Category: You Are What You Eat

I'm in Chicago today, seeing my baby niece. Sorry for the lack of YAWYE this week.

Name: Cecily Upton

One small note before we begin: I want to emphasize, in case it’s not clear from my answers below, how much I love pork--in all its tender and fatty or cured and chewy forms. I think it is one of God’s greatest gifts to this planet, which, I suppose, would mean that I don’t worship to the same God as the Jews or the Muslims (and therefore the Christians? This is getting complicated). I say this because, if, as Ganda reckons, you are what you eat, then I am--proudly, gloriously and unabashedly--a pig.

[Swine is divine. -- Ed.]

Occupation: Photographer/Non-Profit Minion/Reluctant Waitress

Borough: Brooklyn

Relationship status:cecily [at] eatdrinkonewoman {dot} com

What did you eat today?

Note: Since it’s 3:30 in the afternoon, I am going to start with dinner last night and work my way towards the present moment.

Clams and sausage from the Greenmarket with scapes from Hearty Roots Community Farm CSA and sage from my fire escape

Sauteed summer squashes with bacon made by my meat-curing roommate

A meat plate with Dario and Mole sausages from Armandino Batali (my new BFF) and Coppa from the aforementioned, well-endowed in the meat department roommate.

CSA salad of mizuna, arugula, and butter lettuce with tomatoes and carrots

Fresh Greenmarket strawberries, blueberries and cherries [Yay summer! -- Ed.]

Pistachios

Lots of Riesling, Vinho Verde and Hendricks on the rocks with fresh lime juice

Coffee from Café Regular with Half & Half (truly the best cup I’ve had in a long time)

Fried green tomato sandwich with Pimenton French fries from Rose Water Restaurant and a taste of their blueberry buttermilk pancakes with lemon ricotta and pistachios

More strawberries and blueberries

More pistachios

What do you never eat?

There’s nothing I won’t try, but I never eat fast food.

Complete this sentence: In my refrigerator, you can always find:

Film. And butter. The rest depends on my mood, my cash flow (or lack thereof) and the season.

What is your favorite kitchen item?

That dishwasher I’ve been dreaming about.

Where do you eat out most frequently?

Marlow and Sons, Prune, Rose Water.

World ends tomorrow. What would you like for your last meal?

Oysters from North Haven Island, Maine

The meat plate at Marlow and Sons, with their tissue-paper thin prosciutto and addiction-forming finnochio sausage

Meatball sliders from Little Owl (or perhaps some braised pork belly)

The ribeye from Prune, medium rare, with extra parsley shallot butter

A salad made with greens from my CSA with lemon and olive oil

A plate of sliced, perfectly ripe, deliciously juicy tomatoes with sea salt and olive oil

A cheese plate with selections from Ms. Anne Saxelby’s shop

A warm, sticky date bun with caramel sauce and crème fraiche

To drink: a Pimm’s Cup, a glass of grapefruity Riesling, a glass of Collezione Ceci Lambrusco, a glass of Neyers Zinfandel, some mead, and a macchiato, in that order.

And then it wouldn’t matter if the world ended the next day, because I would die of a heart attack right there at the dinner table.

See Cecily's photography here. Visit her blog here.

Name: Michael Harlan Turkell

Occupation: Photographer, BACK OF THE HOUSE Project (www.harlanturk.com)

Borough: Brooklyn

Relationship status: Domesticated

What did you eat today?

For breakfast, some homemade fennel seed sourdough toast, with a little bit of butter and the best damn greek honey, given to me by Karen Waltuck of Chanterelle. My friends over at Marlow & Sons in Williamsburg sell the heather and pine varietals, "must trys". A cup of Leelanau's Yrgacheffe, and snuck a bit of coconut chocolate birthday cake from Betty Bakery in Brooklyn.

Lunch, just some of the same bread with Zaytoons hummus, and a glass of iced Avalanche Rooibos tea made by Portsmouth Tea Company.

