I Heart Richard Serra

My trip to New York this month was filled with wonderful things. In addition to various hot dog activities, there was a recording session with the Badgers and Ewald made bacon-wrapped figs dipped in chocolate. The music was rough and I learned that attempting to play Duran Duran's "Rio" on ukulele is harder than I thought. And good lord. Figs. Wrapped in bacon. Dipped in chocolate. Incredible.

On my last day in New York, we went to the MOMA to see the Richard Serra retrospective. His work is so amazing and I think he might be my favorite sculptor. To be in the presence of one of his works is just thrilling. Serra creates these magestic metal torqued ellipses and spirals that have subtle bends and twists. I feel like you have to spend a good five or ten minutes with one of his pieces to "get it." Upon first glance, the sheer size and material of his works can be very intimidating. But the closer you get, the more inviting they become. Walking in and around them is dizzying and mezmerizing. They manipulate sounds as well as your perspective and balance. Heck, I can't describe his works. I lost the art history lingo when I graduated 14 years ago. But if you have the opportunity to see Richard Serra's work, I highly recommend that you go.


All the pictures from our Richard Serra experience can be found here.

Hey, Your Bacon's In My Chocolate!!

I had dinner with Christa one night at Torrero's last month where I ordered bacon-wrapped shrimp. I declared "wrapping anything in bacon makes it taste better. I'd even eat bacon-wrapped chocolate."

Lo and behold!!! I walked into the hair salon yesterday to find this:



#1 ingredient: Milk Chocolate. #2 ingredient: Bacon. #3 ingredient: Salt.


Those crazy Vosges chocolatiers who create things such as a wasabi chocolate bar or curry chocolate bar have now taken chocolate to the next level. THEY PUT BACON IN CHOCOLATE. And holy pork, it tastes amazing. I knew that Christa would be just as excited as I was.


We were both a little hesitant about tasting it. But it was really really good. I am not a fan of milk chocolate in general... the darker the better in my book.

But if any of you have been to my house lately for a chocolate tasting, you know that I've been loving this dark chocolate bar with smoked sea salt from a chocolatier in Beaufort, NC. So, I was ready for the bacon. Logically, it was the next step.

The milk chocolate was perfect... anything darker would've overpowered the salty meaty goodness of the bacon which was crunchy and very tasty. Not "Bacos"-flavored, but real, honest-to-goodness, right-off-the-hog BACON!!! The consistency of the bacon in the bar was perfect and provided a divinely meaty finish to each bite. (Be sure to click on the photo of the bar and look at that piece of bacon... it looks so delicious!)

Wacky chocolate makes me so happy.

Retail Therapy

Christa calls: "How's the ankle? Do you need anything? Do you need a trip to the store? Do you need any groceries?"

"Well, I am low on chocolate and champagne. Oh, and I need some outsider art."

"Do you need anything else?"

"Yeah, could you help me hang some pictures in my living room?"

"Sure."

Best Saturday ever.

I Miss Cooking

As I've been sitting here confined to my polka-dotted chair, I've been watching the magazines pile up. I don't know how I accumulated so many magazine subscriptions. I don't even read all of them. For instance, I receive the Duke alumni magazine which I only sometimes open. Boo Duke!! The New Yorker is so chock full of information that I feel overwhelmed and usually end up reading one article a month if I am lucky. Then there is the local Sun magazine of which I usually just browse the Readers Write section. I have two music magazine subscriptions, which is too much, but I think that one was a gift.

Today, Saveur came in the mail. This and Cooks Illustrated are my favorite magazines which is somewhat ironic since I have never cooked until very recently. And and it's going to be awhile before I return to my culinary explorations. On Saveur's cover is the tastiest looking salad ever. It's a spinach salad with shallots and bacon, much like the one that I made for Elizabeth & Noah a couple months ago. It looks so tasty. My diet of the past couple weeks has been lacking adequate leafy foods. I am dying for some greens. Especially greens with bacon. My diet is extremely limited these days.

As I was flipping through Saveur this evening, I saw various articles about elaborate kitchens and places that I cannot afford to visit. But then, I came across this one photograph and my jaw dropped and I immediately started salivating. It was a picture of chocolate. It was porn. Chocolate porn. Handmade corn tortilla filled with melted chocolate. Delicious. The recipe looks easy enough, but it calls for four cups of masa harina. There are enough Latino groceries in Lakewood that I am sure that I can find it around here.

The more recipes I read, the more I realize I have no clue what goes into the food I eat or how it is prepared. Maybe once I am better I'll try to continue teaching myself how to cook and learning where to find certain ingredients in the grocery. Until then, I think I'll set the goal of getting well enough to go out to eat supper at Lantern one night in the next couple weeks. Rossi still owes me dinner.

RIP Bobby "Boris" Pickett

I was saddened to receive the news this weekend that Bobby "Boris" Pickett died last Wednesday from leukemia. I don't know much about him except that he wrote and performed one of my all-time favorite songs, "The Monster Mash."

This song always makes me sooooooo happy. I really love it and find that I usually have to fight myself to not play it every week on my radio show. I introduced the Badgers, of Brooklyn, NY, to the song. Inspired by Mr. Pickett's graveyard smash, the Badgers recorded an entire album of spooky songs and even made a video of the track "At the Creepy Dolphin." I remember begging Christa on more than one occasion to let me play "Monster Mash" on her radio show, Divaville. Sometimes, although reluctantly, she'd give in.

Speaking of radio shows, no more for me for awhile. I must let my foot heal and it seems that the only way to do this is by sitting still and keeping it elevated. I hope that I'll be able to get better before WXYC's summer schedule begins. Otherwise, it'll be fall before I am back on the air.

But I am not too down about that today because I GOT NEIL SEDAKA AND CHOCOLATE IN THE MAIL!!! Whoopee!! The chocolate is from my all-time favorite chocolatier, Jacques Torres. Woo hoo!!! And doesn't everybody dream of finding Neil Sedaka's Definitive Collection in his/her mailbox?!? I can scratch that dream off my list. (Thanks Fenna!)

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

May your day be filled with hotdogs and chocolate (but not together at the same time... that seems grody unless the chocolate is in the chili and then it is quite tasty.)