Alex Van Buren

ebullient at borobudur

Alex Van Buren — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 19:21:23 GMT

Borobudur monument in Java, Indonesia

In Bali, everyone looks good in their flowing sarongs as they walk down the beach. In Bali, the ocean crashes an appropriate distance away—not too close, and not too fiercely—and the sand looks like it’s maybe made of the sugar dust you find in Pixy Stix. Waiters are ubiquitous on Pixy Stix Beach. They make cocktails in coconuts, each of which is roped to the back of a friendly monkey. The monkey scampers out to you to deliver it, smiling with his big monkey teeth.

 That was my vision of Bali. I’m not gonna lie. And since we stayed at a snazzy hotel for part of our stay there, that vision was pretty well met, sans happy monkey. (Those dudes are fierce, and yes, they really do love bananas).

But what amazed me most about our recent trip to Singapore and Indonesia was how little I knew about the island just west of Bali—Java. Yogyakarta, its cultural capital, is an $80 hour-long trip from Bali’s main airport. And it is so, so worth it.

Our itinerary was New York to Shanghai to Singapore—a funny, exceptionally clean city with excellent Indian food—followed by a short hop to Jakarta and a quick drive to Bogor in Western Java. Our hotel was relaxing and beautiful. I got a great massage for ten bucks. Things were looking good.

A couple of mornings later, though, our journey began in earnest. Our driver drove up in a rickety blue minivan to pick our group of five. One member of our party had guesstimated an eight-hour trip ahead, from Bogor to Yogyakarta in Central Java.

Wrong. That would be an 18 hour trip, our guide corrected him.

That’s a big difference when you’re in a bus with busted shocks and a crazy driver who has an affinity for the wrong side of the road (for passing clusters of scooters, horses, rickshaws and children). It's a big difference when you're zipping along skinny winding mountain roads and stopping at toilets set in the dirt, with clouds of mosquitoes and nary a square of toilet paper in sight. (It took me a week to stop carrying my own roll around when I got back to America). We stopped at mosques several times per day so our Muslim driver could pray—one hybrid mosque-toilet-gas station was quite incredible—and I kept my nose in a 900-plus page Haruki Murakami novel to while away the hours. It wasn’t awful, and the scenery was beautiful, but it was exhausting, particularly for our two drivers.

When we arrived at our hotel at 11pm, having left at 6:45 that morning, I heard my beau say excitedly, “We’re falling asleep on the grounds of an ancient monument.” I mustered a grunt in reply, as I was busy gobbling up chicken satay, my first real meal of the day. I didn't register our location.

We woke up that next morning, drank our bad instant coffee, stretched our arms and legs, and walked along a path. We rounded a bend. An incredible monument stretched into the sky, and I gasped.

Borobudur. It is breathtaking not in a mortal, normal way, but in the way that you imagine Lothlórien, the elven forest, must have been for Frodo and Sam. Buddha is everywhere at Borobudur. He is under the stupas (turrets), except the very top one, which at its zenith points straight like a lightning rod into the heavens. He is headless in some places—Muslim warriors reportedly chopped off his stone head long ago—and wears a beautifully serene expression in others. Hordes of tourists clamber everywhere, snapping photos, reaching to hold Buddha’s hand through holes in the stupa, which is thought to bring good luck. Most sport bright yellow sarongs, like happy fireflies. All seemed to want to take their pictures with the very pale Americans.

Irrespective of religious tenets—I am not a practicing Buddhist—it would be hard not to be moved by this place. Carved into its sides and its belly are little vignettes, many of people trying to distract Buddha from his journey towards enlightenment. Others are of animals, such as a bird with two heads. The top head, able to reach the best branches, eats fresh fruit. The bottom head has not such range, and is relegated to bruised fruit and dirt. The top head refuses to share, saying it all goes to one stomach. Finally the bottom bird head, desperately hungry, eats a poisonous mushroom. The bird—and both its heads—dies.

Yogyakarta, a two-hour drive away (don’t trust Lonely Planet on drive times here), is a neat little city, with the Sultan’s palace, the Kraton, at its center, and Hindu temple Prambanan about an hour outside the city. There are rickshaws and ex-pat bars, decent food and great people-watching.

Sure, the Singapore hawker markets were amazing, especially the woman at Tekka Market who spatulaed piping-hot dosas with one hand while dropping medhu vadai into boiling oil with the other. The air in Singapore Airport smells like ginger and sugar, and I ate the best soup dumplings of my life here.

