iron and wine

Last week, I was given a cheap bottle of port. It was given as a joke and, as was the point, it's terrible. Normally I would use a bottle of cheap wine for cooking but I'm  not sure if this works for port as well. I've been searching through recipes online but have found nothing mentioning cheap port (or suggesting a use for cheap port). So, it's experiment time. And, yes, the giver is going to be my guinea pig.

The easy
Blue cheese, port and walnut spread
Port wine glaze

The realistic
Chicken with figs in a port wine sauce

The slightly ambitious
Pepper-crusted beef tenderloin with chocolate-port sauce
Vanilla cheesecake with cherry topping

I will take the sun in my mouth

In October, Bonnie and I made plans to visit a new bar/restaurant, Henry Public, with the specific goal of trying the Wilkinsons. The date came (Halloween) and it was pouring rain. The month, for me, had been horribly busy and stressful, and the week leading up to Halloween was no exception. Bonnie, who met me in SoHo looking soggy and not too happy, had also had a bad week. But we're stubborn in general, and when it comes to food perhaps more stubborn than usual, so we made our way to the train and headed for Brooklyn.

Thankfully, after countless eye rolls at drunk people in costume, Henry Public proved to be well worth the trip. Bonnie and I were able to dry out at our little table, tucked in the back of the not too crowded seating area, and vent about work stresses. The staff put up with our many random requests and shared our Wilkinson-love... because the Wilkinsons were AMAZING. It's fried dough, yes. But it is fried dough covered with powdered sugar and served with a brown sugar dipping sauce. And on a rainy day at the end of a bad week with a friend who relates and listens... well, we decided that the next time either of us is having a bad day/week/whatever, this is the solution.


Thinking of things Dutch, I recently received a Tasting Table email about Dutch pancakes. I've never had one but they sound amazing. (Again, it's dough. It can't be that difficult.) Can we make winter plans for pancake brunches?

You take the things you like and try to love the things you took

Ugh. It has been entirely too long since I have posted anything. October and November have been, to say the least, busy. There has been some time to cook but not as much as I would like. Ramen and sriracha reign supreme when I am too tired to make anything else, perhaps because fall calls for soup and ramen is fast and filling.

And soup has definitely been an obsession for me this season, despite the warm weather. Last Sunday I made my first soup: butternut squash soup with pear, cider and vanilla bean. I invited a friend over to be my guinea pig and, despite his lingering illness and usual ambivalence towards squash soups, it was voted a success.

Tonight I made a tomato soup, based on this recipe but with my own additions of onion and garlic. I also put it all through the blender twice so that it would be extra creamy... I've been the only one to taste test this recipe but I love this soup. Love. This is going to be a regular staple in my kitchen.

The only downside to all of this soup making is that I actually lack a large stock pot. I have been working with my one large pot, but I fill it to the brim. One more piece to find for my kitchen collection.

Hog heaven

After ten days split (almost) equally between Seattle and Portland, I am home and finally posting again. I have to admit that during my vacation, I ate like a pig and drank an excess of coffee every day while also walking ridiculous distances across, over and through each city. I was left to my own devices on a solo vacation. What can you expect?

I don't want to chronicle every last detail here but I will share the general over view and a few highlights. This is going to be messy. I am tired. You will get better posts another day.

September 17 - Seattle
13 Coins - late dinner and coffee

September 18
Cafe Tiesto - mediocre americano
Cow Chip Cookie - sugar overdose while eating a cookie bigger than my face, will never do this again (though it was a damn good cookie)
Cafe Umbria - burnt coffee and snobbery, no thank you
Uptown Coffee - looks like a chain but is heaven in the form of espresso and orange zest

September 19
Cafe Ladro - local chain but reliably good coffee
Cafe Vivace - good coffee served by snobs, ugh
Top Pot - slightly industrial-looking donut shop tucked between houses, perfect place to have a yummy donut on a rainy day after being pissed off by coffee snobs
Boulangerie - I now know what pain au chocolate is supposed to taste like, I have to sit down and savor every bite, I almost propose to the baker
Cafe Vita - cozy, with good coffee, open late
El Diablo Cafe - most unique coffee shop in Seattle, Lucy and Desi themed bathrooms, book store next door

