We have a winner!

Hey, folks!

The winner of the Wine & Food Festival Giveaway is...

The Curmudgeon!

Check your email, Liz!

(Sorry for the late post; I tried to comment from the road, but for some reason the iPhone does not display the Google-prove-you're-not-spam field.)

Giveaway: Ticket to tomorrow's Grand Tasting!

Hey, readers! Last night I had a fabulous dinner at Eleven Madison Park, where I attended lovely evening hosted by the folks at POM Wonderful. They were super-generous and gave each guest a ticket to one of the many New York Food & Wine Festival events happening this weekend.

I've decided to continue the fun and gift the ticket to one of you! It's a single pass to tomorrow's (Sunday, October 10th) Grand Tasting, held from 12-3 PM at Pier 54 on the Hudson River. To qualify, you must be here in NYC this weekend, and must be able to meet me on the Upper East Side tomorrow morning to claim your ticket.

If you're interested, just leave a comment below by 10 PM tonight (Saturday; also, make sure to leave your email address, too, or you won't qualify), and I'll choose a winner at random by 10:30 PM tonight!

Good luck!

A little lemon between friends.

It's been crisp and cool here in New York for the last few days, and you know what that means: it's time to bake. Not that I ever really give up baking; I'm totally the one who cranks up her AC to maximum and then preheats the oven for pie. But there's something about baking when the kitchen could actually use a little warming up that feels oh so right.

On Wednesday, when my internet was down and I was left entirely to my own devices (save the ability to actually leave the apartment, since I was waiting for a delivery), I decided it was time to bake. I'd been thinking about the lemon pound cake recipe my friend (and cookbook author extraordinaire) Lorna Yee asked me to test for her last year. Actually, "thinking" isn't the right word - craving is far more apt.

So, I'd been craving this pound cake, and suddenly had an open opportunity for baking. What could I do but put my craving to good use? Out came the cake flour, the sour cream, and lots and lots of lemons. Lots of lemons, plus a reamer and a zester. You'll need all those things (see tips here on how to make cake flour if you don't have any on hand) if you want to enjoy what the folks at my office enjoyed today.

See, this is no ordinary pound cake. I mean, it is, in that it's pretty easy to make, and bakes up golden and tender. But then Lorna has you poke holes all over the cake and soak it with a lemon syrup. And then, once that's been absorbed, you pour a lemon-sour cream glaze over the whole thing. And then, my friends, the angels start to sing.

Obviously, this isn't a recipe for those who don't love lemony goodness. (If you want non-lemony cake, check this out.) But for those who do? Oh. My. Gah. You will plotz.

By the way, you can find this and many, many other amazing recipes in Lorna's cookbook, The Newlywed Cookbook, which she co-wrote with Ali Basye (the gorgeous photos are by Kathryn Barnard). I highly recommend you snag a copy as soon as possible. The lemon cake will only tide you over for so long.

Lorna's Lemon Sour Cream Pound Cake

Lemon Cake
3 cups cake flour
½ tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. baking powder
¾ tsp. kosher salt
1 cup butter
2 cups sugar
6 eggs
¼ cup lemon juice
¾ cup sour cream
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. lemon extract
2 tbsp. lemon zest

Lemon syrup
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
1/3 cup sugar
3 tbsp water

Lemon sour cream glaze
1/4 cup sour cream
2 ½ cups icing sugar, sifted
3 tbsp. lemon juice
2 tbsp. grated lemon zest

For the cake:
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease a 16-cup tube pan, or two loaf pans.

Sift the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt together in a large mixing bowl.

Beat the butter with an electric mixer on medium speed until pale and fluffy, about five minutes. Gradually add the sugar and beat for another five minutes. Add the eggs one by one, mixing well after each addition. Beat in the lemon juice, lemon zest, vanilla, and lemon extract. Turn off the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl. Using a rubber spatula, mix in half the dry ingredients, then the sour cream. Mix in the remaining half of the dry ingredients.

Transfer the batter to the pan.

For a large pound cake, bake for 1 hour 30 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean.

For two loaf cakes, bake for 1 hour – 1 hour 15 minutes, or until a skewer inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean.

For the lemon syrup:
Combine all the ingredients together in a small pot and bring to a boil. Let cool.

For the lemon sour cream glaze:
Whisk all the ingredients together in a medium mixing bowl.

To assemble:
When the cakes are cool, run a knife along the edge of the cakes and invert onto a serving plate. With a wooden skewer or toothpick, poke holes all over the top of the cake (don’t worry—you won’t be able to see them.) Carefully spoon the soaking syrup over the cake, letting the syrup absorb before spooning more over the top.

When the cakes have absorbed the syrup, drizzle the glaze over the cakes.

