Lately I’ve started looking for excuses to spend more time in the kitchen. Parties are the perfect opportunity to go a little overboard and make something outside of the norm, so naturally, I was excited by the prospect of throwing a Cinco de Mayo party. After seeing something about the Kentucky Derby online, I then got excited at the idea of throwing a derby party as well. And then I learned that the two events fell on the same day this year, and I didn’t know what to do. How could I choose between the two??

Within half an hour of realizing my dilemma, a photo of a mint julep margarita popped up on my Facebook feed.  Thank you, Cooking Channel! I hadn’t thought of doing a mashup of the holidays, but once I saw that cocktail, I was determined to get creative in the kitchen and see how I could blend Mexican and Southern flavors. And so, Cinco de Derby was born.

I got to menu planning. The mint julep margarita was going to be on the menu, that was certain. After all, it was the inspiration behind everything. Signature cocktail down, I still had to plan an entrée, a side dish, and a dessert. For the main course, I decided to put a spin on the traditional pulled pork taco. I’d start with a Mexican pork rub, then tweak the sauce by adding in some Southern flavors– brown sugar and bourbon. The sauce initially had two very distinct flavors. First all you’d taste is sweet, but then you’d get hit by spicy. After reducing the sauce the flavors melded, so I’m curious to try the tacos again without reducing the sauce so that it still packs the double-punch.

Dessert was a no-brainer. Flan is the standard Latin American dessert in my book, and nothing says Southern like pecan pie.  I’d adjust my flan recipe to use brown sugar for the caramel, and top it with homemade candied pecans.

I was still stuck on a side dish and unsure of whether to add brown sugar and chili powder to sweet potato wedges, or to somehow combine the two side dishes I think of for each cuisine: black beans and sweet potatoes. Since my family isn’t big on spicy food, so I decided to play it safe and try this recipe for lime cilantro sweet potatoes with black beans. Boy am I glad that I did! The sweet potatoes and black beans work great as a vegetarian taco-filler, a side dish, or even a main dish. I see this recipe becoming a fairly regular lunch.

The final menu:

Guacamole

Mint Julep Margaritas

Bourbon Pulled Pork Tacos

Lime Cilantro Sweet Potatoes with Black Beans

Pecan Pie Flan

The pork was certainly an experience. My favorite grocery store didn’t carry boneless pork shoulder, so the butcher cut the bone out for me. It wasn’t until I got home that I realized that my piece of pig had its hide still attached. Frantic, I started wishing I’d taken that two-day pig butchery class at the Institute of Culinary Education after all. I considered tweeting, “Does anyone know how to butcher a pig?!?!” but thought people might get the wrong idea. THIS IS THE TIME THAT SOUTHERN FRIENDS COME IN HANDY. If anyone knows how to properly slow cook a pig, it is a Southerner! A phone call later to one of my Southern boys, and I was set straight–no need for some pig butchery lesson over the phone, just some sage advice to place the pork skin side up for at least three  hours so that the fat dripped down onto the meat, and separating the meat from the hide would be a piece of cake once all was said and done.

With the exception of the food not being ready until Sunday, I’d say the Cinco de Derby menu was a success. If you’re going to undertake massive amounts of food prep for a party, it’s probably best to start a day early. And if you’re like me and don’t shop until noon the day of despite knowing how long it would take to make the pork in a slow cooker? Then make sure you have emergency ground beef tacos on hand for your hungry guests!

Balthazar. The restaurant has been on my radar for over a year, but last Sunday was the first time I walked through the doors and into a state of bliss. Although it had come up as a dining choice in the past, it was an offer I’d never jumped on before–perhaps because I kept confusing it with Babbo, perhaps because my feelings towards French food were completely different prior to my trip to Paris last summer. In addition to providing me with snooty French standards when it comes to croissants (and no, I have not found one that comes close to those I munched on for petit dejeuner in Paris), the trip was the turning point in my relationship with French food.  The cuisine that I once loathed has now become one of my favorites. From the moment I walked past Balthazar Bakery, reminiscent of a true French boulangerie, and through the double doors into the high-ceilinged bistro, I knew I was in love.

