Sunday, January 25, 2009
Welcome to StreetEpicure!
ep‧i‧cure [ep-i-kyoor]
–noun
1. a person who cultivates a refined taste, esp. in food and wine; connoisseur.
2. Archaic. a person dedicated to sensual enjoyment.
—Synonyms 1. gastronome, gourmet, epicurean. 2. voluptuary, sensualist, gourmand.
—Antonyms 1. ascetic.
From:
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.0.1). Retrieved September 06, 2006, from Dictionary.com
What is a StreetEpicure then?
The idea is that food is a fun experience, but like many, I find that reviewers and recipe makers have limitless budgets and are a little on the highbrow side. There's nothing wrong with that, but there are thousands of restaurants in New York (and not all of them are in Manhattan, and the rest are not all in Brooklyn) that aren't meant to be highbrow. A good restaurant in this city does not mean that you have to have shaved truffles and American Kobe beef on the menu. A StreetEpicure realizes this and explores all of his or her options. From fast food to casual neighborhood places to more upscale restaurants, I will search for good taste. Outside of restaurants, I will also look for great food purveyors for cheeses, meats and vegetables. Wanting to entertain at home? I will look for recipes that will taste good and impress your guests.
UPDATED 2/26/09: After my second post to this blog, I never updated it. After my recent career move (aka: taking a break), I've decided to start this blog up again, but with a slightly different focus. This time around, I'm going to share my experiences cooking on a budget.
I live in NYC with my SO, G, and food, like everything else in this city, is expensive. We have a kitchen that is as big as a common suburban closet. It has limited counter space and not enough room for two of us at the same time. Prep can be a difficult process with me in the kitchen and G chopping at the coffee table in the living room/bedroom. With limited space and a limited budget, can I make it better than Ramen every night? I'd better!
I'm in week five of this experiment so far, you'll see that in the first couple of weeks, the grocery bills were a bit on the high side. We had some staples, but were coming from eating out and ordering in for almost all of our meals, so we were a little short on some things. Plus, I wasn't sure what the budget for the two of us should be. The goal is to get it to $50.00, or less, a week per person. As of now, I am not clipping coupons, although I haven't ruled it out. I'm lazy, so my grocery shopping is done online, through Fresh Direct, and they don't do coupons.
The format will be simple, I'll post the grocery list, menus and then any relevant recipes along with my review (recipes for things like simple sandwiches will not be posted). Feel free to make suggestions for recipes.
Let the StreetEpicure project begin!
–noun
1. a person who cultivates a refined taste, esp. in food and wine; connoisseur.
2. Archaic. a person dedicated to sensual enjoyment.
—Synonyms 1. gastronome, gourmet, epicurean. 2. voluptuary, sensualist, gourmand.
—Antonyms 1. ascetic.
From:
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.0.1). Retrieved September 06, 2006, from Dictionary.com
What is a StreetEpicure then?
The idea is that food is a fun experience, but like many, I find that reviewers and recipe makers have limitless budgets and are a little on the highbrow side. There's nothing wrong with that, but there are thousands of restaurants in New York (and not all of them are in Manhattan, and the rest are not all in Brooklyn) that aren't meant to be highbrow. A good restaurant in this city does not mean that you have to have shaved truffles and American Kobe beef on the menu. A StreetEpicure realizes this and explores all of his or her options. From fast food to casual neighborhood places to more upscale restaurants, I will search for good taste. Outside of restaurants, I will also look for great food purveyors for cheeses, meats and vegetables. Wanting to entertain at home? I will look for recipes that will taste good and impress your guests.
UPDATED 2/26/09: After my second post to this blog, I never updated it. After my recent career move (aka: taking a break), I've decided to start this blog up again, but with a slightly different focus. This time around, I'm going to share my experiences cooking on a budget.
I live in NYC with my SO, G, and food, like everything else in this city, is expensive. We have a kitchen that is as big as a common suburban closet. It has limited counter space and not enough room for two of us at the same time. Prep can be a difficult process with me in the kitchen and G chopping at the coffee table in the living room/bedroom. With limited space and a limited budget, can I make it better than Ramen every night? I'd better!
I'm in week five of this experiment so far, you'll see that in the first couple of weeks, the grocery bills were a bit on the high side. We had some staples, but were coming from eating out and ordering in for almost all of our meals, so we were a little short on some things. Plus, I wasn't sure what the budget for the two of us should be. The goal is to get it to $50.00, or less, a week per person. As of now, I am not clipping coupons, although I haven't ruled it out. I'm lazy, so my grocery shopping is done online, through Fresh Direct, and they don't do coupons.
The format will be simple, I'll post the grocery list, menus and then any relevant recipes along with my review (recipes for things like simple sandwiches will not be posted). Feel free to make suggestions for recipes.
Let the StreetEpicure project begin!
