Video: Enso Dancing to Albino Ghost Monkey

Due to some technical difficulties, visualist Enso could only perform in black and white. Nevertheless, the images had a vintage tinge and lot's of motion trail activity. It went along with all of the happy fuzzy electronics coming from Albino Ghost Monkey. Here's a taste! More videos to come!

Restaurants: Momofuku Ssam Bar

Angela and I happened to be shopping in Union Square at the same time, so we stopped off at Fish's Eddy to look at flatware for her new apartment. We always get creeped out by all of the glove molds and I'm sure I've had a nightmare or two about them before. We had a craving for Momo pork buns so we headed over to Ssam Bar. We sat at the crowded bar and salivated over the small plates. After we devoured our pork buns, we got the fuji apple kim chee with pork jowl, maple labne and arugula. Labne is middle Eastern yogurt-cheese where you remove whey from yogurt with a cheese cloth or muslin bag. I loved the spicy / creamy balance, similar to sour cream and salsa in Mexican food.

Next, we got the cavatelli pasta with thinly sliced pig's head baby corn and cotija cheese. Both the cavatelli and baby corn looked like caterpillars swimming around in the sauce, but they were good. I don't think there was enough pig's head, but I'll probably always say that about every pork dish in the world. Cotija (fresh , crumbly Mexican tajo cheese) in such large proportion is too sour for me. As a whole, it was also pretty oily. I couldn't have eaten this dish by myself, had to quit 1/3 of the way through.

Since it was my birthmonth, Angela told me to pick two desserts! Oh boy, I was already getting full! I chose the Thai iced tea parfait with lemon marscapone and lemon tea crunch. The Thai tea custard wasn't nearly as strong as a cup of Thai iced tea, so I was sort of "meh" on it, but I'd eat it again if it were in front of me.

You know how much I love cheese, right? I was very intrigued by the Queen Anne Stilton with pear sorbet, pickled pears and pumpkin pie filling. I watched Angela's eyes bug out during that first spoonful. It was sort of like having pumpkin cheesecake that had an oversalted crust. We couldn't get enough of  the salty, sweet and sour all at once. I wonder what a warm incarnation of this dish would look like. Chunks of roasted pumpkin with a Stilton sauce of cinnamon, allspice and cloves? I might have to try that!

We'll be back if Chang continues to crank out ringers like this!

Video: Balún at Pulsewave April

Balún's performance at April's Pulsewave was all kinds of special. It was Jose's birthday and his bassist came all the way from Ohio to play this gig! It was a rare and beautiful set with airy vocals, pretty violin, fuzzy guitar, bass and accordion woven together with chip music. I really really implore you to download Balún's newest, Memoria Textil. 

 

If you like that, here's their music video for "Be Careful When You Walk" from Something Comes Our Way.

Restaurants: Co.

Co. has been on my "to try" list for a long time and I finally made it to Chelsea to continue my birthmonth celebrations. From Jim Lahey's bio, "The name is short for Company, a word whose Latin roots refer to the phrase 'with bread,' of course." Upon entrance, the interior had fine lines, simple furniture and rustic accents, sort of what my dream loft would look like. To start, I ordered glass of unsweetened lemonade. It was warm enough out, why not? Servers were an attractive bunch, a chipper one with thick rimmed glasses mispronounced "Tomme de Savoie" as "To-may" when listing off the specials. It was cute. Paul and I started off with the cured meat board with toast points. From the left, we enjoyed coppa, bresaola, salami and prosciutto. Not sure where the meat comes from, but I typically like my coppa spicy and proscuitto sliced super thin and ruffly. I'm just picky.

Ramps are in season. Ramps! Ramps! Ramps! Pretty much every restaurant I've gone to has ramps on their specials. We wanted the ramp pie, but it was sold out (at 5pm on a Saturday?). We settled with the shaved asparagus (that's another thing chefs are doing now, too) with tomme de savoie, saint nectaire, black truffles and quail egg (which surprised us because the server didn't mention that before. Whatever!).

