Oct 6
I took this picture at this year’s DUMBO Arts Festivalof Gabriel Barcia-Colombo’s For Those Who Wait installation that pretty much captures my state of mind. Given that my monthly catching up posts typically run late, I probably should have picked a different name. I rarely catch-up, but with the clocks temporarily stopped, I’ll keep trying. Read more
During the summer, it’s easy to drift into your own world enjoying long days and longer weekends, but there was an intensity to this July that didn’t allow for easy disconnect. There was tragic and terrifying news , too soon goodbyes, and on a personal note – friends facing unthinkable and unexpected challenges. On the other extreme, I got to spend last Sunday at City Hall with two other friends who’d just won the literal lottery, allowing them to make it official after 27 years on the first day that it was legal to do so in New York City. Swinging between high anxiety, deep sympathy, and pure excitement, I couldn’t say the news has been all good or all bad but the past few weeks, I’ve been constantly reminded just how fragile it all is, or maybe it was the heat making everything tremble. Read more
I almost skipped my catching up post because I could not believe (accept) just how fast November went by. With the holidays only starting, I don’t expect it to slow down any time soon (plus the Rockefeller Christmas tree is lit so there’s no going back). My list of things to do and see keeps growing. I finally went to Eataly a couple of weeks ago and though it was hard to navigate the sea of people I can’t wait to go back. Click here for Serious Eats’ coverage of the opening. I’m also looking forward to visiting the new Plaza Food Hall by Todd English. It’s may be over the top but I can’t resist Fifth Avenue in December. Read more
Aug 31
August seemed to come out of nowhere then in a flash it was gone, taking summer with it. You’d think I would have learned last year. Still, there’s plenty of great things to read, try, and eat over the long weekend. The Miami Herald did a great story about Jorge Bravo’s Hispanic Kitchen, a site I’ve enjoyed being a part of that’s definitely worth checking out. Venezuelan chef Terry Hope Romero talks to the Daily News about making Latin American food animal and dairy free in Viva Vegan! A book I’ll have to buy just find out how she managed the tres leches cake. The heat may be giving way to fall but there’s still time for late summer gazpacho, chicken marinated in mojo, and smoked chocolate and tequila ice cream. Read more
Catching up in June, it seemed everything was moving more slowly. Maybe it was just having the time to read Christina Delsol’s Mexico Mix articles for the SF Gate about the slow food movement in the Yucatán and the discovery of chocolate starting with Moctezuma drinking “bitter water” (xocóatl) from golden goblets. Reading Chichi Wang’s post on Serious Eats on how to make Colombian-style chicharrones, I learned they do not grow on trees in grease-stained brown paper bags but can be slow cooked in a wok then fried in their own rendered fat. It’s not something I’d ever considered before but his step-by-step for the Nasty Bits made it seem too easy not to try. Meanwhile, Enrique Hernandez explored Miami’s changing/never changing Cuban restaurants for the Miami Herald and Ferran Adrià announced plans for a new restaurant in Barcelona.
Dec 8
With so many “best of” lists coming out not only for the year but the decade, it’s good to have a focus. Looking at the best of cookbook lists that are coming out, I realize that the year has gone by in blink and I have a lot of reading to do. From what I’ve seen so far, I’m happy that Francis Mallmann’s Seven Fires is popping up, hope to see Michelle Bernstein’s Cuisine á Latina included on more, and need to make jasmine rice pudding from The Craft of Baking, by Karen DeMasco and Mindy Fox, immediately.
Click here for Caroline Russock’s Cook the Book take on Serious Eats and here for Eat Me Daily’s roundup. Finally, just for fun here are the top 10 flash mob pics of 2009 in case you missed any.
Finalist for the 2015 James Beard Foundation Award in the International Cookbook Category for The Cuban Table
hungry sofia 