Forking Tasty

Brooklyn Cupcakes

This past Sunday was NYC’s annual Puerto Rican day parade. Arguably the biggest and best parade of the summer in my opinion. Interestingly, all the flags and Boriquan pride reminded me it was a good time to eat some cupcakes. There has been a fantastic new comer to the overexposed, uber trendy cupcake market and this Sunday there was no better day to celebrate it. You see, this little shop doesn’t host a duo of pink checkered, puffy sleeved, laced fronted, A-line, above the knee, dress wearing hipsters. You won’t find the staff with thick framed colored glasses delicately icing and stacking their toy cakes like fresh baked jewels. On the contrary, behind the counter you’ll find a troop of hard working woman (and men) multiplying cupcakes faster than a wet mogwai. Every time I’ve visited the shop it’s been engulfed with fresh cakes in various states of completion. Boxes, trays and cake displays have pushed out of the kitchen hoping to find an empty front of house table to temporarily rest on before being escorted outside into the delivery truck. I’ve often wanted to ask if every little Brooklyn girl with a birthday placed an order simultaneously. Needless to say they are busy. They must be doing something right.

The power behind this miniature cake making madness are…

David Lebovitz’s Deep Chocolate

The Canadian is having a France fetish this year. She recently dug into David Lebowitz book “The Sweet Life in Paris”, which she loved. It inspired a test kitchen experiment that began with this chocolate delight pulled from the pages of his book. It ended with some mini cake experiments, molten chocolate and tickets to Paris held on Kayak. All in an evenings work. Look for it on a Forking Tasty Supper menu soon.

Christmas Cookies

If you know anything about how our family celebrates the holidays it is not like your ordinary family holiday. No, our holidays is packed with a ridiculous amount of food. Basically, if there is 10 people coming to eat we cook for 30. What do you expect, were Italian and we like to eat our delicious food more than just one day. We eat it over the course of a week, sometimes more. For instance, for dessert we made 15 different christmas cookies. Some of them were made 3x the regular recipe amount. Lets put it this way, picture your family dining room table that seats about 8. Now picture that entire table filled with tins of christmas cookies some 2 or 3 tins high. Oh and by the way, we also had a few cakes to make things interesting. Here is the rundown of the homemade goodness….

Well Off The Diet

…. Not that I am on a diet but I typically will not eat like this all at once. It was the southerners and my last night in Barcelona. The night before be had a massive dinner in Barcelona (post coming soon) and I think it expanded our stomachs creating this void that needed to be filled. What else but to fill that void with food that really tastes good but is really bad for you. We didn’t want to have a sit down dinner but to walk around and sample food here and there.

From Nasty To Tasty

Forking Tasty Italian Ice Cream Sandwich, Palermo Sicily from Anthony Anello on Vimeo.

A few posts ago Jay had a post about an ice cream sandwich called Literal Ice Cream Sandwich. Jay was not a fan at all. I’m a sandwich man and love making sandwiches out of everything. So I had to try the Literal Ice Cream sandwich. I went all the way to Palermo Sicily to try it out….

Road Trip (Part 1)

I recently took a road trip from South Carolina to Key West Florida with the southerner. The trip should take about 14 hours from start to finish. However, we did break up the trip and spent a couple days in a few places along the way and back….

A Chilling Experience

The southerner and I spent the day walking around town and soaking in the rich history that Charleston has to offer. Of course we got hungry. We ended up at a restaurant called Coast where they had half price bottles of wine that particular night, lucky us. We had a couple of fish dishes for dinner but that is not what this post is about. It was where we went after for dessert that is postable. We walked down to Market Street and went to Kaminsky’s Café. We wanted another glass of wine and a bite of dessert. The great thing about Kaminsky is they make their desserts fresh everyday which means that don’t always have the same desserts. They don’t put the desserts on the menu but in a glass case as soon as you walk in. Great placement for their glass case, and I am sure many people have to stop and come in as they walk by and see the gorgeous desserts in the window. We settled on a double chocolate cheesecake….

14 Excuses for Skipping Dinner

Nonsense happens at the holidays. I am sure for many families that comes in different forms. With no surprise my families nonsense comes in edible form. The crux of this derelict family trait is THE COOKIE TABLE. It sits in the corner of the dining room and taunts us all with silent sweetness. The first “official” cookie course doesn’t come until Christmas Eve but each of us quickly falls into temptation after the confectionery seduction uncrosses it’s proverbial legs. By the time dessert on Christmas Eve arrives each of has already dipped our fingers into one or more of the tightly sealed but loosely guarded cookie tins.

Let’s dig into this tradition and these baked menaces one by one…

Unreal Scallops in B.C.

Ferris Oyster Bar – Victoria B.C. from Anthony Anello on Vimeo.

I have not been to Victoria British Columbia a lot yet. I just started my next contract on the ship and was recommended by two friends to head to Ferris’ Upstairs Oysterbar. I only have a couple of weeks left on these Alaska runs and I can’t wait to go back. Victoria is a fun little city with lots of restaurants and bars. Hope I get a chance to try as many places as I can.

The Road Less Eaten

This morning was wonderful. One of those morning that unfolds with effortless decision making, timeless scheduling and non-strenuous motion only a lazy Sunday can produce. I have been living in Greenpoint for the better part of 5 years now and the restaurant scene is just now hitting it’s stride. I should quantify that, but will not waste your time with that in this post. This post is simple. It is easy. It is about something fun, yummy and frivolous.

Franklin St. has long been ignored when…