That Crazy Kitchen Gadget

Announcing the first one-off food blogging event on Not Eating Out in New York: That Crazy Kitchen Gadget. Rules are simple: 1. Identify your crazy, obscure, mysterious, ineffective, obsolete or completely awesome kitchen gadget and remember to photograph it or at least describe it well in your post. 2. Cook a dish using the same crazy kitchen gadget. Provide recipe and photographs in your post. Remember to mention the name of this contest and blog in your post, and link to it. 3. Post your crazy kitchen gadget recipe before August 1, 2007, and email me also before then with your name, blog name, post name, gadget name, mother's maiden name (just kidding), URL to the post, and low-res image of the dish or gadget (320 x 240 is good). I'll post a round-up in early August and we'll have a blast. Why am I doing this contest? Because crazy kitchen gadgets are wonderful artifacts of our culinary and/or domestic culture. And they can also be hilarious.

Chilled Watermelon Coconut & Tapioca Soup

Hear me out: I acknowledge global warming. I am sitting in my apartment with two fans on glued to this chair and have ice cubes in my cheeks like a squirrel hoarding nuts. Did they say global humidifying is upon us as well, or is it just these couple of days we're having in the hellishly hot tri-state area?

June Jubes

Remember how I told you that at the end of June, the berries in Prospect Park were due to be ripe for the picking? Apparently not, since you've left me bushes full of them. Or -- perhaps -- I suppose I could have tried to describe where in the park these bushes were. Ah well. My oversight. Tee-hee. Speaking of crops in the unlikeliest of big cities, I'm fascinated by this BBC News article, which describes a "vertical farming" project that scientists at Columbia University have conceptualized for downtown Manhattan. Just think what wonders it could do for 100-mile dieters! It's a long shot, but if you agree that it may be a good idea, then blog about it, or help spread the word. Then afterward, don't forget to vote for your favorite New York farmer before November.

Roasted Asparagus Salad with Chinese Sausage and Watercress

I'm taking Arthur's advice this month and eating plenty of asparagus while they're in season. In fact, I owe so much to the erudite and challenging wisdom he's extended me that I had even considered blending this vegetable with strawberries (the other food he mentioned is best in June) in a salad, and took this idea for a good mental romp in the park, but ultimately, I chickened out on the big kid slide. For now.

NYC Food Film Festival Part 2 tonight

photo courtesy of Amelia at Marination In continuation of my partially slanted, incomplete task of describing the NYC Food Film Festival a couple of weeks ago on this blog, last weekend I did my homework and got the scoop on the first-ever fest for The Reeler.

Red Pepper Pitzas with French Feta, Basil and Red Onion

It's such an easy feat sometimes to find a combination that's just miraculous -- it hit your tastebuds perfectly, it quelled your bad mood dutifully, and it spaced you out for an hour after eating it as you thought about it again and again. By this point, we've all had it drilled in our heads that the best food is often made with the most simply prepared, fresh ingredients. Which in part makes your life simple, too, and when it comes to leftovers, you'll have a lot more uses for that leftover half of an onion than a dried-out casserole of something that took you two and a half hours to make. So maybe I'm drilling the simplicity point even further into our heads by saying all the above -- but the truth is, I normally don't follow it. I pickle the red onion, if you know what I mean. Well, in this case I didn't, and I was humbled beyond words.

My Cooking Gadget Antiques Blogshow

Look at what I found the other day: It isn't a paddle to play any sport.

Wintergreen Chip Ice Cream Cookiewiches

Fresh-mint infused ice cream flavors have grown up quickly from the esoteric awe they might have once induced. Now that Ciao Bella even makes a fresh mint chip ice cream, it's no longer the domain of chefs and home cooks, either. Fresh mint leaves are a world of difference from the minty mint chip flavor we grew up with (read: peppermint oil); it's kind of one of those delightful twists on a flavor that you didn't even know needed improving. But since there are so many varieties of fresh mint, I'm curious to see what happens when we begin to discern them in things like ice cream, too.

