I watched the first season of Master of None in one day because of course I did, and besides being thrilled to have Aziz back on my TV, it was a refreshing and realistic yet funny look at millennial life in New York. Obviously it was also amazing for those who are into food and the restaurant scene and plenty of work was put in by journalists to find where they ate on the show. Of course I loved that focus, but when I had the idea for this blog, I remembered a scene that prompted a "challenge accepted" moment from this show. In "Mornings," when Dev uses his spaghetti maker to make a vegetarian version of carbonara for his girlfriend, Rachel, my mind went into overdrive thinking about how I could make that a reality. Part of carbonara's trademark is the smoky meat used in the sauce, so I did a bunch of research to figure out how to replicate it and combined a few recipes that would help make the absence of meat a little more exciting while still resembling the source material. Now, I'm determined to make the real thing (technically in the show he makes both!).
Read more#tbt Ross's 'I'm Fine' Chilaquiles [Friends]
This part of the Friends plot is decidedly not my favorite, but I've always loved this episode. Ross is at his Ross-iest and the less than compelling plot point of some of the friends switching significant others does make for some great comic elements. I also just love the idea of going to a Friend's (literally!) place and having a full on Mexican meal with fajitas and margs. It just seems so fun! I've seen this episode more times than I can count, and the line "That is going to HURT tomorrow!" is both delivered perfectly forever burned into my brain. I feel his too-many-margs pain when he wakes up on the couch the next morning, it's just a great fun and new-feeling way to get a majority of the group together in a scene. When my friend Sam suggested we make these veggie chilaquiles, I saw the skillet and Ross holding a hot pan with his bare hands instantly came to mind, so I fudged it a bit because it's a dish that can be either chilaquiles OR fajitas.
Read more#tbt Peggy's Upgraded Sad Desk Sandwich [Mad Men]
This is not a post connected to The Handmaid's Tale, or not really, but I'm SO EXCITED that it's finally here. Not only was the book amazing and I actually have faith in Hulu to adapt it faithfully, but the cast is also amazing. In the lead up to the premiere, I've been seeing a lot of Elisabeth Moss, and since I finished The West Wing and Mad Men is long over, I realized I really miss seeing her on screen in something new. I decided to culinarily revisit her in the form of early Mad Men, when Peggy was a lowly secretary living at home and brought a sad desk lunch of a sandwich and bruised banana to work. Since there's nothing appetizing about that, I took the liberty to give it an upgrade and left the banana behind.
When I was in high school, my best friend, Julia, invented this amazing sandwich. She takes after her mom in the sense that she's very good at "shopping in her fridge," assessing what ingredients she has and assembling them into something delicious (whereas, I almost always need a recipe as a guide just like my mom). What my friends now call a "Julia Sandwich" is simple and full of fresh and complementary ingredients. It's the perfect thing to look forward to for lunch at work and it's always reliable for a Saturday Netflix marathon lunch break with a friend or few. Just set up all the ingredients and let your guests make their own.
Read morePeter Gregory's Sesame Hamburger Buns [Silicon Valley]
Silicon Valley is one of those shows that's amazing and you are always reminded as soon as it's back and you can't wait for next week's episode. I love this episode from the first season, where awkwardness and tensions are high and we still don't know the characters and world so well. Eccentricities are common amongst the people in the world, and this scene with Peter Gregory and everything on the menu from Burger King was so memorable, I thought I had to celebrate the return of the new season of the show with the real subject of that scene. They seem kind of random on their own, but who doesn't keep a few buns on reserve in the freezer for burger night or one of those nights that you just have to go with a frozen veggie burger. I already had all the ingredients for these, so on one of those days, why not go with something homemade?
Read moreGus Fring's Los Pollos Hermanos Fried Chicken [Better Call Saul/Breaking Bad]
Breaking Bad had people wishing Los Pollos Hermanos was as pervasive as McDonald's, and Gus Fring was an amazing stoic villain. We're getting more of him on Better Call Saul, and there's lots of publicity to go with it (it's even coming to life!). Although that restaurant seemed more like a bone-in chicken type of joint, I was in the mood to eat some tenders. I'm not shy about my dislike for cooking with hot oil, so I dove yet again into oven frying. I found this great easy recipe that's practically fast food (minus marinading time), and they taste just as good as anything you'd get off a restaurant menu.
