The first time I ever had cranberry relish was at a Thanksgiving dinner in Oklahoma. I have never been much of a cranberry person, but this stuff is great and a wonderful change from cranberry sauce. It’s tart, sweet, and refreshing. It’s super easy to make especially if you have a food processor, and it only has a handful of ingredients!!! It’s now one of my go to sides, and one of my co-workers even likes to eat it just plain!…
Brown Butter and Sea Salt Rice Krispies Treats
Sometimes I get cooking ideas from food TV shows or restaurants, but this particular idea came from a friend. She happened to bring these gooey, sweet, rice cereal treats with a slight hint of salt and nuttiness to one of our book clubs, and I couldn’t stop eating them. So much so, that I always asked her to bring them to get togethers and she was kind enough to share the recipe with me….
Bulgogi
I’ve made Bulgogi plenty of times and have had a bunch of success with a recipe mash up I’d created from recipes online, but my friend (actually Korean) sent me another recipe to try…
Nutella Rice Pudding
I know, I talk about NYC a lot, but it’s an easy weekend trip from where I live and the food is SOO good. One of my favorite places to grab a sweet treat is Rice to Riches in Nolita (North of Little Italy, I know I don’t get all the acronyms either). My favorite thing to get there is their Hazelnut Chocolate Bear Hug (see picture to the left, although that day, I decided to get it with a brownie crumble topping).
For those of you who haven’t been to Rice to Riches, it has a space-y, international kind of vibe. They have super cute take out containers that come with a matching perfect for scooping-rice-pudding-spoon. If you’re going for dessert, a solo is PLENTY for two people. …
Braised Short Rib Ragu
Whenever I’m in NYC and not sure where to grab a bite (I’m sorry, I get overwhelmed with all the options!!), one of my go to places for yummy either on the go or casual sit down is Eataly. If you haven’t been to one (there’s also one in Chicago), you should go. It’s a mix between restaurants, farmer’s markets, patisseries, and more. AND it doesn’t hurt that Mario Batali has a hand it in. The first time I went for dinner was to La Pizza & La Pasta. I had the braised short rib ragu with cavatelli pasta. I’ve been on a ragu kick ever since. The wine enriched sauce with the tender beef and the sprinkle of parmesan… MMM!
Fun Fact: The French Ragout and the Italian Ragu are derived from the same French verb ragoûter, meaning “to stimulate the appetite.” The introduction of the French food was thought to be during Napoleon’s invasion of what is now Italy. …
Not So Devilish Deviled Eggs
My first time making deviled eggs was around three years ago for a potluck party at work. I’m one of those people that waits until most of everyone has signed up to bring something so I can fill in the gaps (e.g. are there enough hot dishes, meat dishes, sides, desserts, etc.). Well, we were having a potluck during the summer, and there were mostly just salads, mains, desserts, soda, and paper products. I decided we needed an appetizer/side and deviled eggs came to mind. …
Talde – Brooklyn, NY
SO, I’m a sucker for food TV, especially Top Chef, and when I go on vacation or if Im traveling, I’ll make the effort to see if one of my favorite contestants has a restaurant nearby. Case in point, I was in a Brooklyn neighborhood called Park Slope, and saw that Dale Talde from Season 4 and the All Star Season (Season 8) had a restaurant there named Talde. OK, maybe I remembered that the cast of Life After Top Chef went to eat there, and yes, I watched that show too, don’t judge (^_^). I was SUPER excited to go, and there was no way I’d be convinced to go anywhere else (^_^). …
Eggs Benedict with Chipotle Hollandaise
Brunch is one of my favorite meals EVER and runny egg yolks make pretty much everything better, right? When I don’t feel like going out to a restaurant to eat brunch, I try to create a twist on my faves. For this brunch remake, I knew I wanted a twist on Eggs Benedict and I knew I wanted something with a little kick.
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Vaca Frita
I can still remember the first time I had Cuban food. I was in college and I was home for one of the holidays. My sister was RAVING about this small Mom and Pop restaurant named Rincon Criollo on Las Vegas Blvd near a few… questionable stores with a shady parking lot. Good thing we went during the day (^_^). I’m a little sad as I write this because Yelp tells me that it’s closed :(. Anyways, I fell in love with Vaca Frita (Fried Beef) and Maduros (Fried Sweet Plantains) that day. …
Decorative Balls Part III: Fabric Petal
To round out this Spring series of decorative balls, I give you the Fabric Petal Balls (^_^). These are super easy! Not as easy as the Twine balls, but way less time consuming than the hydrangea balls. They also give a little different texture when you put all of them together. …