A co-worker turned me on to this incredible foodie newsletter/website called Serious Eats. It’s chock full of little news bites here and there, featuring new trends, old trends, new restaurants, old stand-bys, easy recipes, and just general musings on food. I usually take a few minutes out of every lunch break to scan their forums and articles. It’s sublimely entertaining, and written in a casual, conversational tone that really encourages reader feedback and interaction.
My “find of the day” on the site was this Oatmeal Brulee. Simple, quick, and involves fire (which always intrigues me).
photo via seriouseats
Then, for laughs, they posted this video from Funny or Die that features the Blue Man Group (whose particular brand of entertainment I still can’t get behind… sorry, I seem to be the only person alive who really doesn’t have any interest in seeing a BMG performance…) in a “Before They Were Stars”-style video. The Blue Man Group serves up the unsuspecting public some McBurgers… to some hilarious consequences.
In more recent years, I’ve become a salt fiend. I don’t know why the sudden change, and didn’t realize it until every margarita order was specified with, “Please make it heavy on the salt.” I used to chastise my father for adding salt to everything, making sour/grossed-out faces every time he added his favorite seasoning to a dish. Salt, to me, was something that tasted “icky.” What can I say, I had (and have) a perpetual sweet tooth in my youth.
However, my love of salt has become recently apparent, and I am always searching out savory-sweet recipes that incorporate a little sel in their making. A recent recipe hunt caused me to stumble upon Not Without Salt, a blog by a pastry chef named Ashley, which celebrates all things salt-ified. Her photography (which is always what draws me into any blog) is exquisite, and her recipes, inspiring. A recent post about Bacon Caramels made its rounds through my office, where co-workers and I equally drooled and marveled at the combination. Knowing how much I love Salted Caramels, I just might have to give these a shot…
It’s been a little quiet around here, lately, and I apologize for that. This past week has been crazy between packing for my trip to Costa Rica, helping organize a bar night fundraiser for my team’s 3-day Walk for Breast Cancer (please donate here if you’re so inclined), and celebrating my impending doomentry into spinsterhood 25th birthday. I kid, I kid. I’m very excited to be turning a quarter-century old. I’ve learned a lot in the past two-and-a-half decades, even more in the past 2 years, alone. I feel 25. I embrace 25. I’m ready to be 25.
Am I where I thought I’d be in life at this age? Heck, no! And I couldn’t be happier for it.
Anyway, I wanted to give a blog shout-out to A.J. Rathbun, but this time for Amazon.com’s Al Dente blog. AJ is a kitchen buyer at Amazon and contributes to their fabulous kitchenware/cooking blog. He was so kind as to give my blog a shout-out on there, and linked to that gorgeous Kirsten Lepore film I’ve talked about. Check it out!
All right, I’m off to get fabulous and drink wine and eat Italian food at Pomodoro with some of my closest friends. Ciao bellos!
Are you a curry newbie and can’t seem to remember how to distinguish between green, yellow, and panang? Check out All The Curry, a site developed one night by friends Brendan and Justin. The website is a one-trick pony, but does so engagingly well. With a striking graphic of 5 different curries (green, massaman, red, yellow, and panang), you can scroll over each for an explanation and evaluation of flavor. Mmmm… those tubs of curry are giving me a craving.
Also, I recently joined the world of Twitter for the food-blogging gig. You can follow me at @keynotesbecca, if you’re Twitter savvy. Which leads me to my next thought, this: Twitter on Paper. Ingenious. And very tongue-in-cheek if you think about it. The creator of the site, which launched yesterday, will literally take your chosen tweet, write it down in some artful manner, and mail it to you. For free. For the cost of exactly nothing, he will make you a beautifully designed paper version of your tweet. I’m entirely entertained by this idea! I think it’s endearing and a totally welcome harbinger of the whole technology-backlash I envision taking place sometime soon. But more on that later… I need to eat.
If needing this is wrong, then I don’t want to be right. photo by Matt Armendiaz via mattbites.com
It’s been a busy week, so apologies for the lack of updates. Instead, to add a little spice to your Friday, I thought I’d offer a bit of cookie porn. Mmmm… just look at that dulce de leche and powdered sugar. Imagine the crunch of that buttery sweet cookie on your tongue. If that’s not love at first bite, then I don’t know what is.
This sensual siren of a confectionary treat is an alfajores. I was first introduced to this sweet by my best friend, Vanessa. Her mother used to make it for her by the dozens, and when we lived together my first year in Boston, I would be all over that tin of goodness like white on rice.
If you want to make them for yourself, you can find a recipe by the fabulous food-photographer-cum-blogger, Matt Armendiaz. Check out his site, it’s definitely one of my favorite food blogs out there. His pictures are breathtaking and his personality can be described as positively joyful.
Now, alfajores are perfection without needing to make any changes. However, I’ve always wondered what they would taste like if you made the cookie part chocolate. Or added a layer of raspberry jam along with the dulche de leche in the middle. If you try these, and doctor them up a bit– please let me know!
So, I’ve already given a shout-out to AJ Rathbun in a previous post on this blog. But, I couldn’t resist giving him another. This week, AJ came to visit us in Boston. He had two appearances in the city, one on a morning news segment and the other at an anniversary party for How2Heroes. For both, he was mixin’ up some fine wine cocktails from his new book (aptly titled) Wine Cocktails.
AJ mentioned to me that he recently returned from a vacation in Italy. Now, knowing my obsession with all things Italian, I immediately demanded he tell me all his stories. After regaling me for a while at the lunch table, AJ directed me to his site Spiked Punch. That night when I returned home, I spent a good hour-and-a-half pouring over his blog, transfixed by the way he describes his adventures, experiences, and (perhaps most importantly) drinks. A veritable cocktail expert, his knowledge is astounding. I’m composing an entire catalogue of ones I just have to try! Add to that his witty, energetic, and entertaining writing style, and you, my friends, have a must-read. His posts on Italy are making me crave things I never knew to crave: like a bottle of the elusive Viparo that he writes so passionately about.
Check it out! And don’t hesitate to leave a comment for AJ, he’s incredibly friendly and always up for a good debate about bitters!
