A Full Belly

A Coffee Story

A lovely story all about (and with) coffee.

Goan-Style Shrimp

I made Suvir Saran's Goan-Style Shrimp for the second-time tonight. Although I've never considered myself a huge fan of coconut-based curries, this one is mighty tasty and the whole thing comes together quickly. Don't skip the fresh curry leaves!

Recommended Reading: Eat me daily

Feed your feed reader: Eat me daily, a new group food blog.

Fried Soup Dumplings

Shenjian bao - Fried soup dumplings
Originally uploaded by AppetiteforChina.

The holy grail of dumplings: FRIED soup dumplings! These look amazing. Hoping Appetite for China will blog all the details...

Praise the Lard

Thanks to Neighborhoodies (and Serious Eats), my dream of a "Praise the Lard" t-shirt has finally come true.

How to Celebrate a Birthday

To celebrate Anil's birthday, we learned how to butcher a pig.

Nas' Fried Chicken

Heard this for the first time today. How is that possible?

Not So Ordinary Food Blogs

Check out my Top Ten list of Not So Ordinary Food Blogs on Blogs.com.

The BBQ Song

Quenepa Explained

A quenepa from the Vaquero Fruits truck at the Red Hook Ball Fields, Brooklyn
Originally uploaded by Eating In Translation.

The first time I saw quenepa was last summer—a woman and her son were eating them on the subway. I didn't spot them again until this summer where I've seen them on fruit stands around the city. Last weekend I stopped to get a banana on the corner and noticed they had some quenepa and I pointed and asked what they were. The fruit vendor grabbed two, gave me one and with the other demonstrated how to eat it. Dave explains more about the quenepa and how to eat it.

The End of a Good Thing: So Long David's Bagels

Sad news for the neighborhood: our beloved David's Bagels is closing at the end of August, no thanks to the Hot and Crusty that opened down the block. [via Eater]

Elaine's Pancakes: Best Pancakes in Manhattan?

Saturday morning, I rolled out of bed and out the door much earlier than is recommended so I could run to Central Park, and then run the 4-mile Run for Central Park. My motivation? Fairway Cafe's "Big Boy Special"—eggs, bacon, and a stack of Elaine's pancakes. Elaine's  silver dollar-sized pancakes are my favorite pancakes in the city—not too thick, tender, buttery, and served with real maple syrup, they make me so so so happy. I'd be remiss if I didn't give the eggs a shout-out eggs, too. Perfectly cooked to order (I like my eggs scrambled soft or loose, or sunny side up), and treated with the respect and care a good egg deserves. If you know of better pancakes or eggs in the city, do tell!

Burger Haikus

Let it be known that I am in favor of food-themed haikus. A Hamburger Today's burger haiku contest yielded some really beauties. My favorite, because it makes me laugh:

this is Mc Nuggets
i said i want a Big Mac
fix your intercom

Serious Eats New York

Today, we launched Serious Eats New York. I'm super excited about this new corner of Serious Eats because it's all about one of my favorite things -- everything delicious in New York City. I like it even more that part of my job is finding (and eating!) delicious things! Props to everyone on the SE team, with a special shout-out to Raphael. Let's eat!
 

Ikea Hack + Food Hack = My Favorite Kind of Hack

Instead of hacking a product at Ikea, we've suggested a hack to the Ikea system itself over on Ed Levine's New York Eats. Using the free ferry service from Manhattan to Brooklyn as a free ride to eat some amazing Latin-American street-vendor food a block away from the new Ikea location in Red Hook, Brooklyn.

Cook free or die!

For Bourdain fans, the cook free or die! t-shirt.

asparagus + egg

I've had asparagus on the brain thanks to all of the delicious asparagus recipes I've read recently. Last night, I decided to improvise a bit, taking inspiration from Gina, Nick, and Charmaine to create my plate of roasted asparagus and egg.

I started a pot of brown rice in preparation for my egg "poaching." Once the rice was done and the rice cooker was in "keep warm" mode, I took 2 eggs each wrapped in a 1/2 paper towel, and placed them on top of the rice to cook. Charmaine recommends leaving the eggs in there for an hour, but on the advice of a friend who has experimented with this technique, I was aiming for 15-20 minutes. My plan was to take one egg out at 15 minutes and if it wasn't done, I still had a spare egg to cook.

Meanwhile, I started my asparagus per Gina's instructions -- I  boiled the asparagus in salted water for about 3 to 4 minutes and then drained. Next, I lined them up on a pan and drizzled with olive oil, rolling them a bit to make sure they were well covered before salting generously and sprinkling with grated Parmigiano Reggiano. (Gina also recommends topping with unsalted butter cut into tiny cubes, but I opted to skip it.) Into a preheated 400°F oven went my spears. I roasted my asparagus for about 20 minutes,  until it looked pretty close to "hammered" to me.

Now it was time to check on my egg. In case it wasn't done, I checked my egg by cracking it open into a bowl instead of directly onto my asparagus. As you can see from the photo above, it was very lightly poached and warm to the touch.  Ideally, I would have liked my egg a little more well done, but this was a fresh from the Greenmarket egg, so I  felt comfortable enough eating it in this state so onto the asparagus it went! (I left the the second egg in the rice cooker for about ~40 minutes, and by that time the yolk as no longer runny, but it was still delicious.) Added some fresh ground black pepper, and it was ready for my belly. The end product? DELICIOUS.

Gina DePalma's Hammered Spears

Nick's Asparagus with Fried Egg and Parmesan

Charmaine's Onsen Tamago

Recommended Reading: NCFOOD

NCFood is the North Carolina Folklife Institute's food blog, written by North Carolina historian and Carteret County native David Cecelski. Reading it makes me want to hurry back to my home state and get to know the places, people, and food David describes with such care. Nothing could be finer than to be in Carolina...

Seriously, Y'all

In an alternate universe, I drive a pick-up truck with a pig face insert for when the smoker isn't hitched. 

Bacon Flowchart

Bacon Flowchart
Originally uploaded by ChrisL_AK.