Tartufo at Lupa

Hi:) The Brown Bonnet from Carvel Ice Cream was a staple of my childhood. It's hard to believe it now, but our family would ride our bikes together to the Carvel on Long Beach Road in Oceanside, Long Island, where I grew up. We'd dismount, mosey inside and place our orders and my parents' orders were always the same: a brown bonnet for my dad, a brown bonnet for my mom. What's a brown bonnet? Essentially: soft-serve ice cream dipped in a chocolate glaze that instantly hardens. You can get it at the Mr. Softee truck in New York; there it's just called a chocolate-dip. Wherever you get it, there's something immensely satisfying about ice cream in a chocolate shell. And after years of brown bonnets and chocolate-dips at Mr. Softee, I thought I knew everything there was to know about the magical combo of chocolate on the outside and ice cream on the inside---that is, until I had the tartufo at Lupa.

What Up With That?

Hi:) There's this SNL sketch that Craig and I find pretty funny. Actually, I'm not sure it's even that funny; it's more amusing than funny. Essentially, there's this talk show host (played by Kenan Thompson) who hosts a show called 'What Up With That?' and he sings a theme song (also called 'What Up With That?') and every time he starts to interview his guests, he starts the song again and nothing ever gets done and there's a man in a red track suit dancing and sometimes a choir and weird cameos and confetti. Maybe you just need to see it, after the jump.

The James Beard Awards' Chef's Night

Hi:) I have a secret to reveal: this year, I was a judge for the James Beard Awards.
Whoah, I just heard your collective gasp through the computer screen. Believe me, I gasped myself when they asked me. It's a pretty gasp-worthy fact, considering that the James Beard Awards are like the Oscars of the food world. At first, I was shocked, then I was terrified, then I was deeply honored and flattered. Unfortunately, I can't tell you what category I judged (that's a major stipulation) but I can tell you about my reward: two tickets to the big blow-out 'Chef's Night Out' party at SD-26.