Miami may be known for cafe Cubano and Latin American coffee stands, but Panther Coffee is carving out an entirely new space in the Miami Coffee Scene. After a long coffee career in Portland, Oregon, Joel Pollock and his wife Leticia packed their bags and relocated to sunnier Miami.  

Their coffee shop in the arts district of Wynwood is amazing - there’s such a sense of community and dedication to sustainable practices.  In fact - Joel is currently working on a project in Haiti with St. Thomas University to help set up long term-solutions for sustainable and fair trade coffee production.  

Check out our most recent Hungry in Miami, and just below the video embed, you’ll find tips from Leticia and Joel on how to buy your beans.  Enjoy!

Joel and Leticia’s Coffee Advice:

• Before you buy a bag of coffee, check for the roast date.  Nothing substitutes freshness!
• Try to buy just enough coffee for the week.  Again, freshness is key to great tasting coffee!
• It’s important to grind your beans at home, just before brewing.  Invest in a small burr grinder, which keeps the flavor and aroma of the coffee beans intact and grinds the coffee to a uniform size.  Make sure you grind your coffee right before you brew it!

If you liked what you saw and find yourself in Miami, make sure to check out public cuppings held at Panther Coffee at 3 PM every second Friday and third Sunday of each month! 

When we decided to spend a month in Miami, I thought that I would REALLY miss New York.  Don’t get me wrong, I knew that the sunshine and high temperatures in January were way better than any blustery winter cold we may experience up here.  But I was nervous to leave my food community of Brooklyn, and to be honest, wasn’t sure that I would find that same community in Miami. 

Until I went to Sustain.  Sustain Restaurant + Bar became our home away from home.  It was everything we could ever want in a restaurant - amazing food sourced locally and sustainably, strong drinks with dark spirits, and happy hour.  Oh, happy hour! And did I mention one hell of a staff that became our friends and bad influences while in the Sunshine State?  

I’m just sad I had to leave before they instituted their new Sunday Brunch - rife with make-your-own bloody mary’s and foie gras french toast.   But I’ll be back soon, because even though I missed New York while I was in Miami, I now miss Miami since I’m in New York.  

In 2010, my family and I spent Christmas in Sonoma County, and it was pretty perfect. There’s nothing better than escaping frigid temperatures for a little vino in one of the most magical places in the country.  We drank quite a bit of wine - and made some friends.  On a dreary, rainy Sunday after Christmas, we ventured out for one last tasting. We had no appointment but decided to give Peterson Winery a shot since my dad had been a huge fan of their wine.  After talking with the young man in the tasting room for a good hour, we discovered that he was in fact the winemaker, a fact that both surprised and intrigued me.  How could such a young guy have the talent, know-how and developed palate to make the 6000 cases a year that he produces— essentially by himself?   He was so dedicated to his craft, so knowledgeable about wine, and so insistent on sustainability that there was no way I could leave this winery without locking down an HIB episode. 

And thus, Hungry in Wine Country was born, and eight months later we had the pleasure of joining Jamie Peterson at the vineyard and winery for a day in the life of a winemaker. 

It’s a good idea to have plenty of chicken stock on hand for Thanksgiving - it helps with everything from roasting the bird to thinning gravy to creating a perfect fall soup. Here’s a tip: pick up a rotisserie chicken for dinner and use the carcass for stock - you’ll have dinner AND delicious homemade chicken stock with no fuss!

You can use this same method with your Thanksgiving turkey as well.  Make sure to leave a pot on your stove that can collect all your scraps from a day of cooking - onion skins, tops of carrots, parsnip peels, extra herbs - throw them all into the pot with your turkey and fill it with water.  Bring it to a simmer while you enjoy your feast and catch up with family, and you’re all set with the most delicious turkey stock you’ve ever had!

Check out this 60-second how-to video on how to make the perfect stock! 