Bali was wonderful and dreamy. Even the sight of oodles of Elizabeth Gilbert wannabes writing in their journals and dreaming of love—not that I'm judging—can’t shake its charm. To that monkey who detected a cherry cough drop through two layers of plastic and tried to eat a corner of my handbag: My hat is off to you, dude.

But for me, everything comes back to Borobudur, the sense of peace I felt there, and the goodwill towards others. I was in a quietly rapt state for the duration of my time there—perhaps my new ideal when it comes travel. Thank you to Java for that.

chocolate pistachio tart... and it's a wrap

Alex Van Buren — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 19:00:00 GMT

Chocolate pistachio tart with brandied cherries at Bien Cuit.

If I had a nickel for every time my mother told *that* story—the one in which I was left alone in the kitchen with a pretty chocolate bundt cake another mom had brought to the big PTA meeting, and proceeded to tunnel through it, pinch by pinch, until it collapsed—I would be a rich woman.

So it's apt that the last piece I host and produce for CHOW is about chocolate. This chocolate pistachio tart is delicious, gorgeous and made with a lot of love. Props to Alex Lisowski for his usual expert shooting, directing and editing.

We've filmed 48 segments over the last year—48!—and I've learned a few things. I've learned to look at the camera like you're telling your best friend an awesome story. (Sometimes it works, sometimes you look ca-razy). I've learned how to produce a shoot without pulling my hair out. I've learned how to stand in snowbanks on Brighton Beach in 30 degree weather while looking chipper in a thin vintage coat, and how to look bright and happy in 105 degree heat. I've had the pleasure of meeting all sorts of extraordinary business owners, and learned the tricks to their various signature dishes. It's been something else, this experience, and I have really enjoyed it.

I'll continue to work on a few freelance projects, including writing and editing alongside some wonderful writers and editors at Gilt Taste. I'm very impressed with what they're up to.

Just for the heck of it, below is a list of all 48 segments, most of which you can find on the NY CHOW Report Youtube page. Thanks to all my friends, loved ones and CHOW colleagues for being so supportive as I took the leap from print to video, and I hope everyone's autumn is as pretty as mine has been.

10/18 chocolate pistachio brandied cherry tart @ bien cuit
10/11 hanger steak @ st anselm
10/04 beer cheese & tomato soup @ earl's
9/27 banana roti @ rhong-tiam
9/20 farcita at catania,
9/13 halusky at korzo haus
8/30 gelato flowers at amorino
8/23 ratatouille at thirstbaravin
8/16 peach-blueberry pie @ fort defiance
8/9 samosa chaat at mumbai xpress
8/2 arepas at arepera guacuco
7/26 chicken with foie gras at the beagle
7/19 bananas foster @ coolhaus/ lot on tap
7/12 crudo at esca
7/05 malted milkball ice cream at ample hills
6/28 strawberry gazpacho at northern spy
6/21 middle eastern picnic, governor's island
6/14 okonomiyaki, otafuku
6/07 tres leches, empellón
5/31 moi moi at buka
5/23 burger, burger garage
5/17 fusilli with octopus and bone marrow, marea
5/10 jamaican picnic, flatbush
5/03 pizza, zero otto nove
4/26 pernil, sofrito
4/19 lobster roll, red hook lobster pound
4/12 chole bhatura, sapthagiri
4/05 duck rillettes, colonie
3/29 lemon cake, betty bakery
3/22 papaya salad, ayada
3/15 deviled eggs, tia pol
3/08 fish and chips, the cuckoo's nest
3/01 chilaquiles, el paso
2/22 irish coffee, dutch kills
2/15 elk chop, henry's end
2/08 blueberry scones, ted & honey
2/01 khachapuri, georgian bread
1/25 cumin lamb noodles, xi'an famous foods
1/18 chicken liver mousse, vinegar hill house
1/11 Restaurant Week: pork chop, riverpark
1/04 sabich, taim
12/28 poutine, mile end
12/21 champagne cocktail, flatiron lounge
12/14 boozy hot chocolate, l.a. burdick
12/07 chicken adobo, purple yam
11/30 Mexican food: fonda; sunset park; tulcingo del valle
11/23 brats & dogs, Brats and Bark
11/16 mad scientist beer, sixpoint

catching up

Alex Van Buren — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 18:30:48 GMT

Pie at Fort Defiance, Red Hook, Brooklyn. Still by Alex Lisowski.

