Writing about food since 2004.
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An Upper East Side Day: Eli Zabar’s E.A.T., The Guggenheim and Lady M’s
My summer’s almost at a close. I start school again one week from Tuesday (whoah!) and all the goals I had for myself this summer (a) get in shape, (b) write a masterpiece, (c) star in a one-man show exploring the life of Suzanne Somers (damn! she beat me to it!) shall remain goals for…
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What’s Pinocchio’s motivation in that pizza commercial?
Maybe it’s the drama school student in me, but I’m having trouble with the DiGorno pizza commercial that comes on all the time now. For those that haven’t seen it, Gipetto’s in his workshop with Pinocchio and he says something like, “Pinocchio if you tell one more lie you’ll never become a real boy.” Then…
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The Ins and Outs of Indoor Grilling (Featuring: Lamb Skewers with Apricots)
Chris Schlessinger and John Willoughby have a great book on grilling (surely one of the best) called “License to Grill.” (You can see it under my favorite cookbooks on the lower left hand of the site.) In the opening chapter, they write: “Grilling hasn’t changed all that much since the day some really smart cave-guy…
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Usher in a taste of the South with brunch at The Pink Teacup
The title of this post features a play on words. You won’t be able to know yet what that play on words entails, but I’ll give you a clue: Ok, I’ve given it all away but first the doorway: Welcome to The Pink Teacup. Located on Grove St. between Bleeker and Bedford in The West…
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Meme, Myself and I: Childhood Food Memories
Miss Clotilde of C&Z has asked me, your humble Amateur Gourmet, to participate in a meme called “Childhood Food Memories.” My task is simple enough: share five food memories from childhood. Let’s see what I can dig up, as I lay back on the proverbial couch… (1) My steak mistake. As a youngster, my brother…
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Once again, I urge you to make rice pudding with leftover rice from the Chinese food you ordered
[Here’s the recipe; although, I just improvised here–dumping rice into a small saucepan, adding some milk, some cream, a handful of sugar and then freshly grated nutmeg. After all the dairy was absorbed, I grated some more nutmeg and added blanched slivered almonds. It’d be cute, I bet, to serve this back in the original…
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Whistle a happy tune at Prune
So I did Prune for brunch when I got back from Europe and Lisa and I loved it. Remember? I was soon set on the idea of eating there for dinner. My friends Molly and Colin, from my program, told me how much they loved it last time I saw them. And then yesterday in…
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My 1000th Post: How To Start a Food Blog
This is my 1000th post. Can you believe it? 1000 posts. That’s craziness. That means I’ve sat down exactly 1000 times with a new window here and a new idea, a new experience to convey to you all. That’s a lot of times. I hope you appreciate it! Since I’m a veteran now of 1000…
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Savor The Summer with these summery dishes except for the chicken one
Summer cooking can be lots of fun if you make good choices. I made a GREAT choice last night when I chose to make Watermelon Salad with Mint Leaves from Paula Deen’s show courtesy of the Food Network site. Ya know, I’m growing to love Paula Deen: she’s so warm and fun and even though…
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If I had a hammer, I’d hammer Cafe Gray from 2 stars to 3
Some people have it in for Frank Bruni. Like Jules at The Bruni Digest. She has it in for Frank Bruni. Her masthead says: “This blog is predicated on the suggestion that every Wednesday, in the Times Dining Out section, Frank lays a huge faberge egg of hilarity.” Her blog is really funny and I…
