A Q&A with Hatori in the Village Voice touches on how the duo (with extra memeber here and there including Sean Lennon) started singing about food back in the mid-90s.

“Yuka and I both grew up in Japan and Japan is like that, we just love food. Especially Yuka, I feel like, wow, she is really into food! But me as well. It is almost precious, for both of us. Food and music.” (read the whole thing here)

I wanted to include one of my favorite songs, Artichoke, but couldn’t find a decent version of it so linking you to another fun song (that they also played at the show), Know Your Chicken. I was so glad they decided to tour after years apart. And based on the fun, lively show, it sounded like they still cook well together. My only regret, not getting a T-shirt.

Photo by Brian Everett of EVRT Studio

I know it’s been a while, heck, it’s been over 6 months since I have updated my food blog but I guess that’s how things go sometimes.  Of course I kept meaning to do it, but this article I read in Slate pushed me over the edge–I had to write about the devastating news that pickles might cause cancer.

I know, WTF.  Brian Palmer said this in his piece:

“Doctors have repeatedly attempted to substantiate the connection between pickled vegetables and cancer through clinical studies, with mixed results. But, taken as a whole, there does seem to be an association.”

Does this mean I should now avoid one of my favorite foods? True, pickles tend to be packed with sodium, which doctors have been saying for years that it’s  bad for us, but I have a hard time accepting that an innocent, tart, pickled vegetable could be evil. The most unfortunate part, Palmer suggests homemade pickled goods proved the worst kind, stating that mass produced gherkins don’t actually ferment, hence leaving out the step where microbes eat the vegetables sugar, turning it into alcohol, acids, and some (possible) cancer-causing carcinogens.

Ah! Instead of my life being over I am instead going to share with you my favorite pickles with you, if I’m damned you might as well be too.

Top 5 pickles: Rick’s Picks smokra’, McClure’s spicy pickles, Wheelhouse Pickles, house made pickles at The Vanderbilt and at Buttermilk Channel.

If someone makes me a bacon suit, I will love you forever. Or, if you don’t want to break out your needle and thread, how about these other porcine themed vestments?

Bacon Slip-On Shoes

Bacon Makes Everything Better T-shirt

Bacon Tie

Bacon Belt

Bacon, Egg, and Toast Scarf

And for you vegetarians out there, let us not forget the watermelon shoes (still on my wish list).

I haven’t seen Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World yet, but it’s definitely on my list.  In preparation for the movie, my roommate and I started reading the comics and were pleasantly surprised by how good they are, and how much food makes the scene.  Scott and Ramona eat noodles together, the band meets up at a diner called Sneaky Dee’s, there are burgers after the beach, breakfasts of eggs and bacon, and a drunken tequila night.  I can’t wait to see how the movie compares, or, like many campy action films,  if they neglect the most basic need, eating.

This is (surprise) one of my favorites. Love and burgers, “sigh” for sure.

Fresh Green Chilies at the Hatch Valley Chile Festival

Ever since I left Denver, Colorado in August 2002 and made my way to Brooklyn, there is only one thing I really missed: green chilies.  Sorry East coasters, you don’t know what I am talking about unless you happened to spend some time in the Southwest and indulged in the these delicious, hot, and meaty green peppers.  This love and constant craving finally drove me to hit up the Hatch Valley Chile Festival in the tiny town of Hatch, New Mexico this year. 

For 38 years they have hosted chili roasters, venders serving up a slew of chili laced goodies, a chili eating contest, auctions, and Chili Queen crowning, and more chili themed events all on a dusty clearing between numerous pepper fields just a couple miles from town.  From the moment you enter Hatch the scent of chilies roasting hits your nose and you can’t go anywhere without people peddling sacks of the fresh peppers as well as ristas (the stringed bunches of chilies), chili stew, and chili rellenos.

Green Chili Ice Cream at the Hatch Valley Chile Festival

Basically, I had landed in heaven.  We spent all of Sunday chowing on chili ice cream, red chili laced popcorn, pecan and green chili brittle, corn soaked in green chili butter, chili beer, and so on.

Even when our car broke down on the drive back to Colorado in the small railroad town of Belen, New Mexico,  I was still living high.  Who cared the only place to eat was Pizza Hut?  I took my jar of fresh green chili salsa and smothered my slice, letting the heat take away the pain of waiting for the mechanic.

Green Chili Smothered Burrito at the Hatch Valley Chile Festival

Um, yum? When I was at the Edible Cocktail event a few weeks ago I met Rick Field of Rick’s Picks.  I had to go over and gush at him about his pickles (what’s a girl to do?), and he was flattered enough to send me a T-shirt with my favorite one: Smokra’.  Yes, spicy, pickled, okra with a splash of paprika.

The first time I tried Rick’s Picks was at Spuyten Duyvil in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.  They have an awesome pickle platter and the okra was on it.  Instantly I was hooked.  Rarely can I afford to get an $8 jar of the stuff, but when I do, I treasure it all the way to the brine.

