You Can Totally Make Duck Confit. And You Should.

Why do you just assume that you would never make something as time consuming as duck confit? Just because it takes a lot of time doesn't mean you have to do a lot. In fact, your hands-on time for duck confit is under an hour, and that time is cut up into at least three different sections. On two different days.

The most intimidating part of duck confit, for me, can be getting the duck to your house in the first place. The thing is to go to your butcher with very detailed and clear ideas of what you want. Tell him you want to buy a whole duck. Tell him you're going to make duck confit. Ask them to quarter the duck for you, and ask them to separate the rib and wing part from the breast meat. You're going to use the wings, back, and ribs to render down for fat, so you want to take the whole duck home. Well, you want to take the entire duck home. I guess he won't be whole any longer. Don't let the butcher bully you into anything else! Tell him this is what you want. Even if he thinks he's smarter than you, just be assured that I am smarter than him.

Okie dokie!

Once you get the bird home, refrigerate him until you're ready to cure him. OK, I'll stop saying "him" and start using "it." Sorry.

Once you're ready to start the recipe, put all the parts you're not curing into a big pot with a 1/2 cup of butter and render the fat. keep the burner on low and let it do it's thing. It will take at least 1/2 hour. You want the bird parts to be brow-ny gray and you want there to be about a cup of liquid in the bottom of the pan. Let the fat cool a bit and then put it into a storage container in the fridge until you're ready to braise. So, for 2 days.

You will eventually be using a lot of butter to braise the duck portions in. don't be skimpy. You want to have enough butter. Better too much than not enough. You can always use butter, right?

DO THIS! Top a salad with it, toss it in some pasta, eat it straight out of the fridge, whatever. It's duck confit!

(You can multiply this recipe by 2, 3 or 4 depending on how much you want and how quickly you'll use it up.)

6 duck legs (or 2 legs and 2 breasts)
1/4 cup kosher salt
1/2 Tablespoon quatre epice (whole cloves, whole peppercorns, ground ginger, fresh ground nutmeg)
1/2 head of garlic, broken and peeled
Duck fat and, like, 6 cups or more of butter.

Combine the salt and quatre epice in a bowl. Dip the duck legs, meat side down, in the salt mixture. place one leg, meat side up, skin side down, with another leg on top of it meat-side to meat-side, in a pan with at least 1-inch high sides. Do this with the rest of the duck. Cover well with plastic or a tight lid and cure for 48 hours.

After 48 hours of curing:
Preheat oven to 250.

Remove duck portions from the refrigerator and rinse very well, rubbing the meat side under cold running water to remove any excess salt. (It is essential to rinse the meat very thoroughly or else the meat will be too salty.)

In a braiser large enough to fit the duck portions snugly, lay them, overlapping slightly, with the bones toward the center. Place the garlic in the middle of the braiser and cover with enough butter and duck fat to cover all of the contents of the braiser completely. Cover with foil and cook for about three hours, until the meat falls nicely from the bones.

Remove the duck portions from the fat and place in a storage container. Strain the fat though a fine mesh strainer then pour it back over the legs. For extended storage, the fat must cover the legs completely. Stored correctly, the confit will last about 6 months.

What is it About Sandwiches?

Mr. Park Avenue, how I love to cook for you. Well, "cook" is a relative term, since all I really do is make you sandwiches.

When I spend hours and hours cooking complex meals for your delight, you balk and say, "more sandwiches, please."

No problem. Complex meals take me four to five hours to prepare, sandwiches take me one. One hour. And you know, it's kind of a great challenge. I have to come up with exciting new kinds of sandwiches to keep you guessing. This time I made your favorite wasabi tuna melt. I added a ham, havarti and chili mayo on ciabatta. I made you cookies and a couple other things you love, but what will I make next time?

What is it about sandwiches? Why are they so wonderful? Do they remind us of childhood lunches prepared by mom? Do they take us back to romantic picnics in the park? Is it a summertime thing? I don't know. But I know that I'm partial to pressed sandwiches; sandwiches with cheese that are warmed on a panini press until they have a nice crunchiness and meltiness. I know my husband loves turkey sandwiches, and Mr. Park Avenue loves tuna melts.

Maybe next time I'll make roasted red pepper and goat cheese, or grilled pork and fontina, or steak sandwiches with provolone and parsley pesto, or egg, gorgonzola and pancetta, or grilled veggie and manchego, Italian club, pulled bbq chicken, grilled honey-lime chicken... wow! Inspiration, hello!

