February 2010
1 post
January 2010
1 post
April 2009
2 posts
Finally
Crooked Polaroid of me in front of one tray of the 400 pieces of braised pork belly and bacon tamales I made for the Bacon Take-Down. With some help from Courtney, Erin and Emjo.
Mitch and Brandon contemplate ending it after looking at the line in front of them.
Thirty competitors went all out for some impressive and not so impressive creations. I’m pointing to you tamale dude,...
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March 2009
16 posts
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Bacon Takedown - Recipe Experiment
So let’s go back in time two months ago. I was hard at work perusing the internets, when my girlfriend asked if I wanted to go to the Chili-Takedown…yeah, sounds good. I didn’t make it there, but she showed me pictures of what went down. A week or so later, she sends me another link to something called the Bacon-Takedown. I entered figuring it would be full-up by the...
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Grace Plays Dress-up for Park Avenue Winter
Grace: so I did the park avenue winter thing last night
Me: gossip style?
Grace: (dress up as a school girl, get dinner and drinks for free)
Me: nice
Grace: it was phenomenal
Me: hahaha sweet
Grace: EVERYTHING was free
Me: how are they making money off of that?
Grace: from the regular menu
Me: seriously?
Grace: they let you pick
Me: wow
Grace: any app, any entree, dessert
side dish for the table
Me: who'd you go with?
Grace: two drinks
(including any glass of wine under $18)
I went with my friend liz
Liz, miso glazed WHOLE lobster
me, John Dory with truffles
apps - venison tartar and porcini mushroom ravioli with swiss chard and gorgonzola cream
The side I kind of fell in love with
brocolli and cheetos!
so hysterical. The woman next to us in all seriousness actually asked us what school we went to. I told her “Constance Billiard” (school from gossip girl) because we thought she was joking, but turns out she really didn’t know about the promotion (and was subsequently peeved about not getting her dinner for free.) I’m sure she asked because she saw little school girl Liz digging into a giant lobster and wanted to know what snobby UES institution could possibly have created her.
dessert - brown butter cake with poached pears and pear sorbet
and preserved plums
complementary espresso
you should seriously consider going in drag
2 Lunches Midtown Needs from Austin, TX - Midtown... →
Ha! Check it, my twittering rocks.
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WatchOk first off, this isn’t a video, so don’t freak. Secondly, as we’ve seen with the cajun microwave or as my dad calls it, the cuban microwave, peeps were inventing fast ways of cooking food years ago. This one just happens to involve a whole chicken, a an old can, an empy beer bottle and some hay. Place chicken on bottle, place can over chicken, surround with dry hay and...
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I'm a horrible blogger
Hi. Guess what? I made two incredible meals this weekend, feasted like a crazy in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, ate at my favorite breakfast restaurant and I didn’t take one picture. I like to think I post quality over quantity, but sometimes, I forget about you peeps, and for that I’m sorry. But still, I hope you come here for the links, the crappy pictures of my food (it’s my...
Cheese-sus: Murray’s says goodbye to Roquefort,... →
This is a boo boo. A big one. Due to a 300% tax on luxury foods imposed by good ole’ boy George the Dubya, Roquefort cheese will no longer be imported to the states. He wasn’t known for his good tastes.
WatchI’ve seen this before, and it warrants seeing again. I’m glad I grew up in a household where home cooking was key, but then again I grew up in Texas and we consmummed meat like it was our life right. Bittman has been taking a stance for some years now on eating less meat, eating out less and eating smarter. This video may be a little Al Gore for some, but I think its important...
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Edible Excretions: Taiwan's Toilet Restaurant -... →
The words ewww and gross come to mind. Also, who in their right minds willingly goes to a place called Modern Toilet.
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Capitilizing on Fresh Goods
Now, I know automatically, I sound uber-sexist with this one, but the only reason my dad and I watched Rachael Ray’s 30 Minute Meals was for the view. There was her cute smile and dimples too, but with the oven situated directly behind her kitchen counter, she was definately going to have to bend over to put that casserole dish somewhere.
Nowadays, I don’t really think she’s...
The Incredible Chickpea
Not surprisingly, the delicious crunch and cakey taste of falafel wasn’t introduced to me in Texas. A warm pita bread with pickled cabbage, cucumber hummus and fried balls of chickpea were honestly something I didn’t think about.
This was mainly because there are strict rules in Texas regarding the food you shall eat, and falafel really breaks most of the rules.
Texas Food Rules:
...
February 2009
13 posts
Sufferin Succotash
I really thought succotash was a made up word that Sylvester the Cat said on Looney Toons, in the same vein as Yosemite Sam’s made up cursing. Apparently, it’s a dish with two main ingredients, corn and lima beans. Succotash can be made with heavy cream, bacon fat, butter or olive oil and one can add in tomatoes, literally whatever.
Regardless of what you add, I recommend...
