2013 April | hungry sofia

Apr 24

Hungry at the Fair

I just missed the last year’s Brooklyn’s Food Book Fair, so it was loooong wait for it to come around again. This makes it that much more exciting to not only attend but participate at FBF’s Food + Conflict panel with Joan Nathan of the New York Times on Saturday, May 5. I’ve tried to single out a few talks or demos to recommend, but there’s such an incredible diversity of opinion and approach that I don’t know where to start – except to say they all deserve a close read. It’s going to be a great weekend full of not to be missed events – mostly taking place at the Wythe Hotel or Williamsburg mother ship – and nearby venues. If you need extra motivation or are still trying to figure out what to see, here are a few discounts to help you make up your mind. Hope to see you there! Read more

Apr 17

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Dulce de Mora

The weather is defrosting, but I spent Sunday half inside my freezer where I found the nearly forgotten bag of moras. Also called Andean blackberries, moras are a little more tart, firmer, and brighter than the blackberries commonly found in the US. I’d picked them up in an amazing Latin American market in Jackson Heights. Well-stocked with incredible variety but hard to get to, I brought back as much as I could carry. A few months later, I’ve barely made a dent in the frozen guavas, jarred loroco, or guasca leaves I stockpiled. I was looking to change this and remembered a dessert my friend’s mother, Mari Ines, made when she was teaching me how to make ajiaco Bogotano. In the time it took her to finish the ajiaco, she simmered the berries in syrup and served them with queso fresco. After calling Mari Ines for the recipes and ratios, I quickly made it for friends that night. There are so many things I’m looking forward to this summer, but in these in between days, it felt good to take advantage of what I already had. Read more

Apr 5

Catching Up in April and Springing Forward

Now that it’s almost over, I can admit that this winter has been hard. It wasn’t the severity but the unpredictability that had me – and almost everyone else I know – on edge. Desperate for any lasting sign of spring, I wrote this short piece on getting through the final weeks for Devour. Last week, in a fit of spring induced optimism, I brought an armful of herbs home from the farmer’s market. I’ve never been great with plants, but seeing them lined up along the windowsill, I’m hopeful that these will be different. Read more