I don’t care if Jimmy Fallon is some douchey talk show host now. I will always love him for always breaking character on Saturday Night Live. Fallon celebrated his birthday Top Chef style by tasting and judging dishes from our beloved crew of All-Stars.
Be ready to wipe your tears. A true character packed their knives this week.
Read More›
If you want to understand a new city don’t go on that dumb duck tour. Instead, find a farmers’ market.
Ask questions of the vendors. Sample local food, it’s better than any other breakfast.
A cheese made in the temperate Pacific Northwest will taste different than a cheese made from cows raised in searing heat. Each state has different rules on selling alcohol, so wine, cider and mead sips can be found at Seattle markets.
You can even find alcohol (although not as much as NyQuil) in the ancient Asian tea, Kombucha.
Read More›
It’s hard for me to say anything but “NO” when I see this gadget. How could there be anything more unnecessary than a banana slicer?
We pack our lives with things and stuff. And things and stuff. And things and stuff. The kitchen is the recipient of many of our purchases, from the crucial cast iron pot to the you’ll-use-it-once Dough-Nu-Matic Automatic Dougnut Machine. I scroll through friends’ wedding registries knowing the happy couple will never use half the knives in their over-priced set. And of course that famed waffle maker will never leave its box. Maybe for their first anniversary, a cute breakfast-in-bed, but then it will lead a lonely life in the corner of a dark closet.
And then there’s this fucking thing. This Bananza. Calling to our desire for a quick fix. For an easy way out. This device won’t help you eat more bananas. It won’t help you lose weight. You’ll realize this device isn’t any easier than using a knife. This device will clog up your drawer just like the avocado slicer and pitter. This device will remind you that stuff is just stuff. And more stuff doesn’t create anything but a mess.
And no, my lovely boyfriend, this doesn’t mean I won’t come home from my trip to Seattle without more items to fill the kitchen. I just bought apple smoked fleur de seul, in fact. But I thought writing this ode to a clear kitchen might ease the pain of new friends coming back with me.
Never afraid to objectify women, PETA’s latest campaign for an animal cruelty-free world certainly plays up the old notion that certain vegetables look just like men’s certain private parts.
In honor of Super Bowl XLV, here is a NSFW preview of the most offense commercial you will (probably not) see Sunday night.
As a little kid I remember parsley garnishes mystifying me. Why did curly greens occupy so much space on my plate—and it’s not even Passover?
But the parsley garnish, for garnish sake, no longer visits our tables. Instead, garnishes spring from what’s in the dish, if a dish is garnished at all. Use cilantro in a sauce, use cilantro as a garnish. Use kumquat in a cupcake, use a kumquat slice as garnish.
David Rocco of Cooking Channel‘s Dolce Vita reiterated this fact in a recent episode, refusing to add a leafy green to top a pasta dish since the dish did not contain it. Instead he cracked fresh pepper on top, silently communicating his heavy usage of pepper in the dish.
Rocco’s commandment popped in my head as I decorated a sweet potato and lentil soup with black mustard seeds.
Read More›
It’s been happening more this winter. Last Saturday Bennett and I stayed in and watched a high-pitched, giggling Mozart in Amadeus. And this Saturday, after a large group birthday dinner for a friend, we snuck off for our sweats and lumpy couch; I pined for young (handsome and bumbling) Hugh Grant and attacked the acting ability of Andie MacDowell in Four Weddings and a Funeral. And is it just me, but wasn’t it difficult to determine the (link is a spoiler!) gay couple until the very end? I guess that’s 1994 for you.
Because of our tame night, breakfast became more than the usual scrambled eggs and bagels. I decided our first meal should include vegetables, particularly sweet potatoes, after I read this glowing article from the NYT.
Eggs and Sweet Potatoes with Cottage Cheese-Chipotle Sauce
Read More›
Fresh, diced tomato on a crusty, olive-oil-brushed toasted bread tastes great. Add in some basil, onion and garlic and we enjoy a classic appetizer: tomato bruschetta.
But don’t lie. The tomatoes fall off with every crunchy bite. This becomes messy. And wholly unenjoyable.
Enter the slice. Imagine instead of chunks, there are slices. It’s easier to eat. The bite more complete.
And forget the tomato. Cork, a neighborhood wine bar in DC, realized the slice could work with an avocado. Actually, it doesn’t just work, it kicks ass.
I was introduced to this simple and pleasantly pleasing appetizer at a recent press event. Thin avocado slices, topped with ground pistachio, toasted pistachio oil, and French sea salt combine for a rich, salty and satisfying prelude. Could it be more simple? More delicious? Could this make a more perfect union?