My girfriend's real birthday, so we went for drinks at Freeman's. Had two blackberry brambles, she had a mint julep and a Manhattan, while splitting a hot artichoke dip. Dinner at Prune in the East Village. Fried chickpeas on the table to start. She had the pasta kerchief with poached egg and brown butter, I had the fried sweetbreads with bacon and capers (some of the best in the city). Sides of broccolini with yellow wax beans and artichokes with brown butter vinaigrette. Dessert was greek yogurt with stewed rhubarb and sugar "hay". Nice bottle of Routas, Rouviere Rose 2006 to boot.

What do you never eat?

Raw white onions (thinly sliced red onions are okay) and shrimp (allergic).

Complete this sentence: In my refrigerator, you can always find:

A plethora of beverages from tea/coffee to wine/beer. Try to keep a growler of Sixpoint Bengali Tiger in the spring/summer, and their Brownstone Ale in the fall/winter, and almost always...seltzer. Many a trial batch recipes, my latest, homemade bitters (way too peppery, but am convincing myself of otherwise). Just made some tristar strawberry and rhubarb vinegar. Have dark, sweet, and sour cherries ready for inspiration. Greenmarket fruit, veggies, fish, and meat when in season. I go to Saxelby Cheese in the Essex Market for whatever Anne suggests, and Stinky on Smith Street for their fresh sheep's ricotta.

What is your favorite kitchen item?

Take-out tupperware, for my array of mise en place. And my Super Benriner Japanese Mandoline.

Where do you eat out most frequently?

Good question. This is the season I love to cook, but like going to restaurants for little snacks rather than meals. The Monday Room -- Brad Farmerie of Public Restaurant uses this space to test his amuse bouches. The confit duck, foie gras and vanilla ballotine is amazing and only $2.50 for a taste. The "old school pig's head terrine" is awesome. I go to this place El Nuevo Portal on Smith Street in Brooklyn for my BLT's (favorite sandwich). Love sitting outside at Frankies 457 for their fennel, celery root & parsley salad, oh, and all things pork.

World ends tomorrow. What would you like for your last meal?

I'll go to Boston for pasta by Chef Barbara Lynch of No 9 Park. Have dreams about her Prune Stuffed Gnocchi with seared foie gras, vin santo glaze. My girlfriend can cook her famous peach cake (which I've instituted as my birthday cake), but would have to have it ready two days before the world ends, because I love it so much the day after for leftovers.

Visit Michael Harlan Turkell's plog.

I'm going to the Cape tonight with La Doug, Heej and Francis, so there won't be any You Are What You Eat this week. (Heej's work, by the way, will be featured in the next issue of Blind Spot magazine.)

These last few months, I've been working like a dog, practically every free minute of the day. I'm getting sort of contracted and hard, like a steroidal zit. I've also been going to the gym to try and alleviate the stress, but I think it's only concentrating my aggression. I really need this weekend to step back and take measure of my life. Clambake or bust!

Name: Wirt Cook

Occupation: cook/caterer

Borough: Manhattan

Relationship status: fine, thanks

What did you eat today?

One of those Naked Red Machine drinks, an iced coffee and some cold pizza with pepperoni and olives, and some cold pasta with black olives and black truffle.

What do you never eat?

Cauliflower, pesto, kimchee, natto, pine nuts, raisins. [Natto I get, but no kimchee? You and Steingarten. I don’t get it. A piece of young kimchee wrapped around a hot ball of rice and a little beefy bit? How could you kick that out of bed? –Ed.]

Complete this sentence: In my refrigerator, you can always find:

Several varieties of mustards, pickles, lots of hot sauce, beer, Coca-cola, unsweetened iced tea, sardines, goose fat, bacon fat, butter.

What is your favorite kitchen item?

My Le Creuset skillets -- or my deep fryer -- which I do use an awful lot.

Where do you eat out most frequently?

Katz's is my favorite, or Blue Ribbon Sushi cause its open so late, Lombardi's, if I’m over by Dirty Bird or Corner Bistro I try to stop in.

World ends tomorrow. What would you like for your last meal?

