I could get used to Don Imus’ (ex) 46th floor aerie in the CBS studios… Floating above Times Square and the Hudson River, I had a grand ol’ time recording a promo for Belle in the Big Apple. John and Charlie, the most handsome men in the Simon & Schuster digital empire, came at me with an Inside the Actor’s Studio arsenal of questions. 

An amuse bouche:

Handsome S&S men: What are your five most important books?

Me: Play It As It Lays & Slouching Toward Bethlehem (Didion), The Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald), Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (Anita Loos), The Sun Also Rises (Hemingway), Gone With The Wind (Margaret Mitchell). Yep, that’s a weird mix (and that’s six).

Handsome S&S men: What is your fantasy profession?

Me: To be a vigneron. I want to work the vines, get paid to sample exquisite grape juice. 

Handsome S&S men: What’s your advice to young women thinking of making their own moves to the Big Apple?

Me: Move to New York with a dream bigger than yourself or a one year plan. 

(Note: I call the this pose my “Shadowed Barbara Walters”)

On summer weekends, we cook side by side. There’s more elbow room and the ocean breeze asks us to linger. 

The city can wait.

He juices a watermelon and then infuses it with tequila and lime. I stuff little buds grown in Uncle Jay’s garden until they’re flowering—bursting with fresh mozzarella. We light the grill, sear the sirloin burgers, char the greens.

One last sunset and a picture before we resign ourselves to the roundtrip portion of our ticket. (Does it really have to end?) 

The food we cooked this weekend was simple, satisfying–everything that a summer meal, or moment, should be.

Banana Pepper Poppers

(homegrown banana peppers stuffed with monterrey jack, cheddar, smoked paprika, coriander)

Fiori Fritti

(zucchini flowers stuffed with fresh mozzarella, anchovies)

Fancy Fabulous Burgers

(ground sirloin, pine nuts, sundried tomatoes, fresh basil)

Charred Swiss Chard Stems

(Aunt Mary Jo’s Tip: Treat the leaves like lettuce, the stems like asparagus)

Watermelon Margaritas

(fresh watermelon juice, tequila, triple sec, fresh lime juice)
 

My favorite warm weather sight is a fruit pie framed by an open kitchen window…

For my Deep Dish Blueberry Pie recipe, go to Glam Girl Cookin.

No matter how well I play the game, will I ever have this?

You see, every morning I wake up and place a bet on how my day will proceed.

Will I win?

Lose?

The great authors tell us that New York is a city of infinite possibility. But the flip side of always feeling hopeful–coming this-close to success– is the breeze of despair and failure.   

You smell money in the air up here. Down South (and in the picture at left), you smell languor, marvelous little ions bouncing from the Gulf waters onto the sand and finally in through the screened porch…

See the white dot on the right-hand side of the photo? That’s me!

And the shiny head at the podium? Tom Colicchio!

Although the photo is barely proof that I was a presenter at the James Beard Media Awards (I’m still pinching myself), I’m grateful to E.V. Day, the lovely wife of Ted Lee, for capturing the moment.

Giving medals to the likes of Ruth Reichl and Tom Colicchio while enjoying Rick Bayless fare and sipping on Pegu Club cocktails (Gin Gin Mule–4 stars) adds up to one granddaddy of a night. Right when I declared that the evening couldn’t have been any better, Jamie and I mosey over to the Bon Appetit after party.

Chef Heaven.

Mingling around the Edison Ballroom dance floor are Michael Anthony (Gramercy Tavern), Michael Simon (Iron Chef), Paul Liebrandt (Drew Nierpont’s culinary wunderkid) and…

My knees buckle.

Delicious meatball slider almost rolls down my raw silk dress.

Lipstick check!

JOHN BESH and Jamie are sipping cocktails, one looking more handsome than the next. It would have been the ultimate Gorgeous Chef Trifecta (I can declare my own boyfriend as gorgeous, right?) if Michael Ruhlman had been present. Oh, and then there’s my bad boy crush, Anthony Bourdain…

I’m already choosing my outfit for next year’s awards…