Some of the thinner shards of asparagus were browned while they were in the oven and provided a nice crunch to the thicker, watery stalks. I feel like the nutty, mushyroomy and almost linty character of the natural rind cheeses (Tomme de Savoie and St. Nectaire) were lost amongst all of these toppings. It's a conceivable pairing since they are good for melting and share similar regional affinage in France. I'll have to try those cheeses together some time. I could see the truffles, but I wasn't moved by them. Same with the quail egg. All in all, I think this pizza was too busy. I probably would have been completely happy with the two artisanal cheeses and shaved asparagus (maybe tossed in lemon and tiny amount of salt). I'm all about farm-to-table dining akin to Blue Hill, but in nicely tempered moderation.

The upskirt! I liked this crust. It wasn't goopy like DiFara's. It was crispy through the entire slice and wasn't rock hard when I got to the edge. I was a tiny bit dismayed that it didn't look like the puffed up crusts that Adam Kuban ate when he previewed Co. two years ago. Jim Lahey, the man behind the magical discs of hot dough is from Sullivan St. Bakery, one of my favorite bread sources in the city. It's no wonder that he knows crust and how to get it just right in a 700 degree oven. I'd like to try the other pies at Co. sometime!

Video: 8bit bEtty at Pulsewave

I first heard of 8bit bEtty on a remix of Drown Radio Therapy's "lolCats." This goes wayyyy back to when I was still living in California. A bunch of my friends and I bought a spot to exhibit our screen printed shirts, zines and doo-dads at the Alternative Press Comic-Con in San Francisco. On one of my breaks, I decided to go around and trade merch with people. Drown Radio Therapy, aka yo-yo master Doctor Popular, was kind enough to share music with me. Years went by and Doc hit me up with his new album Me Geek Pretty One Day. I was pretty taken by the 8bit bEtty track! In 2008, 8bit bEtty (who is NOT a woman, but is actually Bryan Teoh btw), played a set on the Blip Festival benefit cruise and I embarrassingly squealed loudly when he played "lolCats."

Since then, he had been on a chip music hiatus....UNTIL NOW! Here's a clip from his opening song at the April edition of Pulsewave. Sorry, I'm singing along a little bit.

Restaurants: In Defense of the Double Down

It was my duty, nay responsibility, as an American to try the Double Down at KFC. I'm not going to lie, I definitely have been drunk and have ordered a large box of popcorn chicken with BBQ sauce in the last couple of months. I'm no stranger to the KFC in Bed Stuy (Lafayette and Bedford). So, I was not too weirded out when KFC launched their campaign for the Double Down, a "sandwich" with no bread but fried chicken as a structural base. When I heard it was chicken, bacon, cheese and sauce; I immediately thought was a bastardized version of Chicken Cordon Bleu!

"Chicken Cordon Bleu is a French-inspired poultry dish, although evidence suggests that Chicken Cordon Bleu was actually developed in the United States by chefs imitating other stuffed meat dishes from Europe. The name of the dish is clearly of French origin – Cordon Bleu means “blue ribbon” in French, and in French culinary tradition, the Cordon Bleu is awarded to food or chefs of particularly high quality. The European dish most similar to Chicken Cordon Bleu is Chicken Kiev, chicken stuffed with seasoned butter, dredged in bread crumbs, and fried. The dish was also likely heavily influenced by Veal Cordon Bleu, a Swiss dish in which veal is wrapped in ham and cheese and fried. "(via WiseGeek)

What scares me about this whole issue is a vast majority of people don't know what Chicken Cordon Bleu is! I'm not sure if KFC meant to rip it off, but replacing the ham or proscuitto with bacon is not a far leap. If you think the Double Down is gross, try studying offal. Grow a pair, people! 

