Rent Jacques Pepin's Condo!!

This is unreal.

Jacques Pepin's condo in Playa del Carmen, Mexico is available for rent!!!

Check out this view from the terrace swimming pool!


And of course...the kitchen...


This place looks absolutely amazing. Sign me up!!! I'd probably have to rent it with 50 people to afford it!

What Do You Eat in a Week?

Here's an interesting perspective into what a typical family consumes in one week - in select locations throughout the globe. I'm embarrassed by the family from North Carolina, the one American representation. It would be cool to look at a week's worth of food just from various parts of the U.S. I'm pretty sure people in New York, Seattle, and San Francisco, for instance, eat radically differently than our fellow citizens down in N.C. Makes you think...

Virginia Is Not For Beersicles

"Beersicles" found to be in violation of a Virginia state law requiring beer to be sold in its original container or immediately after it is poured.

Maybe switching to vodka pops would be legal!

Hot Weather Dinner

Too hot to cook. I'd probably burst into flames if I even tried to turn on the stove.

My new favorite too-hot-to-cook food is eating cold tofu pups right out of the package. I ate two of those, a small spinach salad, and a bowl of blueberries, strawberries and raspberries from the Union Square greenmarket. Those greenmarket strawberries are just killer! I cannot get enough. I'm very grateful to my roommate, who works right near the greenmarket, for keeping a steady supply in the fridge! And to top it off, a small handful of almonds.

I'm so glad my boss is taking us out for lunch tomorrow - I can't even think of trying to preparing something to bring for lunch tomorrow!

Currently Reading

Heat

Currently Lusting For:

Chocolate and Zucchini

Morning Food

Mastering the Art of French Cooking

3 Musketeers

My co-worker brought in a box of fundraising candy bars today for her son's class trip to a water park, and for whatever reason the urge for a 3 Musketeers bar hit me. It has far less fat than a bag of peanut M&Ms, my usual go-to fundraiser indulgence, so I dug in. Man, I just have to say, this is a damn good candy bar! And now they have dark chocolate mint 3 Muskeeters. Definitely need to try one of those!

(I love this old wrapper!)

"Under the Sea" Jell-O Salad

Behold: Eric's mom's "Under the Sea" Jell-O salad! Eric has promised to provide some background in the comments, so stay tuned!

In the meantime, check out Jello's "Patriotic Layers". Ha! For whatever reason, this immediately made me think of the Terror Alert Chart. A terror-alert chart in Jell-O. I love it!! Somebody do it!

Spaghetti with Strawberries

My roommate picked up these lovely strawberries from the Union Square greenmarket at the same time New York Magazine ran a recipe for Spaghetti with Strawberries, so I had to give it a try.


Here are the strawberries releasing their juices into the olive oil. So pretty!


In goes the balsamic. I wasn't sure how long it would take to reduce, so I just cooked it until it started to become kind of sticky and syrupy. I think it took about 20 minutes. I probably could have reduced it further, but I was afraid of burning it.

Enter the tomato puree. Next time I will definitely seek out the tomato puree that they recommend, made from San Marzano tomatoes. I used Redpack and it wasn't very flavorful.

The finished product was not very good looking (red sauce on pasta in a red bowl with no garnish), so no pic, but it tasted good, and has tasted better with each passing day as many dishes are wont to do. Black pepper, salt, and fresh grated parmesan are key for this dish. Definitely will try this again with better tomato puree.

Hot Lunch Book Shelf

G told me about this article in the NY Times that reviews a bunch of food-related books, including How to Pick a Peach: The Search for Flavor from Farm to Table and The Zen of Fish: The Story of Sushi, from Samurai to Supermarket.

Thanks G!

Portobello Mushroom Sandwich with Leonardo DiCaprio

Went to lunch at Park Luncheonette in Greenpoint, Brooklyn last week with my sister and her roommate. This is where two scenes from The Departed were filmed, including the one where Leo busts up the "Guineas from Providence". There are pictures of Martin Scorcese and his assistants all over the the Park Luncheonette. Apparently, despite the fact that the movie takes place in Boston, some of it was filmed in NY which is more friendly to filmmakers, tax-wise. I, of course, had to watch the movie right after lunch.



Here's what I ate at the Park Luncheonette: portobello mushroom sandwich and fries. Delish!

Locavore Snack

For Kerry's last day in NYC, we decided to make ourselves a yummy locavore snack.


We went to Stinky and picked up a Hudson Valley Camembert Square and a locally-made baguette. The cheese was incredibly buttery and melty. It tasted better the further I dug into the square.


We then went across the street to Smith and Vine where the gentleman recommended a bottle of 2005 Tocai Friulano from Millbrook Winery in Millbrook, NY. Delicious! Definitely buying this stuff again. And we walked to pick everything up, further decreasing our carbon footprint for the afternoon, which I suppose makes up somewhat for Kerry's flight back to Seattle this evening!

