inside it feels like you're on an old ship.
I guess the only things I can really recommend are the wine, the bread and the cheese...and really, what more should you really need?

2008-01-31T07:10:00.001-08:00

I've never really been a fan of the frozen meals, but sometimes you just do what you have to do.
This week I've been living off Smart Ones for lunch. It's not like they are the most delicious thing I've ever had, but they're decent...and when it's really cold outside, a sandwich for lunch just isn't going to do it. You need something warm.
Yesterday I had some sort of Spanish rice, the day before that it was ravioli, and today it's some Asian rice dish. Now, I know what you're thinking, none of this is vegan. Well, after some un-tasty run-ins wiht Annie's vegan burritos, I've gone over to the dark side, at least for the time being. At least until this weekend when I can go to the farmer's market and get myself back on track.

2008-01-28T14:03:00.000-08:00

January, you have not been kind to me. It all started out so well. There was the healthy veganism, the renewed commitment to working out...and then, well, then I went to Sundance and I'm just not sure what happened. I was just so cold and tired the whole time. It was like junior year of college all over again, when I ate pop tarts all the time, not because I was hungry, but because I needed the sugar to keep me going. It was all a blurr of frostbitten fingers and cups of coffee.
The first weekend back from Sundance didn't prove to be much healthier. On Saturday we celebrated Al's birthday family style, with breakfast at Max Brenner's and Dinner at Hawaiian Tropic Zone. Yesterday we ate Shake Shack. Oh, body, don't give up on me now.
I'm still tired.
Oh February, please be kinder than January.

This is Nacho. He directed Timecrimes. He had fun at Sundance.

2008-01-06T06:49:00.000-08:00

Vegan Update #1
The whole vegan thing has been going really well. I'm almost down to the weight I was before Christmas, and I'm feeling pretty good. Yesterday there was a slip-up when Al and I went to Soda Bar to see my friend Sarah at work. There was a veggie burger on the menu, but it was served on a roll...and I'm not totally up to date on my "what breads are okay" knowledge yet, and without a label to read I didn't want to order that. Now, besides eating falafel earlier that day, this was our first real meal out since the whole vegan thing began. On some level I thought I would be fine with ordering a salad with oil and vinegar at places that had no other vegan options...but clearly I was lying to myself. Besides the veggie burger, the only other choice (besides a salad) was perogies with mushrooms and sauerkraut...I was pretty sure that neither choice was safe...so I went with my gut (if you will...hahah) and ordered the perogies, even though I was pretty sure there were eggs in the dough. I'm a terrible person. Sarah's friend, who I had never met before, looked over at me and said "um, that's not vegan." To which I responded, "Shut your face! You don't know me! I'll cut you!"
Arianne's cravings: 1
Veganism: 0

I'm going to say that I'll do better next week, which I probably will, but the week after that I think there might be some cheating. My boss and Matt said that if I try to be vegan in Sundance, they will hurt me, and I best just plan on taking a week off. We'll see. I will be staying with my cousin Connie, who is a vegetarian, so she should be good support.

2008-01-02T08:09:00.000-08:00

Clean Slate '08
That's the mantra for this month. After all the crazy eating of the past few months, it's time to be healthy. I decided to go vegan. Not really for weight loss reasons, just to feel good again. I feel like living in NY has made me a more unhealthy person. I mean, sure I walk everywhere, but I eat junk food all the time and drink coffee like it's going out of style. I was vegan once for like 5 months, right after college, and I felt pretty good. I didn't loose that much weight, but I really felt healthy.
Day two of being vegan, and it seems to be going pretty well so far. Last night I made two soups out of my new cookbook, Vegan With a Vengeance. One was white bean and garlic, and the other was potato and asparagus. They are both delicious. (I don't want to post the recipes, cause the author lives in Brooklyn, and might cut me for republishing her recipes)

As if the desire to just feel better wasn't enough, I ordered PETA's free vegetarian starter kit. Now, I wouldn't exactly call myself an animal lover. I mean, I'm fine with animals, I just don't particularly want them around...especially when I'm cooking, or eating, or on the couch, or in bed. The thing they do to poor little chickens is really kind of appalling, and the poor wittle cows. It's really sad. Milk has pus in it? gross.

I guess the coming weeks will reveal how easy/hard this is for me to stick to, what with all the eating out that we do, but I'm feeling pretty good about it.

2007-12-29T19:38:00.000-08:00

I'm trying to clear my house of all non-vegan items before the first. I made a batch of cookies to get rid of the last of the butter.

Damn cookies! Why are you so good?
I also used the gelatin packets I've had in my house forever. I have been promising myself to make my own marshmallows for years now, and I finally did it...and then I covered them with chocolate, cause really, why just eat pure sugar when you can cover it with chocolate.

I got the marshmallow recipe from the Dec. issue of Gourmet. They wanted me to roll them in coconut, but then I knew Al wouldn't touch them for sure, and that's just what I need, one more thing that the skinny boy won't eat and I'm forced to consume by myself.

coconut marshmallows

Servings: Makes about 96 coconut marshmallows.

Ingredients

14 ounces sweetened flaked coconut (about 5 cups)
3 1/2 envelopes (2 tablespoons plus 2 1/2 teaspoons) unflavored gelatin
1/2 cup cold water
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1/2 cup hot water (about 115°F.)
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 large egg whites*
3/4 teaspoon coconut extract

*if egg safety is a problem in your area, substitute powdered egg whites reconstituted according to manufacturer's instructions

Preparation

Preheat oven to 325°F.

In a large baking pan spread sweetened flaked coconut evenly and toast in middle of oven, stirring halfway through toasting, until golden, about 12 minutes total. Cool coconut.

Oil bottom and sides of a 13- by 9- by 2-inch rectangular metal baking pan and sprinkle bottom evenly with 1 1/2 cups toasted coconut. In bowl of a standing electric mixer or in a large bowl sprinkle gelatin over cold water and let stand to soften.

In a 3-quart heavy saucepan cook sugar, corn syrup, hot water, and salt over low heat, stirring with a wooden spoon, until sugar is dissolved. Increase heat to moderate and boil mixture, without stirring, until a candy or digital thermometer registers 240°F, about 12 minutes. Remove pan from heat and pour sugar mixture over gelatin mixture, stirring until gelatin is dissolved. With standing or a hand-held electric mixer beat mixture on high speed until white, thick, and nearly tripled in volume, about 6 minutes if using standing mixer or about 10 minutes if using hand-held mixer. In a large bowl with cleaned beaters beat whites (or reconstituted powdered whites) until they just hold stiff peaks. Beat whites and extract into sugar mixture until just combined.

Pour mixture into baking pan and sprinkle 1 1/2 cups toasted coconut evenly over top, pressing lightly to adhere. Transfer remaining toasted coconut to a large bowl and reserve, covered, at room temperature. Chill marshmallow, uncovered, until firm, at least 3 hours, and up to 1 day.

Run a thin knife around edges of pan and invert pan onto a large cutting board Lifting up 1 corner of inverted pan, with fingers loosen marshmallow and let drop onto cutting board. With a large knife trim edges of marshmallow and cut marshmallow into roughly 1-inch cubes.Toss marshmallows in batches in reserved coconut to evenly coat and press lightly to adhere. Coconut marshmallows keep in an airtight container at cool room temperature 1 week.

2007-12-29T19:09:00.000-08:00

Bake-a-thon 2007

Okay, I was too busy having fun with my parents and Al's parents, and Ed to take pictures of all this stuff, but trust me, it has been a delicious and fattening holiday season!
I wanted to share a couple of the recipes I made that I found especially tasty.
I never knew how much I loved gingerbread until this year.

I got this recipe from Culinary Concoctions by Peabody. My mom said it was the best thing I made over the holiday.

Gingerbread Bars with Cream Cheese Frosting

1 1/4 cups flour
1 tablespoon ground Ginger
1 teaspoon ground Cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter, softened
1 1/4 cups sugar, divided
1 egg
1/3 cup molasses
3 tablespoons water
1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened
2 teaspoons Vanilla Extract
1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 13×9-inch baking pan with foil. Spray foil with no stick cooking spray. Mix flour, ginger, cinnamon, baking soda and salt; set aside.
2. Beat butter and 3/4 cup of the sugar in large bowl with electric mixer until light and fluffy. Beat in egg until well blended. Gradually beat in flour mixture until well mixed. Stir in molasses and water just until blended. Spread evenly in prepared pan.

3. Beat cream cheese in large bowl with electric mixer until smooth. Beat in remaining 1/2 cup sugar and vanilla extract until smooth. Reserve 1/2 cup of the icing; refrigerate remaining icing. Spoon dollops (about 1 teaspoon each) of the reserved icing over batter in pan. With knife or spatula, swirl icing through batter to marbleize.

4. Bake 30 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan 15 minutes. Lift out of pan using foil. Cool completely on wire rack. Invert and peel off foil. Spread refrigerated icing over bars. Cut into bars. Store in refrigerator.

Gingerbread Pudding Cake:

I got some sugar-free vanilla ice cream to serve with this because of my dad's diabetes and all...I don't know why I would bother serving SF ice cream with this. It's like ordering the double double with a diet coke. Anyway...the ice cream was gritty and I rarely recommend SF anything, so this was much better when I just piled an obscene amount of whipped cream on it.

INGREDIENTS

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/4 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1 cup molasses
1 cup water
3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 1/2 cups hot water
1/3 cup butter, melted

DIRECTIONS

Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Combine flour, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, salt, allspice and nutmeg in medium bowl; set aside.
Beat 1/2 cup butter and sugar in large bowl on medium speed until creamy. Add egg; continue beating until well mixed. Reduce speed to low. Continue beating, alternately adding flour mixture with molasses and 1 cup water, beating after each addition just until mixed.
Pour batter into 13x9-inch ungreased baking pan; sprinkle with 3/4 cup brown sugar.
Combine 1 1/2 cups hot water and 1/3 cup melted butter in medium bowl; carefully pour over top of batter. Bake for 40 to 55 minutes or until gingerbread is cracked on top and toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Serve warm with ice cream, if desired

These sparkling ginger cocktails were in the Dec. issue of Gourmet. I still have some of the ginger syrup left, and I imagine it would be delicious mixed with just about any alcoholic beverage. It was pretty awesome. I garnished with a circle of crystallized ginger (instead of doing the whole rim of the glass thing), which no one ate but me. People don't know what's good.

sparkling ginger cocktails

Active time: 15 min Start to finish: 1 hr (includes chilling syrup)

Servings: Makes 10 drinks

Ingredients

3/4 cup water
1/2 cup sliced fresh ginger (2 ounces)
3/4 cup sugar, divided
1 tablespoon finely chopped crystallized ginger
2 lemon wedges
2 (750-ml) bottles chilled Prosecco

Preparation

Simmer water, fresh ginger, and 1/2 cup sugar in a small saucepan, uncovered, 10 minutes. Remove from heat and let steep 15 minutes. Strain syrup through a sieve into a bowl, discarding solids. Chill until cold.

