Tag Archives: culture
Swedish Midsummer Festival in Battery Park
Every year the Swedish Embassy takes over a slice of Battery Park for a huge midsummer festival complete with a maypole, Swedish folk band, dancing, Swedish meatballs, pickled herring, and aquavit. Even if you aren’t remotely Swedish, it’s worth heading down here on the Friday of the solstice to toast to the longest day of the year. (more…)
Posted in food
Tagged Battery Park, burgers, culture, events, festivals, Gigino, New York, Swedish midsummer
Comments Off on Swedish Midsummer Festival in Battery Park
Bill Cunningham New York
If you see no other movie this spring, make sure you see this entertaining, funny and touching documentary on New York Times photographer Bill Cunningham, playing in many cities across the U.S. Without Mr. Cunningham, street style blogs like this one would not exist. And yes, kids, he was around long before the Sartorialist!
The film chronicles the master of the street style photography from his early career as a milliner through his years starting out in photography in the ’60s to the present day. His nomadic, ascetic daily existence consists of riding his bike to fashion shows and glamorous charity benefits, photographing gorgeous and expensive clothing, then going home to a teeny apartment above Carnegie Hall furnished with filing cabinets and a single cot. He has since moved to a more spacious apartment, and he’s on his 29th bike (the first 28 were stolen), but little else has changed in a life spent pursuing beauty though photography, for which he eventually won a Legion of Honour award in France.
True confession: I make an unintentional cameo in the film! It involves Anna Wintour and the Oscar de la Renta show. I took this photo of Cunningham at top at that same show. It has always been an honor to photograph alongside a true artist and a gentleman.
Posted in fashion
Tagged Bill Cunningham, culture, New York, Oscar de la Renta, street chic
3 Comments
Cookbook: The Fundamental Techniques of Classic Cuisine
Do you know the proper way to core and chop a head of cauliflower, truss a chicken or whip up a plate of crêpes Suzette? If not, put down the Sandra Lee cookbook and invest in this one. The French Culinary Institute has issued these incredibly thorough and detailed lessons in French cooking in The Fundamental Techniques of Classic Cuisine, starting with kitchen equipment and terminology and continuing with essential techniques that will have you bonding with Julia Child. Proper French stocks, sauces, meat, poultry, fish, soups, salads, shellfish, marinades, stuffings, pastry, creams and custards, crêpes, meringues and souffles are all part of the instruction.
In fact, it is so thorough that in the book’s forward, the school’s president warns readers that this book cannot replace “the value of studying at the FCI.” But FCI grad and blogger Cucina Testa Rossa writes that “Techniques is almost verbatim our first quarter (6 week) curriculum…. Word for word, gram for gram, ingredient for ingredient.” (Full disclosure: I have taken a class at the FCI, Alan Richman‘s “The Craft of Food Writing.” Recommend!) (more…)
iMix: Tolerable Christmas Music
Here’s a mix of songs from D. that will get you in the holiday spirit without making you feel like you’re trapped in an elevator with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. Another good Christmas album, not available on iTunes, is Kindercore Christmas Two, an $8.99 download on Amazon. It includes the Kings of Convenience singing an a cappella version of the traditional Norwegian hymn “Deilig Er Jorden” and other rare finds.
Alice Waters, Influential Chef and…DJ?
She’s not just a proponent of fresh, organic food for all, she’s also a Radiohead fan. Who knew?
It’s definitely worth listening to Alice Waters’ guest DJ set on KCRW, if only to be hypnotized by her surprisingly sexy voice intoning, over Nina Simone’s “I Want a Little Sugar in my Bowl”:
It’s a beautiful sensual song, and I am always trying to get people to open up and to touch and to taste and to smell and really engage in a different way with food…. I play it when I’m cooking in the kitchen and it’s so beautiful and so deep in its sensual appeal.
Put out the fire! Other highlights: bribing a taxi driver with dinner at Chez Panisse, dancing in the kitchen to David Byrne, going to a peace march in Berkeley, and other zany facts you never knew about her.
iMix: October 2009
Here’s an October mix of some of the best new songs coming out and a few rediscovered classics. Favorite sources include KCRW, the recent Fever Ray concert, the Where the Wild Things Are soundtrack and more. It has already accompanied us on several very long weekend drives, and we’re still not sick of it!
Tagged culture, music, Where the Wild Things Are
Comments Off on iMix: October 2009
NYC Wine & Food Festival: Meatball Madness!
Dozens of NYC’s top chefs gathered on Sunday to turn out their best meatballs for the Meatball Madness event. A $5,000 prize was at stake, with proceeds from the event benefitting the Food Bank for New York City and Share Our Strength.
Here’s one sample of the deliciousness: Joey Campanaro’s meatball sliders for Little Owl. More meatballs and a video of the winner, after the jump. (more…)
Posted in food
Tagged Andrew Carmellini, beef, culture, food news, Michael White, NYC Wine & Food Festival
Comments Off on NYC Wine & Food Festival: Meatball Madness!
NYC Wine & Food Festival: Grand Tasting
Perhaps the most controversial part of the NYC Wine & Food Festival is the reason it exists at all: The Grand Tasting mixes mass-market sponsors like ShopRite, Barilla and Skyy Spirits with upmarket chefs like Amanda Cohen of Dirt Candy and Jason Neroni of 10 Downing. (Sponsors – can’t cook with ’em, can’t eat without ’em.) Fortunately, any umbrage guests might have taken at the commercial nature of this festival was offset by tons of tasty food and wines by Joseph Carr, Antinori, Chalk Hill and more.
photo via Marie Fromage
Marie Fromage headed into the fray this past Saturday to sample ocean trout tartar from 10 Downing, house-smoked meat stew from Inside Park at St. Bart’s, and coffee glazed pork belly from Yerba Buena Perry – all while scoring a free nail file courtesy of… Aruba?
