Hey folks… it’s supposed to be nearing 100 degrees in New York City for the next few days so here’s my hat tip to Staying Cool.

Ready for the surprise?

Holy fruit! I just bit into a maraschino cherry!

And regarding the mulitcolorness: I think I’m setting the trend here because when I went to the Bloc Party show at McCarren Pool this Saturday (side note: awesome band, great show), I noticed something familiar about the front man’s shirt…

I think the recipe is pretty self explanatory, but here it is anyway: drop a maraschino cherry into popsicle mold, fill it one third of the way full with cranberry juice, let freeze. Repeat with 1/3 peach nectar, let freeze. Finish off with lemonade and another trip to the freezer. Use whatever colors/flavors you like. Couldn’t be more rainbow-rific.

I thought it was pretty interesting that last week the New York Times came out with a naeng-myun article one day after Slashfoods did a piece with a recipe for it - am I the only one who’s never heard of this dish before?!

The naeng-myun looked and sounded delicious so I made it my personal challenge to create a vanesscipe (easy vegetarian yummy recipe by Vanessa) for it. The obstacles to overcome were threefold:
1) an interesting vegetarian substitute for the beef brisket
2) a cold and tasty vegetarian broth
3) keeping it simple, but with enough flavors and ingredients to still be interesting and authentic(ish.)

What I did was substitute cold, sliced smoked tofu for the brisket to add a chewiness. I made my broth from bullion cubes + ice cubes… I actually prefer the taste of bullion cube broth to boxed (and I’m not apologizing, harrumph) AND it’s easier to get dehydrated cubes home from the grocery store. The sweet asian pear + spicy daikon radish + crunchy cucumber + chewy tofu make an interesting and refreshing combination with the cold but spicy sweet broth.

I highly recommend searching out the asian pear. It’s like biting into an icy sphere of flower honey. Pardon my poetics, just go try one.

Besides the noodles, which lose their shape after a while, this dish is easy to make in advance. I actually packed the whole thing up and brought it to the park for a picnic. Pack the veggies in one container, put the cold broth in another container or thermos, and coat the noodles in a little sesame oil so they don’t stick together and pack those separately too. Better than sandwiches, I promise!

Time: 30 minutes
Serves: 2

Noodles and Broth

2 bundles of buckwheat udon noodles
1 bullion cube (enough for 1 cup of bullion)
2 ice cubes
2 cups cold water
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tsp hot yellow mustard
1 Tbl vinegar
1 tsp sugar or honey
1 Tbl soy sauce

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I have to admit, I’ve never quite figured out what a magazine “supplement” is. I always assumed it’s just a slew of adverts cunningly posed as articles. So I was pretty tickled when I found one of my favorite still life photographers, Laura Letinsky, featured in the August supplement to Gourmet Magazine.

Just out of college I considered purchasing one of her photos of pink peonies petals falling on a plate of food crumbs. In hindsight, I’m disappointed to have missed what was probably a great investment, but I would have had to resort to eating crumbs myself. I guess pleasing the stomach won out to pleasing the eyes.

If you don’t have a subscription to Gourmet, scour wastepaper bins at your dentist to find the supplement, or check out a great slideshow of Letinsky’s food still life work here.

Concept: a vegetarian muffaletta sandwich

Concept detailed: a big ole finger-lickin’ N’Orleans-style muffaletta sandwich starring a crispy-fried full-flavor artichoke “burger” base and some optional oozy melty cheese.

This is a big, strong sandwich and my “artichoke burger instead of meat” concept elicited some pretty strong reactions. Some folks were aghast that I would try to veg or veganize this classic sandwich, shaking their heads and warning not to mess with success. Well, I’m a messer. More forward-thinking folks thought it sounds gosh darn yummy. Others just got a kick out of the sandwich nickname “muff.”
Well, tradition be darned, you gotta get your inspiration from somewhere and I was in the mood for a giant sandwich. My version is a little heavier on the veggies than a traditional muff, but I’m all about sneaking some veggie goodness in whenever I can and I’m not apologizing.

By the way, it turned out terrific. It’s also perfect for a picnic.

Serves: Generous 4
Time: 50 minutes, or you can let the olive salad marinate overnight to make it even better

Olive Salad

16 oz jar green olives
8.5 oz jar black olives
5 stalks of celery
4 carrots
1 green pepper
2 Tbl capers
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp oregano
3 Tbl olive oil

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I don’t know if anyone else caught this article in the NY Times today, but being a Chicagoan for most of my life and a healthy-eating vegetarian non-Chicagoan for the last few years, it caught my eye.

Basically, Chicago’s City Council is pushing for a ban on restaurants using oil that contains trans fats. Sound great, right? But this is Chicago we’re talking about… home of deep dish pizza and the Chicago-style hot dog. In fact, the article points out that Men’s Fitness magazine named Chicago as the fattest city in the nation. And let me tell you they are proud, PROUD, to let their heinies hang out of their Bear’s zubaz pants.

On the menu at Taste of Chicago, a week-long food-sun-and-music fest in Chicago’s beautiful Grant park:

“catfish beignets, curly fries smothered in cheese, pirogies with sour cream, beer-battered artichoke hearts, and fried dough buried in berry sauce and whipped cream.”

Now, I’m as anti-trans-fats as the next but I’m just not sure banning it from restaurants is the first step. I think those beer-battered artichokes sound pretty awesome - but, because I know better I’d shallow-fry them in olive oil. Everyone needs to make his own educated choices about living more healthily and banning trans fat oils in restaurants is just eliminating a choice, not educating folks how to make healthier choices. For the City Council to prohibit restaurants from using trans fat oils is sorta like your mom telling you that you gotta stop eating glue – you shouldn’t be eating it, but you’re going to stop because it’s totally disgusting, not because your mom told you so. In other words, I’m looking forward to the day when the public forces restaurants to stop using trans fats oils because they’re demanding better, healthier meals, not because they have no choice.
I want my olive-oil-fried-artichokes!
…

In a similar vein/organ, Chicago aldermen voted in April to ban restaurants from selling foie gras. Most people don’t even know what foie gras is, let alone why they shouldn’t eat it. Regardless of one’s sensitivities to the ethical treatment of barnyard animals, I think quite a few people would think twice if they knew they were eating ground-up duck’s liver. I mean, duck’s liver? Eww, gross.