Latest Obsessions

*Seckel Pears
Spotted some at the market yesterday and had to have them.
These tiny fruits are so decadent with their flavor. Their season
is from September-February.

*The anticipation of a season change.
The return of scarves and long sleeves, the autumn
harvest at the market, and our backyard becomes accessible
again after the mosquitos disappear.

*I've got a mean travel itch right now.
 This post by David Lebovitz has me desperately wanting to
travel to Chablis. London, Piedmont, Vienna, and Hawaii are also
on the list.

*Focusing on a semi-detox
By detox I really mean more veggies and less cheese.

*Yuck: A 4th Grader's Short Documentary about school lunch
This looks interesting, it's impressive that a 4th grader is taking this
kind of initiative. When I was in 4th grade all I was concerned with was
reading Babysitter's Club and Goosebumps books.

*Morning Hot Chocolate
large scoop of raw cacao powder, sprinkle of cinnamon,
dash of cayenne pepper. whisk into warmed milk and enjoy.
*for an energy boost add a small scoop of maca powder.
(it's kind of expensive so I haven't bought it in awhile)

*Cat and Bunny Cookies

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.

Birthday Month: Part 3

We've reached the end of my birthday month, and I have to say
that it went out with a bang.  Our weekend in Charleston
was amazing, so much good food, beautiful places, and
tasty drinks.  We stayed at the Elliot House Inn, which is a cute
little hotel that ended up being right next to Husk-which
is where we went for my birthday dinner!

We used the hotel bikes to see a lot of the city very quickly,
and with that southern humidity it was nice to have a little
bit of a breeze on you.


We had our first drinks at the Gin Joint,
we caught their happy hour and, it was the
perfect start to vacation.



















We had our first meal at the Ordinary,
and we had that magical moment
when the food is just mind-blowing.
No exaggeration. Seriously.
Eat-this-with-your-eyes-closed-savor-
every-bite kind of good.

The two standouts were the fried oysters
with beef tartare.



















and the swordfish schnitzel with zucchini
and chanterelles.  But the buttery-ness
oh the buttery-ness!!! This made me want
to cry it was so good.

The next day we rode our bikes down to the battery
with a Big Dipper sandwich from Groucho's

then made our way to my most favorite place in
the whole city: The Pineapple Fountain.



















I got right in.




















What better place to be on your birthday than
one of your most favorite places of all time?
After our afternoon ride we dressed for dinner
and headed over to Bin 152 for some delicious
champagne and 2 cheeses.  Next was the big birthday
feast at Husk. The food was so delicious but so
rich,I felt like I was going to explode by the end of the meal!



 For an appetizer the husband ordered hand cut pasta
with house pancetta, chanterelles, english peas, poached
egg, buttered with Husk manchego

I ordered the wood fired TN veal marrow bones with
pickled Edisto fig "jam" and chive biscuits.
*Sidenote: 3 pieces of marrow is a lot!

This was our wine, a lovely Cru Beaujolais.
It was exactly what I wanted.

For entrees the husband ordered Cornmeal crusted
NC catfish with fried cabbage "chow chow", lady peas,
peppers, onions, and tomato gravy

I ordered the Tanglewood Farms pheasant with chanterelles
(I really love chanterelles), woodfired peach and eggplant, and
pickled green tomato-peach relish

We also got a "side" of cornbread with Benton's
bacon in it.  So good, but so rich. We barely put a
dent in this.















And finally a candle in the lemon curd/blackberry trifle




















Easily, one of the best birthday's I've ever had.
The next 2 days we continued to ride our bikes all
over town.  We brunched at the Grocery, meandered
through the alleyways and former rum-running areas
of the city.  Ate banana pudding, had more drinks at
Husk's bar, lunched at the Hominy Grill on our last
day and still managed to eat a 1/2 dozen oysters and a
1/2 pound of lowcountry shrimp about an hour before we
left for the airport.

It was great to be down there again, and to create a whole
new set of memories with the husband.  We can't wait to
go back :)