And then there's the matter of Best New Chefs itself—a proud, gorgeous, 300-pound gorilla that incurs more weight with each passing year.

These garnishes are optional — and flexible.Store-bought bacon bits and French-fried onions would be just fine here, too.

Or you can skip them entirely for a fully vegan soup.. Make ahead.The soup can be refrigerated for up to three days.. Cook Mode.green split peas.

marjoram leaves.and crispy bacon.

(optional), for serving.

In a large pot, combine the split peas and water and bring to a boil.splashed out on booze.

But I wanted to support my friend who owned the coolest, most anarchic liquor shop I'd ever seen, taught me almost every single thing I knew about whiskey, and was delving into bottling the stuff herself.. Matt Taylor-Gross.The Best Rare Bourbons for a Whiskey Drinker's Collection.

To hear LeNell Camacho Santa Ana tell it, I was a regular customer at her pioneering Red Hook, Brooklyn bottle shop from pretty much the get-go in 2003, and seeing as I dorked out every time I came in, she offered me a job to which I replied, "You can't afford me."In my recollection, that is true up to the last part of the sentence, because A. I'm not prone to that kind of sass and B. what I imagine I was trying to convey is that the last time I'd worked in a retail shop where they sold something that spoke to my passions (that'd be the HMV record store in Herald Square, kitty-corner from Macy's in the mid '90s) I couldn't actually afford it because I took full and frequent advantage of the employee discount and essentially had to deposit my paycheck right back into the till.