Bánh Me Sandwiches

If pork belly is the cut craze of the moment, then I nominate Vietnamese banh mi sandwiches as its most appetizing summer application. I've been hearing about pork belly all over the food world lately: 23% of the chefs polled in this month's Food & Wine magazine thought of it as the ingredient more home cooks should try. And in the New York Times, Frank Bruni drools all over it, along with other fatty cuts of "fat, glorious fat." It is fun to revel in fat once in a while, no doubt, but especially now that it's bathing suit season, let's not forget that balance and moderation are everything. With its refreshing ratio of fresh veggies to meat and satisfyingly crisp bite, the banh mi sandwich seemed the way to go. Come to think of it, I'd nominate them as just about the best summer application for any type of pork, meat or tofu -- and that's just what I made this weekend to serve a living room full of lady friends.

Give Napa Valley and Not Eating Out a Chance

the closest I've gotten to Napa The excitement I had yesterday afternoon. I had just taken some napa cabbage slaw leftovers from Sunday's picnic out of tupperware from the fridge to snack on, gone back for some tangy sriracha sauce just to kick it up because leftovers, as good as its predecessor may have been, are never quite as exciting as they were when you were first exploring its flavors, and returned to my desk -- when lo and behold! An email materializes onto my screen. If I could have seen it like regular piece of snail mail, the postmark would have proved it was from Portland, Oregon, and it would probably have a business logo or stamp on company stationery indicating that it was from a one Mark Douglas from Culinate (who?) -- Mark Douglas, from Culinate -- and it was announcing that I had been nominated for the GrillMe Contest in which one food blogger (and one reader) wins a trip to Napa Valley to attend a grilling class taught by two masters of the grill, Andrew Schloss and David Joachim! I couldn't think of anything more thrilling in the world. Then again, my palate was dancing from a strong mouthful of sriracha.

Here’s Lookin’ at You Cook: Arthur Schwartz

the cheese blintzes recipe test-drive: practicing and making perfect so that you (hopefully) won't have to I'm ecstatic to pick the brain of veteran food critic, cookbook author and food history maven, Arthur Schwartz in this installment of Here's Lookin' at You Cook. The Brooklyn-born, bred and based author is not short on answers to all inquiries food-related, having authored books like, "What To Cook When You Think There's Nothing in the House To Eat" and, most recently, "New York City Food: An Opinionated History and More Than 100 Legendary Recipes," -- an epic study of the city's rich culinary past and present and a must-read for anyone who thinks they have an opinion about New York food (ahem, bloggers).

Not Steve’s Authentic Key Lime Pie

me (not Steve) grating zest into a not-so-authentic crust Don't get me wrong: I've nothing against the venerable institution that is Steve's Authentic Key Lime Pies. There is no contest -- key lime pie greatness has been said for, and I couldn't tell you of a better way to spend an afternoon than to go down to the waterfront in Red Hook and sit on the picnic table outside the old warehouse where the key lime pie magic happens and pet one or two of the dogs hanging around in the shade as you kill your afternoon appetite with a 4-inch pie, or better yet, one dipped in dark chocolate on a stick, called a Swingle. But for the home chef, there is nothing like the pride of making a pie that tastes almost as good as Steve Tarpin's. And I'll speak to that.

Chili Champs

the tasting frenzy at Mo Pitkin's left no chili standing For those of you who weren't sweating over styrofoam cups of chili at the Manhattan Chili Takedown 2007 yesterday, I was there; and I survive to tell you of the glory that went down.

Thai Basil Shrimp ‘n Okra

Okay, so you won't get any points from the 100-mile diet club with this recipe, since okra is grown in the South and the shrimp I got in Chinatown was caught or farmed probably in... the South. But you will have enjoyed a classic southern combination while satisfying your craving for spicy Thai basil stir-fry. Which is a gastronomic feat of very trifling importance bordering on nonsense. It's Friday...