Come into my parlor...

...said the spider to the fly. i had no trouble, though, willingly walking into the Parlor steakhouse on the corner of 90th street and 3rd avenue, and i've been back several times. that's no surprise since i'm known for willingly walking into trouble when cajoled by a spider. there was no trouble here though, and fortunately for me, my folks didn't think so either. my mom, luis and my grandmother joined me and john for a brunch this past sunday and we all walked out happy and full. it's not any small feat to entice my grandmother into public eateries. whereas i'm happy to try anyplace for the sake of the experience, she's of the mind that there can't be anything better than home cooked food and her standards are high. at Parlor the decor is spartan, clean and sleek; but the food and service are lavish, and satisfying; a pleasure to the eyes and the palate. as always with repeat visits to restaurants i like trying something different so this time it was the lobster roll. it could have been a little bigger for the price; but not better for sure. the kumamoto oysters i had for appetizers were the star here though. beautiful, small cupped shells, plump and only slightly briny meat. i'm always fascinated by oysters because they are so beautifully ugly on the outside; and so luscious and opalescent on the inside. highly sculpted, fluted shells, crusted and rough. their insides adorned with gorgeous mother-of-pearl. and the pearls! its so amazing the perfect gem that an irritating grain of sand can produce. its testimony to the fact that bitterness and adversity in life can lead to beautiful, priceless creations. so much lovely art, memorable books, acts of valor and genius are the products of lives of misery and misfortune, strife and toiling against unimaginable odds. so be an oyster babies! take your lemons and make lemonade! if someone leaves a cow in your living room, milk it and sell the milk and cheese! turn your life's irritation into gems!

notes from a wineaholic/moscatel

i figure the best way to come back is with something to drink, and what better way than with some moscatel. while at dinner with john and shivann at one of the best italian restaurants in manhattan, luna piena, the owner, luigi, sent some moscatel to the table and i knew there was a reason why i loved that place so much. a delicate wine with the subtle taste of peaches and apricots, this sparkling more prestigious cousin of the asti is not considered spumante (sparkling) at all, just a bit frizzante (fizzy). delicate, lightly sweet and gorgeously fruity, the moscato is particularly low in alcohol and therefore fairly fragile. generally made in tiny batches and limited quantities it is highly desirable and should be drunk fresh and soon after release. the rest of the dinner was no slouch. grilled shrimp with warm white bean salad, asparagus wrapped in mozzarella and prosciutto, spinach greens with strawberries and toasted almonds. my entree of homemade squid ink fettuccine with clams, mussels, calamari and shrimp in a light red sauce brought to mind the rice with squid in its black ink my grandmother makes. the rice turns out a beautiful black color. make sure you visit luna piena and tell luigi i sent you. have a glass of the moscatel, and enjoy one of the great wonders of wine.

stella del mare

if you missed this terrific find in the murray hill section of manhattan, you'll not have another opportunity. after 30 or so years, this seafood-oriented northern italian with its "old-world feel" and "high qualify" fare is closing its doors. its location made it a treasure for the lunchtime business crowd; but that and the locals could not sustain this out-of-the-way favorite during the toughest of times. the last time i was there i was treated to a "run of the house" dinner courstesy of john's affiliation as a concierge. obviously, the fact that it was free made the food even more delicious :^D but even if you had to pay for it it would have been well worth the price. my favorites were the mussels in white wine sauce and the soft shelled crabs.
restaurants are a difficult business to keep up even in the best of times, its unfortunate that such a long lived one, with such a great, and well deserved, reputation could not survive. as it has been said, "location, location, location" and unfortunately this restaurant's address was too out of the way for the tourist crowd which is only interested in whatever is near the theater district, or whatever is the newest fad.
stella del mare will be sorely missed.

