C cubed: Suma and Jeff's South Indian thali and next event April 21st at Sheethal & Tokumbo's

Hi C Cubers!

Thanks to Suma and Jeff for hosting our last C Cubed event.
We were welcomed at the door with a fresh mango lassi.  The delectable home-made menu (thanks to Suma with a little help from her mom ;) consisted of -

• Tandoori style chicken appetizer
• Freshly made dosa with sambar and potatoes
• Vegetable pulya
• Chapati
• Upma
• Topped off with homemade bread pudding for dessert

New C Cubers met veterans as the conversation drifted from intros to babies to the city and more.  We enjoyed a spectacular view of Brooklyn from the Mandel's balcony.



**Please RSVP for our next C Cubed April 21st at Sheethal and Tokumbo's (hopefully the weather will be nice and we can hang out upstairs on the roof).  We will host one of their last events before Froggie arrives!  Let us know if you can bring wine or dessert.

And if you can host in May and future months, please shoot me an email - better to plan early.

Thanks!
Sheethal

Ariel's Pizza Parlor!

Hi C Cubers!

At Ariel's Pizza Parlour, we were amazed by Ariel's skills in making focaccia and pizza from scratch. (Check out the photo in the slideshow where he throws the dough up in the air! So professional.)

For appetizers, we had freshly made focaccia (rosemary and garlic) and (basil and sea salt) to dip into mezzes such as a warm lentil salad, eggplant, tahini with za'atar, accompanied by a delicious tomato, basil and feta salad.

After the incredibly delicious starters, we had freshly made pizza with homemade tomato sauce, eggplant, and mozzarella topped with fresh basil, straight out of the oven.

We celebrated Ariel's birthday one day early with Cakeman's famous red velvet cake while watching Marcel the Shell with Shoes On.

We'll take a hiatus for the rest of the year but stay tuned for future C Cubed events in 2012.

Enjoy the photos and Happy Eating!
Sheethal

C Cubed "Puerto Rican Style" with Camille

Hi C Cubers!

Thanks for another increible C Cubed hosted by Camille last night.

Nuestro menu -

• Pollo guisado (deliciously slow cooked since Friday - que rico!) 
• Ensalada de aguacate preparado (sweet and savory mix con mango)
• Camaron al ajillo (tender seasoned with just the right amount of perejil)
• Arroz con gandules (one with meat and one without, con raspa - the crunchy part of the rice) 
• Empanadas de hongo y de carne (hecho con carne de Creekstone Farms, distributed by Pat LaFrieda)
• Tostones (dos vezes frito as they were always meant to be)

We also welcomed some new members (excited to have you :) - 

• Nanda (who knows ridiculously tall Jed)
• George (who apparently holds his own fabulous dinner parties - George - how do I get an invite to the next MadMen party?)   
• Michael (George's sous chef)
• Sonya - (my dopleganger (?)
• Elizabeth - (Camille's little sister ;)

We talked about

• babies (Avani is due to deliver a boy on Tuesday and she looks great.  Avani, we're looking forward to welcoming our youngest member to C Cubed) 
• dating
• food crawls (Richard, even though I don't eat pork, I still want an invite!)
• music, with Michael dancing up a storm to Camille's dinner party mix 
• and more...

Check out the photos below -

Stay tuned for our next edition of C Cubed in October!

Please email me if you'd like to sign up to host in Jan and beyond.

Happy eating!
Sheethal

Richard's Italian pasta flight

Hi C Cubers!

Thanks to all who came out Saturday night and enjoyed Master Chef Richard's Italian pasta flight and the 2011 inauguration of the roofdeck.

Richard outdid himself again.

We started with -

• decanted chianti and chilled white
• a delicious insalada caprese w/ ripe red tomatoes, melt in your mouth fresh mozzarella and crisp green basil drizzled with extra virgin olive oil and aged balsamic on top
• a mouth watering caponata bruschetta w/ cherries and pine nuts - just the right mix of sour, savory and sweet

Our main course was an individually plated flight of pasta -

• pasta con sarde - al dente to perfection
• rigatoni with mushroom ragu
• plus more wine ;)

We headed up to the roof to savor our second flight and inaugurate our summer space.   Jeff and Suma lounged on the couch, Jenn and Shakil on the double chaise, others sitting around the table.  The lanterns and string lights added to the "summer night in the mediterranean" feel.

We became so engrossed in conversation that we never actually got around to enjoying the spaghetti with green puttanesca flight :(

But eventually we moved on to dessert, which was prepared on the roof.  Ariel's simple but delicious dates w/ walnuts, handcracked in a pretty cool wooden nutcracker that Tokumbo won't let me buy.  Too many kitchen gadgets, he says.  (It's still going on my wishlist ;)

All in all, a fantastic night - great company, perfect weather and delectable food.

