Category Archive

I didn’t manage to fully document the day of cooking. I’ll be honest, lighting and taking pictures while dealing with not enough surface area in your kitchen, washing the same dishes 10 times, and trying not to burn /ruin anything is a tall order. Once again, we made an obscene amount of food for 5 people, but hey, I’m going to live on those leftovers for the next 4 days so it’ll be perfect. I am definitely a sneak-a-bit-of-pie-with-the-fridge-door-open-and-no-utensils kind of person and not ashamed.

You’d think that all the cooking I’ve done in the last couple of weeks (most of which undocumented here) would leave me longing for take-out and slices of pizza and no dishes. But honestly, it’s made me want to cook more. Particularly, as is the theme of this blog, for the purpose of sharing. It’s the best kind of satisfaction to make something from scratch to enjoy with friends and loved ones. I’ve got some browned butter cranberry muffins on the docket if we’ve still got cranberry sauce around in a couple of days, and pizza with chard and goat cheese and chili oil too. I’ve got salted caramels on the brain and fresh baked bread and roasted squash. If there’s one thing that’s a-okay about the impending cold, it’s that I’ll be more than happy to be cozied up at home leaning over a hot stove with a glass of wine in hand.

So here’s to baking season, to the holidays (as much as they stress us out) and to not forgetting to be thankful all the time, not just when there’s a turkey in the oven. It may sound trite, but when everyone is saying how thankful they are in their facebook status updates, it can’t seem that off-kilter!

That’s me in the kitchen at St. Cecilia’s. Pretty sweet glasses, huh?

Does a tub of macaroni and pot full of meat so thick the spoon stands up sound like cafeteria food? Well, yeah. But Nick and Theo’s food at the Epic Prom Saturday was far from cafeteria quality. Call it a meeting of the high and low brow. Much like the entire event.

I had a lot of fun at Epic Prom, even though technically I was “working”. I got to wear these fun 1950′s glasses and do the twist with a plastic cup of wine in my hand, and I was able to help Nick and Theo, who are all around good guys. The people-watching was pretty stellar too. There was quite a cast of characters, including the friendly neighborhood priest (Howard Dean’s doppleganger), a gaggle of church ladies, slick bartenders (named Vito and Alejandro no less!) and some seriously dressed up attendees. Not to mention Adam, the evening’s eccentric host, looking a bit like Josh Groban combined with Tom Wolfe (thanks to his flowing locks and all-white suit).

The menu included corned beef nuggets (OK,  sounds weird but they were SO good), homemade pate, bean dip with dill oil, romaine hearts with chunky blue cheese dressing, spicy mac & cheese, sloppy joes topped with coleslaw and crushed potato chips, tiny snickerdoodles, and “spiked milk”, otherwise known as guinness + ice cream + milk, otherwise known as I WILL DRINK THIS ALL NIGHT AND YOU CAN’T STOP ME.

OK and then there was the entertainment. In addition to the DJ spinning tunes from the 50′s, we enjoyed the performance from The Harlem James Gang. Look these guys up. They are the dapperest dudes ever. And they can dance. And sing. And yes, they are cooler than you, just get over it.

Here’s a good selection of pics from Metromix, with some good food shots thrown in:

http://newyork.metromix.com/restaurants/essay_photo_gallery/epic-prom-st-cecilias/1961250/content

Here are some pics from Brooklyn 365 (why do I have crazy eyes in every picture I’m in??)

http://brooklyn365.com/2010/05/epic-prom/

And here are all the chips I crushed (She-Ra!)

And a couple more pics….thanks Santiago!

When does something become so long overdue that you can’t even use the term “belated”? Extremely belated? Grossly belated?

In any case, here’s a rundown of a few of the Thanksgiving delicacies we enjoyed…

First up, house smoked turkey. Holy crap it was delicious. I’m pretty sure it went into the smoker at like 9 am and then didn’t come out until about 6:30 pm. Although it was not me slaving over the smoker, I can pretty confidently say that the amount of work it took was worth it. I’ve never had such moist, flavorful turkey in my life. And it looks pretty cool, too.

One of my non tradition traditions. Brie wrapped in Pillsbury crescent dough and baked. Gooey.

Spiced rosemary cashews.

Biscuit and Cornbread Dressing, a la Martha Stewart.

Roasted Brussels sprouts. Look, I know they taste like feet, but they taste like delicious feet, OK??

Pop. Overs. I bought a special pan just for these things and boy are they tasty! Recipe from The Kitchn.

Delicata squash for the salad (with pomegranate seeds!)

We also had cranberry butter, sweet potato pie, and red wine poached pears with mascarpone cream filling. Oh, and did I mention there were four of us? I recognize the perversity of that, believe me, I do. So does my belly.

I will officially be cementing my reputation as a baker at the Fierce & Sweet bake-off in October, benefiting New York Cares. If you don’t know about New York Cares, you should — they make it very easy to volunteer with a ton of New York area non-profits, on as frequent or infrequent basis as works for you. Check out the Fierce & Sweet page for info about the cause, judges, and to RSVP for some baked deliciousness!!

I have no idea what I’m making yet, but rest assured my test batches may make it onto this blog…I just won’t reveal it’s for the competition until afterward in the interest of intrigue!

One result of participating in a cook-off is that you become suddenly aware that there are kind of a lot of cook-offs going on year-round. Summer is the season of grilling, so yesterday I attended the 4th Annual Great Hot Dog Cookoff hosted at the Kelso Brewery in Brooklyn, benefiting City Harvest. I’ll admit: I didn’t stay for the whole event, as they were running behind and I had places to be that evening.

But I did sample several of the hot dog creations, including “The French”, served on a croissant with blueberry and raspberry preserves and pepperjack cheese (surprisingly tasty) and the “Displaced Wall Street Executive” dog, which had so many ingredients I couldn’t begin to list them, but most importantly, chili, bacon, and some kind of creamy sauce. The messiest by far, but very, very tasty. And how could I leave out Brooklyn Beer Experiment co-organizer Nick Suarez’s “Corniest Dog in Brooklyn”, topped with (duh) corn, plus 20 other ingredients including cotija cheese, bacon, and a squeeze of lime. It had a nice kick to it, and as evidenced here, I love corn, so it was an obvious winner to me.

I will say that one drawback was that every time the dogs came out (the contestants went in rounds) it was like someone had let the rabid, flesh-eating zombies out of their cages and there were fresh victims on the table. I have never seen so many people get so aggressive trying to grab hot dogs. As a result, I didn’t get any good pictures of actual, prepared hot dogs. I was too afraid of getting my arm ripped off.

And finally, I have no idea who won. For that, you’ll have to visit The Great Hot Dog Cookoff web site in a day or two to find out.