Cinnamon-Spiced Sweet Potato Fries

Lee Stoetzel, Hard Fries (After Oldenburg), 2009. Mahogany and maple veneer, plywood (container), spalted maple (fries, )40 x 20 x 36 inches.

Cinnamon-Spiced Sweet Potato Fries

1 large sweet potato, peeled and cut into thick sticks
1 1/4 cups white sugar
3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons ground nutmeg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups vegetable oil for deep frying
4 teaspoons butter

For a slightly healthier version, cut the sugar measurement in half; coat sliced sweet potatoes with egg whites before rolling them in the sugar mixture; and bake.

Go to All Recipes for instructions.

Four new sculptures by Lee Stoetzel are on view at Mixed Greens through May 23. The exhibition comprises four pieces of "Oldenburgian" proportion: a single-speed bicycle, a Chuck Close catalog, a replica of gutters and leaves, and the McDonald’s fries pictured above.

Looks Good: Chocolate Mint Paddies

Uploaded to Flickr by gardenpeach on April 24, 2009.

Ingredients

3/4 cup butter

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 cup sugar

2 tablespoons molasses

2 tablespoons water

2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 eggs

2 1/2 cups flour

1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

36 chocolate covered mint candies (Andes Mints)

Go to Vintage Victuals for instructions.

Becoming a Community Chef (Post 1)

Blue Marble's Chocolate Ice Cream at Brooklyn Flea.

This is the first post of a new series that will follow my activities as a Community Chef. Trained by the organization Just Food, Community Chefs are food educators that empower New Yorkers to create delicious and healthy meals for themselves and their families. The program is sustained by the "trainer of trainers" methodology -- Community Chefs don't just teach food skills, they teach more people to be food educators for their own neighborhoods. Over the course of the program, which begins tomorrow, I'll learn how to facilitate workshops about local, seasonal eating and cooking; basic nutrition; fruit and vegetable identification; recipe selection and creation; knife skills; and food storage and preparation.

While in training, I hope to (among other things) develop innovative, healthier dessert recipes. I was inspired last weekend at Brooklyn Flea when I shared a small tub of Blue Marble ice cream with my artist-friends Maya Suess and Atom S. Cianfarani. Though we devoured the all-natural chocolate treat (made with local and seasonal products), we really wanted the sold out ginger flavor. I've been thinking about it ever since. Ginger ice cream topped with shavings of fair-trade, organic dark chocolate is high on my list of goodies to whip up for friends and neighbors in the coming months.

Just Food recently announced the Brooklyn Food Conference, which takes place at John Jay High School on May 2. Guest speakers are Dan Barber, Executive chef and co-owner of Blue Hill Restaurant; Anna Lappé, author of Grub: Ideas for an Urban Organic Kitchen; Raj Patel, author of Stuffed and Starved: The Hidden Battle for the World Food System; and LaDonna Redmond, President and CEO of the Institute of Community Resource Development in Chicago. The event is free and open to the public. Register here.

Eye Candy: Whitney ISP 2008-2009

Nanna Debois Buhl, Respect History, 2008. Courtesy of the artist.

The Whitney Independent Study Program (ISP) consists of three distinct tracks in studio, curatorial, and critical studies. Founded in 1968, ISP has received and introduced some of the biggest names in contemporary art. The program begins each year in September and concludes the following May with a series of presentations. This year's roster follows.

Studio Program Exhibition: Featuring works by Kasper Akhøj, Natalia Almada, David Baumflek, Nanna Debois Buhl, Heather Hart, Emma Hedditch, Bani Khoshnoudi, Liz Magic Laser, Liz Linden, Ilya Lipkin, Mores McWreath, Meredith Nickie, Anna Ostoya, and Hong-An Truong.

On view at Art In General, May 9–17. Opening reception, May 9, 6–8pm.

Curatorial Program Exhibition: Time Out of Joint: Recall and Evocation in Recent Art, curated by Luigi Fassi, Lucy Gallun, Roya Rastegar, and Jakob Schillinger.

On view at The Kitchen, May 22–June 15. Opening reception, May 22, 5–8 pm.

Critical Studies Program Symposium: Papers by Chad Elias, Jennifer Kennedy, Karl Lydén, Julia Moritz, Jordan Troeller, and Tom Williams.

At the Whitney Museum of American Art on May 20. Session I, 6:30–8:30pm; Session II, 9–10:30pm.

Looks Good: French Toast at 202

French Toast with Maple Syrup.

Last June, New York Magazine featured Nicole Farhi's retail-eatery, 202, in a breakfast roundup. The article revealed the secret of chef Annie Wayte's French toast: brioche wedges absorbed in a vanilla pod-infused mixture of heavy cream, confectioners’ sugar, and free-range eggs.


I recently visited 202 for brunch (and some homeware browsing). The French toast ($12) was recommended by our server, and though it was good, it didn't blow my socks off. This was perhaps due to my vegetarian diet -- I had to forgo the bacon strip topping that, I imagine, adds the perfect contrast of texture and flavor. That said, there still wasn't a crumb on my plate when the server cleared the table.


