It was only early evening, but already conversation had taken a turn to the surreal. “So I thought, seriously, can there be any better way to spend a bachelor party than to go to Spain and run with the bulls?!†Continue reading
This Dinner Will Get You Laid – Clam Bake at the Beach
Posted in This Dinner Will Get You Laid
Tagged beach, clambake, Hamptons, littleneck clams, lobster, mussels, potatoes, shrimp, stars, wine
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The Wednesday Tipple – Hamptons: take 2. With Long Island Ice Tea and Shrimp with Pesto Butter
If you are lucky enough to have a friend who has an uncle who has a house in the Hamptons, then there are certainly worse ways to spend an afternoon than floating around his pool on a noodle, and gossiping with friends. Continue reading
Posted in The Wednesday Tipple
Tagged Angry Birds, beach, butter, cointreau, cola, gin, Hamptons, pesto, rum, shrimp, vodka
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The Monday Treat – Chicken with Tzatziki
Summer in New York brings with it a mass weekend exodus to the beach.
I’m not much of a beach person really, and I enjoy my weekends in the city – markets, visiting the latest ice cream truck, walking in the park, reading magazines on the Highline, wearing flip flops in Bergdorfs and not getting sneered at, coral colored $30 mani pedis, being able to get a table at Lupa etc.
But was this a case of ignorance being bliss? Continue reading
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Tagged beach, being a pedestrian, chicken, cucumber, Hamptons, mint, parsley, pitta, summer, tatziki
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This dinner will get you laid – Arabian Nights Salads, if you’re feeling hot
Just when we though it couldn’t be getting any hotter: 100 degrees.
100 degrees?
That’s just not reasonable.
People are shaving their dogs. Continue reading
Posted in This Dinner Will Get You Laid
Tagged cucumber, fattoush, feta, flatbread, olive, organes, pitta, prosecco, roses, salad, shaving dogs, summer, vegetarian, watermelon
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The Wednesday Tipple – Hilary’s Basil Bliss and Peaches with Basil and Proscuitto
It’s beyond hot in NYC, and even though this is my 5th summer here, I am still taken aback when I walk out of the air conditioning into the sweaty heat of the city.
The damage so far: One sunstroke, one case of prickly heat rash and two instances of the kind of sunburn that makes people wince to look at you.
I have taken to wearing a straw hat in public.
I’m not sure it’s helping a lot. Continue reading
The Monday Treat – Chocolate Sorbet
87 degrees and humid out in the city, it seemed like the moment to give the ice cream machine a whirl. Continue reading
Posted in The Monday Treat
Tagged 70's, chocolate, ice cream, ice cream machine, sobet, Vogue
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This Dinner Will Get You Laid – Confit of Duck (Part 2)
My good friend Kim is marrying her fiancé Justin this weekend, which is great for them of course, only what will fill the gaping hole left in my social life once all the showers, brunches, and lunches are no more? Continue reading
Posted in This Dinner Will Get You Laid
Tagged anticipation, Confit of Duck, delayed pleasure, five spice, honey, weddings
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The Wednesday Tipple – Lillet Blanca and Pommes Anna
There are places to go to in New York when you want to pretend that you are in Paris.
Jean Claude on Sullivan Street springs instantly to mind, Balthazar of course, and Pastis, which is where I met my friend Hilary for lunch, girl talk and drinking right up to the line of too much in the middle of the afternoon.
I was running late, very late, because I had decided to re-take up swimming and had severely underestimated the amount of time it would take me to do 20 lengths. Of course I wasn’t wearing my contact lenses for fear they would splash out into the water, so I couldn’t see the clock. Genius.
Harried, damp and disheveled I dashed into the restaurant to find Hilary relaxing with a drink. “I’ll have what she’s having.†It was Lillet Blanca. Continue reading
Posted in The Wednesday Tipple
Tagged butter, french food, lillet, pommes anna, potato, rosti, thyme
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Confit of Duck Part 1
Often, it’s great to be able to get dinner on the table with minimum fuss and maximum ease. Often, but not always. Some food requires a change of rhythm. Confit of Duck cannot be rushed.
So if you were thinking about eating it on Friday, which I am doing, today is the day to buy the duck legs and get them started. Continue reading
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Tagged bay leaf, Confit of Duck, delayed pleasure, duck leg, thyme
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The Monday Treat – Croque Monsieur (and metaphorical implications)
Bastille Day is almost upon us, which – ever happy to appropriate other peoples’ cultural celebrations in the cause of good food – I like to mark with some proper French cooking.
When I was 14 or maybe even 13, I was matched up with a penpal called Julie. We wrote to each other for a couple of months, then I and went to Paris for the first time in my life to stay with her family. Continue reading