Perfect Day

Cue up some Lou Reed because
last Wednesday was just perfect.

The husband and I went to Cafe Sabarsky
in the Neue Gallery for some lunch.  It is one
of my favorite splurges in the whole city.  The food
is not cheap but it is delicious and the ambiance is
totally worth it.  We shared some brats
















and then I had an Einspanner: double espresso with
whipped cream on top.  Happiness.




















After lunch we wandered about 2 blocks down to the Met,
which is on of my top 5 places in the whole city.  Our favorite
exhibit was the Sopheap Pich sculptures, if you have a chance
to get there I highly recommend checking them out.  They are epic
and beautiful and his statements about each are so interesting.

We found our way to the rooftop to check out the current exhibit up there
which is Imran Qureshi's -what I'm going to call - Creation/Destruction
installation.  It was beautiful, and I feel like it could be moving in a different
location.  But it's pretty out of context on a museum rooftop that serves $14 cocktails.


































We made our way back to our borough, opened up a
bottle of cider and 2 bottles of Channing Daughters white
wines. Made dinner and just relaxed at home. Perfect.
Summer in the city is always dreamy.

Latest Obsessions

*Mango Salad with Lime Dressing
mango,cucumber, and radishes. With the dressing
it tastes like a healthy version of a margarita.
I'll be making this all summer long.

*Enjingi Zweigelt 2007
I had never seen a Croatian Zweigelt before
(they are commonly found in Austria) and it
didn't disappoint! At times this wine drinks
like a Burgundy. Elegant and extremely aromatic
with  ripe cherry fruits and hints of spice.  Balanced
acid with a very smooth finish. I can't get enough.
I love this wine.

*Planning for Charleston
If you know me at all you know that I LOVE
to plan things.  Doesn't matter if it's next week or
3 months from now, I will start researching.  I've already
made reservations for my birthday dinner, (I know
it's 2 months away...) the husband and I will
be going to Husk! Also on my list of places :
The Ordinary, Hominy Grill, 2 Boroughs Larder,
either of the gelateria's-if they're still there, and Groucho's
because I miss their sandwiches.  I cannot wait
to see how the city has changed!

*Buying Dresses
Or trying not to buy dresses.  Ive been taking it
easy on my clothes spending for awhile.  But now
that sites like Modcloth are around it is so hard not
to constantly buy dresses! Maybe I'll start allowing
myself one a month....

*Convos With My 2 Year Old
This video cracks me up.

*Pug Videos
I want a pug friend.

The Fermentation Continues

I made kimchi yesterday, and judging from the
small bubbles scattered around the jar today-
I'm going to assume that it went pretty well.

It still has 2 more days on the countertop
so fingers crossed until then.



















I looked through a bunch of recipes and
finally found one that a.) didn't require
me to inhale the scents of dried or jarred
seafood and b.) was a somewhat speedy prep.
So thank you, Jean Georges, for this recipe.

I also started a shrub yesterday, which I think
is less of a fermentation and more of an infusion.




















1 part fruit, 1 part apple cider vinegar and a big of sugar.
Some recipes call for 1:1:1 but I hate overly
sweetened things so I just did a half teaspoon just to see if
I could get away with it. One more day on the counter and
I'll find out.  Cannot wait to have this with some seltzer.

Greenmarket Finds

I made it to the market around 9am.
I don't play around when it's strawberry season,
they are a necessary item right now and if you
don't get there early than you may not get them.

The spring harvest feels luxurious after
the long winter, and it's only going to get
better.  The Sunnyside market starts up again
in June and I cannot wait.

















*quart of Ronnybrook whole milk (cream on top)
*loaf of sourdough
*spinach
*cilantro
*carrots
*3 tomatoes
*4 portobello mushrooms
*large bag of crimini mushrooms
*leeks
*3 apples
*radishes
*corn tortillas
*scallions
*strawberries
*beets
*2 shallots (not pictured
*turkey breast (not pictured)
*dozen eggs (not pictured)


I've already got the beets steaming, I've had a small glass
of milk, and some sourdough with olive oil and salt.
I love Sunday mornings.

The Evolution of a Friday Night

There was a time where Friday meant partying,
socializing, going out, etc.  These days I find
extreme happiness in spending either Friday or
Saturday nights at home.  This is me.
I am a homebody.

I think it really changed when we moved
to our current apartment.  After years of bouncing
around, living in dorms and other people's apartments
I didn't feel like I had a home. A place that was mine.
We have been living in the Gardens for 4 1/2 years now
and in that time we have made this apartment a home and
haven.  I love spending time here.

