Michelin Copies Arlette

Okay, not really. We do, however, both have lists of places to eat and those lists meet up at certain places, meaning that we can rest assured that Michelin is to be trusted. Right, that's how the logic goes on that one? You can head to Grub Street to see what is on their list. Here is the list Joey and I have compiled. What do you guys think? Am I missing anything here, should something be omitted? Opine damnit! My taste buds need to know.

Luke's Lobster
Fette Sau
Fatty 'Cue
Comadore
Salty
Riverside Cafe
Mercadito
Al di La
Blue Ribbon
Scarpetta
French Bistro on Franklin(Le Gamin)
Pauly Gs
Five Leaves
Frankies Spuntino
Freemans
Manhattan Inn
Traif
Lamb and Jaffy
mesa coyocana
Acapulco (for a bite or take out when near your apartment)
Jimmys Diner (fried chicken!!!)
OTT
Christies (Polish food)
Cafe Colette
Osteria il Paiolo
Empanada Mama

Fried Oreos Highlight of Atlantic Antic 2010

This past weekend at Atlantic Antic,Joey, I and friends experienced the pleasure of drinking outside and eating food that is very bad, and thus, oh so good! Like the trooper he is, Joey started off the day with fried Oreos, which won a little patch of realestate in my heart. I am posting a low-tech but sweet video on how to make them. Check it out!

Joseph Albert's Night Time Astronaut Dropped Yesterday

Hey all! Joey's first full length album is complete. Below is a performance of one of the songs on it, Ask Amy. I believe you can now or soon will be able to purchase it on itunes. He will have CDs available at a forthcoming CD release party. I wil post with more info as I hear about it. Congrats Joey!

Clickable: Yummy Sandwich Idea

When I lived in memphis I used to make this sandwich. Click on my scrap paper for details.

Basil Chicken Tacos with Relish and Cream

Do you know how when you buy basil it smells so good and is such a lovely and bright addition to your meal, but a little goes a long way? Inevitably, you put the rest of it in the fridge and two nights later half of the basil is brown and dying? Yeah. I hate it when that happens. Thus, the other day Joey and I blended up the basil with garlic in his food processor. We ended up using it to make Southwest Potatoes with a poached a egg on top.

It was a great meal. We followed Bittman's lead, but made it better by using the basil puree as the oil base and then, also using some fat rendered from a wonderful smokey bacon from the Meat Hook (thanks Sean) to brown the potatoes. At the end, we used the crumbled bacon on top of the dish before finishing with cilantro and lastly the egg. I don't have pictures from that meal, but trust me, It was awesome.

At home I made my own basil puree in a blender. It is a lot harder to do it in a blender, so if you are going to, put very few leaves at a time and be prepared to use more oil. As a slight aside, Bittman just wrote an article on the wonder and awesomeness of food processors.

The second puree was just basil and oil. Today I finally got to use it and what I made was so good, I am sharing it with you.

Making the chicken

thin cut chicken cutlets (1 per person)

basil puree (olive oil and basil pureed together)

Adobo, salt and pepper to taste

I followed a loose interpretation of another Bittman idea to cook them up, basically using the puree as a moisture seal for the lean meat.

Making the relish

For the relish, and really the whole idea of having tacos this week, I was inspired by a show on the food network. It's one about using just five ingredients to make things. I don't know what the name of the show is. Anyway, the show was more of an inspiration than a directive and I just used what I had.

Equal parts diced yellow onion, green pepper and radishes

Lemon zest and dry cumin

I felt pretty ingenious when I put this together. I knew that I wanted to add a lemon flavor to the relish but I did not want to add a lemon, oil combo to it because the cutlets are packed with an olive oil infused stuffing. Instead I took my peeler and shaved off some zest and diced it up and threw it in the bowl with the vegetables and then sprinkled the whole thing with cumin. I chose cumin because if I had fresh cilantro, I would have put it in.

Making the Cream

This was the easiest part and I also got my inspiration for making this from that cooking show. I took polish cream, which is basically just like sour cream except that the reduced fat version still only had cream in it rather than stuff like corn syrup (yuck Breakstone's). Anyway, I took a spoonful of that and mixed it with a spoonful of Salpica Habanero Lime salsa. Both are really good on their own, so their marriage was the perfect edible proof that opposites attract. The creamy cooling flavors mixing harmoniously with the acidic, smokey ones, perfectly topped my happy little tacos.

Success!

I am posting more pictures on Facebook, if you want to check them out. I hope this inspires some of you to try this at home.

The Ghost Who Walks by Karen Elson

Hey all,

Almost the weekend right? Well let me dedicate this to the end of summer and all the romance it still has to offer. Enjoy! Happy weekend lovelies.


The Ghost Who Walks by Karen Elson

Car Toon Short

I saw this at Vulture and I dedicate it to Maybelle.

Parallel Parking from Yum Yum London on Vimeo.

Cleo Lacking Buds, Enjoying Solitary Life

Remember Cleo, my friendly office plant? At one time she had a bulbous flowery appearance. Then she grew a mustache. After that she got a little depressed and her leaves started to fall off. I began to give her water every day and she bounced back into a windy, long-limbed creature. She hasn't grown any blooms in a long time. Does anyone have any suggestions or advise on this?