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.

Holy smokes!  I love pork (pork fat rules, right?) and now I can lay my head on a pork chop without all the mess?? Oh yes.  Sweet Meats pillows are awesome - large pillows shaped as pork chops, ham, beef, or get the “meat medley” of all three - I can hardly contain myself.   And, so cute, a $1.75 lapel button that reads ” I love you more than bacon.”

Oh Yeah Babe!  Tonight, Emeril pops up at the Gosselin house to show Jon, Kate and the cutey-petutey kids, some cooking fun.  A look at the “sneak peek” reveals Emeril sticking up for Jon when Kate gets bossy, and her swatting Emeril with a  spatula!  Yikes.

Click here to get all of the Jon & Kate recipes.

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!

This is a cocktail called “The Glazed Ham,” which included bacon-infused vodka, pineapple juice, and a simple syrup made from brown sugar and ginger.  The bacon-vodka was made with a “fat wash” - bacon grease and vodka mixed together, left to infuse  for several days, then refrigerated and the hardened fat removed.  The drink is delicious - sweet, smoky and a bit of back heat from the ginger -  though to me it tasted more teriyaki than glazed ham.

A friend sent me this picture of “Bacon-Wrapped Meatloaf with a layer of Mac and Cheese” and what more is there to say?  I think the smart way to deal with this is to forego the actual “eating” and simply glue one fat slice to each thigh…it’d end up there anyway.   I was recently asked if I’m tired of the obsession with bacon, to which I respond, “Um, no.”   Keep your eyes here to read why…

 

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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.