So here I am, on a Friday night
laying in bed, watching Eat Pray Love
(which will probably lead me to plan
a trip to Bali), and looking for recipes to make
in the coming week.  Slightly nerdy?
Perhaps.  But I dig it.

Latest Obsessions

*Kate Quit Sugar
I feel like I'm always trying to shake
my sugar addiction- but I have no
self control when it comes to chocolate.
That was made apparent last night when I
could not say to to a flourless choc. cupcake.
But I'm always willing to keep trying to quit.
That counts for something, right??

*Wantful
I recently received a gift from this site and I was
instantly obsessed.  As the recipient you receive a
link with a personalized selection of gifts that you
can choose from. Whichever you choose is
sent out to you.  This is so brilliant.
Totally doing this for everyone.

*Getting back on track with the meal plan.
We've been eating a lot better this week:
2 delicious fish dinners, lots of different
salads, red pepper hummus, buckwheat soba
soup,  huevos rancheros. It's been extremely
satisfying.

*Mint Chocolate Frozen Yogurt
I wonder how this would taste without any
sugar added and with 90% dark chocolate....
see it's the chocolate issue again.

*Sketchbook Sneak Peek: Lisa Congdon
This makes me want to get into the sketching
habit again.

*Epic Pinterest Fail
This is an easy site to get sucked into.
It's almost as hilarious as Cakewrecks

Greenmarket Finds

 My market dreams came true.
Strawberries are finally back!
These are from a farm that doesn't use
any pesticides so they do recommend
eating them the day that you get them.
Which is not a problem for me. At All.
The only thing I wanted but didn't get was
rhubarb-they did have it but my budget was limited
so I had do choose the functional items.  I really only
want the rhubarb so that I can make a shrub.
Next time.

*dozen eggs

*1 tomato

*2 cippolini onions

*2 Cucumbers

*french breakfast radishes

*lettuce

*Sorrel

*2 Portobello Mushrooms

*Shitake Mushrooms

*1 bunch of Spigarello (I usually buy Tuscan Kale but I wanted to mix it up)

*Asparagus

*2 pints of strawberries

The yellow on the strawberries is pollen that gathered after it rained.

I always love things like this or finding dirt on the veggies

because it's reminder of where it came from

Latest Obsessions

*Variety at the Greenmarket
The lineup is finally changing!
Yesterday I picked up asparagus,
broccoli rabe, and cherry tomatoes

*Well-made cappuccinos
These can be hard to come by,
but I've had a lot of excellent ones lately.
The key is to have the espresso incorporated
into the foam-creating caramel-y espresso
deliciousness. Bonus points if you can make
designs on top.

*Trying to figure out how I feel about the Gatsby movie
Generally I feel pretty meh about the whole thing, but
I think that actors did a great job of really making you
dislike the characters, but I did not like Leo's weird
twangy accent he used for Gatsby.
 I also felt like I was watching a pixar movie
because the whole thing relied heavily on computers.
I loved the costumes and the music for the most part,
but still can't say that I truly loved the whole thing.

*The smell of roses
When I was younger I liked roses because I thought they were
romantic, then I went through a period where I thought they
were cliche', now I'm back to enjoying them, mostly for their
beauty and for their insanely intoxicating smell.

*Putting my herb garden to good use
I've been clipping off little bits of the cilantro, parsley,
and thyme.  Summer caprese's with some fresh basil
will happen real soon!

A Weekend Away

DC is an interesting place.
There is a height restriction on the downtown
buildings, so you kind of feel like you're
on a movie set or Main St. USA in Disney.
Everything is clean and beautiful and it has
the most amazing homes and gardens.

As you may know by now, I travel mostly for the food,
drinks, and city culture.  This trip was no different.
The only "touristy" things that we did were walking
around the Capital and Mall area,  visiting the Botanical Gardens,
and briefly talk about going into the National Archives (the line was too long)

Other than that it was all for fun.  We started off the trip with ceviche,
guacamole, and a pitcher of margaritas at this tiny Mexican place.
 Dinner on Friday was at Brixton, a British pub with a heavy
Southeast Asian influence,  lots of small plates and everything was
absolutely delicious.  My favorite was the Black Lentil Curry.
After dinner we cabbed it over to Hogo, a tiki bar somewhat close to Brixton-
( I should tell you that I never got a handle on the layout of the city.
I felt perpetually lost-which is not typical- so everything felt
"somewhat close" or "kind of far". My apologies.)
So we get to Hogo and the first thing we see is a huge painting of Steve Zissou,
we were sold already.  The drink list was fantastic and I got to indulge in an 
amazing cocktail served in a gigantic pineapple.  There was also a
flaming punch bowl that we saw- it looked amazing. The only thing missing
was a hawaiian pizza.





