Tommy and I were worried about scoring some Double Downs because some friends said NY locations keep selling out of it. We walked into a KFC in Bed Stuy and there were no advertisements, promotions or even a listing for the Double Down on the menu. We were in luck, they had some! The cashier didn't ask which version we wanted (grilled or breaded and fried). It was a painful $6 for each sandwich.

Our little chicken bundles come wrapped in wax paper inside of a small box. Upon first glance, the cheese was still in the shape of square, not melted at all. If it had come straight from the fryer and not from the heat lamp, it probably would have been infinitely better.

We took our first bites and I was pretty underwhelmed. The breading wasn't thick and crispy like the ones on the regular bucket chicken, the bacon was flimsy and didn't really break apart with every bite. I could only muster half of the sandwich. Think about it, it's two chicken breast patties! I have trouble eating one chicken sandwich. Afterward, we needed to get some fruit and vegetables at the grocery store; I felt so oddly hungry for clean tastes in my mouth.  

KFC's website says the grilled version of the Double Down has less calories than the breaded cutlet. However, the chart says the grilled chicken has higher sodium! Think hard about which one would be better for you. One final point that I'd like to make is that fans of Chipotle who decry the Double Down need to check themselves. A steak burrito with a side of tortilla chips from Chipotle is ~1500 calories. 

I may not be a die-hard fan of the Double D, but I've done my research!

**UPDATE** Hey Vegans, you can join in on the fun. Check the recipe on Vegansaurus. (Thanks Vincent!)

Video: Mystery Roar Played Coco66

My favorite neu-disco dance band has to be Mystery Roar. You can count me in for any of their New York gigs from now on. I was super stoked to find that they were playing Coco66. Three reasons: disco balls, lasers and smoke machines. Needless to say, it was like they were home!

Cooking: I made a giant pancake

I wanted pancakes, but I was feeling so lazy. I made the batter and poured it into a cast iron pan that had previously seared a lot of cinnamon cayenne ham. I'm a fan of eating pancakes with savory leftovers, like braised lamb! I heated up my leftover stash of Takedown lamb and grilled some sausage to go with my giant pancake.

It was extremely satisfying!

Video: AdamGetsAwesome + Zen Alabatross Jam at The Charleston

Couple weeks back, I had the honor of watching my two favorite hang-br0z collaborate on a chiptastic dance jam. AdamGetsAwesome & Zen Albatross or..ADAMGOTALATROSS or ZENGETSAWESOME debuted their banger live at The Charleston for the Hpizzle release party. I have video of their short performance, they did it again at the I Made An Art gallery show in Red Hook--but I forgot my camera for that one. 

 a

Hey Holland, can you give us our Awesome back? Plz?

Cooking: Sandwiches Galore!

It would be wrong for me not to enjoy a BLT once in a while. My BLTs have garlic aioli, lemon dressed arugula and tomato as well as panini pressed bacon.

I've also branched out to Alton Brown's diet secret: oily canned fish and avocado! I chose anchovy because a tin is super cheap and I like how salty they are. You only need one for the whole sandwich.

I stole this tuna sandwich idea from Max Brenner's. Their tuna sandwich has bbq chips mixed into the tuna with hot sauce. I mixed tuna, garlic aioli, relish and hot sauce (Cholula Garlic!). Instead of tossing the chips in, I layered them so they wouldn't get soggy. It was a pretty satisfying sandwich. to eat with miso cole slaw.

