Funny Food Book Review

Hello! Yes, I'm back. I apologize for the lengthy absence. Will you forgive me if I give you a good reason? Like...I had a baby!!! So, what better way to jump back into the food blogging world than with a review of the new book from Welcome Books, "Funny Food: 365 Fun, Healthy, Silly, Creative Breakfasts"? I was recently offered a copy of this book that combines my love of food with my new role of parent (how did they know?). I'm sure I'll need lots of ideas and inspiration when the time comes to make breakfast for my little one and this super cute book has tons of colorful & interesting ways to make eating healthy in the morning fun.



Written by husband and wife team Bill & Claire Wurtzel (a jazz musician & and educator, respectively), what grew out of a life-long love of having fun with food, their focus now is on helping families find new & creative ways to eat healthy food in simple, easy ways. Every page is filled with photos of whimsical depictions of faces, people and scenes in chapters titled Eggs, Waffles & Pancakes, Oatmeal, Cereal & Fruit, and Toast, Bagels and Snacks. But this is not your average 'play with your food' book, they take making pictures with your food to a whole new level. Take a look!




Mona Lisa:



They even include Step-By-Directions:



This book is sure to be a fun way for you and your kids to make and eat healthy meals together. You can pick up a copy at your local bookstore or at Amazon.com!

From Funny Food: 365 Fun, Healthy, Silly, Creative Breakfasts by Bill & Claire Wurtzel. Welcome Books. Photographs © 2012 Bill Wurtzel. www.funnyfood.us

Food News!

The 3rd-Annual Guactacular will be taking place on Sunday, May 8th at The Bell House. 20 "avocado hopefuls" will be competing for cash & other prizes. Hosted by NY Nachos, chips will be provided by Frito Lay and avocados will be fresh from Mexico. Brooklyn Brewery will also supply one beer to each attendee. Tickets are $15/$18 at the door, but I recommend you buy yours early as they always sell out way in advance of the event. For more information, go here.




Register by May 20th for the first Best Birthday Cake Contest to be held on Saturday, June 11th at the IKEA in Red Hook as part of their all-day Relay For Life event. The contest will be hosted by Fairway and the American Cancer Society of Brooklyn and will take place that evening at 5pm. They are looking for 30 professional bakers and 20 non-professional bakers to participate in the contest. There will be prizes and a fireworks display afterward. Contact Kristen LaGrua at kristenlagrua@gmail.com for information on how to register. Good luck!

Food News!

This sounds like a great event! There's a panel discussion on The Growth of the Brooklyn Food Industry this Sunday, March 27th at 2pm at the Brooklyn Historical Society. Participants on the panel include author Sherri Eisenberg of The Food Lovers Guide to Brooklyn, Renato Poliafito & Matt Lewis from Baked, Eton Chan from Eton and ben Van Leeuwen from Van Leeuwen Artisan Ice Cream. Admission is free with a ticket to BHS ($6 for adults, $4 for Students & Seniors). Sounds great, I only wish they'd be serving samples!

Food News!

Starting tonight, the Slow Food NYC Book Club will launch its inaugural meeting at Book Court (163 Court St., between Dean St. & Pacific St.) in Cobble Hill. At 7pm, David Kirby, author of "Animal Factory" will be available to discuss his book. You'll also be able to get 20% off the book if you buy it at Book Court. On May 19th, you can go talk about "Diet For a Hot Planet" with author Anna Lappé, daughter of Frances Moore Lappé, author of "Diet for a Small Planet". Good & important stuff!

Peeled Snacks has a new flavor out! It's called CApricot (as in California Apricot) and can be found only at Starbucks and Peeled Snacks themselves. They only use high quality fruits & nuts and now recycle their packaging!



May 5th is Cinco de Mayo and that means it's time for the 2nd Annual Guactacular!!! Taking place again at The Bell House, this year's competition is being sponsored by Mission Foods, so there will be plenty of restaurant-style tortilla chips to sample all that guac with! Tecate and Dos Equis beers will be available as well as music and prizes from local restaurants. Check Nachos NY for more information, or the Bell House website for tickets.



