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Frosting White-Out with White House Cake
My fellow Americans, I kept my campaign promise: I baked Pumpkin Cake with Orange Cream Cheese Frosting using a recipe the White House press office recently stuffed into our Inboxes.Should I become...
View ArticleNote to WNYC Honchos: Cookie Contest Must Be Mandatory Next Year
Fresh off of the excitement and sugar buzz generated by WNYC's fourth annual Thanksgiving pie slam, the honchos on the ninth floor inaugurated a new tradition: an annual Christmas cookie showdown. They...
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Helping Food Start-Ups Get a Leg Up
Noha Waidsnaider is not a household name, but her company, Peeled Snacks, is well on its way toward becoming one. In just five years, her dried fruit company went from an idea to one of the featured...
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A Greek Christmas Cookie Recipe, Enough for an Army
It was with a sense of excitement and eagerness that I opened an e-mailed document with the recipe for WNYC Morning Edition Host Soterios Johnson's mom's melomakarona. The cookies are famous among the...
View ArticleA Visit to The Chef's Garden
One of my favorite guests on Last Chance Foods is Farmer Lee Jones of The Chef's Garden. It's not just that I'm partial to fellow Ohioans. Farmer Lee loves to farm, and it's evident every time he talks...
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Smoothie Sailing into the Day
I love eating. I mean, like, cutting and spearing and chewing and swallowing. Eating's pleasurable, especially in the company of others. So it took some convincing to get me to try smoothies in the...
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21st Century Homesteading: Making Butter
I always thought butter-making involved Laura Ingalls Wilder, Ma and Pa Wilder, a cow, and a big wooden churn. But my sister showed me all you need is a jar. And little kids eager to do the work.My...
View ArticleFolks, This Ain't Normal: Joel Salatin at the 92nd Street Y
I haven't seen the movie, "Food, Inc.," so I didn't know what sustainable farmer Joel Salatin looked like until I saw him take the stage Monday night at the 92nd Street Y. I was immediately struck by...
View ArticleEggs Are the New Bacon, and Other Trends
Looking for the next food trend? Audrey Dettmar, baker at Annex in Fort Greene, gave me these suggestions:eggs, on or in everything. "People want some protein with their breakfast pastry," she says....
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Don't Go Nuts Making Donuts
Maybe you heard of the book, "Make the Bread, Buy the Butter: What You Should and Shouldn't Cook From Scratch." (The author, Jennifer Reese, was recently on Marketplace.) I have an addendum. Make the...
View ArticleThink Global, Source Local
The world got a little flatter Monday night at Sueños Restaurant.That's where four chefs served up Mexican fare made from vegetables and herbs sourced from local farms run by Mexican and Latin American...
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Rutabagas: My New BVFF
The weather has been warm enough to fool the irises and daffodils, which have sent up three inches of growth in the gardens on my block. But the calendar still says February, and my kitchen still says...
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Valentine's Day: Say It With Roaches
Last Valentines Day, the Wildlife Conservation Society raised nearly $60,000 by letting lovers name one of the Bronx Zoo's 58,000 Madagascar hissing cockroaches after their beloved. WCS is repeating...
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This, More Than That
A story this week on "All Things Considered" on why the best chocolate is the one you eat last has me thinking about my own personal food preferences. Feel free to chime in with yours.I really liked...
View ArticleBrussels Sprouts: Don't Skip Them, Shred Them
Blame your mom or your school cafeteria cooks if you grew up hating Brussels sprouts. That's because, as chef Sara Moulton told me in my latest Last Chance Foods conversation, they probably cooked them...
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Is Foodie Fadism Overcooked?
Here's a question designed to get the attention of celebrity chefs, food writers and anyone who's ever posted a picture of their dinner on Facebook: 'Have we gone too far?'It was the theme of a panel...
View Article60-Second Stir Fry: Katie Carguilo of Counter Culture Coffee
If you can't stand the heat, stay out of the kitchen. Or away from the steam wand. Barista Katie Cargiulo, my guest this week on Last Chance Foods, submits to a lightning round of questions.Espresso or...
