By Jacqueline Burke

At times, I share Emily Gould’s tendency to over-share, which is why the saga of my move from Stamford, CT to New York City has been a popular topic of discussion at the water cooler during the months leading up to it. The Bullfroggers were kind enough to share their seasoned expertise, let me “apartment-sit” for one blissful week in the West Village, give guided tours of their respective neighborhoods, and even risked their own safety escorting me to the far reaches of Brooklyn in search of an affordable lily pad. Each of them has subsequently tripled their karma, and the Apartment Gods of Manhattan will smile upon them when it comes time to relocate.

Now that I’m settled, my first New York apartment is in Astoria, a stone’s throw away from the Beer Garden, and is outfitted with a roommate I met on Craig’s List, a very decent kitchen, a roof deck and even a landlord, Nick, who fuses the word “Opa!” to the last word of every other sentence he speaks.

An intrinsic beauty of moving to a new neighborhood is ferreting out places to eat for every occasion (i.e. It’s three in the morning and you need waffles, as opposed to it’s Sunday morning and you have the Times and all the time in the world). Well, after a few trots around the neighborhood, here’s a list of places that have piqued my interest:

Oleput Lollipop, Ditmars Blvd.

Clicked my heels three times, and Poof! I was in Brooklyn.

Martha’s Country Bakery, Ditmars Blvd.

Could this be the place to tame my vicious sweet tooth?

Taverna Kyclades, Ditmars Blvd.

This place is packed tighter than the N train every night.

Fresh Start Health Food Market, 23rd Ave.

All food at this market is made in-house using organic ingredients, and pssst, the owners make their own olive oil from their organic olive trees in Crete. It is sold in bulk at the store.

Freeze Peach, 29th St.

Anything is better than Starbucks, but I wonder what kind of joe this place is slingin’.

Bistro 33, Ditmars Blvd.

TONY just threw this fusion spot an Eat Out Award… and they serve brunch!

Opa! Time to pick up the fork.

What I’m:

Reading: The New Yorker’s recent chef profiles, namely of Chang and Achatz.

Watching: 60 Minutes

Eating: The bacon at iCi, in Fort Greene.

Listening To: My landlord tell me he can’t fix the hot water until tomorrow.

By Samantha Bryant

Last week I spent three days in Philadelphia – “Philly” to those in the know.  It was my first visit to the city of Brotherly Love and it exceeded my expectations. What I did not realize was what a hip town Philly is! My narrow mindedness had assured me that there was no place as cool as New York City. Now I have to reassess my whole national perspective!

Philadelphia has the third-largest downtown residential population in the U.S., behind New York and Chicago. Many people live in converted warehouses and many shops and restaurants are also in the warehouse fashion with long, narrow rooms with high ceilings. There are historical monuments everywhere and you can feel the country’s history at every corner. All of those corners now have wireless internet which is a fun juxtaposition to the historical structures lining the streets. 

In Old City, you can walk down any street and find stores carrying everything from antique lunchboxes to amazing housewares to the latest punk fashions. My dreams came true when I walked into Fosters Urban Homeware - the absolute coolest home décor shop. It had everything! Iittala dishware, Mrs. Meyers soap, Riedel ware, and the coolest EBE Magpie salad bowl with tongs. 

Yes, I bought one. The former heavy machine shop is chock-full of elegantly funky home elements on the edge of modern design. It's a grown-up mixture of downstairs at Urban Outfitters, Ikea, art gallery and Michael Graves for Target. When I left the store I knew I was hooked on this city.

I only had the opportunity to eat at Stephen Starr’s restaurants, all of which were eclectic, unique and wonderful culinary achievements, but the newest trend in dining for hip Philadelphians is gastropubs. The gastropub trend began in Philly with standard-setting Standard Tap and has grown to include burger joints like North Third and Good Dog. The gastropub I heard the most rave reviews of is Zot from Chef Bernard Dehaene.  Belgian to the core with 250 different beers, the pub offers 30 kinds of mussels, ranging from classics such as garlic, Provençal and Mariniere to coconut milk-infused Jamaican and vodka-and-horseradish Russian.

These shops and dining spots are a perfect accompaniment for a city that has two universities, the most murals in any U.S. city and a population of fun-loving people of all ages that truly revel in the city they live in. As I am sure you can tell, I was enthralled by Philly and amazed at how well the past and the future meld together to create a metropolitan city full of fashion, fun and most importantly food.

