food

98 articles

Strawberry season!

food - kids
cut strawberries

Freshly cut and ready to pop into my mouth… oh no wait… into our muffins.

Strawberry season is rocking into full swing around these parts, and the Farmers Markets are bursting with color as boxes upon boxes of fresh sumptuous berries await purchase. So naturally, for this week’s year end Family Pot Luck breakfast at my daughter’s school, we decided to make strawberry muffins. One year I will be smart and bring a bottle of juice or something. But that was not my fate this go around, and I must say, the effort was worth it.

The muffins are actually quite simple to make– chopping the strawberries is the most difficult part. Unless you count having a 6 year old sous chef, which tends to turn everything into a somewhat more laborious endeavor than the solo version would have been. Sure it took us twice as long… but we had twice as much fun.

strawberry muffins

The muffins! Or at least, some of them…

And look at the result!! Worth every minute (and grain of spilled sugar, of which there were many.) Click below for the full recipe, and happy baking! — Read more

Yesterday, at some point…

food - photography

short_white

Lattes are so 2013.

Now it’s all about the short white, which is an Australian, slightly smaller, more concentrated version of the venerable Italian drink.

I learned all about them at St Balmain, the newest cafe in my area (it’s on N 8th between Bedford and Driggs, in Williamsburg) They are delicious and well on their way to becoming this mother’s favorite little helper, if you know what I’m saying.

The food that this spot serves up looks great too, though I have yet to try anything. Summer is coming however… and with that, lots of free time to spend sampling various lunch spots in the hood. We’ll have to add this place to the list!

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Yesterday, at some point is a series of photographs that describe a moment I experienced during the previous day. The posts are meant to be stand alone images, though at times I can’t control myself, and I end up expanding the caption into a more lengthy bit of text. Hopefully the extra information is useful, or at least interesting. If not, feel free to ignore it.

Better… Stronger… Faster… More Productive…

food - health/beauty
rocket fuel by juice press

Rocket Fuel. Brought to you by Juice Press. it totally delivers the goods.

We are now in the home stretch… the May-into-June-into-summer that all parents of school aged kids alternately live for and dread. There are all sorts of year end activities and recitals and gifts that need to be done and seen and made. And it’s important to note that one’s other, more adult, life doesn’t just kindly move over and give you a bit more room to deal with all of this stuff.

Oh yeah and in my particular case, my teammate in this parenting adventure has suddenly begun traveling for work far more than the one week a month we had become accustomed to.

So I have been forced to say a tearful goodby to whatever sleep I may have been having in the recent past.

But no worries. Because there is a Juice Press quite close to me (I worry that JP is becoming the Starbucks of the cold pressed world, but maybe that’s not such a bad thing) And where there is Juice Press, there is Rocket Fuel. And Rocket Fuel is my new best friend.

It’s got pear, lemon and ginger juice (yum!) guayusa (a naturally caffeinated, antioxidant rich leaf from South America) and maca (more superfood stuff from South America that gives you energy and evens out any hormonal fluctuations you might be eperiencing) Everything a person needs to be present and awake though these trying times.

Which is great, because actually all of these celebratory school activities are wonderful moments that I would be heartbroken to sleep through, just because I had a deadline and had to stay up in front of my computer till 2 am the night before editing photos and reckoning (again!) with my overstuffed hard drive.

(but that’s another story for another time…)

Yesterday, at some point…

food - photography

momofuku milk bar

I am so lucky, I repeat SO LUCKY, that Momofuku Milk Bar is a place I get to pass by everyday. I would probably eat their pork buns every day, too, if I didn’t have some kind of nagging idea that a constant stream of pork, cucumbers and whatever the bun part is made out of (rice?) doesn’t constitute a balanced diet.

Although now that I’m thinking about it, it doesn’t sound half bad actually…

After the party is… the day after the party

food - health/beauty
interior of Fung Tu

The interior (during the day) of Fung Tu, a “creative” and modern version of Chinese American home cooking (if your home had realy cool geometric hanging lights over lots of tables with an angular leaf like wallpaper on the walls. Oh and Jonathan Wu was your personal chef…) Photo from ny.eater.com.

Last night we went out with one of my favorite couples (isn’t it great when your college buddy actually marries someone who’s company you enjoy as much as theirs?) They eat out a lot, or at least one of them does, as he works at the dining section of the NY Times, so we always let them pick the venue.

And let me just say, we have never been sorry.

This particular dining adventure took us to the lower east side, to Fung Tu, a sort of contemporary super personal subtly creative take on Chinese home cooking with a crazy and extensive bar (how I found myself cradling some mysterious and delicious gin based drink is anybody’s guess!) The place has that hometown-Brooklynish-local-minimal-slightly-turned-upside-down feel, but with Chinese food, which makes the whole experience pretty singular and amazing. Plus it’s nice to sometimes travel to Manhattan for a meal.

We had white asparagus, stuffed figs, steamed buns, fried rice, pork chops and a bunch of other dishes, each one better than the last. I am not a food critic, but let me just say that a good time was had by all and my stomach was especially happy about our choice of venue.

Wild Rose eye treatment by Korres

Wild Rose eye treatment by Korres

Which brings me to this morning, when I woke up and looked at my tired face in the mirror and wondered if I would ever be well rested again in my life.

Unfortunately, the answer to that question is “not any time soon.”

