According to the gang at Yumsugar, Sprinkles cupcake shop is serving .75 cent shots of their rich and decadent buttercream frosting…frozen.  Although it never ocurred to me to eat frosting frozen, it sure sounds terrific.  We don’t have a Sprinkles in New Orleans, but I did just get the latest Martha Stewart Cupcake book (genius by the way) and so I’m planning on whipping up a bit of extra frosting to pipe into mini tasting cups and toss into the freezer.  The lazy person in me is also considering going to the local cupcakery and asking them to do it.  Either way, I’m checking it out.

If loving you is wrong, I don’t want to be right.  At La Divina Gelateria, this is but one of the delectable gelato flavors.  The almost tobacco-like flavor of Steen’s cane syrup gelato, wrapping it’s creamy self around smoky bacon…I need a fainting chair positioned near the cold case.   Then, when I faint, here’s hoping someone places cool slices of bacon on my forehead whilst having me whiff bacon-scented smelling-salts.

While waiting for my son to finish football practice (yes, in this outrageous heat!), I popped into a coffee shop and happened upon a display of several cakes, including a lush, three-layer red velvet with cream cheese icing.  Moist, and gently cocoa flavored, this slice and an iced coffee was just what I needed for a late afternoon pick-me-up.  Caffeine and sugar are my vices;  what are yours?

Dollar Dumplings!

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Picture 1 from 3: Chive and Pork boiled dumplings are 4 for a $1.50!

Can you believe that this take-out box of four boiled dumplings cost me at $1.50?!  And, better yet, the cooking demo and people-watching comes free of charge!

I’m staring at the thermometer and it reads 105 degrees -yikes!  Ah, New Orleans in summer (almost - tomorrow it’ll be official).   No way am I heating up the house by turning on the oven, so that means trotting down the street to the local seafood shop for freshly boiled Gulf shrimp.   A pile of boiled shrimp, some Abita Satsuma Harvest Wit and a crisp, cool salad of local cucumbers, tomatoes, onions and Greek-style Feta, should be just perfect as the sun and temperature drops.  You’re invited.

Or any other kind of mold you wish.  Bompas and Parr, named after the two mad scientists behind the company, will custom make you a jelly mold of your liking.  I wonder if they could make a mold of my tiny NYC apartment.  I’d probably need a microscope to see it!

You know I will definitely attend at least one of the FREE outdoor showing at the South Street Seaport this week for the 3rd annual NYC Food Film Festival!  Free food films and snacks?!  What gets better than that?!!!  (Free drinks, I guess…)

This photo series, shot by Mark Menjivar, is an artist’s exploration in hunger.  By taking pictures of the interiors of American’s refrigerators all across the country, Mark found himself considering the way we care for ourselves and the land through food.  I found myself fascinated.

A moment of silence please, for these tiny, yellow, rounds of beauty…..ok, there.  Simply awe-inspiring.  There’s a vendor at our Farmers’ Market who grows an insane number of tomato varieties and I went gaga for these sweet, itty-bitty cherry tomatoes.  Poised to be the salad of summer, I tossed my tomato stash with torn bits of milky-creamy burrata (fresh Italian cheese, made from mozzarella and cream) and a small amount of a very clean and breezy vinaigrette.  Then I cried.  Tears for tomatoes?  Yep, I’m a big geek.

If you don’t already have this book, buy it now!  The Flavor Bible, written by Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg, is like a feast for the culinary mind.

The book is laid out as an index of ingredients, each ingredient listing other ingredients that will pair well with it when cooking.  And in addition to the listing of flavors, there are lots of great quotes and sample menus from celebrated chefs across the nation.  It’s a fantastic source of inspiration for me, and I use the book mostly to brainstorm ideas for new menu items and love to cross-reference the a couple of ingredients to complete a dish.  Another fun way to use the book is to take a look at the odds-and-ends of ingredients in your fridge and see what flavors pair well to create a meal!

Since receiving this book, I have found myself flipping its pages time and time again, always giving me some serious food for thought!