I read that the owner of 5 Burros Cafe will be judging, which is awesome because I LOVE their salsa, and I’ll have to up my game! We will be competing for Judge’s favorite, a Runner- Up, and People’s Champion spots – and I need your help! So please help me spread the word and come on out!

Event:             Salsa Slam (with a live Mariacchi band!)
Date:              Sunday, September 12, 2010
Location:      Bell House
149 7th Street (Between 2nd and 3rd Aves)
Brooklyn, NY
Time:              4 -7 pm
Cost:               $12 in advance, $15 at the door

Hope to see you there! =D

As of August 28, 2010, this website has been operating for two whole years! I feel like I just celebrated the first anniversary not too long ago, but here we are.  My original plan was to relaunch the entire look and feel of the site by this date, but things didn’t quite work out that way. But it’s all good because that gives me something else to look forward to!

And now, click below for a chance to win this cookbook with one of my recipes inside!

Earlier this year, I got an email from J, whose friend was looking for food bloggers, especially home cooks. I was lucky enough to be included in a cookbook published by Posit Science Corporation, featuring recipes are based on ingredients that are good for your brain, featuring 50 bloggers!

I chose a good for your brain ingredient – wild salmon – and sent off a recipe I made up, along with a photo. Though I wasn’t able to witness it, I know that a lot of hard work was involved in putting the book together – from editors to photographers to chefs, who had to test out each recipe. I enjoyed learning about how certain ingredients are good for your brain and why, not to mention the simple yet delicious recipes! (Bonus-  new book smell, which I looove!) Curious as to which bloggers are featured? You can check out their respective sites and get their Twitter handles here.

So, with all that said, Posit Science sent me two copies – one for me, and one to give away!

You can enter for a chance to win! To enter, all you need to do is leave a comment below, telling me why YOU should win the cookbook.  I’ll pick my favorite answer and announce it by Friday, September 10th. (So sorry but this giveaway is only good for folks residing in the 50 states in the good U S of A).

And of course, feel free to go to Amazon and purchase it for $19.95!

Good luck!

More often than not, I either eat something at a restaurant or make a recipe that I’ve already posted about, resulting in a huge collection of random delicious food pictures. I figured I’d share them with you from time to time, in a new blog series called Esther’s eats. Please let me know if you think this is something I should continue as a series or not!

A quick update – I’ve mentioned before on my Facebook fanpage (if you haven’t “liked” it yet, please do so!), this site is undergoing a face lift as we speak, and a new logo is almost ready to be revealed. Thank you for your patience during this process! I will keep you updated as the date draws closer.

1. The Elvis from Peanut Butter & Co., with bacon added. Mine was custom ordered – creamy peanut butter with honey, bananas, and bacon! It was sweet and savory. (I think it was about $10 with a drink).

And then…I ate the best macarons of my life, blowing Bouchon Bakery out of the water.

2. My friend J was kind enough to get these macarons for me from Paris! It was from the famous bakery called Laduree. I loved the little container. There was an assortment of flavors – caramel, pistachio, rose petal, strawberry, lemon, and vanilla. These were the best macarons I’ve ever had! Thanks, J! She also got me salted caramel from the same place, so I’ll have to make something yummy with that soon.

3. A steaming bowl of ramen from Ippudo in the middle of summer. What? You don’t eat hot ramen in the middle of summer? This was Akamaru Modern, described on the menu as: “The original tonkotsu’ soup noodle with Ippudo’s special sauce, pork belly chashu, cabage, kikurage, scallions, miso paste & fragrant garlic oil.” The broth was flavorful with hints of miso and ginger, and the pork belly literally melted in my mouth. I love that they handmake all the noodles and the broth in house. I’m even willing to pay $14 for this. A word of warnigd: there’s always a wait, so be sure to get there early!

4. I had the privilege of tasting all the food at the new Jets/Giants stadium, called New Meadlowlands stadium. This is just a couple of pics from that glorious day where I ate everything that was offered there. Half of a pig in a blanket with mozzarella di bufalo mac and cheese. Both were delicious, especially together, but these two items will only be offered in the coaches lounge area.

5. Another item I tried at the stadium – Nonna Fusco’s meatball sub sandwich. This was chef Eric Borgia’s grandmother’s meatball recipe. The meat was juicy and the sauce had great flavor. I especially loved the pungent bits of shaved Parmesan cheese on top! I’m sorry but I don’t remember how much it was.

This is yet another classic pasta recipe. This was my first time making it but it was a success. It was quick and easy. I made this for D and he enjoyed it, but then again, he’s biased.