I could immediately see why Balthazar is on the list of The New York Times’ Dining editors 50 favorite restaurants. Frequented by everyone from tourists to famous faces, this place has charm aplenty. Large mirrors and wine bottles adorn the walls, and as your eyes take in the sights, the sounds of classical music fills your ears alongside the busy din of the Sunday brunch crowd. And then there’s the food.

There are few breakfasts I’ve had in my life that I would consider memorable. This was one of them. From brioche French toast to steak frites, the Sunday brunch menu offers a little bit of something for everyone. After perusing reviews on Yelp and Foursquare (which have yet to steer me wrong), I knew deciding on what to order would be a tough call. The cafe au lait was happening, no doubt about that. I mean seriously people, a BOWL of caffeine for breakfast?!? YES PLEASE! We then decided to order Le Panier, a basket of freshly baked breads and pastries from the Balthazar bakery, for the table, and I settled on the eggs benedict for myself. The eggs benedict was perfect. Although I usually request the eggs to be scrambled when I order eggs benedict, I decided to be daring and have it the way it was intended. The eggs were poached to perfection–not  overdone, and oozing bright yellow yolks when disturbed. The potatoes were the perfect mix as well- not so undercooked that they still seemed like “potatoes”, but not crunchy or burnt either. And then there was the basket of freshly baked goods. I sampled a bit of everything in the bready-goodness basket, and there was not a single thing I disliked. The pecan sticky bun was superb, and worth the sticky bits that stuck to the teeth. But perhaps the most awe-inspiring item in the basket was the mysterious dark bread. At first I thought it was pumpernickel, but upon tasting it, I noticed a sweetness and perhaps thought it was honey pumpernickel. It wasn’t until about the third bite that a light went off in my head and I thought, “Is this…..chocolate?”

Yes, my foodie friends, it was chocolate bread. Can you think of anything more exciting in the land of bread? I think not. The fact that chocolate bread exists in this world was an actual revelation for me. Cocoa powder is mixed with the flour, and bits of chocolate are kneaded into the dough. It is surprising and delicious. Unsurprisingly, it is delicious with almost any bread accouterment you can think of. I brought a loaf home and sampled it with various pairings- butter, peanut butter, nutella, honey with cinnamon, and olive oil. All of them were pretty darn good, although I think a big thanks goes out to my personal trainer for the honey and cinnamon pairing. (Granted he had suggested it as a pre-workout breakfast on top of whole wheat toast, but oh well.)

The other thing of note on the Balthazar brunch menu is a section called “Hangover Drinks.” I debated ordering one, but went with the aforementioned cafe au lait. Mid-meal however, something bright and delicious walked by, was placed on a neighboring table, and immediately picked up and walked past me again. Good fortune, a wrong drink order–now was my chance to grab the waiter and ask what it was! The drink in question was the champagne pick-me-up, a mix of champagne, VS cognac, orange juice, and grenadine. When asked if I wanted it, I hesitated because of the cognac, but then said “Oh what the hell?” and took a chance. My concerns that the cognac would make it strong and overpowering were unjustified. The drink was light and refreshing, and what I can only imagine what the baby of a mimosa and a tequila sunrise would be.

If you find yourself in New York City on a Sunday morning, go ahead and make a reservation for the brunch at Balthazar. And should you not be able to get a reservation? Well, it was certainly worth the 40 minute wait I experienced. Trust me, your taste buds will thank you.

Cheesecake is creamy and delicious. Peanut butter is creamy and delicious. Combine the two and what you achieve is magical. And when you add jelly? The results are edible nirvana. Mmmm.

