• A Pine Nut Coffee Cake, If You’re So Inclined

    This is a pine nut coffee cake: It comes from the Babbo cookbook. It’s the cake I tried to make a few weeks ago, only to fail, leading to the hit film Failure. This time the cake came out a-ok (last time I forgot to add the butter) and the finished product looks pretty and…

  • Announcing Gourmet Survivor II: A Benefit for Katrina Victims

    The devastation in New Orleans has left many of us, foodbloggers especially, feeling a bit frivolous in the face of catastrophe. We can debate the merits of green risotto and the value of Amazon knife deals, but in the background 10,000 people have died and thousands more need assistance. Surely there’s something we can do.…

  • Knowledge is Power: Dinners at Wondee Siam II and Osteria del Sole

    Here is a story of two dinners, both unplanned. The first happened Friday night. I was meeting my friend Mark, theater critic (who has a story in the NYT coming out soon!), to go see a production of Oscar Wilde’s “An Ideal Husband.” Mark couldn’t do dinner first so I was on my own. I…

  • Get Ready

    Something big’s about to go down. You’ll need a digital camera and $10. Celebrity food bloggers may be involved. Money will be raised for Katrina victims. And if you’re thinking “Survivor: The Return” you may be on to something…

  • When life throws you risotto, make Arancini!

    When life throws you risotto, make Arancini!

    There’s nothing I like less than day-old risotto. When it’s hot off the stove, all the textures and flavors meld together to create a soothing, heavenly mixture. But after a day in the fridge, it turns a bit gummy and then heating it up inevitably makes it gummier. What to do with day old risotto?!…

  • 175!

    Cholesterol: 175 HDL: 39 LDL: 117 TRI: 95 To quote the lab technician: “Very good.” To quote my grandma: “That HDL’s not good, you need to exercise.” Woohoo?

  • Sometimes Good Food Looks Like Vomit

    Sometimes Good Food Looks Like Vomit

    I have been viciously attacked in my asparagus risotto post by some who’ve critiqued my technique (even though it’s not my technique, it’s Rose Gray’s technique) and the “baby diaper-ish” quality of the end product. Inkadinkadoo (who has “doo” in his/her name) writes: “Some of those pix look like stills from ‘The Exorcist’ puke scene.”…

  • Purring in my Neighborhood at The Red Cat

    Purring in my Neighborhood at The Red Cat

    “If I ever go looking for my heart’s desire, I shouldn’t look any further than my own backyard. Because it if it isn’t there, I never lost it to begin with.” – Dorothy Gale, The Wizard of Oz When I read Frank Bruni’s review of The Red Cat (a two star review, interesting to note…

  • The Amateur Gourmet Suggestion Card

    For those of you who don’t live in the Tri-State area, here’s an opportunity to post some comments too. I may be opening up a big fat can of worms here (insert appropriate graphic) but I’d like to open up the floor for comments and/or suggestions regarding the site. More podcasts? Less movies? More nudity?…

  • Hypotethical New York Meet-Up

    This is a hypothetical question raised to the New York/Tri-State area resident readers of the site. If I were to have some kind of get-together for everyone in the near future, how many of you do you think would be able and/or willing to come? Let me know in the comments by stating your: NAME:…