Looking for something fun to do in Dallas this weekend to celebrate Cinco de Mayo? Well you’re in luck because here’s the scoop:

Dos Equis, Red Bull, and ILiveInDallas.com are teaming up with the Infinite Agency to host the most epic Cinco De Mayo party you’ll go to this year! Cinco In the City Block Party – The Official Fiesta of Dallas starts at 2:00 pm Saturday, May 4th, and goes till midnight Sunday, May 5th.

The shindig will go down in none other than the parking lot of the Downtown Dallas El Fenix. The fiesta starts at 2:00pm and the bands go on from 6:00 pm -10:00 pm. Come out, or you’ll be regretting waiting three hours for those “free” margaritas around town. Why wait until the 5th, when you can listen to music, chow down, and drink-up wearing cheap sombreros and fake mustaches a day early? The official sponsor is Dos Equis, which there will be plenty of to drink.

About El Fenix: El Fenix was founded in 1918 by Mike Martinez, El Fenix is known for its brand of Tex-Mex cuisine, and has been a Dallas staple for almost 100 years.

You can RSVP to the event on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/events/562807547096652/

Official Twitter Hashtag: #CincoInTheCity

Cedars Food Park Grand Opening Bash

#UrbanFoodie Tweetup Saturday, July 28th, 2012

Food Trucks: Good Karma Kitchen, Nammi, Ruthie’s Rolling, Jack’s Chowhound, Gandolfos, The Butcher’s Son, Cafe con Leche, Free Wheel’n Cafe, Crazy Fish, Sshaam BBQ, 4 Seasons, Three Lions, Rock-N-Roll Taco, Cajun Tailgators, Rockin Ricks Enticed, Rockstar Bakeshop, Coolhaus, Uptown Popcorn & Dude Sweet Chocolate!

Bolsa Mercado Summer Meet & Eat Pop-up Dinners!

Executive Chef Jeff Harris of Bolsa has kept pretty busy this summer. In addition to running the popular Bolsa on Davis St in Oak Cliff, each Friday Night, he’s also been hosting pop-up community-style dinners on the big table that seats 20 inside at Bolsa Mercado next door.

Last Friday evening, that long table hosted a gathering of delightful dinner company. The food and the conversation flowed as nicely as the wine pairings. Next week, and on the last Friday of every month, Chef Harris will feature a vegetarian dinner menu. And with the lovely local ingredients they source, and organic fruits and veggies at their peak of season, a vegetarian dinner at Bolsa Mercado is something even this meat eater would love.

Each dinner is $75/person and includes five or more courses with wine pairings and gratuity included! The menu is announced the Monday before each dinner. To attend call (214) 367-9367 or email contact@bolsadallas.com with your credit card number to reserve your seats.

Bolsa Mercado Meet & Eat

◄ Back

Next ►

Picture 1 of 6

Prosciutto, goat’s cheese, local honeycomb and red grapes.

Gastronomy by Donnie DeBoer

I feel so fortunate to have people in my life who share my passion for incredibly amazing food.  Recently, dear friends, Donnie & Lindsey DeBoer invited a few of us over for a very special dinner party in their home because they wanted to “do something nice for us.”

You see, Donnie loves to cook.  He’s one of those creative-genius types, a former professional musician turned software engineer.  Donnie isn’t a chef, but he’s very seriously into food, culinary arts, artful food presentation and he likes to experiment with molecular gastronomy. Donnie’s wife, Lindsey, is equally amazing.  She’s possibly one of the nicest people I’ve ever met, and she’s a psychologist, who does competitive yoga.  Yes, I know that sounds odd, most people would think yoga isn’t competitive, but it is true.  Lindsay and Donnie were the ultimate host and hostess and this was no ordinary dinner party, it was a culinary adventure that I feel lucky to have been a part of.

The Dinner Party Menu

Donnie worked on the menu for several weeks, drawing out ideas for the plating of each dish, experimenting with various cooking temperatures in his sous vide, perfecting each element of every dish and sauce, importing exotic ingredients from near and far.  The result was a brilliantly executed meal that was a true work of art.

The Menu

◄ Back

Next ►

Picture 1 of 9

Dinner at Lindsay & Donnie DeBoer's Home 06/17/2012

The dinner guests in attendance were Omar Flores (Executive Chef – Driftwood), Michael Flynn (Director of Wine & Beverage – Rosewood Mansion on Turtle Creek), Beth Stark (Days of Taste Chair – AIWF), Brad Murano (Creative Director – Splash Media/The Brad’s Blog), Maria Whiteside Mejia, and me, Bev Garvin (Director of Marketing & PR – Spoon Bar & Kitchen/Urban Epicurious).

Thank you doesn’t begin to express my gratitude for what Lindsey and Donnie put into making this dinner for us.  I just hope to be able to return the favor some day!

Much Adieu About Processed Foods

The other day I wanted to make something to eat.  I was standing in my kitchen staring in the fridge and looking at the pantry when I realized, much to my surprise, I have quite a bit of highly processed foods in my very own home!

