A Sneak Peek of our Recent Trip to NYC for the
Annual Meeting of the International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP)

post from Meal Makeover Moms' Kitchen on 09 April 2012 10:22:34 AM. © Meal Makeover Moms' Kitchen

Last weekend, we traveled from Boston to the Big Apple for The Fashion of Food: Where Food, Fashion, and Media Connect, IACP’s annual food conference. For starters, we sat in on seminars featuring everyone from cookbook author Sara Moulton and Amanda Hesser of Food52 to Ruth Reichl, former Editor in Chef of Gourmet Magazine. As a main course, we listened to chef celebrities like Mario Batali, co-host of The Chew and Grant Achatz, owner of Alinea and Next and a leader in molecular gastronomy … and we hobnobbed with fellow food bloggers, cookbook authors, and dietitians. On a forthcoming Cooking with the Moms podcast, we’ll fill you in on all the delicious details. But in the meantime, here are just a few of the scrumptious highlights.

Okay. Let’s start with the bad news. Our podcast, Cooking with the Moms, was an IACP award’s finalist for the best culinary audio program in the broadcast and new media category. We did not win (hence the sad faces). But alas, it sure was an honor to be nominated!

At the award’s ceremony, Jacques Pepin paid homage to Julia Child. Did you know that this August marks the 100th birthday of the late food icon?

Look who we ran into … Virginia Willis, author of several cookbooks including Basic to Brilliant Y’all. Virginia was signing books at the CanolaInfo booth during the IACP’s Culinary Expo.

The Culinary Expo showcased cookware giants like KitchenAid and Cuisinart and local, New York-based artisanal food makers including Mitch Speaks, creator of these handmade Mitchmallows. The mint chocolate chip flavor was out of this world. If you listen to our podcast, you’ll know that Liz is obsessed with marshmallows, so she spent quite a bit of time at Mitch’s booth!

Liz spent Sunday afternoon showing off our cookbook, No Whine with Dinner at the Book & Blog Festival. Stopping by for a visit were Janet Helm, MS, RD from the blog, Nutrition Unplugged and co-founder of Healthy Aperture … and Wendy Bazilian, RD, author of The SuperFoods RX Diet.

Janice spoke on a panel sponsored by Dupont Teflon to discuss new consumer food trends — everything from cooking at home more often to paying more attention to the price of food. Other experts on the panel included award-winning health journalist and television personality Rovenia Brock, PhD, author and food stylist Lauren Braun Costello, Editor-in-Chief of MamiofMultiples.com Jocelyn Ramos Campbell, and food scientist Dr. Kantha Shelke. Kelsey Nixon from the Cooking Channel’s Kelsey’s Essentials moderated the panel.

We can’t wait to tell you about the AMAZING meal we had at Locanda Verde and the foodie/dietitian friends who joined us (hint: one of them was Ellie Krieger, host of the Cooking Channel’s Healthy Appetite). This salad featured bitter greens with dried cherries, hazelnuts, truffles, and smoked speck.

Stay tuned for more IACP news in the weeks to come

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-nyc-for-the-annual-meeting-of-the-international-association-of-culinary-professionals-iacp/

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8 Ways To Eat Better At Work (No Matter Where You
Work)

post from Blisstree » EAT on 09 April 2012 09:30:18 AM. © Blisstree » EAT

Every job has its dietary pitfalls. Offices have birthday cake, holiday cookies, and candy dishes. Restaurants have oodles of food. Hospitals have pudding-filled cafeterias. There's always a coworker who wants to go to our for lunch...or who eats like Liz Lemon. Even freelancing can mean unchecked, all-day snacking. But what I've learned is this: those things aren't going away. If you want to eat better at work, you can't wait around for the environment to get less unhealthy--you just have to set yourself up for success by learning how to brown bag like a champ. More »

Post from: Blisstree

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ou-work-168/

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Good Asian Eats in NYC

post from Viet World Kitchen on 09 April 2012 03:29:00 AM. © Viet World Kitchen

It?s taken me nearly a week to fully recover from the week spent in New York City. I was there for a packed schedule of conference sessions, meetings, and good food. New York over-stimulates your senses the moment you set foot outside. Food stylist Karen Shinto and I rented an apartment in the Gramercy Park area, located a couple of blocks away from the Flatiron building. (That's us above, famished enough to eat the Flatiron. Just kidding.) While we did graze at nearby Eataly, the Italian food emporium endorsed by Mario Batali, most of our meals were at Asian restaurants and snack shops. It was fabulously fun, inexpensive and overall very tasty. Here?s a recap: Rhong Tiam Express ? Our apartment was right next to...

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ts-in-nyc.html

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Weekend Herb Blogging #329 Hosting

post from Cook (almost) Anything at Least Once on 09 April 2012 01:22:13 AM. © Cook (almost) Anything at Least Once

This week Simona from Briciole will be hosting both the English and Italian versions of Weekend[...]

