February 2012
2 posts
3 tags
Hail Mary, Filled My Face: A Story of a Super Bowl...
Deviled Eggs
Guacamole
Buffalo Wings
Recipes follow story
I’d like to make a public apology to my friends:
Thank you for coming over for Super Bowl, I really love having my tiny apartment filled with the scent of wings and friends.
If you woke up mad bloated this morning, like me, which you probably did because we all ate the same food, then I’m terribly sorry.
...
2 tags
I'm Coming Out
Orecchiette With Broccolirabe, Broccoli Florets and Sausage
Jamaican Rock Buns
Jack Daniels Apple Cake
Recipes follow story
I’m not going to lie, I can’t, not here. I’m always honest in this space. I’ve been going through somewhat of a cereal eating, lay on my couch and watch stand-up comedy phase - while burrowed in blankets and protecting myself from the world.
...
January 2012
3 posts
1 tag
Braised Kale Risotto
Braised Kale Risotto
Recipe follows story
I’ve developed an anchovy obsession as of late. I can’t get enough of the salty goodness. I lap them in between mounds of manchego and tomatoes, sandwiching them between fluffy bread and pressing every last bit until cheese and anchovy oil are leaking out of every side of my hot and perfectly pressed panini.
Kale, kale is another one...
3 tags
Eggplant and Potato Curry
Eggplant & Potato Curry
Recipe follows story
Inspired by my gastronomic jaunt to Canarsie, and many amazing conversations with a few shop and restaurant owners, I prepared a Guyanese holiday dinner. The main portion of my meal was meaty, which wouldn’t necessarily work as two of my guests were vegetarians.
Orin Small, owner of Smally West Indian Market in Canarsie, gave me quite the...
3 tags
Eat Your Way to Good Luck
Black Eyed Pea Soup with Country Ribs
Recipe follows story
My mother recently informed me that my grandma used to make lentils with sausage as the first course to dinner on New Years Eve. I couldn’t recall this memory, and I thought I remembered every memory and moment of lentil consumption that involved my grandmother and other members of the Corrado clan. I can still hear all of...
December 2011
9 posts
2 tags
Drunken French Toast
Panettone French Toast
Recipe follows story
Christmas morning breakfast wouldn’t be complete without Panettone.
1st course: Struffoli 2nd course: Panettone
Rather rum with a bit of Panettone. My dad liked to hit the bottle early on Christmas Day. A drinking man he was not, but rum on his Panettone - well, he would soak the cake through.
Mom: J, stop it! Cut it out! No more! Dad: Ev,...
1 tag
The Return Of Hot, Sticky, Balls: A Neapolitan...
Struffoli
Recipe follows story
It wouldn’t be Christmas without a dose of hot, sticky, balls.
Struffoli are little flavor packed balls of dough that are deep fried, coated with honey, nuts and sprinkles. They’re traditionally served on Christmas and Easter, but the Corrado’s only made and consumed Struffoli but once a year. I don’t believe my mother liked cleaning up...
4 tags
Heaping Helpings Of Hot Pepperpot Stew: A Guyanese...
Hot Pepperpot Stew
Recipe follows story
I picked up this recipe for Guyanese hot pepperpot stew when I was out in Canarsie, talking to Smally, on day two of my visit to the neighborhood.
Hot pepperpot stew is made with a hodgepodge of meats onoins, garlic, hot peppers, fresh herbs and cassereep. Cassereep is an extract made from the root of the cassava plant and it has a molasses...
5 tags
A Taste Of Guyana
Brown Gravy Green Seasoning Coconut Peas and Rice Fried fish with green seasoning Fried Plantains
Recipes follow story
One of my biggest crushes in this life, bigger than my crush on Kate Winslet, Hugh Jackman and apple crumb pie a la mode …
Aubrey Leander DeSilva.
Who is Aubrey Leander DeSilva?
My first crush. Aubrey lived across the street from me and his house directly faced my back...
Marathon Cooking Weekend
Inspired by my trip to Canarsie, I cooked a dinner filled with new flavors. Two consecutive days in Canarsie, asking questions and getting to know a little bit more about two store owners, led me to securing some amazing stories and new lessons in food, flavor, holiday and everyday meals.
