Author: cia

  • When trying to figure out our September apple menu for Supper with Strangers, I naturally turned to pork because pork and apples make a good combination. A more recent New York Times recipe featured duck and figs that looked very autumnal and just made me feel warm and fuzzy all over. Duck breast was out…

  • 110 East 7th Street between First Avenue and Avenue A 212/777.2151 $9 for a pork sandwich, without tip ♥ For Italians, porchetta means boneless pork roast that’s moist and juicy. Chef and co-owner Sara Jenkins doesn’t stray away from that definition: my $9 pork was no joke. The meat was shiny; its own fat glistening…

  • When I try to cook something and it comes out of the oven fragrant and then it actually tastes good, I always wish I baked more. I got my hands on some ripe and bruised peaches today. I knew they wouldn’t hold even if I just ate them with yogurt for breakfast, so I thought…

  • I’m spending the last weekend of the summer in Montauk and I wanted to make a salad last night that evoked that warm-but-chilly late afternoon air. We opened a bottle of wine and divided the duties in the kitchen: the Dr. cranked up the grill while I stayed indoors to prepare the side dishes. Earlier…

  • Soondooboo is Korean for the tofu that doesn’t go through the process of compression. It’s soft, silky and slushy, and dear lord, it’s the perfect spicy stew after a long day under the hot, beating sun. Soondooboo chigae, or soft tofu stew, is usually made with minced pork or clams and then flavored with garlic,…

  • I couldn’t ignore the beautiful photograph that accompanied Amanda Hesser’s recreation of a 1948 tomato preserve recipe in The New York Times Magazine last month. I cut the recipe short and marinated the tomatoes in sugar for only a few hours instead of overnight. I didn’t seed the tomatoes either, nor did I remove the…

  • 163 First Avenue off 10th Street https://reservations.momofuku.com/ about $300 for two, with beverage pairings, without tip ♥ ♥ ♥ I was so busy at work last week that I didn’t even have time to be excited about our upcoming reservations at Ko. When Cameron told me she wanted to take me out to thank me…

  • It felt great to be cooking in the kitchen again. After a summer hiatus, I signed the usual group up again for my omakase bento lunches. A day out in New Jersey playing $40 buy-in volleyball with some friends got me a slightly twisted ankle, so I couldn’t really stand too long to cook something…

  • I’ve stuffed goat cheese in squash blossoms before but we want to be more creative and adventurous with our Supper with Strangers. When Cameron and I sit down (and drink) to plan our monthly menu, we immediately think of the more well known dishes and try to cross them off our list. When we came…

  • 306-308 East 6th Street on Second Avenue 212/979.8787 about $200 for five, without drinks, without tip ♥ I’ve never heard of phaal until it made the Omnivore’s Hundred from verygoodtaste.co.uk. From that site’s must-eat list, I checked off 75 items that I’ve tasted and eaten. Among the other 25 is phaal, or phall, a South…

  • Paella seems to be in the news lately. Mark Bittman featured this vegetarian-friendly recipe a few weeks ago and I took note to recreate it for our August Supper with Strangers. Over the long weekend, a grilled version was featured in the Sunday Times Magazine. I had time to test Bittman’s recipe, but I found…

  • 81 Lexington Avenue corner of 26th Street 212/684.7755 about $45, with one drink, with tip ♥ The Dr. remembered a suggestion he received from one of his co-workers for some dosas in Murray Hill but the name escaped him; all he knew was that it was long and unpronounceable. Luckily we caught a glimpse of…