I'm alive!

I know because ...

Not today's real weather map, but I love all the swirly colors.

It's freezing cold.

I wouldn't mind some warm and spicy daal right about now.

I think I'd like to get back to blogging.

Smart & Sushi

Yum Foods

Southeast Asian ShopHouse Kitchen

Dupont Circle

Brown rice bowl, with spicy tofu, Chinese broccoli, red and green curry sauce (specialty of the indecisive), pickled vegetables, toasted rice powder, and fresh cilantro and watercress.

Totally yum!

London!

I'm very much looking forward to having Dear Daughter join me on my upcoming business trip to London at the end of the month.  The trip has been on the work radar for a while.  At one point, it included Paris, but that became too complicated and expensive.  Only recently, did Dearest Mommy aka Grandma decide to join us, making it actually feasible to both work and sightsee, and extending the 3 days of business meetings into a 6-day working holiday.

And what a pleasure it's been to read the guidebooks and children's literature accounts of London, and hitting YouTube and the Mary Poppins DVD for more inspiration.  I'm so psyched she'll get to see some of my favorites - the Tate Modern (and the entire funky Southbank), Big Ben (and the princely Houses of Parliament and Westminster), Mayfair's staid offices (and my falafel and fresh juice lunch shop), the thrilling, one-of-a-kind, London Eye (that pretty much triggers an anxiety attack in me that I must actively manage with deep breathing. But, whatever, SO worth it).  We'll make it to the Globe Theatre (or else I'll never get the free pass from the Shakespeare-obsesses teacher for the days out of school), and other London icons like St.Paul's Cathedral and the Tower of London.  At some point we'll pass through the dreaded Picadilly Circus and Covent Garden going from somewhere and to somewhere.  We'll breeze throughTrafalgar Square, because its lovely St. Martin-in-the-Fields hosts daily free concerts, and is the architectural model for our beloved home church, All Souls.

No trip is complete for me without the food teasers. I was delighted to see today's New York Times article by my crush Mark Bittman, "In London, Flavors of India without the Fuss."   Such a difficult choice among four delectable restaurant descriptions.  I was first tempted by the 70's decor and the incredible descriptions of dishes at Cafe Spice Namaste.  I was also momentarily seduced by Sitaaray, and its Bollywood theme (this and other pictures at the NYTimes slide show).  But, we have decided quite happily to check out Chor Bizarre in Mayfair, just a few blocks from our London offices.  I like its irreverent and self-depracating allusions to pick-pockets and pawn shops, it's cheesy antiques decor, and its Delhi-London pedigree.  The black lentil daal sounds amazing, as does the Bhagare Baingan - see full mouth-watering menu here.  

I'm so excited to speak British English - I'm teaching Dear Daughter to say 'loo,' 'lift,' and 'lorry' - and to travel by tube, taxi, and doubledecker bus.  It's all such a grand adventure isn't it?

December has included a lot of bubbly.

DC Good Eats

One of my favorite subjects in one of my favorite cities....the Washington Post names the 40 Dishes Every Washingtonian Must Try.  Admittedly, I've only tried a grand total of nine of them!  Shame!  Then again, of the forty, fewer than half were in The District proper, and I'm not often outside the city limits for eating good grub - at least not something like tacos.  Perhaps, next year, I'll expand my boundaries.

Shout-outs to a few of my favorite dishes - moules at Granville Moore's, Margherita D.O.C. pizza at 2 Amy's, the Blue Buck pancakes at Market Lunch, and palak chaat at Rasika.  A few treats from some of my favorite venues were also included like Founding Farmers and Sticky Rice.

I've been enjoying some festive meals and drinks over the month December with various friends for various festivities including The Tabard Inn (delicious house-smoked salmon plate with cocktails fireside); Adour at the St Regis (love me some holiday prosecco), Mio (excellent new chef, Puerto Rican-inspired menu); Lincoln (their kale salad is money! and their deviled eggs jar is garnished with caviar).  And last night, I enjoyed The Meal of the Year at Little Serow....shhhhh, please don't tell anyone, it's that special.

