Greenmarket Finds

The Union Sq market is always so wonderful.
At this time of year the smell of peaches, plums, and
lavender is so strong. It's intoxicating.
Seasonal produce at its absolute finest.
















Today was a 3 bag kinda day.

*sourdough bread
*1 pint of heavy cream (not pictured)
*purple carrots
*2 cucumbers
*4 plums
*2 doughnut peaches
*5 yellow peaches
*1 small cantaloupe
*dinosaur kale
*mint
*cilantro
*1 summer squash
*green beans (not pictured)
*crimini mushrooms (not pictured)
*heirloom cherry tomatoes
*heirloom tomatoes
*gigantic okra (I forget the special name for it)
*garlic
*beef cubes (not pictured)
*chicken thighs (not pictured)


And just for an idea of how gigantic the okra is...

yeah, that's a quarter. Ridiculous!!

Cannot wait to grill these up for lunch.

I also noticed that concord grapes were at the market today, 

which means that you should enjoy the peaches and tomato

abundance while you can! Fall is on it's way.

A Small Rant

I watched this video yesterday and it really hit home.
The girl sans smartphone is me.

I'm tired of seeing iphones on tables in restaurants or on bars,
I don't want to look at photos when we could be talking,
there is no need to go right to wikipedia if you
are stumped by something, and maybe watch the event with
your own eyes instead of watching it from behind a screen.

I do see the plus side to it. Having directions to anywhere is a great thing,
so is Fruit Ninja and Angry Birds, but the negative outweighs the positive
for me.

Life is too beautiful and too short to waste so much time
on a little device.

Greenmarket Finds

If you've been thinking about doing
some greenmarket shopping-now is the time!
Whatever you pick up will taste 100x better
than anything from the grocery store.
Especially cantaloupe-yes, still talking about
that cantaloupe.
















*dozen eggs
*loaf of sourdough
*raw wildflower honey
*carrots
*beets
*3 ears of corn
*1 yellow peach
*3 donut peaches
*2 white nectarines
*blueberries
*okra
*dinosaur kale
*2 bell peppers
*cantaloupe
*heirloom tomatoes
*2 small pieces of tuna (not pictured)
*1 large filet of pollock (not pictured)
*1lb andouille sausage (not pictured)
*1lb chicken thighs (not pictured)

I have a friend visiting next week so
I'll be making chicken and sausage gumbo
for our Monday night dinner. It will
most likely be accompanied by jalapeno
cornbread.

In other kitchen news, we put up our world map
and will be filling it with pins of places we've been
as well as places that we want to go.

Latest Obsessions

*Okra
hit it with some olive oil, salt & pepper
and throw it on the grill. Best. Thing. Ever.
Also a goldmine as far as health/ digestive benefits go.

*The LIC Flea
Forget about Brooklyn. If you want awesome food,
nice scenery, and affordable vintage- definitely check
this place out.  I picked up a sailor's shirt from the 40's
(now I can't wait til fall!) and the husband scored this
amazing mexican blanket that probably is from the
50's or 60's. It now resides on our couch.

*Mar's
Finally, Queens is getting some good places.
We had some shrimp cocktail and a sparkling
gamay rose'.  Loved the decor and that it's
right near the Museum of the Moving Image.

*Editors-Weight of Your Love
new album. diggin' it.

*Summer Fruits
Is there a more glorious time than when cantaloupe,
watermelon, apricots, and donut peaches are at the market?!
Cannot get enough of these right now.

*Interesting article about happiness

*Boodapug tumblr
If you like looking at photos of pugs as much as I do.

A Year in Books: July

July was not a very epic month in terms of books,
I only read 2, but both were fun and educational.
(and one was wonderfully outdated)

*Animals of the Past-Frederic A. Lucas
*Rasputin and the Fall of the Romanovs

Animals of the Past was printed for the American
Museum of Natural History and I have the 4th edition
which is from 1916.  It's a really interesting read, partly because
a lot of the speculations about the animals is not correct-
or rather has been proven otherwise since 1916. (i.e: dinosaurs
having feathers) But the pictured are beautiful and
who doesn't love reading about dinosaurs?

The husband picked up the Rasputin book for me at the Strand,
and I think he picked the best of the bunch because the author
really tried to be as historically accurate as possible.  So much myth
surrounds Rasputin, it's hard to know the truth but Colin Wilson
really makes a point of getting as close to it as possible.  Noting
the discrepancies in many other books on the same topic.
Another good read, loaded with so much history-not just
on Rasputin but the history of the Czars leading up to the Revolution.
Really fascinating.