cooking school

a couple of nites ago john, karen (his sister) and i went to a cooking class at the viking cooking school in fairfield new jersey. it was actually a very belated, combined birthday gift for john and me from karen. the recipe theme for the evening was fish. we cooked a tilapia with julienned red pepper, leeks and compound butter en papillot; seared salmon with a citrus vinaigrette; tuna burgers with wasabi slaw, and a fried haddock with avocado salsa. the recipes were all very simple and incredibly delicious. when the class was over the group was able to sit and eat what they cooked. i think my favorite was the tuna burger with the wasabi slaw, although i actually ate EVERYTHING!! i think it's fun to prepare food together when you are will be having dinner together afterwards. it's such a great way to share the experience, and of course an opportunity to drink. we couldn't really drink while we were cooking at the school but they did serve us wine with our meal. i usually drink while i'm cooking, maybe that's why i enjoy it so much!!! well, next week brings an opportunity to do some heavy drinking with cooking during the thanksgiving festivities. don't miss the opportunity, i promise it will make everything better. not perfect, but better.

animation

we are always in the midst of change. whether we realize it or not, want it or not, are ready for it or not, we are perpetually in that state of active equilibrium, the difference between what we are truly on the inside and what we want the world to see, what we were today, last minute, yesterday and what we become the next second, tomorrow, in a decade due to the choices we make. in making these choices for ourselves the changes stay within our character and we grow, when we abdicate the power to choose or willingly let others choose for us we are less happy with the choices because they are out of character. my friend odalys calls these "out of character" actions animation. we hate to see out favourite watering holes and eateries change because those changes generally will create a diversion from the nature of these establishments which we have grown to love, appreciate and to which we have become accustomed and familiar. change, in this case, is not always good, and can seriously detract from the experience. at long beach island, on a FABULOUS weekend with John and his sister Karen (compliments of her generosity), i visited two places of which i have previously been a fan that went through "changes". the new incarnation of Bistro 14 suffered in the change. animation. the place never had "a look", not even in a beach town where that sort of thing is not only de rigeur, but usually means nautical; but the food used to be a great representation. somewhere along the change they stopped making the fried seafood basket, including no fried clams (a staple in that type of place), they "fancified" some of the fish dishes (you can have it with this type of sauce or that type of sauce...blah,blah,blah), poussin chicken (really? in a great fish place?), and (gasp!) they stopped offering both types of chowder (yes, clam of course) and now only offer their "award winning manhattan". ok, so they won the '07 LBI chowderfest with their manhattan style chowder; but really? no new england style? that just plain sucks 'cause when i'm in LBI i wanna have them alllllll!!!!! and, hold on to your cocktail glass, they don't have a liquor license anymore. who was the fucking asshole that let THAT happen? and why don't they advertise that it is BYOB, which would have been perfectly fine; but really? i'm sitting at the table and you tell me i can't order liquor? i should really have left at that point. the chowder was good (award-winning? really?, i don't know), the mussels didn't have enough garlic, butter or white wine sauce (although they were deliciously fresh), the fried artichokes were greasy... ok i've said enuf. i hate change. at our dinner at the new Gables Inn (nee Green Gables Inn) i was pleasantly surprised that the drastic renovations which the place had undergone were actually very beautiful, in spite of the fact that it was not as rustic as it used to be. on this point, some people might say that rustic in just a word for run-down, and to be honest the place was looking a little rough around the edges, and the majority of the changes had actually been done to the living quarters and not the food. they still offered their fantastic prix-fixe multi-course dinner complete with amouse-bouche (i highly recommend it), but they extended their menu to include a la carte. as in the past, the service was gracious and expert, and the food was, well, delish. pate de foix gras with figs and a balsamic reduction as an appetizer, and a delicious and huge piece of perfectly cooked butterfish in a broth, over vegetables. the place is even more beautiful than it ever has been in its long history and i am happy to say that i look forward to going back. i actually like change, appreciate change, know that it is good, but...i guess the chef at Bistro 14 was being true to himself, and, well, no-one was really twisting my arm to eat there and i'm just letting you know what i thought. the Gables, well, i wish places like that didn't change at all, but then i have Cancer rising, and for the Crab that takes its home around on its back i have to be eased in to that type of change. having sun in Gemini, a mutable sign and the proverbial purveyor of change, i'm constantly in that state of equilibrium, loving it and hating it. so, "don't change your hair for me, not if you care for me..." anyway, there are the sites there on the side and don't hesitate to visit them both, and all the great places at LBI. and if you have to change, at least stay true to your nature, it'll be less shocking for the rest of us that way.
Changes, gotta love 'em.