Tweets This Week

• http://twitpic.com/1hywvh - #bent10 in 3-d
• Need more kazoo in my life cc: @zenalbatross
• @jukeboxtheghost is at bowery singin back up for adam green, wish i could be thurr
• Spring + banjo + fresh air = Me gettin' squishy.
• Angela "This is why they hate our freedom" http://ow.ly/1Cm6G
• Rapper whuttttttt http://ow.ly/1CfI4
• Type-o that I'm glad I caught--"volcanic ass."     
• YOU CAN HACK VEGETABLES, TOO. #BENT10
• http://twitpic.com/1hnnca - adachi is drilling a SQUASH #bent10 
• Adachi tomomi is blowing my freaking mind right now #bent10
• Always. RT @parisgraphics: Never do anything half assed. Always go for the full ass.
• Realizing that I'm tweeting like a mad woman "WHEN I TWEET, I TWEET FOR A REASON" Miss u @adamgetsawesome #cnbftw
• Wu!!!!!! "jennifer de la Vega from this day forward you you will also be known as Unlucky Destroyer" http://ow.ly/1BN8W cc: @mikearosenthal
• You should really watch the dream team in action: http://ow.ly/1BLCB cc: @acarboni @BobbyMiller
• Moar linkage to the AP article about lamb hip-stardom. http://ow.ly/1BIvl
• Uhhh...don't do drugs? @BentFestival is on the list of Time Out's 50 Things to do when you're high http://bit.ly/c4gYrp #bent10
• Woo ! Wham! Bam! Thank you, Lamb! mentioned in this AP article! http://ow.ly/1Bu0w
• Played Amil as a two-player. Really fun! http://ow.ly/1B4uh
• http://twitpic.com/1h6bsx - doubledown!
• Watching a crock pot boil is like a lava lamp.
• ▂▅▇█▓▒░◕‿‿◕░▒▓█▇▅▂ herrrrrrrrro ! (via @newmoticons)
• Lamb Takedown results! http://ow.ly/1AkZu
• And @luciuskwok has a flickr set from @Pulsewavenyc too ! http://ow.ly/1AgEe #cnbftw
• Wow ! Marjorie got some @Pulsewavenyc photos up already! http://ow.ly/1Agzw #cnbftw
• THE LAMB HAS BEEN TAKEN DOWNETH. Love you @chilitakedown
• 3rd place judge's award!
• http://twitpic.com/1gofw4 - takedown!
• Can we start a jug band? http://ow.ly/1zHTV                     

Cooking: Filipino Braised Lamb on Baked Wontons

It was the first time that I was prepared for competition. No last minute additions, no panicked worry about how I was going to transport everything or overwhelming feeling that I forgot something important. My only conflict was early on, even before I started cooking ! Lamb Takedown competitors were supposed to pick up their 15 pounds of meat last Tuesday between 5:30 and 7pm; which falls during my work hours in Manhattan. In a critical lamb emergency, I emailed Jeff to help pick it up. I felt bad, he doesn't even eat lamb!

When I got all of my beautiful shanks out of the box and unwrapped, I marinated them with rosemary, garlic, soy sauce, olive oil, salt and pepper.

The next morning my friend Dylan came by to help dredge and sear all of the shanks. It got really smokey in my house, so we had to open all of the windows and take a break!

Meanwhile, I worked on the base for our braising. You may have seen my photos of paksiw or Filipino stew. It's a tradition in my family to cook up the leftovers from a roast pig or turkey in a mixture of brown sugar and vinegar. The basis of the stew is a liver based sauce called Mang Tomas (I make my own, but it is available in Chinatown markets). To the Mang Tomas, you add a combination of brown sugar, vinegar, bay leaf, pepper, water and crushed garlic. Simmer the mix until it is thick and fragrant. It's ok if the vinegar stings your nose a little, it will mellow out in the braising process. Because we were braising the meat, I decided to dilute the mixture with a couple pitchers of water (anddd there wasn't enough to cover the meat, you need to when you're braising).

The oven was blazing at 400 degrees and I left the shanks to cook covered in a roasting pan for an hour. After patiently waiting, I flipped them and admired the smells wafting all over my house. After another hour, I deboned the shanks and started braising another batch.