Well, Mr, Park Avenue, I'm thrilled to be making sandwiches for you for the amount of money you pay me. I'll do it as long as you'll have me. Thanks.

The Night the Lights Went Out

I have an awesome job. I get paid to cook delicious and exciting food for delicious and exciting people. I get to see some of the coolest kitchens in NYC and I get to cook in them. I run into challenges all the time. Usually the "challenges" have to do with missing food or equipment, something spilled or mis-measured etc, etc. But Saturday night was the first time I've ever been cooking and had the electricity go out.

It was a fabulous night. A fabulous apartment in Manhattan owned by a fabulous couple. Everything in the apartment was new. The oven had never even been used. (They have a separate microwave/convection oven/espresso/coffee machine combo deal that meets all their needs. Um, it would fit mine too.) and they were having me (and my handsome assistant) cook for a housewarming/dinner party. Here's the menu:

Mashed Potato, Lamb Sausage and Mozzarella Spring Rolls with Chili Mayo
Spinach and Ricotta Dumplings with Marinara Sauce
Arugula, Fennel, Gorgonzola and Walnut Salad with Lemon and Olive Oil
Fillet Mignon and Gooseberry-Glazed Salmon with Fingerling Potato Salad and Wilted Spinach with Goat Cheese, Fresh Peas and Pomegranate Seeds
Crispy Fried Chocolate-Hazelnut Ravioli

These people had amazing wines, great friends, and lots to talk about. They were having a great time and so were we. The Yankees game had been canceled because of the thunder storm so everyone could concentrate on each other rather than Derek Jeter (whom men admire and women adore).

Everything was going swimmingly. The appetizers had been devoured, the salad had been consumed, and the entrees had just landed on the table. A toast had been made and everyone picked up their forks and then... all the lights and the ovens went out. What the...?

We still had to make dessert, but luckily our dessert only required use of the stove, which was gas. But, oops! The pilots were electric. The stove wouldn't light. So I sent my handsome assistant down to the store to get some crackers so we could spoon Nutella on them and make it fly as a dessert. Good thinking Kendra. Brilliant. You're so smart it kills me. What? You mean, oh, um, do you have some matches? I guess I could light the stove that way. ha ha...?

So after the measly crackers and Nutella had been served and consumed, I started on the real dessert. The host was working on the electricity situation the entire time, trying desperately to figure out what the heck was going on. A few of the men even trekked down to the basement together to try and assess the situation, but to no avail. The electricity was only out in their apartment and not in the rest of the building, so we assumed it had something to do with all the newness of the appliances and the fact that both ovens were on at the same time... who knows. I'm sure they got it fixed eventually.

But the rest of the time we were there, making fried Nutella wontons in the dark and packing up our stuff to head home, the lights were still out. At some point the host settled down to enjoy the dessert, which I was glad about. Everyone was still having a great time in the faint glow of a few carefully placed candles. It was sorta romantic. I don't think any of those people had been to a dinner party quite like that before. They ate their entire entrees by some serious candlelight. Cool. I just feel lucky it happened after the entrees were on the table. I kinda felt like I was practicing for Top Chef.

In the end, the night was altogether amazing, and one I won't soon forget. And now I know how to fry things in the dark.

Photo: Food Network

Classic Peanut Butter Cup Cookies

OMG, these cookies are SO GOOD! They're super rich and sinful. Now, I'm a regular-grandma's-chocolate-chip-cookies kind of girl, and they better be semi-sweet! But I made these cookies as a twist on the original for a client, and they are, well, just try them for yourself!

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups mini peanut butter cups (you can get them at Trader Joe's too)

PREHEAT oven to 375° F.

Combine flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl.

Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl until creamy. It's best if you use a Kitchenaid or hand-held electric mixer. Beat the mixture for longer than you think. It will eventually become light in color and fluffy in texture. This makes for the best cookies!

Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in peanut butter cups. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets.

Bake for 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

FOR HIGH ALTITUDE BAKING (5,200 feet): Increase flour to 2 1/2 cups. Add 2 teaspoons water with flour and reduce both granulated sugar and brown sugar to 2/3 cup each. Bake drop cookies for 8 to 10 minutes.

Fingerling Potato Salad with Lemon, Parsley and Olive Oil

This is so delicious and easy to make. It looks beautiful on a plate with salmon or a Filet Mignon or a simple green salad. It's delicious on its own too! It's best at room temperature, so after you cool it down, let it sit out for about 15-20 minutes before serving. You could even microwave for about 45 seconds to warm it up just a tad if you don't have the time (or patience!) to wait.