Finely grind crystallized ginger with remaining 1/4 cup sugar in a blender or food processor, then spread on a small plate.

Run lemon wedges around rims of glasses, then dip rims into ginger sugar. Put 1 tablespoon syrup into each glass and top off with Prosecco.

Cooks' note: Syrup can be chilled, covered, up to 2 weeks.

Yeah, I made a lot of not sweet things too, but who cares about those. I made some biscuits that didn't rise very well, a pork roast for Christmas day, some great potatoes....um, that's about it. The rest of the time we were eating out and stuffing ourselves until we begged for the sweet release of death...and that's just how I like it.

Oh, January, we have so much work to do.

And just for fun, here is a picture of Al and Ed and I getting rained on in Rockefeller Plaza.

2007-12-11T11:33:00.000-08:00

I can't believe that I haven't posted a blog in so long...it's not like I haven't been baking up a storm...I certainly have. Last weekend I made almond cookies, thumbprint cookies, and my mom's famous chocolate chip cookies (which is hilarious, because she just uses the recipe on the back of the Nestle chocolate chip bag, but for some reason her cookies always taste better than everyone else's...she says it's because she uses real butter...but there's something else to it.)
When I was a kid my grandma, who we all called Gammi, lived with my mom and dad and I. She loved Christmas. She was pretty much the best person in the world. She loved people unconditionally and always helped anyone who needed it (lucky for me I got surrounded by a family full of people like that). She passed away when I was 14, and it's really weird to think that I've been alive almost as long without her around then with her around. Since she died Christmas hasn't really had the same feelings around it. I didn't think it would until I had my own children, but I have to say, living here in NY, well, Christmas really feels great again. Everyone seems happier and more giving. It snowed a little and everything is lit up. Everywhere you go is so crowded that you know people are flocking here to feel that wonderful feeling of Christmas in New York (and to shop).
I'm eating too much and the pants that fit last week didn't really want to go on today...but man, this is Christmas in New York...and who am I to judge me?

I guess I better soak up all this over-eating now, cause my New Year's resolution is to be vegan.

2007-12-02T11:43:00.000-08:00

My new toaster

Moving to NY has been a challenge in a lot of ways, not the least of which has been space. I thought our apartment in LA was small, but this is tiny. I gave up on having a lot of appliances because we just don't have the space. I had given up on having a toaster too, but was about to break down and buy my own when I got one as a birthday gift from Al's parents.
I love it. You never realize how much you use something until you haven't had it for a long time.
All those mornings without the possibility of toast are over.

2007-11-28T06:10:00.000-08:00

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
You know how sometimes things are so good that you can't stop eating them, and after a while you wish you had never made them because they just keep calling your name...and even if you made them to give away or take to your future mom-in-law's house for Thanksgiving you just sit there and keep eating them? That's what these cookies are to me. The night I made them I ate 5 of them. The next day two more, and about 10 more over the course of Thanksgiving.

INGREDIENTS

1 cup canned pumpkin
1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon milk
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips (or more, if you're me)

DIRECTIONS

Combine pumpkin, sugar, vegetable oil, and egg. In a separate bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, ground cinnamon, and salt. Dissolve the baking soda with the milk and stir in. Add flour mixture to pumpkin mixture and mix well.
Add vanilla, chocolate chips and nuts.
Drop by spoonful on greased cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for approximately 10 minutes or until lightly brown and firm.

2007-11-15T06:02:00.001-08:00

Airplane FoodWhen Al and I went to LA last weekend for Jon and Corrinne's wedding we flew on Virgin America. It was a pretty great flying experience. Personal tv. Nice seats. You can buy your food from your seat and all that good stuff. I am normally opposed to buying airline food...okay, I'm always opposed to it. You want me to pay how much for something you should be giving me? No thanks. I will buy my food in the airport.
On the way home we got the row of seats with the broken tvs. I'm surprised that Al's little heart didn't break, but he kept it together and got us some free food out of it. Good man.
For airline food it was pretty delicious. Of course you can bribe me with a toblerone bar and I'll say just about anything. Al fell asleep after we ate. I stole his toblerone. Should have been quicker man.

2007-11-15T06:01:00.001-08:00

Behold this beautiful sandwich. It was delicious. The best thing is that any deli you go to around here is pretty much guarenteed to be good. I didn't feel like I had enough good sandwiches in my life in CA, but here they are everywhere. I don't think I've had a bad sandwich.
We got this at the bodega around the corner, on Lafayette. Not the one close to the laundry mat, because that place sucks. I've never had a sandwich there, but they did neglect to give me my change one day when I bought a soda there. When I asked for it, the guy behind the counter didn't speak english, but I'm pretty sure that "give me my damn change" is universal.

What I really want to do here in NY is eat the bad for me sandwiches. I mean, if you are into the whole carb thing, all sandwiches are bad for you, but I believe in the healthy sandwich...and yet I find myself pulled toward the rubens and the pastramis of the sandwich world.

2007-11-14T08:46:00.000-08:00

TasteSpotting
Gone are the days when I had countless hours to explore all of my favorite food blogs, read the posts, marvel at the beauty of their culinary creation. Now I just skim. Most days I just hit up TasteSpotting for a few quick seconds of lovely looking food. Remember when I cooked? Remember when I blogged? Remember when I read the blogs of others? Oh, the good old days.

2007-11-14T08:43:00.000-08:00

Granny Cart
When I frist moved to NY, I didn't know what a granny cart was, nor did I know how badly I would need one. I feel like it would be impossible to live here without one of these bad-boys. I couldn't get all my laundry to the mat at once, I couldn't get my superfluous food purchases back home...basically I would be lost.

2007-11-04T17:37:00.001-08:00

Welcome to my kitchen.
Al took a surprise picture of me cooking. There it is in all its glory.
I know. Impressive.

2007-11-04T17:31:00.000-08:00

Today we went to the Fairway Market in Redhook. Even though getting there required a subway and a bus ride, it was totally worth it. It's pretty much the best grocery store ever. The prices are great, and they have everything. I would do all my shopping there, but I'm not sure how I would maneuver my granny cart on the bus. If Al wasn't there and we didn't have to get home for the start of the Pats/Colts game, I think I could have stayed there all day.
One of the best parts is that it is right on the water, and right across the water is the Statue of Liberty. It's the closest I have ever been to the lady, and it was a pretty great view. I don't have a strong desire to actually go out to see her up close, or climb stairs, cause really I already climb enough stairs, so I'm good.

2007-11-01T14:53:00.000-07:00

Food Blogs
I like to think that some food blogs are there for the fun reading, and some are there for the pictures...the amazing pictures and recipes that make me drool on my keyboard.
I stumbled upon a new one today: Use Real Butter.

2007-10-17T07:54:00.000-07:00

AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!! I skipped a holiday. And not just any holiday....my favorite holiday. What have I done? I wrote about Thanksgiving before I even mentioned Halloween. Shame on me.
I have to go straight home today and make something with pumpkin.
My friend Jamie's mom used to make these little biscuit cups filled with what I can only describe as sloppy joe mix. Then she would cut a slice of American cheese into a circle and cut out a little jack-o-lantern face in the cheese and put it on top of the stuffed biscuit cup. It was the best.
I tried to re-create this Halloween magic by making this for my family one year. I'm still not quite sure what went wrong...or if sloppy joe mix, cheap cheese, and buttery biscuit dough were never meant to be mixed, but I'm pretty sure I gave my brother dissentary.
He kind of looked like the poor pumpkin on the right:

And I am the pumpkin on the left, laughing..."ha ha, I poisoned my brother."

2007-10-14T16:27:00.001-07:00

I subscribe to some food magazines, and I love them. I especially love when I get the Thanksgiving issue. I would even say it is almost better than the Christmas issue. I've never been that much of a Thanksgiving person, but there is just something about all those recipes for stuffing, cornbread and pies that is just so homey and comforting.
I haven't actually made sure of this yet, but I'm assuming that this year we will spend Thanksgiving with Al's family and I'm pretty excited. I mean, I will miss my cousin's fruit and marshmallow salad that I get when I go to Idaho for Thanksgiving, and I will surely miss all the wonderful food that my sister-in-law whips up when I go to her house for Thansksgiving (causing me to overeat to the point where I undo the pants at the table), but I'm looking forward to spending my first full holiday with my future in-laws.
Here is a link to Epicuriuos, where they list some of the fantastic Thanksgiving recipes from this month's Bon Appetit.

2007-10-04T19:32:00.000-07:00

Tortilla Soup
All good things come from Oprah.
Al's going to hit me in the face for typing that. He hates Oprah. Not so much because of who she is as a person, but because of her legions of sheep-like followers...I like her. I think it might secretly hurt him inside when I buy an Oprah magazine, but they're just so good. I mean, the articles are 10x better than in any other woman's magazine, and the recipes...well, let's just say I've never seen a bad recipe come out of an Oprah magazine.
This recipe is from the October 2007 issue.

Tortilla Soup
1 dried ancho chili
1/2 cup boiling water
2 Tbsp olive oil
3 boneless, skinless chicken thighs
Kosher salt and fresh ground pepper, to taste
1 large onion, chopped
2 carrots, peeled and sliced
2 stalks celery, cut into 1/2-inch slices
3 garlic cloves, peeled and quartered
2 tsp ground cumin
6 cups chicken broth
2 cans (14.5 oz) chopped tomatoes
1/2 cup loosely packed cilantro leaves
6 corn tortillas
vegetable oil, for frying

1. place chili in a small, heatproof bowl; pour boiling water over and let soak 30 min. Drain; remove stem and seeds. Slice into 1/2-inch thick strips and set aside
2. In a heavy dutch oven or soup pan, heat olive oil over med high heat. Add chicken; season with salt and pepper. Brown on both sides, about 10 min total. Add onion, carrots, and celery. Continue to cook about 8 min, stirring often. Add garlic and cumin and cook and additional 2 min. Add broth, reserved chili, tomatoes and cilantro and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer about 15 min. With your hands, tear 3 tortillas into 2-inch strips and add to the soup. Continue to simmer about 15 min.
3. With a slotted spoon, remove chicken to a cutting board; take soup off heat. With an immersion blender, puree soup until smooth (or take your life in your own hands and do this in small batches in the blender...if you put the lid on tight the heat will cause some sort of pressure reaction and the lid with come flying off, leaving you scalded and scarred for life). With two forks, shred chicken; return to soup. Season soup to taste with salt and pepper.
4. Now you can either slice up the rest of those tortillas and deep fry them to make a tasty garnish, or you can be lazy and use some ready-made tortilla chips.

This soup is delicious and spicy. If you have a cold, this will burn it out of you. If you have an ulcer...this is a bad plan.