Well...I would definitely want some of the barbecued shrimp from Pascal's Manale in New Orleans, then I’d probably ask Alex Guarnaschelli -- the chef at Butter -- if she'd make me a tasting menu -- there would also be a substantial amount of whiskey involved.

Name: Janet Ozzard

Occupation: Strategist editor, New York magazine

Borough: Manhattan

Relationship status: dating

What did you eat today?

For breakfast I had oatmeal and a banana; I always go for brown-spotted bananas over the green-stemmed ones. I don’t understand people who eat underripe bananas.

Midmorning I had a cup of this beautifully-scented Yogi tea called cocoa spice. Every time I make it, people say, “What is that? It smells wonderful.” For lunch I had an arugula salad with chickpeas, artichoke hearts, roasted onions and cucumber, with insufficient balsamic vinaigrette. We had to taste some chocolate mid-afternoon, but it wasn’t very good so I won’t tell you where it was from; I don’t want to hurt their feelings. For dinner my friend Gordon and I went to Beppe, with the intention of having a drink and nothing more. We ended up with tuna pizza, sweetbreads, their excellent sautéed calamari, an order of headcheese ravioli with peas and mint, and an haute s’more for dessert, all washed down with Tuscan rose followed by some digestivo that Tom, the manager, poured for us.

What do you never eat?

Raw chicken and Dr. Pepper. I’d have to be pretty dehydrated to contemplate Dr. Pepper.

Complete this sentence: In my refrigerator, you can always find:

Seltzer. FreshDirect was invented so that I could have an endless supply of seltzer delivered to my door. And citrus. And Fee Bros. bitters. Together, they make a delightful summer drink.

What is your favorite kitchen item?

My microplane. Isn’t that weird? I love to grate things (see above: citrus) [Did you know that they make Microplane foot files now? Why don’t they think that’s weird? –-Ed.]

Where do you eat out most frequently?

Lately, I’ve been a slave to Momofuku Ssam but I love Maremma for Cesare’s amazing homemade sausage and lentils and the Tuscan fries. Ai yi yi.

World ends tomorrow. What would you like for your last meal?

To start: very very thin crust pizza robiola, like they make at Fred’s, but I’m talking really cracker-like crust. That’s served with prosecco. Then for the main course, a perfectly-roasted chicken, like you get at old-school French bistros, with French fries. We’re drinking Pommerol with that. Then there’s a cheese course, with salad. Then warm brownie a la mode, followed by a digestivo. And sex before, of course.

Name: Micah Sommers

Occupation:Non-Profit Director

Borough: Brooklyn

Relationship status: Single Parent (5 year old mutt)

What did you eat today?

Ice coffee with four Sugar in the Raw packets from Victory Café accompanied by a toasted everything bagel with lox, cream cheese, capers (they were out of red onions).

What do you never eat? Movie theater candy.

Complete this sentence: In my refrigerator, you can always find:

Dijon mustard, eggs, something going bad.

What is your favorite kitchen item?

Large cast iron pan that I’ve hauled with me for the past ten years.

Where do you eat out most frequently?

Frank in the East Village—they do an incredible grilled octopus appetizer. So damm good.

World ends tomorrow. What would you like for your last meal?

Anything cooked by my father—he’s an incredible chef that can create the most amazing meals from absolutely nothing. Sorry Mom.

Name: Priya George

Occupation: Radio Producer

Borough: Brooklyn

Relationship status: Scrambled

What did you eat today?

For breakfast I had a ham and cheese croissant from the Victory, and Raspberry Yogurt by Emmi. For lunch, leftover Cuban food (fried fish, rice and beans). For dinner I intend to have a nice salad with tuna and capers. But the road to hell is paved with good intentions.

What do you never eat?

Heavy cream.

Complete this sentence: In my refrigerator, you can always find:

Condiments from mustard (at least three kinds) and a variety of chutneys.

What is your favorite kitchen item?

Tongs and my teapot.

Where do you eat out most frequently?

Bar Tabac, it's the closest restaurant to me.

World ends tomorrow. What would you like for your last meal?

My mother's lamb biriyani.

