Your Morning Mustache

We have said it before, we will say it again. We are total suckers. We are especially sucker-y over these Mustache Mugs by Peter Ibruegger. While there is something sweet about all of our mismatched mugs that bring back bittersweet memories, a set of these would gladly make us clean house. We think they would make coffee in bed that much more entertaining.

Lust: The Full Set

The Maurice Poirot Mustache Mug

The Mustafa Chaplin Mustache Mug

The Fu Magnum Mustache Mug

That Fox is Just Fantastic

Dear readers,

Lest you begin thinking that your hostesses at Gastronomista are overly obsessed with the golden days of Hollywood, we would like to dispel all such suspicions now and freely admit: we are lovers of cinema, period. Old and new, good and bad, great and sometimes, terrible. And if it's got great food, well... if you don't know us by now, dear readers, you never will.

So, we bring you our first still-in-the-theaters edition of Hasta La Feast-a: Fantastic Mr. Fox



One of our favorite books growing up is now one of the most fun movies in wide release right now. When a book makes an 8-year-old curious about washing down a goose paste filled donut with hard apple cider, I dare say the author's done a pretty bang-up job of making your mouth water with the written word. It's something we ladies at Gastronomista strive for daily, and Roald Dahl's gifts in that department weren't stale chips. Reading Boy: Tales of Childhood, we yearned for freshly poached, brilliantly spotted flounder. Reading Matilda we pined for Ovaltine and fried tomatoes. And who, reading The BFG, hasn't been at least mildly curious about the taste, and promised side-effects, of frobscottle?
This was, of course, in no small part due to long time Dahl illustrator and cohort Quentin Blake, whose fantastically whimsical line drawings helped bring Dahl's story to life.
Have you ever seen a fox more overjoyed? And Fantastic Mr. Fox is not only a fantastic book, but boy has it got some fantastic food. Director Wes Anderson has stuck to the spirit of the thing even while adding his own touch, and the result is simply the most delicious film of the year. (sorry, Julie and Julia.)


Hungry after the movie? Maybe some scrambled dregs will hit the spot.

That Time of Year

It is Fall Ladies and Gentlemen -

The Holiday season is quickly approaching, but thankfully there are chestnuts in the markets to make everything just a little bit better. We like them roasted in the oven, in our Thanksgiving stuffing, or from a street vendor. Delicious!

Gourmet Google

Google has recently launched gourmet iGoogle themes - so now you can look ogle these Google goodies whilst working!

Our favorites:

Cupcakes
Foodscapes
Veggie Art
Alain Ducasse

They've even got Paula Deen.

Welcome to the Iced Coffee Club

Weather.com says it's 52
Skies with cumulus dotting the blue
But now in November
I’m still an Iced Coffee Club member
Even when white after Labor Day has long been taboo


In case your insatiable thirst for iced coffee can actually be reigned in, check "Is It Iced Coffee Weather?", which calibrates your exact location and weather, and takes all the guess work out of the equation for you.

A Lady's Guide to Party Planning

Dear January Jones,

Thank you for all of your helpful hints.

Come on over to our place for some Polynesian Punch!

xx Daphne

Reyneke Reserve

We've said it before, and we will say it again, we adore good design especially when it involves dark brooding etched bottles. The depth of that etch is so lovely! The design is done by the New Zealand design firm Anthony Lane, who strove to create a holistic look for the organic wine producers Reyneke Reserve.

Found via The Dieline.

More Champagne!

Were you wondering what to get us for Christmas? A Nebuchadnezzar, natch!

Magnum – 2 bottles – 1.5 L
Jeroboam – 4 bottles – 3 L
Rehoboam – 6 bottles – 4.5 L
Methuselah – 8 bottles – 6 L
Salmanazar – 12 bottles – 9 L
Balthazar – 16 bottles – 12 L
Nebuchadnezzar – 20 bottles – 15 L

A. M. / P.M.

Always With Honor has made these super cute badges for food lovers like us. There are two sets, morning and evening - I might be rockin' that lil' red doughnut pin before too long. 5$ for one set, 8$ for two. We like your style AWH.

A Picnic Fit For A Princess

On today's edition of Hasta la Feast-a, Grace Kelly shows us how to picnic in style in 1955's To Catch A Thief.