Voicemail posts! So I won’t be bothering...
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And so it begins...
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Fry Guy
Yesterday I pulled from my illustrious book shelf Mr. Pepin’s masterpiece, The Complete Techniques, and read with gusto about the millions of ways to cook eggs. Have you ever had a fried egg? Of course you say, fried in butter. No, I mean, have you deep fried an egg in fry oil? I was a deep fried egg virgin, so readied myself with careful reading and the knowledge I was emotionally...
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WatchHave you ever had that less than pure thought of what you were going to do to the plate of fried chicken before you? What about those oysters you’re thinking of sucking down? And what are we going to do with you Mr. Gruyere fondue? Looks like you’ve brought your friends, fresh bread cubes and beef tenderloin. Now give me a skewer and…whoa whoa. Whoa. Let’s, umm, calm...
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“Dear Meat, let’s feast.
Dear Lord...
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Bacon Inspiration
I’m sure everyone’s seen this:
But looks like someone’s gone 2.0 on bacon explosion and done this:
Plus this:
To equal this:
Genius Bacon Jew, genius. (via baconjew)
I’m thinking of a trend-setting bacon meal as we speak. Bacon cubed maybe? We’ll see…
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Tamales de Guero
I miss the tamale ladies. Tamale ladies would come to my old work in Clute, Texas and take tamale orders. And at noon you’d get your tamales. Fresh, corn husk covered masa seasoned just right, with excellent fillings.
A couple of Saturdays back, I decided to be the tamale guero (white boy) by making my own. This summer i discovered Maseca, the instant corn mix, and had been making...
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January 2009
10 posts
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“It’s a variation of what’s called a fattie in the barbecue community”
– Jason Day of the Burnt Fingers BBQ team on his invention of the Bacon Explosion.
Consider Scotch Eggs the Next Thing I Cook →
I’ve never had one of these, and I can’t believe it. First, I’m from the south, where we fry everything. Second, I love boiled eggs and sausage. Frying them! Amazing.
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Complaint Letter Nails the Feeling Most of Us Have... →
In one of the funniest complaint letters written in awhile, an anonymous genius writes to Richard Branson, CEO of Virgin Airlines, on just how crappy his in-flight food experience was.
Says the complaint letter’s author,
“I love the Virgin brand, I really do which is why I continue to use it despite a series of unfortunate incidents over the last few years. This latest incident...
Best burgers in the vicinty of my work, now... →
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Pitt Stop
Barbecuing is something that my dad’s been doing for over 20 years. For the last 15 years I’d have to say that my sisters and I took that for granted. ” Brisket…again?!” was our cry at the dinner table on a semi-nightly basis. My dad liked to barbecue, and was good at it, and we always had the leftovers.
Now that I’ve moved far away from barbeque...
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Bittman and Oliver...Kindred Souls →
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Squirrel Bait
Forget sweet meats, that’s old news. Looks like London has tipped its hat to the rednecks of the American South and introduced squirrel meat as an entree du jour. I doubt it’ll cross stateside, but who knows, maybe I’ll find someone in the market hawking free range squirrel.
December 2008
8 posts
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Oysta Bay, Texas Chapter
This year a friend and I attended the Oyster Bay oyster-fest, and the one thing about the event that I remember thinking is, “Where the hell are all the oysters?”
Only one tent at the event sold oysters, and at about $2.50 an oyster we split just five of them. Gorging on oysters at Oyster Fest was a myth and a disappointment. I’m used to shucking and consuming quite a few of...
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David Chang in my favorite cooking bookstore... →
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Cheap Habits - Empanada Mama
With the papers and talking TV heads reminding us that our economy is in a tailspin into the black pit of despair, everyone is decidely becoming thriftier. I like to think I’m well acclimated to our current market conditions, because for me not much changes. I’m still broke.
That being said, I tend to think of meals or dishes, either established or made up, that use relatively...
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WatchMore posts soon. Meanwhile, I love Klondike bars and so does my co-worker Chris. He’s featured in this Klondike bar contest video as office-guy number 3, I think.
The Epi-Log on Epicurious.com: Epicurious Predicts... →
(via joshgee)
This guy has it sooo right. Noodle bars are the new sushi joints.
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Double Dare →
You know that show on Food Network called Unwrapped? Well, I hate that show because I keep expecting Marc Summers to yell out Physical Challenge, yet he never does. Anyways, here’s how those pizza’s, that you bought a crap load of at the grocery store in college because they were delicious when you were drunk, are made.
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Orphan Thanksgiving - Success!
At 1:00 a.m. on Thursday, November 27, I was laying on my back, counting the dimples in the ceiling. I couldn’t settle into sleep, the task for the following day (actually, the day’s) was unnerving. I had to cook a turkey flawlessly, and make the stuffing and gravy. This was supposed to happen after I spent half of the day helping to make sure the biggest Thanksgiving parade was a...