Food

Here is another fantastic greenmarket recipe: Peach Salsa. A couple of peaches, a couple of heirloom tomatoes, red onions, half a jalapeno, cilantro, salt and pepper. Chop it all up good and eat with chips!


Another summer challenge has been to try to shop at the greenmarket as much as possible. We have read the book "The Omnivore's Dilemma" by Michael Pollen and took quite a bit of it to heart. Just the idea that the food I eat was harvested in another country and then shipped thousands of miles seems so crazy. Not to mention if it was processed. The other thing we found particularly disturbing is industrialized meat- the sheer number of animals, the way they live and die, the chemicals that they use to keep them "healthy"...so we have been getting meat from the farmers market too. Besides if, in my heart of hearts, I want to support the small/family farms then buying directly from them is the easiest way.

Actually all this commentary obscures the fact that I love the farmers market, everything is beautiful and fresh! I bought a silly amount of blueberries, but I stuck them in the freezer and Sparks and I eat them like M&Ms. Then the other night I got the wild hair that I would mash them up with my hand blender, add a dash of agave and some milk- and I had quick gelato!
I have been trying the same thing with other fruit- peaches, cantaloupe? Not as good as the blueberries- besides that blueberries are really, really good for you.
Since the season has progressed and one can get so much variety at the market- I can make dinner that is 75%-99% market food. All the fruit and veggies, a lot of meat, and dairy. I make this extra effort because I think on some level it makes a tiny difference in our environment. But, really it makes a huge difference in me. It re-enforces what I find personally important. I don't mind going to the market to feel one step closer to the food I eat or spending a half hour with the animal (Sparks) I love most. And most of all I really enjoy cooking dinner from scratch nightly for the man I love.

Coney Island

My goal for the summer was to make sure that I did some NY things- go to museums, ballgames, and concerts. This Sunday we went to a Brooklyn Cyclones game in Coney Island. I am not a big baseball fan, but I have to admit I love hot dogs, nachos, pretzels, and super melty icecream with sprinkles. I also happen to love Coney Island. I think it has this insane slightly run down beauty. I hear that, as all things in NY are going, that they are going to be tearing it down and putting up condos! I think it is totally ridiculous. This is the parachute drop that was built for the 1939 World's Fair.

The Brooklyn Cyclones is a minor league team that feeds into the NY Mets.
But we didn't really watch the game- we were gossiping with our friends and eating and drinking....
Maybe I was distracted from the game, because I really wanted to walk on the boardwalk and take photos of Astroland, which is closing after this year. This is the WonderWheel and it is sooo fun. The cars on the outer edge are stationary, but the inner ones are on kidney shaped rails. As you come to about 10 o'clock or 2 o'clock the car slides forward and you get the gut wrenching sensation that you are sailing off the contraption onto the beach.
This is another truly terrifying experience. I think that it trumps other rollercoasters, because it is really a little rickety. You can fly way out of your seat and hear the wood beams creaking as you go by.
After reading a little about the proposed Coney Island development, it is a little unclear what they are going to do. Some people have purchased it for a lot of money and are planning resorts, condos, keeping the rides, etc... but who knows? It seems like quintessential NYC there and it is too bad that people are obsessed with the maximum financial gain. I guess that is technically a quintessential NY trait, but I feel like we would be experiencing an echo of what Coney Island is...was. Oh well, "Bump your Ass Off!" while you can!

A post without photos...

In the summer the Metropolitan Opera and NY Philharmonic play free outdoor concerts in Central Park's Great Lawn. About a 100k people come out and make picnics. The opera ones happen first and always coincide with the first thunderstorm of the season or crippling humidity. So I had given up on trying to be organizer of a picnic in the park. This Tuesday we were invited at the last minute by my former roommate, L. I had to work late and rushed there to meet them. It was such a swarm, getting dark, and they were not expert at navigating me into the park and through a sea of blankets. The classic line of the night was this helpful tip: "See the helicopter? We are right under that." But we did manage to hear the second half and see the fireworks! I love fireworks. This Fourth of July we saw one of the best fireworks show I have ever seen in my whole life. Our scientist friends work at NYU and their labs have amazing views. There are three barges in the East River that they set them off of. We could look out the window and see over the stage where they were filming the TV broadcast. So when the fireworks went off they filled the entire window with sparks- really amazing! Maybe, though, the best fireworks I remember were the ones when I was a kid and we had the luck of living right down the street from where they set them off. We would put up folding chairs in the driveway and "oooww and aaaww" as each one exploded. The NYPhil in the park had that effect- not so much happening all at once that you became desensitized to each fireworks' beauty. At one point, a large purple one went off and everyone in the field gasped and clapped their hands. Then we all sheepishly laughed as we had all been caught reverting to our childhood. These are actually some of my favorite times of the year, primarily because it is the time that I most enjoy living in NYC. It is an experience that is so unique it makes suffering with urban inconvenience worth it.

Downtown Yarns

Here are some pics of the shop. I am only there on Satursdays, but when school starts I am quitting. It is a bummer because I love it there. But I am really looking forward to having a weekend back to spend with Mr. The woman, R., who owns the shop is an artist and has an amazing eye for color and texture.
It is a very small shop, though, and is difficult to keep large stores of everything. Sometimes to help myself get to sleep, I think of the shelves and all the yarns and project that I want to do....
R. always has so much fun with windows. These are knitted dinosaurs.
T. taught me how to knit and we always sit around fantasizing about houses with yards and crafts rooms, big kitchens and closets. Then we say with a sigh, would that be entertaining for like...three weeks? Then we would miss chaos and concerts and crazy people?

Babies

So these last couple of years everyone I know has been getting married. Now starts the baby parade. Which is actually really fun for a crafter- small, adorable patterns to knit. This happens to be a fantastic pattern by Elizabeth Zimmerman called the Baby Surprise. As you work on it, it looks like a giant blob. Then you finish it, fold up the sides and you have a sweater- really amazing and cute.

I made a mistake on the lower left hand corner- but it is handmade- so mistakes are like a badge of honor....
I am under the impression that it is going to be a boy, but it can work for a girl if I am wrong.
This one was the first one and was so much fun I decided to do the blue one. It is for a very old friend of mine and is for sure going to be a girl. They aren't due till like October, so they are hanging at the yarn shop.

Baking

I haven't posted for ages....agh. I have a lot of far ranging things on my mind. First off, I had a friend, who attended the French Culinary Institute, come over and help me make some bread and tarts. The tarts were lovely and easy and the bread was...harder. Also three baguettes are a lot for two people to eat. Sparks helped out though.


How spoiled is this dog- I washed all his plushies and he thinks its Christmas morning...