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by Emily

Throw This Party: Progressive Dinner Caravan

Ugh, I am so sick of dinner parties!

Actually, that is a complete lie, I will never be sick of dinner parties. BUT I am always looking for a way to make the traditional dinner party even more exciting. My friend Dayna was inspired by an episode of Top Chef in which the cheftestants were challenged to throw a progressive dinner party; basically, they each had to host and serve one course before moving on to a different location, where a different chef would host and cook. Well, if they can do it, why can’t we? And so the posse of progressive dinner party friends was formed.

We suggested our idea to friends who live in our neighborhood. The rules were simple: pick a dish and a drink to go with it, and prepare most of it at home ahead of time, with decor, music, etc…selected to enhance the dining experience. We would caravan from apartment to apartment, spending an hour in each kitchen while we took turns hosting and serving our creations. At first our friends were a bit hesitant about the complicated nature of this party, but we promised it would be a worthy endeavor, and it was.

How it worked, plus my dinner party veggie recipe, after the jump.

by Emily

Getting Real About New Year’s Resolutions

Well, another year has flown by and now it’s 2012. For many people, this means it’s time to put those New Year’s resolutions into action. Many classic goals involve improving exercise and diet habits. While we would like to support these resolutions in theory, let’s get real. People make the same resolutions year after year because they never stick! Instead of the tried-and-true, tried-and-failed resolutions of yore, we’ve come up with suggestions to spice up your eating and drinking in 2012… and yeah, be a little healthier, too.

Here’s a look at the four classic New Year’s eating/drinking resolutions…and the ES fixes

1. Drink Less Alcohol

What? No. We can’t even to begin to explain why this plan is destined to fail. But for starters, let’s get real, we even infuse our popsicles with booze. So… come on.

ES Says: Vow to try new alcohols. We’ve all had vodka, but have you tried akavit? Lillet? Aperol? Or, learn to love an alcohol you don’t like. Maybe you had a bad experience with gin in college, but it’s time to give your least favorite spirit the ol’… college try.

in Holiday / Lists / Personal 3 comments

by gansie

Hugs, Kisses And Avocados

So I totally hate goodbye crap. And anyway, I know you all read this for dessert glamour shots, so I won’t get all OHMYGODTHISBLOGISALLABOUTME. But I did birth this thing, so I guess a proper sign-off is necessary.

Endless Simmer is a fucking wonderful place. It’s funny and silly and naughty and just serious enough to be considered a worthy read. Endless Simmer created my writing career. It was the first place I wrote about food, and then it quickly progressed to The Onion’s AV Club (thanks Chris Mincher, my first editor!), The Washington Post Express, Washington City Paper, The Washington Post, Eater DC, The Chew…and now Northern Virginia Magazine.

I credit the Simmer for forcing me to write every day. To think critically about food. To order obscene dishes and mock them. To take pictures of Brussels sprouts and Andrew Sullivan in a Subway. To meet food obsessed people around the country and throughout the world and to keep in touch with one of my very best friends, BS.

Endless Simmer was my home. My priority. And very often I had to stay in, come home early or ignore my fiancé to write a blog post. Only a few times would I call BS at 3 o’clock in the morning, wasted, to let him know I couldn’t file my morning slot. He laughed at me.

I’m super bummed to stop writing here. And I kinda wish it wasn’t so damn awesome that it wouldn’t be seen as a conflict of interest. But it is pretty rad. And will continue to be. The wonderful folks here will keep it going, bringing ridiculousness from kitchens and restaurants from Brooklyn to Orange County.

So thank you Endless Simmer, for turning me into a full time (I have a dining budget!) food writer. And thank you to: readers, bitchy commenters, people that yell at us for using the word fuck in the headline, all food bloggers, Rachael Ray, Erica our singer laureate, publicists, Liz Lemon, Eleanor and the entire TFG crew, the many dedicated and hilarious contributors, Mom, DAD GANSIE, Scott, Sherry, Bennett and BS.

And I’m still holding out that Friday Fuck-Ups turns into a coffee table book.