I'm all tingly.

Why, you ask? Because it's fall. It is autumn. And I am thrilled. Autumn is the time when cool weather and delicious produce co-exist, the time when colors turn warmer, the air turns crisper, and I get to wear scarves and sweaters again.

Things start to sparkle and shine, and suddenly red wine never tasted so good. Pies abound, as do spices.

Suck it, summer.

Candy-riffic.

A couple of weeks ago, I turned to my friends at the fabulous YOU + ME* Lifestylists to answer a pressing question: how to thank my friends for joining me for Momofuku fried chicken on my birthday? After all, shouldn't grown-ups get party favors, too?

The answer, of course, is yes! And so Miya and I headed to Economy Candy, a legendary shop on Rivington Street. It's a pretty small place, and its one high-ceilinged room is crammed from top to bottom with candies of all kinds. You can find all sorts of retro gems, like Abba Zabba, Chunky bars, MalloCups and candy buttons, but they also stock high-quality preserved fruits, halvah, and an assortment of high-quality chocolates by the pound.

They also have something I thought wasn't even made anymore: candy cigarettes. I decided not to spring for them (opting instead for an assortment of wax lips and hipster mustaches), but they're there for the taking, right on the Lower East Side. Go forth and puff that sugary smoke, my friends.

Economy Candy
108 Rivington Street (Between Essex and Ludlow)
800.352.4544

Just like my Nonna would have made, had I had an Italian-American Nonna.

No birthday, in my opinion, would be complete without some really, really good food, and some seriously awesome company with which to enjoy it. A good thing, then, that my friend Miya came out in the blustery rain to meet me for lunch on Friday at one of my very favorite places, Frankie's Spuntino.

Frankie's offers sandwiches and a brunch menu, but I knew that I, at least, was destined for pasta. I love their pasta. And their salads are pretty damn good, too. In fact, I remembered that Miles' Caesar salad had been something approaching perfection, and decided to start with that. My memory, it turns out, was spot-on. Caesar salad can be really, really boring, but Frankie's version is anything but. It's salty and earthy from the anchovies, a bit funky from the parmesan cheese, and super-creamy from the egg. Topped with a bit of spicy, freshly-ground black pepper, it's a crunchy pile of Italian-American goodness - which is really what Frankie's is all about.

For my main, I had the cavatelli with hot sausage, browned butter and sage. I. Love. This. Dish. It's a remarkably satisfying combination of flavors, with the nuttiness of the butter playing perfectly against the spicy, salty sausage and the piney sage. In fact, I love it so much that I make my own version - with orrechiette - on a fairly regular basis. But nothing can top the original.

Miya ordered the gnocchi with marinara sauce and fresh ricotta. I am not usually a fan of gnocchi; I've too often been disappointed by leaden or soggy lumps of potato flour when I should be delighted by soft pillows of the same. Frankie's gnocchi, however, are definitively delightful. They come dressed in what is known in Italian-American circles as "gravy," a slightly tangy marinara sauce made from the best tomatoes and little else, other than know-how. The ricotta elevates the proceedings from delightful to sublime. It's cool and milky against the acidic tomatoes, and compliments the gnocchi's own creaminess.

No Italian meal would be complete without a shot of espresso, and Frankie's delivered pretty well in this area, too. Their espresso is dark, strong and full of so-coffee-y-it's-almost-sweet flavor. Nothing settles the tummy after a giant plate of buttered pasta like espresso.

Miya took her leftover gnocchi home in an adorably stamped paper bag. I'm kinda wishing I'd brought the tiny bit of cavatelli left on my plate home with me. Maybe next time...

Frankie's 17 Spuntino
17 Clinton Street (between Houston and Stanton)
212.253.2303

Queenie's Treasury

Happy weekend, everyone! I'm sorry that the treasury is a bit late this week. Friday night left me a bit fragile yesterday morning, and I just wasn't up to exploring all the beauty in my this-is-what-I-loved-this-week files. I'm ready and raring now, though, so here goes!

West Elm has been hitting it out of the park recently, at least as far as I'm concerned. The latest evidence? These gorgeous dessert plates: white porcelain emblazoned with gold leaves. I think I need at least two sets of these for my dinnerware collection. Yes, indeedy.

Next, a delicious-sounding recipe for pork ragù, Maialino style. I am seriously excited about the onset of braising season, and this recipe seems like a good place to start. I'm especially intrigued by the inclusion of fennel and lemon. Consider this on the soon-to-be-tackled list.

Finally, these awesome doily coasters, created by uncommon and for sale in their Etsy shop. I'm not normally much into frills, but these birch coasters are engraved with the lacy pattern, and I love the combination of doily-like softness and the solidity of the wood. These would be a terrific host or hostess gift, no?