Ingredients:
About 40 fingerling potatoes, scrubbed well and cut into similarly-sized pieces
Zest of 1/2 lemon
Juice of 2 lemons
1/2 cup finely chopped parsley
Extra virgin olive oil, kosher salt and pepper to taste
One large pot of salted water

Put the potatoes in the cold water and bring the water to a boil. Cook until the potatoes are just done and slide easily off a sharp knife. Don't overcook!

When the potatoes are done, drain well and place in a bowl.

Dress while the potatoes are HOT. This way, the flavors penetrate the flesh of the potatoes and as the potatoes cool, the flavors fuse wonderfully.

Dress with lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper to taste. Toss well with parsley.

Allow to cool and serve or keep in an airtight container in the fridge.

Remember: Taste taste taste!!! It's the only way you'll know how it, um, tastes.

I Just Made This

I just made this for lunch with leftover ricotta cheese, spinach, and grass-fed ground buffalo. It was delicious, took hardly any time at all and made me smile.

When I make a meal from scratch, I feel different when I eat it than if I throw some pre-packaged meal into the microwave, which I do more often than I would like to. There's just something about the thought, love and preparation that goes into creating a new meal. You know how when you're hungry and you grab something as fast as you can and stuff it in your mouth wanting to calm the tummy beast, and by the time you're done (like 8 seconds later) you don't feel so good? I know when I behave this way I don't quite remember any joy in the consumption of the food.

When you put thought into what you're going to eat, that's part of the culinary experience. When you take ingredients out of the refrigerator with intention, that's part of the culinary experience. When you boil the water, heat the pan, chop the shallots, measure the butter, swirl the oil, slice the tomatoes, grate the cheese... these are all part of the culinary experience. Do you see where I'm going with this? The eating process starts the moment you begin thinking about what you're going to eat. If it's a matter of thinking about opening the fridge and getting a piece of cheese in your mouth before the door is even shut, your eating process lasted about 17 seconds, depending on how fast you chew. But if you make even a grilled cheese sandwich on the stove instead, you've prolonged the expeirence, smelled the aroma of melting butter, pan-toasted your bread, placed your cheddar, smelled the melting cheese, maybe decided to add a tomato... this is part of the process. you've stretched a 17 second experience into a 15 minute experience, and then you'll probably take more time to eat it since you made it. The fact that it's something you created, and the fact that it's delicious, makes the experience complete. And that feels (and tastes) real good.

Decaf- What's the Point?

I’ll get right to it. I am completely 100% over every coffee shop and restaurant in my hood not serving decaf. Today when I tried to get one from a new joint, the barista just shrugged and said, “I guess the owner just thinks it’s a waste of money. Sorry.” The guy behind me in line, who thought he was being flirty? I guess? Anyway… he said, “Decaf? What’s the point? Heh heh.”

I’ll tell you what the mother-loving point is! The point is, I WANT TO DRINK IT!

For some, coffee simply exists to wake them up, to keep them up, to focus, etc… but for some of us, coffee also, if we’re in a decent joint, tastes good. The smell and taste of coffee reminds us of cold and rainy or snowy college days in cafes working on papers, reading Kerouac, writing in journals, cute hippie baristas and literati.

I don’t smoke anymore, but one of my fondest memories from college is sitting in a window seat at the Trident Café in Boston, smoking a cigarette (you could smoke indoors then) looking at all the people going by, writing about them in my journal, and drinking coffee. I would do this sometimes all day long, and at a certain point, if I didn’t switch to decaf, I would either have had a heart attack, or my head would have spun off my neck. Whichever came first.

Now I find that if I have more than one cup of real coffee in a day, I have bad chain reactions: my heart races, I get nervous, I can’t focus, I can’t sleep at night, then I need more coffee the next day because I didn’t get any sleep because of the coffee. My father, mother and mother-in-law can drink nothing but decaf because of high blood pressure, hypertension and anxiety issues. But the thing is, they like the taste. They like the ritual and they like the nostalgia. I’m the same way. I like the memories that the smell of freshly ground coffee stirs up in me. Sometimes it brings up emotions related to times I’d all but forgotten about, and I like that. I like the atmosphere in coffee shops as long as the music isn’t too loud. Sometimes I have tea, but usually I want some decaf.