Oof, I've been remiss in keeping this page current! The last two months have been busy. In addition to some fun writing and editing, I've produced and hosted nine new videos for CHOW. Director/ shooter/ editor Alex Lisowski and I have had a blast: We've covered frozen treats like malted milk ball ice cream at Ample Hills, Bananas Foster ice cream sandwiches at the Coolhaus truck, and gorgeous gelato flowers at Amorino. There was a Restaurant Week feature on a sustainably-fished crudo—razor clam in its pretty shell—at Esca, and a behind-the-scenes of the delicious brick chicken with fennel pollen and foie gras at The Beagle.

We drove out to Floral Park, Queens, to highlight the chaats at Mumbai Xpress, a longtime Chowhound fave, then biked to the opposite end of the city (sort of). In Red Hook, the new chef at Fort Defiance is making a mean blueberry-peach pie. We found a gorgeous burrata with ratatouille at newish French wine bar Thirstbaravin on Classon and Pacific in Brooklyn, and deep-fried halusky tossed with rosemary oil at Korzo Haus in Alphabet City.

NY CHOW Report now has a show page on Youtube, if you'd like to catch up on some of my favorite dishes around town. Thanks for watching, and thanks to CHOW colleagues Lessley Anderson, Blake Smith and Meredith Arthur for their sharp script edits. These segments air Tuesdays and Saturdays on NY1.

summery strawberry gazpacho

Alex Van Buren — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 11:54:00 GMT

Strawberry Gazpacho at Northern Spy Food Co. Still by Alex Lisowski

So strawberry season in New York is set to wrap up pretty shortly, if the farmers at my local market are correct. Before the pretty berries disappear, eat as many as you can: I love this strawberry gazpacho, a seasonal special at Northern Spy Food Co. It's bright and sweet and hot and crunchy and smooth and everything a well-balanced dish should be. Sous Chef Brittany Anderson, who has worked at Blue Hill at Stone Barns, created the recipe, and I reckon she has a bright future ahead of her.

Check out our CHOW segment (directed and shot by Alex Lisowski) over here. And thanks for watching!

middle eastern picnic

Alex Van Buren — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 12:03:00 GMT

Pistachio baklava at Damascus. Still by Alex Lisowski.

Damascus and Sahadi's have been mainstays for about seven years. I love the Sahadi's hummus, fried cauliflower, spanakopita and even the tiramisu. The Damascus pitas and baklava are likewise wonderful. Many thanks to the Matli brothers and to Charlie and Ron Sahadi for working with shooter/ editor/ director Alex Lisowski and I on this piece about Atlantic Avenue and Governor's Island.

tres leches at empellón

Alex Van Buren — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 20:19:10 GMT

Still by Alex Lisowski. Tres leches with mango at Empellón.

This week's piece was just too beautiful not to get a post of its own. How lovely is that tres leches cake?

Lauren Resler, pastry chef at Empellón, deserves credit for its creation, and my co-producer-shooter-editor-director-Englishman Alex Lisowski deserves credit for this shot. I love this dessert. You should stop by, sip some Mezcal or bubbly, and try some. That goat's milk ice cream is just out of control.

cheeseburger cheeseburger

Alex Van Buren — Mon, 30 May 2011 21:14:00 GMT

A double cheeseburger at The Burger Garage. Still by Alex Lisowski.

Happy Memorial Day, folks. If you're anything like me, you're obsessed with grilled meats this time of year. Last week we featured the burgers at The Burger Garage in Long Island City. The brothers running the place are making a very tasty, fast food-style burger with higher-quality meat than you usually find for $6.95-- and they're really nice guys.

The Burger Garage is similar to the Shack in style--although if I had to choose a favorite fast food-style patty the Shack might edge this one out--but this place is in Queens, unlike the Shack, and there's no line, and if you get a double with onion strings and pickles and sauce on the side and don't love it, well, then. Hmmph.

Hope you're having a good weekend, regardless of whether you're a burger freak. I biked to Coney Island yesterday and it is gonna take that sort of 25-mile roundtrip to keep me in the middleweight fighting category during this summer of bourbon-vanilla ice cream and burgers. Good grief.

fancy and unfancy foods

Alex Van Buren — Wed, 18 May 2011 14:00:00 GMT

Video still
by Alex Lisowski

I've been happily busy of late and have even had the satisfaction of seeing a few pieces in print. (Remember print?) Here's a summary:

The May issue of InStyle ran a few Mother's Day interviews with actors and their moms. I got to meet Chace Crawford (from Gossip Girl!) and his sweet mom Dana. I totally did not call him Nate throughout my interview. OK, I maybe did do that. I also interviewed Blair and Marilyn Underwood, who are lovely.

