Heirloom tomatoes, chevre and arugula salad

After a splendid morning at the farmers' market, oh sometime in summer: Heirloom tomatoes and herbed chevre on arugula, simple balsamic-olive oil dressing, fresh ciabatta.

Duxelles on polenta

Button mushrooms braised in red wine and butter on polenta, and dusted with parsley and Parmigiano Reggiano. Is this too fancy for a second date? The conclusion is yes! But it worked out in the end.

Farfalle cooked risotto-style with zucchini and cacao nibs

Absorption pasta with zucchini and cacao nibs, Columbus 2006.
Recipe from Clotilde's book.

New York eat log

Roast duck, Chinatown, Manhattan
Ten Zen bubble tea
Veggie burger and homemade chips in Brookyln Public, near Fort Greene, Brooklyn
Japanese curry dog and barley ice tea at asiadog, Brooklyn Flea
Prosciutto, red pepper and mozzarella sandwich in Italian deli in Brooklyn
Rendang, Hainanese chicken and chendol at Nyonya
Bahn-mii pork and pate sandwich at Hana, Brooklyn
Meat ravioli in a shiitake cream sauce and a Pinot Grigio (Veneto) at Porto Bella, SoHo
Spinach and feta quiche at Cafe Lucca, Brooklyn
Brown sugar and pistachio financier, sweet melissa, Brooklyn

Julie & Julia - The Movie

The official trailer for the Julie & Julia movie is out! I can't believe that I am (or used to be) a part of a movement that started as a small community that has grown to change so many people's lives. I was regularly exchanging views with bloggers that have since quit their jobs and started writing cookbooks. And meeting them in cute coffeeshops in Montmartre and surreptitiously passing them packets of polenta. When I started blogging, the Julie/Julia project had just about folded -- a year of recipes from Julia Child's cookbook, done by the end of 2003. But it wasn't until this year that I picked up Julia Powell's book. I'm usually not fond of autobiographies, but I was surfing in the most unlikely section in the bookstore when the book caught my eye. Would you believe that Julie & Julia is required reading for a university Comparative Studies course? I did not, either. There is a funny secret satisfaction fluttering about in my chest, thinking how this little movement that I was once a little part of, has been taken as far as university course required reading and a major motion picture starring Meryl Streep, for god's sake.