Name: Martin Gelin

Occupation: Journalist

Borough: Brooklyn

Relationship status: Messy

What did you eat today? breakfast: some fruit and lots of coffee. lunch: bahn mi-sandwich in Chinatown dinner: pizza with italian sausage from Franny's + had some chocolate and manchego cheese later on.

What do you never eat?

Stupid fusion food

Complete this sentence: In my refrigerator, you can always find:

Grey Poupon, manchego cheese, perhaps a bottle of sancerre and sadly not much else...

What is your favorite kitchen item?

Take out menus from Amorina and Franny's

Where do you eat out most frequently?

Frankie's Spuntino (for the pork chop and the jersualem artichokes) and Il Buco (for everything). [Wow, somebody likes Italian food. --Ed.]
Oh, and Dumpling House at Eldridge street whenever I'm in the neighborhood.

World ends tomorrow. What would you like for your last meal?

There's an amazing, old Italian guy called Vincent who runs a place called Chez Vincent in Paris, and I would let him throw a huge dinner party for me and all my friends. He's always singing along to the opera and drinking lots of wine while he's cooking. If he wouldn't take reservations that evening, I guess I'd go for my mom's Swedish Vasterbotten cheese pie.

Speak Swedish? Check out saffransrok, Martin's food blog.

Name: Daniel Hobbs

Occupation: In sharply descending order of material gain: paralegal; classical pianist; Editor-in-Chief, Board of Directors, and Janitor of The Hobbs Digest

Borough: Manhattan

Relationship status: Paired off

What did you eat today?

I started out with a cup of good coffee at home, then had some mediocre sludge at the office. I enjoyed a handful of cashews in the morning, had a so-so bacon, tomato and cheddar sandwich for lunch, and had some very empty calories in the form of cookies left over from a meeting and set out for the scavengers mid-afternoon. After work, I met up with my friend Gabrielle and we had an impromptu picnic in Central Park, with some syrupy sauvignon blanc from New Zealand, some lackluster eggplant/goat cheese terrine, rice crackers, olives and bocconcini. The food, sadly, didn't match the brilliance of the weather and the company, but there's no such thing as a bad picnic. Now I'm at home and am not very hungry, but I may have a tangelo. Blah. Not my proudest food day, but it's a true account.

What do you never eat?

I can't profess to having even a perverse, delinquent appetite for franchise fast food, even when extremely hungover, so I never go to McDonald's and the like. Also, I'm not very adventurous when it comes to offal. The appeal of raw meat is generally lost on me as well, so I'll pass on that steak tartare. Find me the best example of anything, though, and I'll try it.

Complete this sentence: In my refrigerator, you can always find:

A baffling range of condiments, prosecco, Indian pickles, wilting herbs, capers, anchovies, yogurt, maple syrup, Branston pickle, seltzer, and various other odds and ends from which it would be impossible to create a meal.

What is your favorite kitchen item?

I'd be hard pressed to have to choose between the most complex and the simplest: my non-human dishwasher and my trusty Lodge cast iron skillet. The two don't get along, but I love them both. [A dishwasher?! In Manhattan?!]

Where do you eat out most frequently?

Unfortunately, I have to say Pret a Manger, since I buy my lunch there at least 3 times a week, but here are some of the restaurants I go to most often, when I have a say in the matter: Sripraphai, Haandi, Saravanaas, Paprika, XO Kitchen.

World ends tomorrow. What would you like for your last meal?

I would like to be seated in the middle of a buffet of poulet de Bresse à la crème et aux morilles, bacon, cashews, Sichuan green beans, rivers of great wine, a stupefyingly hot lamb curry, custards of all sorts, a damn good taco truck taco or two, roasted fennel, foie gras, pollo a la brasa with ridiculously caramelized plantains, a cheese plate, perfectly made pasta... Oh, just bring it all on! I wouldn't be too happy if I had to eat in any particular order; it would have to be there to eat as I please. And since I'm creating my own terrestrial paradise before I go, let me stuff my ears with Bach's B Minor Mass.

I love the idea of going into that good night with a soundtrack. You can read Daniel's food jottings at The Hobbs Digest.