Mexican Night

Corn Tortillas with Queso Blanco

Black Bean Salad

(black beans, corn, avocado, tomatoes, cilantro with a squeeze of lime)

Beer

College Night

Buffalo Wins (homemade)

Ranch Dip (homemade)

Carrots & Celery

Black Bean Dip (homemade) & Salsa (not)

Chips

Beer

Brazilian Feast (OMG)

Great people, great music, celebrations. 

Caipirinhas

Arroz com feijao

Lombo com farofa

Churrasco

Salada de Palmito

Perfect summer evening

Our neighbor gave me a eggplant from her lush summer garden, and I prepared this gorgeous recipe from the NY Times. Served with oven-warmed pita, and thick, tangy Greek yogurt, it made a delish veg meal - perfectly accompanied by a nice glass of Spanish red for mom and seltzer with lingonberry syrup for Dear Daughter.

Later, we took our bikes to the new gelato place near Eastern Market, where I had a mix of Sicilian almond and chocolat noir, while she chose chocolate chip and strawberry.

Just about every part of this post has something I love about my life. Neighbors, garden vegetables, good food, Turkish-style braised eggplant, anything from Turkey, yogurt, anything from Greece, the New York Times, eating well, red wine, anything from Spain, lingonberry syrup, anything from Sweden, Dear Daughter, bikes, Capitol Hill, cities, ice cream, gelato, anything from Italy, almonds, chocolate, local, community, summer light,  and summer evenings.  Bliss.

Composing a great meal of good food

One of my favorite summer diversions has become composing delicious, usually cool, more-veg-than-not,  meals made with local summer bounty.  All the better if it is inspired by and can evoke a place, time, and mood.  Someplace we'd rather be...anywhere, but here.

Here are some recent menus for Summer 2011:

Ciao Italia:  Tonight's dinner included roasted red peppers; farm tomatoes & garden basil; fresh buffalo mozzarella; sliced pepperoni; white bean salad with garden sage; spinach wilted in olive oil, garlic and a squeeze of lemon; crusty bread; and a bottle of wine.  Later, we enjoyed homemade cherry-vanilla ice pops.  Yummy, cool, and so easy!

Simplemente Mexico:  Last week, I used up a host of leftovers and re-created them into something totally new and easy.  I sprinkled a mild, white mexican cheese on corn tortillas and broiled them to just enough to crisp the tortilla and melt the cheese; a light pico de gallo sauce on the side; and served with a black bean, fresh corn kernel, avocado, cilantro salad with a squeeze of lime.  Cold beer made it lively.

Grilling in Greece:  One recent warm night, I grilled some lamb rubbed with garlic and rosemary, and served it with homemade cucumber tsatsiki, crumbled feta, olives, and flat bread.  The charred lamb was such a lovely accompaniment to the simple sides.

One Night in Nice:  Dear Daughter will tell just about anyone her favorite food is a Nicoise salad - much to my chagrin - it sounds so precocious!  What she really means is she loves La Nouvelle Observatrice's composed Nicoise with lightly steamed green beans, fresh garden tomatoes, boiled eggs, some briny olives, boiled new potatoes tossed with olive oil and chives, and tuna (if it's in a tin, I use the Italian brand packed in oil, and mix in some fresh parsley).  I usually whip up a lemon-dijon vinaigrette, and drizzle it over the colorful platters.

Crunchy-punchy Caesar:  This one is an American classic - originating, they say, from the Brown Derby in Hollywood, also ubiquitous at steakhouse menus - actually pretty ubiquitous on any American menu!  I do love the effect of the crisp cool hearts of romaine on a summer day.  The weekend's stale bread makes the homemade crusty croutons.  The aged parmesan reggiano is nutty, and procured during a weekend outing at Eastern Market.  I make my vinaigrette with extra punch - lots of lemon, lots of garlic, lots of dijon (extra forte).  Grilling even just one or two chicken breasts gives us enough protein for a few people - more people than breasts can - for once - work out here.

