"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.

Happiness is Your First Salad Spinner

I know it sounds silly. But, I'd never had one before. And now that I do, my life is forever changed.

Spin Class (caption and photo via Sidekick)

Here's the thing. I have always loved to eat vegetables. Always. When I was a kid I routinely chose apples and berries over cake and cookies and I will always choose pickles over - well, most things. So when I say to you that I really like to eat salad, please do not gawk. Or balk. Or... ruffle. I like to eat salad as a counterpoint to something deviously rich and luscious. Like a bowl of cream-rich bisque, or a cheeseburger with pimento cheese on top, or a piece of mushroom and green chile pizza, slicked with a thin layer of orange grease that drips down your wrist while you eat it.

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.

Excellent News

via NY Food Museum

Great news via the NY Food Museum's Twitter:

10th Annual Pickle Day Sun 10/17/2010 - pkg lot at Broome/Ludlow - NYC Lower East Side. FUN. FREE. FASHIONABLE, sort of. Filling, anyway.

The beautiful Jordi Gailard with a Pickle-on-a-Stick, wedding style.

Last year's Annual Pickle Day was where I had the good fortune to meet the guys from Horman's Best, who just so happened to have supplied all the pickles for our wedding. These guys, aside from being incredibly friendly, make a spicy-sour pickle that will knock your brains loose in your head. That is to say, they're delicious.

You can find Horman's at the DUMBO farmer's market on Sundays, up in the Hamptons on occasion (not my department) and also just outside the West 4th street stop in Manhattan on Carmine street & 6th ave.

See you at Pickle Day? You know I'll be there.

Greatest. Wedding. Marker. Ever.

Powerful Evidence That I Should Move to Canada

Uh, YUM.

via Eatocracy

Conversations with My Husband About Dinner: Cast Iron Skillet Chicken Edition

3:33 PMme: I actually have a bunch of work to do. Whatever, it will make this already crazy fast day even faster. Then it's you, a chicken and our cast iron skillet.

3:34 PM Sean: Indeed.

  Do you need anything else from the store, or is it just the chicken?

  We have broccoli and some tomatoes.

3:35 PM me: Nope, just chicken. I may have already formulated a plan for other things.

 Sean: Awesome!

 me: i.e., cheddar garlic grits and butter-braised cabbage and broccoli.

 Sean: Cause I want more snickerdoodle ice cream, which I might just cash in on.

  WHOA!

 me: Yeah.

 Sean: WHOA_OA_OA.

 me: Ha ha ha.

 Sean: Fuck me and call me Sally.

3:36 PM me: Now you're just hamming it up for the blog.

The end.

When Being Called a Jerk is a Really Good Thing

After my Sidekick and I tied the knot, we returned back to Brooklyn for a few-day decompression period before heading back to work. We lovingly titled this time Brooklynmoon.

Our brief but excellent Brooklynmoon was great for lots of reasons, but one of them is that we got to spend a few weekday afternoons doing whatever the hell we wanted. For my Sidekick and I, this meant mostly eating and drinking. On the list was a long awaited visit to the Brooklyn Farmacy & Soda Fountain on Henry Street.


Little known fact: My Sidekick is CRAZY for egg creams. CRAZY. And Brooklyn Farmacy's egg cream, with U-Bet syrup and clocking in at $2.50 made him VERY happy.

For those of us less inclined to drink fizzy milk, I can attest to their cherry lime rickey being very delicious. The cherry syrup has to be made with sour cherries as it is tart, juicy and smacks of homemade-ness. The Sidekick and I split a slice of plum and nectarine pie, too.

We were prepared to get the check and call it a day, until our soda jerk chatted us up. "Did you see the daily special? It's grape soda." I don't know how to spell the noise of the turntable needle getting knocked off the record, but if I did, that's what I'd use here. I LOVE grape soda. Needless to say, we split one of those too.


The co-owner came by to chat with us for a bit. We mentioned to her that we'd poked our heads into the space while her brother (the other owner) was still renovating and wasn't really sure what to do with it. The space was mostly abandoned by its previous owner, leaving a kind of time-capsule to old-timey pharmacies behind. She told us the amazing story of opening, chronicled (totally by happenstance) by a Discovery Channel show called Construction Intervention. Turns out the building had some serious structural issues and that it was kind of a miracle they'd been able to open at all.

We ended our trip to the Farmacy by loading up on sundries. Coffee, pickled fiddleheads and a bottle of Brooklyn-made ginger syrup that my Sidekick has been looking everywhere for.


Welcome to the neighborhood, Farmacy. We know it wasn't easy, and we're really glad to have you.

Brooklyn Farmacy & Soda Fountain
513 Henry street
Brooklyn, NY 11231
(718) 522-6260

Conversations with My Husband About Dinner: The 10:32am Edition

via The Wednesday Chef

10:32 AM me: Okay. I have a confession.

I'm already thinking about dinner.

Sean: HA!

What of it?

10:33 AM me: How do you feel about this (http://www.thewednesdaychef.com/the_wednesday_chef/2010/07/toast-and-a-summer-break.html) with an egg on top and ditalini mac and cheese? It should be clear this means we don't have to buy anything.

10:34 AM Although it also requires turning the oven on, so maybe I'm turning on it.

Sean: Ha ha ha ha!

Nothing to buy?

Not even an avocado?

Or more cheese?

me: We have a half in the fridge, which I feel like might be enough if we're also putting a fried egg on top.

10:35 AM Maybe we need more cheese. You might be right.

Sean: Yeah.

And 12 limes.

me: Oh, I see.

Sean: And I'll be getting a bottle of white rum.

And I will make Falernum.

And, scene.