As F&W's travel editor and someone with a serious case of wanderlust, it’s rare that I’m home for more than a few days at a time. But I promised myself I’d start off the new year in NYC and kicked off 2010 with a megadose of culture paired with some great meals. Here, a mini winter arts cheat sheet for Manhattan:

*MoMa has put together a brilliant, mind-bending retrospective of Tim Burton’s work that includes slightly disturbing teenage doodles, 3-D monsters and a showing of Burton's films. After, go to the bar room at the Modern and eat chef Gabriel Kreuther’s Alsatian thin-crust tarte flambé with crème fraiche, onion and applewood-smoked bacon and his decadent slow-poached farm egg served in a mason jar with Maine lobster, sunchokes and sear urchin froth.

*I dare anyone not to get dizzy as they wind their way around the Guggenheim viewing Wassily Kandinsky’s wild, geometric paintings. The museum’s new restaurant, the Wright, offers more sensory overload with a sleek space designed by British artist Liam Gillick that makes you feel like you’re riding Disney’s Space Mountain roller coaster. The food, from David Bouley-alum Rodolfo Contreras, is appropriately gorgeous with delicate dishes like roasted red and golden beets topped with sheep’s-milk cheese, citrus and pistachio and a fantastic spiced pumpkin and chocolate cake with pumpkin-seed-oil ice cream.

*I may never look at paper the same way again after viewing Slash: Paper Under the Knife at the Museum of Arts and Design. Drop by late and then have dinner at the just-opened restaurant Robert. The comforting Italian dishes like chicken cooked under a brick and papparadelle with wild boar ragu are delicious. Also amazing: the Central Park views and the room’s funky art and Jetson-esque design pieces (there’s a video-art piece by Jennifer Steinkamp and Barbie-pink acrylic lighting designed by Johanna Grawunder).

 

I just returned from Art Basel Miami Beach. Here, a food lover’s highlights:

* Jennifer Rubell, daughter of the legendary Miami art collectors Mera and Don Rubell, created an edible installation titled “Old-Fashioned” for the “Beg Borrow and Steal” show. It featured 1,521 Dunkin’ Donuts nailed to a white wall.

*Timothy Thompson’s aluminum cupcakes were on display inside of a 1960s camper van at the Camper Contemporary exhibition’s mobile art gallery.

* Artist Marky Ryden showed his new painting, "Incarnation," (above) at the Paul Kasmin Gallery booth. Ryder has the ability to make raw meat look mesmerizing and, in this case, turns it into a carnivore’s haute couture. The painting sold for nearly $900,000.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’m cooking my first Thanksgiving dinner from start to finish on Thursday. What I’m thankful for this year: my guests won’t have to eat in front of the TV. After months of searching, I finally found the perfect dining table that fits my budget. I wanted it to be modern but made of rustic wood. Ideally, the legs would come off for easy transport. Like the answers to many New Yorkers’ prayers, I found the table on Craigslist. Or more appropriately, I found the carpenter there. Jed from Silo Tables built the table from reclaimed pine wood that’s loaded with character, with all kinds of quirky knots and even a few visible nails. The simple legs are made from reclaimed carbon steel and they screw in easily to the mounting plates under the table. Bonus: Jed delivers for no extra fee.

Included on my Thanksgiving menu: 

• Roast Guinea Hens with Cumin-Date Sauce: With only four meat-eaters at dinner, I’m opting for smaller birds—I’m going to make F&W Marcia Kiesel’s clever, delicious Guinea Hen recipe using Cornish hens.
• Root Vegetable Gratin: With barely any cream, this gratin is all about the sweetness of the root veggies. Plus, it’s an elegant dish for vegetarians.
•  Bay-Steamed Broccoli: I love the peppery, herbal flavor of bay leaves with juicy steamed broccoli, and this dish takes no time to make.     
• Spiced Upside-Down Apple Bundt Cake: Because it’s just fabulous.

 

I’ll be blogging this week about discoveries from my recent eight-day trip to London. The city was buzzing with pop-up restaurant/design projects, ambitious new hotels and hip new British comfort food joints. One of my favorite finds was at the Berkeley hotel, which just introduced the fall/winter collection of its super-popular Prêt-à-Portea (the menu changes every six months to reflect the new fashion season). This haute-couture-inspired tea service features edible designs inspired by Christian Lacroix, Louis Vuitton and Christian Dior. Adorable confections include a Roger Vivier chocolate boot cookie, a Mulberry "Bayswater" white-chocolate-and-coconut-truffle "it" bag and a cinnamon Burberry Prorsum trench-coat cookie with a caramel belt and buttons. All are served on Paul Smith china alongside a proper cup of English tea.

