The new Wine Saver preservation and serving system uses argon gas to prevent the oxidation that typically turns wine undrinkable as soon as a day after it is opened. Like an enomatic system for home use, the Wine Saver is supposed to protect wine in an opened bottle for weeks after it's been uncorked. The unit holds up to three bottles at once and dispenses wine by the glass from spigots. Unfortunately, wine thrift comes at a steep price: $599.95, exclusively at Williams-Sonoma.

FEATURED EVENT

Crayfish Week
A crayfish celebration is coming to Aquavit (65 East 55th Street). From August 11 through August 17, Aquavit will serve a $25 crayfish peel-and-eat dinner which will include one pound of the crustaceans along with garlic bread, boiled potatoes, and Jarlsberg cheese (we're not in New Orleans anymore). A $48 menu will also be available featuring the likes of crayfish bisque and crayfish toast. Reservations: 212.307.7311.

EVENTS THIS WEEK (August 6 through 12)

Restaurant Week Extended
More than 130 of the participating NYC Summer Restaurant Week restaurants will be offering their prix fixe specials ($24.07 for a 3-course lunch and $35 for a 3-course dinner) on weekdays through Labor Day. For a list of particpating restaurants and to make reservations, visit NYC & Company.

Spanish Road Trip
The Astor Center (399 Lafayette Avenue) presents, A Spanish Road Trip.  Join Spanish wine experts Kerin Auth and David Seigal as they take you through a virtual wine tour of the country, complete with local dishes.  The class will take place on Thursday, August 7th in The Study from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Tickets: $125/person. 

Summer Market Lunch
Lupa (170 Thomson Street) is hosting an intimate Greenmarket field trip to the Union Square market. Discover new foods and trade recipe ideas with farmers and chefs. The tour will be followed by lunch at the restaurant. The event will take place on Wednesday, August 6th, with the tour at 10:00 a.m. and lunch at 12:30 p.m. Space is strictly limited. Tickets: $120/person (212.982.5089).

Jersey Fresh
Celebrate the bounty of the Garden State with the Jersey Friesh Food and Wine Festival. The event will showcase over 25 wineries from throughout New Jersey.  The festival will also feature gourmet food and produce from the state's Jersey Fresh program. The event will take place at Hopewell Valley Vineyards (46 Yard Road, Pennington, New Jersey) on Saturday, August 9th and Sunday, August 10th from noon to 5:00 p.m. Tickets: $18/person.

Brooklyn Chili Takedown
Chili cooks will have an outlet to showcase their work and chili lovers will have an excuse to be a food critic for a day at this year's Brooklyn Chili Takedown. The Takedown Crew is teaming up with foodie Scott Gold (author, The Shameless Carnivore) to host and judge the competition.  All are welcome to enter the contest with any chili recipe, but they must prepare 2 gallons (no exceptions). A People's Choice prize and Judges' prize will be awarded.  The event will take place on Sunday, August 10th at Union Pool (484 Union Avenue, Brooklyn) at 5:00 p.m. For more information, contact Matt Timms. All you can eat: $10/person.

The Gold Standard
The New York chapter of Tasters Guild International will be hosting a special gold medal stand-up tasting event.  Many 2008 double gold medal and several single gold medal winning wines, over 65 in total, will be available for sampling.  The event will take place at the Estonian House (243 East 34th Street) on Tuesday, August 12th from 6:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Tickets: $60/person (212.799.6311).

Illustration: Aquavit.

FEATURED EVENT

Cooking with Your Teen
Astor Center (399 Lafayette Street) has teamed up with the Culinary Institute of America (CIA) for a special parent-teen class, "Cooking With Your Teen: Salads, Spreads, & Sandwiches."  Work together to create quick, easy, and nutritious fare, much of which can be prepared ahead of time. The class will take place on Saturday, August 2nd in The Kitchen at 9:00 a.m. Tickets: $225/person.

EVENTS THIS WEEK (July 30 through August 5)

New York Restaurant Week
There is still time to take advantage of New York Restaurant week. Participating New York City restaurants are offering three-course prix-fixe dinners for $35 and lunches for $24.07. Make your reservations now through Friday, August 1st. For a list of participating restaurants and to make reservations, visit opentable.com.

Erotic Wine Tasting Soiree
Perfect Palate New York is presenting an erotic wine tasting event, complete with wines from Naked Vineyards, suggestive treats, product demonstrations, poetry readings, and more. The event will take place on Thursday, July 31st at Babeland (34 Mercer Street) from 8:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. Reservations are required. Tickets: $40/person.

