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Thursday, November 26, 2009

Making Green Bean Casserole

So we weren't doing the normal Thanksgiving feast, but why not make a favorite dish right? Right. That's why I found myself shopping for Green Bean Casserole first thing this morning at the corner market.  A very simple dish, yes, but with a few changes.  Here you go:

-  I decided I would try to make Green Bean Casserole.

-  I bought the ingredients, a total of $16.49 at your NYC Corner Market (mind you, this costs $12.00 outside of NYC)

-  Go by the recipe on the side of the French's French Fried Onion can, minus the milk (makes it runny = no bueno), add one jar of sliced mushrooms (preferrably Green Giant sliced mushrooms), and half a pack of 8 oz. oscar meyer bacon (or any bacon, but why skimp on the fat... it's Thanksgiving)

-  Mix ingredients, minus half large can of fried onion and half pack of 8 oz. bacon fried into bits.

-  Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes

-  Top with remaining fried onions and bacon bits.

-  Serve.

No Frijoles for Thanksgiving


This is a funny story. My best friend is Mexican. Her boyfriend is American. She was going to his mother's home in South Carolina for Thanksgiving. Growing up in the U.S., she had more or less always celebrated Thanksgiving in the traditional American way, sweet potatoes, stuffing, turkey, you know how it goes. Anyways, she was going to SC this year and was excited to help her future mother-in-law make Thanksgiving dinner. She suggested to her boyfriend, "Hey, tell your mom I'll help with dinner, I make a really good sweet potato dish." He relayed the message. Like a game of telephone she shortly found out that her soon-to-be mother-in-law was on a search for the necessary mexican spices for this sweet potato dish, because my friend was going to be making a very authentic mexican speciality. Little did she know it only consisted of canned sweet potatoes, maple syrup (aunt jemima), and marshmallows. We have all be joking around, urging her to throw chipotle or jalapenos into the mix just for the sake of the story. Feliz Dia de Thanksgiving!

Too Much Beef on Thanksgiving

We went to Dylan Prime on Thanksgiving. It was delicious. We ordered too much. I am extremely full. So goes Thanksgiving Day regardless if you're eating a traditional Thanksgiving meal at home with family or at a steakhouse with your older brother. My apologies, this post will not have any picture. In avoidance of feeling tacky and hearing my brother say under his breath "put your camera away, they're going to think this is our first time at a nice restaurant", I opted not to take pictures through the course of our feast. We ordered cheese fondue with apples, bread cubes, fried onions and bacon bits (ideal combination = dip bread in cheese, dip bread with cheese in bacon bits and fried onion = amazing). We ordered Caesar salad, which came with a delicious crostini topped with black olive tapenade. We ordered petit filets with parmigiana reggiano and Maytag blue and chive chappeux, respectively. And then... then we ordered lobster mac n' cheese and sausage stuffing. Needless to say, Happy Thanksgiving. One of two holidays a year (the other being Christmas), when it is socially acceptable to completely indulge in some of the least healthy food known to man. Luckily, we have some sense, and after destroying the fondue, and tasting the filets, mac and stuffing, we decided to pay the bill and relocate to the bar.

Coole Swan Irish Liquor (sooo much better than Bailey's), a cool, creamy vanilla, wintry liquor and pumpkin pie...the final blow before completely succumbing to this food coma, and then (thanks to the NY Giants and my brother's wisdom), we were off. On our way home to watch football, with a delicious goody bag of two - 1/2 filet mignons, part lobster mac, and part sausage stuffing. The perfect day-after-Thanksgiving breakfast/lunch/dinner surprise. Who says you have to eat at home to enjoy the beauty of Thanksgiving left overs?!

Happy Thanksgiving! (pictures to come at a later date when it is polite to photograph the inside of the dining room at a respectable (and excellent) restaurant.

Prime Bites at The Palm


Wednesday night before Thanksgiving, stuck in NY with nothing to do. Lucky for me, my brother lives a block away and is never one to turn down going out to dinner. We decided we'd try The Palm Tribeca, a member of the chain steakhouse whose downtown location has been open for almost a year.