 

Superhip Brit designer Ilse Crawford is constantly innovating. Her latest obsession is reinventing the idea of the coaching inn, which offered travelers in the mid-17th century a place to eat and sleep. Last year I stayed at her first such property, the Olde Belle, outside of London in Hurley. And I just spent the weekend at her second, the Crown Inn, about 40 minutes outside London in Amersham. Crawford has modernized the bed-and-breakfast, combining a cozy place to spend the night with an enticing, comfortable restaurant that's perfect for having a cocktail or a superfresh, farm-to-table dinner. Imagine if New York City's Spotted Pig gastropub added rooms upstairs—that's basically the Crown. It features incredible design juxtaposing the modern (flat-screen TVs and funky white-fur throws for the rocking chairs) and the historic (Room 12 has a section of hand-painted wall dating back to the 1500s), with smart touches like Aesop body soaps and Welsh wool blankets. Rosie Sykes and chef Mark Bristow are in charge of the food and make a satisfying breakfast spread for guests that includes homemade breads and sesame-hazelnut granola, chocolate muffins, eggs and hash. The chalkboard dinner menu changes daily, and some regulars convinced me to try the hearty beef-and-ale pie with a pint of local hard cider. I'm hoping Crawford brings the concept to the U.S. next.

Currently showing at the Philadelphia Museum of Art: “May Your Glass Be Ever Full: Drinking in Seventeenth- and Eighteenth-Century Europe,” featuring glassware like a crystal goblet from 1745 engraved with the words, “The Hell Fire Club.” Here, our own glassware guide with excellent cocktails to serve in each type of glass:

• Coupe: 10 superb cocktails for the coupe like the margarita-like Flor de Jalisco and the grapefruity Hemingway Daiquiri
• Rocks: 10 outstanding cocktails for the rocks glass like the Manzarita, a tequila smash prepared with apple juice and cinnamon (pictured), and the citrusy Hibiscus Petal
• Highball: 10 terrific cocktails for the highball like the almond-flavored Fog Cutter, a classic tiki drink, and El Gusano Rojo, prepared with ginger beer and mezcal
• Martini: 10 exceptional cocktails for the martini glass like the classic martini and the lemon-basil martini
• Flute: 7 great cocktails for the flute like the Americana, prepared with Champagne, bourbon and sliced peaches, and the minty Champagne mojito

Tonight at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art: a discussion on “From the Spoon to the City,” the current exhibition of 20th century design pieces named after Italian architect Ernesto Rogers’ famous declaration that he wanted to design everything from “a spoon to a city.” Our own way to honor the spoon is through these excellent stocks, stews, and chili recipes:

• Stews: 15 hearty stews like a Catalan chickpea stew with spinach and chorizo (pictured), a sweet and tangy Middle Eastern lamb-and-eggplant stew, and Yucatán pork stew with pleasantly bitter ancho chiles and lime juice
• Stocks: 3 versatile stocks to give a flavor boost to soups like Mario Batali’s chicken stock (excellent in a lentil and linguine soup), rich beef stock (superb in a Hungarian beef soup), and oregano-and-thyme-flavored vegetable stock (terrific in a 30-minute minestrone)
• Chili Recipes: 7 outstanding chili recipes like pork cheek and black-eyed pea chili, turkey chili with hominy, and fragrant, cumin-accented chili

The new Maya Lin-designed home of the Museum of Chinese in America just opened its doors, fittingly, on the edge of New York City’s Chinatown. Here, 15 fantastic Chinese dishes to commemorate the museum’s grand new space, like a spicy Sichuan peppercorn-coated shrimp stir-fry (pictured), garlicky sautéed clams with pork and Top Chef Season 3 winner Hung Huynh’s earthy mushroom-and-bacon-studded clay pot rice.

More Asian Dishes: 10 excellent Japanese dishes like hearty miso soup packed with shrimp and tofu and a mirin- and soy sauce-flavored pot roast; 15 superb Thai dishes like steamed mussels tossed in a creamy, spicy coconut-ginger sauce and bold, fiery Massaman curry with potatoes and peanuts

In London, Ilse Crawford’s incredible design firm, Studioilse, is hosting a series of "Kitchen Table Talks" at Leila’s Shop restaurant, starting tonight and running through October. Crawford has gathered a Who’s Who of design, food and eco-mindedness to discuss the link between growing food and building community. The lineup includes Randolph Hodgson, founder of Neal’s Yard Dairy; Dennis Paphitis, founder of cult beauty brand Aesop; and Tristram Stuart, author of Waste: Uncovering the Global Food Scandal. Click here for dates and details.

At the London Design Festival, which runs through this weekend, prolific Brit designer Ilse Crawford debuted her new furniture collection, cheekily named Seating for Eating. The solid chestnut settles (long, high-backed benches), stools and benches, made by De La Espada, were inspired by vernacular English furniture. The collection will be will be at the restaurant, Leila’s Shop, (for viewing and seating) through November 1.