Food

Kramer and I had a phenomenal time at GoogaMooga on Saturday, and I feel really bad that they ended up having to cancel the event on Sunday due to the bad weather. If you didn’t get to go, my condolences, because Saturday ruled. We got there right when the gates opened and the rest was just a whirlwind of food, drinks, and outdoor activities. We had a beef tongue pastrami sandwich from Craftbar (with potato chips on the actual sandwich), a smoked meat sandwich from Mile End, duck corn dogs from James, phat Thai from Pok Pok, oysters bolognese from M. Wells, grilled oysters from Maison Premiere, a burger from Umami Burger, and I’m sure a few things in between that I can’t remember. This is all in between tastes of excellent beers and handmade cocktails from the cocktail pavilion. Don’t worry too much, all of this was consumed over the course of many hours – I think my heart may have exploded if I just sat down for a feast of this magnitude, although it was pretty epic. I know that the festival keeps having problems, between the bad lines last year and the weather this year, but I really hope that they can figure out a way to bring it back again next year because it’s always a blast to be able to try food from all over New York in one location, especially when that location is the beautiful Prospect Park. Hamageddeon! Other than gorging ourselves this past weekend, we did manage to sneak in the new Star Trek movie. I really enjoyed it, although I do remember liking the first one a lot more; I guess it was something new to me at the time, such a well done sci-fi epic without too much cheese. Benedict Cumberbatch really won me over, though. I’m not a big fan of the BBC’s Sherlock (I much prefer the obviously superior Elementary with my main man Johnny Lee Miller), but he was such a creepy villan in this that I’m looking forward to seeing him do more. On Sunday, we obviously needed to take it very, very easy after our performance on Saturday. We had smoothies for breakfast and salmon for dinner in an attempt to reset our cholesterol levels and caught up on TV (Hannibal is so good you guys). Monday, however, we were back at it for 50 cent wing night in Bed-Stuy. I guess we will never learn. No, I didn’t cook this in an actual tangine, but don’t worry! The word tangine can refer to both those beautiful cooking vessels and the food that lies within, and I promise that you’re going to want a taste of what’s inside this crock pot. Tender lamb with just the right amount of lovely, marbled fat is slow cooked together with ras el hanout (a Moroccan spice blend), shallots, hot chile peppers, raisins, pine nuts, and a few other tasty additions. Ras el hanout is truly the key ingredient here. You can buy it, or you can just as easily make it on your own by combining chile powder, cinnamon, cumin, coriander, paprika, and turmeric. Kramer and I use ras el hanout on everything from potatoes to asparagus, so we figured that it was about time to use it for something more traditional. This lamb tastes almost buttery, and the sauce and leftover fat are perfect for adding richness to other dishes that you may be cooking up. Plus, there’s nothing as gratifying as having your home engulfed in the sweet and savory aroma of luscious lamb and its spices without having to turn on the stove or the oven. Kramer and I ate this over rice for dinner one night, over a salad for lunch the next day, and once again, for dinner with a fried egg on the following night. Waste not, want not. GoogaMooga fun and deliciousness. All you have to do it put it all in the crock pot, then let it cook. I promise you, this is insanely good.   Print Crock-Pot Lamb Tagine Author: The Crepes of Wrath Prep time: 10 mins Cook time: 6 hours Total time: 6 hours 10 mins Serves: 4 Tender lamb cooked in an aromatic mixture of ras el hanout, raisins, and pine nuts. Ingredient

EXPERIENCE LAMIAN AT THE WESTIN PUNE KOREGAON PARK Lamian is a type of Chinese noodle. Lamian is made by stretching and folding the dough into strands. However, the twisting and subsequent stretching of the strips of dough happens due to the weight of the dough. Depending on the number of times the dough gets folded, the strands can be made in various lengths and thicknesses. This unique method of making noodles originated in China. Experience Lamian only at The Westin Pune Koregaon Park as Chef Zhang Ruixiang from Four Points by Sheraton Guangzhou presents this ancient art right on your platter. The Westin Pune Koregaon Park Seasonal Tastes, 7th to 23rd June 2013, 6:30 pm onwards. For details and reservations, please call: Vimal – 9561337104