Ella Morton of the URDB and SPAM cattle

I can’t help it, I love the Universal Record Database, a group of wacky people that help others from around the world set any world record the wish.  Maybe my adoration is because my first introduction to them dealt with a live, world record event based solely on food: piles, mounds, stacks, and pieces of it.  I saw the world’s longest cupcake kabab, the most tortillas tossed and the tallest s’more.  The second time I wrote about the URDB was for a Time Out New York feature, in which all but one of the record setters were using food (Tabasco, sugar, chocolate, and wine, or at least a wine bottle).  So, imagine my glee when they produced a food themed episode of their new video segment,  The URDB World Record Show. Watch this episode and find out who peeled a banana the fastest, the largest spam cattle herd, who made the largest Lucky Charms beard, and more.

The URDB World Record Show: Top 5 Food Records

I was overall pretty impressed with the spread.  There were creamy, mustard tinged deviled eggs from Fort Defiance; soft yet chewy beef jerky from The Vanderbilt, mini smoked meat sammies from Mile End, and savory meatballs with parsnip and pickled fennel from The Farm on Adderly.  One of my favorite stands, and by the length of the line, other people’s as well, was Palo Santo’s.  I last saw chef Jacques Gautier dishing out treats at the Gourmet Latino Festival preview, but was more impressed with the wild boar in mole negro tacos and tangy ceviche he served last night.  It went perfect with the smoky Ilegal Mezcal Joven and Reposado and spicy sangrita chaser he doled out along side the food.

Despite the tight, shoulder-to-shoulder crowd, I was able to pick out a few familiar faces.  Of course Rachel Wharton and Gabrielle Langholtz from Edible Brooklyn and Edible Manhattan were there, along with cookbook author Louisa Shafia, and Rick Field of Rick’s Picks, my favorite pickle company.   I finished up the night with a dark chocolate bonbon (or three) from Tumbador Chocolate and samples of Compass Box’s smoky, artisan scotch whiskey.  By the end of the event I was full and warm from too many cocktails like my favorite, Fort Defiance’s Warwick Bramble, which went down twice in smooth, berry sweet gulps.   Despite trying numerous concoctions and liquors, this morning I woke up refreshed, and wanting to do it all over again.

Get ready for the first ever Gourmet Latino Festival, which will hit restaurants and the Astor Center in June.  As they transform the Astor Center in to “a corner of Latin America,” the three Latina women behind the festival; Karen Uribe, Claudia Castro, and Mariana Suarez are giddy.  They have been planning and scheduling this event for two years, and, with the help of Centrico chef Aaron Sanchez and beverage expert Steve Olson, they are ready to go.

“We want to bring out the nuances throughout the different Latin cultures,” said Uribe last night during the festival preview.  “We really want to make it a cultural thing, not just about the food.”

Though, last night it felt all about the food.  As Phil Ward of Mayahuel served the Loop Tonic; a deadly mix of tequila, vermouth, Chartreuse, and lime; at one end of the room, Leo DeGroff from aka wine geek whipped up a light and fresh watermelon mojito at the other.  All the while plates of food made their way around the Institute of Culinary Education’s event room at record pace.  Every time I turned around some white clad waiter offered me one of chef Máximo Tejada’s savory, melt in the mouth duck arepas from Rayuela, which, topped with a tiny fried egg was hands down the best thing making the rounds.  I also liked Tejada’s delicate crab stuffed, raw tuna bite.  The other restaurants serving up tasty tidbits of sweetbreads, lump crab,  and bean tostadas, were Industria Argentina, Centrico, and Palo Santo, all of whom will be participating in the festival.

“Hopefully after this [festival] week we will all have a better understanding of Latin American food,” said Sanchez, who chose the chefs that would be participating.  “I wanted to make sure there was diversity in all the chefs and foods they offer.”

The festival will feature food, drink, and information on Latino culture from places like Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Uruguay, Ecuador, Peru, Columbia, Mexico, and more.  The restaurants participating thus far are Centrico, Fonda, Macondo, Rayuela, the Yerba Bueno family, Zafra, Paladar, Palo Santo, and Zarela.

It sounds so good, I might have to preview some of these places before June!

Who doesn’t love a pile of spicy, smoky, diced tomatoes with cilantro, lime, jalapeno, and onion, all mixed together and placed on top a corn chip, burrito, or taco?  In Colorado, you go to a Mexican restaurant and immediately they serve you a ramekin of garlicky tomato puree, rarely the bowl of fresh pico de gallo you get in New York (which people mistakenly call salsa).

But as New York Times writer Julia Moskin dives into the new Mexico chic cuisine that has popped up all over the city, she finds that a lot of places are getting this simple sounding, but not so simple dish, right.  Surprisingly, as a Mexican food snob, I totally agree with this article.  There are some great places to get some unique and tasty salsas.  Her list includes: Cascabel Taqueria, La Superior, Hecho en Dumbo, and more.  I would definitely add Cabrito, one of my personal favorite taco spots here, to the list.

Who has your favorite salsa?  And, what is the best way to make it?

Here is my quick and easy recipe:

Take one large can of whole peeled tomatoes (28 ounces) and put in food processor with:

2 garlic cloves

1 small onion (chopped before going in food processor)

1/4-cup fresh cilantro

Juice of 1 lime

1 jalapeño pepper

2 tsp Tabasco brand chipotle sauce

Dash of cayenne pepper

Dash of salt