Mark and Lynn eat well in Brooklyn (again)

Lynn had gotten it in her head that she wanted cupcakes from Brooklyn.  We also wanted to have something to eat from Bark.  So, we drove into Brooklyn ate at Bark and made our way over to Cupcakeland on Metropolitan in the Williamsburg area of the burough.  The space was minmal but the cupcakes were amazing.  Lynn particularly loved the Red Velvet cupcake which had a standout whipped cream cheese frosting that had a great, lush texture.  It was also a bargain at a mere 2.50.
M & L

8 hours in Brooklyn...

Mark and Lynn make it through the nasty Northeast winter; thanks Death's Door!

A quick tribute to a great  whisky (with a catchy name) that seems fairly close to moonshine due to it's clarity and sweet taste, Death's Door White Whisky  has helped Mark and Lynn get through the tough Northeast winter with a certain amount of aplomb and elan intact...

Let's Bring Back celebrates the way things used to be...

We just got an amusing book called Let's Bring Back: An encyclopedia of fogotten-yet-delightful, chic, useful, curious and otherwise commendable things from times gone by (Chronicle).  The author and bon vivant Lesley M.M. Blume has compiled an alphabetical list of mini essays on a plethora of subjects which have faded from cultural view (model airplanes, hobby horses, family bibles, latin, attention spans and so on).  Among this list are several items related to culinary and imbibing pleasurs including gimlets (here a concoction of gin and lime juice), neopolitan ice cream, new year's day parties, the old, venerable soda fountain chain Schrafft's, Automats, as well as a belly busting breakfast treat from the turn of the century called "Fat Rascals" made popular by being one of Teddy Roosevelt's favorite treats. Mark and Lynn tend to be digital reactionaries so you can imagine what a great tonic Ms. Blume's book was for us...

Randy Clemens brings the Vietnamese-American heat to everyday dining with The Sriracha Cookbook

The breakout ingredient for the new decade is without a doubt Sriracha.  The so-called "Rooster Sauce" (so-called due to the distinctive graphic rooster on the bottle) was Bon Appetit magazine's ingredient of the year in 2010 and to begin 2011 we have  The Sriracha Cookbook: 50 Rooster Sauce Recipes that Pack a Punch. This work is author Randy Clemens' attempt to broaden the horizons and uses of this litterally and figurartively "hot" sauce. 

Randy Clemens

Author Clemens' fills in some of the origin of the particullarly popular brand of hot sauce turned out by Huy Fong Foods; for instance, the rooster on the side of the bottle is in commemoration of Huy Fong Foods founder David Tran's  birth year as determined by the Chinese Zodiac ("roosters" are often thought to be good in the kitchen); the sauce is not the only brand of Sriracha either as there are several Thai inspired versions including popular brands Golden Mountain and Shark Brand (these tend to be milder  on the whole). Another footnote of particular interest is that Sriracha is not a traditional staple of Vietnam but is more related to the Vietnamese-American tradition since Tran actually developed the concotion in California in the early 80's where it gathered a kind of following due to it's heat, flavor and memorable packaging.

Mr. Clemens does an impressive job of rolling  out a number of creative recipes that revolve around this shall we say charasmatic sauce.  Some of the recipes seem like a natural fit for the stregnths and tasts of Sriracha such as a Gazpacho recipe made with Sriracha; others seem like a hip utilization of the Vietnamese staple like Sriracha and Spam Fried rice; others seem like a kind of great novelty such as a number of Sriracha inspired cocktails most memorably a twist on the Bloody Mary called a "Bleeding Mary."

There is much more here, even a nod to the DIY foodie movements where there is instruction to make your own Sriracha; perhaps Lynn and I will make some for friends in between making Bleeding Marys...