October, 2007 -

by BS

Padma Withdrawal Post

Late Breaking News on an otherwise slow Friday…..In an effort to prove that she’s enough of a chef to warrant her constant presence on this blog, Padma Lakshmi did the catering for some fancy-shmancy benefit party in Manhattan this week. But guess who shows up?

The evening’s most dramatic moment was a chance encounter between Salman Rushdie and his soon-to-be ex-wife Padma Lakshmi, who saw him at the after party and threw her arms around him as everyone watched. She held on as if for dear life. He held on too. Lakshmi walked away minutes later, sobbing, as a few friends consoled her. She then returned to Rushdie and they began kissing. They separated again.

Could PadRush be back on? Oh, and in other Padma Lakshmi news, there’s this and this and this.

in TV 0 comments

by BS

Xai Xai

Not to call myself a trendsetter or anything, but South Africa is so the next culinary fixation. Joining Madiba in Clinton Hill and Shebeen on Mott Street, NYC’s first South African wine bar, Xai Xai, opened in Hell’s Kitchen earlier this month. So I stopped in this week with endless simmer’s erstwhile mac-n-cheese expert, el, who was in town for some sort of conference, about mac-n-cheese I presume.

Despite the confusing name (Xai Xai, pronounced shy-shy, is a beach town in neighboring Mozambique), this laid-back spot is genuinely South African, complete with a chilled-out endless summer vibe, a lekker, straight-from-SA staff, and of course, a lengthy list of wines from Stellenbosch, (SA’s Napa). There are about a dozen different varieties of pinotage (a red wine made from a South African grape), and we had an especially tasty Anvil Road merlot-pinotage blend. Each glass of wine is served in a mini-decanter, a healthy portion for seven to twelve bucks.

Xai Xai also has a small plate menu, and while there is sadly no bunny chow, there’s plenty of biltong, South Africa’s famed cured meat snack. The biltong I encountered in South Africa was usually an incredibly dry, unappealing beef-jerky variation, but Xai Xai’s version is a thinly-sliced, salty product that goes nicely with their sample platter, which is really just an antipasti plate loaded with tasty meats and cheeses alongside some British-style meatpies, another South African staple.

Xai Xai
365 W. 51st Street
212.541.9241
www.xaixaiwinebar.com

More in Hell’s Kitchen: Leon Bakery, Tulcingo Del Valle

Photo: Cape of Good Hope, by me…why am I not there right now?

by gansie

And the Collie Will Have a Side of Fries

What’s worse than dressing up poor, defenseless babies in Halloween costumes – dressing up poor, defenseless pets.

Please send ES your wacky food related costumes — crazyeats@endlesssimmer.com.
We’ll be sure to share ours.

Here are some of the worst offenders:

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Liza’s Tips to Eating #2: String Cheese

Pulling pieces off of string cheese is truly an art form to me. Each time I eat string cheese, I’m constantly striving to pull a perfectly thin, moderately wide, full length piece of cheese because there is nothing more satisfying. We’ve all been there – you pull a piece off and it breaks halfway down, or you’re pulling and the piece ends up being half of the cheese stick – it’s frustrating! So after years and years of experimenting with different brands, different pulling techniques, and even just giving up on pulling all together and eating the cheese stick whole, I finally discovered the variable that makes all the difference: Temperature.

Now, you don’t want the cheese to be too cold (like straight out of the fridge) because it is hard not to pull gigantic pieces. You don’t want it too hot because the string cheese won’t pull at all.

So the Liza’s Tip to Eating String Cheese – SIT ON IT– yes literally, put the packaged string cheese under your bottom. Sit on it for about a minute or two and I promise, it will make the cheese the perfect temperature for pulling perfect pieces everytime! And THIS is how you eat string cheese

in Cheese 14 comments

by Liza

Liza’s Tips to Eating #1: The Roast Beef Sandwich

People may call some of my eating habits questionable, strange, or even gross, but if they are brave enough to try them themselves, they understand there is a purpose to my weirdness! So I’m introducing Liza’s tips to eating so that eating delicious food can be EVEN MORE ENJOYABLE!

Tip #1: Eating a Roast Beef Sandwich (as witnessed by ES’s own Gansie and 80 Proof)

Take the bun off of the roast beef sandwich (I have been doing this since the 80’s so although it is low carb, it was never influenced by any Atkin’s fad). Now, simply stick out your tongue, pick up an individual DE-LISH slice of roast beef (preferably very thin sliced), hold the edges of the slice of beef in your hands (the beef should be dangling from them) and then “flip” or “plop” magnificent strip of beef onto your tongue so it lays flat… and close your mouth and enjoy! And do this with every piece until there is no more meat! If you’re still hungry, eat the bun! And THIS is how you eat a roast beef!

in Red Meat 8 comments

by BS

Can You Spot the Clone?

Despite all the concerns about making sure everything we eat is organic and local and free-range, WIRED reports the latest trend in meatpacking is most decidedly not any of those things: cloned meat.

Remember that whole bruhaha about Dolly the cloned sheep and all those other animals crazy scientists from Scotland to Korea started cloning? Well it turns out they weren’t just doing that as a basis to create a Nazi scientist-esque world of human cloning where everyone looks like Brangelina. Apparently, there’s already a lot of money in cloning animals just for the sake of meat production.

October 2007

Padma Withdrawal Post

Xai Xai

And the Collie Will Have a Side of Fries

Liza’s Tips to Eating #2: String Cheese

Liza’s Tips to Eating #1: The Roast Beef Sandwich

Can You Spot the Clone?

Hott Links: Drop Dead Gourdeous