eat make read

A few weeks ago Aaron and I made a trip up to Blue Hill at Stone Barns, a restaurant, farm and research center started by Dan, David and Laureen Barber. If you’re unfamiliar, Dan Barber is at the forefront of the locavore movement. This year he was named one of Time magazines most 100 influential people and won the Outstanding Chef Award by the James Beard Foundation. Basically he’s awesome and after visiting Blue Hill at Stone Barns, I’m ready for him to adopt me.

Blue Hill is a working farm, with trails and paths wound throughout the property, allowing visitors to view the gardens, animals and incredible scenery. We stayed pretty close to the barns, but saw baby turkeys, garlic being dried, sheep, a few farmers, bees and a whole lot of chickens among other things. It was a dreamy day, even with a quick rain shower. Beyond wandering the property, we were really there for the food, specifically an unforgettable dinner. Oh boy did we get one.

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Today’s happy hour is extra special. It’s not the usual cocktail, but more a recipe for how to eat yourself silly in San Fracisco. On our recent trip out west I fell in love with San Francisco. The food, the coffee, the people… I just loved everything about it. I’ve compiled a little recap of some of the highlights of this awesome city.

Chez Panisse
As soon as we booked our flight to San Francisco I knew we had to make reservations at Chez Panisse. I dutifully called the restaurant exactly one month before the day we wanted to dine and secured a reservation. We arrived in Berkeley early and wandered the quaint streets, even happening upon a little farmer’s market.

The restaurant is small and comfortable, intimate without being intimidating. Everyone was extremely nice and helpful. The menu changes daily and there aren’t any choices, you simply get what the kitchen is making that evening. Each course that came out was simple, yet full of flavor and each topped the next. From the most amazing, fava bean, fennel and spinach soups to a pork entreé topped peas and turnips to a mouth-watering meyer lemon and passionfruit ice cream dessert, I was in a happy, happy place.

To top things off, if you ask your waiter, you can tour the kitchen and meet the people who make your food. It was definitely a dreamy place and most certainly worth a trip to Berkeley.

Chez Panisse
1517 Shattuck Avenue
Berkeley, California 94709
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Ahhhhh… it’s hard to come back home when a trip is so good. And this trip was good my friends. I have so many tastes and places to share with you I can hardly wait. I tried my first burrito, had the most amazing coffee of my life and ate at some of the best restaurants in the country. But unfortunately it will have to wait a few days until I get myself and my pictures sorted out. It will be worth it, I promise.

I’ll be back the rest of the week with a tasty snack for you to try and I’ll end the week with the last installment of infusions… I hope you’ll stick around.

images above from the Ferry Building in San Francisco

I’ve always wanted to take a trip down south. This is a good excuse.

photos from the New York Times

I got an email recently from reader and fellow blogger, Shaheen asking for foodie places to visit when she comes to New York City. Hmmm, I thought. Excellent idea… There are way more places to visit than I even know about, but that’s what’s so great about this city. It’s always an adventure.

So here it is. A little collection of some of my favorite little gourmet shops, bakeries, cookbook stores and other gems. I’ve even created a handy google map for you, just click here.

Food Shops:
Murray’s Cheese
Oh sweet goodness! If I could move in I would. I love Murray’s because they have so much cheese and everyone knows everything about it. As an added bonus, you can also take classes and tours.

Despana
A cute little Spanish food shop full of specialty meats, cheeses and oils. They also serve tasty salads and sandwiches.

Dean & Deluca
I always try to stop in grocery store when I’m visiting a new place. I think it’s fun to see how different regions display their food and the different specialties they have. Dean & Deluca is the fanciest grocery store I’ve ever visited and is just pretty to look at. They carry many treats from the best bakeries and chocolaties in the city.

Essex Street Market
I have to admit, I haven’t spent nearly enough time here. It’s the home of Saxelby Cheesemongers, a cheese shop specializing in American cheeses and Shopsin’s. With food like that, it’s got to be good.

Union Square Greenmarket
There are Greenmarkets (Farmer’s Market) all over the city, but Union Square is the best one. It’s huge and you can find everything from local honey, flowers, tons of fresh fruits and vegetables to hand-spun yarn. It just makes me happy. Try to go on a Saturday as that’s the biggest day.

