r is leaving for australia for three months, so we had brunch on labor day. assuming that most places would be closed, i made popovers. i can’t recall ever having made them successfully before, so this time i wanted to get them right. of course, […]
sometime towards the end of last week, i got an email titled “corn is 4 for a dollar.” and right away i knew that this was an email i would like, because who doesn’t like emails about food? true, i was a little curious because […]
do you ever find that when you’re having a dinner party, and you’re finally sitting down to eat, you…don’t actually feel like eating? it’s one part adrenaline from getting everything done, and one part nervousness about people liking what you’ve made – especially when you’re cooking for people you haven’t ever cooked for. it’s not like cooking for friends back home, where you’ve already been tried and vetted. granted, i don’t think anyone’s going to be judgmental about just a dinner party, but when i do give one, there is always that competitive spirit that aims to impress, vying with the more social desire to feed people.
i think i’ve mentioned this before, but really, the best part of the dinner party for me is the cooking part; of course, when you cook something, somebody needs to eat it, so naturally it makes sense to invite some people over. and the social phenomenon of a dinner party really appeals to me: a group of people gathered around a table, talking and idling the evening away. take note of the table: it actually makes a huge difference, having now entertained for four years without one. it really surprises me just how much having the table matters – just having this physical thing that everybody is sitting around, and that you can rest your elbows on. (more…)
as my funds run out (i just parted with my tuition money – my first semester paid with money i earned all on my own!), i am still managing to fritter away money on my baking experiments. i guess i’ll just have to work more […]
i’ve been kind of grumpy lately, because i’ve been trying to figure out whether or not to take a semester off, but more, i suspect, because i’m starting to get homesick. don’t get me wrong, new york: i like you fine. even more than fine, […]
do you ever think about food as a puzzle? because sometimes i do. i don’t know if it’s because it’s some subconscious need to elevate cooking to some other level as a justification for doing it so frequently, or if it’s just because that’s the way my mind works; probably some combination. i mean, let’s face it: normal people don’t plan things out as thoroughly as i often do. i’m not a total nutcase, but i definitely have above average oc disorder.
problematizing (to use a fake archispeak word, sorry) food and cooking is basically the selfish part of why i like having dinner parties: getting to set a menu. i like this part of planning a dinner party so much that i probably derive a little too much pleasure from it. first you think about when you will be eating: is it going to be nice weather? what would you want to eat in that weather? how will people be eating, at a table or standing around, or just sitting on couches? because certainly you wouldn’t want your guests to have to cut anything while standing up unless they were all four-handed people, right? i’ve definitely never made that mistake before…er, moving on. (more…)
i haven’t done a lab report since high school chemistry (10 years ago!), so here you go. purpose/problem: i used to use the chocolate chip cookie recipe from nick malgieri’s cookies unlimited; however, as i stopped making chocolate chip cookies as frequently, i forgot the […]
ever since the new york times posted its definitive recipe for chocolate chip cookies, i’ve been meaning to do a taste test between those and our trusty standby, toll house. we all know i’m a sucker for taste tests; the best ones that come to […]
i’ve just returned from a lovely, languorous lunch at per se. initially i had doubts that i even wanted to try to go to per se; after all, i’ve been to the french laundry, and it seems that the two are not particularly different (especially given thomas keller’s extreme attention to detail). to me it has always seemed that per se is just the east coast outpost of the original. if i had to choose a place to go where it’s hard to get reservations, it would probably be momofuku ko. (a note on reservations: did i just luck out when i called babbo to make a reservation? i mean, i guess it’s a wednesday, but it’s at a convenient time and everything. i suppose it was three weeks later than i had been thinking to make the reservation.)
as fate would have it, one of jessica’s friends managed to get a lunch reservation. then they had someone drop out of their party of four, and voila, suddenly i was going to go to lunch at per se. why the sudden change of heart? well, at the end of the day, i really was curious to see if per se is different from the french laundry. and i also wanted to hang out with jessica, since i hadn’t seen her in a while. for those who are wondering how i can justify that much on one dinner, well, i really do enjoy eating food that is interesting and prepared with impeccable technique. much as i like to believe i’m a good cook, i’m really just a good home cook – i’ve got nothing on these four-star restaurants. and i know enough about food to know when the kitchen is doing something really spectacular, and with every posh dinner i’ve had (about once a year), it has been worth it. i think that what i’m getting out of the dinner is more than just food; it’s the opportunity to see what someone else is thinking about food: what it is, what it should be, and how you should eat it. i love high-concept food when it delivers, when a chef is thinking about a certain problem and that a particular dish is the solution to that problem. (more…)
it’s that time again: time for a random updating of my top ten favorite restaurants in boston/cambridge. these lists are always a little suspect because, well, what do i mean by top ten? i think that in this case, it’s a best-hits type of thing, […]