More Inspiration than Perspiration:  Salmon burgers have become a regular go-to meal around here.  Being pressed for time, a little lazy, and taking more credit for the inspiration to eat fresh and healthy, than the actually making of it, I buy pre-made salmon patties at the fish store or Whole Foods Market, grill them up, and serve on whole wheat burger buns, with a spoonful of 1000 Island dressing, some romaine (See Caesar - regularly in my fridge in the summer months), and a slice or two of tomato (see other recipes - perfect in July and August)

Late July Harvest Show-off:  Pasta primavera was featured recently on this blog.  A quick sautee of  summer squash, sweet onion, corn, tomato and basil - no need to be saucy about it.  I serve it over a small portion of pasta - the pasta-veg/sauce ratio is no more than 1-to-1.  Aged parmesan is grated over our bright yellow-red-green dishes right at the table.  Yum.

Don't forget the power of good, cold craft beer, chilled white (or even pink) wine, bubbly seltzer (add a dash of cranberry juice or a flavored syrup for fanciness), lemonade (with or without pureed raspberries), and homemade ice cream (just 20 minutes, plus freezetime in the ice cream maker) to get credit for being a domestic goddess.  Nigella, my luscious, eat your heart out!

Weekend

Summertime, and the living is easy.

I'm not sure if it's because of the season.  Or because things at work are at a slower pace.   Or because even though my new boss is super-charging our workload and raising the bar big-time, I feel motivated at work and able to define my life and my schedule (which in June meant, I took every Friday off, and today meant that I worked from home in the morning, ducked out for G's performance, and then headed to the office at 1:30, but proceed to work 'til 7pm...on a Friday,...in the summer).  But at any rate, I'm feeling pretty chillax.  And I'm looking forward to a weekend that is mixed with lazing about, doing chores, and being lightly social - or "social-lite."

Tonight was "Book" Club - hardly about books, and hardly a club - but a bunch of irreverent urban moms who like to host good friends, cook great food, eat it well, accompanied by choice beer and wine, and proceed to talk and laugh until midnight or so.  Our bike commutes converge as the blocks get closer in, so one biker, turned to two at my place, where we caught up with two others a few blocks away, and half a block from our host's house found the other three biker contingent coming from the north end of our neighborhood.  I'll spare you the (delicious) menu (there are so many damn food blogs out there these days) and the topics of conversation (to protect the innocent, and because you had to be there), and skip to the end, when my ride home with two others took us the long way to better revel in the cool (in  DC July!) air, the clear black sky, the round bright silver moon,  and the car-free city streets.

Tomorrow's chores include a grocery shop, picking up my computer back-up drive, a trip to the library for returns and pick-up of the books I've reserved online.  It also involves some cooking - a Mexican bean salad and some homemade ice cream (can't decide how I'll top last week's ginger peach, but I'm leaning toward strawberry almond or cinnamon blueberry).  I'll swim in the newly-discovered 50m (Olympic-sized) DC pool that feels simply tremendous in the glorious sun and blue sky and experienced by my working, churning body.  There's a plan with G - perhaps some recreational swimming, and a night in with gameboards (she's learned Sorry!) or cards (Skip-bo, by the makers of Uno).

Sunday will find us at church, followed by brunch with friends...and then we must encamp somewhere for the Women's World Cup (USA!), before heading home at the very last minute for visiting with G's godmoms and kids.

It may very well turn into the Perfect Weekend.

New York City Food Tour

Mmmmmmm...just back from a delicious four-day trip to New York.  All fun, no work!  Here's a meal-by meal account...

Balthazar - First stop after the train, a quick lunch in SoHo.  This spot is known for the rich and gorgeous, and this Sunday was no exception.  Instead of the sit-down, expensive, tres chic brunch, we opted for the take-away counter - a gorgeous patisserie - where a jambon-fromage sandwich on a crusty baguette and a fresh mint-lemonade on the bench outside while people-watching was simply low-key perfect.