the best things in life are free

normally, i would answer this, and the equally vapid "money can't buy you love" with "then you're obviously not shopping in the right place". but a free new york philharmonic concert, al fresco in central park, is definitely one of the best things in life. every summer the philharmonic stages a variety of these in all the boroughs. this past tuesday the program was tchaikovsky's first piano concerto, beethoven's fourth symphony and sibelius' finlandia. it was a perfect evening of beautiful music with my honey and his niece shivann (love ya %^* ), and of course, food and drink. chicken from PIO PIO, macaroni, bean, and corn salads, some smoked gouda, mango chutney dip and toasted pita chips, delicious rosemary bread and tomato focaccia. we had cold gin and tonics to refresh us from the hot sun (and "the vapors" %^D ), a nice albarino and a cotes du ventou. if you've never tried PIO PIO chicken, you MUST! it is a peruvian place which only does chicken and a few sides. yellow rice, red beans, fried ripe of green plantains, and salad. check out their website on the side there and look for one near you. anyway, it was a beautiful moonlit nite, ending with fireworks. it's great to see people of all ages and nationalities and walks of life out enjoying one thing. there were two elderly women next to us, with big hats and long dresses, sitting on the grass enjoying their noshes and white wine. i hope i will be like that. i like to think that i will be. i'm finally taking time out to enjoy my time off from school, and this will be one of many great memories of summer '08. here's the great van cliburn performing the third movement of tchaikovsky's first piano concerto. have a great summer everybody, and enjoy!!!

guacamole

thank goodness i live with someone or i think these days i would just neglect to eat at all. the workload is at once decreasing and multiplying exponentially. i know it is against the laws of physics; but there it is. i am approaching the end of the semester and yes there is less to do, and yet it seems like more because the days in which to get it all done are decreasing and there is less time in which to do it. i know one of the reasons John is hating school is not just because all he ever gets to see of me is my back as i am facing the computer whenever i am home; but also because i cook less and less, which i actually love to do. tonite, as he is in the kitchen making home-made stock and preparing salmon for dinner he "whipped up" some homemade guacamole. nothin' says lovin' like a mash of avocados, with onions, and tomatoes. yes folks it is as easy as that and yet as difficult to do well. you cannot just pulverize the avocados, there must be lumps, the onions and tomatoes must not be finely minced but roughly chopped. the spices are few and simple, salt, pepper, some lemon or lime juice, and some fresh cilantro if you have it. nothing more and nothing less, and yet it turns into heaven in a molcajete (which is one of those funky mortar and pestles you sometimes see quac served in). and of course, it always reminds me of those beautiful days in puerto vallarta, watching the sunset, eating guacamole with chips and drinking excessively. one of my favorite memories of PV is being there with Shirley (who is now persona non grata) on the 12th floor above the Bay of Banderas drinking margaritas and playing canasta until we were both too drunk to know if we were cheating or not. Shirl was a fun friend who fell out of favor for reasons too sordid to name here and who's christmas card last year spent a month taped to the underside of my toilet bowl lid. what!? you never heard of santeria?! the lesson is "don't fuck with a cuban!" anyway, oh yes, guacamole. another thing we have to thank the mexicans for.