I was careful to leave the meat in large chunks, it was only Wednesday! The competition was still on Sunday! I put the lamb into my handy-dandy crock pot with its braising liquid and left it on low heat for 2 days. The stew became dark and syrupy. On Friday morning, we tried to figure out how we were going to serve everything. I had two types of material to use: thin sheets of egg roll wrappers and circular wontons. Dylan and I brushed both sides with oil and baked some sample batches in cupcake tins. The wontons were too thick and chewy. The egg rolls sheets were too delicate. Our solution was to layer two sheets of egg roll wrapper and cut them into squares. When they came out of the oven, I dusted them lightly with cayenne pepper and cinnamon. It was time to test drive the dish! We spooned a little lamb into a crispy cup, finished it with cotija cheese and nested a cilantro leaf on top.

We sat around thinking of a name for the dish too. "What rhymes with lamb?" and I went through the alphabet, rhyming. That's how we came up with "Wham! Bam! Thank you, Lamb!" At the last minute, Paul from 2pp stepped in on Sunday to help me shred the lamb meat and serve at the sold-out Takedown. At the end of the afternoon, we were crowned 3rd place by the judges from The Food Network Magazine, Saveur and CNN's Eatocracy! Check out the photos from Metromix!

Special thanks to Matt Timms, Vance Spicer, Jeff Stockton, Dylan Garret and Paul Owens for making all of this possible! This win is for you!

Cooking: Better Omelette with Bacon and Toast

I'm determined to work on my omelette technique. I've read several manuals, blogs and French technique books on what makes the perfect omelette. The last technique I tried included swirling two forks and incremental pads of butter, tapping the pan and other ridiculousness. The other morning was purely accidental. I whipped up an egg with a tiny bit of milk and heated up a nonstick pan. I poured the egg into the pan and forgot to grab a spatula out of the drawer. It was starting to form a skin, so I instinctively started to swirl and shake the pan. Wait-a-minute. That's it?

I guess I was still executing the crucial part, moving the egg around! I seasoned it and swirled until the gelatinous eggy mix stopped moving with me. I still have to practice, but this is a less fussy way of making eggs! Tore it when I was putting it on the plate, maybe heavy cream as well as more whipping would probably keep it from breaking. I rolled the egg with lemon-dressed arugula, spoonful of pesto and thin slices of Irish cheddar cheese:

Video: Fancy Ass Vdara Hotel (Las Vegas, NV)

Ok, this has nothing to do with food and music.

Come on dude. Free wifi, bathtub, kitchen and blammo shades? I'm never going back to my cheap ass Tuscany Suites ever againnnnn.

Restaurants: Mystery Pho by the Chick-Fil-A (Austin, TX)

After a raucous night at The Highball, Paul and I wandered away from our hotel for some sustenance.Ok, don't remember the name of the place we went , but when you leave the Day's Inn on foot (South Austin), turn left, continue across the street perpendicular to the highway and turn left. You'll see a Wal-Mart and strip mall with a Chick-Fil-A. We didn't feel like fast food or burritos, so we walked towards "_________Cafe." I was extra happy to find that it was a Vietnemese restaurant! The unmistakable smell of broth, cups of chopsticks, little ramekins of hot pepper oil, sriracha and hoisin sauce. I. NEEDED. PHO.

I ordered the sliced brisket pho. It came in a steaming bowl of noodles, onion, chives and cilantro. I piled on extra basil, jalapenos, more cilantro, two squeezes of lime and pretty much all of the condiments except soy sauce.

Whenever I do that, I always leave with a pleasant case of the sniffles. The broth was now shrouded in capsacin, just the way I like it! Brisket pieces were a little thin and on the tougher side, perhaps if we had gone later in the day; they might have been more tender. It's a hearty meal and worth the $6.

I have no idea what it was called !

Video: The Pharmacy at SxSw

One of my favorite sing-a-long bands is The Pharmacy.  One time, they played a show here in NYC at Cake Shop with Baby Birds Don't Drink Milk. Yeah, the show was amazing, but what happened afterward was even more amazing. Someone told us that were was this Dream House exhibit that might make you barf or go crazy from all the electronic pulses in the room. It was too weird to pass up, so we ventured to this quiet gallery space where it was carpeted, you had to take your shoes off. You weren't really allowed to talk. There were swirling videos, pillows, and a large soundsystem playing hums of ultra-low frequencies. I laid on the ground and let the vibrations move over me. A bunch of people zoned out and this woman started to do tai chi next to me. Upon exiting, we were all relaxed. It was like a sonic massage.