The May Men's Health contains a couple of my pieces. I wrote a "match fancy bar food to the right drink" bit with help from the very smart St. John Frizell, and contributed to a larger feature.

Over at CHOW, where I'm a Contributing Editor, co-producer Alex Lisowksi and I pulled together a fun picnic segment thanks to flexible friends and the fine Jamaican food in Flatbush. This week we're filming an African food segment, about which I am stoked.

Last but not least, I did some copywriting for new food site Gilt Taste. Did you know it's possible to write 39 tiny pieces in three days? I did not. I wrote about Mitibleu and Mangalica, Persille de Beaujolais and Bee Chocolates. They've got a great crew over there, and I wish them the best of luck.

pride, pernil and precocity

Alex Van Buren — Fri, 06 May 2011 19:50:00 GMT

Pernil at Sofrito. Still (c) Alex Lisowski.

So I was keeping an eye on my niece "M" a few weeks ago. She is three, and in constant motion, which has to this point excluded her from a real role in the kitchen. And although my sister was wary, I wanted to make cookies, and I thought we could do it without burning the house down. We got an OK, so I wheeled M to the grocery store in her stroller. She held the bag of chocolate chips above her head-- like a heavyweight champion hoisting his belt-- all the way home.

To keep her engaged, I tried to keep every step Super Exciting, from measuring the flour-- "don't let me scoop out too much!"-- to dropping balls of cookie dough on the sheets. She used her tiny paw to scoop out her own cookie, which we placed on the top-left corner of the sheet. Into the oven it went, and she ran off to watch Jungle Book, with which she is obsessed.

Ten minutes later M was standing at the oven door, begging me to take the cookies out. When I did, she demanded her cookie: "Which one is mine?" We sat at the table together and she took a bite.

"This," she declared with her little lisp, "is the vewy best cookie I have ever eaten!"

I had an identical moment in my own kitchen a few weeks later (about tomato sauce!) and realized my culinary vanity is hereditary. I love that this human instinct-- to be so admiring of one's own creative capacity-- is present even in a three-year-old.

Recently my co-producer Alex Lisowski and I shot a segment for CHOW.com about the pernil at Sofrito in midtown. The chef there takes an obvious pride in his work, and I respect him for it. It is a fantastic roast pork shoulder. The recipe is on CHOW.com.

Our next piece is slated to air on Tuesday morning on NY1 in the half hour after 8am. Thanks for watching.

chole bhatura at sapthagiri

Alex Van Buren — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 14:00:00 GMT

Chole bhatura at Sapthagiri in Jersey City, NJ. (c) Alex Lisowski

Many thanks to Robert Sietsema at the Village Voice for this week's find. He took a few food writer friends to Sapthagiri in Jersey City last year after reviewing it in the paper, and the food was just wonderful.

I loved the paneer makhni, the coconut uttapam, the samosa chaat, and this wondrous, wild chole bhatura-- calorie count be damned. Thanks to Vinny and Praveen for letting us into their kitchen, and to co-producer Alex Lisowski for smart shooting, editing and directing.

lemon cake=virtual sunshine

Alex Van Buren — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 13:00:00 GMT

Betty Bakery's Lemon Cake

Does this weather make anyone else want to eat deviled eggs and drink Tom Collinses, or maybe dance around to the Beach Boys while wearing an obnoxious tropical shirt?

It does that to me.

This lemon cake from Betty Bakery follows the same lines of logic: It's as sunny and sweet as the weather we're not having, and it will brighten your mood. I am a fan of every dish I feature for CHOW.com on NY1, but this one? This one I could eat every day. Check out the video here, or catch it on NY1 this Saturday. Thanks for watching, and thanks to Alex Lisowski for directing, shooting and editing this segment.

fish and chips, deviled eggs, and papaya salad

Alex Van Buren — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 14:49:00 GMT

Hullo, there. I have three new videos up on CHOW.com, which have run on NY1 over the last several weeks. Many thanks to Alex Lisowski for his skilled shooting, directing and editing.

First, I ate some darn fine fish 'n chips and hung out with my cousin over some Guinnesses at the Cuckoo's Nest in Woodside, Queens. Many thanks to Paul and Michael for being so accommodating.

Next I tackled the deviled egg, with which I'm slightly obsessed at the moment-- though not after making them for a recent party! Prepping and peeling a dozen hard-boiled eggs without bungling the whites is pretty tricky. In the segment I suggest some pairings, because deviled eggs actually go well with certain beers and wines-- and if Tia Pol served cocktails, I would have ordered a Tom Collins, with which they're fantastic. Thanks to Stephanie, Mani and TJ for all their help.