Also coming up in May is Mother's Day (Sunday May 9th) and Clinton Hill's Autour du Monde (860 Fulton St., corner of Clinton Ave., 718-398-3500) will be offering up a special Louisiana-style Brunch! The food is organic and while I haven't been there myself, the menu definitely looks appetizing. From Beignets to Po Boy sandwiches and a Mardi Gras Cosmo, I'm totally intrigued. Anyone been there care to weigh in?

Food News!

Get your tickets ahead of time for Austria Uncorked, a benefit for GrowNYC's "Learn It, Grow It, Eat It"! Eat It Brooklyn readers can use the code BLOGAUSTRIA for $5 off ticket prices, plus, you can enter to win free passes to the event, which will include food from some of New York's top restaurants, including Wallsé, BLT Prime, 10 Downing Food & Wine, Telepan and Recette. I know, none of the participating restaurants are in Brooklyn, but GrowNYC is a great "education program which empowers teens to take control of their health through hands-on gardening, nutrition education, outreach, and managing a community farm-stand", some of which takes place in Brooklyn.



The event will take place on Wednesday, May 5th at Tribeca Rooftop from 6 - 9pm. For more information and to purchase tickets, click here! For a chance to win those free tickets, go here! Good luck!

Food News!

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!!!

I want to announce the opening of a new pizza joint in Greenpoint called Paulie Gee's, (60 Greenpoint Avenue, between Franklin and West Streets (in the former Paloma space), 347-987-3747), part-owned by fellow blogger Morta di Fame. They plan to make Rooftop Pizza from produce grown at nearby Rooftop Farms - how awesome is that!? I can't wait to try it out! (Photo courtesy of J. Galatioto)



Also, it's Dine in Brooklyn again! Over 175 restaurants are participating this year, offering $25 pre-fixe dinners ($20.10 for lunch). Zenkichi is just one of the participating places, recently named one of the Top 50 Most Romantic Places in the US! Click here for a list of all the restaurants involved, and make sure you make reservations, as this is quite the popular event. It's on from March 15th to March 25th!

Little Skips (941 Willoughby Avenue, near Charles Place, 718-484-0980) is a fairly new Coffee House/Art Gallery in Bushwick serving pastries, muffins, quiche and expanding to providing more treats in the near future. Free Wifi and an Art Raffle on March 31st (tickets are only $5!). Check 'em out and support local artists.

AND...I have 96 followers so far. Who's going to take me to 100???

Food News!

I recently learned about BlackboardEats.com, a free email newsletter and website. Subscribers get 30% and more off of meals at really great restaurants around the city. They recently wrote to me to say they're offering deals at Brooklyn restaurants as well, so check 'em out and support their expansion into Brooklyn. You should drop them a line and ask for more Brooklyn deals, too!

I also just heard about a Belgian program called Famous Food, a documentary series in which the favorite foods of various celebrities (Roald Dahl, Salvador Dali, Maria Callas, Johnny Cash to name a few) are prepared by Jeroen Meus, a well-known Belgian chef. I just love this concept! They're coming to Brooklyn at the end of the month to research Soul Food for a segment they're making on Jimi Hendrix. Any suggestions for them? You can also see the trailer for Famous Food here!

And, Brooklyn Beefsteak comes to The Bell House on Sunday, March 21st. There are two time slots available, but hurry, tickets are running out!

Food News!

On Thursday, Feb. 25th celebrate at The Meat Hook the release of Maria Finn's new book Hold Me Tight & Tango Me Home, a recount of her experience with divorce and subsequent healing through learning the Tango. It looks to be an awesome event. Expect wine from Familia Zuccardi, Argentinian-style snacks and a Tango lesson. $30 gets you all that plus a copy of the book ($15 sans book).



Then on Friday, 2/26, get free samples of Peeled Snacks at Starbucks.

Economy Bites!

I just got word of a new online cooking show called Economy Bites that offers a weekly five-minute video & podcast that teaches viewers how to make quick and easy meals for cheap. I just watched the most recent post on Corn & Black Bean Salad. It's one of my favorite easy at-home meals to make, and they did it real cute. Check it out!