2007-10-03T07:33:00.000-07:00

Just when you thought I would never blog again...
Its been shenanigans, and I don't mean the kitchen kind. I had birthday fun and then more mouth trouble, not to mention getting busy with wedding planning stuff. I want to blog...really, I do.

2007-09-17T12:07:00.000-07:00

Why my teeth hate me, and other life updates:

Last year, right before my 25th birthday, my teeth decided to rebel. I had an infection that caused half of my face to puff up and I had to be on antibiotics (therefore totally sober) on my birthday. Not only did I look hot with a super-sweet swollen face, but I didn't feel that great either.
This year, because I'm a sucker for tradition, my teeth have once again decided that the place for them is not in my mouth. (you can't see me, but I'm shaking my fist at the sky) I had oral surgery on Friday and have spent the last few days hopped up on Vicodin and knowing the mental fog that only painkillers can bring. My birthday is on Saturday. Hopefully I will be done with antibiotics by then.
I threatened that I wanted them to just pull the teeth and give me dentures, but then my grandma said that since she got dentures, her sense of taste has been impaired. WHAT??? No sense of taste? I might as well not go on living. Seriously. What kind of sad, cruel world would it be with no sense of taste?

On a happier note, my friend Karen is flying in from LA to visit me for my birthday!!!!
Yeah Friends!

Onto the topic of my upcoming nuptials. I am hard pressed to find a place that I both like and can afford. The whole wedding industry is a scam and all the engaged people in the world are it's blissfully unaware pawns. A lot of the places that are affordable just aren't that great...and let me tell you, I would rather not do it at all then do it in a New Jersey banquet hall with red carpet and gold accents everywhere that looks like the mafia is just using the place as a cover for something...although, isn't the wedding industry profitable enough? You better be selling crack by the pound if you are using a price-gouging establishment like a banquet hall as a cover. I mean, $150 per person for dry chicken breast and dinner rolls is a pretty freakin high profit margin.
Al thinks I'm a snob...but I didn't just go on a shopping spree at French Connection UK, so there! Whose the snob now?

2007-09-04T19:58:00.000-07:00

Our (almost) Neighborhood Italian Deli
If you can consider 2 stops on the G train (which never comes) still in our neighborhood, then yes, G. Esposito and Sons Pork Store is in our neighborhood. I mean, I could walk there...and I can remember walking home from there, but why miss all the fun of that mysterious G train? Will it come? When will it come? When it comes, will it stop? It's really a fun game.
Next time anyone, and I mean anyone...even a vegetarian, comes to visit us, I am taking them to this place. It's amazing. It's in the part of Brooklyn where everyone is Italian and has an accent. They make their own mozzarella fresh every day, and they have every kind of cured meat you can think of.
I wasn't in a particularly meaty mood when we went, but I did purchase some meat sauce, which I served with some home-made ravioli that we also bought there. It was the best sauce and the best ravioli...well, that's I've ever tried to pass off as something I made, and that's really saying something.
After we bought some stuff there we went next door to the Italian Deli and shared a cannoli...and thus continues my journey into being Italian. Yep, gotta prepare to slap on that new last name.

2007-09-04T19:56:00.000-07:00

The West Indian Parade
On Monday Al and I hit up what I just discovered is the biggest parade/festival in New York. With the promise of Jamaican food, we headed to Grand Army Plaza in Brooklyn and down Eastern Parkway. It was craziness. It was just how I pictured Carnival in Brazil, with scantily-clad dancers, loud music, and delicious food.

In the picture of me above, I am eating some awesome fried cheese bread, which I can't remember the name of, but which they usually serve with shark in it as a sandwich. I just wanted some delicious cheesy bread.
I love you fried banana...not so much with cheese in you, but I love you none the less.

2007-09-01T11:59:00.001-07:00

Catching Up
Much to the chagrin of Al, we haven't had internet for a few weeks. Last Friday, yours truly stayed home from work and waiting for the DSL man.
Once again there is happiness in this apartment. And I can finally post all these dang food pictures.

The above picture is of this wonderful chicken I made for dinner one night. I made it with one of those Indian bottled sauces from Whole Foods. I would tell you what sauce, but I forget.

I made baked apples for desert, only to discover that Al isn't such a big fan of the baked apple. I think his exact words were, "yeah, baked apples don't do me a whole lot of good if they don't have crust, or at least some sort of crumb topping." See what happens when you try to be a little healthy around here? Not that it was exactly lo-cal with the amount of brown sugar I put on it.

Isn't the saying that necessity is the mother of invention? Well, that's how I remember it.
One time Al said "just taking a stab in the dark" instead of "shot in the dark" and when I called him on it, he just leaned in really close, and in a threatening tone said, "lady, I carry knives, not guns." Point being, sometimes there really is nothing to make, and I gotta eat, so I'm forced to make something up...like this wonderful side dish. I had a green pepper, some sun-dried tomatoes, garlic and a can of potatoes. Saute up those veggies, add those potatoes, and throw on a little crushed red pepper, and you've got a pretty tasty concoction. It's dishes like this that earned me the nickname "Macgyver of the kitchen."

And it's cupcakes like the ones above that earned me the nickname EVIL. They are moist and good, and I made Nutella frosting for them. I started off with a basic buttercream frosting, but then cut back on the sugar a little and whipped in 1/4 jar of Nutella. It was delicious. I ate, well, I ate a few, but let's not talk about it.

2007-08-29T09:51:00.000-07:00

Beaver and Steve
Click here for the full comic strip. It is hilarious. I saw this over at SeriousEats and just had to re-post it.

I just found out that there is a Chinatown Ice Cream Factory. I love green tea ice cream, so this is the best news I have ever gotten.

2007-08-23T08:03:00.001-07:00

Bad Service

I know that a lot of people who are or were servers, or people who have friends that are servers are very sensitive about tipping. Even if they receive poor or mediocre service, they feel the need to tip generously because, admittedly, it is hard to be on your feet for that long and being a server can suck sometimes. You do make minimum wage, and you do depend on your tips to live...but here's the thing, I'm don't want to be the one who pays you to suck at your job. If the kitchen is slow, then tell me that. If they are backed up and I should expect to wait an hour or more for my meal, then let me know. Be nice. Be attentive. I can see how busy you are, how many tables you have, and if you are working hard or if you are standing around talking to the other servers.

Never...under any circumstances... add gratuity to my bill. Okay, if I'm at the Olive Garden with a party of 10, then add it, but if I'm at a nice restaurant in NY with a party of 5, you better not try to tell me how much you deserve. If you do an outstanding job, I will leave more than 20%, but if you are lazy, unattentive, or just basically suck, I will give you what I think you deserve.

Last night some people from work and I went to La Palette. When we finally got our food, after what seemed like an eternity, it was decent, but certainly not good enough to justify the kind of wait we endured. Problems like this can often be remedied by the server, who, if they have a good attitude, explain the situation, or take something off my bill for being so patient, can convince me to give the restaurant another try. We had to ask our server where our food was multiple times. She never apologized for the wait. Then she proceeded to add a 20% gratuity to our bill, before tax!!! So she taxed us on the tip too!

Needless to say, after waiting 45 minutes for our food, we weren't about to leave her a 20% tip. We left what we felt was fair, only to have her confront one of my co-workers about not leaving enough money.

2007-08-21T07:07:00.000-07:00

Today is Dumb!
This morning was just one of those mornings. I left late. The train was stalled. I got to the gym late and didn't have time to work out. I was looking down at my coffee and walked into a tree. I burnt my toast.
It got to that point of being comically bad where you just have to laugh. I mean, who walks into a tree? In New York. I thought the only place we even had trees here was in Central Park, and I certainly wasn't there.

2007-08-14T14:34:00.000-07:00

Ha! I'm living longer than everyone!
Al send me this article today from NY Magazine about why New Yorkers live longer than the rest of the country...9 months longer to be exact.
HA! Take that rest of the country! We totally rock. We're a fast-walking, long-living bunch of people. Granted I've only lived here for about 7 months, but still, I'm a New Yorker.
Sometimes when I'm walking somewhere and there's a really slow person, or slow bunch of people in front of me, I take the first opportunity to blow past them and in my mind I shout, "tourists!"
When I got off the plane in Salt Lake to see my family, you should have seen how slow people were moving. It was very upsetting. I had to clench my fists and take deep breaths and try to remember that I wasn't in NY anymore. Granted, that level of annoyance probably isn't doing my health any good.

2007-08-13T10:42:00.000-07:00

I'm usually opposed to telling people what to do (that's a lie), but I want you all to go out and buy this book: Eat This: 1001 things to eat before you die. Then I want you to take a couple months off work, pack up the family, and visit all these places. If you don't have the time and the means to do it, then just send donations and I'll go for you. I'll take lots of pictures and tell you all about my trip. It will be just like you are there.

2007-08-07T06:55:00.000-07:00

2007-08-04T15:13:00.001-07:00

What? Why?I would like to introduce you to LiveActive cottage cheese...with fiber. Cheese? With Fiber? It promises to "regulate your digestive system" by which they really mean, "we're fighting the colon-hindering effects of cheese." You know, you could just eat a salad after you eat your cottage cheese, but apparently that would be way too hard.

2007-07-26T09:04:00.001-07:00

Going to Utah...
I leave tomorrow to go to my family reunion in Utah. While Utah isn't exactly a culinary mecca, there is the promise of my Uncle Brad's dutch-oven potatoes to keep me warm. I will also be attending the carnival, and if we're lucky, I will remember to take pictures of the candy apple that my mom and I will inevitably share, even after we promise to be good and not eat junk food.

2007-07-24T07:37:00.000-07:00

Gym Showers On a completely non-food related note, I would like to talk about gym bathroom etiquette. Now, I have been showering at the gym in the morning, on and off, for about three years. Before that I always had an erratic schedule and never really had a job with set hours to work around. Now, its hard to commit to going to the gym any time other than first thing in the morning...and since the gym is usually closer to my job than it is to my home, I end up showering there.

No, I think that I have pretty good gym etiquette. I take a towel with me and wipe off the treadmills and machines when I am done; I try to be mindful if someone else is waiting to use a machine that I am using...you know, the basics. At first the whole idea of showering at the gym freaked me out a little, but I quickly got used to it. My Swedish friends are quick to remind me of how inhibited Americans are about nudity and their bodies, and for the most part, I can see where they are coming from...but I've seen things in these gym bathrooms...things that make me want to break the very first and most important rule of gym etiquette--no laughing in the ladies room.

When I showered at the gym in Culver City, there was a woman who would sing in the shower. Not once in a while, but every morning. At the Hollywood gym, the tiny Asian women would walk around the nudist of all nude. One woman asked me to zip up her dress, which clearly was a size or two too small for her, but I tried my best to oblige, even though the zipper would only go about 1/2 way up. Yep, I've seen a lot of stuff, but never laughed until today.

