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Hi my loyal readers!

I’ve been away for sometime, mostly because I’ve been writing for another blog on examiner.com. http://www.examiner.com/x-10896-Manhattan-Healthy-Food-Examiner.  Inspired by the movie Julie and Julia I wanted to revive this blog and have something out in cyberspace that was purely my own. I’m cross posting my reaction to the movie and one of my favorite torte recipes.

Every day is a food experiment for me and I always test my recipes for changes in my energy and passion levels! In this post is an original recipe altered and changed many times from a recipe I learned while at the Institute for Culinary education. Like Julia I never finished cooking school, but I learned many wonderful things and have developed my own unique style. Julia has always been a great inspiration to me – from about the age of 11 when I watched Julia on PBS with my Aunt Ida and tried to make chicken breasts in butter and cream sauce on my own. How my mother let me do such things I will never know. By age 12 I was stir frying shrimp and by high school I was coming home for lunch with my friends and preparing “gourmet” meals for them. It all started with Julia.

Now of course, my interests have shifted toward the health value of food. But I will never sacrifice taste for health value. I believe they can be linked!Healthy food is always thought of as boring, plain and lacking butter. Perhaps, but what if it was just small amounts of truly delicious food with natural sugars and enough butter to fill you up. The truly two bite dessert. Jeff Goldblum apparently orders desserts, savors one truly decadent bite and sends it back. Not all of us have this kind of self control, but I was inspired enough by Julia Child to write this post. But first, I want to talk about the inspiration.

I am not a woman who cries often. Since Saturday night I have cried twice…from movies no less. The first: the time traveler’s wife. A story of love that overcame the test of time…literally and tonight from Julie and Julia, a story of love, sex, food and writing…and of course, success, money and everything else! But first came, the love, the sex…and of course the food…and the writing! Two stories that are ever so vivid, real, whole and round. Stories that rip through you to the very core and remind you why we live. Ah, to think, the power of a boeuf bourgonuine to transform the senses and the miracle of tricking your own husband who had just gotten a vasectomy into getting you pregnant by cheating with a younger version of your time traveling husband before he got the procedure done.
I am dreaming of cassoulet, duck steak and tarte tatin. The first time I had duck steak, which is some part of the duck (I’m going to go with the breast) without a drop of fat on it – just the meat – its simply seared and its nearly raw inside – but its so delicious I can’t even explain it! When I was at the Institute for Culinary education and also again at Tocqueville I concentrated on pastry, which was so strange considering I am by all means a food chef. I did excel at pastry and I do enjoy making desserts. I’ve made a few tarte tatins in my lifetime and even bought a special pot to make it in because you need to be able to make the apples on the stove, cover it with the pastry and then pop the thing in the oven. You need a pan that has an oven safe handle, which is hard to find these days. An ex-boyfriend once made eggs in the pan without using butter and to this day despite several cleanings and soakings there are still scrapes of egg in the pan. The pan lasted longer than that relationship! Damn though, I was very much in love with the pan. Will have to butter it up but good the next time I want to make a tart.

But the piece de resistance in my culinary abilities and one of my all time favorite desserts is a dark chocolate torte I learned to make in a French cooking class at ICE. The cake is made with grand Marnier and two sticks of butter. Julia would be proud. Somewhere I have the original recipe, but I’ve altered it over the years to make it completely my own.
Ingredients:
10 ounces of the darkest chocolate I can find (my favorite is Valhrona 85%)
4 eggs
2 tablespoons grand mariner
1/3 cup of agave nectar
Waxed parchment paper
8 inch round cake pan

Cut a round in parchment to line bottom and sides of cake pan. Set aside with a weight. Preheat oven to 350.
Whisk eggs together with grand mariner in a large bowl. Don’t beat, just whisk them with the liquer until it is combined and the eggs turn yellow. Chop chocolate into chunks on an angle with a chef’s knife. Gently melt it in a double boiler with a little bit of agave nectar (maybe 1/3 of a cup). When the chocolate has just melted, remove from heat and stir to make creamy. Add two sticks of butter. Cover and let the butter melt completely. When melted, remove cover and stir. While whisking, add the chocolate mixture in a stream (almost like you’d add oil to egg yolks to make mayonnaise) to the egg mixture and continue whisking lightly just until all the chocolate combines.
Remove weight from pan and pour in batter. Place cake pan in a larger pan filled with two inches of water so cake pan floats in other pan (bain maire).
Cook 40 minutes until top has set. Cool for 10 min or so and pop in refrigerator at least 12 hours. This piece is crucial!!! The next day, turn cake over onto a plate and unmold by removing parchment. Decorate cake with either powdered sugar or my favorite – sifted raw cacao powder (not Dutch processed cocoa, please!) and raspberries. Serve slices with real whipped cream that has not been ultra pasteurized (just regular pasteurized is fine, it whips better, usually comes in a glass bottle) if you can find it.
 
