"Sister Cake"

From my mom...

Here's the recipe: 2 sticks of butter; 2 packets of yeast; 1 Liter of milk; 1 cup of raisins; 5 Lbs. of flour.

Warm the milk, take 1/2 cup warm milk and mix the yeast, melt the butter. In a bowl put all of the said ingredients then start adding the flour, I use up half of the bag, so it is about 2 1/2 lbs of the flour. If the wooden spatula can stand that means the mixture is good.

Cover and let it rise for 1/2 to 45'. The raisins I mix a little flour then once the mixture is fully rised add the raisins.

You need 4 foil bread tray. Fill it up with the mixture about half full.

Bake in a preheated 400 degrees oven for 45'.

Best Pesto

DESCRIPTION
Don't ask me about measurements on this one...

INGREDIENTS
a lot of garlic (a whole bulb, maybe)
walnuts
pine nuts
a bunch of fresh basil
a bunch of fresh parsley
a bunch of fresh spinach
a nice hunk of Parmigiano Reggiano
a lot of olive oil

DIRECTIONS
Okay, you know the drill with pesto. It's just a bunch of stuff all mashed up together, resulting in a green paste-like thing.

I saw this one on some tv show. They didn't give measurements, either. I think some cheese shop out West uses all these ingredients for their famous pesto. So I tried it, and it's great.

I've made pesto before, out of different ingredients. I've never *combined* ingredients like this one does. And it produces something special.

Restrictions

Wow. I guess if this blog were a movie, it'd be rated "R", sheerly based on language. Cock, shit, fuck and cunt.

It's a poorly updated foodie blog.

One day, when I get a new apartment with a really kick-ass kitchen and a lot more room to entertain, just you watch... this blog will come to motherfucking life again.

Blogs, they're cyclical.

The Life & Death of Jack Bourdain

I read Anthony Bourdain's "Kitchen Confidential" years ago. A fascinating read, infamously offering an insider's tour of a top NYC chef's world. The book made a big splash. It was set for a big fat movie adaptation called "Seared", with Brad Pitt set to star and David Fincher set to direct...

And then... it didn't happen. For any number of mysterious reasons that these things don't happen.

Then, by similarly mystical turns, it became a television show.

KITCHEN CONFIDENTIAL: THE COMPLETE SERIES is now available on DVD, featuring 13 episodes, 9 of them never broadcast.

SEX IN THE CITY's Darren Starr brought in writer David Hemingson, who used Bourdain's book as an inspiration for this ensemble comedy. Starring ALIAS's Bradley Cooper as a fictionalized "Jack Bourdain".

I had some issues with the show when I caught it during its abbreviated run. The depiction of sex throughout seemed forced to me. Every woman on the planet wants to fuck Bradley Cooper—I get it already! On what level was that supposed to be entertaining? The chef-as-rock-star conceit seemed to be aiming for a base audience.

But as the show went on, I felt like it began to find its voice. It didn't shy away from its foodie premise. The first sign of it, for me, was an episode called "Dinner Date with Death", with a fine guest star turn from John Larroquette as a gourmand who's trying to kill himself by dining on the richest foods.

That was followed by "French Fight", featuring Cooper's old ALIAS buddy Michael Vartan as a French Chef who wages a food fight with Chef Bourdain. And as far as guest stars go, it's hard to top SERENITY's lovely and amazing Morena Baccarin in the episode "An Affair to Remember".

Bradley Cooper graduated from J.J. Abrams's school of romantic comedy, and he puts it to good use here. Yes, Jack Bourdain gets entirely too much sex for us (me) to completely care about him, but Cooper manages to keep him very likable. And he's got a great ensemble cast backing him up. The writing's solid and it gets better as it goes. The show builds through 13 episodes. John Cho actually gets to kiss a girl. It was a good show!

Which is why it's such a shame that it was yanked. It really should have had a longer life than it did. With all the shows exploring the lives of cops, lawyers and doctors, I think the TV landscape could have used a good foodie sitcom.

At least Tony Bourdain's got the Travel Channel...

Empire of Deens

Hello, neglected blog that used to be about recipes! You disappeared for a few days, a casualty of BLOGGER migration, but it appears that you are back among the blogoverse.

Last week, thanks to my friend J-Goose, I saw Paula Deen & Family at the BORDERS in the Columbus Circle Mall -- a place I almost never go to.

Deen was promoting her new autobiography and the store had a stack of pre-signed copies. The place got pretty packed and the crowd embraced Paula like she were royalty. Approachable royalty.

To sweeten the pot, Paula had her husband Michael with her. And Jamie and Bobby even made a surprise appearance.

All right, I'm so jaded, it's appalling. And yet, it's a testament to Paula Deen that I still found her incredibly disarming. If it's an act, it's a hell of an act. She can emote Damien Rice off a stage. She's charismatic, her kids are charismatic. It's more than that sheen of celebrity. That's part of it. But they just seem... genuine. They just seem like good people, and you're inclined to feel happy for their success.

DVR ALERT -- after years of turning it down, Paula says she finally agreed to participate in an Iron Chef competition. For cookies. Wonder who she'd be going up against? (I'm praying it's Nigella Lawson.)

While we're talking Food Network (and I hate for this to degenerate into a Food Network Commentary blog, because I haven't even been watching much of Food Network lately -- but I don't have any damn recipes to share, so what the fuck am I going to do here?), I been going to the Chelsea Market recently because I've had to be around there due to a project I've been working on. Anyway, it's the strangest place because it always seems like a bit of a ghost town, but there's a lot of cool foodie shit there. Even though I've got no real need for any of it as -- if I 'aven't a'ready mentioned -- I'm not much of a cooker lately, guv!

Jesus Christ, this is a good blog entry.

Bourdain Throwdown

Love him, hate him -- I think Anthony Bourdain's just grand. "Kitchen Confidential" is a great read.

Here is a terrific little guest blog entry by him, breaking down his thoughts on the current state of FOOD TV. I think it's hilarious how thorough he is! For all his critiques, this is a man who has seriously watched the FOOD NETWORK!