As I walked from the shower room to my locker, wrapped in my towel, I saw something that made me break the first rule...the golden rule if you will. It was a woman wearing underwear, a towel on her head, and cowboy boots. No bra. Nothing else. Just underwear and cowboy boots. Now, this may not have been so funny, except for the constant commentary on everyone and everything around me running through my head, and instantly exclaimed, "Yee-ha!" Damn you inner monologue. Damn you straight to hell! But really, who gets dressed in that order? Underwear first, I can understand...but boots second? Unless you are indulging some sort of sexual fantasy, there is no reason for just underwear and boots.

2007-07-23T08:58:00.000-07:00

It might not be a plastic bag, but you're still an idiot.I wouldn't say that I am against collector's items...or even designer items, but this is just silly.

Just to get some background/perspective, here are some articles on these not-plastic bags.
CNN
Ecorazzi
Gothamist

It's like saying you only want to help the environment if it is hot and trendy and fashionable...when really you could have bought a canvas bag for $2 long ago.

Here is a link to how much the bags are going for on Ebay.

2007-07-19T08:27:00.001-07:00

Not in the club

There is a food blogging community. I'm not in it, but I know it exists. Other food bloggers send each other food and cookbooks from other countries, they participate in blogger activities like Sugar High Fridays and Weekend Herb Blogging, and they tag each other with memes. Now, here is a link the the Wikipedia definition of what a meme is.
My blogging is a little more haphazard. I don't tend to participate in blogging events and I don't spend hours taking pretty pictures of the food that I make and/or eat. It's more of a fly by the seat of your pants thing with me. Sometimes I blog a lot, and sometimes I don't blog at all. I'm sort of a food bloggin' rebel...an outsider if you will. Just call me Pony Girl. I'm like Olivia Newton John at the end of Grease, wearing tight pants and stomping out my cigarette. "You can't make me blog today, cause I don't feel like it." Yeah, I'm pretty bad-ass.
Well, mostly.
I was reading Once Upon a Tart this morning and saw that she got tagged for a meme by Other People's Food. Well, I've never been tagged for a meme, so I'm officially tagging myself.

Here are the rules:
"I have been tagged to post 8 random facts. I have to post these rules before I give you the facts: Each participant posts eight random facts about themselves. Tagees should write a blogpost of eight random facts about themselves. At the end of the post, eight more bloggers are tagged. Go to their blog and leave a comment telling them they're tagged."

Maybe after I tag 8 other bloggers, they will know who I am...or maybe not. That's cool too.

Fact #1. I just pre-ordered Monster Squad on DVD. I don't think I've seen this film since I was 12, but I love it. It's taken forever to come out on DVD, and I'm so excited that I can't contain myself.

Fact #2. I'm really not that good of a cook. I just really like food. Most of the things I make aren't worthy of being served to other people...but my friends eat my food anyway, because they know how much I like to cook. It's like the friend who's a really bad singer, but you let her sing along with the radio anyway, because she's your friend, and really, what are you going to say? (Gosh, I hope I'm not that friend too)

Fact #3. I have never left the country, other than a quick trip the the Bahamas and one to Mexico...but neither of those required a passport, and growing up in Southern California you don't really think of Mexico as a different country anyway. I just got my passport a couple of weeks ago and can't wait to go somewhere.

Fact #4. Don't tell my mom, but I secretly love musicals...even the super-cheesy one, which I guess is all of them.

Fact #5. I think I am the funniest person alive. There, I said it, and it made me laugh.

Fact #6. If I could choose my last meal in this world, it would be pancakes from Katie's Kitchen in Carmel, CA.

Fact #7. My first word was broccoli...and thus began my love of food.

Fact #8. I moved to NY for the food. People think I'm kidding when I say that, but I'm really not. That's really why.

Okay, here are the people I'm tagging:
-Big City, Little Kitchen
-Food Lover's Journey
-A Chicken in Every Granny Cart
-Tasting Menu
-Fresh Approach Cooking
-Cook and Eat
-The Passionate Cook
-For the Love of Food

2007-07-12T19:27:00.000-07:00

Love and CommunicationI don't think we ever ate that much Indian food when we lived in Venice. There was a fast food Indian place around the corner from where I worked, and it was cheap and delicious, but all the Indian places around where we lived were rather expensive.
Now that we live in Fort Greene, there is an Indian Food place around the corner that has become Al's favorite place to order food from (second only to the pizza place, which he knows I will only eat every once in a while).
Every time we are starving and don't want to cook, or I'm on my way home and he wants to have food for me when I get there, or if I just refuse to cook because it's a million degrees outside and turning on the stove or the oven could be the thing that ruins the perfect balance that our air conditioner and the stinky, humid hell that is New York in the summer...we order in. I love our Indian food place, don't get me wrong. It's just, well, the family that owns it choose the family member with the least knowledge of the English language to work the phone. Calling in an order is like undergoing some form of Indian torture. Just when I am sure he's heard me, he repeats what he thinks I said...and then we have to start all over.
"What street?"
"Carlton, between Greene and Lafayette."
"879 Huston."
"What? No! That's not even close to what I said."
"Okay, we will be there in 15 minutes."
"What? You don't even know where I live!"
"Yes, we have that."
"What?"
And on we go, until I'm just about to loose my patience, and then he just says it will be right here and hangs up on me when I'm mid-sentence. Somehow it magically finds it's way here. I don't know how...unless that old dude is just messing with me the entire time and his family, who have probably all been speaking English from birth, is in the background cracking up. I'm sure they have caller id and every time I call he's like, "Hey, everyone, it's that really high-strung white girl again. Let's mess with her."
Actually going into the restaurant helps, because then I can just point at what I want...but when my goal is to escape the heat, going in completely defeats the purpose.

But the food is so good. Ah.....

Taste of Indian Cuisine
723 Fulton Street (at Lafayette)
Brooklyn, NY 11217

2007-07-12T07:37:00.000-07:00

FinlandMy parents had an exchange student from Finland once. She was awesome. The story of when they went to pick her up is hilarious. As they watched the bus full of 6 feet tall Finnish supermodels unload, among them was one lone goth girl, all of 5'. They got her. She was a little odd, and really quite, but kind of great. I liked hanging out with her way better than I would have liked hanging out with a super-model. She had no filter. She just said things and asked things that were a little inappropriate, but hilarious. "Why are your parents always late everywhere?" "Why do people in America eat so much?" "Why are so many people here fat?"

Well, I think I just found an answer to all of her questions. This post on Chow.com is about Finnish Food...like blood pancakes and pickled herring. Yuck! I think of myself as an adventurous eater, but those things are just nasty. No wonder you are all so thin in Finland and think that we're all fatties...which admittedly many of us are, but we have delicious food, not your nasty vampire pancakes.

This in no way helps to explain why people in Finland are more punctual, but I'm going to keep working on that one.

2007-07-11T11:04:00.000-07:00

The World's Largest Dairy Store
When I was a kid, my aunt Bessie, who is really my mom's aunt, not mine, worked at a dairy. We used to go there to visit her, and my parents/grandparents/whoever took me there, would buy me and my cousin Connie cheese curds. Now, I'm pretty sure that cheese curds are more of a dare than an actual food. I hate them, but everyone else seems to like them. This makes me think that either they have crappy taste, or that they are all just saying they like them in the hopes of someday peer pressuring me into saying that I like them, at which point they will all laugh at me.
This place in CT professes to be the world's largest diary store. I'm sure they have cheese curds.
Dairy and I have a long and sordid history. I'm a touch lactose intolerant. For years I tried to stay away from dairy...but I just love it so much that I couldn't stay away forever. Now I try to do diary in moderation, but I don't think my idea of moderation is the same as the rest of the world's. This has led to a pretty much constant state of bloating and stomach problems which I will continue to blame on stress and spicy food because I am not now, nor will I ever be, ready to give up dairy.
I will go to this store, and I will leave with a bellyache, and some of their home made ice cream...and perhaps even a bag of cheese curds, just so I can reaffirm for the n-teenth time that they really are the grossest thing every to come from that wonderful substance known as milk.

2007-07-09T15:42:00.001-07:00

You know, sometimes I read another food blog, and the similarities between me and them really strike me. Read this post at Serious Eats...it's hilarious, but more than that, it's something I totally agree with and probably would say myself.

2007-07-09T15:21:00.001-07:00

Friendly's, what happened to our love? Maybe it was just the ice cream. Maybe it was just the thrill of something that was unique to the East Coast. Whatever the case, I just don't love you anymore. I mean, I will still enjoy a tasty Fribble now and again, but only take-out.

Yesterday Al, Mom P and I went to Friendly's on our way to the train station. We got the mozzarella sticks like usual...but then I realized that I didn't know what else I wanted to order....because there really isn't anything worth ordering.
I had the sudden and startling revelation that Friendly's is just a glorified Denny's. Glorified only by me because it was just something new, something foreign.

I don't know what to say, other than I've been living a lie.

2007-07-02T09:16:00.001-07:00

Connecticut Muffin

When I was first looking for apartments in Brooklyn, I almost settled for this one on Myrtle Ave. right above a Thai Food restaurant. In the end I decided that not only was it way too far from a subway stop, but the smell of Thai Food 24 hours a day probably wouldn't be the most pleasant thing. The apartment did, however, have one thing going for it...it was right across the street from a place called Connecticut Muffin. I don't know if I've experienced enough of Connecticut to say that I love it, but I love people who are from there, so I'm claiming that I love it, and I know for sure that I love muffins. What could be better?

Ever since I first laid eyes on Connecticut Muffin, I vowed to go there. Not only was it always crowded (a great sign) but the name just felt right. Yesterday Al and I finally made it to Connecticut Muffin and proved that though you may love two things, when combined, the outcome isn't always good. Love sushi. Love peanut butter. But together? Well, you see what I mean.
Not only were the muffins not impressive, but everything was ridiculously overpriced. It's like going to Starbucks and paying $2.50 for a bagel when you can get a better bagel across the street for 75cents. There's just no sense in it...much like there is no sense in ever going back to Connecticut Muffin again.

2007-06-28T11:20:00.001-07:00

Apparently New York has burger madness. I've been reading about it for months now. Tons of new burger joints are opening and there is a constant debate over the best burger.
I can't say that I've been to that many burger places since I got here, but I thought I would add my two cents on the ones that I have been to.
Shake Shack's "shack burger" is fantastic. I'll go so far as to say that it is better than In-N-Out, and that's a big deal seeing how I'm a native Californian and all. They have the waffley fries, which really aren't my favorite, but then I wouldn't call myself that big of a french fry fan anyway. Their shakes are the best thing that ever touched my lips.
New York Burger Co. - Ug. Their bar of fun sauces and toppings does not make up for the fact that their burgers suck. Usually I am the kind of person who will give a place a second chance, but my burger here was so dry and tasteless that I just don't think they can ever recover. I know we had fries here too, but I don't remember how they were...it must have been the shock of getting such a bad burger.
Brgr - I went here today for lunch. I had the #5 burger, which came with cheddar cheese, bacon and horseradish. Rarely do places ask me how I want my burger cooked...and the ones that ask rarely ever listen to me. Everything comes out medium to medium well. Today at Brgr when they asked, I said rare, because that's how I like my meat, RARE. I know there are some health concerns with that, but I don't care. Today at Brgr they actually gave me a rare burger. I mean, we're talking rare as in barely warm. It was delicious. I will go here again and again...but then I will be heavy.
Pianos - Okay, this isn't really a burger place, but they do have burgers. I had one with goat cheese that was pretty good. Not fantastic, but good.

