Get it While It’s Hot Bread Kitchen’s Cook-Off!

This Sunday, Tastebuds NYC and Hot Bread Kitchen are teaming up to host a charity cook-off like none other. I say that because I have no clue what kind of foods the contestants will come up with! The drill is this: make something using one of these two standbys of the nonprofit bakery, Hot Bread Kitchen: Organic Corn Tortillas or Nutty Granola. Bring it to Jimmy's No. 43. Smile, serve, and see if you win prizes. But if you're not up for being one of the bold chefs in this challenge (I'm guessing some will go savory with the tortillas, some for dessert with granola), you can still join the fun, and fundraising efforts. Come on down and see what happens on April 11th yourself!

Souperama is This Saturday

Join us at Jimmy's No. 43 for a really warm charity event. The 1st annual NYC Souperama, to benefit Harbor Hope and the Fresh Air Fund, is going to be hot. What better way to escape the wintery mix of slush and snow than slurping up ladles of homemade soup, and craft beer? And, chefs are still welcome to sign up so get your stockpots out and throw in whatever's leftover (my favorite thing to do on a winter weekend).

Compete with Crostini at my Book Launch Party! (and everyone wins books)

Guys, I'm almost due. On February 18th, this blog will give birth to numerous identical hardcover books, each named The Art of Eating In: How I Learned to Stop Spending and Love the Stove. Published by Gotham/Penguin, it's my first book, a memoir of the two years I spent eating in, solely, all the while trying to keep a somewhat normal life, a paying, nine-to-five job, a boyfriend, social engagements, etc. It didn't turn out being so normal in the end, but what I ended up losing (jobs, boyfriends) over those years was miniscule compared to what I gained from learning to appreciate everything about making meals from scratch, on a daily basis. It's my requiem to an unconventional urban lifestyle, and all the characters and experiences I encountered while not eating out and blogging about it. The book has nothing rehashed from this blog, but let's just say that it shares the same genes.

The Food Obstructions II is December 6

A second helping of fun! You asked for it, and we've come to serve: Karol, David and I will be manning the mic and passing out plates at the next Food Obstructions, the only cook-off (we know of) based on a little-known film experimentation called The Five Obstructions. It'll be held once again at The Gutter, on Sunday, December 6th, right in time for your awakening from that post-turkey roasting slump.

The Food Obstructions Cook-Off Series at The Gutter

Whether you're cooking for one or preparing a huge feast, there's always some obstructions in your path -- a too-small kitchen, not enough flour. Instead of cursing bloody hell, let's have fun with that concept, and cook up something great given five obstructions. It's a cook-off -- yes, another one! -- with a twist, and the first installment of the monthly series of them will commence October 18th, at The Gutter.

The Combo That Could

win the Souperdouper Soup Kitchen Sandwich Special, that is! It was a sweltering hot Saturday like most of the scorchers this week, but we saved a hearty appetite for the twelve different sandwiches, soups or combos of both at this benefit cook-off. And soon, we hope even hungrier people from the neighborhood will get to enjoy the best of the bunch, too.

Oh My Guacness

Yesterday I certainly got my greens judging the 2009 Guactacular Invitational, though they were none the unsaturated fatty type. I can't say how much I ate of the goopy goodness, but in attendance, more than 300 made it to the Bell House in Gowanus for the first-ever cook-off event.

Pork Love Prevails at the Park Slope Pork-Off

So, there's a swine flu, you say? Sure. I saw it all at Loki Lounge yesterday, in the form of sixteen tasty samples, and a throng of hungry carnivores. The Park Slope Pork-Off, it was called! And many familiar faces cooked up their best for this one-off event, a fundraiser for the charity Kamay at Puso.

Enter the Risotto Challenge & Just Food Benefit

It's here: the 2nd Annual Risotto Challenge! Last spring, eighteen contestants answered this call-to-cooking action with imaginative risottos seemingly spawned while on crack. (The ultimate winner? A citrusy, brown rice "Scarborough Fair" ordeal, named for its profusion of four singsong herbs.) And since there's never an end to variations on the delicious dish, co-host Karol Lu and I are giving the cook-off another spin -- or stir. This time, the event will benefit Just Food, New York City's local and sustainable food think tank. We're also proud that it'll be held at the fundraiser-friendly bar and restaurant, Jimmy's No. 43. Mark your calendars for May 23rd!

The Chowder Slam results!

Thanks to fourteen chowders, it was warm and clammy in the back room of Jimmy's No. 43 on Saturday. Fifteen, if you counted the pot of Manhattan-style chowder that the restaurant's resident chefs cooked up as extra, which was still going strong by the end of the event and made a perfect straggler second-course. But the real battle was fought by the amateurs. This time, the cook-off community of NYC was drawn a wildcard dish du jour: chowder. And a mean chowder they responded with, which was for many of them their first try at cooking the dish.

New Amsterdam Market benefit chowder cook-off is tomorrow!

I do love a new cook-off! Tomorrow, a smattering of home chefs will be bringing their best to Jimmy's No. 43 in celebration of local, sustainable and artisanal foods which New Amsterdam Market vigorously supports, and winter's favorite soup: chowder. There may be few parameters on what makes a chowder just that, but no one can argue that the best chowders are usually chock full of chunks, every spoonful of the stuff a claustrophobic array of deliciousness. And that's probably just what the backroom at Jimmy's No. 43 will be like tomorrow from noon to 5pm.

Who took the s’MACdown crown?

Okay, forgive my very poor journalism for a moment, and let me just relate to you the dilemma I'm faced with right now. I went to a first-ever macaroni and cheese cook-off hosted by Midge Pingleton cutely named the s'MACdown last night. It was held at Glasslands Gallery in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, a music venue that I believe has never hosted a cook-off before in its existence. I fought my way through the herds of hipsters to get a taste of every one of those 20 macaronis and cheeses. I voted for my favorite. Then I had to leave, to check out my friend's music show. Out of all the people I knew and trusted to tell me who won the s'MACdown, NOBODY SEEMS TO KNOW. Help me out here -- will the winner please speak?