And Nicole Rodriguez chats with chef Yetunde Taiwo about the launch of her cooking show, Afropolitan Chef.

In one sentence, what is Afropolitan Chef?
African-inspired food with ingredients, techniques, & flavors from around the world.

How did you come to do what you’re doing now?
This all started off as me just posting images of my food on Facebook. Next thing I know, an editor of an international magazine reaches out, through Facebook, inviting me to write food columns, and she’s going to pay me for it, in pounds! Are you kidding me? Of course, I would have done it for free (shhh don’t tell her). How could I say no? Then I had an Eureka moment to write a cookbook. All this was in 2009 and it’s been snowballing ever since.

What’s the best advice you have for someone new to cooking?
It’s okay to burn your food, over-salt, over-cook, under-cook. It means you are learning.

Tell us about the funniest moment you’ve had on the set of Afropolitan Chef.
I wish we could show you the bloopers of the demo. I remember when we did the demo, I was so nervous. I was falling out of my lines, trying to follow a script, which I actually wrote myself, go figure. I had over 28 outtakes. I got frustrated and I could see the team having a moment. So, I did laps around the kitchen and took jabs in the air like Rocky Balboa. The team cracked up, I relaxed. I tossed the script, and instead just ad-libbed. It made things much easier.

Why did you choose YouTube to launch your videos?
Haven’t you heard? Youtube is the new tube. It’s the fastest way to go video viral. It was an easy choice.

Your outfits, like your dishes, are colorful and eye-catching. Describe your style influences.
My mother most certainly influenced my style. She loves color and she eventually rubbed off on me. I used to only wear black and white or dark colors. Then, I realized whenever I would wear color, my energy seemed to perk up. I liked the way I felt, and I wanted to keep feeling that way. Now, I always have to wear one colorful item on me. Either a bangle, scarf or bag. Color inspires.

What is the best meal you’ve had?
That is so not a fair question! That is like asking a mother who is her favorite child. [Laughs] My best meal is my mums traditional Nigerian delicacy called Ikokore (pronounced e-core-core-re). It is made with water yam and spices. It’s so, so, so, so, did I say, so spicy and delicious.

On a typical Saturday, what can we expect you to be doing?
Mostly, watching cartoons in the morning for at least 3 hours, then either working, cooking, or hanging out in Miami Beach with friends.

At Piquant, we’re on a mission to inspire through food and design. Who or what inspires you?
I am inspired by Giada De Laurentiis. I appreciate her ease in the kitchen. She makes you feel like cooking is easy. Her fun personality makes her personable. She is, as Wendy Williams would say, “my friend in my head.” I look forward to the Afropolitan Chef brand progressing as hers did.

What is one unique fact we might not know about you?
If I am hungry at 2:00am and I want steak and potatoes, I make it. My love affair with food runs deep. We sneak around and everything. [smiles]

What’s next for you?
What’s next is getting Afropolitan Chef on a major network and exposing the world to Cosmopolitan Africa through food.

Anything else you want to share?
Yes, I will be launching my cookbook just in time for Thanksgiving 2013. I look forward to sharing my recipes with curious foodies.

Ok, we’re hooked. Where can we follow you?
Fantastic! You can follow me on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and my website. This was fun. Thank you!

My Mom’s way of cooking during my formative years, influenced heavily by my Dad’s extreme personality, was a mixture of cultural feasting (tocino, sinigang, lumpia, whole lechon…) and the type of survival style subsistance that came from being on the road constantly. It was always very “real”. Nope, I didn’t grow up with the glamour of foreign restaurants every night or even a weekly pizza. For us, eating was about meat, vegetable, starch cooked with copious spice and balanced not only for the tastebuds but for the body as well. But while my Dad wasn’t looking, my Mom would sneak me away for a restaurant meal–mostly vietnamese or Chinese buffets. She still does this when I’m home, and my Dad has gotten over it for the most part–though he still grumbles about kale and nutritional value. My Mom created a sense of luxury and indulgence around eating out and because of that, I’ve never ever taken it for granted.

My Mom is the reason each Sunday I make my favorite comfort food Tinolang Manok, that I simmer for hours with a chopped up whole chicken and chunks of ginger. My Dad is the reason that I don’t eat out every night like most of my fellow San Franciscans, but my Mom is the reason that I enjoy and savor it so much when I do. I love her for it.