View ArticleDIY Gravlax
I usually travel the same, well-worn route with salmon, letting it cure briefly with a rub of salt, sugar, crushed coriander and zests — a mix of lemon, orange and lime. Then I bake it in the oven. But...
View ArticleCooking Clam Chowder for Two: Not Easy to Do
I love cooking for the masses. My husband and I host a Palm Sunday brunch in our little apartment for 20 to 25 people every year, and I've got it down to a science. How many pounds of salmon per...
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Tasting Coffee? Go Ahead and Slurp
Leave your manners at the door when attending a coffee tasting or "cupping." Slurping is a vital part of the process.“You want to get it in your nose and the back of your throat,” Colleen Anunu told...
View Article60-Second Stir-Fry: Peter Meehan of Lucky Peach
If you can't stand the heat, stay out of the kitchen and away from the hot seat in Last Chance Food's 60-Second Stir Fry. My advice to this week's guest, Peter Meehan, is to stick with the cold cereal...
View ArticleTokyo: An Unknowable Feast
Peter Meehan wrote restaurant reviews and the “$25 and Under” column in the Dining Section of The New York Times for four years, but I feel like I’ve gotten to know him better through his more recent...
View ArticleGot Any Tips for Making Donuts?
I recently tried making my own donuts. The result: disappointing, exploding circles of greasy dough. OOOfa. I decided that other people's donuts — like the ones I tried this week at the new eatery, 606...
View ArticleWhen Worlds Collide: Food and Garbage
Garbage is a natural extension of our consumption of food. There's waste throughout the process and not just at the end. And yet, I was still surprised when I came upon a web site about making a...
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Meditation on a Starbucks Macchiato
Feeling adventurous, I ordered a fancy-pants coffee at Starbucks. A "lite" caramel macchiato, tall, extra foam. I could taste the artificial sweeteners in the sugar-free, vanilla syrup, but otherwise,...
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What Fresh Hell is This? Turns Out It's Edible
I did a double-take when walking past a fruit stand on the corner of Canal and Mulberry in Chinatown this past weekend. I saw a pile of small hot pink hand grenades with soft, leathery plumes of lime...
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Speedy Romeo Succeeding at Breakneck Speed
In three months, it feels like Speedy Romeo, on the border of Clinton Hill and Bedford-Stuyvesant in Brooklyn, has galloped from start up to neighborhood fixture.I've been there two times, and it's...
View ArticleRamps versus Gasoline: What Will You Pay Good Money for?
I'm supposed to hyperventilate when I see ramps at my local green market. They're wild! They're the first green veggie of the season! They're SO GOOD, and their season is SO FLEETING!And they're SO...
View ArticlePop Tarts: Don't Buy Them, Make Them from Scratch
There's a strong DIY wind blowing through Brooklyn, as a recent New York Magazine article about the borough's artisanal food makers noted. It blew through my kitchen window the other night.Armed with...
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Empty Lot Once Eyed by Protesters Turns into Food Truck Encampment
The 99% may not have been able to set up camp in the empty lot bordered by Canal Street, Varick Street and Sixth Avenue, but now they can buy tamarind duck sliders and other food cart goodies...
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The Great GoogaMooga: Lessons Learned
The inaugural Great GoogaMooga food and music festival last weekend is a reminder that greatness is neither self-bestowed nor assumed. You have to earn it.From the looks of things during the event in...
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A Hot Debate over Cold-Brewed Coffee
Thinking I was being clever and thrifty one day, I put leftover coffee from my percolator in a glass container and stuck it in the fridge. Voilá, iced coffee!It tasted bitter and flat, and for good...
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When Worlds Collide: Tennis, Cake & WNYC
Love, loss and how I swore — that's one of the ways I like to describe my tennis blog. Yes, dear readers, there's more to me than just radio and eating. I've got to work off the stress and calories...
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Foraging for Food Trends in Brooklyn
When I think of foraging, I think of adventurous foodies on their hands and knees in the woods, looking for morels. When Michael Sinatra thinks of foraging, he thinks of day-long walks through a New...
