BUSY BEE

Dear Blog,

I'm a bad mom. I've neglected you, my little baby blog. I've been jet-setting to exotic locations like Houston and surrounding cities to cook and laugh with strangers. Mommy's been hustling. I've been working on catering weddings, baking cakes and even, wedding cakes. Teaching cooking classes like pies and tarts, organically grown cooking, satisfying souffles, romantic couples cook and much more. I've been partying and left you out in the cold.

I've been so neglectful. Cooking things like strawberry-rhubarb cobbler and chocolate-dipped french meringues on my "off-days" instead of writing to you my lil blog. Can you ever forgive me?

Thankfully, yo momma has an assistant now. (phew) Her name is Marie-Louise and she is the bomb biggity. (That means she's driven, responsible & a great multi-tasker. Plus, she's just an all-around cool person.) So now I'll have time to nourish you like I should be! Don't fret. Momma's back boo.

With love & Warm Blueberry Muffins with Hand-Squeezed OJ,
me

p.s. I've also been tanning too.

Berry de Pink

(NOTE: Ok...so the above photo isn't mine, but I found it on flicker. It said this image is subject to being copy written, so technically it's not yet. Seems like fair game to me. Right?! It's from an article by Carol Lee in Paper Mag for all the sticklers out there.)

Back to craving #3...Pinkberry. So good, you would never know it's not bad for you. It's tart, tangy and just sweet enough. Their yogurt is fresh and fruit is the best cali has to offer. If I could just get a bite or two or three..I'd be so happy. Next time you're in LA, you must get some. And because I'm desperately craving this frozen yogurt, I'm going to make some of my own today! My Mom got me the Euro-Pro ice cream.frozen yogurt/sorbet maker as a billionth housewarming gift to me and I'm going to put that bad boy to use. I think I'll do the classics. Lemon sorbet, Strawberry frozen yogurt with chunks of strawberries(TCBY eat your heart out and a plain vanilla ice cream. Nothing crazy to christen this bad boy! Oh, did I mention unlike most frozen delight makers...this one is supped up with 3 different compartments to make 3 different recipes at once. Plus, they're all done in 30 minutes. Gotta love this gift by Mom. She did well on this gift.

Alotta Bartolotta

Grigliato Misto di Mare

A seaside style assortment of grilled seafood; shrimp,
scallops, baby octopus, mussels and our fish of the day,
with spinach, lemon and olive oil

I've had family members(Tita Alite and Tito Ricky), Holly and a friend, Heather go to Vegas within this past week. Besides the PLINKO slots in Harrah's I'm craving the dish above at Bartolotta's at the Wynn. Now, I didn't win at the Wynn(pun so intended), but the food was second to none. Seafood flown in just hours before touching your plate and then you pallet. That's fresh. If I could only be transported here for one night of eating and maybe, just maybe, a game or two on good ole Plinko.

Next craving coming at you tomorrow~

p.s. I ate on the 2nd canapy table in the pic

Cravings...

Ever have one of those days that leave you craving something from a completely different state. This week I think I'm going to post "Places I'm Craving in another State." First craving, Gray's Papaya. Reality sets in...time to head to the gym.

And you thought you loved pork?

This kid REALLY loves his pork. I've been super busy, but will blog more soon. Promise. Just been slammed with catering this wedding season. Hope this pic brings a smile to some faces today =)

Would you eat here?

The notion of eating a place where you could possibly blinded at some point, dragged into the dark and left to find your own table may sound bizarre, but this is a real place. Gimmicks aside, if you read the reviews under this video, people seem to dig this place. The food seems to be on point and interesting to boot. The first one was in NY and now this Ninja Restaurant is in the Big Apple.

Who's going? It seems people of all ages. I would definitely check this place out just for the fun of it. I bet they're packed at Halloween! Hii-ya!

Look what I got.

I just ordered a book called, "FAT." Sure there's subtext, but the name in bold is FAT, with a big picture of future bacon on the cover. That takes gumption. I ordered several other books regarding where & how the most common foods come from in this country. The processing, farming, exportation process and other nerdy chef things. But back to FAT. It was a featured book at the IACP conference in Denver, CO this past April. I unfortunately wasn't able to make it, but my friend Meredith went and shared with me all the cool things that went on at the conference. This book was one of them. I can't wait to get it and start reading about fat. The good, bad and the ugly. With such a health conscious society and Austin, being such a microcosm , I can't wait to learn more about fat. Sure I learned a to about techniques of using fat, such as larding and barding(using fat on the inside or outside of meat to keep it moist.) I'm hoping this book will talk about more than just technique and how fat can help create the taste of marbling in leaner pieces of meat. I already know all that! I'm looking to learn something new. I'm positive I will because this book looks thick.

Another book I just got is ON THe LINE with Eric Ripert. He's badass. He's French too, but I won't hold that against him. Check it out! I haven't learned a lot about food in a long time. I'm usually teaching and sharing what I already know, but I crave learning more. I've gotten s many books because I'm on a quest to be taught things about food that are foreign to me. FAT is one of those books that just reminded me of being in culinary school.