Carmen meets Fabio (XOXOXOXOXOXO)

First of all I want to give hardcore (or "mad" if you will) props to my friend Michelle from work for understanding my deep-seated and inappropriate obsession with Reality TV stars and all things Top Chef. 

Here is a minute by minute recap of the moments leading up to what will now be known as "The Meeting of Fabio - One of the Best Moments Ever": 

10:03pm: Michelle (text): Talking to FABIO in person at Side Bar on 15th and Irving

10:04: Me (text): Tell him I'm his number 1 fan please have put him on the phone*

* Forgot to mention I took a tequila shot at 9:45pm

10:06: Michelle (text) : I did! 

10:06: Me (text): What did he say

10:07: Michelle calls me and tells me to come to Side Bar. When I request to speak to Fabio, she hangs up on me. 

10:08: Me (text): Call me and let me say hi please please please tell him I voted him fan fav 100 times

10:09: Me (text): Ur Killing me

10:10: Michelle (text): He is gorgeous

10:10: Me (text): U are killing me can u get a pic for me can you please put him on the phone

10:11: Michelle (text): He is openingf a restaurant here

10:13: Me (text): Omg why are you ignoring all my requests

10:15: Me (text): arghhhhhhhhh

10:16: Me (text): I'm yearning

10:51: Michelle (text): He is exactly how he is on the show

10:52: Me (text): You are dead to me

11:00: Michelle (text): Come here!!! 

11:01: Me (text) Are you actually with him

11:01: Me (text): I'll come if he's not gonna be gone when I get there and I can say hi

11:02: Michelle (text): He is staying until the end of the cust game. Where r u

11:04: Me (text): 2nd and 2nd do you think I can make it

11:05: Michelle (text): Comeright now!!!

11:06: Michelle (text): Like leave now.. I told him u love him and u would die to meet him... He is the nicest human being alive

11:06: Me (text): I'm coming now

11:06: Michelle (text): Hurry! 

11:07 Me (text): No seriously I just got in a cab and told the driver to step on it

11:09: Michelle (text): Come!

11:09: Me (text): Where is it exactly is the bar on 15th and Irving? Tell Him I NEED to meet him. 

11:09: Michelle (text): Its called side bar on the corner

11:10: Me (text): K ten minutes max please dont let him leave

11:10 Michelle (text): Ok! 

11:11: Me (text): I'm freaking out I'm so excited

 it's not even funny

11:11: Michelle (text): lol contain yourself

11:12: Michelle (text): hurry 

11:13: Michelle (text): He is going to prana after this

11:14: Me (text): I'm in Astor Place just tell him 5 more minutes please

11:14: Me (text): 1 min away 

11:15: Me (text): I'm outside they won't let people in

11:15: Michelle (text): He's about to walk out

11:16: Me (text):  Come out

11:16: Michelle (text): Just wait hes gonna come out

11:17: Michelle (text): He's walking out now

Michelle walks out 

Michelle: Did you see him? 

Me: WHAT ? NO! WHERE IS HE!

Michelle (points halfway down the block): He's right there! In the leather jacket! 

I take off running like an insane person ... I'm literally not even thinking how I'm gonna do this without looking mentally ill.  All I can think is, OMG if I don't talk to him I'm gonna go be so angry. I finally catch up to him (I'm also sweating profusely and almost in tears of happiness) and I say... 

Me: (I tap him on his arm from behind) Um... Fabio? 

Fabio: (turns around): yes? 

Me: Omg.. sorry. My friend Michelle? You met her? She said.. I could.. meet you? Hi! Sorry to bother you, I just love you, I voted for you 100 times for fan favorite.. I just.. wanted to meet you. 

Fabio: Wow - you're too kind. What's your name? 

Me: Carmen. 

Fabio: Thank you so much Carmen. That means a lot to me. 

Me: Would you mind if we took a picture? 

Fabio: Not at all. 

Me: Thanks! (to one of the girls he was with) Would you mind taking a picture? (I hand her my iPhone)

Lucky Ass Girl: No problem

Me: Sorry, you must think I'm crazy

Lucky Ass Girl: No worries! He's like our brother! Okay, 1, 2, 3 ... *click*

Me: Thank you SO much. 

Fabio: Thank you Carmen - so nice to meet you. 

Cut to me running back to Michelle freaking the fuck out for another 30 minutes and doing crazy happy dances. Biggest. Crush. EVER. 

