Num Pang Pulled Pork Sandwich
Does this sandwich look familiar? If it does, that means I owe you a high five for being awesome and checking out the guest post I did this past Monday over at Kitchen Apparel. It was a lot of fun taking Sandra’s vegetarian/gluten-free blog hostage for the day and filling it with a healthy dose of meat and wheat.
To reciprocate, Sandra guest posted that crazy trendy recipe for Pickled Green Strawberries for us here. Apparently she thinks we are all cool and trendy like that 
She mentioned that a bunch of restaurants are starting to play around with using them, and sure enough, the next day I was on instagram and saw a chef adding them to one of his dishes. I’m going strawberry picking tomorrow (finally) and am hoping to snag some unripe berries so I can take her recipe for a test drive.
Big Apple Barbecue Block Party: What to Eat and Other Tips
Some couples do massages. Others go for a weekend getaway to a small, remote Bed and Breakfast for some quality rest and relaxation. Asheley and I? We go to the Big Apple Barbecue Block Party. Nothing says I love you more than gazing into each other’s eyes while sharing gluttonous amounts of slowly-smoked meat. Right? Who’s with me?
So Asheley and I, along with quite a few of our friends from church, descended upon Madison Square Park this past weekend for what has become an annual outing. With 17 pit masters from all across the country each serving up one of their signature dishes, the question quickly becomes, “What do we eat?!” Not all barbecue is created equal, and with limited stomach room, we want only the best.
And over the few years we’ve been attending the festival, we have learned some important insider tricks and tips that can help you enjoy your time at the Big Apple Barbecue Block Party even more…
Pickled Green Strawberries
Hello everyone, my name is Sandra, and I will be taking over here at Shared Appetite. The door was open so I just decided to let myself in and look around a bit. Can you believe the nerve of this guy Chris, who eats at every amazing place New York has to offer? And he gives you every mouth-watering detail about each perfectly prepared dish as you sit reading with your bowl of lifeless cold cereal each morning. Who does he think he is? Well, I’ve had enough and it’s time to give this overly blue site a bit of a woman’s touch.
So did I have you for a second there? My husband tells me I am a terrible liar. “So what are you doing here,” you might ask? You should also be asking the same of Chris, who at this very moment has taken over my blog, Kitchen Apparel. It is actually quite common for bloggers to do guest posts for each other. However, we are super cool bloggers, and being such we decided it was time to start a new take-over trend. While I share a recipe with you here on Shared Appetite, Chris will be doing the same over at Kitchen Apparel. So if you are missing him already, just follow the links and see what he is up to. I’ll be checking in on him later to make sure he’s not making a mess in my kitchen! (more…)
Simple Peach Margarita
I hope you’ll indulge me for a little bit as I talk about our friends Tommy and Lea. I promise there is a round about segue into peach margaritas somewhere in all of this. Kind of.
So I’ve been getting more and more interested in photography over these last few months. There is a ridiculous amount to learn, but I’m totally digging the process. I’ve been obviously focusing on the food aspect of it all, but recently had the urge to get my feet wet with photographing people. Over the next couple of months, I’m planning on hounding a bunch of my friends to let me do little photo shoots with them (friends, be forewarned). My first victims/volunteers were Tommy and Lea.
They never had the opportunity to do an engagement shoot, so it was perfect timing actually that this was a week before they celebrated their first anniversary. We’ll call it a first anniversary shoot then… sound good? It was a really fun day. Asheley and I showed them a bunch of our favorite food spots and we stopped for some photos along the way. Here’s a couple of their favorites…
Mighty Quinn’s Barbeque
I’m getting excited. The Big Apple BBQ Block Party is this weekend. THIS weekend! What’s the whole block party thing all about, you ask? Check out my recap from last year’s event. But basically, some of the top barbecue pit-masters from across the country will descend upon Madison Square Park this weekend, each offering up one of their signature dishes. No tickets required, so feel free to stop on down. More info can be found here.
And with all the anxious anticipation of this slow-smoked meat extravaganza, it reminded me that I haven’t told you about the East Village’s amazingly wonderful Mighty Quinn’s Barbeque yet. And that’s just silly. I’m sorry for keeping it all to myself. That was selfish of me. I know you deserve better. Will you forgive me?
