Last weekend, Chris and I drove up to the Hudson Valley for a few days of fresh air, castles and art.

The Drink and The Bored Vegetarian Present… 2nd Annual Gala Gala Hey!
An Apple Festival Featuring Kate Lebo of Pie Stand and author of A Commonplace Book of Pie

3:00pm – 10:00pm Sunday, September 15, 2013 at The Drink

FREE

Check out the FB invite

We had such a blast last year, so Gala Gala Hey! is back for more! Kate Lebo will be slinging her delicious fresh baked pies by the slice, as well as reading from her book A Commonplace Book of Pie. We’ll be celebrating the almighty apple all day long with fresh pie from Pie Stand, bobbing for apples, old timey music, cider on tap, apple pairings, corn hole and the return of the creepy masks!

Kate Lebo of Pie Stand will be baking up five varieties to be sold by the slice for Gala Gala Hey!

Cheddar-Crusted Apple Pie
Whiskey Crumble Apple Pie
Honey-Ginger Apple Pie
Brandied Apple Cardamom Pie
Apple Pear Pie

Gala Gala Hey! is free and open to the public.

About Kate Lebo

Kate Lebo is an award-winning baker and poet from Seattle, Washington. Lebo’s first book A Commonplace Book of Pie is a quirky collage of fact and fiction that combines humor, art, recipes, pop culture, and poetry to redefine America’s favorite dessert. Pie is a medium for conversation in this debut book from Chin Music Press, balancing Lebo’s technical baker know-how with lyrical ruminations on the real and imagined relationships between pie and those who love it.

Kate’s writing has appeared in Best New Poets, Gastronomica, and Poetry Northwest among other journals, and she’s currently at work on a pie cookbook for Sasquatch Books, forthcoming in 2014. She teaches creative writing at Richard Hugo House and pie making at Pie School, her cliche-busting pastry academy. She also hosts Pie Stand, a social that uses pie to create conversations across communities. For more tasty treats, visit katelebo.com.

Do you keep running to-do lists? I have ones for karaoke, restaurants, NYC, books, wine, art & photography. Any time I check something off a list, I feel a bit more productive. My Things to Learn to Make list is growing slowly and I thought I’d cross one off tonight. At my work I’m constantly asking the chefs how they’re cooking something, why they’re doing something a certain way etc. and it blows my mind that they can remember so many different techniques without constantly messing up like I do. There are so many basics and classics I feel like I should know.. so I hope to explore some here. It’s like classical music – ones you have the melody down, you can create all sorts of variations on the theme, right? 

Ingredients

– 1 lb Pasta (I used Bucatini)
– 2 Tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
– 1 small Onion, chopped
– 1 clove Garlic, minced
– 2/3 cup dry White Wine
– 2 Eggs
– 3/4 cup finely grated Parmesan Cheese (brands like BelGioioso have rennet/enzyme free versions)
– 3/4 cup Peas, cooked 
– 1/4 fresh Parsley, chopped
– Salt to taste
– Fresh Cracked Pepper

Directions

In a sauce pan, heat up olive oil. Add chopped onion and minced garlic. Season with salt and saute until soft. Add white wine and simmer until it thickens slightly. Set aside. In a bowl, whisk together egg and cheese. Set aside. In a large pot, bring salted water to boil. Add pasta and cook until al dente (about 7-9 minutes). Reserve about 1/4 cup of pasta liquid and then drain pasta. Add pasta to a clean bowl and toss with onion and garlic mixture. While the pasta is still hot, add egg mixture slowly, stirring into the pasta constantly. The heat from the pasta will cook the egg mixture. Add in peas and parsley and toss together until incorporated. Salt to taste and add a generous amount of fresh cracked pepper. Serve immediately with more grated cheese on top. 

I must admit this didn’t go as smoothly for me as I hoped. When I’m researching a dish like this, I’ll usually read a bunch of different versions and then pull ideas for each one. I should have picked one and stuck with it! I will need to give this another run in the future. In the words of Aaliyah, if at first you don’t succeed, then dust yourself off and try again. 

I’m headed to WA next week (with Chris!) to see my family and meet my new nephew Killian. After these last uhhh 5 months of crazy amounts of work (btw check out these INCREDIBLE pics that Seattle-based photographer shot for a wedding I planned last month), I’m excited to have a long break and regroup. A redesign is coming soon as are hopefully more things.. Special shout out to Joan Y for your patience – sorry it’s taken so long for a new post!

I’ll be selling jars of my homemade “Nutella” at the Greenpointers Valentine’s Day Market next Saturday! I’ll have Original, Bourbon and Spicy for $7 for a 4oz jar. Come by and pick up something sweet for your sweetie (or for yourself)!

Greenpointers Valentine’s Day MarketSaturday, February 9th, 2013From The Source 69 West St., Greenpoint BrooklynNoon-6pm 

There are a few different name variations for “egg-in-a-hole” : Egg in a basket; Bird’s Nest; Frog in a Hole; Moon Eggs; Gas House Eggs.. the list goes on. What did you call it growing up?