Anyway, I saw The Pharmacy again at SxSw and they played a bunch of songs from their new album Weekend. Thumbs up. Can't wait for them to play NY again.

Restaurants: More Snacks in Austin, TX

The chicken dumpling special at The Highball. Dumplings were pretty dense, if you like them that way. I prefer the fluffy kind.

 Battered shrimp platter at the Highball:

Really trashy nachos, they were so good !

What should we eat next time we're in Austin? I already regret not making it to Torchy's !

Video: Judgement Day at Mysterious H's House (Austin, TX)

I was walking down 6th street during SxSw and saw two guys with string instruments. They were playing on a street corner and I thought, "Huh, that reminds me of Judgement Day." I was walking too fast to really catch their faces, but I suddenly became nostalgic. Back in 2003, the Pazner brothers would play a weekly on the street along Telegraph in Berkeley. String metal, plain and simple. It wasn't long before my friend Rob Roy (a prominent metal enthusiast) was booking them at house shows in Davis, CA. I really loved them, I'd listen to their album DARK OPUS on repeat while I was studying. The Pazner brothers sadly separated to go to college and Anton (the violinist) had a brief stint with bay area band The Audrye Sessions.

I was hanging out with chip br0z Sievert, JDDJ3J, prince_s; and I,Cactus at Mysterious H's house during SxSw when someone rushed in from the concert happening in the backyard: "YOU GUYS THERE ARE DUDES WITH VIOLINS PLAYING METAL." I said, "Huh, the only band I know that does that is Judgement Day..." It finally sunk into my head that it's been 7 years since 2003 and the guys were probably done with college. Duh. I ran outside to catch a short video, then my camera died. Bollocks. Enjoy the little taste!

Cooking: My Take on Mark Bittman's Lettuce Soup

Mark's right, I'm seeing a restaurant resurgence and popularity of our cheap friend, the iceberg lettuce. Wedge salads, cole slaw; really cheap, very little effort--always too much water for me. In his column, The Minimalist, Bittman shares a video recipe for lettuce soup.

I wanted to try it out, but I had just gotten a big box of arugula. I'm sure it would be fine! Started with a small batch and tried 4 variations: unfiltered, filtered, with toasted almonds and with bacon. The best combination was unfiltered with both toasted almonds and bacon. Running the soup through a sieve took away a lot of the foam and body you generate from blender pulsing. Plus, the garnishes floated better in the unfiltered cup!

When I tuned the recipe the way that I wanted, I made a big bowl and ate it with toast points. It was really nice to eat this cold soup, Brooklyn was getting hot !

Next time, I'm interested to see what would happen if I folded unsweetened heavy cream into it instead of just stirring in regular milk!

Interview: Clayton Kunstel of So Many Dynamos Loves Torchy's Tacos and Brings a Coffee Pot on Tour

My good friend Clayton Kunstel (of So Many Dynamos) sat down with me to talk about food during SxSw. He highlights Torchy's trailer park tacos in Austin and The Grit in Athens, GA as his favorite places to eat while his band is on tour. Check out the video interview for tips on cooking on the road!

Cooking: Family Dinner in Palmdale

Rarely do I get to cook for my family and I never have access to my mom's "Sari Sari Store" (walk in food pantry). While growing up, Mom used to get mad at my brother and I for having our grand kitchen experiments where we'd be grossed out and she'd loyally eat it all so none of it went to waste. Mom works late nights now and she only really eats leftovers from my dad's dinners. Grandma, grandpa and my uncle were over so a feast was in order.