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Weekend Herb Blogging #328 - Recap

post from Cook (almost) Anything at Least Once on 09 April 2012 01:22:13 AM. © Cook (almost) Anything at Least Once

Whether you celebrated Easter or Passover or just indulged in a little too much chocolate, I hope[...]

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Bob O's Hot Dogs

post from Smokin' Chokin' and Chowing with the King on 09 April 2012 01:21:37 AM. © Smokin' Chokin' and Chowing with the King

-In Chicago: Every Dog Has it's Day

Well let me add to the much deserved good pub that Bob O's just got from the Hungry Hound. I saw he was there over twitter a few months back and it looks as though he's also just so happened to put up a little piece on the NW Side institution. Located down at the end of the western end of Irving Park road within city limits, Bob O's has been a fixture around these parts for 50+ years. Its where the folks from around that way both residents and those that work around it go to get their Chicago style fast food fix.

Bob O's in Dunning

The menu at Bob O's is simple but still leaves you with choices to choose from and of course hot dogs is where it all began. Bob O's started off as a shack and eventually had a few other trailers according to hungry Hound before they came to be where they are now. The hot dogs are pretty good, as they should be if you wanna survive selling them in this city. They come loaded up Chicago style with all the trimmings and include a nice side of fresh house cut fries.

Chicago Style Dog from Bob O's

Along with hot dogs, Bob O's offers up an assortment of sandwiches and burgers. The chicken sandwiches come in the options of plain, bbq, Teriyaki and parmigiana and are served on a bun but I would suggest asking for it on French bread. I loaded my Teriyaki chicken sandwich up with the toppings offered and came away impressed with the goodness this regular old chicken sandwich was putting out. Most certainly one of the better versions of a normally boring standard of this sandwich that I've come across. The meat was cooked perfectly, thus not dry and also was marinated long enough to soak in some flavor.

Teriyaki Chicken Sandwich

The reason for my visit and also that of the Hungry Hound was the beef at Bob O's. It wasnt until a little later on, after their hot dogs made a name, that they decided to put a focus on putting out a top notch Italian beef sandwich. I had heard their homemade version which is a rarity these days, was also a classic worthwhile beef to seek out. So one day this winter i had some time and a hankering for a good beef with hot and went on over to Bob O's. Much to my surprise they also serve up a gravy bread aka the bread from an Italian beef dipped and soaked in thegravy. A childhood favorite of mine I still love to eat. Very good.

Bob O's gravy bread

Today they sell alot of beef. Maybe even more than hot dogs. They also offer up Italian sausage sandwich as well as a combo (beef and sausage) and homemade meatball sandwiches too. The beef was a stand out as everyone who'd rec'd it had said. Made in house, the beef starts off as a raw roast sprinkled with dried onion and garlic which is then slow roasted and left to sit overnight. The next day it's trimmed of fat and sliced thin and sits until ready to be thrown into the gravy for the days hungry customers, many of whom claim this beef to be the best. The peppers come with a celery mix but still produce some heat from the bits of sport peppers. They don't skimp on da beef. I tasted no reason it isn't one of best beefs in the city. It might be called Bob O's 'Hot Dogs', but for me and many other it's the beef that hit's cleanup here.

Bob O's Beef with Hot (Click HERE to see how it scored against the rest)

Bob O's Hot Dogs
8258 W. Irving Park Road
Chicago, IL 60634
(773) 625-9840

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An Updated Classic

The taste of early spring spinach often reminds me of the description of rapunzel in the fairy tale of the same name. Tender leaves of a fantastically GREEN vegetable that somehow seems exotic and forbidden all at the same time, it demands and deserves the kind of respect we rarely accord vegetables. You’ll be seeing [...]

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3rd Annual Artist Series Wine Event at the
Capital Grille - Benefit for Share Our Strength