Ingredients

– 1 slice good Bread
– 1 Egg
– 1/4 cup Sundried Tomatoes, chopped
– 3 cups fresh Kale, stems removed, leaves chopped
– Juice from 1/2 Lemon
– 2 Tbsp Crumbled Goat Cheese
– Salt & Pepper to taste
– 1/2 Tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
– 1 Tbsp Butter

Directions

In a sautee pan, heat olive oil. Add kale and toss. Salt & pepper to taste. As you continue to cook the kale on low/medium heat, melt butter in another sautee pan. Cut a round circle in your slice of bread and add to the pan. As it’s browning, crack an egg into the “hole” in the middle. Salt & pepper to taste. Add sundried tomatoes to the sauteed kale and toss. After a minute or to (or whenever the egg starts to firm) gently flip the egg-in-a-hole to cook the other side. The goal is not to break the yoke, so take your time. Let the other side of the egg firm up a little before removing from heat. Place on a plate, with the yolk side up. Squeeze lemon juice onto kale & tomato mixture and make sure it’s seasoned to your liking with salt & pepper. Spoon kale mixture onto the egg-in-a-hole and sprinkle with goat cheese. Serve hot.

I’m headed out to LA on Wednesday to visit some friends for a few days and though we have some plans already (Disneyland!!), I would love any advice on where to eat, drink and explore. I haven’t been to that area since I was a kid, so I have zero idea of what to expect… perhaps I can recreate this 20 years later:

If you have advice, please send me a tumblr message or email theboredvegetarian@gmail.com.

– 2 Eggs
– 2 Tbsp Whole Milk
– 1/4 cup Vegan Kimchi (like Firefly or Sunja’s) (thanks kitormaybeplato )
1 Tbsp Mayonnaise (optionnel)
– 1/4 cup Arugula
– 1 Roll, sliced (I used a deli roll, but brioche would be preferable…)
– 1/2 Tbsp Butter
– Salt & Pepper

Preheat oven to 350 and toast roll slightly. Crack eggs into a small bowl and whisk until a pale yellow. Add milk and whisk until incorporated. While you’re doing this, melt butter in a saute pan on low/medium heat. Once melted, add eggs to pan. Allow to set slightly before stirring with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula. Continue to turn until eggs are cooked but not overdone. Spread mayo onto each side of the rolls. Pile eggs on the bottom half of the roll, followed by the kimchi, arugula and top half of the roll. Serve hot.

Hurricane Sandy was a bit gentler on the area of Greenpoint that I live in than other parts of the neighborhood. I took a long walk along the waterfront this morning where thankfully things didn’t look too bad, though I’m sure there are businesses and apartments that are in worse shape nearby. While standing at the end of India looking out towards Manhattan, staring at thousands of apartments without water or power and a car-less FDR, a stranger remarked that it was “sort of anti-climatic.” Wanted to slap him. Sandy wreaked havoc on so many people and communities up and down the coast, I feel very fortunate that last night I was able to tell my worried family and friends that I was safe and going to sleep in a warm bed. I’m still wrapping my head around the impact this has had/will have. Hope you’re all safe too, you’re on my mind. xo

I saw a $5 psychic named Reese within my first hour of being 31. She told me some interesting things, including that I had been experiencing stomach pains. I’m guessing she was referring to how I full I was from dinner at Back Forty. She also asked for my card to discuss planning her nephew’s wedding, so at least I might get a new client out of the whole thing…

Here’s what we had from the menu tonight:
Yuca Fries with Tomatillo Aioli
Pickle & Cheese Board with Daily Selection of Housemade Seasonal Pickled Vegetables, Artisanal Cheese, Preserves, Housemade Crackers
Seared Cauliflower with Ginger Aioli, Currants, Mizuna 
Swiss Chard & Farro Risotto with Whipped Ricotta, Summer Vegetables, Baby Mizuna
Fresh Doughnuts (which I am eyeing with maniac eyes)

Kate Lebo of Pie School flew into New York yesterday and her and I were in The Drink’s kitchen prepping pie dough for Gala Gala Hey! until the wee hours of the morning.

Here are the apple pies that Kate will be offering today:Cheddar-Crusted Apple PieWhiskey Crumble Apple PieHoney-Ginger Apple PieBrandied-Apple Cardamom PieOld Fashioned Plain Apple Pie 
WE ARE SO EXCITED. Hope to see you in a few hours xoxo 

Gala Gala Hey! made it onto the New York Times Dining Calendar!

We are super excited about Sunday and I hope to see some of you there! Working on a vegan apple jello shot recipe and my apple costume came in the mail a few days ago…

It’s not too late to order a whole pie from Kate. Just email kate@pie-school.com

Migas are traditionally made with pan-fried corn tortillas, but seeing as I’ve been running around all morning putting up Gala Gala Hey! fliers and have to work in a couple of hours, I opted for thin tortilla chips instead.

Ingredients

– 3 eggs
– 1 handful Tortilla Chips
– 1/2 small Purple Onion, chopped
– 2 small Yellow Peppers, seeds removed, chopped
– 1 Jalapeno Pepper, seeds removed, minced
– 1/3 cup Monterey Jack, shredded
– 1 Tbsp Half & Half
– 1/2 Tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
– Fresh Cilantro, chopped
– Salt & Pepper to taste

Directions

Add olive oil, onion and peppers to saute pan on low/medium heat. Saute until soft. In a bowl, whisk eggs and half and half together until incorporated. Add to pan, season with salt and pepper and begin to scramble the eggs. Break a handful of tortilla chips into the egg mixture and toss together. Once eggs are close to being done, mix in cheese and cilantro. Serve hot.

This morning I stopped in Transmitter Park in Greenpoint to catch the amazing view of Manhattan. Tomorrow will be my 3rd anniversary of living in New York and it was great to have a few quiet minutes to think about how impactful my time here has been. Without sounding like a big pile of mush, I feel really lucky to have experienced so much over the last few years – both good and bad – and running this blog has been an important part of that. Thank you from the bottom of my sappy heart for reading!