September 20
Bedlam Cafe - the interior design made me think it would be better than it was, but I've certainly had worse
Macrina Bakery - after almost killing people who don't understand how lines work and a long wait I was seated at the best table in the entire place and fed a delicious meal of brioche french toast with honey crisp apple slices, hazelnuts, lemon whipped cream and chicken sausage
Cafe Besalou - their pastry smelled delicious but I got only an espresso as I was saving myself for the next meal (which I had been looking forward to the entire trip)
Delancey - opened by a husband and wife (I follow her blog, I have her book), at the outskirts of a neighborhood that gives you no inclination of what is actually tucked away on a side street, I had an amazing pizza with padron peppers, mozzarella and Grana with a glass of amazing wine (I made the waitress write the name down) followed by a dark chocolate chip cookie with grey salt, I licked the chocolate off of my fingers (blame the wine)
Bauhaus Coffee and Books - among the worst coffee of the trip but open very late and provided some amazing people watching

September 21
Zeitgeist Cafe - large space with good coffee
Stumptown - went for a free cupping and fell a little bit in love with one of their employees, want to make a life like the couple who did the cupping with me (in town for the day just to try out new food stuff in the cityw they roast their own coffee beans and make their own pizza dough and are just generally really nice and warm)
Remedy Tea - puh-erh tea and chocolate pepper tea cookie, I finished my book and enjoyed the sunset
Molly Moon's - in my defense I was expecting to buy two tiny NYC scoops of ice cream with my five dollars, I got a massive bowl, one scoop of balsamic strawberry, one scoop of Theo's chocolate, I think I licked my fingers again... don't ask

September 22
Odd Fellows Cafe - I was not expecting to like this place as much as I did but how can you go wrong when the space is huge and sunny and they serve you warm peach coffee cake?
Beecher's Cheese - handmade cheeses, grilled cheese with two different cheeses, tomato and basil = gooey yumminess
Stella's Cafe and Wine Bar - bad cappuccino and the girl at the counter is entirely too perky, no I do not want chocolate sprinkles
Bookstore Bar - the length of the bar was full of single malt whiskeys... danger

September 23
Three Girls' Bakery - blackberry scone
Cherry Street Coffee House - my last coffee in Seattle, not the best by any means

September 23 (Portland)
Stumptown - you just can't go wrong here
VooDoo Donut - oh god the unhealthiness, I had an oreo, chocolate and peanut butter donut, odd as it sounds it was amazing
Pizzicatta - pizza with feta, sun-dried tomatoes, roasted garlic and peppers, entire pieces of roasted garlic
Rogue Brewery - honey orange wheat beer, wet hop ale (which I actually enjoyed despite not being the biggest fan of hops)

September 24
Stumptown - the other location in Portland
Tin Shed - hashbrowns with eggs and bacon gravy, so messy but so good
Last Drop Coffee - good coffee, they serve Stumptown like everyone else
Barista - the most amazing coffee of the entire trip, that's all I can say
Jake's Grill - penne with shrimp and scallops in a white sauce can never be bad, I was forced to eat part of the chocolate bag that Jennifer got for dessert (dark chocolate in the shape of a bag, filled with white chocolate mousse, whipped cream, raspberries, blueberries, blackberries and raspberry coulis), another sugar overdose

September 25
Half and Half - wins for cutest tiny cafe, breakfast sandwich and coffee
Sydney's - tucked away where you wouldn't expect anything much less a coffee shop, acoustic guitar on a Friday morning goes perfectly with chai lattes
Koi Fusion Truck - I tracked it down and had decent but overly messy tacos
Crema - cappuccino and a ginger molasses cookie are the perfect reward for walking five miles in the sun

September 26
Kenny and Zuke's - latkes with homemade applesauce and sour cream, only justified by the fact that I have not actually had latkes since I moved to NYC
Albina Press - distantly related to Barista, just as good
Stumptown Annex - another cupping, this time with a friend, I love their Ethiopian coffees
Doug Fir - I officially solved Christina's craving for a burger and milkshake and it was a damned good meal, bison burger with onions and Tillamook cheddar

September 27
Byways Cafe - I would be a regular among the regulars here if I lived in Portland, I had a basic breakfast but fell in love with the pumpkin coffee cake that Jennifer had

If I had my little way, I'd eat peaches every day

Given the season, the local farmers’ markets have been overrun with peaches. And, of course, there is always a plate of small slices to taste, each type delicious and amazing. Tastiness aside, a girl likes some variety in her life. I recently stumbled across a couple of different recipes for grilled peaches, one over arugula and one with ricotta. With peaches waiting to be eaten and having never had a grilled peach, I was very excited to try one or both of these recipes.