Who could ask for more?

Ahem, WE can!  We need volunteers to host future C Cubed's.  Please email me to sign up for a month, starting in September.  We will take a C Cubed field trip during the summer and gather again in September for the next installment.

Check out the slideshow from Richard's Italian flight -

Quick shout to those we missed.  Hopefully we will see you at the next C Cubed.

Happy eating!
Sheethal

Sheethal and Tokumbo La Costa Peruana & the next C Cubed Sun June 13th

Hi C Cubers!

Sheethal and Tokumbo were determined to share their love of Peruvian food with the C Cubed crowd.  Sheethal asked friends with Peruvian connections for the best Peruvian grocery stores.  She went to Jackson Heights the Friday evening before to gather Peruvian ingredients.

(Check out Sheethal's last La Vida Idealist entry - http://lavidaidealist.org/2010/04/19/hungry/ about her favorite Peruvian and Bolivian food.)

The C Cubed menu consisted of -

• Chicha morada, a purple corn refreshment from Peru
• Make your own causa, which is cylindrical stacked potato, tomato, avocado, tuna perfection topped with a boiled egg slice, botija olive, and rocoto pepper sauce (see photo slideshow to understand the beauty of this dish)
• Fresh caught Fort Greene Farmer's Market local fluke ceviche, made with limón, cilantro and jalepeño
• Home-made tamales steamed in corn husks, stuffed with tomato, onion, cumin and a botija olive
• Soaked and boiled chuño, freeze-dried potatoes from Bolivia
• Lots of wine
• Cookies, chocolate cake and coffee dessert

 We also welcomed new member Melissa Janis, invited by Cecily.

Photos below!




Please join us for our next C Cubed -

Taco Night!
Sunday June 13th at 5 PM
Chuck and Mapi's place

1050 Jackson Ave. apt. 6C

Long Island City NY 11101

As usual, we will need 2 volunteers to bring beer and tequila (instead of wine this time!) and one volunteer for dessert.  Please RSVP as soon as you can so they can plan for numbers.

Un abrazote
Sheethal

**Upcoming Schedule**
Sunday June 13th - Charles and Mapi - taco night w/ coronas/tequila
July - Paula and Jarek

August - Ana

September - Angela (in the Hamptons)

October - ?

November - ?

December - ?

Photos from Chef Richard's Korean tapas feast

Chef Richard's Korean tapas fest was a huge hit! He made to order scrumptious seafood and veggie dumplings made with homemade filling and sizzling seafood and kimchi pancakes. All tapas were accompanied by a delectable homemade dipping sauce.

Although the table was set for dinner, we all huddled around the bar to watch Richard do his magic and get the goods hot off the griddle!

We drank delicious Chilean wine from Casa Lapostolle, where Jessica and Rob experienced great food, awesome wine, as well as tarantula and field mice attacks!

We discussed Kiva, Idiocracy the movie (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0387808), generation X vs Y, common clients, and Brooklyn.

Dessert consisted of coconut/peanut and red bean mochi, red bean buns served with iced lemongrass and ginger green tea or blueberry white tea with bubbles.

Please welcome our new members -

• Paula and Jarek (visited us this time with little Kamala)
• Avani and Arjun

Check out photos -



and please subscribe to the blog to get updates and recipes (coming soon!)

**Please note that the next C Cubed will be May 22nd at 311 Cumberland! Please let us know if you can come as soon as possible so we can get a headcount and if you can bring wine (2 people) or dessert (1 person). Please see below for upcoming schedule**

Happy eating!
Sheethal

PS -
Upcoming Schedule
Saturday May 22nd at 7:30 - Tokumbo
Saturday June 12 (dinner) or Sunday 13 (late lunch) - Charles and Mapi - taco night w/ coronas/tequila
July - Paula and Jarek
August - Ana
September - Angela (in the Hamptons)
October - ?
November - ?
December - ?

Upcoming C Cubed -- March 27th

Anand's Indian-Italian fusion was fantastic!

Here are some pictures from the event:



The highlight: saag-risotto balls! Yum!

Cecily is our next chef host, in Fort Greene on the evening of Saturday the 27th.  Details to come but mark your calendars now.

Also, if you haven't yet signed up for this year we need hosts for July and October.

See you in 18 days!

January - Jessica:  Middle Eastern Melange

February - Anand:  Italian Indian fusion

March - Cecily

April - Richard

May - Tokumbo

June - Charles

July -?

August - Ana

September - Angela

October -

November -

December -