Home Alone: Day 2
I watched the Olympics with my kitty. She’s a big Ryan Lochte fan. HUGE.
2 comments August 14th, 2008
Archive for August, 2008
Spumoni…in the little white cup
I mentioned that we had spumoni the night my mom was here but I did not explain. L&B Spumoni Gardens is an Italian restaurant and pizza place that is known for their amazing homemade spumoni and Italian ices. It was a special request from our very special guest so as soon as we finished our dinner we headed out.
Tim came over for dinner so he joined us for the 15 minute ride to Bensonhurst (or Real Brooklyn as we refer to it)
We pulled up to the place and it was packed as usual with tons of people in line at 9:30 on a Sunday night. As we were walking through I caught a whiff of what is arguably one of my favorite slices of pizza and thought to myself, hmm, too bad we just ate dinner.
Not a minute later my mom said “I think I might have to get some pizza for later” Poor Sha misses her Brooklyn food almost as much as her kid. Then Tim chimed in with “I think I might have to get some pizza for lunch tomorrow” and it was sold, off we went to the pizza line instead of the spumoni line.
*note on this pic – do not feel sad for my mom that I posted a photo with her eyes closed. She does not know how to behave in front of a camera.
And how could we resist
We picked up our “pizza for later” and got in line for spumoni.
I ordered (me: Tim, what do you want? Tim: Spumoni…in the little white cup) and then turned around to witness this exchange:
Tim: I’m so excited about this pizza
Matthew: I totally know how you feel
Tim: I think I might have to eat it now
Matthew: Interesting thought, let me ponder how that will go over
Tim: I’m just gonna LOOK at it.
Matthew: Duuuuude, you are totally asking for it!
Tim: But it smells so good!
Tim: I’m just gonna…
Me: TIM!
Here is your GD spumoni in the little white cup.
Boy that pizza tasted good on the way home.
4 comments August 14th, 2008
Stone Barns
My mom flew in Friday night which gave us the perfect opportunity to do something we’ve been meaning to do for a while – take a ride up to Tarrytown and visit the Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture.
About a month ago we had dinner at the restaurant there, Blue Hill at Stone Barns and ooooooooh it was probably the best meal I have ever had. The menu is unique in a way that most of the food is produced on the farm and that instead of a set menu there is just a list of ingredients. You tell your server what you like and dislike and they work with the chef to craft a menu just for you. My menu was no game meats, organ meats or caviar. Matthew agreed to eat anything and everything. They did a really nice job giving us similar but not exactly the same meals, it was just awesome.
This is a photo of the Tisane service. They have a tea garden out back where they pick the herbs and then cut them at your table and make the tea right there. Our server also happened to tend the tea garden and sensing my intense enthusiasm (2 glasses of wine!) invited us out back to check it out but it was pouring. Maybe next time!
During the day they have a bunch of tours (pick your own eggs, anyone?) but us city folk were slightly more interested in the farm market, shop and cafe so thats where we headed.
The farm market is fairly small and a bit pricey but still pretty cool
We picked up the carrots and beets, salad greens, onion and garlic for dinner plans that night. We also got a jar of the fresh honey. Its the summer honey from the apiary they have at the farm and its delicious. Matthew has been eating toast and honey for breakfast everyday so its worth it. I hope there’s something left when he gets home…
After the market we cruised over to the cafe and had some lunch.
So that’s an open faced tuna sandwich, goat cheese and tomato sandwich, a veggie fritatta, and 2 plates of the salad bar thing which included roasted corn salad, tomato salad, some chic peas with broccoli stems that was…interesting and a farro salad. The 3 of us shared and it was all really, really fresh and tasty once you got over the broccoli stems. All that bounty for only $47. Wait, did you say $47. Hmm. That can’t be right. Well I did get the jar of pickles that are a bit pricey…Oh! Mom’s paying?!. Nevermind.
We stopped at the store on the way out. Although there was nothing I wanted at the moment I snapped a few shots of things to save for later, when I have room for them and stuff.
We headed home mid afternoon and picked up a chicken to roast for dinner. Here is the recipe Matthew’s been using for years:
Clean chicken and place in pan (he uses that one because its easier to make gravy)
1/2 green apple cut up
1/2 onion cut up
garlic
thyme
Salt and Pepper the chicken inside and out. Stuff the garlic, onion, apple, and half the thyme into the big chicken hole. Take the rest of the thyme and place it under the skin.
Make a mixture of paprika and olive oil and baste the chicken
Roast in oven at 350 until done (based on weight)
In the meantime: take all the odds and ends and throw it into a pot for gravy stock
Before
After
Gravy Makin
I put together a salad with the greens from the farm, a little goat cheese and beets that Matthew’s Aunt pickled herself (Thanks Auntie Jean!)
Dinner
Dessert? Spumoni. Adoy.