Consider the following related to my scent-addiction to coffee: Researchers know that odors don't trigger memories that are any more accurate than the memories triggered by other stimuli, but odors do trigger memories that are more emotional. For example, a person may have no emotional reaction to seeing a photo of a loved one who died. But that person may unexpectedly encounter the same smell particular to the loved one's study - a combination of cigarettes and books, for instance - and feel like weeping, said Rachel Herz, professor of psychology at Brown University. "We often don't encounter certain odors frequently," said Herz. "In some way you are potentially more vulnerable to odors ... and taken unaware."1

This explains so much of my life and my strong reaction to certain smells: suntan lotion, Vicks Vapo-Rub, baby powder, Listerine, old books, pipe smoke, Drakkar cologne and coffee. I used to drink six to eight cups of that stuff in one form or other every day. The first thing I packed in the car to move anywhere? The coffee pot.

I could say to people who drink skim milk, “What’s the point?” but I respect the fact that whatever their reason for drinking it is, they probably like the taste of milk but can’t or don’t want to have all the fat. Gluten-free bread and pastries? Low-fat cheese? 98% fat-free ground beef? Whole wheat pasta? Egg beaters? What the hell is the point of all these things? Light or non-alcoholic beer? If someone ordered a non-alcoholic beer at a restaurant, don’t you think it would be a little rude to say to them, “Heh! What’s the point?” The point is, these foods and drinks wouldn’t exist if people didn’t want them, and people want them because they want the taste without the negative effects the “real” versions offer. (In some cases there’s no real research to back up the choices, but hey, whatever rules you live by are your rules.)

To the café owner who thinks you’re wasting money by buying and serving decaf coffee: buy it cheap, brew it strong, and brew a ½ pot at a time. I’ve worked in many restaurants and coffee shops in my day and we always had decaf available and we pleased those local customers who wanted to come spend their money on us rather than any of the other choices they had for their patronage. Those loyal few sometimes brought friends who became regulars too. How is that a waste of money? You’d rather turn customers away than have a few more people devoted to your business? Would you go to a soup and salad place that only served cream-based soups? Or what if they only served vegetable-based soups? You’re a freaking coffee shop. I expect you to have the only two megakinds of coffee available: Regular and decaf. I’m sorry, but I just don’t consider you a true coffee shop these days without it.

Photo: stock
1-Kristen Cole

City Girl, Country Heart

I live in New York City. Well, Brooklyn. And I do love it sometimes. I mean, it’s a great town, right? It’s got so much to give, and you just have to reach out and grab it. Everything is so immediate, so fast, so urgent, so needy, so pushy, loud, angry, bright, trendy, exciting, fresh, dirty, sexy, raunchy and hard. It’s hard to live here. Some people thrive in this city, and I admire them to no end. But it’s just not, ultimately, my kind of town. I’ll live here while I believe it’s best for my career, but my heart is in the country.

Oh, the country. I love the plains of South Dakota and the pines of the Black Hills. I have dreams of being a country wife to a hard-working cowboy and mother to a couple hard-working farm kids. I dream of spending all day in the kitchen making a beautiful meal with fresh vegetables from the farm. I dream of fresh flowers in every corner of the house cut from the garden my husband tends just for me. The country I dream of is slow, patient, warm, brisk, open, vast, kind, giving, loving, gentle, rough, lonely, dark, inspiring, and full of sky. When I go there I feel like a tight rope suddenly let go slack. All the tension melts away as soon as I see the prairie skyline. Ah, to be there now.

That's pretty much the life my grandparents led up until recently when my Grandma went into a home and my Grandpa stopped being able to go to the farm. I’m not sure it was anything extra special to them, it was just the way things were and they were happy. And I know they had a love that you can only find out where there’s room for that kind of huge love. Where the love can spread out and take up space and be a big, grand love.

So I bake and cook here in my windowless kitchen in Bushwick. I look at the framed picture of the Hills and imagine I’m looking out my window. I hear the yelling outside and imagine it’s the kids playing in the yard. I hear the big trucks go by and imagine it’s my husband on the big tractor harvesting the wheat. In the fall I bake pumpkin, apples, potatoes, chicken, cornbread, chili, pot roasts… all because when I’m in the kitchen, I could be anywhere, and the country is where I choose to be. Even in New York, I can travel to a cabin in Mystic, South Dakota, and cook some pumpkin bread for my husband as he settles down by the fire to read before a night of well-earned sleep. I believe in the power and possibilities of food. I believe food can take you anywhere you want to go. Even if for just a minute, it’s so worth it.

