Category Archives: Food

February 10, 2013 · 5:03 pm

The monkey and the panda in all of us

A dish simply called Beans! (Photo by Katrina Woznicki)

Last Wednesday, Kate, Anna and I went to a great little restaurant in the East Village called Dirt Candy. It’s a vegetarian place and, while I am most certainly an avowed carnivore, the food was truly awesome. As in go-back-in-a-heartbeat awesome. Seriously, if you plan to be in New York, get on Open Table and get a reservation now. Not just ’cause it’s awesome, but also because it’s tiny and really well reviewed, and tables go faster than the Jets’ chances of winning a Super Bowl any time soon.

The chef, Amanda Cohen, not only does great veggies, but she also has a fantastic cookbook, one that she did in collaboration with graphic artist Ryan Dunleavy. Yes, it’s a cookbook/graphic novel, with all the greatness that implies. Chef Cohen, who once took on Morimoto on Iron Chef America, was kind enough to personalize Kate’s signed copy for her, and also served us dessert. I mean, seriously, that’s cool.

So why am I mentioning this?

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Filed under Books, Food, Geek, Writing

March 4, 2012 · 8:10 pm

A tour of the Known Worlds: Mercury, Part II

Once the stern of a brig, these windows now look into a hostelry on Elizabeth Mercuris.

Sorry about the lack of blogging here, folks. I was out in beautiful Los Angeles for my day job, and things were both busy and interesting (in good ways). I also had a chance to meet up with fellow NLA agency-mate Jason M. Hough for some quality Mexican food in San Juan Capistrano. No swallows were spotted, but the dinner was excellent and the authorial company even better. Jason’s a stand-up guy and a great writer, and if you’re not reading his blog or following him on Twitter, you should. His book, The Darwin Elevator, is out next year, and I for one can’t wait to read it. Continue reading →

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Filed under Books, Food, Known Worlds, Space, Writing

December 31, 2011 · 1:35 pm

Thanks, 2011! Hello, 2012!

Have a happy new year! And no, the end of the Mayan calendar will not bring the apocalypse. Sorry.

It was a year ago today, on New Year’s Eve 2010, that I started this blog, so it seems fitting somehow to check back in a year later. When I started, I didn’t have an agent, and my first novel wasn’t really in awesome shape (though I thought it was a gem, of course). The blog was part of an effort to show that I could have a “social media strategy” as an author, thus making myself more attractive to agents and publishers.

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Filed under Beer Snobbery, Books, Food, NaNoWriMo, Travel, Writing

December 4, 2011 · 6:24 pm

Snack dip as revision metaphor

A tasty, tasty metaphor.

First off, a big blog congratulations to @StephenWilds over on Twitter, who joined the hordes…er…bunch?…of followers who signed on in November for a chance to win a critique of their work or a sneak peek at mine. An avid writer, Stephen opted for a critique. That means I may yet be inclined to share a short excerpt of Spacebuckler here on my blog at some point. Stay tuned.

Now then…remember seven-layer dip? That’s my writing metaphor du jour. It’s also an unholy mess to eat, no matter how you try to do it. Revising your work is also an unholy mess at times, but perhaps this might help, especially now that some of  you out there have the first draft of a novel in hand thanks to NaNoWriMo.

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Filed under Food, NaNoWriMo, Writing

September 5, 2011 · 3:45 pm

And…another quick update

I was busy eating here instead of blogging. Sorry about that. (And yes, I bought a t-shirt, too.)

Sorry about the lack of compelling, meaningful blogging as of late. For one, I was working in Los Angeles at my day job, with evenings taken up by an exploration of Los Angeles’ culinary delights. For the record, I love eating out in L.A., even moreso than I do in New York. I find L.A. is cheaper and less pretentious. And more importantly, I think they’re very innovative out there. Some of the more “foodie” spots we hit this trip included Animal (my third time there, a carnivore’s dream), Buddha’s Belly (pan-Asian fare in Santa Monica) and Mohawk Bend (locally-sourced, high-end pub grub with 75 beers on tap), along with the L.A. classic Roscoe’s House of Chicken and Waffles (no explanation needed). Continue reading →

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Filed under Food, Travel, Writing

January 21, 2011 · 9:35 pm

Good eats: White bean and bacon flatbread

This is so very, very true.

I’m a very firm believer in bacon. I even have a t-shirt to that effect. So when I saw a recipe for white bean and pancetta “pizzas” in Food & Wine magazine, it was a must-try. And lo, we had a new standard to the household eating repetoire. In fact, it was dinner both last night and tonight. Yes, it’s that good. Continue reading →

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