Note to Self

…. or whoever happens to be reading this. If you have some cooked quinoa lying around and you want to eat something healthy and tasty (so often those are mutually exclusive, at least in my mind…) you could throw a couple handfuls of shredded kale (or any salady green, really) and carrots into a bowl, then heat some coconut oil in a pan and toss in the cooked quinoa, just to warm it up. Once it's warm, scrape it right from the pan into the bowl with the kale and carrots. I threw some raw sunflower seeds and coconut flakes into the pan and toasted them in the coconut oil, and added them into the bowl. I chopped up the half an apple that was in my fridge and added a good heap of goat cheese. Finally, I squeezed copious (always) amounts of lemon and drizzled some olive oil and a little fish sauce (yep) over the whole thing and tossed it all together. Finished it off with a little squeeze of orange for some sweetness (you could definitely do without, I just happened to have it). This went - completely unplanned - from a vague idea for a salad to a bona fide meal in a bowl that is totally healthy (because I just went for my first run in 3 weeks) and light-ish so you won't feel like you need to lie down for the next two hours (not that that ever happens to me).

To be honest, I have not been eating all that well lately. I mean, I eat salad as a meal at least once a week, sometimes more - but I have also been eating pizza at least once a week, sometimes more. There are days when I struggle to think of a vegetable I have consumed in the last 24 hours. Sometimes it's exhaustion (which accounted for both the Chipotle and pizza delivery that I ordered last week), and sometimes it's just circumstantial - I'm out for drinks and end up ordering chips, guacamole, queso fundido (purely hypothetical…) and suddenly that becomes dinner. I believe everything in life ebbs and flows, including my own eating habits, and I'm not one for extremes nor do I think it's productive to rake oneself over the coals for not eating well. I find eating poorly is often a byproduct of something else in my life that is out of balance or requiring attention. But the simple fact is that I FEEL better when I eat better. So I figured I would jot down this little quinoa bowl so I can refer back to it when inspiration is lacking. Really, if you have these things in the refrigerator already, it comes together in about five minutes. Which is a lot quicker than waiting for pizza delivery.

If you wanted to follow this salad with some Jasper Hill Farm Willoughby cheese on warm baguette, that would not be a bad idea at all….

1/2 cup cooked quinoa (I used red quinoa but any kind is fine)
1 tbsp coconut oil
small handful raw sunflower seeds (or any other seed or nut you like)
small handful raw coconut chips
1/2 apple, chopped
juicy piece of goat cheese
couple handfuls of any salad green (I used green kale)
1/4 cup shredded carrots
lemon and/or orange (I used both)
olive oil
Optional: maple syrup and/or minced ginger

Toss the carrots, apple, and salad greens in a bowl. Heat coconut oil in a skillet and toss in the cooked quinoa. Fry it in the coconut oil just until it is warm. Toss it into the bowl with the greens and carrots. Put sunflower seeds or nuts and coconut into skillet and heat just until lightly toasted. Add into bowl. Add the juicy piece of goat cheese and dress with lemon and/or orange (using all orange will make a sweeter dressing), olive oil, and if you wish, a drizzle of maple syrup (for a sweeter dressing) and/or some minced ginger. Dress it immediately so the goat cheese will melt a little bit from the hot quinoa and seeds and the greens will wilt a tiny bit.

Note: Adding ginger to the dressing will give it a delicious spicy kick. I also added fish sauce for a bit of depth (and because I am a weirdo and add fish sauce to most things) but you certainly need not.

Bon appétit!

Breakfast in Bed

This morning's meal is an ode to a clean room. Of which I've spent quite a bit of the last few days bringing order from chaos. Though the comforter did befell the minor setback during the photo shoot of chocolate on the sheets... oh oo whoa oo whoa oh! (simultaneous shout out to Chef Beth)

Pancake with Puss in Boots, in Bed, though not my best work, its safe to say Brilliant nonetheless: Blueberry, chocolate chips, flax, and sunflower seed buckwheat pancakes.... a touch of nutritious wheat and some special kind of uber vegetarian oil (only because the girl who sublet the apartment last summer left it behind and I gotta get rids of it somehow. Yeah, I know, hello January).. Speaking of which any of you peep yesterday's release from Apple? And I'd been hoping for a digital sketchbook.

