The Legislative Process At Work

I sent an email to my city councilperson this morning opposing the proposed introduction of legislation banning the sale of foie gras in New York City restaurants and food markets. Just a few hours later, the Sun reported that councilman Gerson is reconsidering the legislation, and will not be introducing it at this time.

My voice was heard! I've been frustrated with the political process more often than not over the past six years - today turned things around just a teeny tiny bit.

Watch out NY, I'm quickly headed toward being the crazy lady who calls the mayor every day to complain about the potholes and saves her tinfoil to make hats for her 87 cats.

You may notice that the blog got a facelift - hope you like it.

Happy Belated Thanksgiving (With Sushi!)

I hope everyone out there had a happy Thanksgiving. I didn’t cook, I just worked and ate. We had short ribs and turkey, ginger garlic haricot verts, couscous, sausage stuffing (my favorite), and more – all prepared by the Raisinhater parents. We ate and ate and ate and started watching the Top Chef marathon and some of us almost passed out on the floor from overstuffed exhaustion.

Check out what the Raisinhater brothers brought to the table…



They made their own sushi! I. I’ve tried to make sushi before and failed miserably. I ended up with sticky clumps and torn seaweed. Theirs was totally fantastic. Are you not impressed? Perhaps even jealous? Do you not wish you could make your own sushi to serve at traditional holiday gatherings? I bet you do. Thus, I will try to convince the talented R Raisinhater to join me in an instructional sushi post some time in the near future, to share his sushi wisdom with the rest of the world.

My Week in Food

This week, meh. I have very little to say about this week. At least very little hat doesn't sound like a whole bunch of complaining. Instead, here's a little tidbit of fascinating food wisdom I learned each day.

Tuesday Night – The carbonara I make at home will never taste as good as the one we make at work. None of my pastas ever will, mostly because I can’t bring myself to use half a stick of butter. If you use half a stick of butter at home, your pasta will taste exceptional and people will think you are a great cook.

Wednesday Lunch – Sometimes a lunch place that looks crappy and dingy on the outside isn’t an undiscovered treasure. It’s just a crappy dingy lunch place with tough and stringy meat on the sandwiches.

Thursday Night – Chicken sausage is just not that good. Even if all sorts of tasty and flavorful ingredients are added. Buy pork, the extra calories are worth it. Unless, of course, your whole foods is like mine and is going through another sausage crisis. Fortunately I have plenty stockpiled in my parents' freezer from the last scare.

Friday Night – That pesto sauce I made and froze back in August was pretty damn good, and linguini with pesto is possibly the easiest dinner on earth. Next year I’m making and freezing 80 quarts of pesto.

Saturday Night – the Pastis Steak Sandwich is still the best sandwich in this city, and one of the only foods that can mend the wounds of a terrible day at work. New discovery – if you order ice cream they include absolutely delicious little butter wafer things.

Last Night – I would eat my own arm if it were covered in the sauce that Jubilee Restaurant puts on its Moules Provencales.

This Morning – Kashi 7 Whole Grain Nuggets are pretty much the same as Grape Nuts, with a less clever name.

From The Library

I just finished one of the funniest food books I’ve read in a long time. I checked it out of the library and it was so good I actually considered buying a copy for my permanent collection. Gastronaut is a collection of irreverent essays and recipes for “adventurous” foods.

A few of the recipes aren’t totally foreign to me; at work we have a pretty “whole hog” approach to cooking. Nevertheless, some is pretty wild – cannibalism, foods that promote flatulence, aphrodisiacs – it all appeals to my fourth grader sense of humor.

I also checked out Eat This Book and, although it should be just as funny and irresistible (a tale of a year on the competitive eating circuit!), it just misses somehow. The book skips around, the characters aren’t as engaging as they could be, I’m just not sure what happened. I wanted to like this book so much, but it took me two weeks to get through it. I read Gastronaut in one afternoon.

If you’re looking to make Buckinghamshire Bacon Badger, Monkey Gland Steak, Fish Sperm on Toast, or even throw your own Bacchanalian Orgy, or if you just want to spend the next rainy day (perhaps this afternoon) curled up on the couch giggling, Gastronaut is definitely worth the $14.

A Few Words on Curry Sauce

This is the worst kind of mockable blog post. What I had for lunch. But it was good. And you should try it. And so I'm going to tell you about it anyway.

Yesterday I lunched at Elephant & Castle, and enjoyed an Elephantburger.



That scary yellow substance is curry sour cream. The first time I remember loving a curried condiment was in Nag’s Head, North Carolina. I ordered coco loco chicken fingers (breaded with coconut shavings and spicy stuff then deep fried) and they came with a cup of curry lime sour cream so good I licked the last of it out of the bottom of the serving cup. In New York, I’ve only run into curry dip in British Pubs. Baker Street serves it with their fries and enormous cheeseburgers, and will give you extra if you ask.

It was scrumptious on the Elephantburger and I suspect it can be made quite easily at home by mixing curry powder and sour cream. Probably a perfect accompaniment to hot dogs and tater tots.