When I saw this on an iPhone application, I had a sudden epiphany!  Being a pastry chef can be really hard work.  Now I understand why…

Are you gambler, willing to take risks in the name of food and taste?   Well, you just might want to try.  These petite, bright green, mostly mild, peppers hail from and are named for, the Spanish municipality of Padron.  They are also known as “Roulette peppers,” because 1 in 10 is hot.  During the months of July and August, the number of hot peppers can increase, but it’s always a gamble with this “Capsicum Annuum.”  Prepared simply by pan frying or oven-roasting with olive oil and a generous dusting of salt, the gently smoky flavor is addictive and the small size of the pepper makes them easy to pop, one after the other, like chips.  Come on, roll the dice.

Right??  Oh yes.  Especially from Poche’s in Breaux Bridge, LA - meaty, soft and earthy.

I’m a pickle fanatic.  Sour, dill, briney, winey, or sweet, I love them all.  Traditional pickling is a glorious labor of love, but I simply haven’t been able to make the time, so “quick” pickles call out to me for a multitude of reasons, and they are simply delicious.  Earlier this week I quick-pickled baby carrots, baby French beans and cucmbers, in organic brwon-rice vinegar spiced with herbs and peppers from my garden, and good-quality whole spices from Flavorbank.  This morning these bright, bold pickles decorated my favorite new eye-opener, a Tres Generaciones Anejo Tequila “Sangrita” created by genius bartender “Bobby G.”  The only thing to say is Ole!

 

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Picture 1 from 4: English lavender, lemon thyme and tarragon make up this box of scents!

Remember that post about the rooftop garden I was going to plant?  Well, it is in full swing now and here are some photos of the season’s best!

 

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Picture 1 from 4: Vietnamese jewelry designers will help you choose a piece of jewelry or custom-design something for you while you wait!

At Bahn Mi Saigon Bakery, you can get great Vietnamese sandwiches and handmade jewelry! While waiting for your sandwich to be made (and if it’s during the lunch hour, that wait might be 30 minutes), you can have one of the women who work in the front of the shop create a one-of-a-kind beaded bracelet or necklace for you.

This shop which is part jewelry store and part sandwich shop is just a tiny, narrow storefront in NYC’s Chinatown neighborhood.  Tucked between street vendor stalls selling fresh produce, if you didn’t know there was a bakery in the back, you’d never think to stop in for one of the city’s best bahn mi because the window display offers nothing but jewelry!

Yup, that’s right, dental floss flavored like our favorite breakfast food items.  Imagine coffee breath taken to the next level, or explore the latest craze “tartar and waffles.”  Me, I’m all about the bacon floss…but that should come as no surprise.  Got a sweet tooth?  There’s also frosting-flavored cupcake floss.  Will the madness ever end?  I hope not.

Who cares about mashed potatoes when you can get an even better version of the famous spud.  Purchased somewhere in Idaho, and brought back to me by a friend, this coconut-sprinkled, chocolate-covered and cocoa-marshmallow filled candy bar was AWESOME!!!  I could eat a hundred of these things!

 

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Picture 1 from 3: In addition to the dozen or so regular flavors on offer, Earl Grey Tea was the daily special.

On a side street in NYC’s SoHo neighborhood parks an artisanal ice cream truck called Van Leeuwen.  The flavors are pretty straight-forward: mint-chip, pistachio and chocolate, for example.  But, the ingredients are not.  Each flavor is made with incredibly high quality products–Sicilian pistachios and Michel Cluizel chocolates to name a few.  The creme de la creme of ice cream, if you will.  And for nearly $5 a cone, they should be!

This is Danny Devito’s Limoncello, quick-frozen with liquid nitrogen.  You’ll have to take it on faith, those are the gloved hands of Danny himself.  While the Limoncello itself, is delicioso, frozen like this is not my favorite; too much liquid nitrogen perhaps?  Ah well, Tales of the Cocktail continues to be a full-on blast-in-a-glass.