I wanted to cook with fresh clams but didn’t have time to scrub those little guys. Instead, I went with the canned kind, along used some white wine for the sauce. As long as you have fresh herbs and garlic, I think you’ll be fine. I didn’t use any cheese in the name of keeping the dish more healthy, but I would highly recommend using at least a little bit to add depth of flavor.

As an appetizer, I went with a no-fail classic: tomatoes with mozzarella and chiffonade basil, fresh cracked pepper and olive oil. Simple, delicious and best of all – doesn’t need heat!

Recipe: Linguini with clam sauce
Makes 3-4 servings

If you’ve been reading this site for a while, you’ll know that I’ve only done one other review during the entire lifespan of this site. I reviewed a Vietnamese place in San Francisco, and I dream about their Emperial roll sometimes. *drool*

This is no ordinary pizza. We waited so long to eat this!

While doing a review will only be another drop in the bucket, I still thought it was appropriate to do a post about my experience, especially at a place that has been called “The best pizza in New York” by so many.

The thing that kept me from going there was the fact that it was in Midwood, Brooklyn. Lucky for me, D is open to trying out new places! It only took us about 20 minutes to drive over from Queens. We found a parking spot and as expected, saw a line already out the door.

Time check: 6:31 pm. (Note that it’s still light outside. Mood: eager and not that hungry yet.)

The line to order moved rather quickly, so we thought we were making good progress. Dom DeMarco, the 70 something year-old man who has been making pizza at this location since 1964, makes each pie from start to finish. And the hefty price tag ($35 for Di Fara special) was quickly explained by a quote from this Epicurious article:

Dom: “I use only the freshest ingredients, the bufala mozzarella from the town I grew up in, the oregano and basil from Israel, tomatoes from Salerno, flour from Italy,” he says with a smile. “That’s the secret recipe.”

Once we made it inside the restaurant, we quickly noticed that our eyes were burning from the smoke. So we stepped out and tried to entertain ourselves. We walked across to Walgreens to grab drinks. And after a while, we noticed a trend – people went to other places and returned just in time for their pizza! Smart! I also went to the 99 cent store next door to look at Silly Bandz (Didn’t find anything good, just in case you were wondering).

There was also the time where I mistakenly thought I heard them call out our order. Oops. I was off by about 8 pizzas. Here’s a photo of Dom making someone else’s pizza. After waiting for what seemed like forever, Our pizza was finally ready!

Time check: 8:50 pm (Dark outside. Mood: starving and astonished that I waited so long for pizza!)

I noticed a rope at the door, because the restaurant closes at 9 pm. I think there were about 6 orders after we left.

I finally sunk my teeth into a piping hot slice of the Di Fara special (with sausage, peppers, mushrooms, and onions).

It was SO good! To be honest, I don’t even like pizza that much! In any case, I have to say that I could taste all the ingredients, from the tomatoes to the cheese to the fresh basil. The crust was chewy yet crunchy. I learned from my friend J that a square pie with the hot peppers is a must. Something to keep in mind if I ever make it back there. Just don’t go there on Saturday night. But if you must, make sure you have good company!

According to the website, Eggland’s Best eggs contain 10 times more Vitamin E than ordinary eggs, four times more Vitamin D, 115mg of Omega 3, when compared to regular eggs.  And one Eggland’s Best large white egg contains just 175mg of Cholesterol compared to 215mg in an ordinary egg.

We learned that there is no nutritional difference between brown and white eggs. They also have regular eggs, and a different brand of organic eggs.

See photos of our scrumptious dinner after the jump!

We started off with some drinks and appetizers.

Appetizer #1: Japanese egg “tamago yaki” maki rolls with shrimp and edamame puree, wrapped in egg instead of seaweed. It was good, but I didn’t eat more than one.

Appetizer #2: Crostini with Serrano ham, smoked pimenton-deviled egg and roasted peppers. I thought the flavors went well together and enjoyed this one a lot. There was another appetizer that I didn’t get to try – baked truffled egg custards with gruyere and chives, garnished with black caviar.

After a brief introduction by President and CEO, Charlie Lanktree, we learned that we were going to be cooking seasonally from a menu that Chef Erica Wides created.

We all put on our chef hats and aprons, then broke up into smaller groups and started the cooking process. I ended up in the dessert station, chopping rhubarb and whisking the custard. (Or watching someone else whisk the custard, I should say). I loved the mirrors on top so you can see what other people are up to!

