Check out this basil pear cake over at Hungry Ghost Food+Travel.

Dinner with a friend last Friday night in the Bronx. Chicken, rice, black beans, sweet plantains.

Nicole Franzen does grilled cheese over at La Buena Vida.

Yeah, I know I’m getting ahead of myself but I could go for a Bomb Pop today.

[Photo Credit: Joel Zimmer]

Can I take your order?

Gimme a couple slices to go.

I support this product.

I never got into Yoo Hoo and as a kid that was upsetting to me because the name was so appealing.

[Photo Credit: LMF RNF]

Via Serious Eats: Hot Chili Chutney.

[Photo Credit: Joshua Bousel]

Check out this good article over at Nation’s Restaurant News by Bret Thorn on Szechuan Peppercorns:

Americans might not be drawn immediately to something that makes their mouth go numb, but Szechuan peppercorns, an Asian spice that does just that, is gaining popularity among some chefs.

Szechuan peppercorns are a key ingredient in Chinese five spice — which usually contains star anise, cloves, cinnamon and fennel as well — and the source of the numbness you might experience when eating a really good kung pao chicken.

“It’s a different spice than most people are used to,” said Steven Devereaux Green, the new executive chef of An New World Cuisine — “An” is Mandarin for “tranquility — in Cary, N.C. “It’s a lighter, more floral peppercorn, and it gives a distinct flavor,” he said.

Technically, Szechuan peppercorns aren’t peppercorns at all, but the fruit of the Zanthoxylum piperitum plant, a member of the citrus family — think of the numbing effect a twist from a lemon or orange peel can have. The Chinese call that sensation ma, and if you combine that with la — or the spicy burn of chile peppers — you have the ma la experience that is very much appreciated in Szechuan and other provinces in China’s chile belt, stretching from Yunnan to Hunan.

[Photo Credit: Steamy Kitchen]

Here’s a tasty-looking carrot cake recipe over at the cool site, Cowgirl Chef.

Serious Eats looks at fast food fries.

[Photo Credit: Drugs not Hugs]

Over at the Times‘ food blog Diner’s Journal, Pete Wells compares seven burgers around town to the Shake Shack burger.

[Photo Credit: Todd Kellen]

Check out this piece about the importance of authenticity by Sara Jenkins in the Atlantic:

I pride myself on having a profound understanding of what Italian food is and what makes it authentic…And yet, I ask myself, what is authenticity and does it really matter? Italians are, of course, passionate about their food culture and ready at all times to chastise a foreigner for not understanding that right combinations or sequences of flavors. Salad always comes after the entrée — never before. Pasta and soup fill the same slot in the meal, so you eat one or the other and not both. Plum tomatoes are for pasta sauce, globe tomatoes are for salad. And so it goes, a dizzying array of rules and regulations for how you eat. But still I wonder, what is the importance of authenticity?

Italian food and flavors changed dramatically after 1492 with the influx of the New World fruits and vegetables — tomatoes, corn, beans, peppers, potatoes — that were gradually integrated over four centuries of gardening and cooking and are at the core of today’s version of Italian food. If we wanted to be really authentic with Italian food, shouldn’t we do away with all the invasive species? Doesn’t that make tomato sauce and polenta inauthentic?

Food is not static. What we eat is constantly evolving and changing. New things become available. When I was a child in Rome, cilantro, limes, and yams were unknown and unavailable; today, thanks to immigration and the global produce trade, you can probably find all three at the corner vegetable stand. When I first started paying attention to my neighbors’ farm in Tuscany, they were extremely self-sufficient in terms of their food. They grew, raised, and foraged probably 90 percent of what they consumed. Their food and flavors were delicious and unvarying, and the dishes Mita cooked formed the basis of my understanding of Italian food.

Terrific stuff.

[Photo Credit: Quick Gardens]

Thanks for the French food pern, Davey Dave.

Serious Eats reviews Jin Ramen in Harlem and reports that it is worth the trip. Sounds like a plan.

Yeah, I’d try this. Brought to you by Three to One.

My cousin Juliette, in town from Belgium for a few months, and the Wife made marshmallow cloud cookies yesterday.

My, is sure am sweet.

Root Down over at Food 52.

Grandmaster:

David Lebovitz gives marshmallow cream fudge. And I says, “Sure, why not?”