Also from March 2007...

Hello again, Hungry Kiddies--

What better plan to welcome in early Spring (!?!?) and break in the new apartment than Chicken Fried Steak and Red Velvet Cake? None that I know of. I am thinking all soul food-- pickled shrimp, Chicken fried steak, grits, cream gravy, collards... you get the picture. Don't worry-- there will be other veggies too. I have not made CFS since the fateful "Election Day Cafe" so it is time to brush off and get back on that horse, damnit!

A menu from March 2007

Spring lamb, probably simmered with pomegranate molasses and saffron, romaine lettuce with peas, zucchini and mint braise, artichokes, fiddleheads and/or ramps if I can find them, some wild mushrooms. Passionfruit Pavlovas for dessert. Think a spring forest foraged dinner, if one had to do such things these days.

From January 2007.. an ode to "Why Not Stuff It Yourself?"

Happy New Year, Hungry Kiddies--

I don't know what you did over New Years, but I spent some quality time on a sofa in Vermont watching dvds of Julia Child's "The French Chef" and alternately being awed, amused, and slightly horrified. (only occasionally--see: the sausage episode) It got me thinking.... we all know how great Julia was, but when was the last time we ate something right out of Mastering the Art of French Cooking? Well, if it has been awhile, I can change that for you this weekend. I am slathering at the chance to show you what I learned while drinking wine in my jammies and watching Julia. So bundle up, oh wait-- it will be 60 degress outside!! and come on over for a meal straight out of 1962! We will feature Bouillabase a la Marseilles, Leeks with Sauce Alsacienne, a chestnut mushroom timbale, and to finish, Gateau de Crepes a la Normande! (dude-- mound of crepes with apples, flaming).

December 2006

When Mary Met Moses: The Meal They Should Have Eaten. Or, "How to Mix Jews and Christians at the Table"

Evidence Of A Higher Power: Candied Bacon. I'm Just Saying.

Hi there, Hungry Kiddies!

The people have spoken, and the word was "Yes." Friday, December 15 will be our Official Holiday Dinner, blending foods of two traditions in a very festive way. So finish up at work and come on over for a night of feasting! Wassail will be served at 6pm, Dinner at 7. The menu below speaks for itself, so I hope you will attend.

Menu:

Wassail
***********
Oyster Stew
**************
Latkes with house made applesauce
****************
Arugula, Date and Orange Salad
*****************
Brined and Roasted Capon with Chestnut, Prune and Pomegranate Stuffing
******************
Bitter salad with pears and CANDIED BACON (ha ha-- Zora isn't here to stop me)
******************
Red Grapefruit Souffle

Chattanooga Chew Chew Chew!

From July 2006... the infamous Beer Can Chicken night... Karl still bears a scar!


Well Hungry Kiddies...

I am returned from Chattanooga, and am more than ever thoroughly convinced that I should spend some more quality time in the South. Maybe Zora and I should open up the New York City outpost of Bea's Restaurant? Oh lordy-- I will tell you alllllll about it at dinner, but suffice it to say that it involved a round table that sat 7, a lazy susan stocked permanantly with pickled beets, chow chow, chopped raw onion, sweet tea, water, several varieties of hot sauce, "real lemon" juice, (for the tea), extra silverware, napkins and monkey dishes, and a sneeze guard on top. It also involved a waitress in the best sense of the word, bringing around plates of food that we ate communally,until, (in her words) "you stop eating". Ahh, yes, if only all of life was like Bea's.

At any rate, I think this week should incorporate all I learned in Chattanooga:

Beer Can Chicken, (Thanks Kip!!!!)
Boiled peanuts,(thanks roadside stands!!!)
Peach or cherry cobbler,(thanks Bea's)
Braised vidalias,
Fried okra
Salad
Black eyed pea relish
Delicious "Dilly Beans".

Maybe even some spicy pickled eggs, (although maybe I want to try that first)...

So...

Chris Cosentino's Gorgeous little piggies at Incanto in San Francisco... Myam myam...

The next series of posts are going to be a virtual stroll down Memory Lane... You know, if Memory Lane was a table filled with boiled peanuts, roast pork and bitter greens salad with (Lord ha'mercy) candied bacon, and you were strolling with your tongue.

I think you know what I'm trying to say.

So, it's a greatest hits compilation for those of you who were there, and a record of what we've been up to for those who weren't.

Here are some bits and pieces of what Zora and I have been cooking for the last 4 years. The next Sunday Dinner will happen Sunday, July 8, In Sh'allah.

Stay tuned and hungry........

In Love & Garlic,
Tamara

Karl's Birthday!

Monday, April 11, 2005

Karl’s Birthday

grill set up


pulling pork. This pork was slow cooked and incredible.


Packaged crab cakes. Fed-exed fresh from Faidley's in Baltimore. No bargain, but perhaps the best crab cakes in the world.


broiling crab cakes


grilling crab cakes


steaming oysters


zora at the steamer





the disassembly line


shucking


the spread


the spread


Karine's cleavage


grillin' girls


crowd shot


non-gloating cribbage


naomi


blowin' birthday boy