Creamy Potato Leek Soup
So did we all have a great Memorial Day weekend? Mine was pretty fantastic. Nothing crazy happened. Just good times with great people. Some bbq action. Some NYC action. Even some East End vineyard action to enjoy some chilled rosé while listening to our friends’ band play. Oh, and we totally nerded out a bit and played The Settlers of Catan
And I cooked up a couple things that I can’t wait to share with you soon. But let’s back up a second. Remember how I was telling you about testing out a bunch of new recipe ideas on my family this past Mother’s Day? The strawberry rhubarb crisp went over really well. So much so that my brother Paul just told me he made it for a little Memorial Day bbq soiree he hosted for his wife’s family.
This creamy potato leek soup, inspired by the amuse bouche we were served during the chef’s tasting menu at Hearth, was another one of the successes at Mother’s Day. Asheley was a big fan, enthusiastically requesting all of the leftovers the following day for dinner. She did not share. Meanie.
Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp
Rhubarb. It’s a word that we all hear over and over this time of year. There’s no escaping it. Rhubarb this. Rhubarb that. This filled with rhubarb. That topped with rhubarb. You get the idea. And as ashamed as I am to admit it, I’ve never actually cooked with rhubarb before. And, since I’m on an honesty kick today, the first time Asheley and I even tasted rhubarb was only a few weeks ago at the amazing meal we had at Hearth restaurant.
Judge me as you will. I’m okay with it.
I figured one of the safest and easiest ways to break into the world of this crazy, weird looking celery look-a-like pink vegetable… oh, you thought it was a fruit too, huh? Glad I’m not the only one. Or am I. Uhm, okay, well anyway, making a crisp seemed like a great way to introduce rhubarb into our household. Making a strawberry rhubarb pie was also in the mix, but let’s be honest… crisps are way easier and simpler to make, comes together in no time, and I actually think they taste better 83% of the time. Scientific fact.
The Great GoogaMooga: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly
The Great GoogaMooga isn’t looking so hot after getting a major beat down from Sunday’s decision to shut down the “rain or shine” event due to inclement weather 90 minutes after opening. Sure, people hopeful on attending the amusement park of food, drink, and music were disappointed at the cancellation, but that’s just the beginning.
Vendors (i.e. participating restaurants) had already set up, hired staff to man their booths, and prepped a ridiculous amount of food what what was expected to be a hoard of hungry attendees. With vendors suffering major financial loss (some reporting losses of $10-15 K) and what can only be deemed a second disappointing year in a row for The Great GoogaMooga, it’s future looks bleak.
Nonetheless, the good people at the Great GoogaMooga graciously provided me press access to the event. I actually met up with my good friends Matt and Rachelle at the event pre-rain on Saturday morning, and we tag teamed it up so we could sample and eat as much as possible.
Crif Dogs
I vividly remember my second grade teacher. Mrs. McQueen. McQuaid. Mc… something like that. Maybe not so vividly as I thought. Anyway, I do remember really loving hot dogs right up to the point Mrs. Mc…Quaid (that’s definitely it, yes, McQuaid) told the class that they were made from pigs eyes. I was only in second grade! It was devastating, almost as much as watching that scene in the Lion King where Simba’s dad died.
Her hot dog declaration scared the living daylights out of me, leading me down a sad and lonely frankfurter-free diet for several years. To think about how many backyard bbq hot dogs I missed out upon because of Mrs. McQuaid deeply saddens me. A piece of my culinary childhood gone. Forever.
Don’t cry for me. It’s okay. I’ve moved past it. Hot dogs are back to being a mainstay on the summer grill rotation at our house. Asheley would eat them every night for dinner if I allowed her (which I don’t, sorry hun). And whenever we are in the East Village, our favorite hot dog joint is a must. I present to you the amazing, the magnificent, Crif Dogs:
Ode to the Toasted Marshmallow Milkshake
It’s been such a busy weekend, I think a recap is in order. It all started on Friday when our good friends Joe and Lisa wanted to check out Hearth restaurant in the East Village. Oh, you remember we went there 2 weeks ago and wrote this post all about it? Yea so, we went again! The chef’s tasting menu is such a great value. Totally worth every penny. And since we arrived a bit earlier than our reservation, we pre-gamed with a glass of wine at Chef Marco Canora’s wine bar, Terroir, just a couple doors down.
Saturday was filled with getting the vegetable and herb garden ready. That’s never fun. Asheley made the mistake of offering to help. I don’t think she will be offering that up anymore. Many weeds were pulled. Soil tilled. Compost and other goodies added. Oh, and plants planted. That’s actually the fun part.
Asheley and I hosted Mother’s Day this year. I took the opportunity to experiment a bunch of new dishes on my family. Some were successful and thoroughly enjoyed. Others were… well, at least eaten. I’ll be sharing some of those recipes soon (just the good ones, don’t worry).
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