  For thethird year in a row, the Capital Grille has come up with a great way to raisemoney for Share Our Strength, a charity devoted to ending childhoodhunger. For every bottle of its ArtistSeries 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon sold, the Capital Grille donates $25 to ShareOur Strength. This is a win-win. Customers get to enjoy an excellent bottle ofwine, and Share Our Strength receives a donation to aid its goal of endingchildhood hunger.            Share Our Strength is a charity worthsupporting. The statistics are sobering. In the United States, one in five children struggleswith hunger (16 million!!). There are15.7 million children living in poverty. Through Share Our Strength?s initiatives, breakfasts are provided for needystudents before school, families are aided in signing up for SNAP, children aregiven access to snacks and lunches during the summer and after school hours,and education is provided to help families prepare affordable nutritious meals. As a teacher, I see children everyday whosefamilies struggle to make ends meet, especially during these tough economictimes.             Talkingabout poverty and the Capital Grille in the same article is a bit ironic. Most people dining at the Capital Grille arenot worrying about feeding their families or going hungry. The night I went tothe Capital Grille, the restaurant was nearly full on a Tuesday night. I saw a few tables other than my own orderingthe Artist Series Cabernet, but it would have been amazing to see the majorityof tables committing to the wine and doing some good while enjoying their $40steaks.            This year?sArtist Series Cabernet Sauvignon was created with a partnership between CapitalGrille?s Master Sommelier, George Miliotes and Freemark Abbey?s legendarywinemaker, Ted Edwards. It?s a limitededition with only 1,000 cases being produced. This is a great bottle of wine, especially when paired with one of theCapital Grille?s steaks. Since therestaurant knew ahead of time I would be trying the wine, it was alreadyaerated and decanted on our table when we arrived, and this allowed the wine toopen up nicely. The tannins wereprominent, but the fruit flavors of cherry and plum, and just a hint of vanillaand chocolate rounded it out beautifully.
            On thisnight at the Capital Grille, as a reward for driving Bridget and me to LoganAirport at 3:00AM in February, I brought my father. We started out with two treats from thekitchen ? porcini rubbed lamb chop and beef carpaccio. The perfectly cooked lamb chop paired nicelywith the Artist Series wine. The beefcarpaccio was very flavorful, and the thinly sliced beef was seasoned withMediterranean spices. The carpaccio was topped with an arugula salad dressed inlemon vinaigrette.
Beef Carpaccio             For myappetizer, I selected the Fresh Mozzarella, Tomato and Basil salad drizzledwith 12-year aged Balsamic Vinegar. Themozzarella at the Capital Grille is AMAZING. They prepare it fresh every two hours ? enough said. The mozzarella was served on top of slicedbeefsteak tomatoes and halved grape tomatoes. I usually do not order a Caprese salad outside of tomato season, but thetomatoes on this salad were good, particularly the grape tomatoes which soakedup the 12-year aged luscious balsamic vinegar.
Mozzarella, Tomato and Basil Salad             My father hadthe Lobster Bisque for his appetizer since he can?t resist anything withlobster in it. The creamy broth was toppedwith dry sherry, poured by our waiter tableside, and the cup was full oflobster meat. Unlike some pureed bisques, this one kept the integrity of the lobstermeat. Lobster Bisque            Before the main courses wereserved, we were brought a palate cleansing blood orange sorbet. The sorbet was fresh and a nice refresher atthe midpoint of our meal. The sorbet waspaired with a Salbach Riesling. For my main course, I tried the DryAged Sirloin Au Poivre with Courvoisier Cream Sauce. The waiter warned me this Au Poivre wasn?tstrictly the French preparation, saying it was completely crusted inpeppercorns. He was right. This steakwas entirely crusted in peppercorns, but the cream sauce took some of the edgeoff. My father ordered the Sliced FiletMignon with Cipollini Onions and Wild Mushrooms. He raved over the onions and mushrooms!
Sirloin Au Poivre For sidedishes, we split the Lobster Mac ?N? Cheese and Grilled Asparagus. The LobsterMac ?N? Cheese was buttery, decadent and delicious. The cheese sauce contained Havarti, GranPadano and Mascarpone, and the dish was finished with panko crumbs. The Grilled Asparagus is part of the CapitalGrille?s efforts to become more modern and healthy. Although it was grilled with a crisp finish,it was very tender and topped with lemon mosto olive oil and fleur de sel. It was a nice, light dish to contrast withthe Capital Grille?s standard heavy offerings.
Lobster Mac ?N? Cheese My fatherand I were both full from having so much food, but neither one of us couldresist dessert. I have been craving theCapital Grille?s ridiculous (in a good way) Chocolate Hazelnut Cake. The chocolate cake is layered with darkchocolate mousse and coated in hazelnut chocolate ganache. The slice is big enoughto feed a family of six! My one complaint about the cake was the huge puddle ofCrème Anglaise it is served with. To me,it takes away from the chocolate flavor. My father opted for an equally huge piece of Coconut Cream Pie. He loved every bite he was able tofinish. These desserts aren?t for thefaint of heart or those with small appetites!!
Coconut Cream Pie As usual,the service at the Capital Grille on this night was impeccable. My glass was never empty, a warm cloth wasbrought out for my hands after the lamb chop, and my every need was anticipatedbefore I even knew I had one.             In arestaurant normally devoted to excess and decadence, it?s nice to give back tothose less fortunate during this Artist Series Wine Event. I?m fortunate enough to be able to afford todine out in some of the finest restaurants in Providence, and it?s a wonderfulthing when I can give my business to restaurants who give back to the communitythrough donations or education. Soplease take some time this spring to check out the Capital Grille?s ArtistSeries Wine Event before the limited supply of Cabernet Sauvignon has run out.