2 comments August 13th, 2008
Home Alone: Day 1
Matthew left for St. Paul today and wont be back until after labor day. Most of my friends are out of town and I am working like a dog. Since I’m trying to keep busy started looking around the house for things to do. Today’s project was a face mask. This is gonna be a loooooong month!
1 comment August 13th, 2008
Link to Canada
We are always on the lookout for anything that is Canadian made to try and make my husband feel more “at home” in our home (He is Canadian-American but has lived here since ‘96). I’ve recently come across a few sites where I can already see myself spending lots of money. Possibly even more on future gifts for my friends and loved ones living in the 51st state. Sending things via UPS is so cost prohibitive when it has to travel across the border, and we have quite a few neighbors to the north that I know would appreciate a timely birthday present for a change. Lucky them, Lucky me, Go Canada!
Jenna Rose: Home decor, mostly. I especially like the storage bags and the cotton blankets.{via d*s}
Good Egg: This site is a jackpot of Canadian handmade. Would love to have either a broken teacup necklace or these simple but tasteful tea towels. {via bloesem}
Canadian art: Took this (crappy) photo in the washroom at the Wired Monk in Cloverdale, BC and have been doing a bit of research on the artist, Connie Geerts. I like the prints but would love to own one of her original pieces one day.
Canadians on etsy: Tinywarbler handsews these amazing softies out of Vancouver and I own three. I had to cut myself off but still stalk her blog to drool over the ones I don’t have.
Avril Loreti: These would be alot of fun at Christmas.
Petit Flaneur: GAH! Kids clothes with birds on them! I’m surprised one of my nieces doesn’t have one already.
TIMELY UPDATE**
Nea: Fantastic jewelry and other goods from Montreal. On Sale this week! {via Design for Mankind}
Add comment August 9th, 2008
Rain Delay with Chicken
Won’t bore you with the details but we cancelled the stoop sale we were supposed to have this weekend due to crazy pouring rain and decided to do tons of home organization instead. It was time consuming but productive. Nothing like going through Matthew’s huge crate of cables and wires and putting them in tiny labeled ziplocs to make you feel better.
I also threw out every beauty product that was over a year old. I was shocked at how much went into the trash. Do this folks, it makes you feel sooooooo good. Unless you people are not like me and actually throw things away. “But one day I might need that tiny 4 year old sample of Angel for Men” whaaa? Yeah I am over that. Everything gets a teeny tiny box and that is it.
The good news is that we put more things aside for the stoop sale. The bad news is that home organization makes the house messy in the process. We did the only thing you can do to motivate yourself to finish cleaning your house when you have already been doing it for 2 days straight. Invited someone over for dinner.
Tim came, we had the somewhat mislabeled “Chicken in Wine” - thanks to Granny Fairclough for the original recipe we copied while in Vancouver. Matthew updated slightly and here you have it:
Chicken in wine (or chicken and mushrooms, or chicken in OJ)
2 packages cut up chicken (we used a mix of cutlets and thighs)2 cups fresh sliced mushrooms
1 can mushroom soup (we used Amy’s instead of campbells. Amy’s has alot less salt so we had to add a bit back for flavor)
8 oz chicken broth
½ cup orange juice
½ cup dry white wine (we used Gerwertztraminer)
4 julienned carrots
1 tbsp brown sugar
salt and pepper to taste
In the dutch oven, on the stovetop:
Shake chicken in seasoned flour and sautee in oil. Remove chicken then add mushrooms and sautee. Add OJ to deglaze the pan.
Combine remaining ingredients, add chicken and transfer to oven.
Cook for 1 hour at 350 in covered dutch oven.
You can also cook chicken and mushrooms in a pan then transfer all to a casserole if you do not own a dutch oven. Thats how Granny did it!
Apologies for the lack of quality photos but Matthew was in charge of this one and I only came running with the camera when I started smelling the deliciousness. It smells VERY good. Then as soon as I snapped these 2 the buzzer rang. Tim came in and I completely forgot what I was doing. If I took a less messy plated photo this would look a lot more appetizing but trust me! Its good!
Verdict: We served it with zucchini and boiled new potatoes. Next time we might try rice like Granny’s recipe called for. It makes a gravy and would be great in the winter with mashed potatoes. We will definitely add this to the rotation, especially when there is a bit of white wine left in the fridge. There were leftovers and I already called them.
3 comments August 4th, 2008
The Heart of the City
I have way too little wall space for the amount of things I want to display. It has become a problem. I probably have 3-5 pieces of art that are still rolled up in tubes waiting for a spot to open up. I just received this in the mail this week and still need to get it framed:
Its by a Massachusettes artist named Nate Duval. I really really love it. While browsing his website again earlier today I wanted to put 3 other items in my cart but restrained myself. You can also find his work on etsy.
Add comment August 2nd, 2008