Category: Personal Blog

Foie Gras

I love foie gras
I never eat it,though.What I eat instead is pate champignon…the poor woman’s version-I guess.
Speaking of cheaper alternatives, I absolutely can’t stand that stuff they call mousse, as in pate mousse or whatever.It usually can be found in the higher end markets right next to the pate in a little tub with a seal of aspic covering it.
Call me immature but that really grosses me out!
The best foie gras I ever ate was at Le Cirque…the portion I received probably cost 25 dollars.I wasn’t paying and so I chowed down.

Second best was at Cafe des Artistes .My grandma and her late husband Charlie took me as a celebration for graduating SVA art school(college).
It is thanks to my grandmother that I know anything at all about fine food,though she is also obsessed with people being too heavy–so the two interests clash from time to time and mostly over the size of my ass.She is a fineboned bird-like creature.I am the spawn of Irish and Russian(erEastern European) peasant stock.And when I say peasant do you picture me laboring in the fields?I don’t do that anymore! But still, I am nobody’s little flower.
I also owe my dad some credit-for teaching me the value of cooking for yourself.
When I used to work with my dad we spent many hours talking about our shopping for good food ingredients and recipes.My father is a very good cook and I wish he would include in his books more of his recipes-or at least write a book based on his recipes alone.
I think it would go over really well.

Shopping in Brooklyn

Ah,Brooklyn …
you have everything a girl needs.
You even have a Macy’s.
But this Brooklyn Macy’s doesn’t quite stack up next to the mega one on 34th street in Manhattan.
It’s sole advantage is that it is in Brooklyn.
I live in Brooklyn and like a lot of Brooklyn-ites-I tend to want to shop nearer to my home.
Brooklyn shopping will invariably lead a shopper to Redhook.
This means I have to take the B61 bus ,shop,turn around and lug whatever it is I’ve purchased back onto the same bus and carry it home.Yeah yeah, we all have to do this,we being the carless.
Redhook now has a massive grocery store called Fairway.I heard it will soon have an Ikea and that means I will be there almost once a week. Some people look down on Ikea, they think it’s cheap(meaning products are shabby and flimsy) .
I love Ikea because it is cheap.I really don’t see the value in buying something that will fall apart in a few months,though. I know for a fact that the goods Ikea provide aren’t that kind of cheap,however. They are sturdy and longlasting and lowpriced.
Take for instance the store West Elm: their stuff looks a heck of a lot like Ikea’s stuff–and so does Crate and Barrel’s .The difference is that it all costs more and isn’t Ikea!
That’s all the difference I’ve been able to discern so far.
The fault of Ikea being seen as cheap lies with snobby people dismissing a store because it started out in the USA catering to poorer people or bargain lovers or to college kids.
I’m pretty sure Ikea isn’t still promoting itself the same way it was 10 years ago but you know snobs, they have long memories.
I was just in Crate and Barrel and noticed they too name their products. You know that Ikea does this,right? A side table is a Joorgen or something like that.A drinking glass is a Duka( I am making up these names) and etc.
C&B doesn’t seem to name everything like Ikea names everything but it names almost everything…but a peppermill will go off as simply a peppermill instead of a Willem.
Ok.

FoodShopping in the boonies

Fairway vs.Fresh Direct

Living in my neighborhood has it’s drawbacks… local food shopping is limited to 2 stores:
Associated and Bravo.
Associated has lately included a larger selection of organic produce and frozen packaged foods.Not that I am into Organic so much as fresh.

The bane of my existence truly is a store that cuts corners with freshness in it’s produce.
I’m talking about soft potatoes and onions covered in bitty little flies(gnats?I don’t know).
Which is pretty much what you’ll find at my closest market,Bravo.Although to throw them a bone they do tend to always have fresh herbs like cilantro and thyme and parsley on hand…even if their tomatoes are kind of sad!

So even though I said a good cook should be able to make do,she shouldn’t have to deal with soft onions and potatoes and sad tomatoes.right?

This is where the 2 stores Freshdirect and Fairway come into the picture.
Long ago are the days that I could walk out my front door and have a multitude of farmer’s markets and the best meat store ever,Big Apple Meats(40th and 9th avenue) home of the 9 dollar filet mignon 4 pack, to shop in.

I’m talking about the old days when I lived in Hell’s Kitchen.If I missed The Big Apple(they closed at 7 pm) I could always get to Western Beef on 14th and 9th–even if I did have to pass rather fancy folks in outdoor cafes to get there.At Western Beef one could buy an entire filet mignon in a cryo bag for around 25 dollars.

Now that I live in Fort Greene and on the edges,to be honest,I have to be a lot less lazy and spoiled if I want to find edible ingredients for our meals.Which was how Freshdirect got my business.My problem with them is that they are expensive and especially with meat.But they deliver, on time for only 5 dollars and if you ever need to move, after a few months of steady delivery from them, you would be certain to have plenty of boxes! But due to their high prices-I’ve only ordered from them twice-months apart.

Fairway is one of those places that awes you with sheer selection.But you have to be careful not to go too crazy or you’ll be out 100 bucks easy when checking out at the register.And I wouldn’t count on them too much for good meat prices either, as they seem to fluctuate as often as a manic depressive’s moods.

So far for the financially restricted but discerning foodie,frustrated by meager selection and high prices, the best alternative is definately Trader Joe’s.
Located on 14th street and Union Square,they have quality and lots of it and I couldn’t believe how inexpensive their meat was.I know I go on and on about meat and money but really, the 2 are inseperable.If you love filet mignon as much as I and my boyfriend do–you too will be knocked out by their sirloin filets.And when I wanted an easy meal I threw into the oven the pre-seasoned boneless leg of lamb.It was absolutely delicious!And cheap.

Next door at Trader Joe’s wine store I was finally able to get my hands on 2 bottles of Guenoc’s wine.I’d bought a bottle of Petit Syrah at the winestore in Grand central a couple of months ago and hadn’t been able to find it again at any other store.I love this wine maker.I don’t know anything about them but that all their wine tastes really good-white or red-chardonnay or Cabernet and it costs 9.99 a bottle at Trader Joe’s wine store vs 15 bucks at the Grand Central store.

Any meal is enhanced by a glass of wine.

And it is even better if it costs 9.99!

I’ve heard of 2 buck chuck but wasn’t brave enough to try it.Although here in NYC it’s more like 4 buck chuck.

Simple Cooking

Simple can be good.

I like to cook kind of simply.If I have a roast I think it should be thrown in the oven with just salt and pepper and olive oil. I never cook things that require you seperate the yolk from the eggwhite–so I’d be thrown out of most high fallutin cooking circles right away. The simple way of cooking has never failed me.All that bell and whistle shit just makes it more possible for things to go wrong in my opinion.

For instance: roasting a chicken. I just put it in the oven after I rinse it with cold water, rub it with olive oil and salt and pepper and stuff it with some herbs and a bit of butter,no basting.
The chicken always turns out perfect.

I have a cook friend,Lou.He makes his living cooking in restaurants.He eats for crap when he’s home but he is a very good cook. He cooked for me and a few friends a while ago and I was expecting him to show up with a cuisinart or something.But he made do with my pathetic knives and pots and pans and the meal was delicious.
I tried to stay in the kitchen to watch but at the time my kitchen was as big as a bathroom so I didn’t want to crowd him.But I did pick up a few tips.

One: searing the meat before you roast it is important.
Two: you can fry greenbeans in oil and they will turn out fantastic.
Three: garlic roasted in the oven in it’s skin turns it liquid and sweet.You can use it as a condiment for the meal when it’s done.

Four:You need a good set of pots and pans!
Five: you need some proper knives!