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.

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

Let's put the market list on hold for a minute and talk about this.

 



















My loving husband has stocked our fridge with my most favorite
beer ever.  I've been enjoying this since our trip down to New Orleans
in 2008.  It's a true sign that summer is around the corner.
I popped open the first bottle a few minutes ago and it's been
pure strawberry bliss ever since.  It really is the little things..

OK back to to the market
















*Milk
*Heavy Cream
*Carrots
*2 apples
*Shitake Mushrooms
*Portobello Mushrooms
*2 Onions
*1 Shallot
* Loaf of Sourdough Bread
*Large bag of Spinach
*1 beet
* Begonias (we're trying to get some flowers and plants into our house)
*Turkey Breast (not pictured)
*Perch filet (not pictured)


It's a pretty good start to the week, I don't have a serious meal plan
worked out yet so it will be a work in progress this week.
Speaking of the meal plan, here is the Bolognese that I made last week.
We substituted turkey for beef and added in some portobello mushrooms.
It was delicious!

Meal Plan: week 4

It's 8:51am and I've already got a soup
going on the stove.  My bedtime has shifted a bit earlier
which means that I wake up a little earlier.
This time has been used for cooking-and it's
been extremely enjoyable. Especially now that
the spring sun actually shines some heat into the kitchen.

This week we're eating:
*Mushroom Poblano Tart
















*Lentil Soup
*Black Bean and Butternut Squash Burritos
*Fish with Mango Sauce (we used Haddock instead of Tilapia)
*Bolognese Sauce

both the tart and  the fish turned out great.  The mango sauce
was a little too thick, more like a chutney really, but still
super tasty. (note: I did puree my own mango because I couldn't find
a mango puree at the store-so that it probably where I went wrong)
 We ate that outside by the fire last night. It was perfect.

I was also thinking of trying out a bread recipe this week
possibly tomorrow...

also,
My herb garden has started to sprout!

Meal Plan: week 3

We're all out of whack this week, food-wise. This past
Sunday was spent in South Jersey indulging in Easter treats
(read: ham/Mom Mom's chocolate chip cake)
so we couldn't do our regular market/cooking activities.
Now I'm playing catch up.
I ran to the market today and grabbed some essentials
*spinach
*eggs
*heavy cream (for making butter)
*portobello mushrooms
*crimini mushrooms
*apples
then grabbed a few things at whole foods.

Now I have a mushroom bourguignon simmering on
the stove top along with a huge pot of vegetable stock.
Tomorrow I'll be making this. (I'm a sucker for anything
with pineapple in it)

I haven't been keeping track of the budget because we've been
doing our shopping so randomly.  But we'll get back into the
routine this Sunday.

The Meal Plan: Week 2

So the budget of $80 already kind of went out the window...
For this week we ended up needing more things from the grocery store
than from the greenmarket. (nuts, peanut butter, berries, bananas etc.)
But we also made adjustments to buy more of the things that we ran out of
last week (apples, spinach, other fruits)

But I think the whole process really went well.
We had delicious food to eat, every single day and no
additional money was spent on food.  Here is this week's list
I didn't do anything really breakfast-y because we
usually just have oatmeal. I have muesli (misspelled)
on the list but I never found good dried fruits (sans sulphur)
So that is kind of going by the wayside.

Spiced Halibut on Fennel/Grapefruit Slaw (we used tilefish)
Creamy Tomato Mushroom Pasta (we will be adding ground turkey)
Roasted Beets on Greens
Sesame Kale Salad
Lunch meat for sammy's
Veggies for juicing























I made the Westphalian Beef Stew on Sunday so that will be a nice
dish to carry us through the week, and last night the husband made
roasted tilefish with a grapefruit slaw.  It was ridiculously delicious.

















We had a very small amount of things leftover last week,
we've been trying to find ways to use them or
if it is an item that I can use for stock, I'll just
throw it in my freezer bag filled with scraps
(a fantastic tip that I got from my domestic goddess
friend, Rebecca)

I think this project is going well so far.
Now I really can't wait for the spring/summer
harvests to happen. I am dying for some tri-star strawberries,
heirloom tomatoes and fresh peas.

The Meal Plan

Something that I have been trying to work on
is cutting down my food waste.  I read that each year
Americans waste 33 million tons of food, an absolutely
nauseating amount - don't you think?
I've definitely been guilty of this-I'll buy too much
of something or forget about some leftovers in the fridge
next thing I know, they've passed their prime and it's time
for the trash.  I feel like this is a common issue, especially for
people that cook a lot.

The husband and I are putting ourselves on a bit of a budget
for the next month or so, and one of the things that we've decided
to do was to plan out our weekly meals before shopping
and then buy accordingly. This way we have food to eat throughout
the whole week, and (hopefully) nothing will go to waste.

I'm hoping to keep our weekly budget around $80

This week's menu options look like this
Breakfast
Oatmeal
Apple/Banana Muffins
Juice
Eggs

Snacks
Channa Nuts (roasted chickpeas)
White Bean dip
Raw peanut butter cookies
Fruit

Lunch
Salad
Sandwiches

Entrees
Roasted Portobello Mushrooms with Kale
Mushroom and Leek Barley Risotto
Enchiladas Verdes con pollo
Westphalian Beef Stew with root vegetable mash

I think it looks pretty good for week 1

I'll keep you posted on the progress.