Finally, I headed out to Elmhurst to feature the papaya salad at Ayada Thai. It's a heck of a dish-- so different than you'd expect-- and in my piece I make a stab at explaining why. Thanks to Kitty, Nina and Paul for being superlative hosts.

Looking forward to the next few weeks, and to featuring springier fare (c'mon, weather!)

chilaquiles in harlem

Alex Van Buren — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 18:45:00 GMT

Chilaquiles at El Paso Taqueria

This week's New York CHOW Report on NY1 features chilaquiles, those great Mexican hangover slayers: Sloppy fried tortillas, tomatillo salsa, cotija, crema fresca, avocados if you ask nicely-- and bam! Good times.

Please click on over to see what you think of our little video-- and "like" it on Facebook or YouTube or comment with feedback! Thanks, and thanks to the talented Jenny Woodward for shooting and editing.

nostalgia, irish coffee and dutch kills

Alex Van Buren — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 18:30:00 GMT

It's pretty nostalgia-inducing to do a piece about Long Island City.

When I lived around the bend from PS1 in 2002 there was only one local grocery store, where a cute cat roamed the premises. Less cute was the fact that the owners stowed open boxes of eggplants and tomatoes on the floor, with a box of cat litter in between. Also, I'm pretty sure the people who lived above my apartment wore rollerblades in their home all day long, such was the hue and cry they raised.

At any rate, it's pleasant to see a local-- Richard Boccato, who hails from Queens-- gently helping transform that neck of the woods via a small, hidden bar called Dutch Kills. It got a ton of hype when he, Karin Stanley and Sasha Petraske opened the venue two years ago and it continues to deserve it now. I didn't have a bad drink on my visits, and I really did love this simple Irish coffee. Jameson can have a slightly bitter aftertaste, so to soften it with sugar, cream and coffee makes everything copacetic, whether you're at the bar or making one at home.

Check it out , if you please, and long live LIC. (Many thanks to Alex Lisowski for his expert shooting and editing, and to my pal Christy Harrison for keeping me company!)

eating elk in brooklyn

Alex Van Buren — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 15:28:00 GMT

Free-range, Cervena-certified elk chops at Henry's End in Brooklyn Heights

This week's New York CHOW Report, a short video segment that runs on NY1, is all about the elk chops at Henry's End in Brooklyn Heights. Their wild game menu has been popular since the 1980s. I've also sampled their rabbit ravioli and turtle soup, and although I was not a huge fan of the soup, I loved the ravioli and those chops. So rustic, and so satisfying.

Check out the video if you're curious about what elk tastes like, and thanks for watching. (The talented Jenny Woodward shot, directed and edited this piece.)

khachapuri in brighton beach

Alex Van Buren — Sat, 05 Feb 2011 13:00:00 GMT

Khachapuri at Georgian Bread

This week's New York Chow Report came together thanks to a few sharp colleagues: My friend Sarah Karnasiewicz, an award-winning cook and excellent writer, fell in love with khachapuri-- a cheese-filled bread-- when traveling in Russia. (Sarah runs a pretty little cooking blog over at 365 Kitchen, and one of my favorite entries is this one.)

Then my pal Adina Steiman, a trained chef and the food editor of Men's Health, directed me to Georgian Bread. Chowhounds confirmed it as a solid khachapuri source, so I trekked down there. It was the third shop I'd visited for the bread, and was by far the best. Click here if you want the full story, or tune in on NY1 today in the half hour following 6:30pm, 8:30pm,1:30am, 2:30am, or 3:30am.

Thanks to Alex Lisowski for some gorgeous shots, Jenny Woodward for a smart edit, and Sarah for the crazy hats. I know I look frostbitten on that there beach, but it was a fun day's worth of work, and I strongly recommend checking out the bread. Badri and Bernardo are turning out amazing creations in a tiny space.

of long island and liverwurst

Alex Van Buren — Sat, 22 Jan 2011 22:36:00 GMT

There's a new CHOW segment running on NY1 that's a little homage to my New York Times crossword-battling, candy-eating, Entenmann's crumb cake-loving Pop Pop. He and my granny were wonderful to us when we were kids, but I had no love for his liverwurst habit. This week's bit is all about my adult hypocrisy: I'm a huge, freakout fan of chicken liver mousse, and you can find out where my current favorite version of it is here.