Eating locally feels and tastes good. I'm going to try and do it more often, especially with the farmer's markets around now. Stinky and Smith & Vine are great in that they label all their products with a little flag to show you what country it comes from, then the label tells you specifically where in the country it's from. Makes it easy to scan the goods for an American flag (or whatever country you want) then take it from there.


Our desert, however, was not local. We dug into a Polish chocolate bar from an amazing Polish chocolate shop in Greenpoint called Stodycze Wedel, on Manhattan Ave. Piles of Polish candy bars. I was swooning.


I had no idea what I was buying, and the women behind the counter had no interest in telling us what anything was despite our cries of "Wow! What's this?" "I wonder what this is!", but when I saw this beautiful red, gold, and beige wrapper I knew I needed it for my collection. Turned out to be an intensely creamy dark chocolate. Yes!

Vous Etes Ici: Montreal

My favorite part of vacation is the drinking and eating! Here are some highlights from my trip to Montreal with G.


On our first day we came across this little gourmet candy and chocolate street fair. Score! It was coming to a close, so we hurried through and sampled as much as we could (and got stomach aches pretty quickly!) We picked up some chocolate maple fudge and black peppercorn fudge from La Confiserie Wakefield. Both were totally outstanding. I polished off the maple fudge last night and the black peppercorn continues to taunt me from the fridge.


Here's a little chocolate and fudge sampler (with vodka tonic!) I prepared for Kerry over the weekend. Besides the fudge, there's some "cinq epices" chocolate from Suite 88 and Fleur de Sel from Les Chocolates de Chloe, both totally delicious. Suite 88 was fun: we had chocolate shooters, mine full of Absolute Vanilla and G's full of tequila. A total explosion of liquor and chocolate - it was almost too much!


My lone shooter. I really loved Suite 88. The space and their packaging was beautiful, and the chocolate delicious.


An array of chocolate bars from Chloe. I had a hard time picking just one! So cute!


Chocolates from Chloe: fleur de sel flanked by fig and balsamic. The fig and balsamic were brilliant.


My first Croque Monsieur of the trip. Note the tiny mayo container provided with the fries. Delicious. G's veggie pizza is in the background. We also shared a carafe of wine...and we didn't even care that it came out of a box! Vacation has a way of relaxing one's palate a bit! This place was pretty forgettable. It was a last resort after being unable to find another restaurant we were looking for, but we cleaned our plates and polished off the wine nonetheless.


Fries and curry. G had these and a cider at an Irish pub in the horribly touristy area of downtown. We didn't care - we had beer and fries and U2 playing on the jukebox! I was so content, and have made a mental note to buy "Under a Blood Red Sky" as soon as possible.


Cheese plate from Pullman. This was a definite highlight of the trip. Look at those portions! Definitely the biggest portions I've ever had on a cheese plate. We ordered all Quebec cheeses, had delicious red wine, and the waitress gave us free glasses of ice cider for dessert. This place is a must-stop on any Montreal visit. I can't wait to go back!


What visit to Quebec is complete without sampling some poutine? We finally tried some at Cafe Local in the Mile End neighborhood, the sort-of Williamsburg of Montreal, complete with hipsters and orthodox Jewish folks. This is not real poutine, as we got the gravy on the side and they used shredded cheese instead of cheese curds, but we still got the general idea. I poured some gravy on my portion of sweet-potato fries - delicious. Cafe Local was very cute and friendly, and we whiled away nearly two hours with our carafe of wine as it poured rain outside and watched a dog show on TV with the staff.


Cute little shop in the Mile-End.


Show flyer. A sure sign of hipster country.


"Frommage Kraft." Ha!

We had a wonderful Italian meal at Da Emma, despite being soaked to the gills getting lost in the pouring rain trying to find it. It's hidden away, and the guy at the front desk did not give good directions and I forgot to bring my guide book. But it's worth seeking out. I would go back here in a blink.

We again found ourselves having to duck the rain, so we dashed into Gibbys for some wine. Despite being decorated like a 1970's cruise ship lounge, I had a delicious Quebecois wine and the waitresses were very nice and chatty.

My second and impossibly divine Croque Monsieur was at L'Express, a lovely French bistro. Again, good food, good wine, great ambiance. I had one of their house truffles for dessert, which was dusted in unsweetened chocolate and created a cloud of chocolate dust all over my face and hands. Totally mortifying, but worth the embarrassment, although I do hope I never look that ridiculous in front of G again.

Another memorable meal was had at Stash Cafe where we gorged on red wine, pierogies, and potato pancakes while being served by very cute, blond Polish boys that were making me giggle and G roll his eyes (although he was enjoying the view of the twin young ladies across the way from us). And the cute kid at the piano was playing songs from Kid A! Totally amazing.

So, this gastronomically incredible vacation has resulted in my gaining 6 pounds. I'm sure once I go back to my regular diet (that does not include red wine, french fries and chocolate each day) they will fall off. I would go back and do it all over in a heartbeat though, and I'm looking forward to the day that G and I do just that!