going out of style.

we went to maple view. the ice cream they make is so good and creamy and delicious and we wanted to do a little drive into the country (which became a big drive) so we went to sit on the porch and eat copious amounts of ice cream.
i ate maple. yelena REALLY wanted a waffle cone and ordered it with both chocolate and blueberry ice creams. there was probably an entire pint of ice cream in there. seriously.
she ate almost all of it! she looks so skinny yet she was so very impressive.

carolina barbeque.

let's begin with the fact that i apparently don't know how to spell barbeque. the computer really wants me to spell it "barbecue," and i accept that, but i think it should have a "q."

yelena was visiting so shira and i took her to the pit. i knew i would eat this barbeque at some point while i lived here and, well, yelena just brings out the meat-eater in me.

north carolina bbq differs from texas in that it is usually pulled pork, but definitely pork, and no ribs or brisket or anything like that. and the sauces are less sugary and smoky, more vinegary, but certainly delicious. it's another beast altogether. it's like they should not even share the name "barbeque."
the pit starts by bringing us a basket of biscuits and hushpuppies and i swear those goods are not vegetarian anyhow; it was all too delicious in that way that there must be lard or bacon fat or something in the batter. like a good pie.

and so i ate a chopped pork sandwich with sweet potato fries (sweet potatoes being a major crop in north carolina) and cole slaw. and a beer. and since yelena got a platter of pork, not a sandwich, there were mashed potatoes and mac n'cheese to eat as well.
it was really was a vacation meal. to say i was full is an understatement.

**and, these incredible photographs that scream 1970s are courtesy of shira and the hipstamatic, where everything looks dated in the best way.

katie eats.

i am in love with this girl's blog. i want to eat it all. i want smashed goods to look like that.

gotta go back to practicing photoshop.

from new york.

yelena came to visit (many posts to come) and brought bagels for me and shira. we have been dying for some; they sort of exist here but they are not close to real. weird and fluffy and kinda like the frozen ones. so, shira came over and we devoured them.
additionally, she brought apples from her upstate apple adventure. baby ones. yes.

daikon.

the ipod is for scale.

yes, obesity is a problem here.

i went to the state fair. it's shocking to think that i attended the state fair in NC before TX. there is something to the fact that i am not a fan of football and the TX state fair, to me, is associated with the TX/OU football game. and i just don't care about that.
this is an image of the crown jewel of the NC state fair: a krispy kreme burger. my friend, casey , would not really eat until we found it. she does not even like donuts; she actually just had her first krispy kreme some weeks ago. but both casey and her husband, gordon, seemed to enjoy this decadence (and gordon ate a second one!).

it is important to note that you could probably have found anything you wanted fried at the fair: cookies, candy bars, frito pie, alligator, and even something just called "fried dough." and then there were all the staples: turkey legs, funnel cakes, cheese-covered french fries (yes, i ate some), corn dogs. everything is better on a stick.

but i ate fried mac n'cheese (please ignore my weird hair in this photo). and drank the most delicious homemade root beer in a tin cup that says pappy's (which i now own).

and, well, it's decorative gourd season!

easy like sunday morning.

this was pure deliciousness.

• kale with turnips and onions
• salad of basil, tomato, and kirby cucumber, with sea salt and pepper
• buttery yukon potatoes
• cheddar on rye toast (so awesome that the top slice of toast kept sliding off!)
  

and!
i have yet to tell you about the NC state fair, where i ate fried mac n'cheese and watched a friend consume the ever-present krispy kreme burger and we saw prize-winning bunnies and gourd-centric handicrafts. but i digress.

yelena is arriving today (her plane should land any minute now!) and i think this might be moment where i try NC barbeque (it's pulled pork, not like in texas). oh my.

bit by bit.

this is what happens when you eat the remains of each item in your fridge (october 10).

stapler.

and so i wear my glasses and read my notes and textbook and scribble potential answers to math problems on scratch paper and listen to the npr 24/7 channel, which is the best thing that has happened to me in a while. and drink black apricot tea.

thank you, blake, for that most spectacular mug. hope your finger is alright.

how did i

get so far behind?

well, i am going to blame graduate school. my economics midterm is tomorrow and it's sort of taken over but i plan to be back in full force immediately.

here's a sneak peek of the past. october 9th sure looks good, huh? the end of the summer corn, with greens, a perfectly fried egg, and toast with dill havarti.

size matters.

i got the biggest daikon radish in my csa today. pictures to follow.

food fight.