Side of yougurt, raisons and granola all atop a bed of maple syrup and enough butter to saturate the pancakes like a second skin. The glass at the time filled with OJ was subterfuged during a lost night from Kiki. Always a friend, once a colleague now little more than a memory. I smoke a cigarette while writing this entry and ash in his empty glass.

Cheers foodies... Jahtzee

P.S. Incidentally, though this may be of most interest to those in the ford of hearts: the author of those fairy tales, who was employed as a secretary for Louis 14, began his career in law school...

Gee-ross!

Can I just say ... no wonder my stomach hurts!?!

Breakfast:
coffee, McDonald's bacon egg & cheese biscuit, hash brown.

Lunch: Trader Joe's chocolate croissant, water.

Dinner: Whole Foods white pizza (garlic, olive oil, mozzarella, ricotta, parsley), 4 rolls of tuna and salmon sushi, one whoopie pie (disappointing), small portion of Ciao Bella pistachio gelato. All good things, just NOT. ALL. TOGETHER.

Oy.....

Asian Invasion (Yeah, I Said It)

Dinner, last night: Restaurant week prix fixe at BondSt. Started off with a glass of very mediocre sake (my fault for ordering the cheapest one) at the bar. Sat down, began with a perfectly dressed salad of greens and literally ONE, paper-thin slice of radish, topped with with these very fine, crispy noodles. Followed by steamed, salted edamame. Then, a bento box-like plate with: crispy tempura shrimp glazed in a spicy mayo. Good, but the flavor and bright orange color made reminded me of something I couldn't quite put my finger on--Doritos, perhaps? "Steamed Yuba dumpling" turned out to be chicken "dumpling,"which resembled a small, limp eggroll, and tasted of lukewarm mushed cabbage. Braised hijiki. Half of a salmon-avocado roll, half of a spicy tuna roll--very good. Sliced steak over steamed greens, drizzled with, supposedly, 12-year-old balsamic vinegar.

Elisa had elected for the sea bass, instead, which was out of this world. The most flavorful piece of fish I have ever had--it was positively infused with moisture and sweet miso. Dessert was lychee panna cotta, served with an elegant twist of edible gold and a strawberry-rhubard compote. All washed down with a "sake flight." Three half glasses of complex flavor: one cloudy and citrusy, one with distinct pear overtones, and one more traditional, less fruity, deftly twisting sharp and smooth as it sits in your mouth. I love the idea of a flight; franny's does one with three amaros (or amari, for those Italophiles among us).

Breakfast, this morning: Cornflakes with milk, blueberry green tea.

Snack: Aloha Recipe Early Bird granola

Lunch: Andrea and I hoofed it up to the Chambers Hotel on 56th Street, in which has recently opened a new Momofuku outpost called Ma Peche. They have a $10 lunch special, which includes an entree and a soda. My dish was exemplary: wide rice noodles, rolled up into little noodle-cigars, in a slightly soupy, rich pork ragu, with tender leaves of baby bok-choy, crispy fried onions, lots of saw leaf herb. Diet Coke in a glass with ice, which always makes it more exciting. Andrea got the squid salad, which I only had a tiny bite of, because I didn't want to share mine with her. We shared a Milk Bar peanut butter cookie.

Here's a picture I found on the interweb.


Dinner tonight can't possibly compare, but I am making cacio e pepe, from a recipe in the most recent issue of Cook's Illustrated.

Me Too

I'm with you, Nene!