I didn’t leave with any recipes in hand, but I did garner lists of ingredients. I was told, were I to...
Day Tripping - Canarsie
Last weekend, I went back to my old neighborhood.
Once predominantly a community of Italians and Hasidic Jews, Canarsie is now primarily populated with immigrants from the West Indies.
I went back to Canarsie to scope out the scene and taste my way through some new flavors and some old favorites; beef patty on cocoa bread - I’m looking at you.
Canarsie is still as spread out as I remember it...
2 tags
Slaving for Soup
Split Pea Soup
Rich in memory are those places from the past that can never be revisited. -Rilke
Every Saturday, pretty much religiously, throughout childhood and my more formative teenage years, I would go grocery shopping with my mom and dad. Mom would leave to start her day of work at the bakery at 6:30am and got off at 1pm. Full of flour and wearing a Bread Box smock or a John’s...
1 tag
Excuse Me, Is That Dried Fruit In Your Chocolate...
Cherry-Chocolate Chip Cookies
Recipe follows story I have professed many times that baking is not my first love. At least baking cookies. We’ve slowly rebuilt our love over the past 18 months or so, but I’m still reluctant and scared. I don’t completely trust myself to not screw this up. We’re getting better, together, but we’ve a long road ahead. Baking...
1 tag
Thanksgiving came and went, and I’m probably the only person who has a food blog that wasn’t prepping all November long for the feast. All of the little food writers out in blogosphere covering their new finds, days of trolling for ingredients and how to’s on setting a pretty table.
Instead, I was hunkered down in my mom’s flannel pajama bottoms and my brother’s...
November 2011
9 posts
1 tag
Pasta A La Genovese
Pasta A La Genovese
A sweetness to flood the mouth with saliva and the eyes with tears. It might have been childhood we were eating. — The Last of Her Kind
This sauce was a real treat growing up. Maybe it’s because I can still picture my grandma scraping the bottom of the sauce pot and searching for onions that weren’t there, so she could spoon more goodness over our...
2 tags
'Tis The Season For Serious Soup Making, 2
Pumpkin & Acorn Squash Soup
This soup is the brain child of a large, uncarved pumpkin - and one too many acorn squashes I bought at the market. I don’t carve pumpkins. What was I thinking? I cook things, I don’t carve them. Often times I purchase food with the best intentions, and many of my meals come by way of items lying fallow in my fridge or on my kitchen counter. Much...
2 tags
'Tis The Season For Serious Soup Making, 1
Tomato Bisque
Recipe was adapted from Food Network Kitchens For this round of tomato bisque, I cut out the bacon and substituted the heavy cream for half & half. I love bacon. Life is better with bacon, but it’s not always necessary. I didn’t think this soup warranted bacon flavor/undertones, nor did I want it to be too creamy. Sometimes the overuse of heavy cream really...
3 tags
On Paying In Food, Love & The Need To Have A Fully...
Kale, Potato and Leek Quiche
Recipe follows story
While most food bloggers are basking in the glory of cooking Thanksgiving dinner and thinking of all of the fun new twists to put on old favorites, I’m catching up and writing about food I’ve made, prepared and shared over the past two weeks (while I watch my mother run around like a mad-woman. I’m not a mean food blogger - I...
2 tags
A Perfect Pasta Treat
Pasta Pie
Recipe follows story
On my way home from work, I gave my Uncle Louie a call. It was his son Matthew’s birthday. I was calling to send good tidings to the child - who really isn’t a child - as he’s 15 - and then ended up on the phone with my uncle for a bit.
Once my Uncle and I got past the pleasantries, medical updates - he was in the hospital, I was in the...
2 tags
You Have To Break The Spaghetti Like Grandma
Spaghetti With Cauliflower
Recipe follows story
When I called my mom, last Sunday, to do our mother daughter check in, I told her I was making spaghetti with cauliflower for dinner. The first thing she asked, are you going to break the spaghetti like grandma did?
Of course I was going to break the spaghetti like my grandma did.
Spaghetti with cauliflower wouldn’t taste the same if I...
