Entries from The Amateur Gourmet tagged with 'Mark and Diana'
Braised Lamb Neck Provençal
First of all, let's give credit where credit is due: look at the "c" I put in the word "Provencal" in this post's title. That "c" has the appropriate squiggle in it; I copied it from the Wikipedia page for Provencal. What does that squiggle denote? I have no idea, but the squiggle is there and who do you have to thank? Me, that's who. Second of all: lamb's neck. Are you grossed out? You really shouldn't be. I first ate lamb's neck at the offal dinner Chris Cosentino cooked at the Astor Center last year (watch video here). Unlike the raw venison liver I consumed, or, for that matter, beef heart tartare, the lamb's neck was the least forbidding of the dishes served; on the plate, it looks no different from a braised lamb shank (except for the shape) and it tastes twice as good. Why? It's a fattier cut of meat....
An Engagement Story
This post doesn't really involve food, though it takes a detour to Jean-Georges by way of Ssam Bar. Instead, it concerns two prominent figures from this blog who you've known and loved for as long as I've known and loved them; namely, Diana, my close friend and former roommate, and Mark, Craig's close friend and film school classmate. We introduced these two back when Craig and I first met; specifically, we introduced them over drinks at Pastis after Diana came to dinner with my parents. Since then, we've shared many meals, we've travelled together and, last Monday, we celebrated their engagement....