What I’m

Reading: Comfort Me With Apples by Ruth Reichl

Watching: Top Chef

Eating: avocados and cherries

Listening to: The Concretes

By Katherine Bryant

Growing up, I thought my Mum had a tea cup for a hand. I may have never seen her real right hand, except when she was driving…or making another cup of tea. Well, much like my blonde hair and pale complexion, I inherited my Mum’s love of all things steeped.

I average six cups of hot tea per work day. I often amass a sizable heap of used tea bags on a plate at my desk—a soggy trophy. I sip green tea, Cherry Blossom tea, Chinese Flower tea, and tea with black currants, ginseng and Tahitian vanilla (a.k.a: the foodie tea). Most recently, a collection of Dolce Vita Dessert Teas from Tea Forte were added to my drawer, a gift from…you guessed it, Mum “the tea pusher” Bryant.

So you can imagine my excitement when I found myself en route to Chicago to host a press event at Wave restaurant, launching their Unitea program—a modern take on afternoon tea. I was going to swim in it (not literally, of course).

We sat down to tray after tray of chef Kristine Subido’s small bites (think smoked salmon and roasted fennel cannoli, Serrano ham, quince and Manchego on grilled brioche, and mini angus beef sliders with bread and butter pickles) and TEA. Fifteen different kinds! There was White Ginger Pear, Bombay Chai, Formosa Bold, Orchid Vanilla, Green Tango, and other such leafy combinations. The table was dotted with various shades of earth-toned tea beaming out of the transparent pots.

But there was one cup that wasn’t like the others. It didn’t have a handle, it was made of glass, it looked curiously like a stemless martini glass. Wait! It was a stemless martini glass! What was it doing there amongst the tea pots?

That’s when I discovered my new love, the Mar-Tea-Ni, a selection of tea-infused elixirs paired with vodka. Why didn’t I think of that? My favorite drink…with a kick!

Needless to say, I still average six cups of hot tea during the work day, but I’ve recently added one more cup at the end of the night…and it’s served in a martini glass.

Can’t wait to make one for Mum.

 What I’m

Reading: The Week

Watching: John Adams

Eating: Oysters with Beer

Listening to: Frank Sinatra

by Becca Brown

I am a cookbook fanatic, but recently I’ve learned something – those recipes don’t just magically appear, spoken from the mouth of a chef to a trusty typist and landing on the page beside an expertly styled photo with perfect proportions and cook times in place.  Behind every great cookbook is an unsung hero – part work-horse, part chemist, part culinary dictionary, all cook: the recipe tester.

This was brought to my attention when my bestfriend and roommate, Alexis, told me that a family friend was writing a cookbook and needed our help testing the recipe submissions from vendors and chefs from around the country. I practically jumped off the couch and grabbed a spoon and knife right then and there.  “Bring on the free food and fun project!” I thought. Not exactly.

Just how much work it would be didn’t quite hit me until one Saturday night around 7:00 PM.  We had invited a crew of tasters and had been shopping, planning and prepping for two days, and the crowd was upon us. I began making the crust of the savory cheesecake recipe I had been laboring over for two hours, and looked at the ingredients: Breadcrumbs, pine nuts and cheese.  Strangely absent was butter – the key binding agent in any crust.  I told Alexis and we looked at each other with the same sinking feeling. She had also questioned a few directions, but after that we knew that the food was bound to be disappointing.  Alas, these are the rules in recipe testing.  Even if you are absolutely positive that something is amiss, you must do it anyway.  It becomes painful to toss beautiful ingredients into a strange mélange, knowing that they are destined for a mushy and tasteless finish. The light at the tunnel is the hope that you can change it and make it better.

I lifted the side of the spring form pan off the cheesecake (the fourth of eight dishes) and the crust crumbled like a sandcastle dried out in the sun. Our guests’ enthusiasm began to wane.  Being one of the hostesses, I felt the need to break the awkward silence.  “This is awful,” I said.  Everyone seemed to breathe a sigh of relief and started to get serious with their criticism. 

Luckily, these friends have great taste in wine, so we adjusted things and inversely served the wine to the food, and the night turned out okay in the end.  Next time, we’ll do a test drive and tweak things before inviting the guinea pigs over.  But now, whenever a recipe from a new cookbook turns out perfectly, I smile and try to imagine the person who braved the rocky and flavorless path to finally find a delicious result and share it with the rest of us.