Sometime to Return: Mac n Cheese w/ Cold Smoked Cheddar

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Daisy Glaze: Flank Steak Tacos

I don't normally do this, but time was tight, so I pricked the flank steak all over with a fork and then put it in a bag with the marinade which was made on the fly w/ beer, Tabasco Chipotle, Worcestershire, mustard, garlic, black pepper and I forget what else. I seared it nice and rare on the cast iron grill pan and made some pickled onions to go with it.

I re-thermed thin slices of leftover meat in stock enhanced w/ Cremini mushrooms sauteed in butter w/ herbs de provence. We made tacos with pickled onion, cilantro, orange tomato, lime and jalapeno. SO GOOD.

Pickled onions were quick made w/ spiced rice vinegar, a few splashes of white vinegar, some unfiltered cider vinegar, mustard seeds, tumeric, pickling spices, dehydrated onion, black peppercorns, water, salt and white cane sugar. I brought the brine to a boil (dissolved sugar), poured over sliced onions and let it set in the fridge.

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Book Club: New Fresh Horizon

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Embarrassing Moments: All About Chad

Tomorrow I will be grilling skirt steak, onions, peppers, tomatoes and whatever else I can get my hands on. I'd like to make a chimichurri. Anyone have a favorite recipe?

Here's a video I made for my friend Ben's band.

All About Chad
"Embarrassing Moments"

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Bonded to you: Bill Fox is Amazing

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Possession: A Spare Me Records Memory

Here's a tune we released on Spare Me Records way back when....in the 90s. I LOVE The Original Sins and Brother JT.

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Catherine Cares: Pete Ham Demo

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Transmetropolitan: A weekend of eating

It started Friday night with my double meat cheesesteak w/ cheese wiz and onions from Carl's while seeing "I Love You Man" in Kips Bay Then, Saturday we had a wonderful meal at Lomzynianka in Greenpoint.

On Sunday we went to one of our favorite brunch spots, Motorino in Williamsburg. We went recently with Hiroshi. After brunch, we went to Eddie's Sweet Shop in Forest Hills for sundaes!

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Life to Go: George Jones and Garlic

Some Chicken and rolls for dinner the other night. Seared the chicken, then added plenty of onion and garlic, a little bit of fresh Marjoram, salt, pepper, potatoes, carrot, a splash or two of stock, barely up the sides of the chicken and let it simmer. At last, some chives. The rolls had a little roasted garlic and rosemary olive oil added to the dough.

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Crossing Brooklyn Ferry: A Visit to Dumbo Caught on Cam

Yes, yes y'all...and we continue to do what we are doing without halting...

Eh-hem...The Wife and I traveled over to DUMBO and visited the Kings County BBQ Truck to pick up some food for dinner. The truck is set up outside the Brownstoner's Brooklyn Flea at its temporary winter digs. While we were in that neighborhood, we stopped at Jacques Torres to buy a few birthday gifts for The Wife's brother.

From the truck we bought a Burnt Ends platter (w/ wonderfully 'light,' clean and not-too-sweet beans, a tangy-peppery, broad-leaf-thick-cut coleslaw, pickles and bread) and a pulled pork sandwich. Both came with the slaw and pickle slices which were not the usual bread and butter style, but dill and refreshing w/ the meat and hamburger buns (their 'air bread').


The Burnt Ends, while slightly leaner than a classic cube of deckle, were tender little bites about 1/2" or so and gently smoky, with a thin gauze of sauce that was not too overpowering-- maybe their own juices and rub. We wound up splitting these for breakfast the next morning and basically skipped the bread and popped these like candy. The beans were cold, but not too tomato paste laden, or soaked in cloying sauce. They were sweet with good chew and a nice lightness.

The Pulled Pork was less to my taste, unfortunately, and could have had more smoke, rub and bark. That is not to say that it wasn't tasty, moist and nicely pulled into gentle tangles. This was heated up in sauce after being pulled-- again, the sauce was not so assertive to overwhelm the sweetness inherent in the rich pork flavor.

Chris, the main man, was completely affable and fun to chat with as he and his two cooks put out the food. He didn't even mind me poking my camera in the truck (or so it seemed). He was nice enough to also let us taste the collards (I had two bites at the end of the meal and was too full to taste) and jalapeno-cheese grits which I am eating now. Rich but not too heavy. The jalapeno cuts through nicely.

I will definitely hit these folks up again soon for another taste of their food and hospitality, their honky tonk tunes and more of their menu.

Kings County BBQ Website

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Burning Down a Snowflake: Snow-In Slideshow

Here's a view into a snowy weekend in Long Island.

Included herein-- sights of the sleepy seaside hamlet, and a Southern meal inspired by and featuring recipes from "The Cracker Kitchen" by Janis Owens to celebrate The Wife's birthday. A review of this gem of a book is coming soon. As always, you can see that Lois really got into the 'lounging' spirit.

The beautiful song accompanying the photos is "When I Blow" by Bill Fox, from his cd, "Transit Byzantium," on Spin Art Records.

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Dinner and a Movie: Monday Night Cooking on Camera

Here's a real quick video of Monday's dinner. I made some red sauce and penne, fresh baked rolls (made the dough in the bread machine), and green peas. Making the dough in the bread machine is so quick and easy-- leaving time to take care of other things rather than kneading dough, etc....Obviously, The Wife and the Cat were excited for dinner as you will see....

The music from Teenage Fanclub is the closing track on their cd, Bandwagonesque. I encourage you to buy it....

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Here's Where The Strings Come In: Nina Lalli out at Village Voice

File Under: confirming once again that I hate the Village Voice. Catching up with some news...According to MediaBistro, the Voice has released the ginchy Nina Lalli from her food writing duties. That was some of my favorite writing about food in NYC.

MediaBistro says that Ms. Lalli "will be replaced by Sarah DiGregorio of Chile Pepper magazine. The word is that the Village Voice wants to take their food coverage in a different direction."

We're not the only ones who noticed her absence--
Sound Taste misses Nina, too

In the comments on the Eater piece about this there's a fair amount of love shared, too.

Best of luck, Nina!

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A Picture of Dorian Gray: Cooking Ribs and Sausage on Video!

Here's a little video I shot this past weekend. We cooked spareribs and sausage just before the tremendous snowfall hit us.

You can also see this video on the ultra-swell WhiteTrash BBQ blog.



Music: Scott Walker, "Light."

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