Category — Food

“It’s top chef not top scallop!”

I just watched the Top Chef Special where the best and most infamous competitors from the first five seasons of Top Chef gathered in Los Angeles to eat and relive their time on the show. Best part was Fabio Viviani. He was hilarious on the show - funny and a wise ass..and can cook. Love.

Source: Getty

I am still annoyed that Gourmet is shutting down..especially because I’ve come to love Diary of a Foodie, a show on PBS that airs every other Sunday…

I record the show and watch it like a kid watching a cartoon..it’s fun to watch. They travel around the world to places I am sure I will never physcially touch and show all types of food and recipes..

I especially love the video’s they have so until the shut the website down I am going to try my best to catch up on my “shows”..

www.gourmet.com/video

How I love thee, let me count the ways..Well I do but actually I can’t remember the last time I’ve eaten them. Reason being if I got a bag right now I would finish the bag within minutes so I spare myself the guilt and remorse that I will feel soon after..

But my god, if you haven’t had them you gotta. The crisp potato chip merged with the tangy twist of the vinegar with that sharp salty flavor. It’s a burst of flavor in your mouth..

They are so good I would twist the bag inside out just to get whatever little crumbs were left..

All this vinegar talk is reminding me of pickles..Trader Joe’s has this version - the cornichons - that has garlic, mustard seeds, dill and this sherry white wine vinegar..I just realized I can have those instead and not worry about the fat and calories and still get my vinegar “fix”…

One warning though - these will make you sweat, that’s how good they are..

Went to a new restaurant, well it’s been around for 3 years but it’s new to me, in Stamford last night with my girlys Carolyn and Naddya..

The place is called Dragonfly, it replaced The Playwright Bar on Bedford Street but the overall look is still the old Playwright setup - medieval goth-like. The look didn’t fit the menu if that makes any sense..Dragonfly’s menu gave the impression of an asian style where I felt like I would be surrounded in greens and beige..but it was more like maroon and black..

I had the Thai Curry Tilapia with Cauliflower and Fingerling Potatoes..it was delicious and made me appreciate that you really can make fish in many different ways

I also had a Plum Martini..also delicious and had that magical, candy-like feel to it..it was a deep purple elixir and reminded me of that purple grape medicine you’d get as a kid, I think dimetapp? I LOVED the taste of that stuff so couldn’t keep it around the house since my parents realized I would taste it even when I wasn’t sick…

http://www.dragonflyloungect.com/

The birthday celebrations continue and met up with my friend Jacob for dinner at Nessa’s in Portchester, NY

I found this place by accident, got my hair colored at Salon O in Byram (Greenwich) where you can get $40 color and $20 cuts after hours as a “model”..basically the salon trains the incoming hairdressers for months before they can be considered a “stylist”…so you save money and still get great cut/color..anyway..

The hairstylist was telling me all about the restaurants in the area, Tarrytown Lodge with Mario Batali and the son of Lidia Bastianich, I only know him as Joe from her TV shows (my mom is a huge lover of Lidia)

BUT she also told me about this small little place called Nessa and said I had to try it and I’ve been a fan ever since…

I haven’t strayed from my original order though - Chicken “cooked under a brick” (spinach, potato puree, diavolo sauce)..and the nessa salad..(arugula, vine ripened tomato, fennel, shaved parmesan, lemon dressing)

The look is just as nice, this dark, woodsy feel with candles and flowers at each table. The biegy paint on the walls..I still haven’t been to Italy but it reminds me of something I would imagine a restaurant in Italy would be like..

www.nessarestaurant.com

some friends and I went to check out the recently opened crumbs cupcake shop in stamford today and we bought back some goodies for the clan here..

the clan has given their thumbs up - for nearly $4 a cake it should be good in my book..I had a sliver, yeah have to lose the lbs now especially with the MS issue so have to be good about it but doesn’t mean I can’t sneak a taste..

it’s always been a dream of mine to open up a shop like that, really more of a restaurant but probably should think small before going for the big…

though I am not a sweet person, so a cupcake shop might not have all my devotion.. I love the salty stuff..the zingy, sharp taste..that’s the good stuff

but what? open a salt shop?..call it SALTY? hmm..have different salts from around the world and then dishes made with it…