But I don’t have a grill. I don’t even have a grill pan. I am completely grill-less. Back to square one, with three yummy peaches sulking uneaten on the counter.

The absence of grilling materials has been a problem in the past, usually with vegetables, and one popular solution in my kitchen is roasting. I do have an oven at least. After a brief internet search to confirm that roasting peaches is not a completely stupid idea, my decision was made. I just had to find the right time.

Well, tonight was that time. Dessert sounded good for a change. I am leaving town in a few days so am in the process of emptying my side of the refrigerator. Thus, there was no arugula or ricotta on hand. Solution: ice cream. The bodega down the street sells single mini Haagen Dazs ice cream containers, which is just about the perfect amount for me when I want it.

After a quick trip to the corner, I had everything I needed: vanilla ice cream, a peach and cinnamon. And only twenty minutes after that, I had pretty deliciousness on a plate. I tried to take a photo for proof, but my hands are shaky and I couldn't get the angle right. Plus, my model was melting. I was forced to eat my dessert, every last wonderful bite of it.

Coffee blues

My sister was in town over the weekend and, though Bonnie was not able to join us, I thought it might be a great time to check out one of the restaurants I had spotted on First St. We ended up back at the ever-yummy Grape and Grain, but did do a walk-by-menu-check on First St. I was a little concerned when I noticed that, at noon on a Sunday in the East Village, Simon Sips wasn’t open. However, with no sign indicating anything was wrong I chalked it all up to NYC business quirkiness.

Sadly, I was right to be worried. NYC Mugged reported today that Simon Sips has closed. I wish I had the chance to try it before it closed (and it seems I only just missed it!) but at least a new café is rumored to be opening in the same location.

Mares eat oats and does eat oats and little lambs eat ivy

Earlier this summer I was having trouble staying productive at work. Every day around 3pm I became extremely drowsy and had a very hard time maintaining my concentration. After some self diagnosis with the help of the internet, I decided to change my eating habits and test a hypothesis. I made a lunch time switch from sandwiches to granola bars, fruit and yogurt. Success! Though I started spending more money on granola bars, I did stop the afternoon crash.

I had been toying with the idea of making my own granola bars for a while. Food gawker had turned up so many recipes that I couldn’t help but think about it. Then, on my last walk with Hey, I’m Walkin’ Here!, my decision was made. I had taken along a small selection of granola bars and, when we took an afternoon break, pulled one out for snacking. As I pulled the packaging apart, I thought that the glue on the seams was a bit more cobwebby than normal. Odd. Then something wiggled. It turns out my box of granola bars was infested with Indianmeal moth larvae. I threw everything away and bought a box of Triskets at the next CVS we saw. If I needed that final push into the kitchen, this was definitely it.

Most of the recipes I found were direct variations of Alton Brown's recipe - not surprising once you have read through the ingredients. Others I found struck me as odd and were nixed on the basis of my impatience, one including more ingredients than I thought necessary and another including ingredients I didn't want for this granola.

I finally settled on this one, again similar to the Alton Brown granola bar, because I liked the ingredients and the overall tone of the posting. (The way to my heart is through both my stomach and my head.) I did, however, tweak the recipe based on my own tastes and what was on hand in the kitchen.

Ingredients

• 2 cups oatmeal
• 1 1/2 cups sliced almonds
• 1/4 cup light corn syrup
• 1/4 cup light brown sugar
  
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup dry roasted sunflower seeds
• 1/2 cup toasted wheat germ
• 3/4 cup Zante currants (picked up on a whim and liked them - I may need to reevaluate my stance on raisins)
  
• 1 cup unsweetened coconut
• Zest of one lemon (last minute refrigerator find)

Presentation-wise, my granola bars will not win any beauty contests. I put them in for a few minutes longer than the recipe called for and they may have been crispier as a result.

But they're good. They're really good. Aside from getting granola crumbs down my shirt while sampling the results, I would call this a success.