2007-06-26T10:56:00.001-07:00

Cancel my trip to Japan.
I was going to go, but then I read this article about the tuna shortage in Japan. Now chefs have to find alternatives...like horse. The article goes on to say that horse is a delicacy there, but I'm going to have to refer to the eating pig conversation in Pulp Fiction. Granted Samuel L. never said that he couldn't eat an animal because it had personality, but I think if you take the conversation one step further, you could rationalize that you wouldn't want to eat an animal with personality either.
Now, I know what you are thinking...doesn't a cow have about as much personality as a horse? ...And I eat cow. Well, I've never spent a lot of time with cows...but I did spend some time with horses, and they grew on me. It's for this very reason that I avoid spending time with cows. What if they started to grow on me? I wouldn't want that. I can't undo the bonding experiences that keep me from being open to eating horse, but I can avoid fraternization with cows in an effort to keep my meat eating alive.

2007-06-25T17:34:00.001-07:00

This post will be sung to the tune of Michael Jackson's "Beat It" (if you need help, the video is at the bottom)I told them beets I've never cooked you before, I don't know how its done, I've gotta learn some more. I'm gonna take you home, gotta settle this score, so beet it, just beet it.

I'm gonna roast you in the oven, oh yeah! You'll taste much better than out of a can. You are so red, now there's stains on my hands, just beet it!

Oh, there's red on my hands!

Beet it! Beet it! Go on roast your beet and eat it!
They are so tasty, they are so good, got them at the market that's in the hood. So Beet it! Oh, beet it.
Beets are so tasty, they are so good, why are they always misunderstood? Just beet it!

Okay, well, that's all the song that I had in me, but you get the idea.

2007-06-24T09:38:00.001-07:00

Coney Island Mermaid Parade
Al and I went to the Mermaid Parade in Coney Island on Saturday. There were far too many people. I'm not a fan of crowds, and I can't say that I've ever had a special place in my heart for mermaids either. Needless to say, I didn't last too long there. Just long enough to get a churro and some Italian Ice for Al.
He picked lime. Ug. I am not down for the lemon or lime ice. Give me a cherry or a coconut any day, but lime? Yuck. I don't eat the green or yellow skittles, nor do I eat the green or yellow sour patch kids...I barely even eat the orange ones. Once the red ones are gone, it's all down hill from there. I say, "Let's get some Italian ice," and he orders lime. Good lord man, why don't you just spit in my face and tell me that you don't love me?

2007-06-24T09:37:00.001-07:00

BesoThere is a little restaurant on 5th Ave in Park Slope called Beso. I've walked by it before late at night, and it was packed.
This last Sunday Al and I walked down to the Greenmarket, but we were so hungry, that shopping just wasn't going to happen. We started walking, and before I knew it, there was 5th Ave. Surely there would be a wonderful breakfast spot here...5th Ave has never let me down before. Across the street was Beso. The doors were open and it seemed pretty crowded. Al suggested we try it. Now, you know how sometimes you get a restaurant in your head as a dinner place, and it's hard to think of it as a breakfast or brunch place? Well, that's where I was with Beso. Since I had only ever really noticed it at night before. It took me a couple of minutes to accept the idea, but then I agreed that we should try it.
There is one thing that I haven't quite caught onto in NY yet...and that is when you order juice at a restaurant they bring it to you in what can only be considered a shot glass. It's everywhere, not just Beso. Al and I were joking about it one morning at the breakfast place by our house. He was like, "Yeah, and that's the large."
"Wow," I said, "wonder what that small looks like."
To that he just held up one of those little containers of creamer.

I ordered the huevos rancheros. It was delicious. The eggs were fluffy, the salsa was good. Al ordered the pan dulce french toast. I thought it was going to overtake him. It was two huge, thick mini-loaves of bread that were both filled with chocolate. It didn't come with syrup, but it did come with caramel sauce and rum. Wow. I dind't know if Al was going to make it. He ate half of one piece and then gave up. It was good, but wow. If you are going to eat this for brunch, you might as well just go straight home to slip slowly into your diabetic coma.
On the menu they also had hot chocolate served with a churro. The little girl next to us ordered it and it looked delicious. Al has a soft spot in his heart for churros, and I suggested we get one, but he just looked at me like I was the devil.

2007-06-24T09:36:00.001-07:00

Dean and Deluca
Prior to moving to New York, my only experience with Dean and Deluca (click to shop for delicious things) was some baked goods that we received as Holidays gifts at my last job. There were pretty good, but I wasn't privy to the awesomeness that is Dean and Deluca.
When I first got to New York and it was still really cold I found myself at the Dean and Deluca in Soho. It was the most magnificent place I had ever seen. I got a latte and a lemon muffin. I was pretty much in heaven. All of their coffee and baked good are fantastic, but it's the rest of their market that really astounded me. They had everything I could ever want, except low prices.
When other people win the lottery, their first thought is buying a house or a car...but I'm just taking myself on a shopping spree at Dean and Deluca. Smoked salmon and gourmet olives for days. Ah.....
This peanut butter brownie was pretty delicious too.

2007-06-21T18:00:00.000-07:00

Burgers and Cupcakes
Never has a place with such a fabulous name let me down so much. The burgers were fine, but I've had a lot better...and for $9 I've had a lot better. The fries were pretty decent, but the cupcakes were an abomination. They were terrible. The frosting was too thick, the cake wasn't moist, they were terrible. Worst of all my lettuce wasn't clean. They served me a burger with gritty lettuce. If I can't even trust you to wash your lettuce thoroughly, clearly we should not be friends.

2007-06-21T14:49:00.000-07:00

This just in...
I will be consuming my first ever White Castle Burger tomorrow in honor of Martin's birthday. I'm very excited. Expect an update.

2007-06-19T04:50:00.001-07:00

We just can't help ourselves when it comes to Max Brenner's. It's too delicious.
Here again, for your viewing pleasure, are the waffles. Dee-licious. Their milk chocolate ice cream tastes like deliciously frozen Nestle Quick out of the bottle. There is a big difference between mixing up your own Nestle Quick, and drinking it from the bottle. They always get the perfect creamy to chocolaty ratio...and that's hard to achieve on your own...so when I say that this ice cream tastes like frozen Nestle Quick from the bottle, you can be sure that means that its pretty much the best chocolate ice cream in the whole world. Look at this fantastic cup of hot chocolate. It is probably the best hot chocolate I have ever had.

2007-06-19T04:41:00.001-07:00

Work for your food
People might disagree with me on this, but I like it when I have to work for my food. I don't mean like do dishes in the back room or anything, but when eating is a more interactive experience. I love fondue. I love eating crab legs...although I usually get a little carried away cracking them by hand and usually end up needing a band-aid or two.
This is why I like shabu shabu. You cook your own meat and veggies in a boiling pot of water. Since the meat is so thinly sliced, it only takes a couple of seconds to cook, and it is delicious.
Last weekend, Ed, Chris, Al and I went to Shabu Shabu East. I have to say though, that the times I have shabu-ed in the past, I have had my very own boiling pot of water, and I like that better. There was no confusion about which items belonged to which person.

I think my final verdict is that while this was fun, it wasn't as good as our California Shabu-Shabu place. It was fun, because frankly everything we do with Ed and Chris is fun, but I don't think I'll be going back any time soon.

2007-06-19T04:35:00.000-07:00

Street Food
New York Magazine has a great article up today about street food. It leads you to all the best street food in the city.
Street food is the one area where LA could almost hold it's own. I mean, LA doesn't offer nearly the variety of street food that New York does, and you have to travel to get it, but if you know where to go, LA street food is pretty fantastic. There was the taco truck by our old apartment in Venice, fantastic churros on Olvera Street, and those fantastic bacon-wrapped hot dogs in West Hollywood around 2am. Delicious.
I'm looking forward to using this article as my guide to discovering all the wonderful street food loveliness that NY has to offer.

2007-06-13T07:02:00.001-07:00

Five PointsLast night Jeff (my boss), Danielle (my co-worker/neighbor) and I went to dinner with our totally awesome and fantastic friends from Broadway video.
We ate at Five Points on Great Jones Street and it was pretty fantastic.
We started with oysters and mussels that were melt-in-your-mouth fantastic. Then I had the beet and goat cheese salad, delicious. The bread was fantastic, the butter was sweet.
For my entree I ordered the porgy. It came with applewood smoked bacon and spinach (although the menu said broccoli rabe, but I wasn't about to complain). Here's a link to a little more info about porgy. Another person at the table also ordered the porgy, and we both found surprisingly few bones. Usually I'm against fish with bones...but how often do I get the chance to order porgy?
Jeff ordered the duck confit, and having proclaimed myself as a foodie, he asked me what confit actually means. I wasn't 100% positive, and that made me a little ashamed. I went straight home and looked it up (here is the link). Since it basically means "cooked in it's own fat and juices" I'm kind of sorry that I did, but oh well.
For desert I ordered the chocolate brioche bread pudding with salted caramel ice cream. If there were words to describe the overwhelming deliciousness of it, I would write them here, but there just aren't.

2007-06-12T07:52:00.001-07:00

Treats Truck I'm not sure how I feel about this new trend of mobile goodies in New York. I mean, at first it seemed like a fun idea, but I'm not sure my sweets should be so illusive. Do I really want to have to track you down, Treats Truck? I mean, what if your cookies aren't worth it? Or worse, what if they are, and I get the craving every so often, and then I have to go online and hunt for you?
I mean, the menu doesn't seem like anything special, but I could be talked into ordering a Mexican brownie, even though the name is a little redundant. ha ha ha. Whew...and then everyone stopped reading my blog.

2007-06-11T07:41:00.000-07:00

I moved here because it's a food town. People love food, and they're not ashamed of it. On average, New Yorkers are thinner than the rest of the country. It must be all the walking, because it certainly isn't all the eating.

Events like today's Taste of Times Square make me so happy I'm here.

2007-06-10T11:02:00.001-07:00

More Food Jewelry

After my initial post on food jewelry, I saw an article about Carrie Weston jewelry, and she has hot-dog cuff links, steer necklaces (which, I don't know if a steer necklace really counts as food jewelery, but given the recent BBQ explosion in NY, I'm sure there are some foodies who would covet the steer necklace), and all kinds of awesomeness.