Read moreLiv's Spicy "Brain" (Shrimp) Flatbread [iZombie]
When iZombie was premiering, I was so excited Rob Thomas was coming out with a new show. I had recently binged Veronica Mars, very late to the game, and his new comic book adaptation sounded like a fun new take on his mid aughts high school detective show. It ended up being as catchy and endearing as its predecessor, with a zombie twist. Our protagonist, Liv, needs to eat brains to survive, and the show does a really fun take on this trope. Each episode dedicates some time to show how Live prepares her brains du jour, always with a clever new "recipe." Before I had the idea for this blog, this is something I wanted to replicate. Even though it's pretty gross when you think too hard about it, I appreciate that the writers/prop team takes the time to and creativity to highlight this trait in our zombie lead. The show returns this week for a new season, and I jazzed up a brain pizza she made in the first season, of course subbing brain for shrimp, the closest food I could come up with to take its place. I also made sure it had some spice because that's a fun palate detail of iZombie's undead. For all the "brain food" we see on the show, someone from the website Cactus Pop documented every dish.
Read moreJessica Jones's Revenge Chinese Takeout [Jessica Jones]
We all have those days where all you can do for dinner is park it on the couch and order your favorite Chinese feast, knowing full well it's way more than you can eat and likely all fried. It's delicious at the time, but 20 minutes later, your insides feel a little greased and it takes Herculean effort just to get up to put the lefties in the fridge. A friend of mine sent this recipe for sheet pan fried rice to me, and I knew I had to try it. I don't typically dabble in order-in staples, but this is a much healthier version of a delivery go-to, plus it's super quick, it almost seems too good to be true. When I thought about shows I've watched, a lot of them have good Chinese takeout moments, but I thought I'd assign this one to one of my favorite characters in recent memory. At the end of the first season of Jessica Jones (on Netflix), she tricks the season's villain, Kilgrave, into eating drugged Chinese food so she can take over her situation. It's such a badass move, and since Women's History Month is coming to a close, I thought it was appropriate to dedicate a dish to her.
Read more#tbt Ron Swanson's All The Bacon and Eggs Pie [Parks and Recreation]
A few things went into the making of this post. First, I had an immediate reaction to seeing this post on Tasty and knew I had to make this recipe ASAP. Because of that, I didn't even really attempt to change anything to it, so I'm just laying that out there. Another thing is that one of these days, I will make pie crust from scratch, but this was one of those times where I needed to know it was going to operate as planned, so I went store-bought. And the last and most fun thing is that I've been going over and over what recipe I could make for the "all the bacon and eggs you have" moment in Parks and Rec. It's from one of my favorite strings of episodes in the show, and it's just so memorable in the delivery and specificity and Ron-ness of it all. When I saw this recipe and was so excited about it in general, my immediate thought was that it's the perfect thing to make for this wonderful Ron moment. I was also trying to think of clever ways to prep for Pi Day because I'm a huge nerd, and this was just the very timely answer I was looking for.
Read more#tbt Serena van der Woodsen's Not-On-The-Menu Truffle Grilled Cheese [Gossip Girl]
My love for the first two seasons of Gossip Girl runs super deep. I watched the pilot live when I was starting my senior year of high school, and I remember this "grilled cheese with truffle oil" moment because I was largely unaware of what truffles were at the time (ha!). Of course, I knew it was fancy because it was Chuck and Serena and they were in The Palace, but then Chuck tried to use off-the-menu fancy grilled cheese as currency for sex and things were turned up to 100 immediately. After the pilot, they changed a bunch of things (like Chuck taking a limo everywhere instead of THE BUS (?!?!?!)), namely that he stopped being a sexual predator because...problems. Soon after the episode aired, the restaurant The Palace started offering truffle grilled cheese as a menu item for something like 15 dollars (or 30 for a soup pairing). I've always wanted to make one of my own, but the pressure honestly made me nervous. Grilled cheese is pretty basic, but this had stakes and I wanted it to taste extra special. Plus I have a bad habit of completely burning bread when I make grilled cheese. I added some extra flavors like crispy onions, used four cheeses and did A LOT of research on how to not completely burn the bread when melting the cheese. This came out delicious, flavorful, crunchy and cheesy on the first try. I may have teared up. xoxo....