Food Fight is an abridged history of American-centric war, from World War II to present day, told through the foods of the countries in conflict. Watch as traditional comestibles slug it out for world domination in this chronologically re-enacted smorgasbord of aggression.it's pretty graphic. but awesome. try to watch it without the cheat sheet.

i realize it's not showing properly, so here's the link to the actual site.

one of my two favorite animals.

the manatee.
what? doesn't everyone have a knitted manatee in a vintage ashtray on top of the food books in her library? and while i have not finished cultivating an ecological conscience (damn you, grad school!), i think very highly of fred kirschenmann. he's a big reason i was interested in iowa state.

ina wrote me a note.

ok, she sent it to a lot of people, but i like that it's addressed to me, and signed by her. it just feels so personal.

i am not buying the book. i receive the recipes telepathically anyhow.

the essential.

eater lists the 38 essential new york restaurants. how have i only been to 9? none of them are all that new. i spent 7 years in new york.

i have some serious eating to do this winter. i could be an omnivore for a moment.

again.

we finished the arugula. homemade arugula pesto (with olive oil, kosher salt, pepper, toasted pine nuts) over pasta with cherry tomatoes.

***you know how to make pesto, right? in case you don't, here's a quick recipe: chop two cups of arugula and 2 cloves garlic. toast 1/4 cup of pinenuts over the stove. use a food processor to chop it all finely with less than 1/4 cup of olive oil, maybe only 1/6. salt and pepper to taste. use your discretion.***

salad of turnip, cucumber, and carrot with lemon-poppy seed dressing and roasted beets.

and by "we," i mean shira. obviously.

ADDENDUM, october 9th, 1:50 pm.
i just ate the leftovers in my office while reading about food safety. and it was still super delicious.

newest dinner partner.

it's hard to eat everything in the csa fast enough. and i want to make fancy things but they really are for sharing. y'know? i got SO much spicy arugula last week.

and, inspired by this month's bon appetit, i really wanted to make risotto. i decided to make one of their recipes: lemon risotto with roasted tomatoes. obviously, i had shira over to eat it with me. it was super easy, she wanted to stir for a while, and overall, it was delicious. we topped it with roasted squash and shitake mushrooms.

csa, i love you forever. i know shira loves you, too.

filthy mouth.

IT'S DECORATIVE GOURD SEASON, MOTHERFUCKERS.

be careful, this essay is full of curse words.

parce que j'aime le petit dejeuner.

i was going to write about last night's dinner. about cdc calling obesity a "winnable battle." about bill marler maybe writing a book. about tom colicchio saying that "school lunch would be free for everybody" in an "ideal world" (mostly because that is my big plan for the country).

but i can't. i have to tell you about my breakfast.

because it was incredible. smashed red potatoes. edamame cooked in a little butter with kosher salt. collard greens with red okra (which turns green when you cook it) and onion. sliced tomato. a perfectly fried egg.

have you noticed the egg isn't being flipped anymore? it is SO very good this way; i am enjoying it more "sunny-side up" than "over."

even my coffee was extra tasty (maybe because i have returned to sweetening it with agave?).

i think it's the weather. everything is best in the autumn.

you might have forgotten,

but this is what a pantry looks like.
it's my first one since i lived in that crazy house on gramatan avenue. and only my second in places i have lived without my parents.

as awesome as it looks.

this was my dinner last sunday.

• perfectly fried egg
• salad of pea shoots, cucumbers, and tomatoes
• buttery, garlicky potatoes
• corn pan-cooked with serrano (in the leftover butter)
  
• lemon greenbeans
• jasmine rice

sometimes, all the elements just come together at once.

oh, lemon.

liz lemon is really (real-o) cracking me up these days. and, this week, the episode ended with her shouting some sage advice, "put potato chips on your sandwich!" yes.

blake and i have been saying that for years.

happy october.

the last bit of summer in the loveliest little film about rockaway taco.

Rockaway Taco, A Selby Film from the selby on Vimeo.