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

Today New York Times writer Manny Fernandez wrote about the 99-cent pizza craze that has been spreading across Manhattan.  But, he isn’t the first one to note cheap, $1 and under food.  About a year ago, I did a round up for Serious Eats that included pork buns, noodles, and sticks of meat from Flushing, Queens’ Chinatown; $1 falafel sandwiches; cheap sushi; and 39 cents an ounce frozen yogurt.  Josh Bernstein has also been rounding up cheap eats by neighborhood for Metromix.  He recently stumbled on the Hell’s Kitchen area and talked about the same pizza Fernandez did in his article.

What’s up with this craze?  Is 99-cent pizza worth it?  Adam Kuban of Slice didn’t say in his cheap pizza battle last year, but he also didn’t say he really liked either pie.  Some things I think work well as $1 items, like ices on the street in the summer, hot dogs, and French fries.  But overall, I would rather pay $2 for a really good slice, then bother with a kind of gross one for less.

I don’t know when sushi shaped like cats, or cats eating cute pieces of sushi became a popular image, but I am glad it did. What could be cuter then a salmon roll with a smiling cartoon cathead on it? Or a game where you play a round blue feline who eats sushi? Either way, sushi and cats, what a perfect combo.

One thing you should know, I think Starbucks is brilliant.  Well, more I think the people behind the brand are brilliant.  Not only have they made coffee into a luxury and necessary item, but they have trained us to ask for it by funny names like caramel macchiato, or crave a skinny vanilla latte, or even worse, use a benign size system.  Tall?  What does that mean?  I worked in a cafe for over 5 years and nothing was more annoying then someone asking for a grande macchiato when really they meant a medium (I think) latte.

But I digress.  The real purpose of this post is to bring up this company’s struggle to get one of their shops in every darn neighborhood possible.  Manhattan is already riddled with these stores and at one point, standing on the corner of Astor Place and St. Mark’s Place you could see three Starbucks at once.  That is ridiculous.  Since they have snatched up the real estate on the island, it’s not surprising they are making their way into Brooklyn.  For years, we have heard rumors of Starbucks opening up in Fort Greene, which, luckily has not happened and instead, we have gotten an influx of new, cute coffee shops like Bittersweet, Smooch, and Tillie’s (my past employer).  But it’s not just Fort Greene, there have also been whispers of Starbucks opening in Williamsburg.  And this time, it might be true.  Gothamist came out with a well-rounded article about the matter and the crappy deal being handed the current residences of Starbucks’ potential home.

The Bagel Store, which has been around for almost a decade, recently got told their rent was doubling.  Come on, in this economy you are doubling the rent of a shop that serves bagels?  What do you want them to do, start peddling crack to make up the difference?  But it’s more then just Starbucks moving in (which I don’t think the Williamsburg hipsters would let it happen, and, if it did, they would surly boycott in favor of the Verb, Ella Cafe, or any of the other superior coffee joints around), the worst part of the story, is how a landlord can really change the hood, just by being a greedy f**ker.  That’s right, I called him a f**ker. Even if the taxes were raised, it wouldn’t constitute a rent two times the current one. My only hope is that they come to an agreement or else The Bagel Shop loses their sleek shop and the store will either remain empty till someone can pay the high fee, or something like a Starbucks fills the space.  The way things are now seem perfectly fine to me.

Last night I had the pleasure of attending a party at the Brazilian Consulate in honor of Leticia Moreinos Schwartz’s new cookbook, The Brazilian Kitchen.  The small room was packed with Schwartz’s family, friends, publisher, and other food-oriented people mulling about the makeshift bar and sipping fresh made Cabana sponsored caipirinhas.  As we downed the dangerously delicious cocktails, plates of finger food created from recipes in Schwartz’s book made the rounds.  From delicate puffs of hot cheese bread (page 16), to the heavy and fried beef croquettes (page 23) and black-eyed pea fritters (page 31), and to the rich caipirinha flavored bonbons (page 166), the samplings of the evening barely brushed the contents of her book.

Schwartz, born and raised Rio de Janeiro, takes her country’s cuisine to heart and well beyond this American’s knowledge of it.  As she gave a speech to the full and slightly tipsy crowd, tears came to her eyes.  “We are known for our carnival, for our caipirinhas, for samba, and our parties,” she said.  “But I want it to be our food that stands out.”  With recipes like the classic moqueca de peixe (Brazilian fish stew, page 64), torta capixaba (baked shellfish frittata, page 82), and crème brulee de abacate (avocado crème brulee, page 138), Schwartz not only keeps her native cuisine alive, but makes it more accessible to cooks in this country.  With over 100 recipes, I can’t wait to have a little samba, cocktail, dinner party of my own.

I love Rick’s Picks, especially their Smokra‘, a delightfully spicy, paprika spiked pickled okra.  But what, pray tell, do you do with the wonderful brine leftover after you finish these addictive beauties?  The other day I was faced with such a conundrum, I didn’t want to throw it out, but saving it, really?  Well my answer was right on the jar: use as a meat marinate.  Yum.

So, I stopped by Whole Foods and bought a thick cut pork chop ($6.30) from the meat counter and brought it home.  There, I cut the piece of meat into six large chunks and plopped them into the jar.  Nothing could have been easier.  I let the pork sit for a couple days before I cooked it up in a frying pan.  No oil, no spice, just some heat to cook the meat.  After it browned in the juices on medium heat, I drained it and added some quartered Brussels sprouts.  That’s it, an easy, no mess meal.  When the meat was done, the spice of the brine shone through with a peppery tang.  Because it had sat in the marinate for so long, the pork was super moist.  Next time, I might try to put two pork chops in the jar and share, but I guess that means I need a new jar of Smokra’…oh darn.