BACON JAM

Has anyone ever had this? I found this on this cool blog called the Homesick Texan...

NOT YOUR TYPICAL SPICE CABINET...

    Why its a good idea to remember to close the cabinet doors ... Can you see that monkey in there? "Bean" is the devil reincarnated in the form of a really cute black jaguar house cat. His favorite activities include attacking my 20lb tuxedo cat "C" like he's a 10 ton water buffalo, drinking out of the toilet bowl, climbing on top of doors, playing fetch with twist ties, being too cute for his own good and smacking me in the face, claws out, when I am trying to give him kisses. Don't worry, while I most likely will be a crazy cat lady some day I will not expose you to those tendencies on this blog, but he was in the spice cabinet, so it is food related...

ONE FULL DAY

     Saturday night was the BLT party, and I ate over 20 pieces of bacon. Somehow I didn't need a triple bypass the next day, but you think I would give the digestive system a rest. But, Sunday ended up being the fullest day ever. Not just with food and drink but with lots of fun and strenuous activity. I started off the day with brunch with a friend at Egg in Williamsburg. I'd been wanting to try this place for a while but there is always a sick line for brunch. We met there early and were seated right away. I biked from Queens and my legs were dying within the first 5 minutes. It was probably all the bacon lard settling into my thighs.

    I think the waitress thought I was mentally retarded. I was trying to be conservative after all the bacon fat I had consumed, "just some fruit and a side of ... ham, please. Oh and hash browns?" But then I saw this amazing platter pass by and I needed to change my order to, "what is that guy having? Yeah can I have that instead?" The waitress was so unnecessarily nice about it. Like if she called me an idiot I would have deserved it. But she was a sweetie puff. So I got the craziest thing to eat after a night of 45 BLTs, Egg Rothko, and it was so excellent. It was a giant piece of brioche with the egg in the middle, smothered in cheese. Oh and bacon on the side.

    Can we get some eggs with those boobs? My girl got some scrambled eggs and maybe the best hash browns I have ever had in me entire life. It was like a hash brown ball, perfectly seasoned, crispy on the outside and warm and soft and delicious on the inside. Why did I send my order back?!?!

   After brunch it was time for Oysters on the Hudson. Yes, more Oysters, its that guy Henry Hundson's like 4000th Birthday or something. So we rode our bikes ALL the way to West 44th St. and the water from Brooklyn for some stellar Oysters and what else? Beer. 

    It was phenomenal weather to drink some beers and watch all the cool sailboats and ships go by. They had some crazy beer tasting going but the line was offensive so we just ate more oysters.

   A walk on the highline was followed by a pit stop at Hogs and Heifers where I met the man of my dreams. Why do I often times find myself saying, "Would you mind while I go and hit on that old man over there?"

   Isn't it time for more food? So we headed to the Chelsea Market to pick up a few things for dinner and then rode ALL the way back to Mid. Vill. Whoah was I going to die, but dinner needed to get served. We made a creamy mushroom sauce of chanterelles and oyster mushrooms, plus one good luck purple mushroom (can't remember what it was called) on top of fresh made fettucini pasta. The only thing that was missing was some fresh parsley and we got fresh parsley from the CSA this week!

 Oh well, with some wine and Greek Raki and honey as our digestif, it was a delicious way to top off one full day.

BRING YOUR OWN BACON

    So how can a bacon lover EVER turn down a BLT party? What?!?! NEVER! Winnie the genius behind Choice Cuts is the brains behind an annual Bring Your Own BACON, BEER AND BREAD Party. All I can say is as far as supper clubs go - Genius Squared! Remember way back when, I attended the HAPA Duck Dinner there, then a Dinner and Movie and now this! Can it get any better?     I arrived with two of my favoritest people in the world, Pate and Nicole and we had a blast, which started when I borrowed Mommy's stick car to drive the crew from Queens to Fort Greene and almost blinded poor Nicole with my jerky driving skills while she was applying mascara. The party was already in full swing when Pate got into the car. I don't know if everyone was giggling from hysteria or fear at my driving but they had to remind me of every stop sign. Got it guys! Pate approved of my driving only at one point when I stalled while a guy was passing in front of the car who Pate thought was "hot!"
    Since I'd been to Winnie's amazing loft before I knew the drill: after the strenuous 4 flights up, shoes off, and then it hit us: wafts of bacon breeze. What a way to welcome guests. Everyone was in a great mood in anticipation of their BLTs. Thats plural, it wasn't a just one BLT kind of night. I mean really, if I had to chose one sandwich to make it out of the apocalypse it would be the BLT. There is nothing wrong with this perfect sandwich. But Winnie took it to an entirely different level, it blew my mind. 

     The fun part was the do it yourself assembly table, where everyone stood around sampling bacon and chit chatting. 

     Not only were there over 20 types of bacon coming out the oven over the entire night to chose from, there were nine hundred types of bread, heaps and heaps of delicious crispy lettuce, mounds of too gorgeous to eat heirloom looking tomatoes, plus 4 different types of mayo! Good thing I had over 4 sandwiches so I could individually try each one. 

     There was a basil mayo, a roasted garlic mayo, an anchovy mayo, plus a plain homemade mayo that was a home run. My favorite was the basil mayo. WOW! Oh and there was a tomato chutney that was such a good thing to smear on, plus some radishes to freshen everything up.

    That's Amy. She works for Tom Cat Bakery and hooked up a lot of the bread. Plus, she took the pretty pictures on the website. I am sure you have seen their delivery trucks around the city with the big boy tuxedo cat logo, just like my dear little Calogero.

Yeah, thats bacon popcorn! It was a nice in between bacon snack.

    A lot of people say pizza is like sex, but I disagree, bacon is like sex. Bacon at any level is still good. I can't really remember ever having bad bacon. (I have had bad pizza, though.) 