Also, I can check something off my NY to-do list:

- Telling a Cab Driver to "Step on it" 

Next, I'm going to try to incorporate: "Follow that cab" - stay tuned for that one. 

In any case, as you can imagine, I'm glowing with excitement. I feel like I just got engaged or something. I love him and apparently, he's scouting restaurant space to open a joint in NYC. Maybe we will meet again. And maybe in the future, I can pretend to be a completely different person so he won't be reminded that I acted like a freak when we first met. 

And the villagers rejoice.. 

Watching Fabio on Ellen turned me into a puddle

I love him so much:

Top Chef Recap : Maybe this IS Top Pussy

So the very bittersweet end of Top Chef. With Fabio gone, I find writing this recaps a little harder since I don't have his nonsensical idioms to carry me. I guess this will be a true testament to my blogging, huh?

I've been through a lot of ups and downs with TC NY - I was excited for the finale but also am crapping myself thinking about not having this to watch every Wednesday. It's surprising what a pint of Ben and Jerry's and an episode of Top Chef can do for my mood.

We have all been on an emotional rollercoaster with this season - we watched Jill cook the dumbest thing possible - an ostrich egg. We watched the Foo Fighters pretend to know stuff about food. We watched Arianne jump up and down pantless at the Superbowl Challenge. We watched Fabio and Stefan fall in love but Stefan secretly have inappropriate hate homoeroticism towards Hosea. We watched Hosea and Leah play big spoon/little spoon (if spoons made out and cheated on their significant others) . AND we have been wondering for , oh about 3 weeks now, what the hell Carla modeled.

Nonetheless, the finale is something I've been stoked for for a few weeks now. The contestants are still in the big easy and the opening scene is Carla doing the upward dog yoga position directly in front of the camera. From that angle she looks like a happy, deranged, snake. I like it. Stefan mentions that Team Europe is broken up and he hates Hosea, blah blah blah. We get it! You want the camera crew to turn off the cameras so you can do him in butt. Let's move on.

Tom, Padma, and the infamous knife block are waiting for them. If you watch TC regularly, you'll know that the special sous-chefs are about to march on out. Will it be Celeb Chefs? Fabio? Nope, it's 2nd runner ups from previous season. Fuck man - there's Marcel or as I call him "Foam". Along with Foam are Casey and Richard. All likable except for Crazy "I'm not your bitch, bitch!" Marcel. Hosea gets to pick first and picks Richard. Stefan picks next and chooses Foam saying "he's a good chef - kind of a twat, but who's not?" - I think that may be the wisest thing anyone's ever said and television.

The challenge is to cook the best 3-course meal of their lives - dessert not necessary. Alright simple enough. The Cheftestants and the sous-chefs ransack the kitchen for proteins. Hosea runs in and literally grabs as much as his arms can hold to, let's face it, screw over his boyfriend Stefan. Stefan of course, gets totally pissed about the Foie Gras and Caviar. Nice steals Hosea.

Meanwhile, Carla is wanting to make a meat and potatoes dish. Casey seems to be driving this ship, telling her to sous-vide her meat. Carla has never heard of it and I'm wondering if this is gonna come to bit her in the ass later.

Tom comes back a little later with the inevitable twist - one more course! Well duh, they do this on every Bravo show.. circa Project Runway and Fashion Week. Was there any real surprise? The only big shocker is the protein they have to work with - either crab, red fish, or.. alligator? Sick... that is a real whole alligator! They have to pick pieces of a the king cake and whoever gets the baby wins. I doubt an irresponsible one-night stand guy would agree but hey, whatever.

Hosea gets the baby and takes the opportunity to stick it to Stefan - it's alligator time in Europe! Hosea gives the finger and Bravo blurs it out. Really though? You can't show the middle finger but you can let Fabio say "Top Pussy"? Sure thing.

Stefan makes the best out of his reptile and makes an alligator soup out of the tail. It's sicking me out. Seriously, it's a whole alligator. Both Stefan and Carla choose to make desserts. Carla lets Casey talk her into making a blue cheese souffle. Wow, that's bold. A souffle sounds like a risky and potentially bad choice. I wonder if Carla fanatics everywhere are making a voodoo doll of Casey and poking it repeatedly in the vagina.

