Reading – New York Magazine
Listening to – Mama Mia, the movie soundtrack
Watching – The Democratic National Convention
Drinking – Blue Moon with a slice of orange
Eating – Fruit, both fresh and dried

By Kay Lindsay

I highly recommend taking a “staycation” - staying at home for a week or so, getting up late, shopping in the afternoon, randomly picking a day to go to the beach….

My go-to activity to start said staycation was to do what any television addict would do first: I turned to the Food Network to watch one of my favorite shows, Jamie at Home.

If you haven’t watched Jamie at Home, tune in. Jamie is witty and engaging, the food looks delicious and fresh.  (Plus, I love the way he says oregano or orogono. It always sounds better in a British accent, doesn’t it?) But most importantly, when I watch Jamie at Home, I am really at home with Jamie. I, too, look like Jamie looks like first thing on a Saturday morning: his hair is tossed, he is outfitted in a cozy hoodie and shorts. Then you’ll see Jamie going to his garden and picking (or planting) his ingredients – cabbage, tomatoes, carrots, potatoes. He soon prepares three elegant home-style dishes at one of his many satellite makeshift grills and kitchens situated somewhere on his magical English estate. Yes, the birds are chirping. Happy days.

As a new homeowner on a staycation, cooking at home had new meaning.  I turned to Bobby Flay’s Grill It! cookbook on many nights. I discovered that I, too, can be a superstar and create the spice-rubbed ribeye with Bar Americain steak sauce with ease.  Preparing that zesty rub and sauce, grilling those steaks outdoors in the early evening with my beloved was as magical as Jamie’s posh pad.  If I was also holding a freshly muddled, chilled Agua Luca Caiprihinia made with a few cherry tomatoes, English cucumber slices and a spring of cilantro (I also encourage drinking at home) this mix transported me “away from it all” – by simply heading home.

What I'm:

Reading    Basic Black: The Essential Guide for Getting Ahead at Work (and in Life) by Cathie Black

Eating      Pork dumplings and buns, my other addiction

Watching  If I am not at Jaime’s, Project Runway

Drinking    I am also enjoying a bourbon Old Fashioned, extra bitters, from time to time

By Megan Levinson

My mother insists I’ve always been ‘crabby.’ I learned to crack a crab by the time I learned to write. Born and raised along the Chesapeake Bay in Baltimore, Maryland (“Charm City”), I sat with my family on hot summer nights—lining long banquet tables layered with brown paper at my favorite crab house. We each had our own mallet (a toy I thought all children played with), plastic tray, and trash bucket—a small tribute to the meal that lay head.

Dozen by dozen, hot steamed crabs came out of the kitchen, and were casually dumped onto the center of the table. With enough iced tea, drawn butter and paper towels to supply an army, we dug in—always polishing off every last morsel of the Old Bay- littered, buttery meat.

Imagine my excitement when SAVEUR magazine, the newest addition to my culinary client roster, featured crabs on the cover of the May 2008 issue. How to crack them, how to eat them, how to serve them; the information was all there to share with my crab-virgin friends.

Throughout my 25 years, I’ve learned it takes two showers to get the crab smell out of my hair, and that the most authentic crab cakes are always found south of the Mason-Dixon Line. The ghost of my favorite meal haunts me throughout the seasons in The Big Apple, forcing me back to “Charm City” at least once each summer to devour my own pile of crabs…and they’re always better than I remember.

What I’m…

Reading: SAVEUR

Listening to: Local Baltimore radio station, MIX 106.5

Eating: Maryland Steamed Crabs and Old Bay seasoning (it’s good on everything)

Drinking: Corona with lime

By Chris Langley

I was at Target the other day and noticed an entire display wall filled with back-to-school products – backpacks, pencil cases, notebooks, lunch boxes, you name it – they had it.  I just couldn’t believe what I was seeing – and it dawned on me that summer was in its home stretch and that in a matter of weeks kids would be jumping on the bus, lunches in hand, headed back to school.  School? Crazy. School lunch? Yum!

I know, it sounds odd, but for as long as I can remember, some of my favorite lunches of all time were lunches I brought to school.  Granted, I’ve been treated to some pretty spectacular seven-course menus at four-star restaurants in my career, but nothing really compares to the comforts and familiar splendors of school lunch.  I can remember my lunch box so vividly – it was orange with a big Ziggy on it.  Inside, a matching thermos containing some chocolate milk and nestled right next to it would be a fruit roll-up or maybe even a small Ziploc filled with fig newtons, a small fruit cup or a pudding.  But, what really mattered was the star of the main event, the sandwich.  Often I would receive from my parents a beautiful hard roll from the bakery piled high with roasted turkey or roast beef, a little mayo, lettuce, tomato, salt & pepper – you get the drill.  Simple? Yes.  Delicious?  Yes times 10. 

Aaah, the memories of school lunch – makes me want to be 8 years old again.  But alas, here we are in 2008 and faced with the challenge of what to order for lunch each day, I recently found myself working with a great client called Kidfresh http://www.kidfresh.com/ who produce fresh, healthy, all-natural meals made and packaged for kids – you can pick them up at your local Whole Foods.  Did someone say school lunch???

What I’m:

Reading - Outside magazine (August 2008 issue)

Listening to - Sevendust

Drinking – Cava & Whales Tale Pale Ale

Eating - Lots of oysters