cookie porn

A New York Kitchen
CS has become a recipe tester for America's Test Kitchens (Cooks Illustrated). He cooks. I photograph. We both eat. And these were delicious - coconut lime sugar cookies. Coming soon...

barrelful of.. rumbullion

Needham's Point / Bridgetown, Barbados
Within the walls of an old fortress were a number of barrels - I'd like to think a one point in time they had been full of some good casked Barbadian rum.

still life

Somewhere in the Imagination
Figured I'd shake things up a bit from the norm - fun with Photoshop.

pick a peck of peppers

Wilhelmina Bridge / Willemstad, Curaçao
These Venezuelan growers load their boats full of produce very early every morning and travel the forty some miles from the Venezuela coast to Willemstad to sell their fruits and vegetables at the open air markets.

the clan

The Leonard Farm / Canfield, Ohio
Just returned from a weekend of great fun where the Buchanan and Veach clans united for yet another raucously fun time - lots of drinking, music, celebrations, catching up with old familiar faces and meeting new younger faces for the first time. As I work on wiping away the haze and face a Monday morning: family - you gotta love it!

ye old contemptible

Edmunds Street / Birmingham, England
For a certain someone, today puts them one step closer to being an old contemptible - happy birthday birdshoes! And a thank you to the same for serving as guest poster for the past two weeks while I had no access to internet (initially) and then just became lazy - great job on the food porn. This is another in my occasional posting of interesting pub names in the UK and elsewhere. Based on what I was able to find out, the brave Tommies in the British Expeditionary Force proudly took on the nickname "The Old Contemptibles" with this Birmingham pub being a favorite watering hole of the veterans. Apparently, it has recently undergone a major restoration which has immediately made it attractive to the more well-heeled crowd. As one reviewer put it "Not a bad pub, though packed with suits weekday lunchtimes. Fortunately, they bugger off soon enough." Sounds to me like he's a bit of an old contemptible himself.

que sera salad

McGraw-Hill Executive Dining / New York City
If a salad has glorious hunks of slab bacon, fine slices of a hard-boiled egg, chopped ham, crumbled Roquefort cheese and it's dripping with dressing, can it still be considered a salad? According to Robert H. Cobb - when he scavenged the fridge late at night in 1937 - that is exactly what it is. The tasty creation happened to catch on with the Hollywood scene at the time, and I can see why - even if itn't all that good for you.

food for thought

McGraw-Hill Executive Dining / New York City
It's time to start making some healthier food choices. This fruit would be a good start. Click on the pic for a juicy close-up. Although the cookie platter looked very enticing. Maybe just one dessert.

hop in, hop out - shake it all about

Señor Frog's / Bahamas
Señor Frog's Caribbean chain bar/restaurant is the kind of place you need to visit at least once - though you may not remember the night so it's possible to end up there again by accident - as we more recently did in Aruba. It's loud and deceptively expensive. A party scene of binge drinking followed by the inebriated removal of clothing in public, typically by those who are better off keeping it on. The drinks are tall, frozen, colorful and gimmicky - and stronger than you realize. The food is so-so. Service can be pushy and spotty. This señor wants you drunk on his lily pad so he can take best advantage of you. Be warned of the sexy frog.

la sandía

Carrera No. 4 / Santa Marta, Colombia
One of the best things about Latin America and the Caribbean is the abundance of fresh fruit year round. Though when in Costa Rica last week, while it seemed there was fresh picked watermelon (or la sandía) overflowing every roadside stand, it didn't taste nearly as sweet as what we get across the street at our local market. Perhaps ours are chemically-enhanced to improve that delicious watermelon flavor.

shuckin' corn

Outdoor Markets / Otavalo, Ecuador
The Otavalo outdoor markets outside of Quito are famous for the variety of produce and other goods offered - all of which is locally produced. These happy women are obviously shucking corn in anticipation of the Memorial Day bar-b-que.

feeding frenzy

Trafalgar Square / London, England
Someone dropped a bag of seed. When you're hungry, nothing much else matters.

burgers n' kebabs

Old Town / Krakow, Poland
It must be a European thing - burgers and kebabs. Never just burgers or kebabs but always together, and usually also offering pizza and southern fried chicken. One stop junk food.

the essense of a kiss

Rochester Farmer's Market / Rochester, New York
What would life be without fresh garlic.. sad, indeed. Everyone remembers their first garlic-enhanced kiss.

picture not required

Puke Pub / Pukekura, New Zealand
The owners of Puke (think "cookie" though the logical pronunciation probably holds true, as well) Pub have made innovative use of their township’s location slam bang in the middle of the South Island bush: their pub specializes in local ‘wild food’. Roadkill of the Day heads the menu. ‘You kill it, we’ll grill it.’ There are also Bambi burgers. But the Puke Pub’s speciality is possums. New Zealand’s authorities have been trying for nearly 60 years to eradicate their country’s most despised pest and the Puke Pub is doing its bit to help. The Pub serves its possums in pies, or cooked up into a dish called Guess the Mess (possum, pita bread, salad and quirky sauce). And ladies, take note in these hard economic times, employment available - picture not required.

the coke side of life

Santa Marta, Colombia
Coca Cola - we all know it's not great for your health - but your life? For some years, there has been an ongoing Campaign to Stop Killer Coke with one of the main impetuses for the international campaign against Coke allegedly being the assassination and intimidation of members of the SINALTRAINAL union that several years ago had organized workers at Coke-controlled FEMSA bottling plants in Colombia, including this one in Santa Marta. Apparently, managers wanted to rid the plant of the union in order to boost their power over workers and their bottom line. Bang bang.

alkohole urgently needed

Jewish Quarter / Krakow, Poland
Work seems neverending - I need alkohole. Enough said.

c'est gen fou anglaise

Les Sans Coulette East / New York, New York
Olive trees. Apple trees. Sausage trees. Excusez-moi?? Yes, last night we had dinner with out of town friends at Les Sans Coulette (which basically translates to No Pants) in Midtown East where the house appetizer is .. a sausage tree. French bread, mustard, paté, pickles, a crudité consisting of an entire basket of fresh whole raw vegetables - and a sausage tree. By the time we finished the appetizer, there was little room for dinner. Nevertheless, I managed to consume a perfectly edible chicken cordon bleu. C'est la vie!

out of the frying pan ...

Sami Tent / Paksuniemi, Sweden
A trip to Lapland would not be complete without first racing reindeer - and then cooking the loser. Actually, we didn't cook the loser but after some rigorous racing across the frozen landscape we came back to a meal of cooked reindeer and lingonberry jam. This gamey meal was cooked for us over an open fire by our Sami guide while we sat around the open fire inside a reindeer skin covered tent trying to warm up. We were over 200km north of the Arctic Circle - and it was COLD.

by the barrel

Amisfield Wine Company / Queenstown, New Zealand
New Zealand is a land like no other - and the wine is pretty good, as well. Over the past ten years, NZ Sauvignon Blanc, particularly from the Marlborough region, has widely become recognized throughout the world as setting the benchmark for this varietal. However the Otago region is better known for its Pinot Noir and we tasted some excellent Pinots at Amisfield.