Motorino - Later in the Deep East Village, we had to try to best pizza in New York (at least according to the New York Times).  OMG.  Heaven.  The fennel salad was impeccable. The well-balanced mix of fennel, orange, olives, capers, and parmesan had a lovely fresh, salty, minty, citrus-y pop - perfect for a summer evening.  The Margherita pizza (the true test of the best) met expectations - yeasty crust with just enough black char and a creamy fresh buffalo mozz was delish (though I found the tomato sauce a bit soupy).  A simple glass of Nero d'Avola- my summer favorite in Italian wine was a perfect complement.

Shake Shack - New Yorkers line up for this local chain serving burgers and shakes (now also in Dupont Circle, DC).  I haven't tried either - but I did did a kick out of those stylish hipsters lining up fro them in the summer twilight of Madison Square Park.  We hit the B-line (no hot food, no shakes) where with no line, no waiting, I soon had a sweet corn ice cream cone in my hand.  Another park bench served as a perch for fabulous people-watching and eavesdropping.

Tom's Restaurant - In the morning, it was off to Morningside Heights, my old stomping ground at Columbia, for a little walkabout.  First stop, Tom's - the 24-hour diner institution of Seinfeld and Suzanne Vega fame - for a greasy spoon breakfast.  Sadly, a bit of a disappointment.  The place has been refurbished, and lost it's dive-y charm.  The egg and ham sandwich on an English muffin was lackluster, and the coffee was weak.  I think coffee expectations have changed over the years from Folgers to Brooklyn Roasters...and Tom's is still with the former.

Petrie Cafe at the Metropolitan Museum - The gorgeous summer afternoon hopping between art museums and Central Park beckoned us to the Petrie Cafe at the Met.  The setting was perfect - cooled from the mid-day scorcher, but the wide windows to the courtyard presented the tall green shade trees and the Central Park scenery as if we were immersed in it all.  Here, desperate for vegetables, I had an early summer bounty salad of asparagus, peas and fava beans, and four glasses of NYC tap water.

Eataly - A surprising number of our first choice bistros were closed for the July 4th holiday, but we finally found one good option open.  The Italian food emporium is a huge warehouse of Italian groceries and food purveyors - shelves of pastas, aisles of olive oils, butcher, dairy shop, cheese, incredible espresso, a gelato store...and five sit-down restaurants, each with a specialty - fish, meat, vegetarian, pizza and pasta.  We opted for the pasta - actually the pasta opted us, as all the others were fully booked. A simple antipasti dish - pickled cremini, roasted beets (with crumbled pistachios - yum), shaved asparagus with pecorino, and olives - started us off.  Then, we enjoyed two simple pasta dishes - an earthy, rich ravioli stuffed with prosciutto and gran padano in a brown-butter sage sauce and a lighter, fresher cavatelli with cherry tomatoes and arugula.  All al dente... A good bottle of Italian red - what was it again? - completed the meal and the day.

Bagels - Poppy seed with cream cheese and a coffee from the corner take-out.  It was excellent - and so great to be amidst all the New Yorkers getting the same order as they headed to work.

PJ Clarke's (not worth the link) - Not surprisingly a food disappointment, but we weren't there for the meal, we were there for the New York Harbor view in the Financial District. Some sailboats heading out and Lady Liberty standing watch were five-star all the way!  My Maine lobster roll was bursting with sweet meat...but the iced tea was weak, the coleslaw bland, and the service abhorrent.

Paradou - After a walk on the High Line - my new favorite place in New York, though my recent discovery of Madison Square Park with the luminescent sculpture of a girls' face (Echo, Jaume Plensa) is a close second - we ate dinner in this little bistro in the Meatpacking District,  We ordered our most decadent meal of the trip, and it was hit and miss.  An insanely rich, curated foie gras was incredible - served with macadamia nuts drenched in Lillet! -  started the meal.  This was the highlight of the meal.  A medium rare steak was well cooked, but a poor cut- chewy and fatty.  However, its accompaniment of potato gratin -  finely slivered potatoes, layered with a nutty cheese and a dash of allspice - was heavenly.  The tiny pile of greens on the plate added lightness, but its lackluster flavor was not worth the effort.  A nice bottle of Cote du Rhone kept it all very French in the elegant courtyard garden.  While the overall experience was quite pleasant and warm, the meal itself was merely fair and tepid. Next time, I think I'll go back to exploring the West Village.

