All the Mushroom Secrets

Because good things always come in threes, let's round things out with a third video in a row. From the guy who brought you Plum Jam, please enjoy Mushroom Foraging with Nik Westacott.

Foraging and cooking Wild Mushrooms from www.carlpendle.com on Vimeo.

You just try to tell me you don't want to eat mushrooms out of a frying pan in the woods with Nik Westacott. I want to do that AND bring a bottle of ale and ask Nik to tell me everything he has ever known.

I'm dead now. This Carl Pendle guy has really got my number.

Bringing a Community Together

Well, DC Central Kitchen just made me feel feelings. The opening shots will make you hungry. The rest will give you goosebumps.

Healthy Corners from DC Central Kitchen on Vimeo.

Food deserts. We hear about them often. We hardly ever see them. We certainly never think that they could be plunked down in the middle of some of the most metropolitan cities in America.

There are a few amazing things about this video: 1) It's gorgeous. 2) It highlights a community helping itself in a powerful, practical and simple way to profound effect. 3) Not nearly enough people have watched it. Please help me spread what DC Central Kitchen and Healthy Corners are doing like wildfire.

Avocado Musses Easily

Last week marked a year of recipes from A Book of Hors d'Oeuvre. I have come to terms with the fact that this project is going to take much longer than I expected. Sometimes life gets in the way. Sometimes, no matter where you look, you can't find a tiny mold in the shape of a fish to stuff with aspic and parts. Sometimes, you just don't want to eat any more toast points.

Which is what makes today's recipe really special: it requires no molds, no toast and very little effort. The ingredients are not particularly exotic. And that's what I really want to talk to you about today. Avocados.

The Way Marcella Told You to Make It

I remember cotton candy. I remember one of my little hands in my mother's milk-soft hand and the other in my father's leathery baseball mitt hand. I remember white overalls with paint splotches on them. Wearing pig-tails that fell into ringlets. I remember running toward something, the zoo or State Fair, a spectacle larger than my brand new brain could understand. I remember being swung back and forth by my arms through the air, and my parents being really excited to show me something. But most of all, I remember cotton candy.

Seriously. These are your ingredients.

This is one of my first memories. And one of my favorites. I have no idea how old I was. Maybe three? It stuck with me. I totally abandon all culinary principles in favor of cotton candy every time. There is a picture of this moment somewhere. **(Update: Not just somewhere, after the jump! Thanks, mom!)** Even if it were lost, it's been permanently burned into my cortex.

This is Really Mac and Cheese

We haven't really talked about this yet.

This is what it should look like.

There are few reasons for this:

Grumpiness, Meat and Gratitude

Sometimes you have bad days. Sometimes, you have bad days that follow other bad days, that have probably been piggy-backed by other bad days. Sometimes you are in a funk cloud that you can't get out of. If you are lucky, from this final, funky, cloudy, grumpy, bad day, you come home like a ravenous monster to your husband (or Sidekick) standing over this.

And then you feel pretty insanely lucky. Lucky to have him. Lucky to have the giant porterhouse he brought home searing in the cast iron skillet. Lucky to have two Manhattans waiting. Lucky to have a tried and true old MacBook in the background to write on, especially upon hearing the news about Steve Jobs. Lucky to been have brought up as a Mac nerd from the get-go. Just lucky, all around. So, from one lucky jerk to another, go do something awesome. And maybe eat a fucking steak. It will definitely make you feel better.

Learn to Steal

Sometimes I run out of ideas. Sometimes, I feel like I make the same soup, stew, roast, braise in different variations over and over again.

 

And then sometimes, benevolently, someone will invite me to dinner at their place and inadvertently give me something to steal. Which is exactly what happened when some of our dearest friends invited us over for a Feast of an Indeterminate Amount of Fishes.

"Dude, People Like Pictures" - Sidekick

At his urging, some food porn for you.

Dear pepperoncini ranch, I love you. xoxo: Rebecca

First, long-overdue run-down on our Brooklynmoon trip to Roberta's. Guys, I've been kind of a bitch about Bushwick. The above chicken nuggets (dark meat only, thank you) with pepperoncini ranch have really changed my tone.

There was also guanciale and egg pizza. Look, I'll eat guanciale on anything. It's face bacon. What on earth could be bad about that? Also, their tomato sauce is bright, sweet and tastes like... well, tomatoes, which isn't always the case. But here's what's really special, that egg yolk? The beautiful yellow one with the charred crispy top? Was STILL RUNNY on the inside. I don't know how this was accomplished, but I want to eat it again.

Oh, Good Morning - You Should Read This

Here are some things I really like:

1. Food
2. Dramaturgs Who Make Fun of Themselves
3. The Awl
4. Farmer's Markets
5. Grapes

via The Awl

This article, by Jaime Green, includes all five of those things delightfully and I think you should read it.