Unfancy like Me

Those of you who missed the second annual Unfancy Food Show yesterday, I bemoan your losses. Begun as a locally-focused antithesis to the Fancy Food Show, this slovenly stepsister event took place in the backyard patio of Williamsburg's East River Bar over six hours of scattered thunderstorm. And a good time was had by all.

Chicken Salad Days

Ah, summer. These are the only reasons I stick it out in New York the rest of the year. It all began with my first summer here, as a wide-eyed, twenty-year-old college sophomore. It was every bit the definition of “salad days” – living in Alphabet City with my best friend in an apartment we rented ridiculously cheap because it was owned by her family friends, romping around the Village and Lower East Side, sometimes successfully sneaking into bars, sometimes not, but always having an adventure. There was nothing very “salad”-y about our diet then, if you counted out deviled eggs (one affordable luxury and my ex-roommate’s penchant). And lord knows I didn’t make it to the grocery store much. But I think the term fits -- New York is full of contractions, right?

Fish tacos, anyone?

  Unanimous "yes"es flooded my inbox from the crew. I am so glad I'm no longer dating a seafood-hater. Fish may thrive underwater, but I think they do smashingly well on a hand-ground corn tortilla against cool, creamy slaw and snappy herbs, and drenched with tangy lime juice. I overheard mention of "getting fish tacos" while on the boat leaving Governor's Island two weekends ago, when the above ninety-degree heatwave was in full swing and the legendary Baja-inspired surfer food was the only thing that could wake anyone's otherwise dormant appetite. It was like hearing the word of God. It almost hurt to not be able to drop everything and make fish tacos immediately over the course of the next week and a half. There was too much to do, and too many barbecues in between; but when time came to have a fish taco party, did we ever rise to the challenge.

Matt Greco’s Pork Sage Sausage

I'm thinking it might be time to upgrade the 'ol NEOINY hideaway with a Kitchenaid stand mixer, equipped with all the meat grinding attachment works. (I'm browsing them on Ebay right now.) The motivating factor is right above: luscious, freshly made, and deceptively simple sausages. Who knew that with the right tools, making sausage at home actually requires little time, prep work and just a few odd ingredients (i.e. hog casing and nitrate)? Matt Greco. A chef at Cafe Gray, Matt led a class at the Brooklyn Kitchen last week on charcuterie basics. By the end, we'd had ourselves a bonafide sausage party -- in that we all devoured plenty of homemade sausages and beer, but also, I was the only chick in attendance. It was the real deal. Woot!

Six Ways to Combat Soaring Food Prices

You’ve been seeing it all over the news, but there was probably one moment in the last month when you felt the reality of it the most: Food prices are at their worst inflation in 17 years. For me, this occurred when I was comparing flour in a grocery store aisle. Peeking at the pricetag on a five-pound bag of King Arthur brand all-purpose flour and seeing that it cost almost $6, I nearly jumped back in fright. That’s more than $1 a pound for… flour.

Just-Like-the-Parlor Mint Chip Ice Cream

This is what I've been having for dinner lately. I don't have an air conditioner and don't see the point much when I can dip into a carton of homemade ice cream every once in a while. It does much more than cool the physical senses. It soothes and elates, bringing me back to the emotional state of being on a class trip in kindergarten, when every kid lined up at the local ice cream parlor and ordered the same thing: mint chocolate chip in a sugar cone. (Ever have a similar experience?) Some of them were following the fad, for sure, jumping on the bandwagon at that impressionable age. Though few, if any, would regret doing so.

Plating Well in a Small Kitchen

I've done some horrible plating in my time. That is, most of the time. Like many of you, I don't have the space nor the patience to bother with appliances that are used only to improve the appearance of my food, like a piping bag, or one of those ring molds that you watch the Iron Chefs layer parfaits of crisp greens, juicy meat medallions and sauce with. But if you read between the lines, I really wish I did. Then I received an email from fellow cooking-in aficionado Jessica Freeman-Slade, asking for advice on plating for dummies (or urban-dwelling budgeters, as it were). After I drew a blank, she graciously took it upon herself to fill that void. Today, she's guest-blogging (a first for NEOINY!) on how to do-up your table, just in time for that romantic summer meal on the patio (that is, roof). Lessons of Plating: An elegant self-made dinner in New York Major thanks to Cathy for letting me share the results of this challenge in plating (or lack thereof) with all you super-savvy readers. I’ve been following this site since I upgraded from an UWS galley kitchen to a place with countertops in Brooklyn, and I’ve always been pretty passionate about cooking, so naturally the first place I thought of was Not Eating Out in New York…

Savory Asparagus Pie

First of all: Holy heatwave! Bake at your own risk! I was kind of wondering when New York City weather would pull its annual trick of mutating overnight into a festering hotbox of city smog, in turn whipping us into hapless victims of stench. I'm still racking my brain for that clean water-saving alternative to showering twice or thrice daily.

Vietnamese-Style Summer Rolls with Shrimp or Tofu

Ughhh... I am not recommending you go into making this for the first time late on a Wednesday night. Ughhh... Of all the finicky nonsense that plagues much of gourmet, frou-frou, highbrow cooking, why this common street food snack so ridiculously delicate a process? I'll chalk it up to two major things: my inexperience with the ingredients -- the rice (or "vermicelli") noodles and the rice wrappers -- and with how to handle them. How wet can the wrappers get before they just flop and tear when you attempt to roll them up? How dry can they really get before they stick together intolerably like a hot fruit roll-up? Ughhh... (!)

Pesto Avocado Portoburger

Warning: If you make this at your next barbecue, your vegetarian friends may want to stand up on the picnic table and leap into your arms, proclaiming forever best friendship. I don't know this from actual experience, but I can only imagine, after many summers of seeing glum-looking vegetarians skulking from the greasy-smelling fume clouds, nervously glancing at raw ground meat and drippy hot dog packages in the way that one cannot resist looking at a bug after squashing it with a magazine.