Mulled Hot Apple Cider is literally fall in your mouth.  It’s warming on a cold day, and it has the flavor of the holidays in every sip.  Lots of fancy kitchen stores sell expensive mulling spices, but honestly,  they go bad after a 6 months, and you probably won’t finish all of them before apple cider is out of season and hard to find.  As long as you have some fresh ginger, cinnamon sticks, cloves and oranges, you can mull cider that will have the freshest flavor possible.  And the good news is, these are all ingredients you’ll most likely have around for holiday baking and recipes! Check out the video and recipe, posted below. 

Mulled Apple Cider Recipe 

• 1/2 Gallon Local Apple Cider (look for no preservatives added)
• 3 Cinnamon Sticks 
• 3 Whole Cloves 
• 2” Ginger, sliced 
• Zest of 1 orange
• 1.5 ounces whiskey per mug of cider (optional)

Combine all the ingredients in a saucepan and bring to simmer.  Keep it simmering for 15 minutes and then serve! Garnish with orange wedges or extra cinnamon sticks.  If you want to keep it warm all night long, heat it up in a slow cooker then leave it on low- it’s the perfect way for party guests to help themselves to warm cider all night long! And of course, the cider is delicious when spiked with your favorite whiskey.  Now THAT should warm your soul! 

Walnut and Basil Pesto over Pasta - photo courtesy Raphael Rodriguez

It’s no secret that San Francisco is an amazing food town. I mean, the local, sustainable, and organic movement pretty much started in Northern California years and years ago and is now just a way of life.  It’s down right inspirational, and exciting to see meet the young people upholding these ideals.  Enter Three Babes Bakeshop.  They’re a pop up pie company that not only sells their pies online and delivers throughout San Francisco, they operate out of a shipping container behind Stable Cafe in the Mission.  We caught up with the girls to learn about their signature Salted Honey Walnut Pie - a delicious concoction reminiscent of pecan pie, only better. It’s perfect, in fact. And those walnuts come from a family friend who’s ranch is not too far from San Francisco, so naturally we had to stop by the farm first to see how a walnut is grown and harvested.  But walnuts are great in savory dishes too, so once we’re back in Brooklyn, we put the walnuts to good use in a savory Walnut Basil Pesto. 

Check out the episode below, and follow along with the recipe! 

RECIPE - WALNUT BASIL PESTO

1/2 C Walnuts, shelled and toasted 

2 Cloves Garlic, chopped

2 C Fresh Basil Leaves

1/2 C Freshly Grated Parmesan Cheese

1/4 tsp Crushed Red Pepper Flakes

1/2 tsp Lemon Zest

Juice of 1 Lemon 

1/3 C Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Salt and Pepper to taste

Pulse all the ingredients in the food processor until pesto consistency.  Do not over mix - the pesto should be rustic!  It’s very versatile, and is delicious as a dip, a sandwich spread, or in pasta.  In fact, this is the perfect amount of pesto for a half pound of pasta - a fast and delicious dinner for two! Double the recipe for the full pound of pasta!

photo courtesy eatinglocalinthetropics.blogspot.com

Despite what many people think, Cuban food is never spicy.  Instead, it’s tangy from citrus and pungent from loads of garlic.  That combination is the quintessential sabor cubano, and it comes from their signature sauce: Mojo. 

Before you make Mojo, you have to first find Sour Oranges.  They’re local to the tropics and are easily found all throughout Miami and South Florida, but you can also pick them up at Latin American supermarkets and sometimes even Whole Foods in other areas. They’re very bitter and extremely sour, but once combined with fresh garlic and smoky cumin, you have a marinade that will transport you right to Havana. Watch and learn how it’s made, and as always the recipe is below: 

CUBAN MOJO:

• 1 Cup Sour Orange Juice (seeds strained - about 5 sour oranges)*
• 10 Cloves Garlic
• 1 tsp. ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp. oregano
• 1/2 tsp. salt 
• 2 TBSP olive oil 

Combine all the ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth.  Can be stored in an airtight container for up to a week, and is AMAZING on pork.  