Breakfast: Cara Cara orange, blueberry green tea
Snack: several handfuls of Early Bird granola, Aloha Recipe. This granola is made by my former manager at franny's and while a bit pricey it is damn good, made with extra virgin olive oil, sea salt, and toasted coconut, among other ingredients. The Aloha Recipe features macadamia nuts and dried mango.
Lunch: Some homemade vegetarian chili from a Food and Wine recipe. Carrots, peppers, kidney beans, hominy, parsnips, onions, garlic, chili, cumin. Absolutely delicious, especially topped with sour cream and cilantro. I ran out of the brown rice I've been eating it with for the past few days.
Dinner: Will be enjoyed (I hope) at BondSt, for restaurant week. Menu found here, report to come.

Daily Eats

I'm taking this blog back to its beginnings by posting what I eat every day, because it helps me to be more attentive to my eating habits and hold myself accountable for what I actually put in my body. And, since we all know that food is one of my favorite topics of conversation, I hope some of you will also be inspired to comment or post what you are eating in response so that we can share. It's a way of keeping in touch!

Monday is my loooooooong day with six hours of work followed by six hours of class. I literally leave home at 8:30 am and get back at 9:30 pm. Since the semester is just getting started, I'm just beginning to figure out how this is going to work and what kinds of food I can bring to sustain me throughout the day. So, Monday:

Breakfast: coffee, glazed donut stick, banana.
Snack/Lunch: tangerine and half a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
Snack: mini-Twix and mini-Milky Way, chex mix.
Dinner: Vegetable soup - a total hodgepodge of vegetables (including potatoes, carrots, tomatoes, celery, parsnip, and carrot greens) with quinoa and soba noodles for bulk and cilantro, lime, and tomatillo salsa for flavor/heat. Sounds bizarre but it was soooo good! And a glorious piece of Whole Foods Seeduction bread rubbed with garlic, topped with Gruyere cheese, and toasted. Heaven.

So far today:
Breakfast: coffee and a mini-donut muffin from a nearby bakery that I just discovered.
Breakfast #2: oatmeal with golden raisins and banana, water.
Lunch: half a smoked turkey and cheddar sandwich on wheat bread with lettuce, avocado, and some SPICY dijon mustard from Trader Joe's. Beware!
Snack: a lemon wafer (from above-mentioned bakery), and some of a chocolate peanut butter brownie (frosted with chocolate icing and peanut butter AND peanut butter chips....oh my) and a chocolate mint brownie (frosted with a layer of mint frosting and a layer of chocolate frosting... OH MY)
Dinner: whole wheat pizza with bbq sauce, spinach, mushrooms, cheese, avocado, and cilantro. Sounds like a flavor explosion, and it was! Oh and a Long Trail.

Sick

Happy Holidays, y'all!

http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2009/12/steamed-fried-cod-milt-kiku-shirako-tachi-recipes.html

Rien Faire Comme Un Au Pair

The RER trains into Paris were on strike this weekend, which means I have to take a different train that takes even longer to get into Paris. The problem is not that I don't have the time to spare, but rather that this long and arduous journey makes me believe that I somehow deserve to indulge myself in fine Parisian haute cuisine. And indulge myself I did.

After this au pair that I was supposed to meet up with bailed on me -- a turn of events that I was secretly somewhat ecstatic about -- it was time to feast. After stopping in at the Breizh Cafe only to be told the wait was an hour and a half, I decided to make my way from the Marais to Saint Germain des Pres. This is somewhat of a troop so I stopped at a market and bought myself une galette saucisse traditionnelle. It was a hot sausage wrapped in a cold buckwheat crepe. Pretty delicious.

Next I stopped by L'Epigramme per David Leib's recommendation but alas, it's Sunday so it was closed. I stumbled onto Boulevard Saint Germain and saw Da Rosa... I figured if nothing else, I could just eat raisins soaked in sauterne and covered with chocolate for lunch. I asked if they had room for one, but the place was packed. Luckily the waiter must have seen my disappointment, and explained that there was a table in the basement where they hang the Spanish hams; if I wanted, I could eat there. C'est un peu froid mais quand meme... So I ended up sitting all by myself at this little table in the meat room of De Rosa. At first it felt weird, but then I developed a sort of back-room Tony Soprano understanding of it and I was like this is iiiiiiill.