notes from a wineaholic/brunello di montalcino

Brunello, "the little brown one", from montalcino, is a tuscan dialect name for sangiovese grown in montalcino, south of both Chianti and Siena. In this dryer, hotter, and more Mediterrean climate of southern Tuscany, the limestone and sand soil produce a "muscular" grape capable of making a rich, dark, concentrated red. "Tongue-curling tannins" and "firm acidity" allow these wines to age and this past weekend at John's dad's 80th birthday dinner i was lucky enough to have one from 1999, the Casanova di Neri/Cerretalto and one from 1997, the Poggio Antico, thanks to the generosity of my my brother-in-law Wayne. according to the website, winemerchant.com, which i have linked over there on the side, "As an elite wine, Brunello deserves special attention while aging and when poured. Like all great aged wines, it is often a bit hard and unsociable in its youth. However, Brunello becomes refined and harmonious with time, taking on a velvety texture."
"robust", "muscular", "tongue-curling", "hard", the hell with drinking it, i read these descriptions from that site and i wanted to fuck this wine. personally, the 1997 was better, wwwaaaaayyyy better actually, it is amazing what those two little years can do. it is also amazing that they can tell that only about 18,000 bottles of this wine were produced and they were made from the grapes on the southern slope of such and such a vineyard and were picked on such and such a date. i'm impressed by these things, too bad i can't afford to drink these wines on a regular basis. i thought it was funny that John kept going into Wayne's wine fridge and pulling out one bottle after the other. what did we know?, we're neophyte oenophiles.
well if you get the chance i would definitely go for the Poggio Antico '97. maybe on account at a business dinner or something.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MR. C!!! %^*


SIRLOINS FRESH OFF THE BBQ


THE HUNGRY CROWD AT THE CHEESE PLATTER


THE '99 Casanova di Neri


THE '97 Poggio Antico...totally fuckable!

sofrito

its a very basic component of spanish cooking, and combines onions, garlic, tomatoes and peppers cooked in an olive oil to create a base used for cooking many other things. the sofrito can be cooked just before you add all the other main ingredients, or it can also be made in a large batch ahead of time and then refrigerated, or frozen, to be used as the base in the future thus saving time. one of John's co-workers, Santa, is Boricua and when she recently visited her mom in PR she brought back for John some of her mom's homemade sofrito! now THAT, is totally cool!!!! we had it tonite on some barbecued skirt steak and it was beyond delish. homemade, authentic, Boricua sofrito. THAT, is love. i've included a website over there on the side for any of you that would like to try making your own sofrito, and if you cook i think you should.

Pescatore

pescatore means fisherman in italian, and this restaurant in the turtle bay area of manhattan's east side is a seafood delight. it has gotten some great zagat ratings, the food is delish, the portions are large and the price won't bust your wallet, so what more could you ask for? alfresco dining you say? in the summer they offer sidewalk seating and on a terazzo which overlooks the street. a very unique feature of the restaurant is that it has two entrances leading to two separate dining rooms and bars all connected by a kitchen. there is one side which is original and predates the other, and many customers who have been patrons for years don't even realize there is another section. John and i were recently there for dinner and were treated to a great evening by Charles the general manager, gracious and friendly, like all the staff we met. we shared the mussells in white wine and garlic with scallions and the crab cakes with fresh dill and cream sauce for appetizers. john had one of the daily specials, the tilapia nicoise with artichokes and sun dried tomatoes and i had the grilled monkfish with a caramel soy sauce over basil mashed potatoes. i love monkfish and grilling is a great way to enjoy this meaty white flesh fish. the restaurant has a reputation for its cheesecake which we did try and it was amazing. the combination of mascarpone cheese with ricotta and cream cheese makes it feel so silky its like eating cream cheese flavored cotton candy. everything was great. i'm linking the restaurant website over there on the side for you to check out; but just go. it's comfortable, reasonably priced, and delish.