Bon appétit!

Sunday Morning

Pancakes 

-with real Vermont maple syrup

Canadian Bacon

Fruits Exotiques

- pineapple, banana, kiwi with honey lime dressing

Juice 
& fresh-brewed French Roast coffee

That's NOT what I asked for....

I'm in a particularly irritable mood.  Today when paying for my lunch, I asked the cashier to add a Diet Coke to my order, and pointed to the fridge stocked with soda cans.  On my way out, I went to grab my soda.

But there was only caffiene-free Diet Coke.  When I asked about it, I was told they were out of Diet Coke.  I looked at the options - Coca-Cola and Sprite Zero.  Neither would do.  I want the caffeine of the Coca-Cola and the sugar-free, no calories of the Sprite Zero in my cold, lunchtime fizzy drink.

I left quite grouchy with a Sprite Zero.  I really shouldn't be this annoyed.

DIPE brings out the skeptic in me...

For Actresses, Is a Big Appetite Part of the Show?  Absolutely, bring on the Oscar for BEST DIPE (Documented Instance of Public Eating, a fantastic term coined by film publicist, Jeremy Walker).  Essentially, actresses (or more accurately, their publicists) book interviews with journalists over lunch or dinner, and make a big display of ordering and eating and mentioning of their love for huge portions of highly caloric comfort food.   The actresses are usually young, thin, and HOT.

Seems like a big racket to me.  Eating with gusto suggests a large appetite for other things sensual, while dispelling any rumors of  an eating disorder, and keeping her mouth conveniently full during those pesky, probing questions.  A win-win-win, for the actress, at least.  The rest of us get taken.  I think it's shameless.

And the nominees are:

Drew Barrymore, in Harper's Bazaar: "I actually really love to lie in bed, watch TV, be a total sloth, and eat my favorite food: Kraft macaroni and cheese. Last night I was watching ‘The Next Food Network Star,’ eating mac and cheese, and feeling grand."


Mila Kunis, in Esquire: "This is a woman who, while watching ‘Super Size Me,’ had such a craving for McDonald’s, she had to pause the DVD in the middle and track down a Big Mac."


Padma Lakshmi, in Esquire: "I like the crispy, curly, crunchy, maple-coated, caramelized, blackened slowly kind of bacon on the back of a greasy grill at a five-dollar diner at 4:00 A.M."


Cate Blanchett, in Vogue:  "Blanchett announces that she’s famished and orders salmon and spinach, adding at the last second a side of Parmesan fried courgettes to start. A suggestion that we split the courgettes is met with uncertainty. 'I think we’d each better get our own,' she says, 'or things could get ugly.'"


These skinny, beautiful women have got some lusty appetites.  As for me, I'm not gonna bite.

I [HEART] Mark Bittman (2)

The Minimalist is no more.  After thirteen years of weekly food columns in the NYTimes, Mark Bittman is retiring The Minimalist.  I'm sad.   It's like the end of an era.  The Minimalist was formative and transformative to my cooking, eating and media consumption life.  I mean for as long as I can remember I've turned to The Minimalist for easy - time, technique and ingredients - recipe inspirations. At first, I just sort of stumbled across the column every once in a while with newly discovered pleasure each time (these were the days before I knew that reading a cookbook by the pool for fun next to all those chicks reading People magazine made me sort of an odd duck). Later, I'd actively seek it out, and turn first  to The Minimalist in my freshly delivered copies of the Times.  Still later, I'd forage it out on the web.  I'd eat up his special editions "101 Simple Appetizers in 20 Minutes or Less" and "101 Simple Salads for the Season,"  - simply sensational with just a little of this, a little of that approach..  And these last few years, I've become hungrier and hungrier earlier and earlier for newest installments of The Minimalist videos on NY Times premium content - here's the whole video link catalog, 200 of them!  (I'm drooling on my keyboard).   And I've paid homage to him here in a previous post under the same name.  Perhaps you're still not sure who I'm talking about.  But if you've ever had No-Knead Bread, then you've eaten him, and loved it.