Read more#tbt + Awards Show Eats: The Icehouse Shrimp Burger [Dawson's Creek]
For this #tbt show on a Friday, we're taking it back to 1998. Nearly 20 years ago, a Clinton was president but The Parents Television council found the show too sexual and many groups would protest it being on the air. It was this time when 2017 Oscar nominee Michelle Williams would come on the scene as the show's resident "rebellious girl" banished to Capeside all the way from the big city. Food doesn't play a huge part on the show, but since Joey's family and The Icehouse are synonymous until SPOILER it burns down at the end of season 2, it's what I went to when I thought to honor Williams's nominated performance in another role that takes place by a seaside town in Massachusetts.
Read moreChicago-Style Deep Dish Pizza [The Good Wife/The Good Fight]
Okay, so this is kind of cheating, BUT it's deep dish pizza so it's an automatic pass, right? Last year (in my old apartment with questionable lighting), I made this to watch the season finale of The Good Wife so we could celebrate with some Chicago fare to say goodbye to a Chicago-based show. Now that the blog is up and running and the spinoff, The Good Fight is up and running, I thought it was a great time to post this instant favorite. Although it's a huge oversight that (to my recollection) we never see them eat deep dish in the show, it can be inferred, right? I live in New York surrounded by amazing pizza, but there are times when deep dish pizza is the only answer. I was really nervous to try this out, considering when you go to the original Uno in Chicago, you order about an hour in advance, I thought the process invited more than one way to completely mess up. Turns out, it's time consuming, but I didn't have much to worry about and I was treated to leftover deep dish for days (it's just as good re-heated).
Read moreAwards Show Eats: SAG Awards / Freddy's BBQ cauliflower [House of Cards]
I know House of Cards is an old name on the awards circuit, and it wasn't a favorite to win at the SAG awards, but how damn good do those ribs look every time Francis goes to his former favorite spot?! Kevin Spacey and Robin Wright were both nominated, so I thought a veggie version of the politician's favorite DC eats would be a good way to enjoy my favorite awards show. Food from a political show felt right on this particular night, anyway.
Read moreOlivia Pope's every meal popcorn [Scandal]
Olivia Pope has a lot things about her life "handled" (or, she did until things went CRAZY a couple seasons ago), but her diet was never one of those things. For someone so in command of insane situations, we pretty much only ever see her eating popcorn with red wine out of her signature Crate & Barrel wine glasses. Even though she's an established woman with more than enough means to at least get delivery, she makes the sad choice to eat several servings of popcorn on her own. But at least she has it together enough to always put it in a chic glass bowl. That way you know this questionable nutritional choice is deliberate.
Read moreI've created a muenster (mini) burger [Bob's Burgers]
I've been watching "adult cartoons" ever since I was probably too young and my brother had control of the remote, and when Bob's Burgers came along, I assumed it was one and the same with The Simpsons and Family Guys of the world—dysfunctional American family with lovable functional qualities. And though that's the idea, Bob's has a special, even more lovable punniness to it, both in the illustration and writing and it is always fun and fresh. One of its trademark features is its daily punny specials written on the chalkboard behind the counter. Some genius already made a blog and a cookbook from it, so I used it as source material to tackle all the delicious sounding burgers in the show. The Belchers don't have a ton going for them, but their burgers always sound pretty amazing.
Read more#tbt Sookie's not-for-kids mac and cheese [Gilmore Girls]
I started to watch Gilmore Girls almost a year ago. I didn't really like it when it was on originally, so I wasn’t really expecting to like it when I decided to give it a try during a winter laundry day last January. But I fell hard, and proceeded to watch nothing but Gilmore for the next 6 weeks. Now, although I’ve already watched it about four times through since my initial watch, I still associate it with a cozy, cold weather vibe. Winter also comes with one of the show's main features, the Gilmore Fantasy diet that comes with each episode. Some say gross, I say jealous. I digress. As soon as I read that there was going to be an unofficial Gilmore Girls cookbook in the middle of last year, my obsession was fresh and I was already in the planning stages of this blog, so I knew I had to have it. I backed the kickstarter and anxiously awaited my book, which came in the fall.
Read moreYom Kippur bagel casserole [Transparent]
From the first season out, Transparent has been a constant on the awards circuit. Like House of Cards for Netflix, it put Amazon on the map. Though I can’t relate to a lot of the issues in the show, which is probably why it makes a great watch, I CAN relate to having a modern Jewish family that eats a lot of amazing food on holidays. Season two featured a big Yom Kippur scene complete with the remnants of bagels and lox, so I reinterpreted this mainstay Jewish option with something a little more imaginative.
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