Flavors 518

This weekend we headed down to NYC for a quick trip. Our friend Jacqui, co-owner of a wine bar we loved when we lived there Rest-au-Rant , is moving back to Berlin forever, and there was a farewell party for her. We felt that Jacqui herself and that particular establishment at a certain point in time was really important in our lives, so it seemed right to say good-bye. We had the Spanish sausage for an appetizer that was oven-roasted in red wine sauce and spices. It was fabulous. See full menu here . We had a couple paninis for old time sake too, because we always used to get them years ago. It was great being able to say good-bye to our friend, and another friend of ours, Megan, showed up. She's from Scotia, and of course in a Smallbany moment knows my friend Elizabeth who I met in a totally different way. A couple other people there were from the Capital Region. One talked about how much cheaper it would be to raise her kid if she moved back here near her parents, and anot...

Today I went to see Joy the Baker at her book signing at Brooklyn Kitchen in Greenpoint. It was ridiculously fun. Check us out: Check out her adorable message signed inside my book: I love her. I was on the fence whether to go or not, and I happened to watch the video on her about page again. I have got to say - the story about her dad and the pie crust gets me every time! Also "I hope you like it - I made it for you!" Ahhh! I just wanted to go so bad! I met some elderly women on the train who couldn't understand why I was on a trip by myself ( perhaps that is a generational difference ) and also could not understand me traveling a few hours to see a food blogger. "She has a blog." Then they said "Is she on PBS?" "No." "The Food Network?" "No, there is a blog." "So this is her first book?" "Yes" "But it is all desserts!" "That's not true, there are a couple of smoothies....

I took yesterday off of work months in advance to attend an author signing and cooking demonstration by Amanda Hesser for the Food52 cookbook. We woke up super early, drove to Poughkeepsie, took the Metro-North, took a cab from Grand Central, and made it to Sur La Table on 57th street just in time - just in time, that is, for their staff to tell us it was postponed because the store hasn't finished installing their kitchen yet. So unfortunate. What a let down! So we just killed some time hanging around Columbus Circle and then met our friend at Prune Restaurant for lunch at 1st and 1st. Scott had the sweetbreads with capers and bacon. I had the burger on an English muffin with Cabot cheddar cheese, and our friend had the skate with a lemon caper sauce. Hers also came with a potato slaw with some sesame sort of dressing with it. It was all amazing. A side view of the burger: We also had desserts: churros and a poached pear with brandy and creme fraiche. ...