By Catherine Dimalla

My current housemates are due to leave at the end of the summer, taking their stuff with them, which will leave me a little short on kitchen supplies. I own four cutting boards, a santoku chef’s knife, a bread knife, a boston shaker and strainer, a julep set, tiny measuring cups, a stirring spoon, a honing steel, and a coffee mug. I have no pots or pans, only a slow-cooker. I have no silverware, flatware, or cookware. For the last year I’ve relied on the kindness of roommates for nearly everything kitchen-related.

A few days ago, I was mentally cataloging the vital kitchen supplies I’ll need to buy when the image of a strange, almost sinister stainless steel device appeared in my head. It looked like a pair of long-handled scissors with a pliers-like grip instead of a blade. It looked like the utensil of the gods. I could almost feel how the teeth of the locking mechanism would click together in my hand when I closed it.I googled it: locking forceps, a type of hemostat, an instrument used to close off blood vessels and manipulate tissue during surgery. Then I remembered where I knew it from: the kitchen of my childhood home.

My mom, who used to be a nurse, kept the gleaming thing in a drawer along with a turkey baster, a can opener, and some tongs. She told me what it was and when I asked the obvious question she alluded to some obscure cooking utility. I never saw her use it. Sometimes I’d take it out and click it open and closed – it’s very satisfying, I definitely recommend it – or try to come up with potential uses for it. Opening a hot bag of popcorn? Holding tea bags? Picking up a chicken breast? Clamping some asparagus together?
I imagine she kept it around because it reminded her of the nursing career she left when I was born. I’ll ask when I call her on Saturday. She says she was happy to leave the doctor’s office to take care of me and, later, my brothers. I believe her. But when I was little, I didn’t say, “My mom used to be a nurse.” I said, “My mom is a nurse.” And I was right. Whenever I fell from my bike, poked myself with a stick, or developed a bizarre tropical disease, she knew what to do and did it without hesitation. My mother, who declines to eat mammals because she feels bad for the cows and piggies, is pitiless when removing splinters. If, as a child, I had cut my arm off on a Lego box, I know for certain that she would’ve taken that mysterious clamp and put it to its proper use. In fact, that might be the real reason she kept it around.

Locking forceps are less than five bucks online. Maybe I’ll keep one in my kitchen drawer, too.
I love you, Mom. Happy Mothers’ Day.

By Kieran Lyons

When the three of us would return from elementary school, we’d find mother in the kitchen with a spatula in hand or chopping a handful of herbs like cilantro. “What’s for dinner?” we’d shout before dropping off our bags. Roasted chicken with rice and beans was a staple in our small NYC apartment. Grandma’s pasteles from Puerto Rico were common, too. We savored grandma’s tostones (fried plaintains) with papaya salad and bacalao (salted cod fish.) Standing on a short stool, big sister mashed the plaintains with the tostonera before letting abuela – a safe distance away -drop them into the hot oil.

On rare nights when mom couldn’t cook, she’d announce, “Go get the cookbook” and one of us would run into her room to grab it from between two books. The “cookbook” was really a manila envelope filled with a very large stack of take-out menus.

With triplets, it was an amusing challenge agreeing on where to order from and what to eat. We usually settled on Chinese food. At ten years old, we’d make our case for why the taste of chicken with broccoli was superior to sesame chicken. Sometimes we’d resort to good old bickering, at which point mother would intervene and make the final call. Mostly, we’d be relieved to have her decide. Dumplings were a given though- no one needed to claim those perfectly golden pan fried pillows of dough. We were not allowed to drink soda unless, of course, it was conveniently free. And so we always made sure to order just above the $15 dollar minimum to get our free can of soda shared between the three of us.

Family meals were a blur of laughter and arms reaching over and under plates wafting spicy or sweet aromas. In a way, we expressed ourselves through these steaming plates. And with tried-and-true recipes mother reminded us each day that her love for us would always be there.

By Ana Nicole Rodriguez

The James Beard Foundation Awards, with its prestige and glamor, is also an opportunity for chefs to pause and reflect on their achievements. Such moments of reflection are rare, overshadowed by 14-hour workdays running around to prep, cook, and plate food for often hundreds of guests. At Monday’s awards, we reflected on and honored the work of rising chefs as well as culinary legends who, decades over, continue to innovate and impress.

Among the many honored was 93-year-old Cecilia Chiang, who wore a cherry tomato-red dress and an endearingly gentle smile. The eternally stylish restaurateur arrived in the U.S. decades earlier with a goal of widening Americans understanding of Chinese cuisine. Her restaurant saw huge successes and became a hit among rock legends like John Lennon, whom she jokingly admitted was unrecognizable to her with his “funny glasses.”

