Archive for the 'Uncategorized' Category

Monday, September 17th, 6:30 PM
Where:  Brooklyn Brainery, 515 Court St., Brooklyn, NY.
Tickets: $45, Get ‘em Here

‘I’m not talking a cup of cheap gin splashed over ice cubes. I’m talking satin, fire and ice. Fred Astaire in a glass. Surgical cleanliness. Insight and comfort. Redemption and absolution. I’m talking a martini.” -Anonymous

In essence, that is what this class is all about. Looking at both vermouth and the martini we will track the interlocking history of both beverages in this three hour master class. We’ll start with a vermouth tasting, and talk about vermouth’s origins in 1,000 BC to the invention of the Martinez in the late 1800’s (the Martini’s predecessor).

In addition to history, we will discuss different grapes and botanicals used in vermouth, why that bottle of vermouth you’ve been holding onto for a year tastes horrible, and how Churchill drank his martinis.

Then, we’ll mix three different versions of the Martini.  You’ll learn the steps to make a perfect drink, sampling three different adaptations from three different eras.  Through a bit of tasting, you’ll see how the recipes have changed over time, and be able to adopt your own James Bond-like preferences.

Sign up here!

I’m traveling, researching, teaching and writing–and will be back to blogging by the end of the month.

In the meantime, I will be posting regularly on Tumblr here; and you can always keep up with me on Twitter and Facebook.

Breakfast

Sliced Banana with Thick Cream; Pecans; Protoid Nuts; Dates; Egg-nog

Woo-hoo, we’re in the home stretch.  Only three more days!

Lunch

Dinner

I again threw the normal dinner menu to the wind and went out to eat, this time with greater success than last night.  I joined a group of friends at Caravan of Dreams, a vegetarian/vegan/raw restaurant in the East Village.  Amongst those who joined me was Jeffery, who is always a vegan, and Kat, who also went raw this week in a show of solidarity.

I certainly had more choices at this restaurant than at any other time this week.  The table ordered two “live” appetizers, and I learned that “live” is just a more appealing word for “raw.”  We got guacamole and salsa, which had big slices of cherry tomatoes and leaves of fresh herbs; and almond hummus with “chia chips,” some sort of seed that has been pressed into chip form and dried again.  The appetizers were incredibly flavorful and my favorite part of the meal.

For my entree, I got a open-faced chili “burger,” a mash-up of some things…grains, or something, I don’t know, put back into burger shape and served on a chia cracker.  The sauces and sides that accompanied it were all very good, and the burger was especially flavorful.  It bursted with hot and spicy peppers, as well as more subtly, warm spice notes.  But there were textural issues: the burger was squishy and the cracker was crispy and it was impossible to eat without both exploding everywhere.

Dessert was thick slab of  “cocoa fudge.” I don’t know what it actually was made of, but it had the taste and texture of a powerbar.  I blame myself–I have a general prohibition on foods that masquerade as other foods.  Everything I’ve eaten this week has been in its natural form and I have enjoyed it for that reason.  But as soon as food is processed into something it shouldn’t be–whether that be a chia chip, raw burger, or an unfortunate slab of cocoa fudge–the expectations of what it pretends to be outweigh what is actually is.  It’s never as good as you want it to be, but a mere substitution instead.

UPDATE:  the Nat Hist Museum has a post up on their blog about the Diet Talk (see below).  It’s full of all kinds of fun information that I’ll be talking about.  Check it out here.

Reducing Recipes: American Weight-Loss Trends
Where: The American Museum of Natural History, 200 Central Park West, New York, NY
When: Tuesday, January 24th 6:30 pm
Cost: $30 Buy Tickets Here.

What New Year’s resolution did you make this year?  Millions of Americans will promise to shed a couple pounds in 2012; but when Americans start worrying about their waistlines to begin with?  How did we count calories before we knew a calorie existed?  How did faddish diets in the past change the way Americans ate forever?

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 Pre-Industrial Dinner
Where: The Farm on Adderly,
When: Wednesday, January 25th, 2012  7:30 PM
Cost: $69 / person (beverages, tax & gratuity not included)
To sign-up, send an e-mail tothefarmonadderleyevents@gmail.com

Step back in time with us and imagine Brooklyn in the mid-1800s.   Farms flourished and Flatbush bustled as workers harvested crops in the neighborhoods we now call home.  Join us at The Farm on Adderley for a meal inspired by the food eaten by the people who lived and worked on farms in the area.  Refrigeration wasn’t yet available, so preservation techniques were the key to ensure food could be enjoyed all-year long.  Chef Tom Kearney is creating a four-course meal showcasing these practices and techniques. Our guest for the evening is ‘historic gastronomist’ Sarah Lohman, who will provide a historical context for the food we’re eating and how Brooklyn – and specifically Flatbush – fit into the larger network of farms and food distribution in New York in the 1800s.