home is where the tart is

as long as i'm talking about tarts i'll mention a sweet one. John really loves this tart book called "tarts, sweet and savory" and another of the last ones he made was a lemon cheese tart. Maxine Clark is the author of this book and she has a long history as a leading food writer and teacher. the hardest thing about this recipe is the "blind baking" of the crust, which is not really all that difficult. it basically entails first cooking the crust without the filling in it, or "blind", so that it stays crisp after the whole tart is cooked WITH the filling. all you do is cover the tart shell with beans or rice or these special marbles, and cook it before pouring in the filling and baking it again. you fill the shell with these beans or whatever so that the tart shell does not bubble up as it is being baked "blind". this usually has to be done with tarts and its an essential step. one of the first tarts he ever made from this book is an apple one and it is absolutely delish; but the book says its a "french" apple tart and i'm like, what the fuck?! the only thing french about it is the fact that the book author called it "tarte aux pommes" which basically means "apple tart" in french but SO WHAT?! i mean, if i called it "tartaleta de manzanas" (which is just "apple tart" in spanish) would i say it was a spanish apple tart?! fuck no! it's still just a damn apple fucking tart!!! when you're in china they don't call the food there "chinese food" it's just FOOD! WHATEVER! anyway, as i said this is a really easy tart recipe so i'm including it below, plus a picture of how ours came out.

THE RECIPE

1 shortcrust pastry and 9 inch false bottom tart pan
1 lemon
1/3 cup sugar
12oz or 1 and 1/2 cup of cream cheese of cottage cheese
1 large egg plus 3 egg yolks
2 teaspoons of vanilla extract

bring the dough to room temperature, and preheat the oven to 375 degrees

roll out the dough on a lightly floured work surface and use to line the tart pan. prick the base, then chill or freeze for 15 minutes and bake blind (about 10-12 minutes).
peel the zest from the lemon leaving behind any white pith, and squeeze the juice. put the zest and sugar into a food processor or small blender, and blend until the sugar and zest mixture looks damp.
add the lemon juice and blend again-the lemon zest should be completely dissolved into the sugar. add the cheese, egg yolks, whole egg, and vanilla extract. blend until smooth and pour into the baked crust.
bake for about 25 minutes until just set and lightly browned on top. remove from the oven and let cool.

...and the queen said "off with his head"

John made a really great tart yesterday, mushrooms with stilton cheese. the apartment had that really pungent smell of the stilton while he was making it and it tasted delish. tart making can be very different depending on whether you're doing sweet or savory. and even among the sweet there are very different methods. the biggest difference between baking and other types of cooking is that with some forms of baking it's all about measuring. sometimes its an exact science, just the right amount of wet to dry ingredients or you could wind up with an inedible mess. with cooking other things it really can be a pinch of this or a dash of that, or leave in one thing or substitute for something else you might prefer; but not with certain forms of baking. people who always follow recipes will argue about my cooking methods but i understand that some people like to follow a recipe every single time so that the dish always comes out the same. they've even quantified the "pinch" and "dash" method! no really, you can find actual measurements in cookbooks that will specify what a "pinch" or a "dash" should actually be! that's a little too OCD even for me. you can check out the measurement conversions over there if your're interested. it is actually a valuable tool for some of those old recipes that someone wrote down for you and will at least give you a starting point from which you can create your own preferences.
ok, so the title, tarts always remind me of alice in wonderland and the part where the jack of hearts steals the tarts and the queen of hearts says "off with his head" which she seemed to say alot. and the recipe, well, it belongs to michael chiarello so the link to his web site is over there under "mushroom tart" and the recipe is below too if you want to try it. i think you should, or it's OFF WITH YOUR HEAD!