 
 I am teaching an exciting new class with renowned sex educator, Eric Amaranth, protege of Betty Dodson, PhD, author of "Sex for One". Here are the details: visit http://passionfood.eventbrite.com to sign up!
Rev up your sex life with delicious mouth-watering food! Yes, you read it right. Let Meredith Sobel, local food expert and natural nutritionist, and Eric Amaranth, sex educator and blogger introduce you to foods that will enhance and prolong your sexual stamina, and learn about foods that you should avoid to save yourself from a food coma. Couple this with intriguing information on optimal positions that will increase both male and female pleasure and endurance and you’ve got yourself equipped with the right moves for the real afterparty after the party! So come spend an afternoon learning and discussing in an open, supportive, non-judgmental and most of all dignified environment – everything you have always wanted to know about the relationship between food and sex. You never know, after this event, you may find yourself in a match made in heaven too! You do not want to miss this! Advanced reservations and payment required. No refunds if reservation cancelled within 5 days of the event. At the desk downstairs ask for Suite 1107 on the 11th Floor. Please call 212.222.8187 if there is a problem getting in.

 
 

Do you think vegetarian protein is only tofu and tempeh? Well, there is so much more to vegetarian protein. What might you ask?

Beans - packed with protein and fiber. Soak the beans or sprout them (soak for several days in a covered container - they will be ok - they are going to grow tails though, so don't get alarmed!) to increase digestibility - change your soaking water before cooking!

Bee Pollen - contains amino acids and enzymes - but you could be allergic, test in small doses - usual reactions are skin swelling and itching

Spirulina - contains 3g per teaspoon. I usually add two tablespoons to a smoothie - that's 18 grams - about the same as a 4 ounce serving of steak or chicken and hardly any fat, the fat is unsaturated and omega 3 containing!

Nuts and seeds: chia seeds, hemp seeds and almonds are among my favorites. I add each to smoothies or grains.

Eating just one vegetarian meal per week can lower cholesterol, increase energy and support a more sustainable planet. Give it a try! Check back for recipes and check out my new manhattan healthy food blog on examiner.com

 
 

So, in keeping with the balance of my business and this blog, health and self care come in many forms.  I just had "organic" hair color tonight.  It was delicious, fabulous, relaxing and above all professional.  And it was a class!

Where did I go for the fabulous once in a lifetime experience? The Roy Teeluck Salon on East 57th Street in the great city of Manhattan across from the Four Seasons hotel.

Ordinarily, a color job there where they do Balayage highlighting - an extraordinary technique for a new kind of blonde who only wants to get highlights once every 3-4 months (can you believe it!!), would cost $195 and up. I have shoulder length hair - so I am sure I am in the and up figure and after this experience, I'd gladly pay that!!! but tonight, I went to a class as a model (now when do you get to be a model - its fab to feel like a model!) for only $50.

That buys you a one of a kind hair treatment, blowout, a chance to drop in on the instructive process with Roy himself (very instructive for me as I build my own business) and your choice from the complimentary beverage menu - a glass of wine (a quite good one at that!), a cappuchino, water or a variety of other choices and to feel like gold for a few hours. Along with my color job I got a head massage and a very nice blowout, plus I was allowed to critique the work to Roy himself. It felt like being a judge on the food network. It was so fun and plus I have this fabulous new do!

I highly recommend Roy Teeluck salon at 38 East 57th Street 212.888.2221 for your next salon experience. Try the class or go the whole nine yards and pay full price for the service. You won't regret it! I had Danielle the trainee - she was great and only 21. One day - celebrities will be knocking down her door for appointments and I can say, I knew her back when. Michelle - the head colorist consulted and did several of the highlights. Roy stood by and supervised making sure I was happy. It does not get much better than that. Ladies (and guys too!)  this is an urban oasis that gives you a little bit of pampering...just what you deserve to reward yourself. So much better than brownies! Now if only I could get up to 8 miles running tomorrow as easily as I got a new do!

 

 
 

The sun is shining, the birds are chirping, the mets are winning and there's rhubarb, spinach, asparagus and fresh eggs at the markets, enough to live on. The spring harvest has just begun. I'm waiting for the rest of the dark leafy greens, those first strawberries and blueberries from New York State. There's nothing like them on earth. Small, sweet, delicious in pie, cobbler or just on the plate with some fresh goat's milk yogurt from the farm table next door.

If you can't tell, I'm a bit in love with food. My first love however is how my body feels after consuming farm fresh food from New York State. I've lived in New York my whole life with an exception of two years in New Jersey (right near the farms - I would pick my produce weekly) and Boston (not so near the farms - but I had the haymarket...it was a sad two years). Of course I am also in love with people and helping them as well as just understanding their unique stories.

This week, I am enjoying lentil soup which I made with fresh dill.  I just poached some eggs from the farmer's market. They were delicious. I am looking forward to waking up early and grabbing some asparagus on Wednesday morning as well as whatever fruit abounds. Its still just apples and pears. I'm fantasizing about the berries and peaches, alas I might have to wait a few more months.

I'm looking forward to my first group class, which is starting next Tuesday! more information about it here: http://8weekstoanewbody.eventbrite.com.