Happy New Year!

Napa - Mumm - Sparkling Wine
Originally uploaded by brady frequent traveler and eater

Who the heck are these people!?

Chicago - Tamale 2007 - The Gang
Originally uploaded by brady frequent traveler and eater

Tamales Fest 2007

Chicago - Tamale 2007 - Michelle Cooking
Originally uploaded by brady frequent traveler and eater

Woohoo! Thanks, Michelle!!

I couldnt resist...and neither will you

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Originally uploaded by carolyn8

Me, doing "Mr. Roboto" and Neha hiding with embarrassment.

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Originally uploaded by carolyn8

Neha asking, "What happened here?!?" Awesome breakfast at Yolk, thanks Manish!! :)

Spinach Coconut Dal

From a British cookbook, the only book that topped Harry Potter on UK bestseller lists:

...from a british cookbook that outsold harry potter in the uk: "a recipe for spinach and coconut dal contains this note of caution: “Sloppy, warming, comforting and astonishingly delicious. Also, extremely windy. Time to tether the duvet to the bedposts.”"

Classic, I may have to buy it. Here's the rest of the NYT article.

Pasta Carbonara

Okay, I don’t know if you are as much a carbonara freak as I am, but it has been a personal quest to get a carbonara recipe as good as what I had in Rome. And every attempt for the past three years has been acceptable, but not authentic.

I was bemoaning this fact to one of my clients, who is a transplanted Italian, and she actually worked out the kinks in my recipe. The biggest discovery??? No cream. There is NO DAMN CREAM in carbonara. Three years, and that’s pretty much the essence of it. It's a quick, family recipe...easily made with whatever you have in the pantry (you could even substitute mushrooms or even spinach for the ham, the key is the egg sauce).

So if you get a chance, really, check this carbonara recipe out. It's the truth. It is NOT the scrambled egg, bacon, peas and cream they serve at every single Italian restaurant I've tasted in the U.S., this recipe is the closest I've had to Rome. Shizzle, baby.