Saturday we brunched at Busboys and Poets
then meandered over to the 14th St area where
there were all kinds of fun shops and bars.
There were some great vintage shops, but I did
manage to restrain myself. Though I am still thinking
about the flapper style fringe dress I saw..

Dinner that evening was at Ethiopic, this was my
second experience with Ethiopian food and it was amazing.
The flavors are huge, and they serve this delicous fermented
bread-which is actually more of a pancake-that you use to pick
everything up.  We also had some Ethiopian honey wine at the end
of the meal, which didn't taste too far off from the Mead that the
husband and I fermented awhile back.  After dinner we hopped
a cab to Barmini- the cocktail offshoot of Jose Andres' Minibar.
The staff was amazing and the drinks were just phenomenal.
I got the gardener-which was gin, egg white, st germain,
cucumber, and possibly lime. So simple but exactly what I wanted.
The one kind of crazy drink that we shared was the
Cotton Candy Old Fashioned, it happened somewhat quickly so I didn't grab
a photo- but just imagine a cup filled with pink cotton candy and then
someone pouring an old fashioned over it and just watching it dissolve.
The drink was perfectly sweetened with barely a trace of the cotton candy.

















Sunday we went over to Eastern Market for Brunch @
Market Lunch.  This was insanely good.
On the left are the crabcakes benedict and to the right
the french toast with whipped cream and berries.
Right in the middle is the green chili cheese grits.
yeah. jackpot.

















After brunch we wandered around the Mall area, went into the Botanical
Gardens-which are always amazing.

Then we finished our trip with some pizza, headed back to the hotel
to grab our bags and then the husband and I embarked on one
of the more frustrating trips to an airport.  This was remedied by a Chipotle
burrito and 2 Margaritas.

All in all the trip was a success, we all agreed that we would visit again.
And next time I will eat at FarmersFishersBakers!!

The Sandwich

There are some foods that seem to taste best when made by others.
I think that everyone has their own list for this, for me there are
2 things: scrambled eggs, and sandwiches.

Only recently I've felt like I've finally been able to make
 perfectly scrambled eggs and very satisfying sandwiches.
Mastering the art of preparing food really is a long process-
even with the stuff that seems like it should be so simple.
It's the little victories.
















roll
dijon mustard
swiss cheese
roast beef
cucumber
avocado
dash of sriracha

Latest Obsessions

*Shanti Shack and Depanneur
I don't find myself in the Williamsburg area too often anymore
but, I was looking for sustenance during my craft show and I
stumbled upon these places.  I've been on a semi-detox lately
and they had exactly what I was looking for. From Depanneur
I picked up some raw juice and a delicious pickled beet sammy
with hummus, tomato, watercress and cucumbers.  For lunch
I found the Shanti Shack and picked up a grilled cheese (not as
healthy-I know) on 12 grain bread with tomato and avocado,
and a butternut squash salad with braised celery, walnuts, green
apple, micro greens, and raisins. So good! I wish that Sunnyside
had places like that.

*Lilacs
They are back! I can never get enough of their smell and
their dreamy purple hue. Lilacs represent love, so bring a
pretty bunch home to your sweetheart.

*Shrubs
Not the plant, the drink. A shrub is a drinking vinegar,
made with sugar, raw vinegar, and fruit/veggies.  I had a blueberry
one at Queen's Kickshaw on Sunday and it is totally going to be
my new summer drink.  Once I can get my hands on some rhubarb
a shrub will be made.

*Waking up early
I love being an early bird and enjoying the total silence
of the morning- not to mention the sunlight in the kitchen.

*Michael Pollan
"To cook or not to cook thus becomes a consequential question. 
Though I realize that is putting the matter a bit too bluntly. Cooking 
means different things at different times to different people; seldom is it 
an all-or-nothing proposition. Yet even to cook a few more nights a week 
than you already to, or to devote a Sunday to make a few meals for the week, 
or perhaps to try every now and again to make something you only ever 
expected to buy — even these modest acts will constitute a kind of vote. 
A vote for what exactly? Well, in a world where so few of us are obliged to 
cook at all anymore, to choose to do so is to lodge a protest against 
specialization — against the total rationalization of life. Against the
 infiltration of commercial interests into every last cranny of our lives. 
To cook for the pleasure of it, devote a portion of our leisure to it, is to 
declare our independence from the corporations seeking to organize our 
every waking moment into yet another occasion for consumption. 
(Come to think of it, our nonwaking moments as well: Ambien anyone?)
 It is to reject the debilitation notion that, at least while we’re at home, 
production is work done by someone else, and the only legitimate 
form of leisure is consumption. This dependence marketers call “freedom.”