I want the frim-fram sauce with the aussen fay

I’ve mentioned before the emails I receive from various listservs. They can be overwhelming if I’m not careful but they do provide a wealth of information. An email I receive only once a week from NonsenseNYC is a minimalist, ugly text-based email. But it includes a list of free or cheap events going on in the city. About a year ago, a Nonsense email led me to Hey, I’m Walkin’ Here!, a group that meets every other week to go on 20 mile walks through different parts of the city. Given my own (insane) penchant for walking, I joined their Facebook group… and then had conflicts with (or just plain forgot about) scheduled walks. I joined the group for my first walk a few weeks ago and for my second last weekend. They’re a fun crowd, relatively within my age group and I have had a great time on both walks. I’m hooked.

The walk last weekend took us through central Staten Island, starting at 8:45AM and ending around 7:00PM. When I left them at the end of the day I was, understandably, exhausted and starving. Specifically, I was craving a hearty dish of pasta and meat sauce.

Since I moved to this city I have made my own pasta sauce. But I taught myself how to do this and they are not based on anything other than what tastes good to me and what I logically think should go into pasta sauce. I shared one of my recipes here last week. From that you can easily see my standard sauce base: tomato sauce, onion, garlic, salt, pepper. Depending on what I have in the kitchen other things will be thrown in randomly, usually to a tasty end. My method for making pasta sauce is obviously not the way pasta sauce is supposed to be made but it tastes good to me, is cheap, and is a single girl’s dream in the kitchen (mainly because I cover it and let it spit all it wants while I tend to other things).

Aside from throwing sauteed chicken into the mix, I have not yet made a pasta sauce with meat. But last Saturday I was craving red meat. This is extremely rare (haha) so I usually give in to these red meat cravings when I have them, figuring my body knows something I do not. I browned the meat and added it with diced tomato into my usual base… and it was bland. Not horrible. Just bland. Solution? Adding red pepper and burning my mouth into submission.

However, this bland non-entity of a meal set me on a mission: figure out a real (and relatively simple) way to make a meat sauce. Foodgawker - devil of my google reader feed that it is – turned up a nice selection of recipes to choose from. Luckily, I’m extremely picky once I have an idea in my head so narrowing down my options was not an issue.

Peeling and de-seeding tomatoes? I am only starting to come to some sort of understanding with tomatoes so let’s not push it.

Heavy cream? I’m not in the mood for a creamy sauce (for once) and I’d have to figure out another recipe to use up the rest of the cream before I go out of town next week.

Ingredients that I don’t keep in my kitchen? Maybe later. I like recipes that are realistic, that come from similar pantries. And this is pasta sauce for one! I don’t need anything fancy to start this experiment.

What about a basic recipe, adjusted and perfected after many uses in many different dishes, that is normally made without measurements or calculations? Yes. Other than the can of diced tomatoes, I have everything I need in the kitchen! Maybe it’s not traditional but it’s more formal than my own pasta sauce so this is the place to start.

Ingredients (for the most part, halving all of her measurements)

• 1/2 lb ground beef
• 1 14 oz can diced tomatoes
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 2 cloves chopped garlic
• 1 8 oz can tomato sauce
• 1/2  of a 6 oz can tomato paste
• Oregano
• Basil
• Salt
• Pepper

I browned the meat with the veggies while heating up the other ingredients over low heat. Once the meat was done, I drained it and tossed it in with the tomato mix, covering it until the pasta had finished cooking.

Result: delicious.

Granted, even though I halved the recipe I now have a few more servings of sauce left. So this will easily feed me until I leave for Seattle. Such is the life of a single person kitchen. Le sigh.

Wherever I may roam

Two weekends ago, I was walking through the East Village on my way to meet a friend for brunch. When I walk through this city my general habit is to take the "path of least resistance," meaning I turn or cross the street whenever it is convenient, whenever the light changes, or whenever I see something interesting I want to check out as long as it is along the general path to my end location. Someone once said I "make goat trails". I like my goat trails. Thanks to them I often find new things I hadn't seen before.

On this particular weekend morning, I turned down East 1st Street and suddenly found a small collection of restaurants I hadn't seen before between 1st Ave and 2nd Ave. As I had some time on my hands I stopped and looked at menus as I passed, zig-zagging across the street as each caught my eye. They all have delicious potential and are reasonably priced. We have no excuse to not check them out in the coming months.


Brunch or coffee

• Simon Sips 
• Joe Doe 
• Prune

Lunch, dinner or drinks

• The Elephant
  

When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie...

