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!

 

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Picture 1 from 21: The marbling of the fat in the steak is still so evident after being cooked. Even though I used a steak knife, I probably could have just used a butter knife! It was perfectly pink, tender and juicy!

Last weekend, I bought a $40 steak at Japan Premium Beef.  It’s a new butcher shop on Great Jones Street in New York City that specializes in wagyu beef.  And for $40 I got a 12 ounce ribeye that was beautifully marbled, rich in flavor and simply melted in my mouth.

At first, the hefty price tag seemed a bit much.  But when prepared according to the directions given to me by Taiki, the store manager, and paired with a simple salad of herb from my garden and a bottle of Lambrusco, my fancy steak experience certainly went pretty far.

To see how I cooked this fine piece of meat, follow the directions in the photo slideshow above!

The walk from Ferrara to my apartment takes exactly the amount of time it took to eat this delicious cup of lemon Italian ice.  Not a bad way to beat a hot and sunny afternoon.

Last night, a friend of mine told me about an unbelievable recipe that Paula Deen came up with.  It’s called the “Lady’s Brunch Burger,” and is comprised of a burger, topped with bacon and a fried egg, than is nestled between a bun made of glazed donuts!  That’s right–a bun of glazed donuts!!!  I’m not sure if I should try one.  But if any of you readers do, please let me know what you think!

Did you know that President Obama and family have an “Official White House Photostream” page on Flickr?   You can view photos posted almost daily of the goings-ons at the White House!  And if you are like me, you’ll be very interested in what dessert he’s serving at his next dinner party or what Michelle and local students are planting this spring in the beds of the White House Vegetable Garden.  How cool is that?!