This week's Personal Chef Menu

Hi All!

For those of you who like to drool over what other people are eating, here's the menu I made for my private client this week:

-Broccoli and Cheddar Quiche (all from scratch of course!)

-Bison No-Bean Chili with roasted corn and mushrooms

-Sweet Sage Cornbread (OMG this is delicious.)

-Chile-Garlic Steak with Pesto-Drenched Potatoes

-Spanish-Spiced Chicken Breasts with Fire-Spicy Veggies in Chipotle Pepper Sauce

-Home made Nestle Toll House Original Chocolate Chip Cookies

Yummy yummy yummy.

Photo: stock

Baked Gnocchi Takes the Night

So, the Italian Master Class was a ton of fun, and we all agreed that the baked Gnocchi was the hit. It was so gooey and cheesy and tomato-ey and fabulous, we couldn't stop eating it. At first, we messed up the Gnocchi, it was too wet and fell apart in the boiling water. But we fixed it fast and the result was MMM!

The salad was delicious and fresh, the chickpea flat bread was...interesting! They seemed to like it more than me, but they were in charge of the salt and it didn't have nearly enough in my opinion. But I'm glad they liked it! And the chocolate cakes were fantastic, but still, the Gnocchi won out. The recipe is below. Enjoy!!!

Gnocchi Del Casentino (High in the mountains. They LOVE to bake their pasta!)

2 # mixed wild greens and/or spinach

1 cup ricotta cheese

1 egg

1 cup freshly grated Parmesan Cheese

Pinch of (fresh, microplaned if you have it!) nutmeg

Kosher salt and pepper

2/3 cup all purpose flour plus some for dredging

1/3 cup unsalted butter

1 can tomato sauce

6 large leaves fresh basil, chiffonade

1 can diced tomatoes

2 Tbsp tomato paste

1 teaspoon sugar

Two roma or heirloom tomatoes, thinly sliced

Two cups shredded mozzarella cheese (or sliced fresh mozzarella)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

1-Cook the greens in a little boiling water until tender. Drain. Wrap in a cloth and squeeze all water out. Chop fine and place in a bowl.

2-Add the ricotta, egg, and 2/3 cup Parmesan and nutmeg to the greens. Add in the flour until a dough forms. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

3-Bring 6 quarts of well-salted water to a boil in a shallow saucepan.

4-Sprinkle your hands with some of the flour and roll the gnocchi into balls about 1 ¼ inch thick. Dredge the balls lightly in the remaining flour.

5-Drop the gnocchi a few at a time into the water. As soon as they rise to the surface, remove them with a slotted spoon and drain well. Arrange on a warm dish in the oven to keep warm. Cook the rest of the gnocchi in the same manner.

6-In a large bowl, combine the tomato sauce, ½ the basil, diced tomatoes, tomato paste, sugar and salt and pepper to taste.

7-in a large skillet, heat 2 tbsp butter over medium heat. Using two batches, sautee the gnocchi until golden brown on at least one side. Remove and keep in serving dish.

8-toss tomato sauce and gnocchi in the bowl. Transfer to 3 small or 1 large casserole dish. Cover the top with the mozzarella cheese. Layer the tomatoes on top. Bake for 30-45 minutes or until golden brown and bubbly.

9- remove from oven, top with remaining basil and cool for at least 10 minutes.

Photo: stock

Restaurant Review: Northeast Kingdom

NORTHEAST KINGDOM, Bushwick, Brooklyn

I really wanted to like Northeast Kingdom. My husband and I had come across the place while we were exploring our new neighborhood of Bushwick in Brooklyn. It was a weekday morning and the restaurant was closed, but the cool marquee with the little deer and the décor we could see through the windows intrigued us. We’re Midwesterners at heart so the dark plank floors, brick walls and wooden benches spoke to us. We’re big brunchies, so when we saw they delivered the goods on weekend days, we noted it for future Sundays. I was SO excited.

Alas, they disappointed. We were the first ones there at 11 am when the doors opened, and we got a great booth for us and a friend. We knew we would be waiting for at least ½ hour for said friend so we ordered drinks. I was really looking forward to a cup of decaf (because caffeine makes my heart race and I like the taste of coffee anyway) but they don’t have any! OK, I can handle that. The food will be good.