We sat at the bar and were pleased when the bartender suggested we try the New Prime Bites Menu, a select bar menu costing a mere $3.50 per dish after 9:00 pm. At first we couldn't believe it, anything costing less than $20 at The Palm?!, and I mean, who really eats before nine o'clock in New York anyway, but sure enough... every appetizer was only $3.50. Our choices were as follows : Filet Mignon Capri Sandwiches, "Ultimate" Chicken Strips, Mini Broiled Crab Cakes, Veal Parmigiana Sliders, "Point Judith" Calimari Fritti and Prime Cheese Steak. Additionally, oysters were $1 and jumbo shrimp $2. We chose half a dozen oysters, which came with a dipping vinagrette, the calamri and the cheese steaks, both which came with a pile of cross-cut potato chips. The cheese steak sandwiches (3 per order) came on a delicious bun that definitely made this the favorite of the meal. Unfortunately, the calamri was fairly bland and the cocktail sauce that accompanied it did nothing to help. The potato chips, which looked delicious, were disappointing lacking flavor almost entirely. Hopefully in the future they will add something as simple as a Lawry's Seasoned Salt to the chips to spice them up.

The discount menu, which is also available from 4:30-6:30 pm, does not include drink specials, although the palm belgian wheat ale is a tasty compliment to their wine selection.

While the food did not blow me away, the price was unbeatable and I will likely be back in the near future (at least for a beer and oysters).

Monday, November 23, 2009

Piggy Weekend in Review

I had quite a line up of dinners planned for the weekend. Momofuku Fried Chicken on Friday night and DBGB on Saturday... it's a wonder I haven't had a heart attack yet. Anyway, a group of us were able to get one of the coveted reservations for Momofuku's special Fried Chicken dinner for Friday night.



While I am no connosueir of fried chicken (I like KFC), I had heard that Momofuku's Fried Chicken was one of the best and I was excited to check it out. The reservation requires a minimum of 4 people and a max of 8, and 7 of us showed up at 11:45 eager to dig into the meal. While the focus is clearly on the chicken, they also had their late night menu available (12-2 am) so we began with some appetizers. Their kimchi, which comes in a small or large jar, was delicious as usual, and the pork buns were unreal. We also ordered the tamales, which I had never had before. An order of three, including jalepeno/queso, pork/kimchi and sichuan sausage, arrived and was quickly devoured. Don't be fooled by the fact that there are three, two people can happily share this, not seven.

Good thing we ordered accordingly though, because next came an enormous plate of fried chicken that could have fed ten. The plate is divided between buttermilk fried and a more spicy/tangy korean chicken wing, and is the same heaping mound regardless of the number of eaters. While I loved the buttermilk, which were warm and tender, and not the slightest bit greasy, the korean chicken wings had an amazing flavor, and quickly became my favorite. Additionally, the fried chicken is accompanied with mu shu pancakes, carrots, lettuce, radishes and an assortment of sauces to help with making the perfect fried chicken burrito. With an order of pie crust frozen yogurt to top off the chicken and a bill that equated to $40/person (beer and wine included), Momofuku's Fried Chicken Dinner proved to be a delicious and fairly inexpensive Friday night out.

Friday, November 20, 2009

Piggy Pic of the Week



My wonderful dad sent me this cartoon from The New Yorker and I thought it was great!

Thursday, November 19, 2009

With One Week to Spare, Eater's Top 20 Thanksgiving Restaurant Picks

Eater just featured a great list of restaurants that have availability on Thanksgiving. My pick would be Park Avenue Autum. I've been hoping to try it. Hope this is helpful!

With One Week to Spare, Eater's Top 20 Thanksgiving Restaurant Picks

When this Little Piggy dreams, she dreams of El Bulli...



... and this video is precisely why (not to mention I have a small obsession with Anthony Bourdain and Ferran Adria). Every year I dream of having the opportunity to eat at such a fine restaurant as El Bulli and this December I will submit my application to be one of the lucky chosen few. The possibility of enjoying a 32 course meal of such amazing courses as iced powder foie gras with foie consome or tuna bone marrow with caviar is almost unimaginable. More to come on the application process...

The Piggy Post

Welcome to The Piggy Post, a blog glorifying food and all things culinary. This site will follow one little piggy on her edible endeavors through New York City. The primary focus will be on eating, and the best and worst places to do so in New York. So get ready (and hungry) and start following this Little Piggy as she travels throughout the city in search of something tasty to eat ! Oink Oink!