The Last Diet

So I caved and finally joined twitter, I know I honestly couldn't believe it either.  Now that I'm officially tweeting, I've found yet another thing to do on the train into work.  This morning, Andrew Zimmern, shared a fantastic article on the food industry in America.  It was enlightening, to say the least.  

Mark Hyman, M.D. wrote the article, The Last Diet You Will Ever Need and I must say it has made me want to continue to eat healthy, fresh, local, seasonal and non-processed foods all day every day.  It also makes me feel sick that on our way home from Boston this weekend, KFitz and I ate McDonalds.  In general, we've tried to eat healthy, buying only fresh veggies and lean meat but reading this article even the fresh veggies are being processed and not produced fresh from a local farm.  Either way, I think everyone should read this article and live by it!!! 

CLICK HERE TO READ

Year one: American Thai

It's been awhile (about a little over a month) and I apologize immediately for my neglect. I started a new job and began the most famous time of year of us media buyers; UPFRONTS!!!  But let's be honest, this isn't a real excuse as to why my post on Kin Shop is soooo late.  I mean KFitz and I went there to celebrate knowing each other for a whole year, which was back in Feburary.  Better late than....never???

Since it was our anniversary dinner, deciding on a place was huge for us foodies. We contemplated for weeks; we even made a reservation through opentable at Spice Market. After tons of research, reading lots of reviews and falling in love with Chef Harold Dieterle, we canceled the first res and decided to take our chance at Kin Shop. And what a fantastic decision; not that Spice Market isn't delicious but that's a subject of a larger Jean Georges post.  "Coming Soon"  Obviously, Asian inspired food was the direction we wanted to head in and Kin Shop did not disappoint.  

Over lovely conversation about how great our drinks are, Kev and I shared the Crispy Roti and Tasting of Condiments while we waited for our apps to arrive. We should have had patience to wait to eat the roti with main meal as is proper.  

DRINKS FOR THE EVENING: 

Massa(man)hattan - old verholt rye, vya sweet vermouth, angostura vitters & massaman-brown sugar syrup

The ALN - farmer's organic gin, house-made spicy thai pickle brine & pickled watermelon radis.

Tasting of condiments 

Popovers

Until I went to BLT Steak/Prime, I had no idea what a popover was; after going I made sure I took their recipe with me to cherish for life.  For those of you who aren't familiar with this fluffy, doughy, goodness - see here.

Now, its been a few years since I got my hands on this recipe and I have yet to try it out.  See I don't consider myself a great baker; too much of an exact science and I'd rather just throw ingredients and seasoning into a pan to see how it comes out. A few weeks ago, while digging for a (different) recipe I came across the popovers and said, "hey why not".  I'm such a great girlfriend and we didn't have milk so I kindly asked Kev head to the store to get some - I was making dinner for him!!

Unfortunately, I don't have a popover pan so I just used a mini cupcake pan instead.  It's a really simple recipe; only 5 ingredients.  Although, mine weren't as fantastic as BLT's; for a first timer I'd like to say they were pretty good.  A few things I would have done differently (like not mix the batter so much and actually have Gruyere cheese - I only had locatelli romano which is a great supplement).  I included the recipe below from Epicurious.com  which is literally word for word the same recipe BLT serves with the popovers.

• 3 cups milk 
• 3 cups all-purpose flour 
• 1 Tbs. kosher salt 
• 6 eggs 
• 6 oz. Gruyère cheese, grated 

Place the popover pan in the oven. Heat the oven and pan at 350". Gently warm the milk over low heat and set aside. Whisk the eggs until frothy and slowly whisk in the milk (so as not to cook the eggs). Set the mixture aside. Sift the flour with the salt. Slowly add this dry mixture and gently combine until mostly smooth. Once combined, remove the popover pan from the oven and spray with non-stick vegetable spray. While the batter is still slightly warm or room temperature (definitely not cool), fill each popover cup 3/4 full. Top each popover with approximately 2 1/2 tbsp of the grated gruyere. Bake at 350" for 50 minutes, rotating pan half a turn after 15 minutes of baking. Remove from the oven, remove from the pan and serve immediately.



Hope you all enjoy!!

Food from the heart....

Here are some pictures of food I created at home. (I have to admit I did not make the pancakes, those were courtesy of my brother, Richie. He had them for Jake's bday breakfast). Most of these meals were made with the help of Kev.

Food Photo: pork fried rice

Wish I could give you the recipe for this but I'm not even sure how I made it. What I can tell you is how amazingly delicious it was. Oh and that it really doesn't need a recipe; kev and I used mostly the same ingredients and ended up with two very different fried rices.

What I used:
Brown rice
Carrots
Celery
Mushrooms
Peppers
Onion
Garlic
Ginger
Soy sauce
Rice vinegar
Sesame oil
Fish sauce
Canola oil
Pork
Egg

Wow didn't realize how many things actually went into this meal. Well it was worth it

THE SOCIAL TABLE

THE MENU

                                      

A few weeks ago our lovely friends at Bloomberg TV (Arty and Meredith), took us (us being my team from work) to "The Social Table."  What is the Social Table you ask? Well, straight from the website, the Social Table is...."the place where good food and fun people get together to share a meal, a glass of wine and the experience of cooking."  Its learning basic cooking fundamentals, like properly cutting an onion without slicing your fingers off, while creating a meal with fun people. The ultimate dinner party; a little wine, great  food, lots of fun combined with some culinary skills. Chef Rebecca is awesome, she's fun, down to earth  a wonderful teacher who creates an environment that is relaxed and entertaining. She taught us simple yet necessary skills for the kitchen, making sure to include everyone in all the processes. We not only cooked dinner but we learned about food, asked tons of questions and had a great deal of laughs.  Even if you don't enjoy cooking, you will have a great time at The Social Table. I highly recommend making a reservation; but reserve sooner rather than later as she is completely booked solid through, I think, April.

THE LAMB CHALLENGE: Shepard's Pie Recipe

Shepard's Pie!

As a part of the "Lamb Challenge" Kev and I had a few weeks back, I created an extremely delicious Shepard's pie.  Growing up my Grandma used to make, what she called, Shepard's pie - it was actually Cottage pie because it was made with ground or minced beef.  The "real" thing calls for ground lamb; so it was a no brainer to decide on this dish for the challenge.

I based my recipe on Danny Boome's Mummy's traditional recipe.  (When I asked my Grandma for her recipe, she told me the basics but then suggested using the "packet" from the supermarket.  Sorry Gram, I love your cooking but there was no way that was going to happen).