This was shocking to me because over the past two years I have, for the most part, eliminated processed food from my diet.  If it comes from a drive through window, a box, a can or a bag, it is likely I will not eat it.  This lifestyle change has made a dramatic and positive impact on my health, my weight, my mood and my energy levels.  Some of this stuff, like canned goods, had been in the pantry for a while, others were in with baking stuff.  Some I had recently purchased, but none of it was real food.  None of it was wholesome or nutritious, and there was nothing I actually wanted to eat at all.  I found myself standing there in shock thinking “Why do I even have all this crap!?!”

So I decided to dispose of it, to purge my home of processed foods and (finally) get this vial and iniquitous lack of sustenance out of my home once and for all.  It felt liberating to say “Adios, Ramen, Rotel and taco seasoning mix! Arrivederci, instant polenta, tomato sauce and Kraft macaroni and cheese, you give me the blue box blues! Adieu to you canned fruits and veggies, cookie, cake and muffin mix, sugar-free jello and instant pudding, too!”

When I was done, I realized there was actually quite a large quantity of this so-called “food” sitting on the table.  My original intent was to throw it all in the trash. Then I thought, that’s pretty wasteful, maybe I should donate it to a food bank?  But then I was even more conflicted as I wondered, is it morally right to give food I don’t personally feel is fit for human consumption away to others?  Even if it meant it would provide them with a meal they might not have had otherwise?  Could I honestly feel good about giving someone a bag of toxic rations?  What is the right thing to do?  Would it be better to break it all down dispose of the ingredients and send the containers off to the recycle bin?

I’m sincerely conflicted about this because both have a negative impact.  I’m interested to hear what others think.  I’m curious to hear from others, what do you think I should do?

UPDATE: I sincerely appreciate everyone’s comments and feedback.  I decided to donate the food to the North Texas Food Bank because they are really short on food reserves at this time of year, and I agree that it would be better for some one to have a meal than go without even though I would personally rather go without food than eat a meal made with a bunch of processed foods.

Homemade Ice Cream for National Ice Cream Day!

Today, July 15th is National Ice Cream Day! Homemade ice cream and I have a long-standing love affair that goes back to when I was just a little girl. Every summer, my Dad would make homemade ice cream, and I looked forward to it like nothing else.  My father made all kinds of ice cream flavors, vanilla ice cream was always a hit, sometimes chocolate ice cream, or peppermint, even coconut.  And sometimes he would make ice cream with fresh fruits like strawberry or peach at the peak of the season.

We had an electric ice cream freezer, the kind with a motor on the top, you would put outside in a shady spot on the porch.  He’d make the ice cream base, pour it into the container, fill the bucket all the way to the top with ice and rock salt, then turn it on and let it go.  The motor would spin, churning and turning the ice cream for what seemed like forever.  When it was finally finished, the fantastic frozen fantasy was oh, so good.

To this day, ice cream is synonymous with summer to me, and making homemade ice cream is something I still really love to do.  I have a Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker, with two containers that I keep in the freezer for any time the mood strikes, and it’s a pretty handy kitchen gadget for making ice cream, sorbet, frozen yogurt or a variety of other cool creations.

I love the simplicity of homemade ice cream, and how, once you have a basic ice cream recipe, the flavor options are pretty much endless.  With so many flavor options, you might think making ice cream is difficult, but it’s actually kind of hard to go wrong.  I recently read about some pretty sketchy ice cream flavors, like cicada ice cream (yes, it’s actually made with those annoyingly loud, gigantic insects that hang out in trees all summer long). Which just goes to show, that just about anything might taste good when made into ice cream.  Since July is “National Ice Cream Month,” I thought I’d kick it off by sharing a few of my favorite homemade ice cream recipes.

How to Make Ice Cream

Modern day ice cream freezers make it easy to enjoy homemade ice cream all year-long.  Start with a simple Vanilla Ice Cream Recipe.  Once you master the basics, you can get really creative with more sophisticated ingredients to create gourmet ice cream flavors that are really fun to explore.

Lemon Olive Oil Ice Cream with Lemon Olive Oil Simple Syrup, Candied Lemon Zest & White Chocolate Covered Almond “Olives”

Vanilla Ice Cream Recipe

Chocolate Ice Cream

Balsamic Strawberry & Black Cracked Pepper Ice Cream (Strawberry Ice Cream)

Georgia Peach Ice Cream

Lemon Olive Oil Ice Cream

Lavender Fig Ice Cream (Lavender Ice Cream)

Local Honey & Black Garlic Ice Cream

Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream

Happy Ice Cream Making & Eating!

Three Little Piggies Went to Private Social

I recently attended a Social Media Club Dallas’ Annual Member event where a friend and fellow social media colleague, Cathy Katoe, won tickets to Chef Tiffany Derry’s third Saturday special lunch at the newly opened Private | Social on McKinney Avenue in the Uptown area of Dallas.  There was only one problem, Cathy doesn’t eat pork so, she gave it to me.  I was so excited to check this out. You see, this was a chance to eat part of a whole roasted suckling pig, and I’m on a mission to try just about everything (except bugs, they just don’t appeal to me), yet oddly, I had not yet crossed this off my list.