When my friend Cindy first told me about Project PB&J, I was both excited and nervous. I wanted to be supportive of her new blog Once Upon a Loaf and I wanted to participate in the contest, but I have never adapted or created a recipe. At least not for baking. Sure, I get creative with my cooking, but that’s different. Cooking is something I do regularly. Baking…not so much. On those rare occasions that I do bake, it usually comes out of a box. Or worse, one of those break-and-bake cookie packages. (Don’t judge!) There’s very little room for error with those types of things. To be honest, I don’t think I’ve baked anything from scratch since I was in middle school, with the exception of a bread-making class I attended last week. But, I was determined to participate and finally launch the long-debated food blog, and so I got to brainstorming.

Several brainstorming ideas, a week of web design, and one successful recipe adaptation later, I decided I was ready to try creating a recipe of my own. Helloooooo cheesecake!

Overall I’d say the cheesecake was a huge success. Yes, I overdid the outsides a bit. I’ll blame my ancient oven which looks like it is from the 1970s or 1980s. It took 65 minutes for the center of my cheesecake to barely moved when touched. Just to be on the safe side, I wrote the recipe to say 50 minutes or until done, so that you can check the cheesecake earlier on and see how your oven handles it. I don’t want any of you to make the same mistakes I did and have to lose out on a single bite of cheeesecake-y goodness because the outside was overdone. Trust me, the center of this cheesecake is PURE GOLD. Take it from the girl who had the cheesecake coma yesterday.

My only other words of advice are to make sure you don’t allow the jelly to get too close to the edge of your cheesecake. If the jelly touches the springform pan, it will overcook and/or glue your cheesecake to the pan, which makes it very difficult to dislodge your cheesecake. You will end up with broken bits of cheesecake where the jelly decided to cling to the pan. Or perhaps the pan got a taste and decided to be greedy and keep some of the cheesecake for itself. Either way, you don’t want your cheesecake to have little bits missing. It isn’t pretty. Now get baking!

Hello fellow foodies! You are probably wondering “who is this person, and what is this forking around business?” I promise I will explain all.

The Who

I’m Allie, and in the real world I am a science communicator. (Yes, that means every now and then you will likely get a dose of science…I promise it will be painless.) Like yourselves, I am also a foodie. I’ve come a long way in my quest to conquer the kitchen. Back in high school, my friends came over for my first real cooking experience, and the pad thai was amazing. I wanted to eat it again! So a few weeks later, I decided I would try making pad thai, flying solo. The experience was nowhere near on the same level. Instead of a delicious meal, I created a disaster. My parents came home to a note explaining that my cooking made me ill, I should not be allowed to cook flying solo, and the dishes would have to wait until the morning. They saved the note for my future husband.

Over the years, my skills have improved greatly. It started with just eggs and pasta, and then I advanced to chicken. CHICKEN! Next up was steak. Once I’d conquered the meats, I moved on to fish. (Admittedly I’m still not confident when it comes to seafood, because I don’t make it often.) At this point, most of my cooking was still by necessity. I lived off-campus in college, and I needed to feed myself. It wasn’t until I met my friend Jon that I really started to get into cooking. I’d go over for meals. Delicious meals. He made tomato sauce. FROM SCRATCH. He made mango salsa. He made homemade pita chips to go with the salsa. I think we can confidently say that Jon changed my relationship with cooking. It went from being that dreaded time-wasting task of necessity, to something I wanted to do. I even made a cooking playlist (heavy on the Frank Sinatra, add a pinch of Michael Bublé and a pinch of Etta James and Percy Sledge.) A foodie was born.

The What

So you may be wondering what the site is, or what the name is about. The name is twofold. First, I am by no means a culinary professional. I am starting to take some culinary classes, but ultimately what I do is just play in the kitchen. Cooking, like science, is about experimentation. It’s about finding out what works, and then making sure that others can replicate those same results using a detailed explanation of your methods. In this way, forking around represents experimentation in the kitchen, trying new recipes and sharing them with you. The other thing the name represents is forking around the world, one bite at a time- whether it is exploring new global cuisines, or sharing great eats at home and abroad.

The Why

I have a giant folder  of recipes I want to try, a camera that I want to become more familiar with, and a bunch of eateries bookmarked on Yelp. What better way to tackle them all than with a food blog?