The judges and guests are introduced - theres Rocco! FABIO!!! THERE's FABIO! OMGGGGGG I'VE MISSED YOU! Toby "Douchebag" Young is back. And oh hey, a random jazz musician. What's that guy doing here. What, Emeril couldn't make it? BAM!

The food is all served simultaneously - the editing makes it impossible to tell who likes what and everything appears to be neck and neck through the ceviche/carppachio dish. Josea's seasoning is blah, and Stefan's frozen/sliced carpacchio is watery. Alright. Go Carla! Might have spoke too soon though because the sous-vide beef was a mistake. The sirloin was tough and the judges saw right through the fact that Carla didn't come up with this cooking method on her own (feel free to continue to vag-poke Casey's voodoo doll). Meanwhile, the Jazz player is making awkward non-descript commentary and saying "foie gras" excessively. Not to mention, mispronouncing it. At this point I'm questioning how not autistic he is.

Stefan serves his squab and the judges so coo-coo for it. They loooove it! On the last course, Carla realizes her souffle is too hot and is bubbling - she chooses to scrap the souffle aspect and just basically serves an apple tart. This isn't going well for her. Hosea, the only person who didn't choose to do a dessert serves an apparently deliciously venison. The judges ask Fabio who they think did a better job. You can see Fabio is completely torn between how good the venison was and how much he loved team Europe. Instead of a hamster wheel inside of Fabio's head, I imagine Super Mario running back and forth frantically. He admits that the Venison is better and in my opinion, there goes Stefan's win.

At judges table, the grill the chetestants on their choices. Carla starts to tear up when they have to tell the judges why they should be the next top chef. I think she knows she fucked up by listening to Casey. Stefan obviously feels horrible and I see him actually acting like a human being and walks over to comfort her. At this point, I know Carla is not going to win and by Stefan being sweet to her, I start to silently pull for his win. Hosea has been annoying me for about half a season now and I'm over it.

The judges send them away and right away, they discount Carla. I feel bad - she pulled a Richard and just fucked the fuck up on the last challenge. RIP Carla. They discuss the pros and cons of dessert and I can tell they are leaning towards Hosea.

Padma brings the chefs back in and they are ready to announce the winner --- congratulations... HOSEA?! I yell fuck shitty fuck fuck fuck at my TV and immediately get 30 texts about how disappointing the results are. Uh, ya think? Best Season, WORST result. blah. So let me get this straight, Hosea gets to make out with Leah and win Top Chef? Someone sure drew the long straw.

Alright, next week is the tell all - I'm looking forward to Fabio winning Fan Favorite - hopefully. Cmon Bravo - redeem yourself somehow!

Chef Conan O'Brien

Props to Eat Me Daily for posting a hilarious clip of Gordon Ramsey and Norm McDonald cooking on The Late Show with Conan O'Brien - nothing I love more than Conan O'Brien and Food. Click on the link above to watch the video.

This is Top Chef, Not Top Pussy

I want to preface this recap with the fact that I am wearing an I heart Fabio T-shirt. I'm officially insane.

So, this is the last episode of Top Chef in NY before they shuttle the chefs over to New Orleans for the finale episodes. As you guys may know, I thought Jamie deserved the boot last week - this week I was rooting for Leah to get shucked since I'm still pissed she just gave the fuck up last week when filleting those fish.

First and foremost, I must discuss how Carla said she was a model. Are you kidding me Bravo? You're not gonna have her explain that shit? A model for WHAT? Those fake disguise glasses in old spy movies? On the other hand, I'm thrilled Carla is weird again - welcome back woman.

We find out the quickfire judge is Wylie Dufresne - I audibly groaned when I saw him since I'm not a fan of his work at all. I'm not big into molecular gastronomy and that whole aspect of cooking - it just reminds me of Richard from Top Chef Chicago with his smoker, asking everyone "Hey, do you like burritos?" I just don't like it.