Hugs, kisses and avocados,
gansie

Photo: tissue box on new editor’s desk

in Personal 12 comments

by gansie

Learning How To Be a Food Critic

Nowadays, in addition, the critic must blog extensively, answer reader questions, write best-of lists, tweet, and see to other social media concerns, as well as write extensive features that require him to travel quite literally around the globe. Plus spending time with editors, fact checkers, copyeditors, etc., as all this prose is processed into print. Given all this, you can easily see why someone could burn out in two years, and come to the conclusion that all the glamor and good food has to be weighed against a monomaniacal existence in which you don’t have time for family or friends, and life is just one giant Vegas-style buffet. —Village Voice food critic Robert Sietsema

My friend and Washington City Paper food editor Chris Shott (and my former editor) put this quote on his underused tumblr. I watched (and accompanied) Shott as he schlept from bar to restaurant to burger shack to bar to restaurant to bar, all in one night. He then blogged and interviewed chefs and blogged and edited freelancers and wrote and ate and wrote and blogged and ate, all in one day. Oh, and drank coffee. And then when out that night. He repeats this all week.

Being a food writer is not a glamorous job. It’s a totally awesome gig, but it’s really fucking hard. It’s tolling. It’s a lot of food. Food as sport. Food is not really enjoyable because it’s not meant for pleasure. It’s now meant for a story. For a clue to a larger narrative. To a question about ethics or trends or judgement or beauty.

It’s a job like any other with pressure and deadlines. But it’s also part public-service. It’s also an art. Criticism is an art. It’s a whole lot. A whole fucking lot. And I’m just starting to understand the role of a professional food journalist.

Earlier this month I joined Northern Virginia Magazine as its Dining Editor. Because Endless Simmer is seen as a conflit of interest, I won’t be blogging here any longer. Tomorrow will be my last day.

More ranting, love, sadness, joy, regret, excitement and tears tomorrow.

in Personal 5 comments

by BS

Commenter of the Year

…and most likely decade, millennium, what have you.

Awhile back ES commenter erica mentioned that an Endless Simmer theme song actually comes into her head every time she navigates to the site. She wasn’t lying, and now she’s been awesome enough to go ahead and actually record it. Best holiday present ever.

Endless Simmer by gawkylu
If anyone wants to take the lead for 2012 commenter of the year, I would love to hear a death metal version of this jingle.

in Personal 8 comments

by forkitude

I Left My Cookbooks In Nebraska

My last two months could be a real life idiot’s guide to how to move to New York City and work at a Michelin star restaurant. (Tip #13: don’t pay for a subway ride until you’re sure it’s going in the right direction.) Carrying two suitcases stuffed with knives, chef pants, white t-shirts, and high heels for abusing my feet on the streets of NYC, I boarded a plane to Newark, NJ. Upon landing, I realized the last time I had been in New York City had been as a financial advisor a few years prior. It was with great pleasure that I deplaned knowing that I would not have to give financial advice or go to a training seminar; I would be elbow deep in sacher torte batter and klimt biscuit.

in Personal / Restaurants 3 comments

by BS

Getting Busy With the Fizzy

One of the most popular holiday presents for foodies in recent years has been the Sodastream machine. These $100 seltzer makers are new, trendy and high-tech, but also fit nicely into the food world’s current obsession with all things organic and D.I.Y. So naturally, when I walked into my cousin’s Manhattan apartment recently and spied a Sodastream, I congratulated her on being such an up-on-it, trendy foodie.

So imagine my surprise when my other cousin, who was in town visiting from Ireland, walks into the kitchen a few minutes later and remarks, “Oh, a Sodastream – how retro!”

Whaaaa?

Irish cuz goes on to insist that every single Irish home had a Sodastream in the 1970s, “back when they were cool,” but that now the contraptions are mostly just gathering dust in people’s attics and basements. Clearly, we didn’t believe her, because these things just got popular here, and there is no way we could be decades behind Ireland in terms of food trends, is there? A few days later, she sends this:

in Drinks / Personal / Trends 6 comments