As I finished my hot chocolate, I spotted the Buttermilk pancakes with blueberry compote and creme fraiche ($11) across the room, and made a mental note of what to order next time. After sampling my companion's sourdough toast piled high with scrambled eggs and mushrooms ($13), I came to fully understand the hype around this Chelsea Market spot.


Open seven days a week, 202 is located at 75 Ninth Ave., NY, NY (view map).

Looks Good: Banana Foster Cheesecake

Uploaded to Flickr by djwtwo on April 12, 2009.

Ingredients

Crust:
3/4 cup all purpose flour
3/4 cup finely chopped pecans
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted
3 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons (packed) golden brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Filling:
2 8-ounce packages Neufchâtel cheese (reduced-fat cream cheese), room temperature
1 1/4 cups sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
3 large eggs
2 cups puréed bananas (from about 4 bananas)
1 cup low-fat sour cream
1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
Pinch of salt

Topping:
1 cup low-fat sour cream
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 17-ounce jar caramel sauce
2 tablespoons dark rum
2 bananas, peeled, sliced

Go to Epicurious for instructions.

UPDATE 12/9/09: The photographer has added his recipe to the photo. Get it here. Note: A recipe was not provided with the above image, but the photographer offers this: "Tried a new technique...Instead of baking in a bain marie, which gives a nice creamy cheesecake, but frequently ends up with a little water infiltrating the pan, this one was started in a 500°F oven for 10 minutes then finished at 200°F for about an hour. Topped with almost-bananas foster (sliced bananas, butter, dark brown sugar, Grand Marnier, and dark rum flambé), and served with the extra sauce from the bananas on the side."

Get a Whif

Harvard professor David Edwards has come up with a new way to consume chocolate. It's called "whiffing." The chocolate inhaler, Le Whif, puts approximately 50 milligrams of chocolate in your mouth in a single puff. One Whif will give you up to four puffs of chocolate. The no-calorie aerosol confection comes in mint chocolate, raspberry chocolate, mango chocolate and plain chocolate. The product launches in Paris later this month, but won't hit shelves in the U.S. until May.

As a chocolate lover and asthmatic, I'm a little upset that I didn't come up with this idea first. Jealousy aside, there is something mildly disturbing about the act of whiffing.

The first "whiffing recipes" accompany a new novel by Edwards, titled Whiff. Japanese Manga artist Junko Murata has provided illustrations for the book. Read more about it here.

Peep Love Runs Deep

"Linda," by Carol Serini of Evergreen and Greg Alflen of Morrison. Based on a piece by John DeAndrea in the Denver Art Museum Collection. Photo: Cyrus McCrimmon, The Denver Post.

'Tis the season for marshmallow Peeps. Manufacturer of the sugary chicks and bunnies, Just Born, whips up nearly 700 million Peeps annually. The company claims that the Easter treats, which were created in the 1950s, are the most popular nonchocolate candy in America today. Given the hundreds of articles, posts and Peep contests of late, it's obvious that "Peep love runs deep."

My 2009 guide to Peeps:

• Winner of the Washington Post's Peep diorama contest talks about her Edward Hopper inspired design.

• Staging History with Peeps: A slideshow of Peep dioramas based on recent events. For instance, "Octomom Peeps."

• Peep Production: A glimpse behind-the-scenes.

• Peeps Fun Facts: Did you know that Just Born produces enough Peeps in one year to circle the Earth twice? (Do you care?)

• The science of Peeps.

• Peeps on Parade: Check out the Peep-populated scene from Hitchcock's film The Birds.

• Hooded Peeps: A controversial display of KKK Peeps.
  


• It's not too late to enter the National Geographic photo contest "Peeps in Places."

• Is the White House hopped up on Peeps?

• Serious About Peeps: A curator at the Denver Art Museum gives his first Peep commentary.

• You Can't Handle the Peeps!: A little movie line trivia.
  


• Peeps in Fitness: Sugar and calorie counts take the fun out of food.


• Rent-a-Peep: Forget the candy and get a real chick-a-dee.


• D-I-Y Peeps from Twig and Thistle.

• Studying Peeps: The ultimate link list.
  

Interview: Mequitta Ahuja

Dream Weaver, 2009. Oil, enamel, acrylic and waxy chalk on paper, 84 x 104 in. Courtesy of the artist.

Read my interview with Houston-based artist Mequitta Ahuja in today's issue of ...might be good. Ahuja's exhibition Automythography I is on view at BravinLee Programs in New York through May 2.

Eye Candy: \'flo\: art, text, new media

Opening April 15 at the Center for Book Arts in Manhattan, \'flo\: art, text, new media is a multimedia exhibition that focuses on works that use language, aesthetically or conceptually, to convey non-linear narratives, sociopolitical messages, and visual poetics.

Organized by Rocío Aranda-Alvarado, curator at The Jersey City Museum, the exhibition features more than 30 artists, including Brendan Carroll, Terry Boddie, Chris Burnett, Karlos Cárcamo, Cheto Castellano, Young-Hae Chang/Marc Voge, Andrew Demirjian, Dahlia Elsayed, Elaine Kaufmann, Swati Khurana, Jeanette May, Emily McVarish, Shayok Mukhopadhyay, Clifford Owens, Robin Price, Nyugen Smith, Masumi Shibata, Jennifer Sullivan, and Scott Taylor.

The exhibition is on view through June 27.