Some Grandmas are really good at making cookies and knitting you blankets. My Grandma is a competitive ballroom dancer, force-feeds me "Women's Soup" (good for your ovaries), and lets out a content, slightly sinister chuckle after she belches (whi...
Read MoreThe Bizarro Steak Dinner
The Sizzling Steak Platter at the Flushing Mall. It has a bit of a cult following. The mind (thankfully) is a simplifying machine. It will extract some relevant essence and move on. You are complex, you contain multitudes. But you're also whittled...
Read MoreBanana Beet Ice Cream
On the good ol' Serious Eats, I asked a question: What are the foods you've taught yourself to like? And to my surprise, many people replied beets. Beets! The candy of the Earth, the ruby of root vegetables. The world is full of surprises. Beets m...
Read MoreKefir Cantaloupe Shake
Dieting is a bad word. But after the Bermuda cruise, the New York State Fair, and two back-to-back meals at Dinosaur BBQ, a girl's gotta make some adjustments. Kefir has like a zillion active organisms in it. If you get the good stuff from a farme...
Read MoreA Very Worthwhile Pilgrimage to Dinosaur BBQ
When you go to the New York State Fair, you cannot leave without trying Dinosaur BBQ. We ordered a starter of Drunken Shrimp, boiled in beer and Old Bay, and dipped in a bbq-horseradish-tabasco sauce. This is messy, spicy, garlicky, and makes regu...
Read MoreThe Good & Bad at the New York State Fair
At first, I was disappointed by my first country fair. No one told me that 75% of the New York State Fair is awful stuff you've already come to hate. I was expecting some fascinating slice of Americana and instead I saw what you see at any cheesy ...
Read MoreSuperfood Frozen Yogurt
Julian is working on clerkship applications. No need to be jealous! It is actually not that fun. So I made him this dessert, because I want to help the guy out, but am of zero use in editing legal stuff. It's a dessert that has it both ways. It's ...
Read MoreCruise Dining (Much, Much Better than You'd Expect)
Appetizers, Soups, Salad. 1. Beef Tartare 2. Mushroom Vol-au-Vent 3. Beef Carpaccio 4. Chicken Curry Salad 5. Oysters Rockefeller 6. Pea & Mint Soup 7. Buffalo Frog Legs 8. Bruschetta 9. Escargot 10. Tuna Carpaccio 11. Crab Louis 12. Romaine Salad...
Read MoreDistracted at Kin Shop (a friend gets engaged)
This post is not about food. It's about life while I was eating it. Spicy Duck Laab Salad, toasted rice, ground chili & romaine hearts I saw it a mile away. I guess I'm at that point where "I have news for you" can only mean so many things. We alr...
Read MoreEating the 10 Most Popular Dishes on Foodspotting
Deviled Eggs The internet is a palm reading for the world. Right now, the top three searches on Google are Rick Perry, Mall of America, and Miranda Cosgrove. The most emailed articles on the New York Times are about an inspiring gold-hearted girl ...
Read MoreUrban Tropicalia Makeup Story
You'd think if you walk around New York with blue, silver, pink and purple paint on your face, people would take notice. Not exactly. On the way to work, a woman said to me, "I like your haircut!", which seems like a lot of effort, to ignore the o...
Read MoreM. Wells // Emergency-Closing Feast
In its one-year history, M. Wells has never stopped generating headlines. From its birth (ie: "Bizarre & Gluttinous Restaurant Opens in Long Island City Diner"). To its nearly immediate acclaim (ie: "Get Thee to the 7 Train!"). To, recently, despo...
Read MoreVirginia Really is for Lovers
In Linden, Virginia, I stepped on a dead frog and stayed in a chalet called "Hot Tub Heaven," complete with an in-house masseuse. Julian and I followed directions with no visuals, just words to turn here and there, on streets called names like "Tr...
Read MoreLegend Szechuan Restaurant
To say a dish is spicy is to say a woman is beautiful. Helpful? Yes. Telling? No. Consider the difference between mustard, peppermint, and the main topics of this blog post, red chilis and Szechuan peppercorns. Mustard, horseradish and wasabi are ...
Read MoreUnsure Blueberry Maple Walnut Tart
I once knew a girl who wore three types of deodorant: stick, roll-on, and natural anti-perspirant crystal. I hope she doesn't read this. Why she did this has plagued me for over a decade. I doubt her body odor was so terrible that she really neede...
Read MoreClementine Meringue Cake
The Chinese palate is a particular thing. It likes slimy sea cucumbers and crunchy cartilage . It likes plums salted and fish candied. But for all its bravado, the Chinese palate dances around dessert. China is not known for its bread or pastry. F...
Read MoreI8NY on the Brooklyn Grange
Almost all the produce was harvested that afternoon on the farm, which happens to be the largest rooftop farm in the world. We ate on precarious stages. Laguardia-bound planes flew like kites overhead and CCR crooned from a thatch of kale. Last Su...
Read MoreBanana Lime Coco-Crostini
Sometimes you have to break the rules to stay within them. In a month, I'll be going to Bermuda and I've made a little vow myself to take it easy. It's not a diet, just a gentle pulling back. In New York, it's easy to fall into the habit of orderi...
Read MoreA Real Healthy Snack // Chick Chick Soy
I’m putting in my bid for “America’s Next Healthy Snack Food.” Here’s the pitch. Entire industries have popped up for “healthy” snack food. Existing snacks were “healthified” with smaller portions or ersatz fats -- ergo baked potato chips, pretzel...
Read MorePineapple Vinho Verde Sorbet with Prickly Pear
The prickly pear is a challenging, rather enigmatic fruit, more seed than flesh. Imagine a pomegranate with the membranes dissolved, or a grenade loaded with juicy pellets. Like papaya, it tastes great with a squeeze of lime to zip its flavors. It...
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