1 tag
Pretending To Know What It Feels Like To Be Held
Breakfast Scramble
Recipe follows story
Since I long to be held and my needs are not being met, I’m looking to my food to help me out. I’m stuffing acorn squashes and now I’ve made a breakfast wrap.
One trip to the grocery store - ok, there were several this week - and I’m falling back in to old patterns. Once again I’ve started shopping like a woman who is not...
3 tags
Baking For Forgiveness
Apple Muffins
Recipe follows story
You know those apples I wished would bake themselves …
Well, thankfully, they didn’t. I actually needed them because they had a bigger purpose. I needed to make Apology Apple Muffins.
There are a series of photos on my iPhone, from last Friday night, wherein my friend and I are smiling, pointing at wine bottles, staring at cheese with a...
2 tags
Please Say You Will Harvest Things With Me
Roasted Carrot & Sweet Potato Soup Maple Roasted Stuffed Acorn Squash Pumpkin Pie
Recipes follow story
I’d been in a serious holding pattern with my cooking. The longest stretch in quite some time that I’d gone without. I thought I’d have baked 12 pies, muffins, scones and applesauce by now. My refrigerator has been filled with apples from an apple picking trip that I made 3 weeks ago. ...
October 2011
2 posts
1 tag
How An Oreo Saved Me
Homemade Oreo Cookies
Recipe follows story My childhood obsession with Oreo cookies led me down the path to making them from scratch. Suffice to say, my make everything from scratch mother did not grace our kitchen cupboards with any junk food. Oreo’s would qualify as junk food to Evelyn Grace.
I qualified them as DELICIOUS.
But I had friends whose parents did harbor junk, and I thank them...
I Should Sign Up For Life Alert
I’ve fallen from the realm of noms because I had a bit of an emergency, you see.
Last Tuesday, I rushed myself to the hospital - and by that I mean Ecua Cab ushered me to the ER at 4:30 in the morning - because I was having raging stomach pains. Raging stomach pains I mistook for gas, or, rather, wished were gas. I thought I, Dr. Nom Noms, could rectify the situation with Gas X and a heating...
September 2011
7 posts
2 tags
The Way To Blue(berries & peaches)
Peach & Blueberry Coffee Cake
*Recipe follows story When I made carrot cake doughnuts, I felt like I might have been prematurely neglecting the final days of summer.
Maybe I wished away summer too hastily. I was really just tired of sweating so much, all the time, you know? Sure I’ve been longing to wear my faux wrap dress, for a whole week, but these pale legs are semi-problematic....
A Long Distance Lemon Pie
Granny’s Lemon Pie
Azul and I met in Barcelona and we’ve been in touch ever since. She understands my need to cook. She even understands my need to cry while I cook. Azul worked at the hostel where I stayed, and on my eight day trip, I stopped at her desk every morning to talk. It was the exchange of our family food stories and extreme love for food that connected us. A few months ago...
1 tag
Doughnuts & Dresses
Carrot Cake Doughnuts With Cream Cheese Frosting (baked doughnuts) *Recipe follows story
On Saturday, I spent the day with friends - eating and shopping. Friends, eating and shopping are on my top 10 list of things that make me happy. Sure, I can make breakfast at home, but there’s something special about sitting in a booth with friends - making fun of each other and really enjoying a...
4 tags
It's Like The Summer's A Natural Aphrodisiac
Thank you, Will Smith, for your epic Summertime lyrics. That rhyme makes me happy and makes me crave a few more long summer nights.
Alas, all good things must come to an end.
I know there are a few days left, but the close of summer means saying goodbye to my tan and hello to sunless tanner - amongst many other hellos and goodbyes.
I’ll miss you, sweet summer, for you bring such hope...
3 tags
Oil Up Your Oranges
Orange Salad
*Recipe follows story
Now, I love an orange. A sweet, round, sticky, big, fat orange.
But…
A sweet, round, sticky, big, fat orange swimming in olive oil and salt…
Well, that’s another story.
While spending some time with my Aunt Jo, I learned that oranges doused in olive oil was my grandmothers thing. She frequently made this simple salad - no lettuce...
2 tags
This Is What Happens When I Can't Sleep ...