Ok, I'll speed this up. I ordered the risotto with Iberico ham and a Savignon Blanc avec une carafe d'eau, bien sur. It was phenomenal. Dessert was an insane chocolate cake that was super moist, filled with a warm chocolate pudding and surrounded by a vanilla cream. As I bit into it three words inevitably came to mind: Get 'em girl!

After finally seeing the entire Limits of Control, I had a sausage shwarma at a pretty good little Lebanese restaurant next to the theater. As I'm writing this, I'm finishing up my Le Petit Suisse, fromage frais with a little pure cane sugar on top.

And I leave you with a little adapted Adorno:

Rien faire comme [un au pair], lying on water and looking peacefully at the sky, ‘being nothing else, without any further definition and fulfilment’, might take the place of process, act, satisfaction, and so truly keep the promise of dialectical logic that it would culminate in its origin.

Cookie Monster

That's me, of course! Taking a brief break here in the Netherlands to report on tonight's unexpected cooking triumph: chocolate chip cookies. I know I haven't posted at all while I've been away (don't worry, I've got a lot stored up!) but I have been cooking quite a bit. We are fortunate to have a lovely, spacious apartment with a kitchen and dishwasher; however, we are oven-challenged. We basically have a microwave for an oven - I'm told it's a convection oven and so far we've cooked all kinds of goodies in it, but it still just looks like a microwave to me. I don't trust it. On top of that, the other night we had an unfortunate incident in which the microwave/oven began to smoke and emit a very strange and alarming smell, prompting me to worry that a fire might be imminent. I went so far as to fetch my neighbor (more on him later) and ask him to have a look at the thing, and we haven't really been on solid footing since then.

My lovely roommate was making dinner tonight and mentioned that she had tested out the oven a couple times and it seemed to be fine. Hope! Of course, at the end of our meal I began dreaming of chocolate chip cookies, and after a brief peak at the internet, I rose from the table with a mission. Baking makes me feel good, for so many reasons that I won't go into now, but suffice it to say that I love to eat and food is comforting and sometimes it helps to fill my heart with gezellig when I am missing someone. I was looking for something really quick and easy because after a few glasses of wine, I get a little sleepy. This recipe took all of 10 minutes and turned out delicious. I even made the entire thing in one pot on the stove, so there was minimal cleanup. I think the key is that you brown the butter on the stovetop, which imbues the batter with a heavenly nutty caramel flavor. Then it's just sugar, flour, the usual suspects, and some chocolate, which I chopped roughly from 2 different chocolate bars because they don't seem to sell chocolate chips here (perhaps the only deterrent from living here permanently?)

The cookies took about 8 minutes in our little convection contraption (I ran it hotter than the recipe calls for because our temperature only increases in 25-degree increments) and they were perfect...crunchy but not quite crispy on the outer edges, soft and almost mushy in the middle... I couldn't wait for them to cool off, but by the time I got to the third one, they were at perfect temperature. I guzzled some cold milk with these babies and sighed a long, happy, comforted sigh before crawling into bed.

Recipe here.

