March 2011


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A Philling Breakfast

How often is it that you actually come up with an “original” recipe?

Not often. I assumed when I made this cheesesteak breakfast casserole thing, that it had been done hundreds of times before. A quick google search proved me wrong and left me oh so disappointed in the city I call home. I wanted to cry and yell “PHILLY, WHY HAVEN’T YOU THOUGHT OF THIS?!” considering someone even made a scrapple cake (pictured above). I then realized that if most Philadelphians want a cheesesteak at 7am, they probably just make a cheesesteak instead of trying to breakfast-tize it with eggs.

I threw this together one Sunday after we had leftover cheesesteak ingredients. That’s really all there is to say. Make it.

Cheesesteak Breakfast Casserole

 

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in Breakfast / Cheese / Eggs / Recipe 4 comments
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A Dessert for St. Patrick: Irish Brownie Bombs

You’ve had your Guinness in a cold mug, your whiskey straight up and your Bailey’s in a mixed drink, and of course maybe all in one for an Irish Car Bomb. But this St. Patrick’s day let’s try it in a dessert with some Irish Brownie Bombs.

It’s a classic brownie bottom with some Guinness mixed in the batter. On top of the brownie is a cheesecake layer blended with some Bailey’s. Finally, mix your Jameson whiskey shot into the three leaf clover piping. And there you have it, Irish Brownie Bombs that won’t leave you with a black-eye.

Order up!

Irish Brownie Bombs

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in Desserts / Holiday / Recipe 13 comments
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Attack of the Meme: The 15 Best Food Charts

According to well, me, and this article, tumblr is the new twitter. And I can’t get enough of I Love Charts for their hysterical, progressive and, of course, food-focused content. Here’s the best 15 food charts from the past few weeks. Yes, weeks, they post that much.

15. Dirt Gets Such a Bad Rap

(Photo: Fake Science)

14. Top Left, Please

(Photo: Bad Postcards)

13. Truth

(Photo: Extremely Moderate)

12. Everything is Better in Japanese

(Photo: Interior Design Room)

11. #5

(Photo: Sound of Science)

10. Where’s Coddled?

(Photo: Flowing Data)

9. Apparently “The Jitters” is a Technical Term

(Photo: Unclear)

8. Chanukah Wish List

(Photo: Zouch)

7. What Is a Cheeseburger, Alex?

(Photo: Zouch)

6. Team Sriracha

(Photo: The Sriracha Cookbook Blog)

Next: The top 5

in Drinks / Eggs / Featured / Lists / Trends / Veggie 6 comments
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My Beef with Bourdain

February 14, 2011. The day my mother and I wasted $100 to hear Anthony Bourdain speak in Philadelphia.

I think I expected too much. Is an engaging, intelligent, interesting talk too much to ask for, especially from the man who lives by the “I don’t give a fuck what anyone thinks” motto?

Yes.

Tony was mundane. The audience was supposed to think it was an extemporaneous speech, but I could tell the punchlines were carefully calculated. Most of Tony’s stories came straight from his texts or shows. Really Tony? You’re going to tell the story about getting molested by Sandra Lee? I read the fucking book, Tony. I didn’t come here to hear you retell the stories. I have the audiobook. I’ve heard it already. Unfortunately it became clear that Tony was catering to his nearly mentally challenged audience. The people that came to see “that tall guy from TV” speak, who wanted to hear a joke or two about vegetarians being dumb.

Everyone sitting there reminded me of a high school class, where nobody read the assignment but everyone pretended they knew what the teacher was talking about. When Tony did stray from his book stories, his lack of explanation sent the audience into confusion. Discussing Adam Richman and Alan Richman was a mistake, Tony. Most of the audience was confused when he first praised Adam and then called Alan a douche. “But I thought he liked that guy from Travel Channel, why would he call him Douche of the Year?”

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in Celebs / Rants & Raves / Restaurants 3 comments
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Gas Tax

Think of the latest craze in food and what comes to mind? Food trucks are a safe bet. The suddenly ubiquitous downtown lunch option has created such a new market that here in D.C. the Park Police have even had to step in. Now don’t get me wrong, I am all for food trucks. They’re mobile, diverse and force people to take a break from minesweeper and get some well needed vitamin D. On the other hand, I’ve seen people wait in 20-30 person lines for a slice. It’s almost too much, too trendy even.

Enter the gas station.

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in Restaurants / Sandwich / Trends 8 comments
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There’s Nothing Wrong With Being Husky

I was running late for work the other day and realized I didn’t have time to make lunch.  The forecast of sleet and snow all day pretty much assured that I wouldn’t feel like going out to grab something midday so I pulled a few tamales from the freezer and was out the door. It wasn’t until I had unwrapped my first pickled jalapeno tamale that I realized, I had not written anything about  my efforts to make them a few weeks ago!

Depending what part of the country you are from, tamales may be easy to purchase at local restaurants and markets but I assure you that in upstate Pennsylvania, that is not the case. Thankfully part of my family is originally from south Texas so tamales have been part of many holidays and family gatherings growing up. I still get blamed reminded about the first family gathering with Wifey when I forgot to tell her to not eat the husk.

Tamales are as much about the time and comraderie that goes into making them as they are the rich, flavorful and sometimes spicy result. Years ago, I put no thought into how they were made but lately, I have  made a point in figuring out  a pretty decent version. Slightly intimidating due to the time required, if you take the time to try, you can easily test them in small batches and come up with all sorts of tasty combos. This last time we went with pickled jalapeno and peanut chipotle chicken varieties. The basic prep is below but feel free to play around with these true  hot pockets.

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in Recipe 0 comments
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A Date for Any Occasion

I met up with my friend Raya late last week. Her dog Sampson had died just a few days prior. We remembered the very, very large animal over a few Basil Haydens. I convinced her to put together a service of sorts for him. She agreed on a potluck for Sunday late afternoon.

I thought about what to make for the occasion. Originally I wanted to bring what I consider funeral food – a bagel platter with cream cheese, smoked fish (lox and whitefish) and all the trimmings (lettuce, onion, tomato, sliced cheeses.)  Sometimes being from a Jewish family is really delicious. But I decided instead to bring what could either be an hors d’oeuvre or dessert.

I wanted to mix and match sweetness and savory. It’s conflicting messages to the tongue, much like the death of a loved one. There’s sadness, yet comfort in knowing the person or pet is no longer in pain. Like dear Sampson. And while I’m on the topic of pets – I wanted to give a shout out to our beloved Bianca. She’s been featured on Endless Simmer for her delicious Halloween costume when she dressed as a Double Stuffed Oreo. Liza’s cat also passed away this year. We will miss them both.

But on to the food.

Feta Dates with Pepper and Honey

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in Cheese / Recipe 7 comments
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