Peach Coffee Cake
*Recipe follows story
It’s rare that I wake up in the middle of the night and can’t fall back to sleep. So, when it does happen, it’s unsettling.
On Wednesday, early morning, I was awoken from my slumber. Thoughts of work projects, personal projects and family took over my mind. No sleep for the woman that makes noms. I tossed and turned, desperate to...
2 tags
Hurricane Couscous: The Aftermath
Vegetable & Herb Couscous
*Recipe follows story
I’m taking off for Philly this weekend, so operation refrigerator clear out was in full effect. The above served as a lunchtime side to my sole meuniere.
In my refrigerator there was:
1/2 of a yellow pepper 1/2 of an orange pepper Basil that I didn’t have the heart to toss. Basil should never get tossed. 1/2 of a vidalia onion
...
August 2011
10 posts
2 tags
When I Grow Old
Sole Meuniere
*Recipe follows story
Sometimes I imagine that the best part about getting older is:
1. retiring to a beach or a community where there’s a pool 2. water aerobics 3. not giving a shit, as much, about how I look in a bathing suit when I stand up
The closest I get to this dream is when I visit my parents. My mom is still working and my dad never goes to the pool, but they do live...
3 tags
Have Blueberries? Bake It Out.
Blueberry Scones
*Recipe follows story
I bundled blueberry scones in the basket I made for Rich and his wife, and as I sat sipping tea last night, scone-less, I realized another batch was in order.
I’m worried about convenient access to scones, especially given the impending doom of Hurricane Irene.
Tonight batch #2 will be made - along with some additional noms, so I’m stocked...
Nom Noms. Now With A Logo.
Many thanks to my co-worker Rich, for taking time out of his busy life (with wife and newborn baby Stella) to create a logo for the noms. Rich did a fantastic job of reviewing the site, asked insightful questions and took a genuine interest in my food projects. Frankly, I never thought about a logo until Rich encouraged me to and presented me with the idea. Out of the kindness of his heart,...
2 tags
This Is Dedicated To The One I Love
Pizza With Caramelized Onions, Honeyed Figs, Fontina, Mozzarella & Prosciutto
*Recipe follows story
Happy Birthday, Daddy.
In honor of your day, and your history with pizza, I couldn’t imagine making or eating anything else on this 21st day of August. You’re obsessed with prosciutto, so of course that made the toppings cut. You live for a fresh mozzarella; don’t worry - I wouldn’t...
3 tags
Cousins And Crumb Cake
Crumb Cake
*Recipe follows story
Crumb cake holds a special place in my heart, and large slices of this dense and buttery treat remind me of my cousins.
Anthony and Maria, for as long as I can remember, loved their crumb cake. And, recently, we were fortunate enough to have a cousin gathering at their summer house in Riverhead. We sampled crumb cakes from a local Long Island bakery). ...
2 tags
Fine, I Bought An Abundance Of Zucchini
Zucchini Muffins
*Recipe follows story
I really have been making a concentrated effort to grocery shop like a single woman, instead of like a woman who is feeding a family of 5.
It’s a terrible habit, really.
I bought 3 very large zucchini last week, phallic and large and almost abnormal. I had to have them. 3 of them. If that doesn’t tell you where my mind is, I don’t know...
3 tags
Savory Little Snack Cakes
Zucchini Cakes
*Recipe follows story
If you’re like me, you like your snacks and appetizers cheesy and a little oily… Just oily enough that whatever you’ve eaten has left a lovely stain on your napkin. Like a bold red lipstick mark all over the rim of your coffee mug. Like that tramp stamp on your back. Or maybe the tramp stamp in Kanji is only on my back… A little...
2 tags
Pass The Gnocchi Pon De Left Hand Side
Homemade Gnocchi
*Recipe follows story
The herbal lovers may disagree - but I’ll take a big fat bowl of gnocchi over a dutchie any day.
I love gnocchi and so do my hips. I love gnocchi and so do my friends.
Read the tale of the potato based pasta below…
When I was in Barcelona I met two of the loveliest humans. Ever. I mean so lovely. So lovely and so smart and so easy to talk to.