Wicker basket? Check. Two-seater convertible, the perfect hue of blue? Check. Cliffside view overlooking the French Riviera? Check. Cary Grant? Check, check, check. But the most important lesson of all? A truly royal lady always swoons with sandwich in hand.

Food Styling - A Glimpse Into the Future

We are huge fans of this week's food styling artists Rebecca Veit and Kathryn Hillier of the Never Wilting Flower Project. We think they have a keen sense of the future of food - a vision of how we might begin to consider food - more precious - more decadent. Their photographs are simply gorgeous. We are weak kneed.

Veit and Hillier describe their project best:

Never Wilting Flower Project flirts with the idea of momento mori, observes the ephemeral interconnectedness of objects and draws upon Northern European Baroque painting as inspiration to create small universes and tableaux that are not only beautiful but also challenging in their imagery and formal compositions.

Although we have not yet seen teasers, we know they are diligently working away on their next body of work. They have won a studio space through the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, and we are sure that their sculptural subjects are only going to become more elaborate and more delicious. We are very excited to see more of your stunning still life photographs - keep up the amazing work ladies!

Never Wilting Flower, Winter Melon with Mother of Pearl Cluster, 2007

Never Wilting Flower, Entangled Fruits, 2007



Never Wilting Flower, Squash Segment, 2006



Never Wilting Flower, Leaf Arc, 2007



Never Wilting Flower, Fish Bone Curve, 2007

A Night Out - Prime Meats - Brooklyn

This weekend we visited Prime Meats on Court Street in Brooklyn. While we are hesitant to tell you about it (our wait was already an hour and a half), we must confess that this was one of the best meals we have had in a long time. When we heard that they were having a special of Bone Marrow and Ox Tail we had to try the Marrow after being so inspired by Gordon Matta Clarke's infamous meal, Matta Bones.

Falcinelli and Castronovo Frank of Frankies, Spuntino, and Prime Meats
image Via The New York Magazine

And we must admit it was a wonderful meal. We started off with Pemaquid Oysters from Maine, followed by the Marrow, and finished it all off with a Strip Steak. Perfectly Cooked. Perfectly Salted. The whole meal was completed by their Old Fashioned made with pear bitters and served over a glacier of hand chipped ice. Yes Please.

So this got us thinking - how does one prepare Marrow? We decided it must be a slow cook - expecting hours of heat and much patience. After only a wee bit of research, we discover that the Marrow preparation that we so loved is Anthony Bourdain's chosen Last Supper - but from St. John, the London restaurant founded by Fergus Hederson (of Nose to Tail Eating: A Kind of British Cooking, The Whole Beast, Nose to Tail Eating, and Beyond Nose to Tail: More Omnivorous Recipes for the Adventurous Cook). We found the recipe via Serious Eats.

Roast Bone Marrow and Parsley Salad

- serves 3 -
Adapted from My Last Supper by Melanie Dunea.

Ingredients

12 three-inch (7 1/2-centimeter) pieces veal marrowbone
1 bunch flat-leaf parsley, leaves picked from stems
2 shallots, peeled and very thinly sliced
2 tablespoons (30 grams) capers
2 tablespoons (30 ml) extra-virgin olive oil
Juice of 1 lemon
Coarse sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Toasted bread, for serving

Procedure

1. Prepare the bones: Put the bones in an ovenproof frying pan or roasting pan; place in a 450°F (230°C) oven. Depending on bone thickness, roasting should take about 20 minutes. You're looking for loose and giving marrow, but marrow that's not yet melted away.

2. Prepare the parsley salad: While bones are roasting, lightly chop the parsley and mix it with the shallots and capers. Just before serving, dress salad with the olive oil and lemon juice; salt and pepper to taste.

3. Serve the dish: Don't completely season this dish before serving; let the diner do the last-minute seasoning. To eat, scrape the marrow from the bone onto the toast; season it with coarse sea salt. Place a pinch of parsley salad on top; eat immediately.

Although we let the cat out of the bag (sorry) we will be back. Don't you doubt it. With a menu like this, nothing could keep us away. After all, we do love meat.

Chocolate, The Last Good Drug

Let's just clarify one thing. We are suckers for packaging. Serious suckers for great printing, bright colors, and any thing shiny. And then you put chocolate in it - done and done.

There's a new San Francisco based Chocolate company called TCHO that really has us squirming. Packaging based on currency! Perhaps soon to be obsolete, the bills are a rich source of inspiration.