The Challenge is to make something great with eggs - which Wylie literally said he loved so much I thought maybe he should get a room at the Hilton with a dozen of jumbo eggs. In fact, I believe he said he loved Egg Cookery - I wonder if that's something you say out loud and then think in your head "Wow I just sounded like a huge douche"

All the Chefs run around like crazy people making 2-3 components per dish. Josea makes this sick egg white sheet sushi thing that made me want to vom. I actually really liked Stefan's dish, which was like a panna cotta with an egg yolk in the middle - a play on a poched egg. It was a cool idea. Wylie goes around and tastes everyone's food - I can tell immediately that Fabio is royally fucked since they start playing that goofy music as Padma and Wylie taste his food. That music typically indicates FAIL. Sure enough, him, Josea, and Leah are on the bottom. Ultimately, Carla's crazy ass wins with her Dr. Seuss inspiration (case and point that Carla is bonkers - who gets inspired by Dr. Seuss?) - she makes a green eggs and ham play. Apparently she was shocked because Carla and Molecular Gastronomy are like oil and water - however, maybe her playful coaxing ("C'mon baby" x 100) brought the dish together. Who knows?

The Elimination Challenge starts with knife drawing - each has the name of a legendary chef on it (Marcus Samuelsson, Jaques Pepin, etc) - they have to prepare a "last supper" meal for these famous chefs. Carla's QF advantage is to trade with another chef but she's freaking out of her mind happy about the idea of cooking peas for Jacques Pepin (who is a dean at FCI) that she keeps her dish. Also, if you have this DVRed, you can watch Carla's crazy laugh over and over when she said that her and Jacques were two peas in a pod (very punny Crazy Lady).

They go to WF to do their shopping. Is it me or does it seem like Stefan and Josea want to hate fuck each other. I'm not sure but there is uncomfortable tension between the two of them thats 50% competitive hatred and 50% I want to spread your ass cheeks. Leah of course, pisses me off by asking a WF employee where the eggs and butter are. Are you fucking kidding me? Um, try the refrigerated area dumbass.

In any case, they go to Capitale (which is on the bowery and where I met Mr. Bill Clinton a few years back) - and almost immediately Fabio bends his finger all the way back and breaks it. When asked if he wanted to go to the hospital, he said he would rather cut off his finger and sear it on a flat top. MAN! That is aggressive! He's pretty down and out and I'm not gonna lie - it was pathetic watching him peel a potato with one good hand. He says something about being kicked in the ass so much that he poops shoes. Another great Fabio-ism for the books if anyone is keeping track.

Tommy C. comes into the kitchen before service and gives a horrible pep talk about how they shouldn't embarass him. The top tier panel of chefs tastes the food -it's apparent that Leah, Stefan, and Josea are on the bottom. Leah's Eggs Benedict were too watery and the hollandaise sauce was too thinned out. Josea made a tasty shrimp dish, but at the end of the day it just wasn't a proper scampi. Stefan is reamed for his over-cooked salmon - at this point I'm nervous for him - not that he's the nicest champ but he is certainly talented.

While the Cheftestants are in the stew room waiting for the judges to deliberate, Leah mentions how she can't imagine if she broke her hand. Then, out of no where, Fabio lays down his signature line with an inappropriate twist "This is Top Chef, Not Top Pussy!" --- can they say that on TV? Since when?

All the Cheftestants are called to the Judges Table and Fabio and Carla are sitting pretty on top. Fabio wins (WEEE~!) even though his salad looks like an airplane salad. I mean, that's what you get for using iceberg lettuce I guess. That said, Fabio is in the final 4.

Carla also receives a thumbs up into the Finale Four - I'm absolutely dying for Eater to write up their recap and have some animated GIF of Carla talking about how shes like the tortoise who wins the race , passing by the hare being like "SEE YA! SEE YA!" So hilarious.

At the end of the day, Leah goes home. No surprise there - she came in as one of my favorites and somehow became boring and apathetic. I'm not sure when that happened. Also, BravoTv.com posted an interview with Josea - him and his GF are no longer together cause things were not the same. Homewrecker!

Next week's previews look great - excited to see Emeril (BAM!) and also not surprised to see in the preview that he thought something needed more heat. More scenes of Josea being insecure... I wonder how this all turns out.. can't wait!

Can you fellate fish?

Ah, thanks Grub Street for pointing out that it sounded like Eric Ripert said "“Fabio, the way you fellated the fish was not right”?

I laughed until I stopped.

Top Chef Goes Fishing

I was excited about this episode because I kinda have a secret crush on Eric Ripert (shhhh.. I know.. I don't want to hear it) and he also knows his shit. Who wouldn't want to go to Le Bernardin and eat 6 amazing dishes with Eric Ripert (charming frenchman) and Tommy C (new nickname.. HOLLA!)?