Posted in food
Tagged culture, food news, NYC Wine & Food Festival
Comments Off on NYC Wine & Food Festival: Grand Tasting
NYC Wine & Food Festival: Serious Eats Slice: The Pieman’s Craft
Two legendary pizzaiolos, one 700-degree oven, dozens of pizzas, and 35 lucky diners: imagine the pizza feast that followed. Serious Eats founder and Pizza: A Slice of Heaven author Ed Levine and Slice founder Adam Kuban got these two major talents in the same kitchen (once Una Pizza Napoletana, now Motorino) to talk about the craft of pizza and then dish it out.
A pizza shop in a central Jersey strip mall doesn’t seem like a natural starting point for a celebrated chef, but that’s one leg of Anthony Mangieri’s unusual path to pizza stardom. Before Mathieu Palombino owned his own pizza place in Williamsburg, the French-trained chef rose up through the ranks in Laurent Tourondel’s restaurants. After the talk, both chefs got to work in the kitchen, dishing out dozens of pies until everyone was stuffed. A transcript of the talk and some delicious photos, after the jump. (more…)
NYC Wine & Food Festival: Tour de Beef
You can taste the difference between an aged cut of beef and a supermarket steak, but what exactly goes into the aging process? DeBragga and Spitler, one of the few remaining butchers in the Meatpacking District with a facility that ages millions of dollars of beef, let a few of the curious in to witness the process, and Marie Fromage was one of them.
photo via Marie Fromage
Turns out that aging beef is a lot like aging cheese, with elements like temperature, humidity, and bacteria working over a specific period of time to yield the desired results. As you might have guessed, the main difference between wet aged beef, the sort you find in supermarkets, and dry aged beef, the sort you find in a steakhouse, is the expense: Up to 50 percent of the dry aged beef product can be lost due to water loss and trimming of the less attractive aged bits. Mary Connolly a.k.a. Marie Fromage gives some details on the aging process, after the jump. (more…)
NYC Wine & Food Festival: Bruni Unveiled
This weekend’s NYC Wine & Food Festival reflected the current state of the food industry: corporate sponsors mixed with independent chefs, TV cameras were everywhere, and the competition was fierce. One of the kickoff events was a particularly good interview of Frank Bruni by Eater cofounder Ben Leventhal, who, after some initial palling around, leveled some tough questions at the former Times restaurant critic. Let’s hope the interview cleared up some questions about whether or not a “blogger” can be a “journalist.”
Bruni recounted some memorable times he was recognized at restaurants, discussed the evolving NYT star system, bristled at some feedback by restauranteurs, and chose what he would eat if stranded on a desert island. Some key excerpts from the evening, after the jump.
Street Chic: Atlantic Antic Brooklyn
The annual Atlantic Antic festival on Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn isn’t your average tube-socks-and-Italian-sausage street fair: Hundreds of local Brooklyn businesses set up shop, from clothing shops like Steven Alan to favorite neighborhood restaurants like Building on Bond. Oysters on the half shell, vintage dresses, pulled pork sandwiches, live music and Six Point Ale: it’s all here. Many came out in their Sunday best to check out the festivities.
Love the flower in her hair, green eyeshadow and beads. (more…)
Fall’s Fashion Hit: Where the Wild Things Are
As much as designers try to predict how music, art and film will influence fashion the next season, it’s always a wonderful wild card to see how things will turn out. Though Disney has seen to it that there’s a designer connection with the anticipated Tim Burton project Alice in Wonderland – they commissioned Tom Binns to design a jewelry line – the film that really seems to be tapping into our collective fashion subconscious right now is Where the Wild Things Are.
At last night’s amazing Fever Ray concert at Webster Hall, the famously shy Karin Dreijer Andersson appeared on stage in what looked like a massive, dreadlocked headdress, surrounded by band members in costume. (more…)
Posted in fashion
Tagged culture, music, Where the Wild Things Are
Comments Off on Fall’s Fashion Hit: Where the Wild Things Are
KCRW’s Jason Bentley Spins at Gizmodo Gallery
This past Saturday Jason Bentley made a special appearance in New York, where he did a DJ set at Gizmodo Gallery. Not just the DJ of the super popular Morning Becomes Eclectic show but the music director for all of KCRW, Bentley influences music tastes around the country.
The transition from DJ’ing just the Metropolis show to Morning Becomes Eclectic may not have been easy, but Bentley seems to be taking it all in stride. Non-LA’ers can listen to KCRW online or via this cool new iPhone app for instant gratification everywhere. After the jump: a short playlist of select tunes from the night and an inside look at the vintage gadgets on display at Gizmodo Gallery. (more…)
Tagged culture
Comments Off on KCRW’s Jason Bentley Spins at Gizmodo Gallery
Google Maps of the Stars
There’s something new and cool on Google Maps: a “featured map” by various famous personalities about town. Though there is a corporate sponsor lurking behind the effort (nycgo.com), it’s still a fascinating way to see how the other half lives.
From bigwigs like Mayor Bloomberg and Diane von Furstenberg to industry players like Fern Mallis of IMG, a few key New Yorkers let you in on their favorite places in the city. While some are lame—can anyone imagine Bloomberg saying “The lights! The crowds! The bustle!” when recommending Times Square?—many of the suggestions sound like they’ve been written by the personalities themselves. Moby says of Billy’s Antiques on Houston: “you can find sex toys from the 1920’s and shrunken heads and fetal pigs in jars and cocktail shakers and world war 2 binoculars and books on taxidermy and etc. when billy’s closes i leave the lower east side.” (more…)