Fish!

Dear blog followers (most of you are relatives).

Adam is my boyfriend and he wants to be involved too. After close inspection of his writing sample, I have allowed him to be a co-author of THE FOOD IS ALRIGHT. Although he doesn't really cook or decorate cakes or have the same zangyness as me, he appreciates food nonetheless. Below is his first post.

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Ordering a whole fish is dangerous.  They are easy to overcook, frequently over seasoned, and often not worth the effort.  Ordering it fried only compounds those issues, and adds an ungodly amount of calories to the mix.  Still, when they are done right it is a real treat.

TenPenh in Washington, DC does it right.  Their crispy whole fried catfish ($17) remains flaky and tender despite its oil bath.  There is no hint of chewiness, no second-guessing your order, and certainly no sharing.  At one point, as others around me began to offer tastes of their dishes, I realized that I was eating with my fork and guarding my plate with a pair of chopsticks (eventually I relented and shared a bit).

Two important considerations when ordering a whole fish:  (1) Whole fish don't just look cool, they come with all kinds of tasty parts you wouldn't get if you just ordered a filet (or steak).  Make sure to eat the cheeks, the meat in the shoulder and head, and the fins.  (2) Know your restaurant.  If they also have mozzarella sticks on the menu (and you can't see the ocean out the window), I would pass.

Yogurt

I started making my own yogurt a couple of weeks ago, after recieving encouragement from my friend Rebecca.  I eat yogurt almost every morning, so making it is more economical, less wasteful (in NYC you can't recycle those plastic yogurt containers), and really easy.  Another friend thought that it would kill me, but I haven't yet. The easiest and most effective recipe can be found here via the NYTimes Food section.  It makes a smooth, pourable yogurt.... mmmmmmm ZANGY!

Breakfast of awesome

This morning I woke up at 7am (thats about the latest I sleep in nowadays) and decided to utilize my time well by making blueberry pancakes. I used my standard blueberry pancake recipe and made it with fresh blueberries I got at the farmer's market yesterday.  I listened to Hot 97 while making them, which made them fresh beat blueberry pancakes. An all around win for Julia. 

Stupid Tiffany Box cake

Now that I am done offloading all of the pictures I've had on my computer of projects in the past, I can start getting into current events.

On Friday we got a request at Magnolia for a cake that looked like a Tiffany box- LAME!  I love getting special projects, but something so standard and commercial? So I made it, as a Magnolia 3-layer round cake, with specially colored icing, and a fondant bow. This is me working on it, and Misty pretending she had something to do with it. What a poser.

Mushroom dinner

Sauteed leeks and king oyster mushrooms, white wine sauce, barley. It was pretty tasty, the mushrooms were almost scallop-like. Check out the sexy pan picture- god thats hot!

Milk thistle farm milk & homemade pistachio apricot granola

I found this recipe on the NYTimes website for olive-oil granola , so I decided to try it out. It was a little too sweet for me, and I might have put too much cardamom in, but tasty nonetheless. I'll probably adopt it as my new granola recipe, and then throw whatever I have into it. I am aware that pictures of granola are not awesome.

Homemade olive oil & thyme bread, roman fish soup

Lunch!

Homemade bread with butter, radishes and hawaiian sea salt. Accompanied, in a great move, by a suggestive looking thing also called spicy turkey sausage. Good lunch. I love radishes... they're just so... EARTHY!

At a grocery store in Denver

I love the things I see in grocery stores in middle America. What the fuck is that? Is it supposed to make me want to buy snacks? Also pictured: a giant plastic sandwich. 

Food Network Challenge!

Elizabeth and I got the opportunity to compete in a Food Network Challenge.  Alas, we lost, but made a fucking awesome cake nonetheless. So here is the gigantic Manny the Mammoth cake from the Ice Age movies. Complete with blown and pulled sugar tusks and little bird friend, "crispy rice cereal" rocks, and about 150 pounds of vanilla pound cake with the grossest icing I ever tasted. 

Adventures in Magnolia Part 2

I just so happen to be employed by Magnolia Bakery, a well-known and generally tasty bakery in New York. I work as a full-time cake icer and part time assistant production manager there. Below are some introductory photos.  

Fucking up at my job

Messing up a cupcake cake inscription, an icebox cake, and taking advantage of some well-placed cookies.

Adam's bday, Nate's bday, Moby Dick

Here are some at-home creations.  E-beth and I made a sweet Moby Dick cake.  Awesome Neil Young cake for my buddy Nate Wolf, and carved watermelon for Adam's birthday. 

Rebecca's Bday/going away party

Another sweet home-made cake. Our dear friend Rebecca was moving from NYC to Virginia, and was not too pleased about it. It also so happened to be her birthday and we were having a picnic in the park to celebrate. I made her a vanilla cake with raspberry preserves and chocolate ganache. Decorated with the state of VA and some guns made out of fondant. Also accompanied by some candles that look like beer cans that I got at New York Cake & Bake.

Cakes with Elizabeth Hodes

When I first moved to New York fresh out of art school, a kind and talented woman named Elizabeth Hodes took pity on me and hired me as her assistant. With her I learned most things about cake decorating. Below are some of the cakes and things we worked on together.  We made intricate details out of gumpaste, baked delicious cakes, made a sweet violin for Joshua Bell, and griped in her tiny and hot 6th floor walk-up apartment. While I still work for her freelance, Magnolia currently takes up most of my time. 

Fondant creations

These are some fondant creations I made "back in the day" as the kids say.  While in art school I started looking for new mediums to experiment with- I found fondant (especially this awesome cheap and easy marshmallow fondant) easy to use with an implied meaning all wrapped up in art-school jargon. I focused mostly on land forms, especially mines and chemical plants. 

Brunch!

I officially started playing with my food (instead of unofficially) while in art school. Interested in "urban landscapes" at the time, I made a giant one out of brunch items and then invited my friends over to eat it all. While under the pretext of an art piece, it was really just an excuse to play with food.