The quickfire was actually really aptly timed since next week in Culinary School we are learning how to filet fish - I'm very excited since I'm completely intimidated by ocean creatures. Needless to say, the eel that was still halfway alive almost made me vom up my dinner.

I gotta say, every episode, I hold my breath for Fabio's sake. I mean, he was so effing cute with his wife...so much so that even though I'm picturing running her over with Monster Truck, I still find it really endearing. I wanna marry someone who calls me Amore? Is that too much to ask?

I'm gonna be completely honest -if I had been any of these chefs, I would have needed Depends and a wash cloth. I don't even like dicing onions in front of my culinary school chef.

That Hollandaise Lobster thing that Stefan recreated looked AMMMAZING. Plus, I now know from experience how freaking difficult it is to make hollandaise. Props and Hats off to German Stefan for ripping that skin of the eel and HAMMERING ITS HEAD TO A CHOPPING BLOCK AND winning the elimination challenge.

I was holding my breath as all the dishes were tasted - hoping Josea, Stefan, and Fabio would be in the clear and the other ones would go down in flames... well that's not necessarily true. I want Carla to stay but I like when she's in the bottom 3 because that's when she blurts out some crazy shit. Best comment hands down was when Eric Ripert referred to Jamie's salty-ass celery as "hardcore" - when I think of hardcore I think of bondage and low-budget porn, not a vegetable.

Also, a quick shout-out to classically trained chefs (especially French ones) - it made me feel validated for going to FCI. Maybe one day I will perfectly recreate Eric Ripert's dish as well. So bonus points to Crazy-Pants Carla. But hang on, I'm going to take away her bonus points and give her minus points since, hello, is it me or was she kinda normal this episode? I'm not settling for ehhhh food if I'm not getting googly eyes and "BADOWS!" every episode. I'm sorry but I'm just not.

In the end, I'm glad I saw Jamie go - I mean, she complains non-stop and she was being a ginormous Debbie Downer about the whole challenge. Don't let that rainbow flag hit you on the way out sir!

Next week looks insane - Fabio obviously injures himself and I hope he doesn't get sent home because of it. I want to see him go to the final four and do some amazing shiz.

Stay tuned guys and thanks for reading!

Padma acts like a See You Next Tuesday

I am as you know, obsessed with all things Top Chef. However, my friend Melissa just told me about an "incident" with Padma Lakshmi that makes my face do a frowney.

The "incident"(as told by Melissa) goes as follows:

(At Chelsea Handler show)
(Melissa watches as random girl goes up to Padma to take a picture with her *pose, smile, click*)
(Melissa approaches)
Melissa: Hi, do you mind if I take a picture with you?
Padma: No I'm sorry, I'm with all my friends
Melissa: Sorry I don't mean to be a bother but I'm just such a huge fan
Padma's disgusting bf: It IS a bother

Yikes. Makes me not like her - I mean, who do you think you are? Pack your knives and go Padma...

In other news, Melissa also saw Tom Colicchio out and about - if I ever meet him I am going to give a giant hug.

Anyway, I'm not asking anyone to change their behavior, I'm just asking everyone to secretly hate Padma in their minds for a week or two.

Disgusting BF Pic below:











































Thanks!

OVER IT :: Asian-Fusion doesn't do it for me anymore (Shang NYC Restaurant Review)

Last week (Inauguration Night Holler) we took some clients down to the Lower East Side to a new restaurant called Shang. That neighborhood in general has changed quite a bit - from a gritty cafe infested neighborhood to some pretty trendy-meatpacking-eque joins (i.e. Stanton Social).

Shang is no exception to the new revolution of restaurants popping up down there - it's Asian fusion (fused with what, I still don't really know) and well, I was a little let down. The food was decent but honestly, that category is overdone and quite frankly, I think is hard to get right.

Those who know me personally know that I'm not very Asian on a day-to-day basis (don't ask me what that means) but I do take dirty Chinese street food very seriously. I prefer a $5 Roast Duck and BBQ Pork dish in a semi-health-code-violated restaurant in Chinatown to an upscale Chinese place like Chinatown Brasserie. Not to mention that I don't believe in upscale Chinese.. to me that is an oxymoron.. and not a good one.