I devour Mark Bittman's other outlets. He is a Whole Man, not just The Minimalist.  I have his books such as How to Cook Everything and How to Cook Everything Vegetarian. I was a regular viewer of that PBS food show where Mark Bittman, Mario Batali traveled in a sporty convertible around Spain with Gwyneth Paltrow and some hot Spanish model-chick eating, drinking and cooking. (It was all a little annoying - unless, of course you're the one in the little yellow Benz, traveling around eating ceviche and rioja, washing it down with a glass of cava and a little dulce, and then heading back to the inn for a good shag, in which case it's not annoying at all, and hard to understand why the rest of the world isn't totally glued to your amazing adventure).

Bittman will continue to write for the Times - in a foodie capacity in the NYTimes Sunday magazine and in a regular blog.  He will also be writing in the Opinion section on the politics and politics of food - on topics such as fresh, local unprocessed foods, obesity and farming - hopefully using his insight and his influence for a new sustainable food movement.  (Amen).  This is a good thing.

I suppose I shouldn't be so sad that The Minimalist is gone, when indeed Mark Bittman is still very much around and thriving.  But it is sort of like the simple Minimalist found weekly in black and white newsprint, is now the Maxi-Multimedia Millionaire Magnate talking about simple cooking and traditional farm practices.  It's all good, just please don't read his blog on your iPad while trying to have a nice meal at home together.

Here's The Minimalist's twenty-five favorite recipe columns to remember him by.  Bon Appetit. And a lovely Minimalist Champagne Cocktail.  Cheers!

Drying out - Day 17; 14 to go

The insights on not drinking remain small - not nearly as profound as I had imagined.

I continue to be tempted - really tempted - in certain situations with certain triggers. Like the time I went out for a really nice work dinner at Darlington House - the lovely Victorian rowhouse, our table next to the fireplace, and thoughtful fine food demanded a glass of fine wine; but also the long day at work that was continuing with this networking dinner meant I had to be 'ON' after 6pm, and would have been nicely smoothed out by a glass of vino.  Or the time I hung out with sis and family starting in the afternoon through easy supper, and wanted a cool beer to add to the casual family day, football in the background.  But once again, each time was pretty easily managed.

I feel clearer and more free - like my head is unclouded.  But there is no way, I drink near enough or often enough to be going through my regular life in an alcohol-induced fog, so I'm not sure I can attribute this clarity to not drinking.

Nonetheless, it does feel like my life is simpler - and that also means nicer - without alcohol...and without dating. And that scares and saddens me because I hope one day to have the pleasure of both a glass of good wine and a good man back in my life.

Small chick eats nothing for lunch

I realize it's probably my hang-up, but I do get somewhat annoyed by petite women with weak voices who eat nothing for lunch.  Today at Starbucks, while I ordered a hot chocolate - for both the warmth and pleasure of it - I heard the woman next to me order in a polite squeak - a tall iced green tea, "unsweetened" she emphasized, and an oatmeal with soymilk, "no toppings" she added.  Not the worst lunch, and certainly health-conscious - but as I looked at her petite body, her perfect coif, her stylish, but not overly individualistic ensemble (Heaven Forbid!), and her flawlessly "natural" make-up, I wondered if and when she lets go and owns her footprint in the world.  Does this woman ever even have an orgasm?

It also reminds me of this old blogpost with an excellent quote from my  alter ego, Nigella!

Happy New Year!

Hoppin' John

Sauteed Kale

Long Grain Brown Rice

This New Year supper was absolutely delish.  We totally devoured it.  Hoppin' John is a southern dish with black-eyed peas, a bit of bacon, celery, onion, and flavored with bay leaves and thyme.  It is traditionally eaten on New Year's Day, as the black eyed -peas are supposed to bring luck and/or prosperity (depending on the source you read - but I'll take either!).  Greens are the typical side dish - these were sauteed in olive oil with plenty of garlic.  Add liberal amounts of hot sauce.

There's a bit leftover for Skippin' Jenny tomorrow!