Homemade in Red Hook
December 10, 2011
My roommate and I took the ferry over to Red Hook last weekend, an eclectic little community in Brooklyn, and one of my favorites. Stumbling upon Homemade, we couldn’t help but go in for a quick bite to eat. It’s warm, welcoming and has great food. I love their attention detail, like the leather and wooden tie around the coffee carafe. Sitting on the comfy white couch, we split the delicious special, charred filone with a ricotta spread.
Bread and Cheese
Bread, cheese and unlimited coffee
How could you not want to visit this place?
Our mess of food
Cold Weather Favorites
December 7, 2011
With the cold weather approaching, I shot some of my favorite meals to warm up to. Anyone who’s spent time in Syracuse can tell you how Pastabilities’ Hot Tomato Oil could quite possibly be the best dipping sauce that exists. I always try and bring some extra back with me whenever I visit the area. Other favorites for those cold days include my father’s homemade chicken noodle soup and Wegman’s chicken potpie for a quick pre-prepared meal that tastes just as delicious as if you made it yourself.
Pastabilities' Hot Tomato Oil and Sun-Dried Tomato bread
Chicken Noodle Soup
Wegman's Chicken Pot Pie
A Taste of Syracuse University
December 5, 2011
There’s nothing like revisiting your college days. When I was back in Syracuse, my friend and I did a tour of my favorite hang outs around the University’s infamous Marshall Street. Although new additions include chains like Chipotle, the good old classics are still holding strong, so I opted for pizza at Varsity. I haven’t been back since 4 years ago when my professors took us after class. How quickly time flies. I continued my flashback food tour at El Saha, one of my favorite late-night spots, and I’m not the only one that thinks that. A sign in the window said it was rated 29th best late night college eat in the Nation according to complex.com. Already full from pizza, my friend and I split a beef gyro with feta, sprouts, and tzatziki sauce that was just as good as I remembered 4 years back.
Rootbeer float
Pepperoni Pizza
Beef gyro
Troyer’s Country Store
December 2, 2011
A few miles outside the village of Cazenovia takes you to the simplistic and amazingly delicious life of the Amish, where people come from all over to stock up on everything this country store, Troyer’s, has to offer– breads, meats, pastas, candy and anything else you’d expect in your local grocery store, but at prices that can’t be beat, and far more fresh. It was the perfect place to get what I needed for my picnic lunch. My mom and I left with our mission accomplished, more bags than we could carry and continued the drive through Syracuse’s countryside.
Herbs and seasonings
Troyer's Country Store
Fresh bread straight out of the oven
Homemade gummies
Store Interior
Fresh pasta
Circa in Caz
November 30, 2011
While I was home for the holidays my mom and I had lunch at Circa, a small restaurant in the heart of Cazenovia. Using produce from local farmers and regional artisans, and their very own herb garden grown in the window sills, the dishes are prepared fresh and with thought. How can you complain about a sandwich served in the shape of a heart? Alicyn Hart, the chef behind Circa, has an impressive resumé as she’s traveled and cooked her way around the world, including a sous chef at a fly fishing lodge in Alaska, in guest houses in the Austrian alps, on private yachts around Mexico… you get the idea. She’s an inspiration for following your dreams and living life to the fullest.
Special of the day: tofu wrap
Main Street, Caz
Roasted free range chicken salad sandwich
Circa
A Rustic Post-Thanksgiving Picnic
November 27, 2011
It’s that time of year for my second seasonal themed dinner party. For autumn, I decided to go with a rustic outdoor picnic, inspired by my family’s leftover Thanksgiving food and style inspiration from my great grandfather’s fishing gear. For the ingredients I couldn’t find in the fridge, I spent the morning in the quaint village of Cazenovia getting fresh, local food from Troyer’s, a general store opened by the Amish (I have a whole other post on this I’ll share soon).