   But before the BLT party I didn't know bacon could come in such variety! This was like a crazy bacon orgy. You could not choose just one because they were all so beautiful and tempting so a little here a little there and everyone was happy. What one lacked in saltiness, another made up for in crispiness. A little chewy, but very smokey. A little fatty, but nice and thick. It was all good, just shovel it in. I kid you not I easily ate over twenty pieces of bacon that evening.
    After a while, the bread was kind of getting in the way of the bacon marathon; too filling and we needed more room, so Pate, the asian that he is, invented the Thai bacon wrap.

    Oh yes! A little lettuce, some mayo, tomato and don't forget the best part and we were easily pushing thirty strips.
    I know, all this bacon talk, did we drink anything? Yes we drank bacon!!! Don Lee, drink wizard made bacon infused cocktails with Maker's Mark. I was the designated loser that night but I gave one of those baby's a test drive. Very nice. I could easily have gotten tipsy very quickly sucking those sweet drinks down. It was a well made cocktail. Cheers to you Mr. Lee!

   And thanks again Winnie for another successful and wonderful party! I cannot wait for the next one!

KALE AND LEEK FRITTATA

    The frittata. The kale and leek frittata. So simple, but this one took so long. There are a few steps, one involving cooling the sauteed green before mixing with the eggs, the other remembering there is cheese in a frittata so you don't have to run out and buy some with the oven on waiting for that sweet frittata to start baking. 

    So I sauteed some leeks and garlic in lard. Yes lard, its excellent for sauteeing greens. Then added some peperoncino and the kale. A little salt and pepper, until the kale is soft. Cool the kale. In a bowl beat eggs, cream or milk, pecorino romano cheese, salt and pepper. Add the kale to this. You have to eyeball this. You might be left with some extra kale. Or if you don't have enough it will be an eggy frittata, but thats okay. I start the cooking off on the stove top in Grandma's cast iron pan, then after a few minutes I pop it into a 350 degree preheated oven for about 20-30 minutes until the eggs are firm in the middle but not overly dry. 

    Enjoy with a nice piece of Italian Bread and maybe a fancy salad on the side with some orange wedges. Oh and beer? How did that get into brunch? Oh well, it was nice.

OYSTERS AND BEER AT JIMMY'S NO. 43

    God I'm glad I started loving oysters. All I can say is mmm salty slimy goodness. So apparently this guy Henry Hudson was named after this river or something and its like the 400th anniversary or something. All I heard was oysters and beer. 

   Oyster Night at Jimmy's No. 43 was to support Slow Food NYC with $4 plates of 3 Oysters and $5 Ommegang (those are Dutch) beers. We got a brochure from Sea Grant that explained shellfish aren't only good for your taste buds because (I am plagiarizing this is right from their brochure): as filter feeders they improve water quality and species diversity and shellfish aquaculture is sustainable and good for the environment. Read more here.

   I like Jimmy's No. 43, it was dark and underground with a warm feel and antlers everywhere. The good intentioned wait staff was not prepared for the oyster craziness, and they ran out of the fixins, cocktail sauce and lemons, but these Peconic Bay Oysters were good just like that.

   I tried a bacon wrapped oyster. What a waste. I might as well have just eaten bacon straight, not a problem, because I didn't taste any of that oyster inside.

   We got a really yummy soft goat cheese with apple and peach salsa and not enough delicious bread.

   And a mild radish salad. We get these insane radishes from Sergio the CSA farmer and these just were not up to par for me at least in the spicy department.

   For dessert, a warm bread salad, nice flavor but on the dry side, with cold creamy dipping sauce that needed to be warm in my opinion.

   We were there for oysters and beer and we got some delicious oysters and beer then went and got more beer. Good night.

MOZAREPPA - WTF!

    After a fun cyclones game, (I think they lost but they give out these crazy balloon bats everyone smacks together like maniacs) it was time to eat and on the boardwalk we spotted these strange things called mozzareppas. Its a mozarella cornmeal cake. I think I had enough GMOs for the day so I passed. Has anyone every had one of these suckers? They are probably delicious but not recognized by the body as actual food.

Rocco's Birthday...and his rap video

    Rocco has been a major cranky pants since he came home from Sicily. Why? I don't know. My mom would say he's just being a curmudgeon. So we figured we'd throw him a little party for his birthday in my new apartment in Mid. Vill, Queens, home of every major cemetary in the tri-state area. 

    It was a lot of fun, Mommy, my brothers, Nonna and Cousins Pino and Roseanne came. Pino actually starred in a rap video with Rocco. Oh you didn't know that Rocco is a famous rapper? Well watch this video. You will be very happy you did. HERE'S THE LINK IF ITS NOT SHOWING UP HERE...

As for Rocco's Birthday menu, Mommy cooked up a storm as usual. She made her famous:

breaded shrimp with parsley, 

chicken cutlets (no THE BEST CHICKEN CUTLETS), 

a string bean and potato salad with red onion and,

the most delicious sausage and potatoes I have had in a while and trust me my life is not short on sausage-eating. 

Some sweet Long Island Corn (pronounced in guidonics: Lawnk Eyelint)

I made bread salad, a regular green salad and for dessert I made a Pineapple Upside Down Cake but instead of those corn syrup red cherries I put some fresh blueberries on top. Nice.

    And Roseanne, who lives in the most Italian area of "the Other Brooklyn" a neighborhood called Bensonhurst (more on "The Other Brooklyn" in another post) brought this giant platter of Italian Cookies. 

    These darn cookies are insanely delicious, all almondy and now in my freezer for when I have impromptu guests. Right, it just ends up being me eating these sweet frozen angels when I get home late!