Forking Tasty

Lizard’s Thicket from Anthony Anello on Vimeo.

Diabetic Blood Sugar Count
Pre-meal: 114 | Post-meal (1 hour): 146 | Insulin: 5 Units

This is going to be my last blog about my visit down in South Carolina until the next time I head down to visit. I asked Kelsey to take me to a southern style lunch and she knew just the place. Lizard’s Thicket is as southern as you can get. Southern cooking has a lot of fried food and hot desserts. I like the food in the south but I could not eat like this all the time. It’s is not the healthiest diet, especially for me

This book was send to me by my friend Allen. I met Allen in LA for the first time. I was behind the wheel of a rented black, Chevy Yukon and he was standing in front of the Roosevelt Hotel on his way to the Yahoo! Grammy party. Our short drive up the Sunset Strip solidified a few quick lessons. We were both creative guys and we both expressed it through cooking. Arguably, the single most important thing he taught me came years later as we both stood in my Brooklyn kitchen after yet another one of our Yahoo! projects wrapped. Now that might seem shallow but it’s not. The trick he showed me was how to heat up a tortilla. Put the stove top flame on med heat. Throw the tortilla directly on the flame. Flip in 5 seconds. Pull it. Stuff it. Eat it.

I had always heated my tortillas in a large hot pan. Not only did this dirty another pan in the cooking process but it took longer to heat the tortillas. So, why was this lesson so important? It is not about the tortillas as much it is about understanding a new or different way to do something. So often we look to solve problems from the perspective of what we have learned or how we were taught. Sometimes this is not the best or most logical way to do something. In this case, remove the middle man (the pan) and go directly to the source is more efficient in every way, not to mention it looks really cool. Apply this to creative thinking (in my case advertising) and watch out.

A few months back Allen took a trip to Mexico and happened upon a cooking class from famed Mexican chef Rick Bayless (Mexcian via Oklahoma). With our tortilla bond in mind, he picked up a copy of Rick’s latest book and sent it over to my BK kitchen. Inside are…

Diabetic Blood Sugar Count
Pre-meal: 115 | Post-meal (1 hour): 117 | Insulin: 5 Units

When I was down in South Carolina Kelsey and her parents wanted to take me to eat some southern barbeque. That was definitely on my agenda while I was down for my visit. They decided to bring me to Carolina Wings & Ale. We ordered slightly family style. I made sure we all ordered something different because I wanted to try everything. We ordered fried mushroom, chicken wings, pulled pork, ribs with a carolina dry rub, baby back ribs and five different sauces to dip in. It was a lot of fun and it was really good. Love a place with a lot of sauces.

I have known John as long as I have been alive. Over the last 35 years he has been many things to me. In precise order here is the list.

1. The first barrier of defense when my other cousin Joe would use me as a barbell
2. The person with the most number of comic books I have ever seen
3. A rock star DJ who apparently knows every single person on campus
4. Technical wizard on all things video
5. Super fun, caring father

Over that time we have ate hundreds of meals together. Many of them large. Like, Thanksgiving large. During the earlier meals I usually was wearing his retired clothing. Quick side note, for a long time i thought they were called Ham-y-downs. I never can get food off the brain. This meal was no exception in size. Although, I was NOT wearing any of his clothes.

What we ate:
beef ribs, pork ribs, pork chop, hot link, cole slaw, deviled eggs, corn bread mash

Home Cookin at the Johnson’s from Anthony Anello on Vimeo.

Diabetic Blood Sugar Count
Pre-meal: 136 | Post-meal (1 hour): 154 | Insulin: 5 Units

I had a great week down south with my girlfriend Kelsey. On our last night before heading home to New York, Kelsey’s parents, Mark and Karen, wanted to cook us dinner, Southern Style. Mark and Karen are such great and kind people. They really made me feel welcome in their home. As much as I wanted to help out in the kitchen there was no need to. Karen had taken care of everything the night before and the only thing left was to heat it up. As for Mark, he already had the Pork Loin on the grill on a low temp already cooking by the time Kelsey and I got to the house. Dinner and dessert was delicious. Thanks so much for everything Mark and Karen.

Biltmore Estate from Anthony Anello on Vimeo.

Diabetic Blood Sugar Count

Pre-meal: 96 | Post-meal (1 hour): 136 | Insulin: 5 Units

Kelsey and I went on a little road trip to Asheville North Carolina. The main attraction we went to go see was the Biltmore Estate, which is the biggest house in the U.S. There are almost 300 rooms in the house including a bowling ally and indoor swimming pool. However, that is not all to see on the estate. Here is what went down…

Diabetic Blood Sugar Count
Pre-meal: 94 | Post-meal (1 hour): 107 | Insulin: 4 Units

I am down in South Carolina to visit my girlfriend Kelsey. I have never been down in the Carolina’s before. I like it down here. It’s quiet, about 15 – 20 degrees warmer than New York, and there is a lot of great southern foods for me to try. Kelsey’s family are big fans of Forking Tasty and know I am going to be looking for some typical southern food that I am not used to up north…

That headline may leave some of you a bit grossed out. Let me clear this up quickly. These two activities were not done simultaneously. Last Friday night started out with my first trip to the Russian and Turkish baths in the east village. It seems ridiculous that I had not visited this ancient neighborhood hot spot for the for six years I lived just four blocks away. Never-the-less, I was being taken by a veteran so I had little worry other than; “How hungry do you get during this ritual?

I will forgo the full description of what took place in the bowels of this dank, decrepit, building and get straight to the food. For those who have never gone, let’s just say it is an attraction. Communal steam baths, ice plunge pools and really tiny towels make for a sweaty, medieval, journey into a masochistic, voyeuristic and narcissistic land of multi, age, shade and gender new yorkers. The point here is when you are done bathing you are really hungry. Like, eat a horse hungry. We didn’t do that but we did…

I met Cathy last year at SXSW in Austin. She was speaking on a panel about how to be a successful food blogger. Interestingly enough, this was before Forking Tasty had launched. After the session I went up to introduce myself because I loved her blog, we had a mutual friend and we called the same borough home. Since that moment last March I have competed against her, cooked with her and ate next to her on various occasions.

Last week…

Diabetic Blood Sugar Count
Pre-meal: 84 | Post-meal (1 hour): 95 | Insulin: 5 Units

It was an impromptu double date. Jay and I took our women to a Brazilian restaurant called Rice and Beans. This may be the first time in years that this has happened. We both have to great girlfriends and lucky for us they love food and trying new things. It’s always a good time when you eat with the Brothers Tasty and you know a good meal is about to be eaten…