• Quiet, Disciplined Study and the Night of 1000 Sorbets

    If there is one question I get asked more than any other it would have to be: “Why are you naked in our nursing home?”But if there is another question I get asked more than any other, it is surely: “How do you manage your website and attend law school all at the same time?”Tonight…

  • Is It Dead, Pa?

    This morning I decided to remove my starter from the fridge, where it has lain in a state of cyrogenic preservation like Dr. Evil.Here’s what I saw:Is it dead pa?Well, hmmm, it looks a little like death:But we stirred it up, poured out the two cups for the feeding and saw–to our vast delight–bubbles!That’s a…

  • The Upper Left Corner

    You may have noticed that “Fun Fictional Food Facts” is no longer that; it is now “The Upper Left Corner.”What is “The Upper Left Corner”?I had been wondering the same thing. What could I do with this thing?Inspiration struck last night.”Aha!” said inspiration. “You can post an exciting food-related question everyday and make a link…

  • The Fountain of Youth: Ice Cream at Bruster’s

    Conversation turned, last night, to the subject of ice cream.Michael K. is an ice cream afficianado. He has a mega-ton ice cream/gelato maker and his knowledge runs deeper than mine, thus far, on the matter. He was happy to hear about my serene out-of-body experience with the vanilla bean.”What’s your favorite ice cream in Atlanta?”…

  • Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Friday Night at Fritti

    Context matters.That’s the major thrust of Malcolm Gladwell’s “The Tipping Point” (which I’ve reviewed on here) and I think it applies to going out to eat.Let me explain:I have these friends–let’s call them “Mosh” and “Paty”–who really love the pizza at Fritti. When I wrote a pizza post a couple of weeks back, Paty e-mailed…

  • How To Bribe Your Way Into New York Restaurants

    This is a really great piece about bribing your way into New York’s finest restaurants. On the roster are: Balthazaar, Le Bernadin, Daniel, Union Square Cafe, and Alain Ducasse. The piece is slightly old (it’s from Gourmet’s October 2000 issue) but offers an uncanny lesson in how money talks.

  • Paradise Gained: Homemade Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

    “Oh hear’st thou rather pure ethereal stream,Whose fountain who shall tell? before the sun,Before the heavens thou wert, and at the voiceof God, as with a mantle didst investThe rising world of waters dark and deep,Won from the void and formless infinite.”- John Milton, “Paradise Lost” Tonight I tasted heaven. Honestly; I can’t even describe…

  • Marginal Meringues

    While I was making my ice cream today (post to follow), I was left with three unused egg whites in a bowl. Not wanting to be wasteful, I channelled the late great Chief Joseph who reminded me that Native Americans eat every part of the buffalo. I, in turn, would eat every part of the…

  • The Thursday Night Dinner Song: “Suddenly Salad”

    Tonight I dined with the lovely Katharine Field; a graduate of Northwestern’s highly illustrious voice and theater program. We met doing Out of Hand Theater’s V.D. Show (she played a ditzy girl in my mini-musical “Cupid’s Turn” and then the next year explored her range with another ditzy girl in my mini-musical “The Boy Who…

  • It’s A Bruni!

    The new New York Times food critic has been announced: Frank Bruni. “We are thrilled to announce the new restaurant critic for The Times. He is Frank Bruni, our bureau chief in Rome.Frank brings to the coverage of restaurant dining a true and longstanding passion; any close reader of his clips will see how often…