View ArticleFlavorless
I had a bad food day Thursday. Not "bad" as in salad vs. cheeseburgers. (I don't think of food that way. It doesn't deserve such moralizing.)I mean bad as in flavorless. Bad, as in, everything I ate...
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DIY Food Mash-Up: Hot Dogs, Bacon and Donuts
This Associated Press story caught my eye last week. How could it not?Hot dog, bacon and doughnut lovers can get all three foods in one cholesterol-boosting item at this summer's New York State Fair....
View Article60-Second Stir Fry: Annalee Sinclair and Robin Shulman
Community gardener Annalee Sinclair is no stranger to the hot seat. After all, she gardened in a syringe-infested abandoned lot on the Lower East Side, in the 1990s, when the neighborhood was a scary...
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Last Chance Fun: Corn Mazes
I talk about fleeting opportunities for seasonal eating during my regular Friday segment, Last Chance Foods — last week I spoke with Kurt Alstede of Alstede Farms about the waning days of the sweet...
View ArticleSpa NYC: Fitness Proposals for Tourists
Mayor Mike's war against obesity has employed a wide array of weapons, including posted calorie counts at fast food restaurant chains, an end to transfats in baked goods, 1,000 new permits for street...
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Mayo Clinic: My Attempt to Make My Own Mayonnaise
I'm spoiled. I live about six blocks away from Empire Mayonnaise, the artisanal mayo shop that sells little pots of mayonnaise in flavors like lime pickle (my favorite), bacon and black truffle. But...
View ArticleThe 4-Hour Chef: Lengthy Book Offers Short Cut to Kitchen Excellence
Author, nutritional supplement entrepreneur, tech investor and speed learner Timothy Ferriss promises in his latest book, The 4-Hour Chef, to teach you the skills you'd gain in six months of culinary...
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Giving Thanks Around the (Newsroom) Table
When you can't eat with the ones you love, love eating with the ones you're with. Or something like that, with apologies to Crosby, Stills and Nash. I worked on Thanksgiving Day: noon to 8 p.m. It...
View Article60-Second Stir Fry: Jeff and Adina Bialas
Jeff Bialas and Adina Bialas of J&A Farm had most of their crops wiped out in 2011 by Tropical Storm Irene, so you'd think they'd smile and shrug at the thought of getting Stir Fried. Maybe they'd...
View Article60-Second Stir Fry: Dan Pashman
Dan Pashman is no stranger to Last Chance Foods, having pontificated upon jelly donuts and oatmeal for us, but this is the first time he's been Stir-Fried. Pashman shrugged off the pressure. The former...
View Article60-Second Stir-Fry: Carolyn Sherman
Carolyn Sherman is a native of Chicago so she must be used to frigid weather conditions. That toughness didn't help when she was in the 60-Second Stir-Fry hot seat with Amy Eddings, though.Sherman...
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Restaurants Say, 'Hold the Photos'
Remember when smoking in restaurants was allowed, and a cigarette with your coffee seemed like a perfect way to end a meal?That trend flicked its last ash into the ashtray of history, as the dangers of...
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60-Second Stir-Fry: Deb Perelman and Melissa Clark
Leave it to two food writers to turn the 60-Second Stir-Fry into the 60-Minute Slow-Cook! There's no such thing as a lightning round when I'm talking to Smitten Kitchen blogger Deb Perelman and The New...
View Article60-Second Stir Fry: Ted Lee
Maybe it's because I'm tired of living in 50 shades of gray February weather, but I decided to stage native South Carolinian and cookbook author Ted Lee's Stir Fry in front of the bright backdrop of...
View Article60-Second Stir Fry: John Fraser of Dovetail
John Fraser, creative kitchen mastermind behind the Upper West Side restaurant, Dovetail, sizzled and sputtered right off the mark in his time under the heat lamp of Stir-Fry scrutiny. "Oh, don't do...
View Article60-Second Stir-Fry: Eberhard Müller
Eberhard Müller no longer cooks, but he was sizzling in this week's 60-Second Stir-Fry.The former chef of the classic French restaurants Le Bernardin, Lutèce, and Bayard long ago set aside his toque...
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