Let's start with a fact: I love pizza. I adore pizza. It is easily one of my favorite foods. So, when Bonnie casually mentioned that she hadn't had much pizza in the city I almost flipped out. However, she did also say this in the context of suggesting that we try out a pizza joint or two. An excuse to eat more pizza? Do you really have to ask?

I have a few favorite places close by. Il Porto is not very close but the location is interesting: past the BQE, close to docks. While not an inviting walk, it does guarantee a seat and extra attentive service in a nearly empty restaurant. They also deliver to my house, which is the option I usually take. However, if I'm going to have pizza delivered it is both faster and cheaper to order from Not Ray's. They make a damn good pizza, too, but they close entirely too early, even on weekends.

Nowhere close but yummy is South Brooklyn Pizza. Their crust is crisp and flaky unlike any I've found in the city so far. However, I have to say what truly draws me here are their cookies. If you order dessert, they warm the chocolate chip cookies in their brick oven. Two words: gooey deliciousness.

There are still other pizzas on my own little island that warrant an exploratory meal. Oddly, they all seem to be named after people: Franny's, Graziella's, Ignazio's.

On Bonnie's island, most of my pizza experiences have been limited to the random corner shop, usually with a name that includes "Ray's" and "famous" in a combination more interesting than any of their slices. One notable exception is Koronet, not for the quality but for the size. One slice, which costs only a dollar or two more than any other slice, is as long as my arm. An entire pizza could probably feed me for a month.

But in the interest of quality, I need to try more Manhattan pizzas. Luckily, it seems that quality pizza is the current food fad in the city. A number of new places keep cropping up in daily email announcements, including Keste, Luzzo's, Farinella, and Co.

So we have a few places to add to our list. In the meantime, I continue to buy my favorite cornmeal pizza crusts from Whole Foods and make my own.

Dinner pizzas include:

• Stir fried broccoli and red onion, mozzarella, tomato sauce
• Diced red and yellow pepper, asparagus ribbons, goat cheese
• Roasted brussel sprouts, pepper bacon, mozzarella, tomato sauce

Breakfast pizzas include:

• Scrambled eggs, onion, sausage, gruyere
• Scrambled eggs, pepper bacon, heirloom tomato, mozzarella, minced garlic

Cut right down to the soul, to the center of you

Materials
8 ounces of tomato sauce
1 cup brussel sprouts
1 tablespoon olive oil
Salt and pepper
1 heirloom tomato
1/4 cup white onion
3 cloves of garlic
1/4 cup mozzarella
1 handful of whole wheat penne
Crushed red pepper

1. Get pissed. You usually approach certain friendships in a zen-like fashion. allowing the relationship to flow along the path of least resistance. But tonight, for reasons unknown, you are going to have blind faith in your unreliable friend. You are going to think that, for once, they will follow through and what they say will align with what they do. Tonight you will be let down even though you should have known better.
2. Look through the kitchen, gathering the foods that are close at hand. Bang pots and pans. Slam cabinets. Heat the oven to 425.
3. Pour the tomato sauce into a small sauce pan and set on the stove over low heat.
4. Clean the brussel sprouts. Cut off the stems, peel away any discolored leaves, and quarter. Toss with the olive oil and salt and pepper to taste. Carelessly throw the brussel sprouts from the bowl onto a baking sheet. Use a spatula to stab at the brussel sprouts, spreading them out and making sure they are uniformly laid out on the sheet.
5. Put the brussel sprouts in the oven and set your timer for 10 minutes. In the meantime, throw the cheap pot your ex-roommate bought at the flea market for a quarter into the sink. Fill with water and set on the stove to boil.
6. Grab your cutting board and smack it down on the counter. Even though you're pissed and acting rashly in the kitchen, you are not being careless. You continue to move comfortably around in this space you have made your own, everything in its own place exactly where your hand knows to find it. Cut the heirloom tomato that you bought on impulse at the farmer's market on Saturday into large chunks. Chop the onion. Slice the garlic. Rip the mozzarella into shreds. Do not cut off any of your fingers. Throw everything on the cutting board into the pot with the tomato sauce and increase to a medium heat. Stir hastily, splashing up the sides of the sauce pan once or twice.
7. Your timer just went off. Using your spatula again, open the oven and stab at the brussel sprouts until they're turned enough and can brown on the other side. Set your timer for 15 minutes.
8. Thrust your hand into the pasta jar and grab a handful of penne. Toss into the pot of now boiling water. Stir the pasta sauce and put the lid over the sauce pan to trap the heat inside and thicken the sauce.
9. Sit back and stew while your food does the same. When you think again on what initially made you angry this evening, grab the bottle of crushed red pepper and don't think as you dump ridiculous amounts into the sauce. Stir. Stew some more.
10. If you've timed it correctly, everything will be ready at the same time. Uncover the sauce and reduce the heat. Drain the pasta and set aside. Dump the brussel sprouts into the sauce and stir well. Spoon half of the sauce over the pasta and set the rest aside for another meal.
11. Eat. Savor. Deal. Laugh at the scene you just made in the kitchen and be thankful your roommate was not home.
12. Now that you've burned off your energy and again come to a calm understanding about the state of certain friendships, relax and finish that chapter of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance you started this morning on the train.

