Check out our menu for a Tapas Dinner Party For Ten and stay tuned this for more potato dishes from around the globe

Last summer, my friend Josh asked me to help him throw a dinner party for twelve or so of his friends. We were doing a lot of catering at that point, enough that this sort of gig was no longer in the cards without the prospect of taking home a check at the end of the night. But Josh has a fabulous apartment, with a large terrace that’s perfect for summer entertaining.…

We started our Great Minds Eat Alike series this fall in order to mix up the usual BGSK offerings with interviews and submissions by cooks and eaters whose mentality towards cooking and eating meshes with ours. Today we bring you a luscious pasta dish from Cara Colbert, a BGSK contributor and fan.

Cara’s love of food began when she was (reportedly) a chubby child. To her, birthdays meant cake and Christmas meant cookies. For Cara, any occasion is an occasion to eat, which is why she loves to cook for others and dine out as…

I’ve never experienced the Mardi Gras festivities in New Orleans, but I’ve come dangerously close.

One Sunday evening, my sophomore year of college, I was sitting in the snack bar below the dining hall eating a falafel with my friend Salima. It was around 8pm, and we were gearing up to go to the library to finish our weekend’s workload for Monday morning class that we had yet to touch. All of a sudden, Salima started to spaz out.

“Oh my god, oh my god…do you KNOW what day it is?”

I did. It was Sunday, I…

For our 10 Best Birthday Cakes (& Cupcakes), click here.

If you haven’t spent a lot of time eating ice cream in Maine, I’m not 100% sure that you’ll know what moosetracks even means. Besides, of course, the obvious, but that ostensibly has little to do with dessert.

“Moosetracks” is actually an ice cream flavor that’s prevalent across New England and especially in Maine. It consists of vanilla ice cream swirled with chocolate fudge and dotted with broken peanut butter cups. I have to admit I rarely order it-I’m too busy with Heath Bar Crunch, Cookie Dough, and other…

EVENT: Oscar Night!
VENUE: The Couch, In Front of the TV
PARTY SIZE: 10
TYPE: Best Picture-Themed Potluck Party
MENU: True Grits with Southwestern Shrimp; Fighter Black Eyed Peas; Blackened Swan; King’s Cake

I love watching the Oscars. And perhaps it is this love that has dissuaded me from ever hosting an Oscar party. You see, I love printing out fake ballots, placing bets on the predictions, and getting overly competitive about the winners. I also love judging celebrities as they walk down the red carpet, and complimenting Rachel Zoe for all her bananas choices…

Growing up, wok-fried meals were on the menu fairly often. We made homemade Chinese food for dinner, and then we’d set out several dishes, serve our own portions, and pat ourselves on the back, oozing compliments for one another about how much better our homemade food was than take-out. It was.

It is easy to imbue stir-fries, whether meat, noodles, veggies, or rice, with lots of flavor, via the seasonings, the marinades, and the sauces. And it’s always nice to know that no matter how much oil you stir fry in, you’ll pretty much always be adding…

For other finger food faves, check out our Guide to Hosting Finger Food Parties

When I buy potatoes, it is usually because I need a cheap starch to round out or bulk up my meal. So because they are expensive, I rarely end up with fingerlings in my basket. When I do, I am reminded of why they are the ferrari of potatoes, and well worth their price. When simply roasted, the fingerlings’ flesh becomes fluffy and sweet, while the outside stays extremely crispy. The result is like biting into an…

We’ll admit it-we’re still reliving our re-launch party. On the blog, though, we’re back to our good old posts, ones that feature recipes, not party pictures. However, we interrupt the regular programming to bring you the numbers of two new raffle winners for the two unclaimed prizes.

Email us if you are holding either of the winning tickets!

Edgeware Diamond Elite Pull-Thru Sharpener
Winner: 109065

Romantic Dinner for 2 at Flex Mussels
Winner:109096 (Dan Grossman)

From our kitchen, albeit small, to yours,

Cara and Phoebe, THE QUARTER LIFE COOKS

CHECK OUT 7 Ways to Make Someone Fall in Love with You over Breakfast This Valentine’s Day

After my visit to Arkansas in October, my curiosity about Southern living and cuisine was substantially piqued. It helps that I get frequent reports from the front, from my sister Kate who’s teaching in Lake Village Arkansas, and whose weekend activities seem to involve food at every stage: curing pork, picking pecans, and baking cakes.

From her reports, and perhaps also from a piece we wrote for Southern Flourish magazine, about cooking a Pan-Southern meal (coming soon!),…

EVENT: Pre-Vacation Vacation
VENUE: Phoebe’s Parents’ Barn, Katonah
PARTY SIZE: 2
TYPE: Romantic Rustic Dinner
MENU: Cast Iron Chicken with Roasted Root Veggies and White Wine Jus; Roasted Cauliflower; Baguette

A few months ago, when Josh and I had barely just declared ourselves bf/gf, I mentioned our romantic meal at Vinegar Hill House in this post about The New Brooklyn Cookbook. Since I had yet to make any further declarations about my feelings, I alluded to the fact that I had fallen in love with (over)…