When the big day arrived, I got there early because I wanted to see this spectacular culinary display up close to get a few good shots pig pictures, and I was glad I did.  Top Chef Master Tiffany Derry actually cooked three little pigs, two for the lunch service and one as a thank you for her hard working staff.

I’d been to Private | Social many times before and it was good, but this was in a league of it’s own.  Most people have never seen, let alone know how to cook, a whole pig. When I first saw the amber hue of the fully cooked swine resting in the kitchen, it’s crispy shiny skin immediately made me think of Peking duck. What followed next, was delightful.  Each dish worked really well together. The meal was earthy, hardy and quite savory.  The whole suckling pig was brined for 24 hours, then was seasoned with fennel seeds, fronds, oregano, garlic confit, lemon zest, orange zest, salt and pepper and roasted on a sheet pan in a convection oven. It was served sliced and in a bowl with a clear pork broth and garnish of dill. The texture of the perfectly crispy skin crunched as I tasted the moist and juicy, tender meat inside.  The texture and flavor was incredible.

The pork was served with a Caesar salad made with dandelion greens Tom Spicers FM 1410, a parsnip puree that was pure heaven and THE best greens I have ever had in my life.

The entire meal was nothing short of amazing, it made you feel special, like you just had Christmas dinner.  Thank you, Master Chef Derry for creating such a delightful meal, and thank you Cathy Katoe for paying it forward to me (I’ll have to find a way to appropriately thank you).  Chef Derry announced this week that she’ll will be hosting a series of Top Chef Cooking Classes with some of her fellow Top Chef colleagues this summer, perhaps we’ll have to check that out.

What do you get when you take 30+ of the most talented local Dallas Chefs, from the very best restaurants in Dallas, add in 30+ local Artisans, Farmers and Ranchers, throw in a dash of music, and a little20+ a lot of wine, food, people and fun at Lee Park on Turtle Creek Boulevard?

Chefs for Farmers is a grassroots organization that celebrates all things local. They are a group of volunteers who put on no-fuss events in support of local farmers, as well as the chefs and businesses that participate in the local food movement that donates 100% of the profits to charitable causes. Their goal is to raise awareness for the local locavore movement in Texas connecting chefs with local food resources. Each year the event has grown and has a different theme. This year they’ll be Mixin it Up on the Boulevard on Sunday May 6th, 2012 from 1-5 at Lee Park on Turtle Creek Boulevard!

What You Need to Know:

This will be THE Ultimate Food and Wine Festival because it will feature the very best of the best our local market has to offer, a day of great food, libations, music and a “special” featured guest performance entertainer you will NOT want to miss!!!

• Amazing Creations By More Than 30 Chefs
• Vino and Spirits From Over 20 Wineries and Distilleries
• Mixologists Pouring Potent Libations
• Farm and Artisan Display
• Best Dish Competition Sponsored by Artizone
• Grab a Blanket
• Bring Your Own Wine Glass to Donate to Café Momentum
• Tracks spun by local DJ’s

What: Chefs for Farmers – Mixin it up on the Boulevard
When: Sunday, May 6th, 2012  1:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Where: Lee Park – Turtle Creek Boulevard
Why: 100% of Proceeds donated to Meals on Wheels & Water for Chizavane
How Much: One / $60 – Two / $110

Buy Tickets: GET YOUR TICKETS TODAY – LESS THAN 100 LEFT!

My Hottest Food Porn Moments

I don’t know what it is about taking tawdry snapshots of tantalizing food and posting pics of it for all the world to see, but I take great pleasure in doing so.  There’s just something about seeing a drop dead gorgeous plate of food that I find tempting and irresistible.  I had such a hard time narrowing this down to just ten images.  I hope you will take pleasure in this peep show of my Top 10 Hottest Food Porn Moments of 2011 as they are published throughout the week.  I’ve saved the best for last, and the rest are in no particular order, so I’ll just start with breakfast.

Where There’s Smoke There’s FirePancakes

If you haven’t ventured over to Smoke Restaurant next door to the Belmont Hotel on Fort Worth Avenue in Oak Cliff for brunch, you need to.  Executive Chef, Tim Byers pulled out all the stops when he planned the brunch menu, and the Ricotta Cheese Pancakes are a perfect example of how he did just that.  Each dish on the brunch menu is unique and, as such, these are no ordinary pancakes.  They are not flat, thin, heavy or slathered in butter, and there is no maple syrup, nor will you even want it.  No, what you will be served when you order this is nothing short of transcendental bliss.

These babies are made with ricotta, which makes for delightfully fluffy mile-high pancakes.  In fact, just one is about the height of an entire pancake stack at most places.  And they are topped with apricots that have been poached in vanilla, fresh blueberries and creme fraiche with just a kiss of powdered sugar on top.  I’ve had the pleasure of eating these many times, and I often share them with others so we can have something savory too.

1 |  2  |  3  |  4  |  5  |  Next Page >>