TCHO has hired the design firm Edenspiekerman to do all of their graphics and promotional material. This video goes describes their ideas of chocolate as currency and the building of TCHO, a company that is exploits the different flavors of different local cocao beans.

How do you build a chocolate brand? from edenspiekermann_ on Vimeo.

But where we got really excited was with TCHO's descriptions of the nutritional benefits of chocolate. Now they have their daily dose prescriptions of chocolate: 30-day, 60-day, and 90-day. (We will take a 90 please). Additionally, they list on their website all of the health benefits from the compounds found in chocolate, including focused energy (Theobromine), antioxidants (Flavanols), cognition, immunity, cholesterol, diabetes, anti-inflammatory effects, cardiovascular health, and mood elevation (Tryptopha, Phenethylamine, and Anandamide). Euphoria and Relaxation from Dark Chocolate that comes in colorful shiny packaging - done done and done.

Sustainable Wine Tour

For any of our readers in the San Francisco area interested in going on a Sustainable Wine Tour of the Mendocino County this is your event! The tour is organized by Net Impact's San Francisco Chapter. They will visit Parducci Cellars, Rack & Riddle Crush Facility, and Terra Savia.

The Facilities at Rack & Riddle

Wishing we were in San Francisco so that we could attend!

Sustainable Wine Tour
Saturday November 21, 2009
8 am - 6 pm PT
$85 - Transportation Included

The Perfect Snack

Perhaps we should rename today's edition of Hasta la Feast-a to Here's Lookin' at You, Booze.

This clip from The Seven Year Itch showcases the perfectly classy, high-low pairing of Champagne... and potato chips. Nobody opens a bottle of bubbles quite like La Marilyn.

Women on Top

NEWSBLIP
15 Executive Chefs Reveal their Ingredients for Success

The Philadephia Daily News interviews female chefs around the city about their experiences in the kitchen. "According to an industry report by the National Restaurant Association, women account for just 17 percent of the chefs and head cooks in professional kitchens today (about 1 in 5), with ownership of 25 percent of eating and drinking establishments nationwide."

...

The above help wanted ads are brought to us via NicolePete, who writes, "One more reason I'm glad I wasn't around in the 30's. Women's wages ranged between $4 and $6 dollars a week while some men's were $15 a day. Rental property was about $25 a month. I found these ads in a 1935 Minneapolis Journal newspaper (now the Star Tribune) The paper was found in the back of an old mirror in my basement."

Kitchen Memories

We bring you this beautiful sentiment from Jane Kramer's The Reporter's Kitchen, published in the New Yorker in 2002:

...

"It seems to me that there is something very sensible about keeping your memories in the kitchen, with the pots and the spices, especially in New York. They take up no space; they do not crash with your computer; and they collect the voice that you can't quite hear - in tastes and smells and small gestures that, with any luck, will eventually start to sound like you."

The place we clear our head, store our memories, via A Vintage Kitchen

The Most Beautiful Girl in the World

Dear Nigella Lawson,

Ok, ok, we admit it: We have a huge, gigantic girl crush on you.

I mean, just look at you...

The otherworldly Nigella Lawson

...

While we were watching you on last night's Top Chef, we were totally wishing that you would come over to our house for a slumber party, and we could play dress up and drink tea and eat cookie dough and braid each others' hair. But more to the point, we were wondering what we would possibly make for you for breakfast, just like those cheftestants had to. And, then, of course, we realized we would make a breakfast leftover version of our very favorite recipe of yours. Ham in Cherry Coke! We'd serve it with fried mashed potatoes and a runny egg. Seriously, Nigella, we've made this recipe at least 10 times, and let us tell you, everyone always raves. It's the weirdest thing, but it is seriously scrumptious. So we think if we made it for you, you'd get a good chuckle, and in exchange maybe we'd get a knowing wink of approval.

Always,

Daphne and the girls

Totally awesome bottlecap earrings from Sassy Sentiments

...

Ham in Cherry Coke

Our Go-To Crowd Pleaser Recipe

Seriously, Everyone, You Should Really Try It

...

Adapted from Nigella Lawson's Feast: Food to Celebrate Life

...

Ingredients

- The biggest bone-in ham you can find

- A whole bunch of 2-liter bottles of Cherry Coke

- The biggest pot you can find... ours is a lobster pot that we bought on the cheap in Chinatown. It has to be big enough to fit the ham (obvs)

...

