Long, long overdue it’s true but better late than never eh? Blame the heat. Summer, feeling that we all needed a reminder of what time of year it actually was, has turned up the temp lately and all I can think of food wise is salad. I may, in fact, become tedious on the subject quite soon but in the meantime, I have actually poked around to see what else is happening in the Food-verse, since a girl cannot live by salad spinner alone.

This week the big food event in New York is the Second Annual NYC Food Film Festival. This is not in any way to be confused to with the Food Network New York City Wine & Food Festival (not that I image you could confuse them but better to be safe than sorry). The former I won’t be around for but the latter? Count me in! I am plotting to get to come hell or high water.

While I hunt up tickets for the event, another New Yorker (newly arrived) is on food hunt of a another kind. I recent came across (via The Grinder) a new blog called Lost Taco - and it is the story of one man’s search for a decent taco in New York. Now, this may seem to be a slightly narrow scope to some of you but when one has a great love of a particular foodstuff, the hunt can be consuming (and funny). If I had the personal bandwidth, I’d be blogging a search for the perfect roast chicken (and likely finding it at a place in Chicago called “The Place Next Door” but that’s another story).

Bringing together the subjects of blogs and food festivals, The Guardian’s food blog Word of Mouth came down with a case of vapors over the growing prevalence of food festivals but recovered enough to produce a slightly condescending (if not wholly inaccurate) description of the characters often found at those events.

Here’s something I seem to have missed then it hit the stands a couple of weeks ago: New York Magazine takes a close look at breakfast (described in their subtitle as the ‘Loneliest Meal’).

They call it a breakfast manifesto but honestly, the word manifesto seem to call for much more active engagement than I can muster until well after breakfast and coffee. It trots out the standard breakfast issues - don’t skip breakfast or you will be inefficient, heavier, unhappier etc. All in all, I didn’t learn an awful lot from the article. Far more interesting to me were the related articles linked to at the end. So often “related articles” is how I find the stuff I really am interested in. Sort of the online equivalent of preferring the the B-side of a 45. (Yes, I just dated myself dreadfully. Ah well. When the appropriate metaphor calls, one has to answer.) But The Coffee Junkie’s Guide and The 100-Cereal Taste Test - definitely worth checking out. Even for me - who will drink almost any coffee in extremis and can’t stand cereal of any kind. Never could. Go figure.

And finally, culinary holidays for the week:

• National Fudge Day (June 16): How can this be anything but fabulous. Well, someone might ruin perfectly good fudge by adding nuts to it but I shall keep my fingers crossed that any fudge personally encountered by me will be free of such foolishness. I feel the same way about adding nuts to brownies. It is wrong.
• National Apple Strudel Day (June 17): Apple Strudel. An foodstuff genuinely associated with Austrian cuisine and Germany (the word strudel is German for current or whirlpool) unlike German Chocolate Cake which is only mistakenly associated with that area.
• National Cherry Tart Day (June 17): no, tarts are not the same as pies. If they were, would we need Cherry Pie Day and Cherry Tart Day? I rest my case. But in case you need more convincing - a pie pan (dish, plate - whatever you call it) has sloped sides and it round while a tart pan has straight sides and can be almost any shape. The crust involved is also a point of different. Pie crust is made up of flour, salt, solid vegetable shortening (lard for the most manic traditionalist) and cold water, resulting in a crisp and flaky crust suitable for both sweet pies and savory dishes. Tart crust contains flour, sugar, salt, unsalted butter, and cold water - all of which comes together to produce a firm but crumbly crust.
• National Peaches & Cream Day (June 21): Peaches and Cream actually is a dish (well, it’s also a flavor) and not just a way of describing a particularly lovely complexion but I’m guessing that most of you have not actually had it (the dish, I mean. Having a peaches and cream complexion is largely a matter of lucky genetics and sunscreen). When I was growing up, it was a bit of a mushy thing frozen for a summer treat but more often, it is a more
  structured pie or a muffin.

More soon, my friends! Have a great rest of the weekend and a good week.