ANYWAY, we walked up a flight of stairs and one thing I can say is that the space was beautiful. It had that whole dimly lit thing that NY Restaurant-du-jours are crazy about and it was a lot bigger than I expected:























We started out with drinks which were pretty decent but the fact that I can't remember what it was I drank leads me to believe it was nothing out of the ordinary. Since we were dining in a group of 6 and the resto was family-style, we got to try a lot of stuff (schmorg style as I like to call it). The group looked to me to order a couple of things, none of which were real standouts with the exception of Shang's Signature dish - a slow cooked Berkshire Pork Belly. I'm a huge fan of Pork Belly in general but this was really delish - the meat was super tender and the glaze was perfect. I can see why they chose to tout this dish.

We also tried the Singapore Slaw which was really flavorful and the textures were pretty good. It was just the right of amount of crispy for it to be a above and beyond just a normal asian slaw.

The last dish that I thought was pretty good was the Duck Breast - it was cooked perfectly and had a really great chilli-honey glaze that gave it that sweet/sour taste. Pretty good as far as high-end duck dishes go.

Now to the bad news... everything else we ordered tasted amateur - the flavors felt like they had been done 100 times before which normally isn't a problem for me but they weren't done well. It's like on American Idol when Simon tells the contestants not to do Whitney or Mariah.. there is probably no way to sound better than them so you might as well try something new.

With Chef's like Jean-Georges, David Chang, and Anthony Bourdain, why would you even go that route?

The one dish that made me throw up in my mouth was a "Fried Rice" that was wrapped in an egg-crepe. Conceptually it's a wonderful idea. In my mouth, it was a horrible mistake.

Overall Shang is a good place to go and experience the atmosphere... maybe a good dinner spot before going out since you wont leave too full and it's conveniently located at Orchard and Stanton.

Dinner Party 2 - Let's Try Again

A few weeks after Baby's First Dinner Party, I threw my next soiree. I invited 7 friends which was just enough people to make me feel overwhelmed and realize that my studio apartment is NOT THAT BIG.

I tried a more ambitious menu - no more popping things in the oven. This was full-on cooking and timing courses.

I started with an appy to keep my guests happy while I scrambled around in my dirty kitchen (which is clearly not made for dinner parties with more than 4 people involved) ... I choose Warm Camembert with Wild Mushroom Fricasse from my beloved Food and Wine magazine. This recipe was made famous by Chef Daniel Boulud and was actually pretty simple. It involved walnut oil, which I didn't know existed but am happy to discover. It really gave the cheese an amazing nutty flavor and went nicely with the mushrooms I picked out at Whole Foods. For those of you who don't know, Camembert is the best cheese - a lot like brie, but with a little less creamy and more flavorful. Side note, I did not take any photos of this since I was going insane so I'll just post the F&W pics so you can get an idea of what it looked like:

Total Time : 30 minutes Serves: 4

INGREDIENTS:
1/2 cup Walnut Pieces
One 8-ounce wheel of ripe Camembert in it's wooden box, room temperature
1 teaspoon Walnut Oil
3/4 lb Wild Mushrooms, thinly sliced
Salt and Freshly Ground Pepper
1 shallot, minced
2 tablespoons chopped flat leaf parsley




DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat the oven to 350°. Spread the walnut pieces on a baking sheet and toast in the oven for about 7 minutes, until lightly browned. Lower the oven temperature to 300°.
2. Remove the Camembert from the box and unwrap it. Put the cheese back in the bottom half of the box and set it on a baking sheet. Bake for about 10 minutes, until soft.
3. Meanwhile, in a large skillet, heat the walnut oil. Add the mushrooms and season with salt and pepper. Cover and cook over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 5 minutes. Uncover and cook, stirring, until lightly browned, 3 minutes longer. Add the shallot and cook until softened, 2 minutes. Stir in the parsley and sage; season with salt and pepper.
4. Invert the Camembert onto a platter. Stir the walnuts into the mushrooms and spoon over the cheese. Serve with the toasts.

