Weekend in RI

Had a fun+crazy weekend in RI!  

Of course in typical "Katina-as-of-late" style I messed up the hotel dates.  I thought I booked for Thursday-Friday but in fact I booked for Wednesday-Thursday.  Well our nice beachside hotel had no room on Friday night so we had to move to ...I kid you not...a No-Tell Motel.  I didn't take a picture because I'm hoping to wipe it from my memory banks.  (and the way I've been forgetting things lately, it'll be gone in about 2 days!)

AND Brian opened the hotel room door onto Eleanor's toe and she HOWLED for 2 hours straight (10pm-12am) Eleanor has a very high tolerance for pain, the kid barely ever cries when she gets hurt, so it was almost as if she was crying for every injury she's had in life.  Like a true champ she woke up the next morning and said "mommy, today my toe feels great!"

On the way back to NYC we stopped at a friend's house in CT.  Her husband is a fantastic chef and he made the most delicious watermelon salad and  pizzas in their outdoor pizza oven. 

Fresh FRESH ingredients, many came from their garden-truffles, mushroom, ricotta, asparagus, heirloom tomatoes...soo amazing!  When you eat food like this, you really taste the difference between fresh, homemade food cooked with love and care, and store bought meals.  There is a place for everything!  I wish I took more pictures but I was too busy eating and drinking! 

+k

Egg

Recently Brian and I took a day trip to the Hudson Valley and stopped for lunch at  Sweet Grass Grill. 

Located in Tarrytown NY, Sweet Grass serves seasonal, local food much of which comes from local farms.  I had the Spinach Salad with Niman Ranch Bacon and blue cheese and this lovely, crispy, boiled egg came along.  I wish I could make this myself though I'm sure I would mess it up!  The carrot ginger soup was wonderful as was Brian's house smoked pulled BBQ pork with orange mustard. 

If you are ever in Tarrytown this is the perfect lunch spot.

New Food Icon

Bye Bye silly, hard to comprehend pyramid! 

 From today's announcement...
"MyPlate can help prioritize food choices by reminding us to make half of our plate fruits and vegetables and shows us the other important food groups for a well-balanced meal: whole grains, lean proteins, and low fat dairy. "
I like the visual reminder to make healthy food choices and I think it's easy for the kiddos to understand as well. 

Print it out and hang it in your kitchen where the kids can see.  they can compare their plate of food to the new icon and see how they are doing-well, see how YOU are doing!  I venture to guess that pretty soon they will be asking for more fruits and veggies so their plate looks like the one in the picture.  Any excuse to correct mommy is a good excuse in my house!

for more info click here

Milk & Cookies

Happy Friday friends.  I hope you have a lovely weekend!  I wanted to leave you this week with something sweet.
Flat out in top 5 cookies I've ever eaten category.  And they ship people.  I suggest you ORDER SOME NOW! 

Milk & Cookies

and for all you bakers...they have a beautiful cook book

 Buy it here!

no wonder I've gained 10 damn pounds since we moved to NYC!  10!

See you next week

Food Culture Subway Map & The Little Owl

Have you seen this?

Hartman Salt

It's a subway style map outlining all the players, locations and ideas happening in food culture today.  What a cool foodie gift!   Take a ride down the central line and stop at Wolfgang Puck, Thomas Keller or Grant Aachatz.  Jump over to the Global line and start at Rick Bayless and end up at Alain Ducasse.  If you go to the Hartman Salt site, you can hover over the names and a a brief bio of each "stop" pops up. 

If it's ever updated I would love to see Joey Camapnaro executive chef of  The Little Owl included.  We had an amazing meal there Tuesday night.  If you are in NYC or plan to be try if you can to get a reservation.  The meatball sliders were amazing...as was everything else!  the bolognese, the sliced big eye tuna with oyster, bibb lettuce, cucumber and avocado...I kid you not, melts in your mouth.

happy eating!  

I fell in the functional food trap

I was shopping in Whole Foods last week and a lovely girl was sampling cookies.  COOKIES!  Well of course Eleanor and I had to check it out.  The girl looked sweet and rather lonely so we stopped, and sampled.  What we tried were Goji Gourmet  cookies…here they are on my desk.  

 Now I know that “functional food” is a great way to market to people using the “this is better for you” health claim.  And claim these cookies do!  Right on the package… “100% natural” “delicious wholesome Super Food” “10x more ANTIOXIDANTS than blueberries”.  Now I’m smart enough to know that these cookies are not going to solve any health problems or boost my overall physical wellness but there is a part of me that thinks…well, every little bit helps and these MUST be better for you than major supermarket brand cookies.

Here’s what I know…the Goji Gourmet cookies have ingredients that I recognize-whole wheat flour, eggs, butter, pure vanilla extract etc... most of them organic (though it is not a USDA certified organic cookie) and it has no preservatives. 

Those other cookies, who shall remain nameless have a lot of things I know are bad-partially hydrogenated soybean oil, high fructose corn syrup, artificial flavors & colors.

Are the Goji berry cookies going to make me healthier?  No.  Are they a better choice for a once in a while treat? YES.  Is this choice better for my family than those other brands?  I say yes.  AND they are pretty darn good.

I did fall into the trap, but I think it’s ok.

For more information on Functional Food check out this excellent article from the NY Times last Sunday May 15^th
"Foods With Health Benefits, or So They Say"  

Taste of Tribeca

So excited about  Taste of Tribeca tomorrow!

I'll post pics of all the great food on Monday!  Have a great, food adventure filled weekend!

Yummy dinner..

Here last night!  Plein Sud

Though I don't have Chef Ed Cotton's recipe for the fantastic warm mushroom salad I had last night, here's one from Food & Wine.  I might try it this week.  But I probably won't!  I'll think about it a lot.  I'll print the recipe and maybe even go so far as to put it in my bag to take to Whole Foods.  But when push comes to shove...I probably won't pull the trigger because frankly, I'm the only one who's going to eat this and who has time to make this concoction just for myself?  jeeze I'm cranky!  I think I'm hungry.