Alas, it was not. The menu is, as my husband put it, “lame.” They have four different boring variations of fruit (granola, yogurt, baguette, solo cup), one soup, a BLT, a tuna melt, lox and bagel, and then six “traditional” breakfast dishes. But they don’t offer just plain old two eggs, meat and potatoes, which, even though I never order, I believe should be on every brunch menu. Hubby got the French toast with Vermont maple syrup and fresh fruit ($7), friend got organic scrambled eggs with home fries and mixed greens ($8) and I got baked eggs with quark cheese, collard greens and herbs with home fries and mixed greens ($8). I asked to get it without the collards, since I wasn’t really in the mood for collards, and the server said, politely, “Would you like, like, fresh tomatoes instead?” And I said, “Can you do that?” And she said, "Well... we don’t usually, but I guess I can ask.” And I was like, “Well... you offered.” Anyway.

We were totally enjoying ourselves, so I didn’t notice until 35 minutes later that our food hadn’t come yet. Then the server came over. The kitchen “missed” my substitution, so it was just going to be another couple minutes, and she wanted to offer me a free Mimosa or Bloody Mary. Sounded reasonable to me, although I didn’t want either, so hubby took her up on it. Then friend was inspired, so he ordered one full price, and I settled for a tea.

Drinks came out in about 5 minutes, but guess what? Our food took another 25 minutes! It had now been an hour since we ordered and we were, um, really hungry. I’ll cut to the chase. Yeah, it’s cheap, but come on! The French toast was one and a half slices of bread with a piece of honeydew melon topping each one. Lame. The scramble was ONE egg, a bit of greens and, like, 5 small pieces of potato. Lame. And my baked eggs were totally overcooked, totally under-seasoned, and my 5 pieces of potato had enough salt for the whole restaurant. Lame.

The Bloody Marys were good, and the price was fine (she ended up taking all the beverages off the bill, which was appreciated) and the service was acceptable. And I’ll probably try it again for dinner to see if they can atone for that lame brunch, but I’ll walk the other direction from our apartment and live it up at Life Café from now on.

Northeast Kingdom

18 Wyckoff Avenue

718-386-3864

L train to Jefferson

Italian Master Class Menu

Tomorrow I'll be teaching a master class in Italian cooking at a private home. We're gonna have an awesome time and we're gonna make some awesome food. I'll tease you with the menu and after the class, I'll post the most successful recipe of the night. Enjoy...

Arugula, fennel and walnut salad

dressed with Meyer lemon juice and olive oil

Chickpea and fresh rosemary flat bread

baked with thin-sliced fresh tomatoes and Parmesan cheese

Baked ricotta and spinach Gnocchi with fresh marinara sauce

and fresh Mozzarella cheese (a dish I first had in Prague...amazing!)

Warm deep bittersweet chocolate truffle and mousse cake

Are you drooling yet? :-)

Love,

Chef Kendra

On the Blog Again

Hi. Did you miss me?

I'm back on the blog and I'm here to stay. It helps that I now have people actually relying on me to write content (http://www.TheNewYorkGrapevine.com). I'm going to have two columns on TheNewYorkGrapevine.com. One will be my culinary mystery column, It's a Mystery, which takes the guesswork out of weird foods, terms, and techniques (what are garlic scapes and what the hell do I do with them?) and one will be a restaurant review column. I'M SO EXCITED! Come on, how long have I wanted to review food? And in New York? This is so awesome. The first restaurant review, premiering asap, is for Northeast Kingdom in East Williamsburg (or Bushwick or Williamsburg or whatever the hell you want to call it).

Special thanks to Justin August of TheNewYorkGrapevine.com for giving me the old kick-in-the-pants I needed to fire up my food career again. Justin and I are old friends from San Diego and he's always been a real go-getter! (Wink, thumbs up, sparkle tooth).

So what the hell have I been doing? I've been cooking for private clients and working at The Tractor Room in San Diego for the past four months, along with rocking out with my band, but now I'm back in New York and ready to hit the ground running.

Follow my blog! I'll be sharing almost every cooking experience I have, and sharing recipes, menus, fun finds, trips to farmers' markets, private cooking class antics, detailed cook days, my mystery column, and best of all, reviews of food from the five boroughs.

PS- I think October is one of the best months. It signifies fall and coziness and warm food. It makes me feel like hanging out with friends and sharing food and conversation. Would you comment on this post and share why you love October too?

Thanks in advance for your support.

Love,

Chef Kendra