My favorite is the sandwich ring.

2007-06-10T10:32:00.001-07:00

I miss my Canadians.
One of my bosses, and my co-worker at my last job were both from Montreal. They are both pretty fantastic. They both told me about this Canadian tradition of going "sugaring-off," and while I know that initially that sounds dirty, what is really is sounds pretty fantastic.
I can't find a ton of sites about this sugaring-off thing...and maybe that's all a part of their evil Canadian plan to keep me from my ultimate goal of someday going sugaring-off myself, but apparently they take you to cabins (cabanes à sucre) in the woods, for a meal based entirely off maple syrupy foods (ham, baked beans, pancakes, donuts, etc). You get to see them tap the trees for syrup and eat maple syrup snow candy (Tire sur la neige).
Their stories of sugaring-off have led me to forever associate them with maple syrup.
Last night I made this Maple Cream Pie from this month's issue of Bon Appetit.
I wish I could send them some in California.

Maple Cream Pie (8 Servings)
1 Frozen deep-dish pie crust (I made my own because I rock)

2 1/4 Cups whole milk
2 cups Grade B maple syrup
3 large egg yolks
1/2 cup all purpose flour
3 tbsp cornstarch
2 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups chilled whipping cream
1 tbsp. sugar
Toasted chopped walnuts

Bake and cool pie crust.
Whisk milk, syrup, and yolks in large bowl to blend. Whisk flour and cornstarch in medium bowl. Gradually whisk 1 cup milk mixture into flour mixture. Gradually whisk in remaining milk mixture. Transfer to large saucepan. Whisk over med. heat until custard thickens and boils. (8 min. or until your arm falls off)
Whisk in 2 tsp. vanilla. Pour into pie crust. Chill until cold (about 3 hours).
Beat cream, sugar, and remaining vanilla in med. bowl until peaks form. Spread cream over pie and sprinkle with walnuts. (I skipped the nuts)
Overall, I feel the same way about this that I feel about most things with maple syrup. It is a little too sweet...and yet my desire to go sugaring-off remains.

2007-06-10T10:20:00.000-07:00

This is not fair.
"Make the biscuits according to the package instructions."

"OOh, there is a variation on here for garlic and parmesan biscuits."
"Show me the box...yeah, we don't have either of those things."

Al searches the cupboard.
"We have parmesan goldfish crackers. Maybe I will just break those up and put them in."
"That sounds like fun," I say, but I'm secretly thinking, "you're going to be eating all of those yourself."
After a little confusion over what, "drop batter onto baking sheet" meant, we emerged with these. They are actually delicious.
I don't know why, but I'm a little offended every time one of Al's crazy ideas turns out to be great. I get all snobby and think, "there is no way that should be good" but it almost always is.

2007-06-09T08:22:00.001-07:00

"Why are you trying to feed me salad for breakfast?"
"It's not breakfast, it's brunch, Al."
"Salad doesn't go with eggs."
"It does when you don't get out of bed until 11."
"You're making this up."

2007-06-08T07:22:00.001-07:00

Delicious Jewelry
I would like to urge all of you to check out Shana Logic. It's all totally awesome independently made accessories, etc. I found the awesomest jewelry in the whole world there...food jewelry.
I'm going to have to start my collection now.

Here is just a brief sample of all the awesomeness that they have to offer.

I will also be investing in the sushi earrings and perhaps the soda can bracelet.

I have some serious online shopping to do.

2007-06-06T08:55:00.000-07:00

Chelsea Cottage Chinese
We went to a little Chinese restaurant on 9th Ave. last night that was pretty decent. It seemed like a lot of the customers were regulars and they all called the host by name.
It was pretty delicious.
A couple of tables over there was an elderly white woman in a kimono-style top. "I'm glad she wore her "going to get Chinese food" top." And then I laughed and laughed.
Man, I crack myself up.

2007-06-06T08:37:00.001-07:00

I've Got Your Number Starbucks.....and the number is $0.54. That is how much they will charge you to refill any hot or cold coffee or iced tea. This is the best news I have ever received in my life. If someone told me that I won a bunch of money right now, my response would be, "I don't need money, when coffee is just 54 cents."
When I first moved to NY, I thought I had it all figured out. There are so many little delis that serve great coffee for $1 a cup that I was sure I was going to save a fortune on my coffee habit. Until I found out this most fantastic of news. Admittedly, I feel better supporting the little guy, but I have to weight that against my desire to save 50 cents, which I'm sure will someday add up to a huge fortune.
This whole 54 cent this is not common knowledge. It's kind of like a super-secret club. You are now in the club.

2007-06-04T08:57:00.001-07:00

Edible Audio at The Food Section
Check out this post over at The Food Section.
They came up with 100 songs about food. I have to say, I'm not a huge fan of the list. And any time you refer to "Pour Some Sugar on Me" as cheesetastic, you've pretty much made an enemy of me.
There are some good songs on here, but a bunch that I would scrap. Where is Cherry Pie? Where is Sugarshack?
Clearly I should have been consulted.

2007-06-02T08:24:00.001-07:00

Holy Chocolate Overload Batman!!!!
These are the waffles from Max Brenner's, the chocolate palace that apparently only exists in New York and Australia.
My brother and sister ordered this. Al and I ordered the Urban Smores. I've never seen Al so happy before in my life. He was actually dancing while he ate.
This is a picture of the little burner that comes to the table with the Urban Smores, and inevitably leads to unimaginable bliss.

2007-05-23T09:05:00.000-07:00

Junior'sI happen to live by one of the best delis ever, and I didn't even know it until my brother and sister in-law came to visit last week.
In passing I was like, "We should go to Junior's, I hear they have great cheesecake, but I've never been there." The next day, while I was at work, slaving away, working my little fingers to the bone, their friend Vicky came by and took them and Al to Junior's...without me. When I came home that night, I heard tales of the legendary beets and cornbread. Oh, sure. They had brought home a little cheesecake and let me have some. It was pretty fantastic cheesecake (not too firm, I hate the kind that makes you feel like you just ate paste and you can't separate your tongue from the roof of your mouth), but to hear them talk about it, the cheesecake wasn't the main attraction. I had to visit this place and experience this magic, but mostly I had to go to work again. And when I did, do you know what they had the nerve to do?
Go there again, without me.

For a while there I was beginning to think that they didn't love me. I mean, all these trips to Junior's, and then coming home and rubbing it in my face. That's not love.

But everyone redeemed themselves by taking me to Junior's before they left to go back to LA on Saturday.

This cornbread is the best thing I have ever had. Ever. It's delicious and sweet and, well, if I had to survive off of one thing for the rest of my life, this might be the thing I pick.
Don't get me wrong, the rest of their food is great too, but this cornbread is the stuff that's really worth talking about. All future visitors to NY should prepare themselves now for the trip to Junior's.

All this deliciousness, only one subway stop away. Life is so good.

2007-05-23T08:39:00.000-07:00

Here are some delicious sandwiches that I have been making:
This is my super-healthy sandwich.

When I was a kid, my parents would make tomato-burgers.
They consisted of a whole-wheat hamburger bun with a little bit of mayo and Spike seasoning. My mom would send me to school with one of these in my lunch, but the tomato was always in a separate bag so it wouldn't make the bread soggy. How I longed for just a normal peanut-butter and jelly like the other kids, but no, I got a tomato burger.

Well, I must have secretly liked their hippie sandwiches, because now I eat food like this. The avocado sandwich, with a little bit of mayo, 21 Season Salute from Trader Joe's, spinach, and avocado. Thanks hippies.

I made this sandwich for Al with turkey meatballs and organic marinara sauce. It's almost healthy, but then I used butter to toast the bread in the pan (still no toaster) and kind of cut down on the healthy factor a little...like I like to do.

I have to balance the healthiness of the first sandwich with this blatant disregard for calorie content.
This, my friends, is a Fluffer-tella. Fluff and Nutella, together, on white bread. Delicious.

Take that hippie parents who never gave me the standard PB&J when I was a kid. I'm all grown up and making what is probably one of the most un-nutritious sandwiches in the world.

2007-05-22T11:47:00.000-07:00

You're going to hate me for saying this....

but I'm not a big fan of surprises.
There, I said it.
I would just rather not be surprised. I mean, every once in a while it's okay, but for the most part, I am very clear on what I want. Therefore, I have become a firm believer in the "wishlist." I love you online shopping, for your speed, convenience, and mostly for helping me avoid crowds at all costs...but above all, for the wishlist. Most of my favorite online shopping sites will let you create a wishlist, and don't think that I don't take full advantage. What would I like for my birthday? Allow me to gently guide you to the wishlist.

Today I added some things to Al's Amazon.com wishlist, under his account, so that maybe next time he signed in and clicked on "my wishlist" he would say, "Hm, I didn't know I wanted a red Quisinart Ice Cream maker. I guess I should buy that for myself." Ha ha. It's such a perfect plan. I'm sure it will work.

2007-05-21T10:49:00.000-07:00

And now that it's hot outside, time for some soup.

I made lentil soup last night.
This recipe is nothing like the recipe that I used. This recipe sounds fantastic. Mine has no ham...which makes it a little meh, but mine is healthier.

1 carrot, halved lengthwise and sliced thin crosswise
1 small onion, sliced thin
1 garlic clove, minced
1 small bay leaf
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 1/2 cups chicken broth
1/2 cup lentils, picked over and rinsed
1/3 cup chopped smoked ham
1/2 cup finely chopped drained bottled roasted red peppers
3 tablespoons minced fresh parsley leaves
1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar, or to taste

preparation

In a heavy saucepan cook the carrot, the onion, the garlic, and the bay leaf in the oil over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are softened. Stir in the broth and the lentils and simmer the mixture, covered partially, stirring occasionally, for 25 minutes. Stir in the ham, the roasted peppers, 2 tablespoons of the parsley, the vinegar, and salt and pepper to taste and cook the soup for 1 minute. Discard the bay leaf, divide the soup between 2 bowls, and garnish it with the remaining 1 tablespoon parsley.

2007-05-14T12:17:00.000-07:00

Nutella--on ice cream. That's really all I have to say. I mean, I've had chocolate and hazelnut gelato, and that was lovely, but Nutella on ice cream, well, it gets to that perfect chewy consistency that hot fudge gets to after it's been on the ice cream a while, only Nutella has that consistency instantly. Mix it through and you get a little ribbon of chewy-hazelnutty goodness.

My next goal is a fluff and Nutella sandwich...I'm sure it will be fantastic.

2007-05-12T09:07:00.000-07:00

Fort Greene restaurants, I will get you all.....

