While perusing the magazine shelves at my local bookstore, I stumbled upon the fifth issue of this magazine—Meatpaper. Being the curious carnivore that I am, I forked over the $8 and bought a copy.
Much to my delight, the magazine was filled with great articles about subjects like: cattle-ranching at Niman Farm’s; the politics of eating meat in our global economy; the process of aging meat; meat in the world of contemporary art; it even included poem about meat!
While I don’t think this magazine is for every meat-eater you may know (it’s photos are not for the squeamish), it could make a great stocking stuffer for those with a particular taste for all-things-animal…
Alinea, a highly-acclaimed restaurant in Chicago, which is known for its avant-garde approach to food, just released its first cookbook. Titled after the restaurant, “Alinea” has nearly 400 pages and is loaded with beautiful full-page color photos and tons of recipes.
Grant Achatz, the chef at Alinea, is known for pushing the envelope with food. His cooking techniques include many new and innovative methods (dubbed as molecular gastronomy), and his flavor combinations most often blur the line between savory and sweet traditions.
Last Sunday I went out for dim sum in Chinatown and the experience was incredible!
It started with pushing my way through a crowd of about one hundred hungry guests waiting for their table number to be called. Once I got to the host stand, I was handed a slip of paper with the number 127 on it and was told the wait would be fifteen minutes .As I looked around, I started to doubt that estimate (the host was just calling number 60). However, within minutes I realized it might be accurate.
It seems that the latest trend is determining whether or not you are a “supertaster.” What this means is that you have a higher number of taste buds and can taste more intensely than others. According to wikipedia, 25% of people are supertasters; women being the more-likely candidates.
So if you’ve ever wanted an explanation for why you don’t like very bitter foods, or why you are always being called a picky eater, it may just be that you are a supertaster!
While reading about Supertasters online, I came across this easy supertaster test to take at home. It takes only a couple of minutes and GoodHousekeeping.com says it’s pretty accurate. I haven’t tried it yet myself, but as soon as I can pry myself away from the internet, I’ll be heading to the grocery store for some blue food coloring…
Well, if you are interested, you now can be a part of a new trend—barrel ownership. City Winery, in New York City, is selling 200 memberships starting at $5000 each for their barrel ownership program.
With the membership, you will have a winemaker help you customize your wine with grapes picked in the U.S. and South America; you can crush, de-stem, press, ferment and bottle the wine yourself (or not); you can design your own labels; you can store your 276 bottles at the facility; and you can even stop in and sample the wines during its aging process as much as you’d like! City Winery is even going to promote a wine-trading program amongst its members, so you can share your wines with others (276 bottles of the same wine might get kind of old, huh?).
Although it’s a hefty price tag, the first-hand learning about the winemaking process could be invaluable for a serious wine aficionado. And the price of each bottle comes to about $20, so I guess that’s not too bad. Or better yet, maybe find a group of wine-loving friends to share the cost of membership…
As a child, I hated peanut butter and simply ate jelly sandwiches. But now, as an adult, my tastes have changed and I love peanut butter and jelly sandwiches! However, on my most recent visit to the Doughnut Plant (my favorite NYC doughnuts), I ate a giant peanut butter doughnut filled with homemade plum jelly and am now wondering if a regular old PB&J will still satisfy. Maybe if I deep-fry it?!
Last night I went out for dinner at a new tapas bar in SoHo. The menu didn’t have explicit details as to what each items was, so when I ordered the fried quail eggs and chorizo and got a miniature version of breakfast I was delighted.
The tapa was a thin slice of a fresh baguette, topped with a pan-fried slice of spicy chorizo covered in a fried quail egg—sunny-side up! The one little bite was incredibly flavorful. These would be really easy to make and might be even better with a sprinkling of freshly chopped parsley.
I am definitely going to make them at home for a perfect brunch hors d’oeuvres!
So, after my visit to MOMA, I decided to have a potato knish from a cart located down the street. What a mistake!
The potato-filled pastry that I had was flavorless and really chewy—as in stale. Now, I realize these things are beloved by many a New Yorker, so if someone can point me in the direction of one of the city’s finest, I’d really appreciate it. I have a sneaking suspicion that I’m missing out on a great local food…
As I walked past my neighborhood deli, I saw a couple of buckets of chili pepper branches mixed in with the many buckets of fresh cut flowers for bouquets. What a neat way to dress up a fall-inspired floral arrangement—especially if given as a gift to a food enthusiast friend!
This has got to be the easiest way to dress up a tall glass of lemonade I’ve ever seen.
Simply place three or four whole lychees (canned lychees in syrup are usually available in the Asian section of your local gourmet grocery store) in the bottom of a pint glass. Then, cover them with ice, about an ounce of lychee syrup, and top off with lemonade (homemade or your favorite bottled brand)! Your friends will think you labored away peeling, pitting and juicing fresh lychees; when, really, you just opened a can!
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