An Effing Foodie

Happy Effing Thanksgiving!

The annual Big Gay Thanksgiving at Max's house is upon me, and I'm knee-deep in things that I should have done yesterday, but in the midst of dismantling cauliflower and skinning potatoes, I realized that this, my baby blog, has just had its first birthday!

So I wanted to take a moment to say...THANKS!!! Thank you kindly loyal readers, subscribers, fellow foodies and curmudgeons, stumblers from search engines, for your intentional or unintentional support!  It's been an honor to help you kill cubicle time.

A BIG shout-out to my friends and family, who break bread with me and my peculiar food-photographing ways.  Thank you for enduring slightly colder food, slapped hands, and endless ranting; thank you for letting me bully you in the kitchen, and eating my experiments with gracious enthusiasm.  You're the best, and I'd be nowhere without you!

Back to the trenches, but I promise I'll be back to give you the sweet and lowdown on what promises to be a magical mix of way, way too much food and priceless company.

Happy Effing Thanksgiving! Stuff or BE STUFFED!

Cabrito's Aptly Pegged Happy Hour!

Over La Weekend, I heard some wonderful news from a lovely bird!

Remember Cabrito?  The little corner of Mexican contentment on Carmine?

Well, now's the time to go, folks! More specifically, Monday through Friday, between 4 PM and 7 PM, whence they are offering:

A PBR with any taco at $8:

 

Top, Chorizo Taco, Beer-Battered Fish Taco; Bottom, Lengua (Tongue) Taco

Famous Frijoles Puercos (That's beans larded with housemade chorizo, people! YOU NEED IT!), $4:

Additional incentives:

• Jalapeño Rellenos (stuffed with red snapper, raisins, peptitas (pumpkin seeds) & capers), $2
• PBR & Well Shot, $7
• Hornitos Plata Margaritas, Single $7, Pitchers $40

So the next time you're wandering Bleeker, tilt westward for a happy, boozy surprise...you've earned it!  There's no reason it can't be warmer weather in your gullet.

Do. Not. Politicize. Plate Lunch. DO NOT EFFING POLITICIZE PLATE LUNCH!!!!!!

Lemme preface this rant by saying--I'm glad Obama won.  I am!  I'm absolutely tickled we both grew up in the same place, eating the same food.

I like Obama.

I like plate lunch.

I like that people will get a chance to read about plate lunch.

But why, dear Lord WHY, is the plate lunch being politicized?

It's OVER people!  The man was elected!!! Can we STOP using the man's popularity to push every little thing???  WHY are there journalists scratching their heads, musing that "It all seems like odd fare for a man as bookmark-thin as Mr. Obama, who seems to treasure his treadmill"???

MAYbe it's just as simple as he said: He grew up eating this, and that's why he likes it.  End of story.

When you're in Philly, you get a cheesesteak.

When you're in NYC, you get a pastrami sandwich, a bagel with a schmear, and a proper slice.

When you get drunk in Rochester, NY, you get a Garbage Plate.

And when you're in Hawaii, you get a plate lunch, every time you can.

Shut Up and Eat: Cacao Sampaka, Barcelona

When Soft-Spoken Feisty Lady escaped the discomforting heat of New York to the surface-of-the-sun furnace of late-summer Barcelona, I was all kinds of jelly, jelly, JELLY.  (Not to mention missing eater #1, companion of the strongest constitution!)

But, I am a lucky, lucky bunny as SSFL came home burdened with bitchin' food-related swag; check out my bag!

It says: "Shut up and eat."

GLEE!!!

But SSFL really outdid her self with this:

That's RIGHT, bitches!!! That's a 16-piece Gastronomic Innovations box 'o bonbons from Cacao Sampaka.  I squealed, cried and almost knocked her over when she gave me this.

I'd read about Cacao Sampaka a couple of years ago, and have been dying to visit ever since--when a chocolatier cooks up anchovy bonbons, it's a hard thing to forget, even if it is on the other side of the Atlantic. 

The brain child of Albert Adrià (big brother of El Bulli's gastonomic magnate, Ferran Adrià) Cacao Sampaka has been rapidly expanding, bringing the worldwide market its highly-crafted, temptingly whackadoo confections.

So here's the key:

 

Top row, L to R:
1) Black Olive,  2) Anchovies & Hazelnut, 3) Balsamic Vinegar, 4) Parmesan Cheese

Bottom row, L to R:
5) Black Truffle, 6) Olive Oil, 7) Smoked, 8) Peanut