So I reached into the medicine cabinet and pulled out the Korres Wild Rose instant brightening eye treatment I bought last week at Sephora. I’d staggered into the (kind of intimidating) mega beauty emporium and just pointed at my eyes, begging the salesperson to help me do something about the tiredness. I figure if I am destined to be exhausted, so be it. But I don’t have to resign myself to looking that way.

She took me straight to this stuff, I skeptically tried some, and lo, the circles under my eyes lightened and the puffiness was reduced. Not to zero, mind you, but it actually was a little bit better. And the longer one treats the eyes, the more improvement one sees. Plus the heavy lifters are all natural. Essential oil of wild rose is doing the work, not some kind of crazy bleach.

I’m still trying to improve my sleep habits, but this will do in a pinch. Because I’m not planning on giving up my fun dinners out with the people I love any time soon, damn it.

A remedy for what ails you

food
remedy quarterly

Issue #11 of Remedy Quarterly is on select newsstands now.

I admit to having a soft spot for small magazines… especially ones that are related to food in some way or another. I love (and subscribe to) Kinfolk and Lucky Peach, I pick up and devour local editions of Edible wherever I see them piled up. There is really something comforting and profoundly enjoyable about reading about and learning from all of these great food writers, photographers, chefs, restaurant owners, grandmothers… the people who are motivated enough by their love of food to want to share the bounty with others. Plus I still find myself partial to looking at pages rather than screens.

So imagine my surprise and delight when I happened upon Remedy Quarterly, a small book-like magazine that bills itself as a collection of “stories of food [and] recipes for feeling good.” I bought it immediately, of course.

It’s been around for a few years, and the theme of the current issue (#11) is GROW. But you get all kinds of approaches to that concept. Sure we have the how to grow a gigantic pumpkin story, but there is also a piece on how San Fransisco’s Mission Pie grows it’s community, how one women grew an impressive collection of vintage American cookbooks, how a pregnant mama worried that her citrus cravings would result in her growing an orange baby. All compelling, and many with delicious recipes to try out as well.

There is also a lovely website and blog (it is 2014 after all) both of which I see myself returning to with some frequency.

The magazine is available at a few bookstores and foodie spots (like Marlow & Sons and Depanneur in Brooklyn) but a subscription guarantees you don’t miss out. Oh and they have a mother’s day special going on right now, so get on it!

Risotto for the springtime

food - kids
avocado risotto

A dish in regular rotaion around my house, this avocado risotto really does feels like springtime.

I know it might seem odd to put avocado into risotto, but once you try this, I swear you’ll be a convert. This is currently one of two ways that I can get avocado into my daughter without us playing the I-never-liked-avocado-why-are-we-eating-this record that is (in various incarnations) so frequently on the playlist in our house.

And as we eat our meals together as a family, whatever I am cooking for the kid has to pass muster with the grown ups as well, which this does with flying colors.

I thought I’d originally found the recipe in Fred Plotkin’s The Authentic Pasta Book, but when I looked this morning, I realized I was mistaken. And I should have known… Risotto is RICE, not pasta. Shame on me. Regardless, the book is worth a look if you ever come across it. As far as the exact methodology goes, you will unfortunately just have to deal with my very unprofessional instructions.

First off, toss out any ideas about how difficult it is to cook risotto. If you can stir rice in a pot, you can do this. It just requires that you pay a bit of attention to what you’re doing. Click on for the recipe… — Read more

Time to eat

food - places
Brooklyn Larder

There is nothing but deliciousness at the Brooklyn Larder, thank you very much.

What with Easter coming up and holiday treats on the brain, my mind naturally roams towards The Brooklyn Larder, one of my favorite local spots for stocking up on all sorts of supplies to soothe the savage appetite.

Better known as Bklyn Larder, this emporium of deliciousness is located on Flatbush Ave in Ft Greene and has everything you need to fill the shelves of the perfect pantry. There’s also a cafe and cheese shop, plus the kind of small batch artisinal beverages we have all come to expect from these Kings County-style food establishments.

A few things for the chilled section of your kitchen...

A few things for the chilled section of your kitchen…

bklyn larder spices

And how cool would we be if all of our spice racks were filled with bottles like these?

And if you’re not so into cooking yourself? Check out their house made treats or really go for broke and have them cater something for you. They have some great looking Easter baskets that are well worth the trip (they do ship, but I’m thinking it might be a bit too late for on-time delivery at this point…)

Monday, Monday (on Tuesday again…) or more links about food.

food - links
bagels at barney greengrass

Breakfast at the venerable Barney Greengrass, as recently eaten by my family.

Evidently biscuits and scones are practically the same thing. At least according to NY Times food whisperer Julia Moskin. (This piece, by the way, is one of the most beautifully written articles I have read in this particular section of the paper.)

Generally, the term gluten-free makes me want to run for the hills, but I’m thinking I might just try making these double corn, quinoa and cheddar muffins. Cause they look that good.

Here are 10 basic breakfast making survival tips that everyone should know. Even you.

Did you know about the incredible mason jar blender trick?

What about this hilarious onion trick, for the truly sneaky among us?

Maybe you’re about to drive somewhere and you don’t want to listen to top 40 radio… check out NPR’s Leonard Lopate and his guest, author Marion Nestle, talk about the politics of food instead.

I went to Eatly for dinner the other night and was shocked at how stupendous the dining experience was… especially as it kind of feels like you’re eating at the airport.