Olea: The other week Al and I went here for brunch.
It was fantastic. The coffee was delicious.
The lady sitting one table away from ours ordered decaf coffee. When it came she freaked out and asked a thousand times to make sure it was decaf. Then she had the waitress go remake it for her. Now, I don't like decaf drinkers to begin with. After waiting tables for almost 6 years, I know a thing or two about the people that order decaf. First and foremost, they are missing the best part of drinking coffee, and secondly, these people are high-maintenance (for the most part, unless they are old, and then I totally understand the decaf thing, because if you're going to bed at 5pm, there is really no cause to get all hyped up). So, sometimes I get a little fired up about these things and I start going on my little rant to Al about stupid decaf drinkers...for the most part I'm trying to be quiet, but I'm not too concerned because who cares if she hears me because she's a stupid decaf drinker, the bain of my table-waiting experience. So I'm going on and on, through the toasted baguette with nutella (delicious) when finally, the lady stands up to leave and she's big ol' pregnant.
Wow, I am a jerk. Here's this pregnant lady trying not to make her baby come out with ADHD, or whatever babies get when you drink caffeine while pregnant, and a table away I am basically calling her a jerk to her face.
Yep, I can be pretty awesome sometimes.

Despite my shame, I enjoyed a French omelet. It came with a salad and a baguette. I mean, it's was that kind of delicious where you don't know if you would really ever order it again...because I kind of only like smoked salmon cold and on my bagels, but I'm glad I tried it so that I could come to that conclusion.
Al had the green eggs and lamb. Also delicious.

Check out their website. It has a slide show of picture of the restaurant, the menu, and talks about all the different special nights they host.
http://www.oleabrooklyn.com/index.php

The same people who own Olea, also own Cafe Lafayette, where we went last Friday night. They serve water in little, tiny glasses, but give you a wine bottle full of water to refill your own glasses. As soon as we sat down I spilled the water all over myself, and the rest of the night was a careful ballet with my trying to avoid hitting the water bottle.
I had the Lafayette burger with grilled onions and goat cheese. You could really put goat cheese on anything and I would love it, but this burger was especially fantastic. There were all sorts of herbs and seasonings mixed into the patty, and the whole-wheat bun was crusty and fantastic. The fries, oh the fries. I guess that everyone has their own ideas about perfect fries, but my idea of perfect fries are the French-style pomme frites. I love the thick fries that are a little crunchy on the outside and all mush on the inside.
Al had the lamb. It came with the fresh green-beans that were delicious, but since Al is reluctant to eat any green beans that don't come out of a can, I took it upon myself to eat them, and they were delicious.
My body likes to mess with me, and give me the urge to sneeze right when I have a mouth full of food or liquid. Ah...I remember the time I sneezed hot chocolate all over my dad. He was a good sport about it, but since then it's been a constant battle with food and beverage-filled sneezes. I thought it was only me, but to my delight the man sitting behind Al at Cafe Lafayette sneezed and I glanced up just in time to see a look of disgust come over his face at the sight of his food-filled palm. HA! Yes. I got the giggles a little.

The place itself is really cute. We sat outside and our waitress was fantastic. She was really cool about me spilling water everywhere.
The lady sitting next to me ordered the vegetarian couscous and it looked amazing. That is what I'm getting next time.

2007-05-08T09:26:00.000-07:00

Lost In Translation

Hello friends, and family (who am I kidding, it's mostly family...Al laughs at me every time that Sonic commercial comes on where the guy says he is going to tell all his blog readers about Sonic's new shake, and then he female companion asks, "you mean your mom?" and he responds, "she was supposed to tell her neighbor about it too" In my case it's Al's mom that reads my blog, not my own)

I am completely unpacked and moved into my new apartment. I swear I've even been cooking too, and taking pictures, but the pictures just don't seem to be making it from my camera, onto my computer, and onto my blog.

In the meantime, until I find the courage to walk over to the computer and plug in the camera, I though I would share some links with you to wonderful food blogs that are currently tickling my fancy. Granted I haven't had too much time to read my favorite food blogs lately, but I'm trying to catch back up, and it's delicious.

Here is some delicious Osso Buco from Simply Recipes.
This is probably one of my favorite meals in the whole world.

I have never been a huge fan of figs, I mean, I try, but I just can't get that into them. Now dates, dates I love. I'm not allowed to buy them anymore because I will eat the whole package in one sitting. Pictures like this though make me want to give figs another try, and then I do and I still don't like them. This picture is making me want to try them again though.
Thanks Stonesoup.

Last, but certainly not least, I have re-post this wonderful image from Scoboco, because I keep reading about Grom, but I haven't tried it yet...mostly in an effort to pace myself when it comes to all the good food in NY, but this picture is hurting my restraint.

2007-05-01T11:08:00.000-07:00

COOKSHOP

Last night I went for dinner with Neal, Danielle, the director of "Severance" and our totally awesome publicist Steve.
We went to Cookshop on 10th Ave. It was amazing. I had read a review that said not to miss the hominy, and it was completely addicting. It was spicy and crunchy, and a lot like popcorn without being dry. We also tried the duck taquitos. My take on Mexican food is that it's one of those things you can try to class up, but the classy version will never be as good as the low-brow version, so really, you have to ask yourself, a $7 duck taquito? Isn't that just a waste of time? Shouldn't you spend your time trying to class up other things, like hominy?
Then I had the beet and ricotta salad and it was delicious. There were orange sections and mint leaves.
For my entree I had the cod. It was perfectly done and came atop a mustard vinaigrette and asparagus. I stole a bit of the director's steak, which I have to say was a little bit like heaven.
Even though I know that the last thing I need in this world is dessert, I still ordered the chocolate cake, the menu said something about espresso and salted caramel, but it was right around then that I slipped into my chocolate coma. It was delicious and moist and the frosting wasn't too sweet and had just a hint of the salted caramel.
It was delish, but I seriously need to diet now. Not that I didn't before, but I think this was the kicker.

2007-04-22T05:54:00.000-07:00

Tasti-D
I have an unhealthy fascination with frozen yogurt (yes, okay, I am a total LA-ite. I say fro-yo, but I don't go get my fro-yo wearing a jean skirt and uggs driving my Hummer, so I don't think you should give me a hard time).
My fro-yo addiction first started when I lived the the Valley and Studio Yogurt was right down the street. I went there all the time. I filled up punch-card after punch card to earn the coveted free yogurt. When I moved to Venice my new hangout became Sparky's, and I moved onto Penguin's when that opened even close to my apartment (after-all, Penguin's did have better toppings, and the rating of a frozen yogurt establishment is really a delicate balance between yogurt texture and variety of toppings). At least every other night I would ask, "Al, do you feel like getting some fro-yo?" And even if he didn't he would say yes, because he knew that anything else would be the wrong answer.
When I moved to New York I felt sure that I wouldn't have a local frozen yogurt place. Frozen yogurt somehow seemed low-brow and not an advanced enough culinary achievement to be successful among the foodies of New York.
Thanks to Gawker, and this totally awesome article, I did know that there was a Pink Berry in Manhattan, but not being a fan of sour milk myself, I wasn't too excited.
Someone at work suggested I try Tasti-D-Lite. I had to find this place. Google maps mistakenly told me there was one on 6th Ave and 31st...damn liars. I searched for it one day on my lunch break. Every time I got in a cab I would see one, but I could never quite make it there. Wednesday night Al agreed to find the closest one and said we could take the train there, even though I'm sick. It's only two stops on the G...only two stops!!!!! But the G train took forever, and by the time we got there it was closed. He agreed that Friday we could try again.
I still wasn't feeling well, and probably shouldn't have left the house, but I had a craving for French Onion Soup, and after a little searching we decided to have dinner at Caffe Carciofo on Court St. My French Onion Soup was amazing. Al had this amazing pesto pasta with sun dried tomatoes.
After dinner we walked back towards the Subway, and back towards Tasti-D.
Now, I'm told that I'm not allowed to call it ice cream or frozen yogurt, as it doesn't contain a significant amount of cream or yogurt, but as far as I'm concerned it's fro-yo, and it's the best damn fro-yo ever. It achieves the perfect fluffy and mousse-like texture, and while the topping selection is limited, Tasti-D makes me very happy.

2007-04-22T05:52:00.000-07:00

Wow, I mean, wow.
I just read this article on New York Magazine's website.
I guess we can never go to Bottino again.

2007-04-13T07:06:00.000-07:00

Where my guidos at?

As a Californian I always had this sneaking suspicion that I had never had good Italian food. Even when I had what I thought to be great Italian food in California, I always somehow knew that it would never be as good as what I was going to get in New York. Needless to say, I have set the bar pretty high for NY's Italian eateries.
The first week I was in NY looking for a job, Rachel and I went out for Italian food, and I was pretty disappointed. I can't remember the name of the restaurant, but don't go there. (that's helpful, I know) We ordered broccoli rabe for an appetizer and it came fried into a little charred tumbleweed. It was greasy, it was gross, and it tasted like charcoal. You can fry most things, even Twinkies, but not broccoli rabe apparently. My entree was a little better, and though I was excited to try desert, small Indian women rarely indulge in such frivolities, so we skipped it.

Last night was my second experience with Italian food in NY. I went to dinner at Bottino. It was a cute little place on 10th Ave between 24th and 25th. The company was great, the olive bread was fantastic.
I started with an asparagus and parmesan salad, which was delicious. For my entree I had the lobster and rock shrimp linguine...it was good, but not great. I asked the waitress for her input on desert, should I have the bread pudding, or the pecan tart? She recommended the pecan tart, and though the ice cream that accompanied it was delicious, the tart itself was hard, and a struggle to eat.

Am I doing something wrong? Clearly I am. I mean, all this good, but not great Italian food. Am I in the wrong part of the city? I found great falafel in Brooklyn, great muffins at the bakery around the corner, great coffee, great everything else.

Maybe the great Italian places are reserved for Italians. I can't wait until my last name is Petitti and my Italian peeps are like, "Oh, she's one of us." Then they will teach me the secret handshake and lead me down some shady steps which lead to the most fantastic Italian restaurant in the world. Lots of fat women with aprons serving up trays of lasagne and telling me that I'm too thin and I need to eat more.

Ah...until then I'll just need my brother to come visit me. He not only is Italian (different moms) but he looks it. If he slicks his hair back and puts on a suit, it makes you edgy, like someone is going to make you an offer you can't refuse any minute. The NY Italians will clearly give him the 411 on where to go for the best food.

2007-04-03T09:28:00.000-07:00

The Chelsea Market
Today I accidentaly stumbled into the Chelsea Market. I think I found heaven. I don't care if things are over-priced, it's everything I could ever want, all under one roof. It's amazing.
I have visions of taking long lunches or disappearing on the weekends and people having to send search parties to find me. There I will be, in one of the bakeries with a cookie in one hand and a latte in the other, bags of groceries surrounding me on the floor.
They will have a put one of those things on my ankle that sounds an alarm when I try to go into the Chelsea Market. All the security guards will have my picture. Al will have to go to a support group for people whose girlfriends/wives are addicted to the Chelsea Market.

