Wonder what foods those amazing, incredible, ever-so-unreachable celebs crave during their pregnancies?
The same things everyone else does, duh.
Apparently, Angelina Jolie, who is rumoured to be pregnant with twins, has been eating, well, like a pregnant woman. At a recent dinner outing with Baby-Daddy Brad Pitt, she ate: penne arrabiata, two starters, several rolls, profiteroles for dessert, and took an apple pie to go. Earlier during her pregnancy, she Angelina craved mustard-smothered onion rings and cinnamon chilli chocolates, and has since been eating cupcakes made by her kids.
I bet I could eat all of that - onions rings included - and I'm not even pregnant!
Ladies and gentlemen ... I've traveled over half of New York City's East Village slurping ramen noodles and broth. From Minca Ramen Factory to the city's first truly Japanese ramen-ya,Ramen Setagaya, to David Chang's self-professed "... crappy Pan-Asian ramen made for round-eyes," I have been on the front lines of New York City's so-called ramen wars. So ... ladies and gentlemen ... if I say I am a ramen man you will believe me.
As a ramen man I had been steadfastly waiting for the opening of the East Village outpost of Japan's Hakata Ippudo ever since reading about it on Rameniac. I longed to taste the much heralded soup of the Ramen King Shigemi Kawahara. Ladies and gentleman ... let me assure you it was worth the long wait for Ippudo NY to open. Upon my first visit I was so overcome by the springy noodles and the richness of the long-cooked pork-bone broth in the Shiromaru ramen that I was unable to take a photograph, lest I be separated from my first encounter with ramen ecstasy.
The official start of Summer is rapidly approaching. That means it's nearly time for trips to the beach, backyard cookouts and lots of homemade ice cream (preferably eaten outside with friends and family). Whether you've got a hand crank ice cream maker, one that attaches to your stand mixer or a fancy one with its own compressor, you can always use some fresh ice cream inspiration.
That's where Sally Sampson's new book Recipe of the Week: Ice Cream comes in. As the title suggests, Sampson has written a fresh recipe for every week of the year, making it possible for you to always be experimenting with new recipes, while still going back to your favorites. She has included recipes for ice cream, granitas and gelatos in the book, so no matter what your preference, there's something here for you.
One of the nice things here is that Sampson has worked to lower the amount of sugar in her recipes over more traditional ice cream recipes, so if you are one without a strong sweet tooth, you may find this book particularly appealing. The only problem I've found with this volume is that Sampson doesn't give any advice as to how to go about choosing an ice cream maker if you don't already have one. She assumed a certain level of prior knowledge, which is good for someone with ice cream experience, but isn't particularly helpful for the novice.
However, if you are excited for fresh ice cream inspiration and you have a bit of ice cream making experience, I would recommend this book without hesitation.
What did you do to mark Victory Day this year? Well, some members of the US Navy and the Russian naval force got together for a friendly sandwhich competition. According to the BBC, sailors from the USS Stetham, which is visiting the Russian port of Vladivostok, battled their Russian colleagues in a tasty challenge.
Turns out a Russian won for best tasting sandwhich, while an American won for most creative presentation. More importantly, everyone got a welcome party with traditional Russian food and vodka. The American winner got a bottle of vodka and handed out USS Stetham hats and sweatshirts.
As a devotee of the "more is more" school of sandwich making, this picture of the "Parmageddon" sandwich makes me drool. Two potato and cheese pierogies (Slavic stuffed dumplings), a greasy tangle of grilled onions, sauerkraut, and a slab of cheddar cheese, squeezed between two thick slices of grilled bread.
The photo comes courtesy of writer-photographer David Lay, who captured this beast at Lakewood, Ohio's Melt Bar and Grilled. Melt specializes in a psychedelic variety of grilled cheese sandwiches - smoked turkey, kraut and gouda; beer battered walleye, tartar sauce, American. The Parmageddon was featured as a reader's favorite in Esquire's "Best Sandwiches in America." Now, if I can just get my Polish grandmother to teach me to make her potato pierogies, I'd be all set.
First, let me apologize to every foodie who reads this blog. I deeply regret making this admission: I do sometimes consume microwavable food.
The new obsession is making me do it.
Black bean and jack cheese burritos from Trader Joe's.
I buy three. Over the course of a week, I eat three. I hide them from my kids. They're perfect for lunch. I work from home, blogging, blogging, blogging, and often waiting until my blood sugar is so low I can barely make it down the stairs into the kitchen. With great effort, I reach into the fridge, pull out a burrito, rip open the wrapper and slap it in the microwave. Two minutes later, I'm shoveling cheesy, beany-goodness into my pate.
I normally turn my nose up at such processed food, but (and I speak here as a native Los Angeleno and lifelong burrito lover), these taste pretty darn good. The cheese melts, the beans taste fresh, the tortilla is firm yet moist....it's the next best thing to running out and buying a fresh burrito. And God knows I'm not taking the time to do that.
Give it a try. Keep a couple of these babies in your fridge for when you need a quick bite. You'll be grateful. And let me know what you think.
In celebration of Cinco de Mayo, I thought it would be fitting to make a piñata cake. Mostly I just wanted to see if I could. I hadn't yet made a cake that required major structural support and thought this would be a nice way to ease into it.
My little burro had to have something to hold up his midsection or he would collapse under his own weight. I started by cutting a dowel into even sections for his legs. I then cut a basic body shape out of two pieces of cardboard. One to attach the feet to and one to place the body on which would be put together later. I thought it would be easier to work with this way without worrying that the legs would crumple while I was carving the body and head.