I have a serious question. Can you, a normal person, actually consider one muffin a full breakfast? Especially these… these, like, baby muffins. Well, they are of traditional muffin size and not fattened up, triple-pumped Americanized muffins covered in crumble and streusel, but really? One of these would be like the equivalent of drinking a glass of water for me. (Also if someone could make the caloric effect be equivalent to that of a glass of water… that would be great.) And now my day is going to revolve around how I’m irked at the lack of crumble and streusel on top. For an actual muffin to make it into my breakfast rotation, I need a few other things of substance on a plate next to it. Maybe some fruit. Peanut butter. Some eggs. BACON. Those kinds of things. That’s why I sort of prefer my muffins to be snack worthy foods. I’d never kick a muffin outta bed for breakfast but… I like them at other times of the day too. Like right now. At 10:30PM when I’m writing this post and eating my emotions because Psy makes me feel so uncomfortable as I watch him on Dancing with the Stars. If you haven’t noticed, I’ve been on a massive mascarpone kick the last few months. Putting it in EVERYTHING. Sweet, savory, using it as a spread… literally, all the things. I’ve always enjoyed it but maybe… just… never knew it’s true potential? All you italians just collectively rolled your eyes in my direction. I bet. So two weeks ago I attempted to make a lemon mascarpone loaf and it came out like… dense, unbaked cheesecake. I mean, it was SO dense. Crazy dense. Perhaps I should have measured stuffed out instead of just being a cocky brat and thinking ‘oh of course this will turn out!’ and throwing stuffed into a bowl???? Maybe, you know, figured out where things went wrong? And since I have no patience and just couldn’t handle waiting another 75 minutes while loaf cake #2 baked… muffins it was. Muffins are like the poor man’s cake. Errr… the lazy man’s cake? The impatience man’s cake? I think you get it. The good news is that I still covered that lemon loaf in one hell of a sugar bombed glaze and it made it’s way into multiple mouths. It’s just not perfect yet. So until then… muffins. Make-it-up-to-you muffins. Settle for now. Brown Sugar Lemon Mascarpone Muffins Yield: 12-16 muffins Total Time: 35 minutes Ingredients: 2 cups whole wheat pastry flour 1/2 cup loosely packed brown sugar 1 teaspoon baking powder 1 teaspoon baking soda 1/4 teaspoon salt 4 lemons, zested 8 ounces cold mascarpone cheese 3/4 cups milk 1 large egg 1/3 cup greek yogurt 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled Directions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a muffin tin with liners. In a large bowl, combine flour, brown sugar, baking powder, soda and salt. Stir to combine. Mix in lemon zest. Add mascarpone cheese and mix in with a fork, stirring until crumbly, evenly dispersed and covered in flour. In a small bowl, whisk together milk, yogurt, egg, vanilla extract and butter. Add the wet ingredients to the dry, stirring until just combined and wet. Use a 1/4 cup measure or ice cream scoop to fill the muffin liners 2/3 of the wall full. Bake for 15-17 minutes, until tops are set and golden. Remove and let cool slightly before serving. So fluffy! ©2012 How Sweet It Is

Mediterranean Greek Salad Recipe and Over 100 Easy to Make healthy Recipes. These healthy meals are quick and easy to prepare and most of all DELICIOUS!

Lizanne Falsetto, the CEO of thinkThin's all natural, sugar free protein bars and mother of two, shows you how to make delicious Gluten Free Pizza and turn cooking with the kids into a weekly ritual. Her show, Lizanne Naturally, focuses on easy portable nutrition as the key in achieving weight wellness, an ingredient of a life lived well.

inspiration! #Photo 'Untitled' by stavros zembilis #500px

May Showers (of Wine) Bring Happy HoursThe scariest thing about this wine is an empty bottle.It's such a lovely time of year - but not so lovely that it couldn't be made a little lovelier. Tip a glass or few of these fine wines and let their euphoric glow bring a sparkling sense of well-being to sunny and blustery days alike. Also they're super-cheap.

Sisters and Brothers, how many of you would love to experience chocolate from around the world, meeting the creators, and tasting the uniqueness of each culture?  Doreen Pendgracs has done this and she continues to do this for her multi-volume book series, Chocolatour: A Quest for the World’s Best Chocolate.  The first book is due out later this year and we hope to bring you a book review of it

Macheesmo Has Moved! Update your Reader Now. Hey Macheesmo readers. Nick here... I had to move my RSS feed to a new service because Google's services are no longer being supported. My new RSS feed has moved to: http://feeds.feedblitz.com/macheesmo Update your reader now with this changed subscription address to get your latest updates from me. Sorry for the hassle! Thanks, Nick

Tomorrow Ginny Messina and I will be in Portland – as will Jasmin and Mariann of Our Hen House. Today, however, Ginny and I are on the Our Hen House online magazine. Check out Ginny’s article Protein in Vegan Diets: Take Advantage of the Options which includes my recipe for Grape and Brazil Nut Chicken-Less Salad, which contains the grilled version of Beyond Meat. So easy, so yummy!