Mac and Cheese Bliss

Remember when I had the best mac-n-cheese of my life?

Let me take you back. The place was Cochon Butcher.
The town, New Orleans.

It was everything I ever wanted in macaroni and cheese…and more. It insanely saucy. Astoundingly ooey, gooey, creamy, and cheesy. A goldmine of crispy bits of house-made pancetta was buried throughout. And a crust of buttery breadcrumbs freckled with herbs made it all crunch on top.

Bite after bite, I marveled at what a perfect specimen of mac and cheese this was. It had a complexity of flavor that I couldn’t put my finger on. This mac had depth. It had integrity. It had layers. I had to know Cochon’s secret. This Pancetta Mac-n-Cheese had to be mine.

I shot off an email, my desperation barely veiled (ok, not at all veiled), and…I scored the recipe! Naturally, what’s mine is yours. Enjoy this, my friends, a present from Cochon to me to you. It is a treasure.

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A day in the life of a professional eater...

Lately, I’ve had Spring Cleansing and fitness on the brain.

I mean, when eating is your job, how do you keep from blowing up like Violet Beauregard? I’ve often wondered how people in the biz do it. Some are just lucky. Ruth Reichl and Dana Cowin have both attributed their svelte physique to good genes. (Oh, if only I was blessed with a hummingbird’s metabolism. I’d be unstoppable.) For the rest of us, maintaining balance can be a daily struggle.

Michelin three-star superchef Masa Takayama runs every morning…and has lost 30 pounds in the past five years doing so. Jonathan Kauffman, SF editor at Tasting Table and former food critic at SF Weekly, follows a sensible plan of exercising 4-5 times a week (a mix of biking and an hour of cardio at the gym) and eating healthy on nights off. He shares:

“I don’t believe in detoxing, or rather, I never have a few days away from reviewing restaurants. I do cook mostly vegetarian on my non-review nights, just to make sure I eat as many fruits and vegetables as I can.”

If you follow Marcia Gagliardi’s Tablehopper (and you should), you know that this woman’s life is a decadent flurry of wining and dining, so I was delighted to pick her brain on this topic. Here’s what she had to say:

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Juicing

I never thought I’d be one of those girls who juiced. I’ve never believed in dieting, certainly never did a regimented cleanse before…they seemed gimmicky, rigid, and not very healthy. So why would I ever consider a juice cleanse?

Well, let’s face it. Food is my life. I make an effort to balance out the foie dinners and cheese benders with kale and quinoa, but sometimes all the fun catches up to me and I need a detox.

The whole juicing trend intrigued me, and seemed to be winning over fellow food bloggers by the masses. Joy the Baker loves cheeseburgers just like me, and she did it. Tracy Shutterbean broke it down for me and it seemed less intimidating. And Sylvie at Gourmande in the Kitchen made juicing for health sound downright delicious.

Mean Green

The idea behind juicing is that it allows your body to quickly absorb high levels of vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients, while giving your digestive track a much needed break.

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Where the magic happens

When Hua and I got married we decided to forgo the traditional bridal registry. Between his addiction to trolling Craigslist for restaurant going-out-of-business sales and my habit of goading him on, the last thing we needed was more stuff. We agreed that we’d much rather have a travel fund than receive a blender (…unless it was a Vitamix).

Our summer calendar is flooded with weddings this year, and it made me think of all those registry-gun-wielding brides out there. I imagine aisle after aisle of appliances, cookware, and knives to choose from. Which one to pick? Which will last the longest? Which is best? Can’t someone just make an informed decision for me?

Before you have a panic attack in the middle of Bed Bath & Beyond, the answer is Yes.

Overwhelmed Shopper, meet America’s Test Kitchen. America’s Test Kitchen testers spend roughly 2-3 months painstakingly product testing cookware so that only the best make it to your kitchen. They go into insane detail about how it was tested, what the user experience was, and how it matched up to the competition. They are the savvy shopper’s secret weapon.

Whether you’re preparing a registry, or just looking to build out a solid kitchen, here is your golden ticket. 20 Kitchen Essentials, gleaned from America’s Test Kitchen’s most recommended products. This is the dream team of kitchen equipment. These products have been hand-selected, and well, pardon my French, but I trust them because I just know they’ve been tested the shit out of.

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