I notched out some small holes for the legs and then glued them in for stability. I cut the body out of a 8" round cake using the base piece as a guide. Next, I cut a cake baked in a loaf pan in half and began carving the shape of the head and nose. For the ears, I decided it would be easier to carve it out of one piece with a sloping base that served as the forehead instead of trying to attach (and stabilize) two separate ears. This worked out really well and once there was a thin layer of icing between the sections, it was surprisingly steady without any extra support.
This pizza is so new that DiGiorno doesn't even have any info about it at their web site, except a picture of the box.
This is the latest pizza in DiGirono's "Ultimate" line. They just keep releasing pizzas that are the ultimate this and the ultimate that. They should just go ahead and name a product This Is The Only Pizza You Ever Have To Buy, All The Others Suck. But I guess that would mean they couldn't release any new pizza products.
This is pretty good actually. It's incredibly thick and has a crunchy focaccia crust, and it's probably the heaviest pizza box I've ever carried out of the store. At first I thought it came with its own pizza stone or something. Right now it's in two flavors: cheese with sun-dried tomatoes and pepperoni with spicy red pepper flakes. I tried the former, and while the taste of toasted sun-dried tomatoes got to me after a while (definitely a topping you can't overcook), it was tasty and filling. Tonight I'm going to buy the pepperoni version (and kudos for someone finally releasing a pizza that has those red pepper flakes on top!)
A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned that E from Foodaphilia had teamed up with Nick the Peanut Butter Boy and Kristina from The Chocolate Peanut Butter Gallery to create the first ever Peanut Butter Exhibition. They asked their readers to put on their thinking caps and send in recipes and pictures of the best of their peanut butter baked goods. They had 16 entries and while all the recipes sound delicious, they managed to determine winners for the first, second and third places. However, there are no losers, as how can you lose when you have a pile of peanut butter confections at the end of the day?
We might start feeling the squeeze on savings accounts, but we all know that there's an entirely separate account for ice cream!
Even still, Baskin Robbins is reducing the price on its single scoop tonight from 5-10 PM from whatever $1+ price it is (it's probably different everywhere) to a mere $0.31!
The 31 Cent Scoop Night is to honor America's firefighters, so grab your change purse, hurry over to your nearest Baskin-Robbins, and order a scoop of Jamocha Almond Fudge (that's what I like, but you order what you want).
If there's heat wave where you are like there's a heat wave where I am, (it was over 90 degrees in some parts of southern California), then you'll appreciate the perfect timing of Ben & Jerry's annual Free Cone Day, which takes place tomorrow, Tuesday April 29, 2008. If you're not sure where there is a Ben & Jerry's shop near you, head over to their website and look one up!
If I have it me, I'll definitely making my way over for a free cone, though I do recall that last year, lines at some stores were circling blocks.
When I was a kid, I was hopelessly addicted to Munchos, the chips that Julie wrote about earlier. I still like them, but my current love affair has turned to Natural Lays Thick Cut Potato Chips with Sea Salt.
These fantastic chips are shelved (in my supermarket, anyway) in the aisle with the other "fancy" or gourmet chips: Kettle, Terra Red Bliss, and others. I'm not really sure why. There's nothing particularly different about them (unless you count orgasmic taste as different) and they're not exactly healthy (sorry, the "Natural" in the title is probably very true, but that doesn't mean these are low fat or low calorie). They should probably be in the regular chip aisle. Then again, if they were, more people would buy them and my store would probably run out and I'd be upset that night.
I don't have much of a relationship with potato chips these days. I consider them a guilty treat, to be eaten at parties but never at home. It's like having soda in the house -- if I buy it, they will eat it. And if they eat it, chips, I mean, they'll be hooked, and I'll never hear the end of it. The best I can offer my kids is the occasional package of tortilla chips, something to dredge up the salsa with.
Ah, but I have a past. And my past is filled with processed foods of the sort that I'd never let my kids near, lest they come to understand the dark pleasures of Hostess products.
My parents had no such compunction with me. I grew up on Wonder Bread and TV dinners and Uncle Ben's Converted Rice. I ate a Hostess Fruit Pie almost every day. But among my most treasured taste memories: Munchos brand potato chips.
Wonder what foods those amazing, incredible, ever-so-unreachable celebs crave during their pregnancies?
First, let me apologize to every foodie who reads this blog. I deeply regret making this admission: I do sometimes consume microwavable food.
In celebration of Cinco de Mayo, I thought it would be fitting to make a piñata cake. Mostly I just wanted to see if I could. I hadn't yet made a cake that required major structural support and thought this would be a nice way to ease into it. 
This pizza is so new that DiGiorno doesn't even have any info about it at 
We might start feeling the squeeze on savings accounts, but we all know that there's an entirely separate account for ice cream! 
If there's heat wave where you are like there's a heat wave where I am, (it was over 90 degrees in some parts of southern California), then you'll appreciate the perfect timing of 
This is a love story.
I don't have much of a relationship with potato chips these days. I consider them a guilty treat, to be eaten at parties but never at home. It's like having soda in the house -- if I buy it, they will eat it. And if they eat it, chips, I mean, they'll be hooked, and I'll never hear the end of it. The best I can offer my kids is the occasional package of tortilla chips, something to dredge up the salsa with.
A fraking amazing Battlestar Galactica cake
Iced Tea 101
Pierogies + cheese + onions + kraut = Parmageddon!