The Menu…
Drinks: Pellegrino Sparkling Orange Drink and Saranac Craft Beers
Appetizers: Maple Popcorn, Roasted Edamame, Vegetable chips and Homemade Trail Mix from Troyer’s Country Store
Main Course: Roasted Turkey Sandwich with homemade toasted bread, lettuce, tomato, basil infused mayonnaise, provolone and caramelized onions
Side: Saratoga country fried potato crisps seasoned with oregano
Dessert: My mother’s chocolate Italian roll cookies and homemade banana bread
Styling Tips…
• Pack each meal individually in a small cardboard to-go box for an easy transport to your great outdoor picnic location. Cut gift wrap from Anthropologie in thin strips and adhere to the sides of the box and label the menu on a strip of tape on the top of the box
• Birch bark as name cards and propped up at each place setting with one of my grandfather’s fishing lures
• Brown paper bags folded over, tied with ribbon and a burlap bow make for great serving bowls for snacks
• Sprinkle the center of the table with leaves and pine needles
• My great grandfather’s blanket from World War I as a table cloth
• Centerpiece floral arrangement, dried hygendra with a plume from ornamental grasses
Roasted turkey sandwich
Table setting and packed lunches ready to go
Homemade Trail Mix from Troyer's
Floral arrangement
Roasted Edamame
Country fried potato crisps with oregano
Boxed meals and Saranac Craft beer
Maple popcorn and birch bark place cards
Dried vegetable chips
Roasted Turkey sandwich
Drinks and cookies
Chocolate Italian cookies and banana bread
Happy Thanksgiving!
November 24, 2011
Before the hustle and bustle of the biggest cooking day of the year begins, why not treat yourself to a relaxing cup of tea. Using some of my mother’s ingredients for her cranberry salad, I added fresh squeezed oranges, cranberries and cloves to my orange spice tea. The vintage spoon was a recent purchase from Love Adorned, an adorable lifestyle boutique in Nolita.
Have a wonderful and happy Thanksgiving, and I’ll be back this weekend to share some fun post-turkey leftover festivities!
Thanksgiving Morning Tea
Recipe
November 23, 2011
I’ve been meaning to feature Recipe, a favorite restaurant of mine, that brings some of the best rustic, local farm cuisine to the city. Barely large enough to seat more than 20 or so guests, it lends to an intimate dining experience. Although I tend to grab it to go, I highly recommend waiting for a seat. You can tell they paid extra attention to styling details to give it that rustic farm meets city chic vibe. I was recently tempted to try their special of the day, the bleu cheese quiche, with a side of sautéed swiss chard and kale.
Bleu Cheese Quiche
Sautéed Swiss Chard & Kale
Recipe's Interior
A Cupcake Celebration
November 21, 2011
Any excuse for cupcakes, and I’ll take it. Saturday afternoon, my friends and I, (and dogs) had a cupcake party to celebrate the year anniversary of the site. Because it’s far too difficult to pick just one bake shop, we decided to have a taste of them all. I couldn’t help but have a smile on my face after finishing the Upper West Side cupcake crawl, with stops at Baked by Melissa, Alice’s Tea Cup, Magnolia’s, Crumbs and Peacefoods, all with their own fabulous style and ambiance. It was a tough call between Melissa’s bite size flavors to Crumb’s Apple Crumbler, but our top vote goes out to Peacefood’s vegan carrot cupcake.
Baked By Melissa's Graham Cracker, Peacefood's Vegan Carrot, Magnolia's Caramel, Alice's Chocolate and Crumbs' Apple Crumbler
Carrot & Melissa's minis
Sophie's Debut
With love from Crumbs
A Year in Review
November 18, 2011
A Camera in the Kitchen turns 1 tomorrow! I cannot thank you all enough for your support and enthusiasm you’ve expressed to me. It’s been such an amazing year capturing and sharing the art of dining. I’ve dug through my archives to compile some of my favorites that I think best reflects this. From tasting California’s fresh fruit while dancing at the Coachella Music Festival, to chowing down on a burger in Montana after a day of snowshoeing in the Beartooth Mountains, or grilling Wahoo from Aruba’s local fish market in celebration of a friend’s birthday. It has been such a learning experience for me, and I only hope to bring more exciting things to the site in the year to come.
Above all, I’ve learned a meal is more than just satisfying your hunger, it’s about the experience, the culture, and most importantly the people you are surrounded by. Whether grabbing take out for an evening home with the roommates, or sitting at a cafe in Reykjavik with new friends, I always make the most of the moment, and the meal, and that’s what I aim to capture here. I hope my photos inspire you to take time in your own life to appreciate the moments shared over that dish. You may get too full for that last bite of pasta, but you can never be too full of great memories.
Some of the dinner parties we've hosted-- big and small
Travels to Iceland, Montana, California, Miami, Beacon and Newport
Travels continued through New Jersey, Montana, Iceland and Brooklyn
a camera in the kitchen 