Chelsea Market
Housed in a converted factory building, Chelsea Market is home to the delicious bakery Amy’s Bread and one of my favorite local dairy’s, Ronneybrook Milk Bar. There’s lots of other shops to peruse and dream about new recipes to make.

Bakeries:
City Bakery
Anyone who thinks up a pretzel croissant is good in my book. Tack on a month of hot chocolate experiments and you’re golden.

Magnolia Bakery
They gained fame by being featured on Sex & the City, but they earned it. Their cupcakes are mouthwateringly delicious.

sugar Sweet sunshine
Really, you can never have too many cupcakes. Started by former bakers at Magnolia, sugar Sweet sunshine serves a mean cupcake.

The Doughnut Plant
Fresh doughnuts made with unexpected ingredients like pistachio and or peanut butter glaze with blackberry jelly. Sign me up.

Tuck Shop
It’s a tiny place, but what it lacks in space it makes up for in flavor. Savory pies with filled with pure goodness like the Thai Green Chook Curry Pie or a Lamb Shank and Vege Pie. Yum and more yum!

Sweets (other than bakeries):
Il Laboratorio del Gelato
Deeelicious handmade gelato that often comes in crazy flavors like honey lavender and green apple.

Pinkberry
Frozen Yogurt’s all the rage and Pinkberry seems to be leading the way. Customers wait in long lines to enjoy a cup of tangy frozen yogurt topped with fresh fruit.

Papabubble
Watch them make hard candy in crazy bright colors right in front of you.

Vosges
A few years ago they came out the the bacon chocolate bar. Ummm yeah. The shop is beautiful and is a welcome treat after a long day of shopping in Soho.

Coffee:
La Colombe
Their coffee is full of flavor and super delicious. They don’t have a menu and just serve the basics, no crazy mint mocha frappacino stuff.  Their iced coffee in the summer makes my day.

Joe the Art of Coffee
This place is not messing around. Attend cuppings or other classes about coffee. Of course you’ll get a perfect cup of joe if you stop by.

Cookbook Heaven:
Bonnie Slotnick Cookbooks
This is a tiny shop filled with random and wacky old cookbooks and a few utensils. Call before you go to make sure she’s open.

Kitchen Arts & Letters
I’m ashamed to admit I haven’t been here yet, but it’s definitely a destination. The largest store in America featuring only books about cooking and wine. So dreamy!

I hope you enjoyed the list and please feel free to add your favorite nyc food destinations in the comment section.

Oh sweet Bodega Bouza, how I miss you! After searching for really fantastic and unique food in Uruguay we hit the jackpot when we drove to a winery and restaurant just outside Montevideo. As soon as we drove down the driveway and saw the buildings, it was clear this was going to be a place to remember. The sky was blue and full of clouds, the vineyards were green and heavy with grapes and the buildings were luring us in.

Before we took a tour of the winery we sat down for a wine tasting and lunch. We tried three wines, a Chardonay, Tempranillo-Tannat and a Tannat. I have to note before I talk about the wine that I love the stuff, but am not an afficianado by any means. That being said, yum! These wines were tasty! I’d never had nor even heard of Tannat, but it was super tasty. My favorite was the Tempranillo-Tannat, a red blend that was bold and rich, but not heavy. As we tasted the wines we snacked on five cheeses from Uruguay, ranging from cheddar to brie. I enjoyed them all, but all seemed very young and therefore lacking a strong flavor and texture.

I started off with a salad of mixed greens, goat cheese and spiced honey. Let’s take a time out and dream about this salad… Ok, this salad was the rockstar of all salads. It probably doesn’t qualify as a salad in the healthy sense, but man oh man did it work. The goat cheese ended up being wrapped in crispy philo dough, then the whole thing was drizzled with peppered honey. Oh, the richness of cheese contrasted by the crisp shell paired with the sweet honey was a combination I’m looking forward to recreating. The greens were a great base for the salad and made me feel a little better about stuffing myself with cheese.