Methods

- Fit the ham in the pot, cover with water, and bring the water to a boil. Drain the water. This will eliminate any salty unsavoryness.

- Fit the ham back in the pot, cover with Cherry Coke, and bring the Cherry Coke to a boil. Reduce to a simmer. Cook and cook and cook the ham, letting the little porker soak up all of the smoky sweet cola goodness. (For every pound account for about 30 minutes of cooking time; a 6-lb ham will take about 3 hours, give or take.) As the Cherry Coke reduces, just keep pouring more in to cover the ham as well as you can.

- Take the pot off the stove, place it in the sink, and carefully remove the piping hot ham, placing it onto a serving tray. By now, the crowds will be swarming around.

...

N.B. Nigella, we know that you recommend to glaze the ham with cherry jam and cloves and to roast it for 15 minutes after removing from the pot, but every time we make the ham, we can't resist just eating it right then and there, glazeless, naked, and quivering.

Food Styling - A Glimpse Into an Earlier Era

Sharon Core is a photographer who captures incredible still lifes that makes us salivate. Fresh, calm, and somehow optimistic. Her new show, "Early American" opens today at the Gallery at Hermes. The work is inspired by the 19th Century painter Raphaelle Peale. Core photographs homegrown fruits and vegetables that she grows in her Hudson Valley garden, carefully displayed on similar antiques to the ones painted by Pealle. This series of work was previously shown at the Yancy Richardson Gallery in New York.

Interview of Ms Core at The Moment.

Sharon Core, Magnolia and Wild Leeks, 2008

Sharon Core, Strawberries and Ostrich Egg, 2007

Sharon Core, Lemons, 2007

Go see her show, on now:
Gallery at Hermes
691 Madison Ave, New York
November 12 - December 11 2009.

More Than Meat

Meat. It's an Obsession. If you too love meat (perhaps not as much as us), now you can tell your loved ones that they are not chopped liver, but a step above that delicious pork belly you had last night. Made by San Francisco based designer Lauren Venell she has put together a company called Sweet Meats. In addition to the badges, there are also fresh cuts of meat. We rather enjoy the Porky Chop.

Diamonds and Chocolate are a Girl's Best Friend

This was how we felt when we heard that Chocolatier Francois Payard was teaming up with Parisian jeweler Mauboussin for his new Francois Chocolate Bar on the Fourth Floor of their New York Madison Avenue Boutique.

Herve Haddad's sexy and seductive ad campaign for Mauboussin

Since Francois Payard's Upper East Side restaurant closed, we have been aching for his beautifully composed verrines, each an elegant and decadent suprise that would make any woman feel flushed. The fourth floor of the store has been flecked with chocolate brown and gold, and every corner is overflowing with gorgeous and extraordinary chocolate confections. This is all after you've passed through three floors of diamonds, pearls and jewels.

FC at Mauboussin

FC at Mauboussin

FC at Mauboussin

...

As if you don't yet have reason enough to visit the Mauboussin store, Architect David Rockwell covered the third floor of the "dreamscape atmosphere of fantasy, discovery and whimsy" in white feathers. Yes, that's right, white feathers. So now we have diamonds, chocolate, and white feathers. MondoArc reports that The Rockwell Group "wanted to transform the 19th century townhouse into an experiential environment that would create powerful connections between the customer and the jewelry. We filled all of the floors with layers of surreal and unexpected materials, textures and accents to capture the magic of the jewelry... The journey through the store begins on the first floor, where a dark fantastical space provides a dramatic backdrop to the spot-lit coloured lifestyle jewelry glittering in glass treasure boxes. Rockwell plays on the traditional notion of a townhouse with walls clad in dark sandpaper and copper stitched moldings. In the center of the space is an illuminated cracked glass wall, rising through all three retail floors, that resembles a monolith of fused diamonds."

MondoArc

Pushing forward the themes of sexiness, design, empowerment, and timeless beauty, Mauboussin has also teamed up with photographer Herve Haddad on this incredible ad campaign:

Herve Haddad for Mauboussin

Herve Haddad for Mauboussin

Herve Haddad for Mauboussin

Visit Francois Chocolate Bar on the Fourth Floor of the Mauboussin Store at 714 Madison Avenue (near 63rd Street); (212) 752-4300.