It's a small world after all....

Yesterday I went to the NY Food and Wine Festival at the Piers- a gift from my friends at Share Our Strength whose stated goal is No Kid Hungry- but their methodology is incredible- they stage HUGE culinary events (Taste of the Nation, Tasteful Pursuits, etc) and encourage EXTREME gluttony whereby you not only want to donate money to help starving children in the US- (no joke- visit their website) but you want to give them YOUR food as after one of these gustatorial bacchanals- you never want to eat again- the starving kids can have your butternut squash soup with truffle oil and pig-head pate, thank you very much.

So there was lots and lots of food and three times more wine, beer and spirits. So much wine, beer and spirits that upon entry you are given a full-sized cabernet glass on a lanyard to wear around your neck- the absolute textbook physical representation of a cork-dork. I felt ridiculous-the glass bouncing in front of me as I walked until my companion- slightly sensitive and hungover complained that lacking sufficient cleavage her glass was bouncing on a too-many drinks the night before tummy and this was NOT a good feeling. We slung the glass backwards so it hung between her shoulder blades... I deemed it ghetto-style though it may be that the big wineglass would be replaced by..Thunderbird- on a lanyard...I love that idea- think how much wine is wasted when the owner becomes to intoxicated to hang on to the bottle. In New Orleans they have beer can cozies on lanyards- written on the cozy is the question- how ya gonna clap? My feeling is hands-free drinking is also good for holding back hair when...well you get the idea.

Anyway- a great deal of fun was had by all- and a ridiculous amount of food- I felt the teensiest bit virtuous by dint of the fact that 50% of my post event tummy ache had resulted in a donation to Share Our Strength- still- I wished there had been some little kid I could have given my little bratwurst with home-made pickle on a tiny potato bun to.

The answer is (after a night spent with Prince Pepto) not NO food- Yom Kippur proved to me that the answer is (after a night spent with Prince Pepto) not NO food- Yom Kippur proved to me that while fasting is OK for ME, those around me suffer- (by being witness to me being horrendously grouchy and caffeine deprived) So eating becomes a humanitarian gesture you see? The answer is not slow food- I dont do slow- but SMALL food.

Then this morning I got an e-mail from Neff. I had cleared my system with copious amounts of coffee and a yogurt from the event- the swag was for the most part, food- go figure. And saw an e-mail about the dessert bar Chikalicious. I groaned- CAKE? Marie Antoinettes last revenge on the peasants- I know inside she was thinking- Let the bastards get sick on buttercream- see if I care.

But the cupcakes were lovely. Visually, that is- gastronomically I am on hiatus for the day- But the author of the post- Ed Levine- made some wonderful observations about cupcakes that I will share with you here:


The cake has to be moist, light, and tasty in its own right, a difficult combination to pull off

The frosting has to be smooth, also light, not too sweet, and deeply flavored

A cupcake doesn't have to be huge. Cupcakes have become like bagels in this town, and like bagels, bigger is most assuredly not better. Size matters in cupcakes, but not in the way that you think

Listen up. This last quality is really important. A great cupcake has to have the proper ratio of icing to cake. Other people may have different ideas, but I think there should be a 1 to 3 ratio of icing to filling.

So true, Ed, so very true. So I will take my gluttony as it is actually the most readily enjoyed- in small, cupcake-sized doses.

(My quote and apostrohe key is busted...) Enjoy the day XO :P