It's Bacon

I have heard of infusing vodka with fruits, mint, and vanilla...but BACON, that was a new one for me. This past weekend I ventured out to Greenpoint, Brooklyn for Sunday Funday with some friends. We started off at a place called 68. They had been infusing vodka with bacon as an expirement for the past few weeks. The day we arrived happend to be the day they were testing it out. We tried bacon martinis and bacon bloody marys. I think the vodka worked better in the bloody mary because it wasn't too overpowering. It just had a hint of bacon flavor; where the bacon martini was extreemly potent. I am not sure if my palet could stomach more than one bacon infused beverage.

How to Infuse Vodka:

http://www.infused-vodka.com/vodkainfusionstep-by-step.aspx

Toasty Tip: Put green olives stuffed with bacon and blue cheese into your martinis and pickeled snap peas into your bloody marys. They did it and I loved it!

GOOP

I am secretly in love with Gwyneth Paltrow. I think she is so freaking cute, is a wonderful mother, and always involves herself in things that make the world a better place. Oh and of course...she is a foodie like me!

Anyway moving on...Gwyneth has a blog/website called GOOP that I am obsessed with. She blogs about six categories (make, see, do, get, be, see). She discuss anything from what she is wearing this fall to her favorite organic baby food. The cool part is, being that she has a lot of celebrity friends she frequently gets them to chime in on their ideas.

Obviously my favorite category is MAKE where she posts recipes from famous chefs and "how to" videos. Check out her most recent MAKE post.

http://goop.com/newsletter/47/

Toasty Tip: Sign up for her weekly newsletter and get goopin!

Your "Cup" Cakes Look "Double D" Licious

I am in my friend, KD's, wedding and she had a lingerie shower last weekend. What looked like a regular cake turned out to be a cake made from vanilla and chocolate cupcakes. What a cute idea and a great way for people to serve themselves.

Toasty Tip: Don't eat Fondant icing (the purple bows above). It it edible but tastes like rubber. It is used for decorating cakes as it is extremely pliable. Ever seen Ace of Cakes?

Guac Off

While in San Fran I stumbled upon this book which must have been made for me. It consists of two of my favorite things, guacamole and competition. Guac Off has 30 guac recipes and teaches you how to start you own guacamole competition. I can't wait to give the recipes a try. Get ready friends, I could be organizing a little guac competition of my own!

On a side note, when googling "Guac Off" to find out more about the book, the top website that came up was http://www.guacoff.org/. I can't believe I never knew about this. Too bad I missed this years competition. However, I have 9 months to perfect a guac recipe!

Toasty Tip: When picking a ripe avocado, look for ones that are dark green or a brownish color. Then, press you thumb gently into the avocado and make sure it gives. Also, make sure there aren't any air pockets where the skin has separated from the inside, as those tend to create mold pockets. Ripe avocados will only last about a day or two, so pick greener ones if you will not be using it right away.

My First Meal

I set a goal for myself to cook more and experiment with food in my new apartment. Enough talking...the walk has begun! My first meal consisted of grilled chicken, summer squash, and brussel sprouts. Simple, easy, delicious.

A Toasty Tip: Only dress the veggies with olive oil, sea salt, and pepper. Cook the summer squash in a skillet on low with a lid on top for 10 minutes to get them nice and soft.