Eatin' Good in the Neighborhood

Forewent (is that a word?) both franny's and the W (whose room service menu includes an entire page FOR DOGS) for Pam Real Thai Food, the best Thai joint I have found in Manhattan (I have yet to venture to Queens, where it's supposed to be really great). The four of us ordered, to start, fried calamari, which was served without the tentacles and in longer rings than you'd get at, say, a bar, and with a slightly viscous sweet chili dipping sauce. We also shared curry puffs, which were very similar to samosas (though lacking peas) and came with a thinner, brighter, more vinegary sauce. Then I went with my old standby, Pad See Eil, because I find that whenever I order something else there, even if it's delicious (and it usually is), I miss it. The wide rice noodles that fall in folds and stick together, the thick, dark sweet soy sauce, the tender stalks of Chinese broccoli, the scrambled egg, the crispy but not over-fried tofu--it drives me nuts. I was not disappointed, but admittedly envious of Steven's choice, which also consisted of wide rice noodles but tossed with chicken, cabbage, and a blended spicy red sauce instead. Jo got a third wide noodle dish with chicken, red peppers, and basil, and her co-worker had the larb gai (minced chicken) and Som Tum (shredded green papaya with a dense kind of green bean, peanuts, and tiny dried shrimp--another of my favorites).

Breakfast the next morning was: a slice of Boule bread with almond butter, a (perfect, if I do say so myself) fried egg, and a cup of English Breakfast tea, which I can never seem to finish.

Lunch: A very vanilla turkey-and-cheddar sandwich on a whole grain bread, with lettuce, tomato, and honey mustard. Half a pickle. A bag of Baked Lay's Potato Chips. A Diet Coke, which gave me a headache.

Dinner at the Grisly Pear, where my dear friend Becky was hosting trivia night: Sam Adams Winter Lager. A terrible, horrible, no good, very bad veggie burger. It was bloated and mushy with chunks of broccoli and topped with something called "cilantro cream," whatever that means, and on a sesame bun with a lifeless slice of tomato, some greens, and shredded carrots. The fries were decent at least. They were even better in the form of the cheese fries the other people on my team ordered--theirs came with cheddar and, oddly, rosemary.

Breakfast this A.M.: Another slice of Boule bread with almond butter. A very ripe banana. Three baby carrots. English Breakfast tea.

Lunch: In Bryant Park, delightful leftovers from Andrea's dinner party last night, which I rudely missed. Courtesy of Cook's Illustrated, butternut squash risotto with sage, which had a distinctly wine-y flavor in the best possible way, peas with cream and leeks, and a tangle of apple crisp made with lots of brown sugar and granola. Impressively good.

Self-Inspired

I am happy with what I ate so far today so I thought I'd blog about it. I miss this thing!

Breakfast: Fried egg, sunny-side down. Small hunk of orange Cabot cheddar (why's it orange, by the way?). Slice of delicious Boule bread from Brooklyn Larder, spread with Trader Joe's blackberry jam. English breakfast tea, no milk. Water, vitamin, fish oil.

Lunch: Leftover Szechuan: chicken with celery and mushrooms in a spicy garlicky sauce. It needed peanuts. Homemade Jasmine rice.

Mid-afternoon snack: Handful of yogurt-covered pretzels. One of the last Macouns of the season.

Dinner at franny's or the W?

Pancake Man

Its been awhile since we've seen one of these and not everyone is completely crazy about subliminal implications but I know at least one person reading this from art history has a smile growing across her face.

The run down:
Pancakes a la buckwheat, choc chips, kasha, ground sunflower seeds & banana chips
Maple s-y-"up"
a fresh batch of yoghurt
almonds
granola clumps
fried egg, chedah cheese & slice of tomato

Cold Hot Pasta

Is hott in herre & I've got the remedy...



Arrabiata is one of the few un-swear related words i brought back from sweet Italia. Often inexpensive, tasty and unique due to it's hott character Arrabiata is not a sexually transmitted disease but rather a popular red sauce found all over Roma.

I was told by Gabriele that Arrabiata means "of the Arabs", presumably an Ancient Roman pick up from the crusades but Wikipedia suggests the following: All'arrabbiata means "angry style", named as such due to the heat of the peppers.

Either origin this sauce makes for a great overlay, both fresh off the stove on evening over penne or the following afternoon, outta the fridge. In fact, the heat (& in case you missed it, even Santa thinks this iz some heat) when combined with cool, is one of the great universal combos. Jason Alexander certainly nailed the thought with this dance number, in probably my all-time favorite commercial.