Lily...
2 tags
Just Chill - Your Soup
Chilled Yellow Split Pea Soup With Cucumber Relish
*Recipe follows story
Summer never really makes me feel like soup. Hot soup, at least. Except for that one time, last summer, when I made my friend Ross a roasted celery soup because he came over to connect my Wii to my Netflix. Never again. I sweat through dinner. And sweating through dinner in the summer is not acceptable. Sweating is only...
3 tags
Fava Fever
Greek Fava (puree of Yellow Split Peas)
*Recipe follows story
I know… It’s been a week since I’ve written…
You must’ve been worried that I fell prey to my stalker…
Have no fear, he smiled at me the other day and I just walked on by. Not sadly, with tears, like Dionne Warwick, but proud and fearless….
Besides, a cop friend of mine told me to...
July 2011
7 posts
4 tags
Waste Not, Want Not
Radish Green Pesto
*Recipe follows story
I invited Su over to try out one of my newest concoctions - radish green pesto - because I’d been thinking about it all weekend long.
While I ambled home from the market, in a sweaty stupor, I thought: Oh yeah, radish greens. Instead of sauteing you, I’m going to make pesto out of you. Oh yeah. Oh yeah, you dirty radish greens. I’m going...
4 tags
You Look Like Gold To Me
Golden Beet Salad With Honeyed Goat Cheese & Spicy Candied Walnuts
*Recipe follows story
I loved Ben Harper in college. OK. I still love Ben Harper and am highly jealous of Laura Dern because she was married to my favorite soulful hippie.
I lived most of my college years by the words of Ben Harper, suffice to say, they were filled with rejection, fear of God, feeling oppressed and...
4 tags
Fried Dough Fantasies
Squash Flower Zeppoles
*Recipe follows story
I went kind of crazy at the farmers market this weekend.
I woke up at 7am, walked a lovely and quiet 2 miles to Socrates Sculpture Park, to be greeted by a piece of my childhood.
No, my Uncle Louie was not standing in the park trying to push his excess bulk of 4th of July fireworks on the cheap (to rowdy teenagers and daring dads who wanted to...
4 tags
Smell My Pesto
Fried Eggplant With Pesto & Plum Tomatoes
*Recipe follows story
Sangwich: also known as a sandwich
My grandma used to do this amazing thing to slices of eggplant… She’d fry them.
I know. Revolutionary. Freshly fried, slippery dippery eggplant on bread, with mozzarella, basil and tomatoes was one of my favorite after school sangwiches when I was a tubby little tot.
This...
4 tags
More Fun With Beans
Green Bean Salad With Shallot & Honey Vinaigrette
*Recipe follows story
Double your bean fun with this light summer salad side; where green beans and chickpeas come together for a fearless tag team of fiber and tastiness.
This salad and dressing combination should be at the top of the list for “Things That’ll Make You Go Nom.”
Eve, Dikenta and I enjoyed this salad with...
3 tags
A Stove Top Birthday Dinner
Spring Green Risotto
*Recipe follows story
Ask me where I want to be if it’s 85 and sunny…
Slathered in SPF, reading by the pool or playing Scrabble on the beach.
And when I say reading by the pool, I mean standing on line at the public pool down the street from my house with screaming teenagers - anxiously awaiting squeezing my food loving ass on to the pool ledge where I can read and get...
3 tags
The Peanut Butter-logues
Peanut Butter Granola
In the heat, my ice cream intake increases exponentially. The more hazy hot and humid it is, the less clothing I want to wear and real food I want to eat. Somewhere between the end of June and the beginning of September, ice cream and frozen pies become an acceptable dinner in the book of noms.
But in order to make this fine ice cream topping, some effort is required....
June 2011
10 posts
2 tags
Crumbs That Shouldn't Be Left Behind
Mascarpone Cheesecake Bars
*Recipe follows story Before I leave town for weekend trips it is absolutely necessary that I use every last bit of food in my tiny refrigerator.
There wasn’t much to speak of, really, but a lone container of mascarpone, cream cheese and chocolate biscuits. I inherited 2 large packs of chocolate biscuits from Susana because she had a surplus, as she purchased the...