Mario Batali, donning his signature orange crocks, was also at the ceremony to present Emeril Lagasse with the Humanitarian of the Year award. Lagasse’s non-profit organization in New Orleans mentors and educates underprivileged youth on how to grow and cook food using professional kitchen techniques.

Perhaps the most memorable award winner was Maguy Le Coze, winner of Outstanding Restaurateur. In between long elegant pauses to contain her nervous joy, she alluded candidly to the trials of starting a restaurant (perhaps to an all too familiar crowd), admitting that the first year saw its challenges and near losses. Adorned in an iconic bob cut and ankle-length sequined black dress, she thanked the foundation and gave an animated “big kiss” to the audience before walking off stage.

Other notable wins included Outstanding Restaurant going to Blue Hill. Chef and owner, Dan Barber, along with chef de cuisine, Trevor Kunk, brought nearly a dozen members of his staff on stage — a powerful visual that reinforced just how many committed people are needed to successfully operate a restaurant. As a former extern in this intimate kitchen on a quiet street in the West Village, I can attest to the relentless work ethic embodying the Blue Hill culture.

An equally impressive win went to San Francisco-transplant, Danny Bowien. Bowien accepted his award, Rising Star Chef, sporting Jordan 11s, an all-white tux, and green ombre hair. He recently opened his second Mission Chinese in the East Village, a classic New York hole-in-the-wall that has become an after-work haunt among chefs.

Inasmuch as the awards celebrate accomplished chefs, the ceremony also reminds us of the importance of educating the next generation of chefs and culinary aficionados. The JBF played a scholarship promo video spotlighting three of the many scholarship recipients that are realizing their dreams thanks to the generosity of donors. I myself was featured in this video debuting my knife skills and proud smile to the esteemed audience. Ben Pollinger and Gina Keatley also shared their journeys.

We’d be remiss not to talk about food at the most anticipated foodie event of the year. Some favorites included Michael Mina’s chilled Maine lobster in edible shell with Uni and Kanzuri. Adventurous eaters dined on crispy alligator with blood orange marmalade and mustard oil. A personal favorite: Aarón Sánchez’s lamb enchiladas with mole negro.

For some, the night did not end at the conclusion of the awards. After-parties were held throughout the city, including on the third floor of The Spotted Pig, The NoMad “loft”, Daniel, and many other elite restaurants. Mixologists, chefs, and even farmers (some dressed in denim overalls) drank rosé from plastic cups, and sat on New York City fire escapes or danced in a collective fog of excitement and awe. Everybody was content to momentarily escape into a state of euphoria, knowing that soon enough the sun would ascend and all would return to normalcy.

Tell us in the comments, which restaurant is on your list to dine at?

Bardolino Classico: The brilliant ruby ​​red color, fruity and delicate aromas of red fruits and candy English. This wine is very drinkable fit for all meals and the combination with various types of dishes, from pasta served with sauces of all types of meat and vegetables, meat dishes and as an alternative to white wine in some fish preparations. Already a great red fish!

Bardolino Chiaretto: In this wine processing is slightly different: it always starts with a soft pressing and a light touch, about 12 hours, with the skins before being racked and fermented at a controlled temperature. For the next two months, the wine was subjected to a weekly battonage manual to resuspend fine lees that settles to the bottom of the tank.

The result is a wine from the beautiful pink cerasulolo sometimes with hints of bright coral, fruity with aromas of white flowers and red berries. Light, delicate, savory is suitable as an aperitif, but ideal to quick fish from the lake and beyond.

Rough translations via Google Translate.

Short and sweet: recent packaging for Bigagnoli Wines by Venice based design firm Onice is at once complex and minimal, lush and rigid, appetizing and clinical. With a ton of shelf appeal, they manage to also do wonders with the never-ending list of wine label qualifications which they use to their advantage for a layered look.

Santa Cruz is a quick service Mexican BBQ restaurant located in Santa Catarina, a municipality of the greater Monterrey area in northeast Mexico. Santa Cruz’s menu contains food such as brisket and baby-back ribs slow-cooked to tender perfection and offered in an array of different ready-to-go, conventional styles such as burgers and tacos. While working on this project we had the incredible opportunity to work alongside our friend and architect Eiji Hayakawa, who was in charge of the building’s extraordinary construction and design.

