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It’s that time of year again! That special time right after the Mayan Apocalypse, but right before the New Year, when Dirt Candy takes a holiday.

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Holidays? We love holidays!!! 

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This year we’ll be closed from tonight, Saturday, December 22, until we re-open on Wednesday, January 2…2013!!! That’s in the future!

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Heino wants you to take it easy until then.

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Thanks so much for everyone’s support this year. You guys have been the best and, more than that, because of you the Dirt Candy cookbook and online store have thrived beyond even my grossly inflated expectations.

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Thank you for everything and thank you…for the dove.

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So go take a holiday! You deserve it!

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You also deserve handerpants!

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About two weeks ago, I polished off my last out-of-town cookbook event of the year in Medford, MA. This was one I really wasn’t sure about, and it wound up being one of the most successful. My sister-in-law lives in Medford and she was the driving force in getting this together and she’s one of those organized people who start something rolling and then you just get out of the way or you get crushed. So when she told me that she wanted the Friends of the Medford Public Library to sponsor a Dirt Candy event I agreed because, well, I like libraries, I like my sister-in-law, and seeing my nephews isn’t half-bad. Little did I know…

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By the time this event was finished, cars would be destroyed, food would be donated and eaten in astounding quantities, massive numbers of cookbooks would be sold, and I would learn the meaning of Moxie.

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Read the rest of this entry »

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After “How do I become a chef?” the question I get asked most often is “Should I go to cooking school?” The short answer: maybe. The longer, more complicated answer: maybe, kind of?

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“Your opinion is vague and irritating.”

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Read the rest of this entry »

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A couple of months ago, New York Comic Con descended on the West Side of Manhattan like the spearhead of an invasion of happy fans from another universe where life is more colorful and a whole lot more fun. One of my proudest moments came when I got a text from Ryan Dunlavey (the artist on the cookbook) showing me a commission someone had just paid him to draw. The drawing?

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Normally, commissions are things like Wonder Woman and Aquaman giving an erotic massage to a dolphin with a mink glove, but in this case it was me…fighting MODOK. Who is MODOK? Why, only the original Mobile Organism Designed Only for Killing.

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The big-headed bully has become a comedy icon recently.

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In no small part thanks to our very own Ryan…

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And now I’m a comic book character. I can only hope that fetish commissions  of me in compromising positions with a mushroom are next!

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Two of my favorite people are Karen Page and Andrew Dornenberg, authors of The Flavor Bible which is a book I was basically married to when I was thinking about opening Dirt Candy. They’ve become big boosters of the restaurant, and regular customers, and so I was over the moon when they invited me to join them at a book signing they’re doing at the Union Square Greenmarket this coming Saturday, December 15 starting at noon and ending at 2pm.

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They’ll be signing and selling copies of The Flavor Bible and their wine books, and I’ll be signing and selling copies of the Dirt Candy cookbook and it’s going to be a lot of fun. Because when’s the last time you could get a copy of the cookbook personally inscribed for the holidays and pick up a bunch of gorgeous vegetables to keep you company while you read it?

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One thing I get asked a lot is how to become a chef, so I figured that I’d save everyone (and me!) time by putting my advice up here for the world to see. It all boils down to one word: don’t.

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It never ends well.

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If that doesn’t discourage you, then here’s my advice on what you need to do. This isn’t the only way, and it’s maybe not the best way, but I don’t know any other way. Like most people who own restaurants, I have tunnel vision and can only imagine doing things the way I did it.

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Read the rest of this entry »

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When I catered the Racked Awards I had to come up with a bunch of food that would work at an event like this. They asked me to make upscale comfort food, and so I turned out things like a new PB&J sandwich (edamame butter and ginger jelly in a steamed bun), Shepherd’s Pie Puffs, and a simple, straightforward cucumber roll. I figured this was going to get lost in the shuffle, only popular with starving models who wouldn’t eat carbs. I was floored when it turned out to be the most popular dish at the event. Even at the Food Film Festival I had more than one person come up and ask if I was going to serve them again. Sometimes a simple cucumber can surprise you!

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