General | hungry sofia

Jun 2

Hungry on the Cooking Channel

I first read that the Food Network would be launching a second cable channel on Memorial Day in February, when summer seemed a long time away. A few weeks later, a friend recommended me to a production company that was looking for food people to talk on camera about their interest, love, passion for food to promote the new channel. After years in film production, I’d been content to stay behind the camera. If they’d asked me to “audition”, I may have backed down, but they called it a “screen test” instead. Actors “audition” but at a “screen test” you can just be yourself (or Lana Turner). That’s a how I find myself, a week later, getting wired for sound in a New Jersey produce market (very unlike Lana). Read more

May 31

Catching Up in May

I collect links and articles for my monthly catching up posts every day so it’s not until I sit down to go through them all that a theme emerges. The New York Times City Room covered the struggles of two neighborhood restaurants. Due in part to the efforts of community leaders and a last minute fundraiser, Coqui Mexicano was able to temporarily stave off eviction from their South Bronx location but Manhattanville’s La Floridita, one of the last Cuban restaurants left in the area, was forced to close for repairs and faces an uncertain future. The Village Voice interview with Fernando Ruiz of the Tortilleria Nixtamal, which is doing well, was about mistakes, misconceptions, and underappreciated ingredients — a more interesting read but still. Even news that Rick Bayless would be preparing the state dinner President Felipe Calderón of Mexico stirred up some controversy both before and after. On a brighter note, Carolina González wrote for the Daily News about the prominence of women chefs and restaurateurs like Zarela Martínez and Sue Torres in high-end Mexican cuisine. I thought May would farmer’s markets and spring blossoms but there were some shadows too.

May 19

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So Much To Do

After the relative quiet of the last few months, it seems like everyone is ready to celebrate the arrival of summer or at least have a glass of Rioja. From now until May 27th, 25 restaurants in both New York and Chicago will be offering special lunch and dinner menus for Rioja Restaurant Week. Lately it feels like restaurant week year around but it’s definitely worth visiting one, or two or three…Click here for a list of participating restaurants. Read more

May 11

Chef Jose Andres on 60 Minutes

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I was a little surprised by how quickly Anderson Cooper’s interview with Chef Jose Andres made the rounds between food friends and non-food friends alike. It was a little frustrating to watch and not eat but Jose Andres’ enthusiasm is palpable.

Apr 26

Spring Break and Catching Up in April

With the days a blur of pollen and rain showers and my 200th post coming up, I thought it would be a good time to take a break, update my site and catch-up on my reading. ABC New recently posted a list of recent cookbooks on Latin cuisine and I can’t decide if I want to start with Nirmala’s Edible Diary by Nirmala Narine, Jose Pizarro’s Seasonal Spanish Food – a finalist for this year’s Julia Child IACP award for a first book, or Daisy Martinez’s latest – Daisy: Morning, Noon and Night (click here for her interview with A Chica Bakes). I’ll probably go with The Brazilian Kitchen by Leticia Moreinos Schwartz because it’s because it’s been leading my wish list since I tried her recipe for coconut brigadeiros last month. There have also been some interesting one ingredient articles. Now that the weather is fit for wandering, I plan on seeking out new markets and sources to include here. Apart from last week’s look at cilantro, which always elicits strong opinions, John Willoughby’s Pimentón: It’s Spanish for ‘Better Than Paprika’ had me triple checking the denominations of my paprika, and I’m still not sure what the Indian spice asafetida does but can’t wait to find out. That’s my spring break plan – cooking, reading, and shopping. I’ll be back next week, still hungry and with a lot to talk about, unless I decide to ditch it all for sunbathing, flirting with Ivy Leaguers, and bebop. Stay tuned.

Apr 21

A Lucky Girl

I don’t typically think of myself as a privileged. The word brings to mind a rarefied world that’s set apart, and I’m always bustling. But, even I knew that I was lucky to have known Graciela Perez-Grillo. A well-known Cuban singer then in her 80s, my sister and I were introduced to her through a mutual friend when we first arrived in New York. She became our family away from family, and you never knew what you’d find when you stopped by her Upper West Side apartment. If there was something on the stove, she set you to work and it was there I learned to wrap tamales, watch baseball, and yes love pudín de pan. Despite her age, her voice never faltered and she continued to perform and record into her nineties. Having spent her life surrounded by extraordinary musicians, Beny, Billie, Tito, Cachao, Sarah, Dizzy were just colleagues who’s music was always playing. Read more

Apr 17

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Curious About Cilantro

I’ve never had a problem with cilantro but I’m always surprised by how many do. Harold McGee’s Cilantro Haters, It’s Not Your Fault, from this week’s New York Times Dining & Wine section, seems to have hit a Facebook nerve because I’ve seen it re-posted and commented on all week. Personally, I actually like the soapy taste that some complain about and enjoy it both on my plate and in my shampoo.

Apr 4

Effortless Easter

I had wanted to post an Easter dessert recipe but my over ambitious project for a torticas de mil hojas had to be done over, scaled down, and is now just barely finished (and just barely holding together). I didn’t want to let the day go by without wishing everyone a Happy Easter and including a clip from one of my favorite movies. Fred Astaire made everything looks as easy as taking candy from a baby, or in this case, a bunny from a boy.

Mar 31

Catching Up in March

I am under the wire for my Catching up in March post. Usually there’s a common theme that emerges in the stories that I come across but March was all over the place, a bumper-car month. There was a Cuban sandwich ‘throwdown’with Bobby Flay won by Nick Vazquez of Jersey City’s Azucar. There was also a good New York Times review for Pilar Cuban Eatery, a new cafe in Clinton Hill named after Hemingway’s boat that’s about bringing Miami to Brooklyn and another one for El Parador Cafe, the oldest Mexican restaurant in New York. If you’re looking for seemingly random food rules, Leslie Freeman Riva collected a few for the Atlantic (though I still believe that hot Read more

Mar 17

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More Than Salsa

In 1992, salsa out-sold ketchup in the United States. I’ve heard that statistic for years, referenced it a few times, and read it again in Julia Moskin’s “Rediscovering Salsa, the Soul of Mexico in a Bowl” in this week’s Dining & Wine section. By now, most Latinos in the United States have claimed salsa’s success as our own. I have friends who’ve worked it into sales pitches and if anyone brings it up around the chip bowl, Mexican or not, we nod knowingly. Yet I’m not sure what kind of legitimacy we feel this confers on Latino cuisine or the growing market for Latino products. What does it say about us? What does it say about them? What does it say about ketchup? With so much baggage, it was great to read an article about salsa that was just that.