Thats the stuff!

After Putney let out, I spent some days va-couching: pushing off responsibilities at home in favor of moving through various friend's domiciles, drawing and decompressing. This is really a terrific way of traveling because on short notice you get to witness people in their native habitat and often they feed you just because your around and playing with their cat or three year old.

On one such visit, with this drawer and his significant paintess, I was treated to the breakout surprise of the summer: yogurt. Not just any yogurt, but thick, creamy, cool in the summer heat and best taken out to the porch, made-at-home yogurt.

Made-at-home yogurt... you're kidding me. No, I am not. And I was told the only instrument you'd need is a thermometer. From that moment I vowed to bring the concept, made at home yogurt, to New Haven.

It took about 2 hours upon arrival, 1 for unpacking and another to get hungry before I found myself at the grocery store frantically phone calling any one I knew who might know something about yogurt or had access to the Internet.

The ingredients are simple:
1/2 gallon of milk
1 container of yogurt
1 thermometer
Several bags of Chocolate Chips, some cheddar and Ben & Jerry's



For a recipe source I improvised, using these guys, who are especially cool because they're also into illustrating.

So this is what I came up with: (you can call it the 9:45pm yogurt recipe & you'll soon see why)


1.Construct a double boiler and heat 1/2 gallon of milk up to 190 degrees F

2.Cover pot & place in cool water watching the temp to sink to 107 degrees F

3.Add 1 cup of yogurt, well 16 ounces if your not careful and stir lightly.

4.Meanwhile, heat oven to 350 degrees F then turn it off once it's nice and hot.

5.Cover the alleged yogurt, stick it in the oven, close it, go to bed & let sit over night.

6.In the morning, pull the pot outta the oven, pour off the residual liquid



and if you're lucky, voila!


One day... a boy can dream

Can't beat the stand-by

Just made it thru summer camp and these were the digs that got me thru...

A layer of kale, chard & beat greens occasionally accompanied and occasionally pirated from the staff garden from behind the cow barn. Steam till relaxed then add several poached eggs from Trish's chickens with a few hunks of Cheddar. Top it with a combination of lil' beats stewed with cherry tomatoes and a nip of honey. Smatter with pepper and salt.

Doesn't matter who you are, a few bites of this will have you maneuvering like a teenager, running barefoot and settin' fancy free.

Cinco De Mom-0h

To go in reverse, for dinner: I picked up several slices at Bella Haven on College Street in New Haven. Although it was a prelude to a baseball game with liquid accompaniment up the block at the Anchor, Bella's pizza tasted just as good this time at 730pm as it more often does at 1 or 2am.

Not to step on the far more sophisticated New Haven Pizza reviews about to come out by Val Taleggio but I think Bella achieves it’s success by hitting on all three sides of the pizza golden triangle: sauce (which is clean, vibrant and fresh), crust (which is crisp, thin, yet pliant and acting as a perfect backboard for the sauce) and cheese (which is absorbent, piping hot and in an appetizing ratio relative to the thickness of the crust).

If there be one draw-back to this pizza, and it may be a matter of personal taste, because others have called this an attribute: the amount of oil which pools on your plate and is left on your hands between bites. Either way, you can’t beat the vicinity to the Anchor, where the food is horrible and the atmosphere divine. Especially the drawing angles from the booths and the steady stream of personality that flows in and outta there. On yester evening I had the pleasure of watching the hapless Yanks drop another against the pizza-sauced-colored Sox to the glee of a very independent Melissa and the woe of a carless, jobless Kiki.

Not to go off topic anymore than usual but I’m very impressed with the coaching going on in the ultimate sports program at this middle school.

For lunch, Chico & I heated up some split pea soup*(1) with a side of steamed brown rice and rainbow chard. These leftovers were well timed as we’d spent all yesterday morning into afternoon cleaning the apartment for Artwalk. After reorganizing the studio (we’re talking no brush left unturned), repairing hockey sticks, vacuuming and hanging paintings... lunch, in strong contrast to the rain outside, brought a glorious warmth to the living room and a temporary finishing still-life to the exhibit on the walls.

