eat me drink me

With all the kale that we have been getting in our CSA, sometimes it’s hard to come up with new things to do with it. I find a simple kale salad is a great, healthy way to use up greens. Plus, it can be done quickly.  One of my favorites is shredded kale tossed with red wine vinegar and mixed with roasted pecans, raw onion, and slivers of a sharp cheddar cheese.

Take one bunch of kale, clean, dry, and cut into thin stipes.  Toss with about a quarter-cup red wine vinegar and let settle for about an hour to three hours. Fill bowls with kale (serves about four to five people) and top with finely sliced onion slices, seven to ten nuts and slivers of cheese. Serve!

Pi Pie by Cakespy

Here are some of my latest published pieces. I have been writing for Zagat and MSNBC quite a bit. Check them out!

Celebrate Pi Day With Pie: Who knew math could be so tasty? Today is Pi Day, the time when nerds rejoice because the date, 3-14, lines up to the infinite number pi, otherwise known as 3.14159265… And, just as there are thousands of numbers in pi, there are also thousands of types of pie, and thousands of excuses to eat pie…(continue reading)

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Recently I became a contributing editor for the newly launched Tea: A Magazine (first issue debutes on 3/15). I am beyond excited. One of my jobs for this publication is to review teas simular to how I did for a special MSNBC piece on unusual teas–the best part, I get to try a lot of tea.

This also means people send me samples like Revolution did. Because I am thinking so much about this beverage, it was only natural that some how it would become incorporated into my cooking. Such was the case while I was making yogurt (yes, making yogurt! I got this awesome incubator for it for Christmas). At the same time I was brewing a cup of Revolution’s Earl Grey with lavender tea and on a whim, I threw a tea bag into the pot of milk.

The result is a slightly floral, light brown yogurt that, while it doesn’t taste like a cup of the stuff, has enough hint of black tea to make it unique. For this, the recipe is simple: When you boil the milk for the yogurt drop in three or four tea bags (I am sure this would work with other flavors) and let it seep until you are ready to pour. That’s it!

Corny Squash Soup With Kale Chips

It’s squash and corn season at the farm, and in the last CSA batch I got a three lovely looking acorn and butternut squashes, a couple ears of sweet corn, and a bunch of kale.  As the temperature drops, nothing sounded finer then a rich bowl of soup. So, I combined these three things to make a sweet, salty, and savory brew perfect for the fall.

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A couple years ago I stumbled on this recipe for “False Mahshi: Layered Swiss Chard, Beets, Rice, and Beef” in the New York Times.  In an article about the Iraqi New Year, Joan Nathan had included this recipe, adapted from Esperanza Basson.  Well, even that seemed a bit labor intensive so I cut it down into a super simple, healthy, and yummy version.

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Welcome to the 3^rd Annual NY Beer Craft Week. As you’ve probably guessed, this seven-day festival focuses on beer, those glorious, malty, hoppy, fizzy concoctions from small breweries all over the country. › Continue reading

Recently there has been an influx of Concord grapes in the market.  For two weeks in a row I have gotten them in my CSA and at first, had no idea what to do with them.  I didn’t want to make jam and they were too difficult to eat on their own, but something about the flavor cried out “baked goods!”  So, I made a pie, two actually.  The one your see here is the red Concord grape, lemon, and apple pie, and I also whipped up a white Concord grape, lemon, pear pie.  The former was way sweeter, but both hit the spot.  I especially like the buttery crumble crust, it really soaks up the sweetness of the fruit.

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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).

It’s been a busy couple months of eating it up for the New York Press, especially in Brooklyn with one trek all the way up to 112th Street in Harlem. Here are the latest and greatest published reviews I have done.

Hot Bird in Fort Greene

“Hot Bird is owned by Frank Moe, the proprietor of Rope, Fort Greene’s popular art-student filled bar. Though Rope never hooked me in, Hot Bird is a different story. The bar gets its name from the famous chicken place that used to shell out roasted birds and ribs until it closed in the early 1990s, and while the restaurant doesn’t remain, the bright yellow signs that still deck a few building walls off of Vanderbilt and Atlantic avenues have become iconic ads. One, which towers over the bar’s spacious front yard, only enhances the new bar’s appeal.” (read the rest here)

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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. › Continue reading