HERE'S THE RECIPE

2 lb cleaned, mixedmushrooms, (sliced or quartered depending on variety)
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons butter
4 cloves garlic, minced
2-3 shallots, minced
1 1/2 tablespoons freshly chopped thyme
2 tablespoons minced parsley
1 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
Juice from 1/2 lemon
1 egg-well beaten
8 oz crumbled blue cheese
1 sheet frozen puff pastry-thawed
Flour for dusting work surface

1 lb dry beans for baking crostata shell


Directions
Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

Heat two large saute pans over high heat. Working in batches divide the olive oilbetween the two pans. When the oil is hot but not quite smoking, add themushrooms, season with gray salt and pepper, add the butter to each pan andallow to caramelize. Once mushrooms havecooked down to half their volume, transfer all mushrroms to one pan. Add the shallots and garlic and cook untilthe light brown and fragrant. Add thethyme until it crackles. Add the cream and bring up to a simmer. Reduce thecream by about half and stir in the grated parmesan, and the lemon juice. Shutoff the flame and quickly stir in the beaten egg. Remove from the stove and letcool to room temperature. Add parsleyand stir.

While mushroom mixture is cooling, roll out the pastry doughon a floured surface. Roll the dough out so that it will line a 10ý removablebottom tart pan. Line the dough with parchment paper and fill with the drybeans. Bake for 10-12 minutes, remove from the oven and let cool to roomtemperature.

Lower oven temperature to 400 degrees F.

When both the filling and shell have cooled to roomtemperature fill the shell with the mushroom mixture and top with the crumbledblue cheese. Arrange the tart mold on a cookie sheet and bake for 20-30minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool to room temperature beforeserving. Slice in wedges and serve.

AND HERE'S WHAT OURS LOOKS LIKE

happy year of the rat

yeah, i know the chinese new year was like over a month ago; but it's all about how you celebrate it not necessarily when. and this year was really great. for the past several years i've been going to a chinese food banquet to celebrate the new year with a group from the chinese kung-fu wu-su association that is totally cool. the founder, Master Alan Lee, is a qi-cong and martial arts master who i've known for about 10 years or so now because he and i work out of the same place on fifth avenue between 20th and 21st street called fitness results (check out both links on the side there). anyway, master lee gets this huge group of people together to celebrate the chinese new year at this place down on elizabeth street right next to Lin Sisters and, do i have to say it?, there's some awesome food to be had. it's all about the ritual of celebrating together and good fortune, and this year John and i sat with a really cool bunch of people...here's a shout out to Cat, Blake, Maia, Ken and "the Turk". (btw Cat i didn't notice the cougar on your business card when you gave it to me, very cool!) there's like eight different courses of food from pork, to beef, chicken and duck, fried rice and lo-mein. some of the seafood is a little quirky (jellyfish, seaweed, and these tiny fish fried whole) but also shrimp prepared a few different ways, octopus, shark fin soup, and veggies like bok-choi, a couple different kinds of schrooms, and a dish served in a bowl of fried noodles that looks like a big nest. oh yeah, and there's plenty of wine to wash it all down with. of course the meal ends with the requisite fortune cookies and slices of orange. how do they get such good oranges this time of the year is what i want to know. there was so much food left over that it all gets put into these take-out containers for everybody and john and i took a couple of bags and gave some away to a homeless guy that usually camps out on the steps of St. Joseph's church in our hood. he was asleep so we just left it for him. the banquet is in this HUGE place that gets partitioned off and there's such a great feeling to show up and sit with people you never met before and share a meal in celebration of the new year! this year the group i sat with was great fun, that's usually Cat's chopsticks you see in the food shots below. they were all having fun with my photo-taking for the blog and i'm going to send the link out so maybe SOMEBODY will leave a comment here and there. (i mean, c'mon people, i know you're all out there, i see you in class and i can hear you all breathing!) except for you Sandy, thanks for your comment! anyway, i know i said i was going to wait 'till tomorrow to post this but i let my OCD get the best of me when i got home so here it is. enjoy and happy new year everyone!
the banquet hall, there's Lin Sisters on the side there

the group, phoenix and dragon on the rear wall (prosperity and good fortune)

some mushrooms and bok choi

chicken and beef in "the nest"

