Off and away. For the next ten days I’ll be traveling Morocco by foot, bus and camel, drinking mint iced tea and engaging in lots of sinful eating out. In the meantime, if you’ve a hankering for intimate, expert coverage of all things Marrakech, I encourage you to check out a blog that I’ve been loving lately: My Marrakech. Sadly, I won’t be able to meet Maryam “of Morocco,” as she is traveling outside of the country the exact same … Read More
And South Africa, Ireland, Taiwan, Bangladesh, San Francisco and parts of Alaska and Australia? Should we ban free plastic shopping bags, that is? Because that’s what they do. Or in some cases, apply taxes or extra charges for them — as Ireland did, cutting plastic bag use by 90 percent. And by “we” I mean New Yorkers in particular, because if we look around us for an instant, we’d be hard pressed not to see a plastic bag on any … Read More
Congratulations, Christine! You won my apron, thanks to your charitable donation to Menu for Hope. And thanks so much to everyone else who voted but unfortunately did not win the raffle. (I didn’t win anything either, though I had my heart pretty set on the “fully-loaded shelf” of books from Serious Eats.) I am so glad to discover that food blog readers are such a generous, caring, noble bunch. Chez Pim raised $91,188 for The World Food Programme, 50% more … Read More
Despite hopping to or from three different apartments, four different employers, and countless grocery stores and markets, my last three years have seen such an unhealthy dearth of completely pointless, privileged third-world globe-trotting. You know the kind I’m talking about. The before-you-hit-thirty-or-oh-my-god-enter-your-late-twenties global spin. Or in my case, just a diminutive version of it. I won’t be gone for very long (10 days), but in a week I’ll be headed for Marrakesh with my well-traveled pal Jordan. For no reason.
I’ve been eating a lot of strange post-holiday snacks this week. After the festivities were over, I found myself in an apartment full of ribboned and confettied food products, like cookies, chocolate, and this giant tub of stuff from the Popcorn Factory. At first I was excited about the prospect of finding inside different varieties of gourmet kernels, but no such luck; instead it was filled with bags of neon-colored prepopped corn and other odds and ends. Disgusted as I … Read More
Luckily for those who eat in like me, the cult of the celebrity chef is never far from reach. With an ebullience similar to when the first Michael Jordan sneakers were released, manufacturers are creating line after line of chef-approved kitchenwares. There’s Joan Chen brand woks and bamboo steamers, Gordon Ramsay fine china and crystal, Emerilware, Martha Stewart everything, and recent years have seen the Batali and Ray empires expand into cookware as well (and “EVOO“). For Christmas I was … Read More
It’s all over, those of you — and there are many of you out there — who missed the third installment of the Manhattan Chili Takedown. Fifteen chilis, two judges, one unpredictable host, a swank club called The Plumm, a motley crew of both carnivorous and vegetarian chili-making characters, their friends, one small child, and it all came down to two champions: one, for the judged contest, and another for the audience’s choice. No, my chicken, pumpkin and hominy chili … Read More
If it’s the season for cuddling up with hot toddies and passing family reunions by in a drunken haze, then I’ve just sampled two very merry ways to embrace the holiday “spirit.” Local author and cocktail expert David Wondrich paid a visit to Lenell’s liquor store last Saturday, and I was not alone in imbibing. The quaint, small store was transformed into a a lively cocktail hour as David offered drinks featured in his latest book, Imbibed: From Absinthe Cocktail … Read More
My co-worker proudly marched down the hall yesterday with a bag of Burger King “Ketchup & Fries” Flavored Potato Snacks (for lack of any more specific word such as “chips” or even “crisps”). “Look what I got from the vending machine!” Look we all did. Two whole aisles of us emerged from our pod-like cubicles to take a look at the fast food-inspired snack. Though from the minute we heard his announcement, we could already faintly smell it.
Want to give a gift that counts as a tax write-off? Sick of seeing Old Navy commercials and glossy DeBeers ads? Just because nonprofits can’t buy ad spaces in major magazines or prime-time commercial slots doesn’t mean you can’t throw your money at them this holiday season, too. I know, I know – if your mailbox looks anything like mine these days, charity solicitations are coming in by the bundle. All the papery mess can get overwhelming. How many organizations … Read More