Last weekend, my friend Nelly and her husband came to new york to attend the IACP conference. As you may recall Nelly is the fantastic chef and writer behind the blog cooking with books. I met Nelly online, as today’s friendships come about. I emailed her after I found her blog on a directory and we have been in contact ever since. We met in person last October at the martha’s vineyard food and wine festival.  You can check out that post, here. 

I got to attend a few of the events at the conference with Nelly. We went to the opening party where we ate delicious food and mingled with everyone. 

I met many fellow bloggers and it was nice finally putting a face to the url or twitter name. 

the food was all delicious and a great way to discover new restaurants. they are all on my list of “must try”.

• Warm Pork Belly with Corn Crème, Pickled Ramp and Crispy Pork Skin by @ediandthewolf
• Spring Onion Biscuit with Spicy Lamb Gravy by Commerce using @FANofLAMB
• Diver Scallop Crudo, Pineapple, Pickled Ramps, Chili & Lime by Market Table
• Cod Poached in Carrot Butter w/ Chickpeas by The Beagle
• Beef Ribs with Sesame Coleslaw by @BlueSmokeNYC 
• Soft Boiled Eggs with Roe and Goat Butter @JimmysNo43 
• Lentil Salad Summer Roll w/  Pomegranate Molasses Dressing by @PUBLIC_NYC
•  Raw Tasmanian Sea Trout w/ Piccalilli & Shichimi by @PUBLIC_NYC
• Grilled Lamb Breast, Creamy Lentils & Cauliflower by @SeamusMullen of @Tertulia_NYC
• Long Island Black Bass Crudo, Roasted Red Pepper, Lemon & Rosemary by Marco Canora
• Pasticcio di Coniglio - Rabbit Crostini w/ Parmigiano & Juniper Oil  by @OsteriaMorini
• Brisket with Jalapeños by @DinosaurBarBQue
• Sticky Toffee Cake, Dried Mango Biscotti, Dark Rum Crème Anglaise by @DeliNYC  
• Pulled Pork Slider by Back Forty West #IACPNYC
• Filipino Surf & Turf - Chicharron Manok w/ Kilawin & Paddlefish Roe by @MaharlikaNYC
• Tacos de Puerco:  Mexican Chocolate Braised Pork, Chipotle Cabbage Slaw by @ChefMedinaNYC

Although, we were all very busy, i managed to steal them away a few times as well to have dinner outside of the conference. 

On Sunday, before they went back, we went to the food expo and the food and blog. This was a great event were we, again, met with many bloggers and had delicious food (are you seeing a trend here?).

This event was also where we realized just how popular Nelly is, earning her the nickname of ROCKSTAR! She did all of the social media for the event and was constantly meeting people, taking photos, tweeting, instagraming and eating throughout. I have never seen such multitasking. 

Because I had to work and Nelly and her hubby were busy with the conference we didn’t get a chance to do a lot of touristy stuff. I am trying to convince them to come back so I can show them how great new york city is. 

Please check out Nelly’s post on the IACPNYC!

Hope you have a great week, thanks for stopping by!

Hasta luego,

i made this eggplant bake for dinner a few weeks ago. i started cooking this how i usually start most dishes: with no clear plan of how to make it. a lot of my cooking is an adventure where half of the time i have no idea if it will work out of not. hahahaha! i usually do have an idea of how i want things to taste, in this case: cheesy, creamy and eggplant-y. so i went to work with these words in mind and the result was a delicious and gooey eggplant bake. it was perfect on it’s own but also a great side dish for any meal. 

here is the recipe for my cheesy & gooey eggplant bake!

it is secret recipe club time once again!! i love the secret recipe club and all the awesome blogs i’ve discovered thanks to it.  i eagerly await my assignment email each week so that i know who’s blog i got. this month i got india-leigh’s blog: a vegan obsession. she has recipes and articles on all things vegan. i was thrilled to look around her blog and pick a recipe.  

i chose her peanut noodles because of their versatility and how colorful they looked. 

these noodles were so easy to make and had a nice kick thanks to the sweet chili sauce. another success thanks to the secret recipe club!

here are india-leigh’s peanut noodles!!

happy friday!! i hope you had a fabulous week and an even better weekend!! check out this recipe to get your weekend started.  i made this on wednesday after chatting with my friend mark and he described this recipe to me. it sounded so delicious, i had to make it. i had to make it that same night. 

mark only used clams for his, but i decided to add some mussels and shrimp to it as well as some cream and lemon peel. just for a little personalizing. 

when describing it, mark told me to serve it over linguine or with some crusty french or italian bread (or maybe some buttered muffins) to soak up the broth. 

here it is… seafood stew