lemon fish, fried rice and lo mein

camping with "catheno"

i got to thinking of the great times camping and that led me to go through some old photos. (by now you should be used to these digressions) there was, of course, always food and drink, and dancing. some of the pictures below are from the site at bass river and some are from #31 in newburgh. you can tell we were having a good time. yep, that's me with hugely long hair, and braces too i think. god that sucked so badly! i had those braces on for 25 months, 1 week and 2 days; and it was hell! i can't begin to tell you how many times in the beginning i would sit outside the orthodontist's office and cry after an adjustment it was so painful. there was alot of drinking going on in those days, whiskey usually, rubbed on the gums and then just guzzled. it never helped but it gave me something to do until i could pass out. anyway, those are not such good food and drink memories. the food was awkward and the drinking was excessive. obviously it didn't stop me from having a good time. the girls don't camp anymore now that they have the cabin, i mean, what the fuck they're always in the woods now! we usually try to go once in spring and once in fall. oh yeah, the "catheno" thing. before i met catherine and odalys john would say "you have to meet my friend(s) catheno" well that's what it sounded like to me when he said it, you know, "catheno". i used to think "who the fuck is this person, and what's with the weird name?" anyway, it turned out to be "cath and o (short for odalys)" aka "the girls". well, enjoy the photos.

shrimp on "the barbie"

and the cocktails, of course

bacon really gets you out of your tent in the morning

the girls... :^*

and the boys

one of those days

you ever have one of those days that you think, "jesus fucking christ! that's it, i've had it" and no amount of food can help, it' just all about the drinks. i like to start out with a vodka gimlet, or as my friend Odalys calls them "airplane fuel". yum! it's actually a somewhat old-fashioned cocktail that i'm doing my best to help make a comeback. or maybe a gin and tonic, and make sure you have limes around for this or you can just forget it. my friend Marita and i are totally into G&Ts. she prefers to call them T&Ts because she also prefers the tangueray gin but i'm not so much of a liquor snob. it's Mari's birthday today and she's picking me up around 7 to do some celebrating. i'm actually taking a little time off this weekend and it's starting tonite. yesterday was John's birthday and we're leaving tomorrow morning to visit our friends Catherine and Odalys. they live in the mountains in Bethel NY and we haven't seen them since august. they used to live just a few blocks from us here in the city and then they bought the cabin a few years ago and winterized it right away. we helped with some of that and man was that alot of work. about a year later Odalys decides that she wants to move up there full time and then Catherine went some months later. it took them some time 'cause they had to find jobs up there and Catherine is a nurse practitioner with and HIV care specialty so that was tough. they finally made it and we miss them alot. i'm bringing some of my schoolwork as a token of sincerity; but you know how that goes. whenever we get together there's always food and drink involved...i think that's mari now, later...ok, so it's now much later and of course there's been food and drink. it was sushi and beers at Dominick and Grant's. my favorite sushi is a place called Yuka on the upper east side, 2nd ave and 81st st. their fish is so fresh and their portions are huge compared to many places. we also got to listen to the debut of their awesome debut recording as Faux Furnishings, "Lydia, Look!". visit them at www.myspace.com/fauxfurnishingsofficial, or just use the link on the side over there. so much luck to them! it was a good time, shout out to Guitar Heroes Lauren, Jacob, Dominick and Guitar "Super"Hero Grant, also Scott, Steven, Izzie, Jennifer, and my BFFF Mari, happy fucking b-day you brick house!