Garlic Festival 
Garlic aficionados have a reason to escape upstate to Fox Run Vineyards (670 Route 14, Penn Yann) for its 16th Annual Garlic Festival. Peruse the garlic food tent, sample local wines, check out cooking demonstrations, lectures, and much more. The Garlic Festival will take place on Saturday, August 2nd and Sunday, August 3rd. Check out Fox Run's site for the full schedule (800.636.9786)

Ros Wines and Summer Foods Class
North Square (103 Waverly Place) is hosting a Ros Wines and Summer Foods Class led by the restaurant's wine director, Raoul Segarra. Learn to fearlessly pair fabulous summer dishes with the right ross.  The event will take place on Tuesday, August 5th from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. Tickets: $60/person (212.254.1200).

COMING UP

NY Brewfest
Tickets are now on sale for the 3rd Annual NY Brewfest at South Street Seaport (Piers 16 and 17).  The festival is traditionally a celebration of craft beer from New York State. This year, craft brewers from all over the United States are welcome, but the emphasis will remain on the Northeast regions. The event will take place on Friday, September 12th. from 5:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m.  Advanced tickets: $50/person.

Lest you think that all food in Italy is slow food, Italians do have a way with convenience foods. I've written before about the imaginative lunchable-in-translation of Nutella, breadsticks, and ice tea. When we traveled to Italy a few weeks ago, we spotted pouches of foil-wrapped bite-size cubes of parmiggiano reggiano, "fredo fredo" and "caldo caldo" (instantly hot or cold coffees), and, at the COOP (supermarket), small pouches of pre-cubed pancetta, just right for cooking one dish. But, none of these could have prepared me for the magic of Pocket Espresso To Go, my newest discovery.

I've been a fan of Ferrero's Pocket Coffee, a chocolate and praline confection with a liquid coffee center (think of those nasty liquor-filled chocolate bottles, only better and with espresso inside and you get the idea). Stopping at an Autogrill somewhere along the Autostrade between Milan and Bologna, I thought I was purchasing some of these treats. However, it turned out that I had taken home some something quite different.

Opening the box, I discovered that these were not the candies I expected, but tiny containers. Each came with a two inch-long straw attached, and a spot labeled "forare qui" (pierce here). I plunged the straw into the mini-drinkbox and sucked out the syrupy contents: 21.8 ml of the liquid center (sweetened with sugar and chocolate) you would find in Pocket Coffee. It was rich, bitter-sweet, and stimulating (according to the box, contains 1/3 of the caffeine in a shot of espresso).

Unfortunately, I can't find a source for purchasing Pocket Espresso To Go in the U.S., but if you know of one, let us know in the comments.

We had our first major harvest in the square foot garden recently: French breakfast radishes. Some were misshapen, others were puny, but the bottom line is that they grew at all! Not that this harvest was huge anyway. After all, this was only a 1'x1' crop, so the radishes were gone by the end of lunch. Such is the life of a square foot gardener.

Above is your basic combination of radishes with butter and sea salt on a baguette. This was pretty scrumptious, but you how can you go wrong with Plugra and Maldon sea salt? The creamy, rich butter tempered the peppery radishes. Smooth, crunchy, and delicious.

With the other half of the bunch, I made radishes with bagna cauda (recipe here). This was easy and pretty fantastic. You simply warm extra virgin olive oil with garlic, salt, and anchovies, and then spoon the mixture over the radishes. I've never made a bagna cauda before, but I'm sure that I'll be making it again soon with other crisp, raw vegetables.

In other news, I made a batch of pesto using the basil from the garden, and we picked and ate the endive. After reading this New York Times article on starting beans in mid-summer, I decided I wasn't too late to give it a try. I built a wigwam out of bamboo and planted "Garden of Eden" pole beans. In another square, I planted Isar yellow filet beans, a bush bean.

Finally, to give the boxes some visual interest, I added some stepping stones around the perimeter and planted creeping thyme and silver thyme.

The roll call, box-by-box (and row by row, left to right):

Box #1
The Cherokee tomato plant keeps growing.
The Sweet 100 cherry tomato plant, the only hybrid of the tomato plants, suddenly withered and died. I replaced it with a green zebra plant that had been growing in a nearby pot.
The cucumber plants continue to grow super-fast, heading towards the top of the fence.
Red chard is coming along (slowly).
Basil remains strong.
The orange pepper plant died too. Here's where the wigwam and pole beans went.
Arugula continues to grow. I scattered some additional seeds to "cut and come" as they say.
I pulled up the frisee, ate it, and planted some more.
I found a new home for the Greek oregano elsewhere. In its place, I've planted an Asian green salad mix.

Box #2
Vintage wine tomatoes are growing.
Brandywine vine has continued to grow.
Hillbilly tomato plant is growing rapidly.
The finger eggplant is revealing its first fruit -- three baby eggplants are growing down.
I moved the rosemary out and planted some more radishes in its place.
I moved the Italian large leaf basil out and planted bush beans.
The spicy/globe basil does not stop growing.
Beets are coming along.
Having picked the radishes, in went seeds for carrots.

Stay tuned for more updates, or follow along as I post photos of the garden's progress on flickr.

The Food Section's Square Foot Garden photoset