The NY1 segments are live Tuesdays in the half hour following 8am, 11am, 1pm, 4pm, 12:30am & 1:30am, and Saturday in the half hour following 6:30pm, 8:30pm, 1:30am, 2:30am, and 3:30am.

Thanks for watching and hey, if you know a dish I absolutely must cover and bring to all New Yorkers, please feel free to comment here or even better on CHOW. And go, Jets! --AVB

filipino food on ny1

Alex Van Buren — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 18:35:00 GMT

This week's segment for CHOW on NY1 focuses on the tasty chicken adobo at Purple Yam, a sweet little pan-Asian Filipino restaurant in Ditmas Park, Brooklyn. Details about my favorite dish--although it was a close race between the gorgeous lechon and the chicken adobo shown above--can be snagged by clicking here or keeping an eye on NY1 Tuesdays and Saturdays. Thanks for watching!

chow news

Alex Van Buren — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 05:20:00 GMT

It's been a while, but I have some cool news: I'm now a Contributing Editor for CHOW, my favorite food site. You can RSS them here and follow the New York Digest that Mark Hokoda and I run over here.

Oh, and also, I'm on T.V. Isn't that wild? I feel like Journalism Barbie minus that spectacular bustier-jacket combo.

CHOW will be showcasing New York restaurants, bars, food trends, and wacky characters on NY1 twice weekly. The folks there have kindly introduced me to the wild world of television, and it's fun, challenging, and full of people who talk faster than auctioneers.

I'm excited and feel very lucky to work with both companies. (Do you know about CHOW's honors? The James Beard Awards? The Emmy nomination?) Jane Goldman, Lessley Anderson, Roxanne Webber and the rest of the crew have incredible editorial sensibilities, and the video folks are totally awesome: This fun piece with critic Robert Sietsema was my first collaboration with them. The kitchen team creates things like Turkey Cakes and rock steady Chow Tips (mostly by cook-in-chief Jill Santopietro, formerly of the New York Times' Tiny Kitchen).

My two-minute bit will appear twice-weekly, on Tuesdays in the half hour following 8am, 11am, 1pm, 4pm, 12:30am & 1:30am, and Saturday in the half hour following 6:30pm, 8:30pm, 1:30am, 2:30am, and 3:30am. (So now people I know can be hammered in a bar, see me yapping on the little screen, and go, "YO I know her!")

I hope you dig it--our first piece featuring Mad Scientist beer* premiered yesterday and can be seen here --and I'm open to all your feedback and tips. After all, a good journalist is only so good as her sources.

Lastly, I'm still freelancing part-time, so editors can please continue to get in touch. My bio is tucked away over here. Thanks!

* The excellent photographer Michael Harlan Turkell kindly allowed us to use his Sixpoint pix.

radio free brooklyn

Alex Van Buren — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 17:30:00 GMT

Christian Slater in Pump up the Volume

There are a few ferociously smart women in food writing, and I was lucky enough to have a kaffeeklatsch with two of them on the airwaves recently. Along with Rebecca Flint Marx (a blogger for the Village Voice site Fork in the Road) and Edible Manhattan deputy editor Rachel Wharton (an indie rock foodie who knew the right Weezer song to play during the first episode's battle about The City Vegetarian), and emboldened by a pitcher of Captain Lawrence beer, we went a little nuts talking about dieting. You can listen, and judge us, today at 5pm--or play it later.

It's a topic I feel strongly about. One of the reasons I found co-writing this book so interesting was because I am not, necessarily, a "healthy" person. Like many food nerds, I don't count calories and I love sugar, butter, beer and pork. My co-author's position on dieting was liberal enough--he sees room for meat and fat in moderation--to make me comfortable working with him, and the book taught me a number of things: Now I add agave to my coffee instead of sugar, and try (emphasis on "try") to incorporate more dark greens into my diet. Most importantly, I learned of the mood-saving properties of vitamin D-3 during the crazy-long northeast winter. But I have my own theories on when moderation is appropriate, and when it is not, and we three women had a lot to say about weight, food and gender, so give us a listen.

Also, though I try to keep up this site with weekly accounts of my to-ings and fro-ings (or recent articles), I have been off my game a bit. I've been busy writing about Cookie Takedowns here, writing tiny restaurant briefs there, and writing commercial copy for a swell specialty food company. Oh, and I've been editing a cookbook for these great folks! It's been a blast. More to come about that, a small nonprofit I'm starting, and all sorts of tasty tidbits in the coming months.