For the Main Entree and side dish, I decided to make an Amazon Fried Chicken. Now I know, Fried Chicken, big whoop. Also, what makes this dish Amazonian (real word? Spell Check seems to think so)? Well my friends, now is as good time as any to declare my undying love for Cilantro. This dish has an AMAZING cilantro sauce - the dinner party goers were absolutely raving about this one. The only tip I have for this recipe is definitely do not disregard the thinly sliced chicken aspect... I got regular chicken breasts and didn't have a meat mallet (later I realized I could have used a pan) - so I couldn't break up the protein to cook the chicken faster. OH! Also, I redeclared my love for my Cuisinart when it made crushing my potato chips a snap. Here we go:

Serves 4

INGREDIENTS:
2 cups of cilantro leaves
2 garlic cloves
1 jalapeno, seeded
2 tablespoons distilled white vinegar
2 tablespoons water
1 cup mayonnaise
2 large eggs
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground pepper
One 5-ounce bag potato chips, finely crushed
Four 6-ounce boneless chicken breast halves, pounded 1/2 inch
thick
2 tablespoons vegetable oil

DIRECTIONS:

1. In a blender, combine the cilantro, garlic, jalapeño, vinegar and water and puree. Transfer to a bowl and whisk in the mayonnaise. Cover and refrigerate.
2. In a shallow bowl, lightly beat the eggs. In another shallow bowl, combine the flour, salt and pepper. Spread the potato chips in a third bowl. Lightly coat the chicken with the flour, shaking off any excess, then dip in the beaten eggs. Coat the chicken with the potato chips.
3. Heat the oil in a large nonstick skillet until shimmering. Add the chicken and cook over moderately high heat until golden and cooked through, about 5 minutes per side. Transfer to plates. Serve at once with the cilantro sauce.

Since the recipe said to pair it with a tomato salad, and since we were already being adventurous and exotic, I chose to do a tomato mango salad that was really simple and tasted like a million bucks. This recipe is compliments of Jean-George Vongerichten of Mercer Kitchen, Spice Market, and of course, Jean-Georges:

Total Time: 25 minutes Serves 10

INGREDIENTS:
1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil
Salt
3 large shallots, thinly sliced (1 cup)
2 thinly sliced basil leaves
10 medium tomatoes (3 lbs), sliced 1/4 inch thick
3 large ripe mangoes - sliced, pitted, and sliced 1/4 inch thick





DIRECTIONS:

In a small bowl, combine the vinegar with the olive oil; season with salt. Add the shallots and 1 cup of the basil and toss well. Arrange the tomatoes on a platter and top with the mango slices. Drizzle with the dressing, garnish with the remaining 1 cup of basil and serve.

And of course, my favorite part of any meal - the dessert! Mini-Chocolate Hazelnut Cheesecakes to be specific. This was so tasty and if you like nutella, you will love these bad boys. Easy to prepare ahead and store for the next day, and super cute... especially if you are having a cocktail party and need little mini-foods for your guests. I served this with a scoop of vanilla ice cream:

Total Times: 40 minutes Serves 12

INGREDIENTS:
15 cream-filled chocolate sandwich cookies (i.e Oreos)
2 tablespoons raw or roasted hazelnuts, skinned ( I couldn't find hazelnuts so I skipped this)
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
8 ounces cream cheese
3/4 cup hazelnut chocolate spread, preferably Nutella
1/2 cup sour cream
2 large eggs
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons mini-chocolate chips (I used Dark Chocolate)

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat the oven to 350°. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners. Spray the liners with vegetable oil spray.
2. In a food processor, combine the cookies, hazelnuts and butter and process to very fine crumbs. Divide the crumbs among the cups and, using a flat-bottomed glass, press on the crumbs to compact them. Bake for 5 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, wipe out the food processor bowl. Add the cream cheese, Nutella, sour cream, eggs and sugar and puree until smooth. Spoon the filling into the cups until it nearly reaches the top; there may be a few tablespoons of leftover batter. Sprinkle the chocolate chips on top and bake for about 20 minutes, until the cheesecakes have risen and the surfaces are lightly cracked. Let the cheesecakes cool slightly, then transfer the muffin tin to a rack and freeze for 10 minutes, until the cheesecakes are slightly cooled. Serve chilled or at room temperature.

And there you have it my friends -dinner party edition II. I'll be having another one shortly - any suggestions? I was going to do a shabu-shabu type dinner, breakfast for dinner, or all appetizer dinner. Let me know if you have any suggestions for recipes or meals!

2009 Culinary Resolutions (that I probably won't keep)

So instead of resolving that I will lose 10 lbs (very unlikely), I'm going to make some culinary/cooking resolutions that will probably last a few months, tops:

1) Host a dinner party at least once every month
2) Learn to not be afraid of knives
3) Order take-out less, cook new foods more
4) Pretend to not have a crush on Rocco DiSpirito anymore

I'll keep you guys posted on my unrealistic goals.