Them there eyes

Last week, one of the many daily emails that clog my inbox pointed me in the direction of food gawker. Without thinking of the consequences, I added the site to my Google reader feed… It’s beautiful to look at but completely overwhelming! I probably receive at least 100 new items every day and I now have a ka-fucking-jillion new recipes that I want to try. And by “ka-fucking-jillion” I mean that my eyes are not only bigger than my stomach, they're bigger than my entire body.

She will feed you tomatoes and radio wires

My food cravings seem to have their own seasons, likely dictated by some chemical or nutrient imbalance I create in my own ignorance. The craving du mois is brussel sprouts. (It must be noted that this craving follows a months-long affair with broccoli. Iron, anyone?)

This craving is odd because of the simple fact that I have had brussel sprouts maybe twice before. I have one vague memory of eating them with my parents though I am not sure if this actually happened or is a figment of my imagination. The only experience I do remember clearly happened a few years ago at Alta. Their menu changes frequently so I am not sure if those listed on the current menu are the same. Regardless, my memory is of crispy deliciousness and I would try any brussel sprout they ever wanted to feed me, current cravings aside.

So perhaps when I saw them in the store and my mouth started watering I was unconsciously remembering a distant meal. Was I capable of making crispy brussel sprouts? Not at all. Did I like brussel sprouts otherwise? I had no idea. But at that moment, I only wanted to take them home and eat nothing else for dinner... which I did.

Now, not having any experience preparing this veggie, I had a bit of a staring contest with the sprouts in the kitchen after all of my groceries were unpacked. They won. I retreated to the computer. But, Google to my rescue, I ended up very simply roasting them in the oven - my usual go to with vegetables. And thus it was that I ate one pound of roasted brussel sprouts for dinner. Truth be told, I have made a few meals of roasted brussel sprouts since.

I would like to try other ways to prepare brussel sprouts but my Google searches since then have not helped. It would seem that no one likes brussel sprouts if they're not roasted. So, I started experimenting in the kitchen. I put the sprouts in the food processor, tossed them with the standard olive-oil-salt-and-pepper and roasted the mix in the oven almost as usual. However, this time I took them out a minute early and sprinkled shaved parmesan on top. After letting them cook for a minute longer I mixed them with shredded lettuce and pine nuts for a nice, crisp salad. My stomach could not have been happier.

It did not occur to me until this evening to check over at Orangette. And now, lo and behold, I have new recipes to try. Guess who's stopping by the store tomorrow night for a brussel sprout stockpile?

If anyone asks, well I'll take the blame

And so it begins.

I'm starting this blog with Bonnie because there is too much food - in this city and in general - for two stomachs to tackle. Every week, we inundate one another's inboxes with news of restaurants we just have to try out, things we've eaten, things we want to eat, recipes, grocery stores, specialty shops, cafes... There is not enough space in my head (or my stomach) for each and every one.

We have been discussing the idea of starting a blog for a few months, to act as a clearing house for our restaurant list, a shared place where we can post links and reviews. During that time our ideas for the blog have grown. It will probably include recipes, general food rants and perhaps a few photos if I feel ambitious (or that my photography skills are in any way improving). But too many restaurants fell by the wayside while we were plotting and I'm putting my foot down now.

So, ladies and gentlemen, imaginary friends all: welcome to Texpats, Bonnie and Hilary's space-o-food.