Tangra Summer - An Indian-Chinese Seasonal Dinner

July 12, 2013 Diana

The idea for Tangra Summer came about a few months ago. My friend Chitra Agrawal, founder of The ABCD's of Cooking and a cooking teacher who specializes in Indian food, had suggested we team up to create a pop-up dinner to celebrate local food in Brooklyn. A farm-to-table dinner with a twist. Instead of New American cooking, we could combine our respective backgrounds in Indian and Chinese cooking and create a cross-cultural vegetarian dinner highlighting seasonal food in Brooklyn.

It took me about half a second to say yes. And so Tangra was born.

Named after a Calcutta neighborhood home that was the birthplace of Indian-Chinese cuisine, Tangra will be held once a season to celebrate farm fresh produce. Our inaugural dinner, Tangra Summer 2013, will debut August 25th at the Wyckoff Farmhouse Museum, a Dutch farmhouse that dates back to 1652 and is New York's oldest surviving structure. The dinner will take place inside the historic farmhouse, with dishes served family-style, featuring vegetables grown onsite from head Wyckoff gardener Jason Gaspar and beers from our sponsors Big Alice Brewing out of Long Island City.

Raspberry Breakfast Parfait

July 9, 2013 Diana

Last month Fast Company published a great short piece entitled The Hidden Link Between Breakfast and Productivity. But it's not about filling your stomach or nutrition, though those factors are also important. Rather, it was about how having at least one thing completely figured out in the morning leaves you more mental energy for the rest of your day.

Or, as writer Drake Baer put it, "if you don't decide on how to make decisions, you'll be exhausted by the time you finish that bowl of cereal."

I'm one of those people for whom decision-making is usually pretty exhaustive. (A maximizer, according to The Paradox of Choice.) I research every purchase carefully, from important ones like jobs and apartments to minor ones like brands of environmentally-friendly dish soap. And as a food writer, well, friends often leave it up to me to decide where to go for dinner, for occasions big and small. Let's just say I (needlessly) feel the pressure and can spend way too much time cross-referencing 80 restaurant reviews before coming up with some place for a quick bite on a Tuesday night.

Strawberry Rosewater Smoothie

June 20, 2013 Diana

Ever since I bought a blender a few months ago, I haven't gone a day without using it. There were weeks when I bought so many bags of frozen blueberries that my favorite grocery store would run out. When I'm working from home, I'd make 2 or 3 smoothies a day. But, I guess, there are worse things to be addicted to.

Now that fresh berries are in season, the smoothie making has gone into overdrive. There is no time that's inappropriate. Sometimes I'd even make one at 11pm, to sip on the couch while reading a book or catching up on Mad Men. (Sorry, neighbors, for the extra-loudness of my blender.)

I mean, with fresh strawberries that look like these, how can you not?

The Charted Cheese Wheel

June 11, 2013 Diana

$\"cheese-chart-popchart-labs\"$ \n \n

Words cannot express how much I love The Charted Cheese Wheel\u00A0from Popchart Labs. This illustrated collection of 66 cheeses is broken down by animal and texture. In addition to just being wonderful to look at, it's a great idea-generator for future wine and cheese parties. I'm getting mad cravings for Pont-l'\u00C9v\u00EAque\u00A0and Pecorino Sardo just glancing at the chart.

The brilliant designers over at Popchart Labs never stop coming up with infographic prints I want to buy. Thinking this Cocktail Chart of Film & Literature would also look nice in the office or living room.

","wysiwyg":{"engine":"code","isSource":false,"mode":"htmlmixed","source":""}}" data-block-type="2" id="block-51e9dc4ae4b0404245e04f73">

cheese-chart-popchart-labs

Words cannot express how much I love The Charted Cheese Wheel from Popchart Labs. This illustrated collection of 66 cheeses is broken down by animal and texture. In addition to just being wonderful to look at, it's a great idea-generator for future wine and cheese parties. I'm getting mad cravings for Pont-l'Évêque and Pecorino Sardo just glancing at the chart.

A Rooftop Farm at the Waldorf

June 10, 2013 Diana

One of the best things about living in New York is that you are constantly discovering new fascinating and bewildering facts about the city. Did you know there are rice paddies on Randall's Island? A still-running 19th-century power plant at Pratt University? A rooftop garden with beehives at the Waldorf Astoria?

The last one I just learned about last month. And luckily, I got to see it first-hand as part of the Urban Agriculture Conference sponsored by The Horticultural Society of New York. A few weeks ago I posted about our trips to Battery Urban Farm and Riverpark Farm; now we'll head up 625 feet over Midtown Manhattan.

Homemade Frappuccinos

June 6, 2013 Diana

I'm a creature of habit when it comes to some things. Like how I like my eggs to be cooked. (Sunny-side up with a runny yolk.) Or chocolate chip cookies. (This recipe is my go-to.) But not when it comes to my morning caffeine.

Some mornings I'll feel like black coffee, plain and simple. Other days, a single shot of expresso. Or a cappuccino. Aromatic single origin coffee from some new raved-about coffee shop can feel nice and decadent. Bodega coffee is perfectly fine too. From time to time, I'll just scrap the coffee thing altogether and do a green tea smoothie.

This week, my go-to morning beverage has been a homemade frappuccino. I don't know where this craving came from, actually. Maybe it was all those grocery shopping trips in the hot sun, which required me to lug home heavy bags while passing by a Starbucks and see all those people relaxing on the bench outside with their big frothy frappuccinos. And thinking, hey, I need one of those, but maybe I could make it better at home.

Ramp Tacos

June 3, 2013 Diana

If you've been reading this blog or Appetite for China for a while, you may remember that I'm a little obsessed with ramps, the wild leeks that are only available on the East Coast for a few weeks in the spring. I've used them when making pasta, stir-fries, dumplings, eggs, and cold sesame noodles. And I've gotten quite a few of the students in my cooking classes addicted to them as well.

I had thought ramps were officially gone for the year, until I spotted a few bunches at the Greenmarket this past Friday. (The stand was also selling just ramp bulbs.) And they looked pretty good for being end-of-the-season picks. So I brought a bunch home and made ramp tacos for three straight meals.

Strawberry Rhubarb Galette

May 29, 2013 Diana

Every year around this time I go a little nuts making strawberry desserts. Witness last year's strawberry sweets frenzy: Mini Strawberry and Rum Pies, Strawberry Rhubarb Buckle, Strawberry Basil Sorbet. And those are just the ones that made the cut to become blog posts.

Over Memorial Day weekend I went my friend Karol's new apartment in Williamsburg for her housewarming BBQ potluck, which promised lots of food and merriment on a big beautiful deck. Her potlucks usually draw a big crowd, so I decided to make not one but two strawberry rhubarb tarts.

I picked up a large container of first-of-the-season Jersey strawberries and rhubarb stalks from the Greenmarket. And had ambitious plans of getting up early on Sunday morning to make the tarts without rushing. The waking up early part, um, never happened. Fortunately, I found out, you can really make these tarts in just two hours from start to finish, including the galette dough.

Brooklyn Atlas