The making of fresh ravioli, filled with crab and lobster! And my favorite, poached eggs. They used this circular mold to keep it in place! Genius!

After working hard at our stations, we sat down for a lovely dinner. I was famished by then! Btw, have you ever used a bowl of eggs as a centerpiece?

First course: warm salad of asparagus, morels, baby carrots, sugar snap peas with slivers of duck prosciutto, toasted walnuts and champagne vinaigrette and a white wine poached egg on top. I loved the texture of fresh vegetables with the poached egg. I know that morels are super expensive, but I did not enjoy those at all.

Entree: Crab and lobster ravioli with fresh peas, fennel, leeks, golden beets, saffron and chives in lobster broth with prosecco sabayon. And radishes that were forgotten from the first course. The fresh ravioli was delicious! I now want to go buy a pasta maker.

Dessert #1: Lemon pudding souffles with mixed berries and rhubarb coulis. The souffle was light & fluffy, which went well with the fresh fruit. It was a great way to end the meal. But then…

I saw dessert #2: Assorted meringue cookies petit fours made from the egg whites we didn’t use for the souffle. It was amazingly light and melted in my mouth. I think I enjoyed the petit fours more than the souffle!

We each received this huge goodie bag full of some really great stuff! We got recipes for everything we ate that day. I might have to do a follow up post after trying out one of the recipes. But my favorite item in the goodie bag was this GIANT golf umbrella that can fit a family of 5. I do wonder if I’ll get cursed at by those walking next to me on the sidewalk though.

I don’t know a thing about planting, but I’m excited about this herb garden! Thanks to D, I will plant some of the seeds soon!

And check it out – already cooked and peeled eggs! The egg slicer(I forgot to include in the previous photo) came in handy as I made an egg salad sandwich the next day in 5 minutes. It was super easy and yum!

Disclaimer: I was provided with the opportunity to attend this event at no cost to me. No monetary compensation has been granted for writing a review. I do not write on behalf of anyone else; all thoughts and opinions are my own.

Chinese broccoli has been my favorite vegetable for the past couple of weeks. I bought a pound and ended up using it in three separate dishes. Chinese broccoli has leaves and stems, similar to what you would find in kale, but the flavor is much more subtle. I was really happy with the way this dish came out, and it was so simple and easy to make.

My sister brought back some paprika from the streets of Budapest, and it was bursting with an amazing amount of flavor! The extra kick which complemented the sweetness combined with the garlic flavor so wonderfully.

After the jump (and the recipe), I give you the cookbook winner!

Recipe: Perfect Chinese broccoli

The cookbook winner is…

Vicky, who wrote:

“I would like to win Artisan bread in 5 minutes because I would like me and my family to eat healthier. We wanna control what ingredients actually go into our food. Ever since I read “The China Study”, we’ve been trying to be more health conscious in general.”

Congratulations, Vicky! Please send me an email at esther@ambitiousdeliciousness.com with your full name and mailing address.

Thank you for participating, everyone!

This summer salad began as a way to enjoy some fresh veggies I had on hand. The thought of using my stove during the summer heat was unappealing, so begrudgingly made peace with canned beans to make this refreshing salad. My only regret is that I went overboard with the mint! After letting the flavors intermingle overnight, the entire salad was minty! Please make sure you don’t repeat my mistake when you make this!

Recipe: Summer bean salad with grapefruit

In any case, I’m excited to announce a new giveaway!

*If I were to enter this contest, I’d choose this book! But lucky for you, you get to choose!

Snubbr, a website that provides product recommendations from experts, has graciously offered to provide a cookbook to you, dear reader! The best part is, you can choose which cookbook you’d like to win (as long as it’s under $35)! Just look through Amazon and pick something.

You have until Thursday, July 15th (midnight) to enter. The website folks will pick their favorite comment and name the winner! (This giveaway is only open to residents in U.S and Canada.)

All you have to do is answer this question in the comments section of this post:

What cookbook would you like to win? Why?

Good luck!

Puttanesca is an Italian dish that I’ve always enjoyed but never tried making at home. This dish is begins with some garlic and diced onions, then includes a harmonious blend of flavors from anchovies, capers, and tomatoes. It’s a great alternative regular tomato based sauces, and has a ton of flavor!

My friend J and I made this dish together for dinner, then had dessert wine and brownies.

I used real tomatoes, but that canned diced tomatoes may actually work better in this case. I also added kale as a way of incorporating some greens into the dish. If you are a fan of dark greens like kale, you should definitely give this a try!