2007-04-03T09:24:00.000-07:00

What a Maroon!
Last night my good friend, Bryan, and another of his friends took me to Maroon's. They have amazing food! We started with fried green tomatoes, mango shrimp and hush puppies. Then we shared some jerk chicken, beans and rice and fried plantains. It was amazing.
The servers were great and there were rose petals scattered around the entire restaurant. I felt very seduced.

2007-04-03T09:14:00.000-07:00

Goodies!!!

Apparently they don't have good Chinese food in California, because I have never had totally awesome things like soup dumplings and pork shoulder at a Chinese restaurant.
Last Friday we all went to a restaurant in Chinatown called Goodies, and it was fantastic.
From there we went to Jeollado, a sushi restaurant with the biggest private karaoke room in the world in the back. Needless to say, we totally rocked.

Yep, that's my boss.

2007-03-27T08:05:00.000-07:00

Last night a couple of people from work and I went to Katz's Deli. I had a pastrami sandwich, and it was the best pastrami of my life. I think I'm still full.
They give you two slices of pastrami to munch on while you wait for your sandwich, which is awesome. For a $14 those two extra slices make the whole thing worth it. Actually, it was worth it.
They give you a ticket when you walk in, and if you loose that ticket they charge you $50 when you leave. It's pretty imperative to hold onto that ticket. At first I was pretty sure they were kidding about the ticket thing, but my new friends confirmed that they were indeed not kidding.

2007-03-27T07:41:00.000-07:00

Daisy May's BBQ

The end of my first week at Magnolia ended with the most awesome dinner ever. We went to Daisy May's BBQ and all shared a whole pig, not to mention ribs, coleslaw, texas toast...pretty much every fixin' you can imagine. There is really no better way to bond with a ton of people you have just met then carving into a whole pig together.

Here is an awesome article about Daisy May's from the NY Times.

It was fantastic. Now I can cross eating a whole pig off of things that I need to do before I die. That just leaves seeing Paris, getting arrested, and buying my dad a Mustang Cobra.

From Daisy May's we went to the Me' Bar. There we were just hanging out when I looked up to realize that we were practically at the base of the Empire State Building. Man, sometimes that thing can really sneak up on you. It was one of the most beautiful views ever.

2007-03-23T07:41:00.000-07:00

A man in the subway gave me an interesting compliment yesterday...at least I think it was a compliment. He said, "Girl, you look like the tallest Charlie's Angel."
Well, since I'm not blond and my mouth doesn't take up my whole face, I can only assume that he doesn't mean the new Charlie's Angels. He must mean the old ones, which would make me Kate Jackson. Hmmm, I don't think I look that much like Kate Jackson. Maybe he just means that I look like I kick a lot of ass.

2007-03-22T13:46:00.000-07:00

Attention ladies and gentlemen : Kitchen Shenanigans is being repurposed. For the next few weeks I will document my transition into becoming a New Yorker.
I don't have any pictures yet, but never fear, soon I will.

I work in the Radio Wave building on 27th Street. It's in an area that is basically the Santee Alley of New York. In this little area you can find any designer knock-offs you could ever want, not to mention big hoop earrings with your name written in cursive through the middle. It's some hot stuff, and by hot I mean probably stolen.

There is a Starbucks across the street, which makes me feel like I'm back home in LA, but I long for a Dunkin Donuts in walking distance. Yesterday they had free iced coffee day and I missed it. I haven't found the one closest to me yet, but I will, oh yes, I will.

The people I work with are awesome. Yesterday they took me to opening day at Shake Shack. It was pretty fantastic. I did have to ask what a concrete was. Apparently it's just a really thick shake. Oh, the things we don't have on the West Coast.

Last night Rachel and I went to dinner at Boca Chica. It was delicious.

I really love it here. I love the subway, I love the weather, I love it!!!!!!

2007-03-14T10:52:00.000-07:00

Al, get up, it's time to go to Vegas!!!!!!!

Clearly, I'm going to have to beat you awake! Here, have some coffee.

Let's rock and roll!Ah, we have finally arrived.
Yeah!!!!!!! (just so you know, that's a plastic palm tree in my hair...just in case you thought it was something weird)

2007-02-22T09:06:00.000-08:00

Google

I found this picture, which I had meant for a post about Google's Christmas party.
Needless to say it's not quite as fresh in my mind as it was right after this picture was taken, but people from Google are a little too happy.

I did find one subversive member of the Google clan, who told me that working at Google was like living at home with your parents.
When he would try to leave for lunch they would say, "Where are you going? Surely you aren't going to lunch. We made you a nice healthy lunch right here."
When he would leave to go have drinks after work they would say, "Surely you aren't going out for drinks, we have drinks in the conference room every Thursday. There's no need to go out."

I was struck with a strange mixture of disgust and envy that I still haven't reconciled.
It seemed a little cult-ish, but in a good way. The way that Scientology was oddly attractive to me before Tom Cruise started jumping off couches.

A smart person would have though twice before eating the cookie, but I didn't.

2007-02-22T08:25:00.000-08:00

It's been a long time, PBMax

Do you remember PBMax bars?

Al and I remember them well, and we have talked about them several times. I loved them, and I'm pretty sure they loved me too. Then mysteriously, in the late 90's they stopped making them. Children wept. Well, I wept.
Last Friday when Al and I were just sitting home watching TV he suddenly says, "Man, I want to make our own PBMax bars."
Needless to say, shenanigans ensued....delicious shenanigans.
After some disagreements on what was actually in a PBMax bar (see commercial) we were off. They said "whole grain cookie" but we improvised with a buttery wafer cookie.
Then Al piped the peanut putter on top:
Then we froze the cookies and peanut butter for about 1/2 an hour. Then we put them on a metal rack and poured the chocolate over the top.
They were delicious.

Chris liked them too.

2007-02-13T11:37:00.000-08:00

Feeding the seals
When Al and I first started dating we knew that eventually both of us wanted to live on the East Coast. I told him that there are a few things that he has to do before he leaves California, or his stay here will be incomplete.
Since I was in NY last week interviewing for jobs, I though we better hurry up and cross some more of those things off the list.
One important one was feeding the seals in Morro Bay, so Saturday morning we woke up early and got to driving. It's almost 4 hours away, but totally worth it.
Don't eat the fish. That's gross.

2007-02-13T11:33:00.000-08:00

Pumpkin Pasta
See, I had high hopes of making Pumpkin Ravioli, but then I realized that I needed other tools and I was feeling really lazy, so I mixed the cooked pumpkin along with some spinach and cheese into pasta. I have to say, not nearly as good.
I'm going to add this to my list of less-than-brilliant ideas.

2007-02-13T11:29:00.000-08:00

Later I frosted this cake to look like an American Flag, but then I forgot to take a picture of it.
Here is a picture of Karen dressed like an American Flag.
I hope that helps.

2007-02-13T11:20:00.000-08:00

I only like brownies if they are chewy and fudgey, or in the movie Willow...but you brownie, you will not do!
I would post the recipe for these brownies, but then it would perpetuate a world of cakey brownies, and I can't let that happen.

2007-02-05T06:53:00.000-08:00

Okay, so I know that this blog is/was supposed to be about food...but here is the thing, in support of the cause (and the cause being good food) I am determined to move to New York.
I am in the city for a week to look for a job.
Right now I am held up in the Aroma Espresso Bar. I already had one large latte, but I fear that I will need one or two more before I go outside and brave the 17 degree temperature again.
17 degrees? Whoever heard of such a thing? Not me.
I'm pretty busy with interviews and whatnot, but I am making time to fit in all the good food that I possibly can.
Yesterday I went to a restaurant called A7. I had the eggs benedict with red pepper sauce instead of hollandaise (I'm just going to go ahead and spell that however I want). It was delish.
Al made me informally promise to not have pizza without him, or if I had it, to at least not enjoy it without him. I'm not sure how the whole "not enjoying it" thing would work out. Maybe I'll have to make a mental note to say "yuck" after every bite.

2007-01-21T20:03:00.000-08:00

Overconfident...
I'm going to admit that sometimes I become overconfident in the kitchen. I think that I can do no wrong just because it's been a couple of weeks since I set off the smoke alarm or made a batch of inedible cookies...and then the universe has to remind me that I am not infallible, and that yes, even I make mistakes.
So it was this evening when I decided to make potato leak soup without any sort of recipe or guidelines. It seemed simple enough, but what I ended up with was more gerber baby food than anything. It doesn't even taste that good.
Damn me for buying the 10 lb. sack of potatoes at Costco. Why do I think I will ever use them all? What's wrong with me?
Shenanigans.

This picture has nothing to do with my botched soup. It's from Muscle Beach in Venice. It relates not at all to the topic of this post, unless the bodybuilders are laughing at me for cooking without a recipe.
They probably are.
Stupid bodybuilders.

2007-01-07T13:34:00.000-08:00

New Year's Eve

Al got me this wonderful cookbook for Christmas. We used it to cook an awesome meal for New Year's Eve. That's right, I said "we," as in Al was instrumental in the cooking of this meal. We made pork roasted in a cherry tomato sause, baked parmesan risotto, broccoli and spinach with mustard and lemon sauce, and proscuitto melts. For desert we made pecan pie and chocolate pudding pie. It was delish.

Proscuitto Melts
12 slices goat's cheese
3 teaspoons thyme leaves
6 slices proscuitto, halved
12 thick baguette slices
olive oil

Preheat the oven to 355. Sprinkle the goat's cheese with the thyme. Wrap a piece of proscuitto around each slice of goat's cheese and place on a slice of baguette. Place on a baking tray and brush with olive oil. Cook for 10-12 mins or until the goat's cheese has melted and the baguette is crisp.

2007-01-07T13:21:00.000-08:00

Al is in the club

Before yesterday, Al didn't know that the best Mexican food in California...okay, in LA (admittedly San Diego has much better Mexican food than LA, which geographically makes sense) was found on trucks.
Oh, taco truck...why are you so good?
No one there spoke english. We weren't toally sure what we were ordering, but we were sure it was the best thing ever.

The main rules is that you have to eat them in the car...which is great because the tortillas don't get soggy, and you can always go back to the truck for seconds.

I love you taco truck.

2007-01-01T17:44:00.000-08:00

Yeah, that's a knife in my hand. And I'm not afraid to use it either....to make the most wonderful appetizer in the world, and quite possibly the most ghetto one too. Ham and cream cheese roll-ups.
Yeap, one slice of ham lunchmeat, cream cheese, and green onion. I ate so many on Christmas day that I'm not sure when cream cheese will sound good again.
Okay, it already sounds good again.

2007-01-01T17:35:00.000-08:00

This is me the last time I didn't worry about gaining weight during the holidays.