St. Pats/Easter - Green Eggs and Ham?!

so i'm working like a slave on all my homework and really just getting batty and John's sister Karen emails me to say that this year she wants to do a joint St.Pats and Easter thing and what day can both John and I make it so the whole family can be together. i'm like, St.Pats AND Easter? i realize they're both really close this year and it would give us all a chance to celebrate both, and all together; but to me this just seems like somebody getting away with only feeding me once. also, i'm latin, and therefore only irish by injection; and easter, well, as i said, an opportunity for food and drink, not to mention chocolate. still, it's an opportunity to do the food and drink thing, you know; and get together with the family, which i love. and i love Karen and Wayne, not to mention that Karen's a good cook and she and Wayne keep a very well stocked wine fridge. and i do love good wine (Todd, Karen and Wayne's son, calls me a wine-aholic) kids say the darnest things don't they? ;-) so i'm down with the whole joint celebration thing and then i start thinking about are we going to have a leprechaun with bunny ears or a green easter rabbit for the egg hunt? and of course the food and drink, and naturally in my state of mind i think dr. seuss and start quoting green eggs and ham to Karen. everything has become blog fodder, what can i say? it's like those ink blot tests, it all looks like food or sex to me. last year John and i were going to miss the St.Pats get-together because we had a flight to Tulum on that day, and then, if any of you remember, we had that freak ice storm and the flight never got off the ground. of course, it wasn't bad enough to keep us from going out and eating and drinking to excess so we all met at a place in jersey called "the crow's nest" which was doing a full blown St.Pats thing complete with bagpipes and the requisite menu. i showed up with green hair and ate corned beef and cabbage like a true irishman. anyway, here's some pics of past St.Pats get-togethers.

Karen, Wayne, Mr. C, Shivann(see you DID make it to my blog) and Todd

Karen and Wayne :-*

Karen, John, Me and Shivann

with Hailey and James

with Kim, Myung and Tommy

LOVE YOU ALL, SEE YOU IN A FEW WEEKS!!!

And of course, Green Eggs and Ham...

ginger, simple syrup and cocktails (with florence)

so last time i mentioned how i had gotten this great idea from watching Simply Ming on tv. Ming Tsai is this really cool chef and you can check him out on the video below giving a "ginger 101" lesson. on this one show he makes the ginger simple syrup and uses that for cocktails. he makes a ginger ale with it, which i've tried and it's really good, but my favorite thing to make with it is a ginger martini. you can also use it for mojitos, which i've also done, and it's a nice twist to add the ginger symple syrup instead of plain when you make them. ginger is a great spice; it has alot of anti-oxidants but because it's very fragrant alot of people don't really care for it. it can also be a bit spicy, like hot spicy; but depending on the cooking process it can mellow out alot. the crystallized ginger is really great for cooking, cocktails and for desserts. my friend Florence ( love you Florence! ) is a really good cook and she's very middle and far eastern inspired in her recipes. she does alot with ginger and i've borrowed alot of techniques and recipes from her, including her ginger cookies. i'll never forget the first time i met her. i was invited to her place for dinner and by the time my partner John and i got there Florence was smashed from drinking boxed wine. halfway through the dinner Florence is having a hard time keeping her eyes open and she's doing this blinking thing and next thing you know she's praying to the porcelain god and we're keeping her from winding up head first in the toilet. anyway, she's a really cool person and i hope i get invited to dinner again soon. she lives on the lower east side of manhattan with a great view of the river and brooklyn from her 21st floor apartment. she's also a great collector of beads, and she has some beautiful african trade beads, and venetian beads.




ps
you can click on the link under Ming Tsai and it leads to another short video of his where you can watch him do more with ginger.
enjoy. or just copy and paste the url from below.

http://simplyming.dreamhosters.com/rss/media/simplyming_3-05.mp4




to make the simple syrup all you have to do is put equal parts water and sugar into a pan and bring to a boil, lower the heat to simmer until the sugar is dissolved and let cool. to make the ginger simple syrup you simply add a whole stem of peeled and thinly sliced ginger to the pan with the sugar and water. you can then make the crystallized ginger by taking the slices of ginger from the simple syrup and coating them with regular sugar and laying them out on a baking sheet. put the slices in a 250 degree for about an hour or until they have dried out. store them in an airtight container and they will keep for months.