We started with a cold bangus salad. Bangus is a filipino style roasted milkfish. I found a partially eaten carcass in the fridge, so I picked it apart and made a carrot and ginger salad with the flesh. I saved the bones that morning to make fish stock for my shrimp soup with lemon and shallots. Ever since grandpa had some heart issues, I learned how to tone down the sodium in my cooking. This soup is the simplest and almost extravagant thing I can make for him.

We had another carrot and ginger salad with bitter greens. The thick dressing was inspired by a BLT I had at Almost Normal in Portland. 

Mom hated the spicy bagna cauda broccoli and cauliflower. Grandma liked it. A point of contention at the dinner table!

Everyone loved the seared scallops tossed with citrus jus and bacon:

And the crowning achievement for the night. It had us sopping up the broth with bread! Lemony clams with butter of garlic, thyme, rosemary and sage. For dessert, I popped open a bottle of Chimay and served up cream cheese brownie cupcakes with berries tossed in vanilla:

What's it like to eat at your parents' house?

Video: Trash80 at Datapop 3.0

Los Angeles based Trash 80 closed out Datapop 3.0 during SxSw with a stage rave. It was probably the best way to end our two day chip music blow out in Austin.

Visualists, Paris and Outpt, led the stage rush charge and pulled me up to join them. This second video is not the most stable footage, you've been warned.

Restaurants: Birthday Dinner at Swizz

On my actual birthday, my aunt and cousin were flying into town. They said they'd take me out ! I invited grandma and grandpa along for the meal at Swizz, a Swiss restaurant in Hell's Kitchen that specializes in fondue. We started off with chicken pate with endive, cole slaw, jam and toast:

I ordered us two simple feta cheese salads and a charcuterie plate with cornichons. We also got the fondue provencal with fresh herbs. I imagine it was emmenthaler, gruyere, thyme, rosemary and white wine. It went really well with our cubed bread, shrimp, apples and cured meats. My grandma Lita was very fascinated with fondue and wanted to try it at home! I love it when that happens.

Tweets This Week

• OMG, #everydayslumberparty is without internet
• O hai, Brother Ali. :D
• @pixls Honey, I eat gross things all the time. Try 6:18 http://ow.ly/1z37s
• Seriously, why haven't I discovered marrow? It's like...better than -gasp- bacon?
• Alton Brown lost weight by eating avocado and anchovy sandwiches, they're really good !
• Can't handle the thought of Lost being over. #teamhurley
• Piece of Chicken raised it's $1 chicken to $2 due to rising cost of poultry! Also, only legs and thighs today.     
• Is snarfing some fresh lumpia that my aunt made. Garlic breath ftw.
• Um, googling your family is sort of weird when you find out one of them is a model: http://ow.ly/1xcIV
• Really motivated to write new stuff. Eric posted about The Shortsleeves on Tiny Cartridge! http://ow.ly/1xblH
• http://twitpic.com/1ewbmv - assort. gelatins at east buffet
• I opened a fortune cookie: "if your cookie still in one piece, buy lotto" #crueljokes
• Picked up The Escoffier Cookbook and the Guide to The Fine Art of Cookery. Yes, I read reference books like novels.      

Cooking: Wham! Bam! Thank you, Lamb! at the Brooklyn Lamb Takedown

Get ready. I've been so amped for the Brooklyn Lamb Takedown since Matt Timms and I shot episode 14 of Facts N' Cheese. My trusty helper Jeff Stockton picked up the 15 lb. box of lamb shank from the Meat Hook last Tuesday (awesomely sponsored donations from The American Lamb Board). I think the hardest part of this whole process was taking the shanks out of the vacuumed plastic casing! My little lambs marinated for two days before I braised them in batches.

Sous chef Dylan Garret sears like nobody's business! Anddd extra thanks for scrubbing down my stove afterward...!

Happily deboned and pleasantly stewing in my crock pot, I'm glad to report that we are READY TO ROCK EWE.

Get your tickets now! The Brooklyn Lamb Takedown begins 4pm today at The Bell House! NEVERMIND, it is sold out ! Sorry !