TIP:  Try making Lechon or Cuban Roast Pork.  Get a pork shoulder 3-7 lbs and pierce it all over with a knife.  Cover the pork shoulder in the mojo and allow to marinate for 8 hours or overnight.  Roast on 220 for 8-12 hours until falling apart and tender.  Viva Cuba! 

*If you can’t find Sour Oranges (also called Bitter Oranges or Seville Oranges) you can substitute equal parts Lime and Orange Juice.  

I’m usually a vinaigrette kind of girl, but boy do I hate to waste ingredients. So whenever I have buttermilk around from baking or pancakes, I make a jar of Buttermilk Ranch Dressing to use up the rest of the carton.  And guess what? It’s almost as easy as opening up a bottle of the store-bought stuff that usually contains MSG and loads of preservatives.  Watch the video and learn how to make my version of this decadent dressing (recipe below).  And here’s a tip: marinate organic chicken breasts in the dressing for at least four hours, then grill.  You won’t be disappointed!

BUTTERMILK RANCH DRESSING RECIPE: 

• 1 C. Organic Buttermilk 
• 1/2 C. Sour Cream 
• 1 tsp. white wine vinegar
• 1 tsp dijon mustard 
• pinch of salt
• black pepper
• 1/2 tsp. granulated garlic 
• 1 TBSP minced shallot 
• 2 TBSP fresh chives, chopped 
• 1 tsp. fresh dill, chopped

Whisk together the buttermilk, sour cream, vinegar, and mustard until combined.  Add the remaining ingredients,  and whisk again.  Adjust the salt and pepper to your taste. Serve over an iceberg wedge, bibb lettuce, garden tomatoes, or as a marinade for chicken or pork!

We just got back from a pretty awesome trip to Northern California.  While there, we shot with a pretty rad pie company called Three Babes Bakeshop that operates out of a shipping container in the back of a super cool cafe.  Then we visited a walnut farm near Stockton and a small family vineyard and winery in Healdsburg.  But don’t worry, even though we were hard at work, we still found plenty of time to play.

And we that’s exactly what we did at Cafe Van Kleef in Oakland.  This unassuming spot on Telegraph Avenue is known for their greyhounds because the bartenders painstakingly press fresh grapefruits all night long.  The smell of citrus wafting through the air to the sounds of New Orleans-style live music is the perfect combination of California and kitsch.  And if you’re lucky, you’ll meet Benny the Tamales Man, who will bring you a delicious homemade tamal (request his super spicy hot sauce served in a gatorade bottle) for about $3.  Wash it down with a couple greyhounds ($7) and I would say you’ve had the perfect night. 

Check out HIB’s homage to Oakland with our latest video, How to Make a Fresh Squeezed Greyhound: 

One thing I love about blogging is having the opportunity to be part of a virtual community of like-minded people.  Enter Mark Walker, creator of WineLife365 - a blog that pairs well (pun intended) with HiB because it’s all about taking the intimidation out of wine.  

Not too long ago, Mark asked me to write a post for his guest-writer section aptly named BYOB.  Check out the article to learn more about organic wines, and also for a guide to which organic wineries are a must-see if you’re in Sonoma County.  

Below are some pictures from my family’s Sonoma vacation, where we toured only small production, organic practicing vineyards that changed that way I will drink wine forever.

These “old vines” are so prevalent throughout Dry Creek Valley.  Our very knowledgable driver, Rodney, explained that the gnarly vines look this way because they were planted prior to prohibition and therefore left unattended through this dark period of our countries history :) Doesn’t mean they can’t still produce some of the finest Zins in the world. 

The entrance to Quivira, a biodynamic winery that also has an organic farm on premises.  Very light, crisp, lovely reds and whites.  

The last stop on our wine tour was Sausal, where a few kitties were tasting room pets. I didn’t actually do the tasting because I was so enthralled by the “entertainment.” Feeling guilty that I had ignored the wine maker while my parents and husband drank, I bought a few bottles to enjoy at home. All of it was reasonably priced and DELICIOUS.