Our main courses came out and were absolutely beautiful. I had baby beef with a tannat sauce and crisp potatoes. The beef was perfectly prepared and practically melted in my mouth. The tannat sauce provided a nice sharp flavor to enhance the meat’s flavor. The potatoes were prepared in a way I’d never seen. It’s almost like they were peeled and then deep fried. Delicious!

We decided to give our stomach’s a break for a bit while we took the wine tour. We toured the building where the wine is made, all of which is done with super precise computer programs. Our tour guide showed us the vineyards which are different than the ones I’ve seen. All the vines have red rocks sprinkled below them that are suppose to reflect the sun and produce more heat for the grapes. The tour ended in the owner’s classic car garage which is filled with the coolest cars and motorcycles, from the Model T to cute little vespas.

After we’d walked the property a bit, we meandered back to the patio to enjoy one more course, dessert. There were many things that sounded tasty, but when I saw flan with dolce de leche there was no question what my choice was going to be. It was an excellent one if I do say so myself. The flan came out topped with a crown of cooked sugar and flanked by two dollops of dulce de leche. It was the perfect way to end an afternoon of overindulgence.

If you’re interested in Bouza Bodega, you may be able to try the wines for yourself, check here for suppliers. I highly reccommend the Tempranillo-Tannat blend.

After only a few days home I’m already devising ways to get to Oaxaca City, Mexico for a mole tour. My mouth is watering just thinking about it. Check it out here.

One of my favorite events from our trip to Uruguay was a cooking class at a farm just outside Montevideo called Granja San Francisco. As we pulled in we were greeted by the proprietor of San Francisco, Sergio Delpino. He gave us a nice tour of the event spaces, talked about the history of the farm and left us in the hands of Rafael, our cooking instructor.

Uruguay’s most famous cooking method is using the parilla, or grill, so of course that’s what we used. These aren’t just any grills though. The parilla is built into a brick wall with a basket for logs on the left wall and a large angled grill to the right of the logs. Our instructor, Rafael, spoke only Spanish so we had to have Aaron’s father translate the entire process. Luckily, slapping meat on a grill didn’t require too much conversation. Oh boy was there meat, at least enough for a party three times as big as ours. We’re talking chorizo, beef liver, beef intestine, chicken, prime rib and pork loin. We started out by salting the meats that needed it and then strategically placing the meats on the parilla. Meat that cooked quicker was placed farther away from the fire while meat that took a bit longer was placed closer. We brushed a chimichurri on some of the meats and let them cook away.

Meanwhile we sat outside with the lovely countryside in full view, sipping wine and munching on salami and cheese. It was pretty dreamy. Every now and then Rafael would come get us to flip the meat and disperse embers under the meat to seal the heat in. Then back to the patio where we were presented with more food like fresh bread and empanadas.

After about an hour on the grill, our first meat course which included chorizo, intestines and liver was ready. I tried them all and I’m happy to say the chorizo was delicious. Unfortunately, I just couldn’t get past the texture of the other two meats. Luckily we also had grilled provolone cheese in this fancy little ceramic dish. Of course that went down without a problem. As we sat there basking in the glory of good food and sunny weather, I kept wondering how I was going to make room for the rest meat we had on the grill.

I helped whip up a quick salad and then Aaron and I helped Rafael remove the meat from the grill. Next we moved on to the big stuff, the prime rib, the chicken and the pork. By this time it almost hurt to look at the meat, but where there’s a will, there’s a way. Perseverance paid off my friend. The beef and pork were delicious, tender and full of flavor. The chicken was some of the best, simplest chicken I’ve ever had. It was incredibly moist and flavored only with the hints of the chimichurri sauce.

Believe it or not, dessert followed. Unfortunately the dessert wasn’t nearly as flavorful as the meat, but what are you going to do? Rafael and our waiter ended the day by giving us a tour and much needed walk around the property. The farm was once a pig farm but now serves more as an event space, so half of the old pig barns have been converted to party rooms. It was great to see the transformation of the spaces.

Granja San Francisco made us feel right at home and made sure we had a great day. I think both Aaron and I left the class wishing it had focused a little more on recipes rather than completely on grilling technique. But if that’s all we have to complain about I think you can call it a success.

relaxing in uruguay: