A Full Belly

92nd st y food talks

The 92nd St Y has a trio of great food talks this May you might want to think about attending:

Fergus Henderson, Mario Batali and Lidia Bastianich: Adventurous Eating
Gael Greene, moderator
Wed, May 4, 8:00 pm, $25

"Join this group of intrepid tasters and find out more about the world’s most unusual meals. Fergus Henderson is the chef of the UK’s acclaimed restaurant St. John and author of The Whole Beast: Nose to Tail Eating. Mario Batali is star of TV’s Molto Mario and chef-owner of the New York restaurants Babbo, Lupa, Esca and Otto Enoteca Pizzeria. His new book is called Molto Italiano. Lidia Bastianich is chef-owner of Felidia, host of the popular Public Television series Lidia’s Family Table and author of a new book, Lidia’s Italian-American Kitchen. Food writer and critic Gael Greene moderates. Her memoir, Insatiable, will be published in spring 2006."

Ruth Reichl in Conversation with Liz Smith: Food and Dishing
Wed, May 18, 8:00 pm, $25

"Ruth Reichl is the editor-in-chief of Gourmet and the author of the bestsellers Tender at the Bone and Comfort Me With Apples. Her most recent memoir is Garlic & Sapphires. She has been the restaurant critic at The New York Times and the food editor and restaurant critic at the Los Angeles Times."

This next one has already sold out (New Yorkers are cheese-crazed, after all) but I thought you should know about it anyway. If you really really really want to go, perhaps you can beg or pay for someone's spare ticket on Craigslist or outside the 92nd St Y right before the event; also the Y sometimes releases a bunch of tickets an hour before events at the box office, so give them a call!

Steven Jenkins: The Master Cheesemonger’s Favorite Cheeses
Sat, May 14, 7:30 pm, $45

"If you love cheese and wine, this program is for you. Learn all about cheeses (and the wines that love them) from Steven Jenkins, Fairway Market’s king of queso, and Joshua Wesson, Best Cellars’ guru of grapes. Jenkins will present nine cheeses in a comfortable and relaxed setting and Wesson will pour a quartet of quaffs to accompany them. Come hungry and ready to discover a new world of great tastes. Jenkins, author of Cheese Primer, was the first American to be inducted into France’s ancient and elite Guilde du St.Uguzon in 1976. His show, The Jenkins Chronicles, can be heard on NPR’s The Splendid Table."

le monde des chefs

Jean-Claude Gotheron's le monde des chefs in Paris is part gallery and part store, displaying "the tableware of up to four chefs at a time." When the hot plate visited last November, the featured chefs were Tom Colicchio of Craft (New York), Joachim Splichal of Patina (Los Angeles), Thomas Keller of French Laundry (Napa Valley) and Michel Rostang (Paris).

manhattan's ice cream and gelato

NYC Manhattan's many ice cream and gelato styles. Nice roundup by the Village Voice's Nina Lalli, except for the mystifying absence of A Full Belly favorite Chinatown Ice Cream Factory. What's up with that?

bacon bandaids

Got a boo-boo? Cover it up with these bacon strip bandaids from Archie McPhee, $4.95 for a tin of 15 strips!

i love looka!

I'm surprised I don't see Chuck Taggart's long-running weblog Looka! on more food blogger blogrolls as he's been a constant source inspiration to me for years now. Chuck not only eats well but he writes about the things he eats so superbly that just thinking about his site starts me salivating; many a time have I had to wipe my keyboard free of drool after reading about his latest meal.

His particular interests are New Orleans and Lousiana cuisine (he hosts The Creole and Cajun Recipe Page), cocktails (he posts many rare and unusual recipes) and something near and dear to my own heart, the best of all foods: bacon. My friend Souris and I talk about it all the time but we are mere amateurs, while Chuck and his crew easily win the Grand Slam. (If that last link doesn't make your soul glad, I don't know what to do with you.)

uglesich's closing

A Lunchtime Institution Set to Overstuff Its Last Po' Boy. New Orleans institution Uglesich's will be closing its doors, perhaps forever, in mid-May. Sounds like my kind of place, too: "Chunky and intensely creamy, the [crabmeat au gratin] is "made of all the things you're not supposed to eat," Ms. Reed informed us, including butter, evaporated milk, egg yolks, whipping cream, Swiss cheese and cheddar cheese." Yum!

Proprietor Anthony Uglesich does hold out a measure of hope for regulars and fans, saying "If I do climb the walls, I might try packaging our sauces for retail sale, or maybe do some catering - people are always offering me thousands of dollars to cook for their dinner parties - or reopen here for four days a week, with limited hours and a very limited menu, just appetizers. No more of this, though."

mug's brownie list

Yesterday's Manhattan User's Guide had a list of five places to get a good brownie in the city and I'm ashamed to admit I haven't had a brownie from any of them! I will try to rectify this today by stopping by Sarabeth's, although it will be a struggle to order a brownie instead of a scoop of their wonderful ice cream... Perhaps I will have it à la mode?

Hong Kong dim sum changing

Hong Kong government recommends its citizens practice moderation when it comes to dim sum. "Longtime dim sum lovers are indignant."

all about cheese, if you please

By Cheese Possessed. I like to think that I love cheese, but the people featured in Dana Bowen's article for the New York Times Dining & Wine section feel so strongly about cheese that their passion for it is a major shaping force in their lives: "They treat good cheese stores like temples. They visit cheese makers. They take classes in cheese appreciation, cheese making and affinage, the art of maturing cheese, which some practice at home. They seek out unusual, even illegal cheeses." Some of them have walked away from their previous careers to focus on cheese!

Two of the major houses of worship in New York City are Murray's Cheese Shop and Artisanal Cheese, make sure to pay your respects! And if you'd like to read more about cheese on a daily basis, there is naturally a blog for people like you: The Cheese Diaries.

shad fest

"Shad Fest celebrates the annual return of spawning shad to the Hudson River. Shad Planking demonstrations by Chris Letts of the Hudson River Foundation and free tastings are featured. "Planking " is a Native American cooking method taught to the Europen settlers. Shad, considered a delicacy, are the only fish that the D.E.C. permits to be commercially caught from the Hudson River because their life cycle allows them to remain PCB-free and, therefore, safe to eat."

Shad Fest
Sunday, May 1, 2005
11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Location: Inwood Hill Park (Enter at Indian Road and 218 Street)
More information: 212-627-1076 ext 16
Admission is free!