Further Exploration: Astoria

Yesterday, the universe wanted us to stay in Queens.
We did try to get to Chinatown to pick up my new glasses
but the MTA was against us (what a surprise)
We accepted our fate and wandered around Astoria.

















Our time was spent brunching, checking out the new exhibits 
at the Museum of the Moving Image, stopping in at my favorite
vintage store (I got 2 new shirts!), walking down to the sculpture park on the river,
meandering over to another riverfront park, and then grabbing
delicious snacks at Queens Kickshaw.  We had the beet pasta alfredo
and the roasted seasonal vegetables. So satisfying after an extremely long walk.
I also made friends with a fat cat that reminded me of Maru. Another bonus.

















We got back to the house around 7, laid around watching
junk movies that were on tv.  Around 9 we made a late dinner,
seared tuna over a spinach, romaine, carrot and cucumber salad
with a ginger vinaigrette.  It was such a perfect Sunday.

A Year in Books: April

*The Great Gatsby-F. Scott Fitzgerald
I re-read the Great Gatsby because the movie is coming out,
and I always like to revisit. I do this with any movie that has a book.
I also realized recently that I've read Gatsby at 3 different stages of my life
and each time have taken something different from it.
I read it in high school, I don't think that much registered.
College, the symbolism kicked in and I had a better understanding
of who the characters were.
Presently, I'm about the same age as most of the characters.
I see them for the kind of people they really are, and understand
the story much more than the last 2 times. Most of all I found
it to be extremely sad and a cautionary tale about living anywhere
but the present.



*Galapagos-Kurt Vonnegut

Believe it or not, Galapagos was my first Vonnegut experience.
I know, he's one of the husbands favorites and just an awesome
author in general but it just never happened.  I'm slow to read a lot of
the classics, mostly because I seek out either mystery novels or wine books
when I'm in a bookstore.  If you've been keeping up with this list
than you already know this.    I did love this book, it had the magical realism feel
that you find in the Murakami books, and there were so many interesting characters
all woven together in some way (usually through coincidence-another theme that I love)
We have a lot of Vonnegut's books in our library, I'm looking forward to reading more of them.


*How to Love Wine- Eric Asimov

 This is a wine book for everyone. It offers a great way to approach wine,
how to taste, how to learn, and-of course- how to love.  I like reading these
wine memoirs because it's a reminder that most people in the wine world started
in the same place.  The blessing and the curse about wine is that you'll never know everything,
and you'll never know everything.  But it's about finding the relationship that is right for you,
like any hobby or interest.  Highly recommend this one for anyone that is into wine, or wants
to understand it a little better.

Further Exploration: Chinatown

The Nom Wah Tea Parlor has been on my list for
some time now and yesterday I finally got to go!

It's situated right at the bend of Doyers St, also known
as the "Bloody Angle" , and has occupied that same
space since 1968. But it has been in business since 1920
(The original space was one door up)
















The inside has a bit of a diner feel, filled with booths,
tables and a counter but the high ceilings give it an airy
quality.  Instead of the carts being pushed they give you a
checklist of their menu and you mark off the items that
you would like.  So much better than the cart process.

I went with my friend Sharon, who I had not seen
in such a long time.  This ended up being the perfect place
 to catch up.  They don't rush you out, there are
cheap pots of tea, and the food is really delicious.

We ordered Turnip cakes, scallion pancakes a pork bun,
vegetable dumplings,  pan fried noodles, and a large pot of a tea
called Iron Buddha.


My favorites were the scallion pancake and the
pan fried noodles, least favorite was the veg dumpling.

It's definitely not something that I need to be eating
on a regular basis but this is definitely going on
my list of favorite places in the city,

New Sketches

I FINALLY did some new sketches since, you know,
this is happening this weekend.



















I'll be heading to the paper store today for some
supplies, and hopefully the gocco will be kind
and I will be able to sell these on Saturday.

Ladies and Gents, may I present
the Queens Raccoon and Mr. Narwhal

Come out this Saturday if you can :)