Love Potion Mix: Airship, Dreamboat Money, Barton Carroll, Dum Dum Girls, The Jezabels, Blair, Lemonade, Curtis Plum, Golden Girls, Fyfe Dangerfield

by: Tender Branson in italian, pasta, playlist on Jan. 31, 2010

The Ancient Egyptian god of chaos, Seth, was very sexually potent. His secret? Lettuce. 19th Century French Bridegrooms were fed three courses of Asparagus at their prenuptial dinner so when it came time to seal the deal, they didn’t disappoint. Chinese herbalists tinker with ginkgo nuts to fuel erotic desires. Aphrodisiacs, foods that are said to increase sexual performance, are a part of every culture. [...]

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Pasta Ponza breaded with Cory Chisel, Clock Hands Strangle and Retribution Gospel Choir

by: Tender Branson in italian, pasta, vegetable on Jan. 28, 2010

This week was marred with bad kitchen decisions, a fresh cut on my finger from my new knife, exploding ravioli and not enough liquid. Thank god for my friend Becca who sent me a link to Giada De Laurentiis’ pasta ponzarecipe. That made everything better. I followed this recipe pretty close only altering the tomatoes (I used two pints of grape tomatoes) and Pecorino Romano [...]

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Artist’s Cookbook: Spicy Spinach Peanut Crostini with Rocky Reason

by: Tender Branson in soup, vegan, vegetable on Jan. 24, 2010

I first met Rocky Reason in Chicago as she was studying film. I immediately feel in love with her lack of logic. Most people seemed confined by that five letter word, Rocky Reason had none of that. Recently I had the chance to catch up with the budding hip hop artist to see what she was cooking up. When Rocky Reason made film she went [...]

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Vegan Pineapple Cookies dunked in Fiveng, You Say Party! We Say Die! and Extra Life

by: Tender Branson in cookies, dessert, vegan on Jan. 21, 2010

He must say nothing of the fruit that is Not true, nor think it, less. He must defy The metaphor that murders metaphor. He seeks as image a second of the self. Made subtle by truth’s most jealous subtlety. Like the true light of the truest sun, the true (Excerpt from: Wallace Stevens “Someone Put a Pineapple Together”) For a non-vegan version (pictured above) use [...]

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Food of the Gods and Cheese aka Fennel Au Gratin delivered with Campo-Formio and Portastatic

by: Tender Branson in casserole, vegetable on Jan. 17, 2010

Fennel has provided the world with knowledge and fire (see Prometheus), the marathon (see Pheidippides), the ability to aid in the recovery from poisonous snake bites and scorpion stings (see Chinese) and warding off evil spirits (see Midsummer’s Night-Spain). None of these were on my mind as I began my first cooking experience with fennel yesterday. The only thing I could think was black licorice. [...]

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Are You Kidding Me: Jay Reatard Found Dead

by: Tender Branson in Uncategorized on Jan. 14, 2010

One of my favorite albums last year was Watch Me Fall by Jay Reatard (mentioned here and here). As if fulfilling his self prophecy Reatard did just that today at the age of 29. I can’t vouch for the man personally but on a musical level, the world has lost a creative soul. Here’s a link to the blog post written by his label, Matador [...]

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Fried Chickpea Patties on a Mediterranean Bed held together with Sidewalk Driver, Blastoids and Hot Chip

by: Tender Branson in legumes, salad on Jan. 13, 2010

Chickpeas pale in comparison to Tetrapods. A recent discovery in Poland suggests that these four-legged vertebrates crawled out of the water 18 million years earlier than previously thought (dating them about 17,993,500 years older than chickpeas). As far as vegetables go though, chickpeas are one of the earliest cultivated ones. A recent crop of chickpeas found their way into my kitchen and I decided to [...]

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Savannah Food Days with Kylesa, Baroness, Black Tusk and more

by: Tender Branson in bakery, cupcake, dessert, restaurant, thai on Jan. 10, 2010

Savannah, Georgia is a beautiful city that is inundated with history. From the squares that celebrate famous people in American history to Juliette Gordon Low’s birthplace (the founder of the Girl Scouts) to the St. Patrick’s Day celebration to Bonaventure Cemetery (where the likes of Oscar Wilde and Jack Leigh have gone for inspiration and Johnny Mercer and Conrad Potter Aiken now rest) Savannah seems [...]

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Year End Post with Song Awards and Tortellini With Pine Nuts

by: Tender Branson in italian, pasta on Jan. 2, 2010

J-Fur and I spent New Year’s Eve in Bethlehem, PA with my friends Jen and Brad. The four of us visited my favorite vegan dessert shop (Vegan Treats), cooked up a nice dinner (Tortellini with Pine nuts, artichoke dip and yucca fries), played Smart Ass, listened to the countdown on WEQX and watched the Peep drop. Afterwords I did a solo polar bear plunge and [...]