If I told you that this pie tastes exactly like the first cube of grape-flavored bubblegum you unfolded from waxy paper and stuffed in your grade school-sized mouth, barely able to contain its spill of citric acid and high fructose corn syrup “juices,” would that go against every fresh, seasonal, farm-to-table objective that this blog [...]

I don’t have a recipe to share from this year’s winner of the Brooklyn Underground Chili Extravaganza (BRUCE). But I have two words that could change your future chili-making extravaganzas for life: coconut milk and duck. These unlikely ingredients were paired by local (and contestant of past local chili cook-offs) Greg Erskine in a [...]

As a child of the Mister Rogers generation, it always makes my heart melt a little to hear the word “neighbor.” That’s why I was thrilled to receive an interview request from Neighborbee Blog, and to discover the blog itself. Informative, fun and most of all friendly, this site regularly posts about New York City-based [...]

Oops… I did it again. I forgot to take photos of this main course du jour, once it was all layered, baked and poised at its prettiest. It’s a shame, this “lamb”sagna was really a treat. I spent a long time poring over what spices and add-ins to put in the sauce (eventually settling on [...]

Things I like about fall: apples… sage… toasty, nutty flavors like browned butter… Oh wait, I guess I’m only referring to food I like in the fall. I have a one-track mind much of the time. Good thing there are occasions for such obsessiveness, one annual Brooklyn tradition being the apple pie contest at Enid’s.

Fairly good dough, that is. And good for you, too, since it’s whole wheat. I have had many d’oh’s when it came to pizza-making in the past. I’ve been a regular Homer Simpson at times. But I’ve gotten the hang of it, and when I put up this photo of a recent weekend lunch on [...]

There are many things that have confused me about chai over the years. How did the simple word for tea in India (and much of the world) come to denote this Christmasy spice-infused drink? Isn’t it then redundant to say “chai tea”? Does it always need to be sweet (I never sweeten my teas)? What [...]

As with my other attempts at Chili Takedown championship, this was a very time-consuming process. In keeping with tradition, it also did not succeed in receiving first-place honors. However, this was no ordinary chili cook-off; I was competing against four other veteran Takedown contestants, hand-selected by our ringleader, Matt Timms. The bar was high, and [...]

There are many people who read the phrase “not eating out in New York” as synonymous with “not dating in New York.” And those male species of the lot, I have no use for.
Not to be “difficult” or “stubborn,” two things I have been called, oh, a few times in my romantic repertoire, but there [...]

Look, I tried to make this interview not come off so cheesy. I tried to avoid the corny jokes and snafu of food puns that riddled my last in-depth profile. But seeing as cheese and corn are both main ingredients of Emily’s signature “Seduction” Casserole, Mac and Corn 2.0, the conversation naturally veered off to [...]

What a sorry sight: This is the first recipe on this blog in ages not accompanied by photos. I completely forgot to bring my camera when I headed off to Grand Army Plaza, toting a gallon or so of homemade vegetable stock and box of Arborio rice to do my risotto-making demo at the Greenmarket [...]

This fall, we’re starting something new. An idea fledged by myself and Liz Carollo, Greenmarket Publicity Coordinator for the Council for the Environment of New York City (CENYC), the Shopping Club & Tour Series begins this Saturday, October 4th at Brooklyn’s busy Grand Army Plaza Greenmarket. To kick it off, I’ll be making an early-fall [...]