The hand-made quality of the logotype and overall identity is meant to praise the careful, traditional and apprehensive food making process of Santa Cruz. The brand is simple and direct, and above all, always honest and sincere, never attempting to hide its conceptual rugged awkwardness. Destined to be franchised in the future, Santa Cruz’s honest and handcrafted demeanor will inevitably be distinctive amid all other, more synthetic fast food chain restaurants.

The project was done in collaboration with architect Eiji Hayakawa. While we developed the brand values and visual identity, Eiji worked on the restaurant’s unique and unusual architecture. The massive, scarlet barn-like structure is distinctively prominent amid the industrially gray and blue mountainous backdrop of its physical setting.

Chez Valois has produced the brand identity for the gourmet company Molécule-R Flavors. The studio created two rechargeable kits; “Cuisine R-evolution” and “Cocktail R-evolution” each including food additives, kitchen utensils and a dvd of recipes, permitting to realize various molecular dishes and cocktails. With its didactic approach, Molécule-R Flavors, demystifies the molecular cuisine and makes it accessible to a wider public.

Chez Valois created the logotype, visual identity, structural and visual design of the packagings, the interface of the DVD, participated in the creation of the recipes and did the food styling and photoshoot. The design of the packaging received awards at International Design Awards 2012, Applied Arts Magazine Awards Annual 2011, Grafika, Annual Design Contest 2011, and many mentions in magazines and books. The photographs of the packs received also two Canadian Lux Photo awards.

Last week,  I collaborated with Evette Rios to help build an installation for the Design on a Dime benefit – an annual event where over 50 top designers create rooms from salvaged goods and donated furniture. All items are then sold at 50-70% off retail pricing and proceeds go to charity.

Our challenge: to create a stylish room with only Goodwill finds! Of course, being that Evette is a visionary and skilled at designing on a budget (she does it for living!), we created a gorgeous room that was playful, warm, and inviting.

Here are 6 tricks you can apply to transform any room:

1. Add a new coat of paint- a paint job goes a long way! We painted a fun matte green color on the bookshelf and added a gold rim, making it
look new and trendy.

2. Embrace Color – Color is your friend. Incorporate subtle uses of the same color throughout a room to create a sense of cohesion. Notice the gold on the walls is the same as that of the bookshelf.

3. Repurpose, Reuse, Reinvent – Find a new use for an old item. We created plant holders from old picture frames and constructed boxes. We also waxed and reupholstered the wood chairs with fabric, reinventing them.

4. Befriend Mother Nature – Plants and flowers soften a room… and are more economical to buy than new furniture.

5. Create ‘Space’ with Glass – The use of mirrors and glass tables creates the illusion that a room is bigger than it really is.

6. Use Lights Strategically – Lighting is a great way to “tell” a guest where to look. By positioning light fixtures in certain nooks of a room, you can showcase the best design elements.

Do you have a trick for transforming a room on a dime? Tell us in the comments below.

Salad Pangea is a fast-casual restaurant that offers a modern, multi-cultural experience.

Everything is designed for optimal functionality with an international design aesthetic; from the brand mark and pendant lights to the finish of the wood.

The “international” design aesthetic really rings true for me. I was instantly reminded of the somewhat futuristic and definitely cosmopolitan feel of cafes where I used to live in Australia and New Zealand. The identity also showcases a hallmark of the 2010′s: post-digital icons as a branding element. Of course, people have been using icons for some time but I believe it’s more prevalent than ever to use styles formerly considered corporate or technological in unlikely situations. Case in point:Salad Pangea by NYC based firm Tag Collective. There is something tongue in cheek about a hole-in-the-wall establishment offering a gridded, streamlined service yet still showcasing an end product that is balanced and wholesome. I like it.

Sigler’s paintings have a soft realistic quality, and many of which are not overly caressed as many representational subject studies can be. Her paintings are small and nostalgic yet carry the same gravity as a snippet of a Dutch still life. As a painter myself, I appreciate seeing such a confident hand and a stroke quality that makes the medium evident as it does the subject realistic. While I’ve selected Sigler’s works based on their relation to food, she has a collection other nostalgic objects, more of which can be seen here.

Additionally, Leslie’s home is as beautiful as her work and was showcased by DesignSponge.

All above images are copyright Leslie Lewis Sigler and used with her express permission. Please do not duplicate/modify or in any other way repurpose the above images without first contacting the artist.