Although the original feeling earlier that morning was discontent with the timing of the event/relative to the state of finish with the paintings I’ve been working on.. after some pinhead oatmeal dashed upon with some simply bumpin jive-with-the-tastebuds, teamwork’d granola*(2), plus the addition of yoguhrt, ba-nenes, peanut butter, raw milk and honey, I felt fit for baptism.

Shout out to all the moms, grandmoms, future moms and potential moms this weekend...

Yours in culinary endeavors, J

*(1) Whole nother story, as that Split pea was the legend of last week never written but duly noted by all bards who put down their harps and pulled up a chair to sample its splendor.

*(2) Granola recipe and team-workmanship courtesy of the San Francisco Chef… Todah Rabah Beckolina

Leggums

Legumes, people. Grains and legumes, that's what I'm eating these days... well, that's what I should be eating anyway. I eat mostly bread. And dessert. Honestly, I can't even remember what I ate yesterday but so far today, it's been cereal with banana, coffee, a biscuit, some lentils with roti and some water. I'm actually pretty full or I would polish off some samosas and a couple of cookies. Hah. 

McOats

Your papi’s right. Bittman seems to weigh in kinda heavily on the moral side and rather fret about his oats more so than consume em. Give the guy some slack though. On any afternoon we can channel something different and Bitt's proven his joy‘d comida.

Bittman's ethic infused food rants are interesting though; proposals of transferring into law body the real cost of food. I hope he includes the ocean into the list of targets. The commercial fishing industry, especially the long liners and net draggers, make the corporate mega farms seem like the caretakers of candyland.

Should food be a moral issue?

Bittman perhaps waters down his argument occasionally with the wistful view that information leads to healthy choices. Most of us today tend to be creatures of habit; if we can get used to or sold on drinkn Tab and eating chicken mcnuggets (granted they are doused with aromatic chemical crack) we can learn to love oatmeal. Especially when you make it a little more sexy. P.S., peanut butter is only the beginning, stew in some prunes, apples, apricots, figs or bananas, toss in almonds, granola, yogurt and maple syrup… one spoonful and you’ll see Bitt’s eyes spin like matching cherries at the casino.

Speaking of gamblin and poor choices made in light of solid information, I got the bug. Shout out to Puckdom: got my money on Groovy UV beatin the hometown heros this afternoon in Bridgeport. Tonight, rounding out the sweet 16 in basketball? C'mon, glorious!

All Hail Bittman

Speaking of everyone's favorite food personality, I've been meaning to post this for quite some time. We talked in the NY Times cafeteria over--what else--oatmeal, into which he mixed peanut butter (an interesting idea, no?), and coffee, which he took with half-and-half, no sugar (I'm an observant little journalist). I think he had some interesting stuff to say. My dad was surprised by his apparent lack of passion for the pure joy of eating. What do you guys think?

What Grapes Are.

The gentleman taking inventory in the produce section at Nica's gave me a stern look when he saw me pick up a bag of garden variety table grapes after work today. Silently, he handed me two small green globes tinged with pink, plucked like fragile treasure from a fold of protective white paper. "Muscats," he told me as I popped them in my mouth. Biting through the somewhat toothy skin, a flowery gush of sweet, winey pulp ran over my tongue. At some point, I must have opened my eyes again, because I remember thanking him as I rushed to the checkout with my tender bunch.




The white muscat grape is to supermarket grapes what Big Mama Thornton is to Elvis; these, my friends, are what grapes are. I ate half of my bunch for dinner along with a healthy wedge of boucheron, a handfull of EOTW whole wheat triscuit impostors, and two eggs scrambled with a heavy dollop of cream and a generous sprinkling of dried tarragon and then just barely cooked. Heaven.