My Favorite Things: HEARTS OF PALM

I eat these straight out of the can, but they are also amazing cut and tossed in any salad...

Happy Accident: Tomato Basil Moz Salad

Last week we missed pick-up of our CSA as we were on Cape Cod, so I was happy when my neighbor Holly dropped by with her ripe CSA veggies for us to enjoy since she was heading out of town. I had leftover mozzarella from Alleva Dairy (Grand Street) from a pizza party earlier in the week, and the most ripe veggies in Holly's bag were amazing red and purple heirloom tomatoes.

I sliced the tomatoes, along with a bunch of basil (also on their way out), the leftover moz, good olive oil and several spritzes of balsamic vinegar et voila -- the easiest and most delicious summer salad at home. Thanks, Holly!

Cape Cod State of Mind

I'm writing this from a cozy chair in the back yard of our rental house in Falmouth, Cape Cod. This is the second year of our annual family beach trip (hubby's family) and while the first year had its ups and downs, this year is really quite wonderful. What changed?

1. New House: Our first year, we had a tiny, dark wood paneled house on Surf Drive. It was directly across from the beach, but that was about all it had going for it. Our new house is a bit further to the beach, but the house is beautiful, with a huge back yard with a hammock, trees, shade, and an amazing fancy grill. We are spending much more time enjoying the big yard, and I'm on wireless outside -- amazing!!
2. Aunt Pat & Uncle Denny: My mother-in-law's sister and her hubby have joined us and what a great couple they are. They bring laughter, energy, and smiles whenever they are with us. They really make this trip special, and their kickass kayaks and bikes have provided daily entertainment for us all. Cape Cod has a bike trail that goes through salt marshes, woods, and lines the ocean.
3. Fancy Grill: We have grilled seafood daily, and it has been an experiment every time.
4. Downtown: This year, we are closer to downtown Falmouth, and can easily walk for ice cream all together after dinner. It's a great walk on a tree-lined street with a nice sidewalk, so it has been entertaining.

Overall, halfway into the vacation, Cape Cod gets my seal of approval. ;)

Adventures in Camping

Every New Yorker looks forward to escaping in the summer -- and upstate New York is a gorgeous place to do it. This weekend we trekked to our favorite camp ground, Rip Van Winkle in Saugerties, New York, for two nights of roughing it. We wanted to see a dance performance at Opus 40, an amazing environmental sculpture that is tucked in the hills outside of Saugerties.

I planned to cook our meals at the camp site, not only to save money but also because I was curious if my skills extended to cooking with the most basic tools, using the most basic food, and braving the elements (essentially, an army of mosquitoes and cooking in the pitch dark). On Friday night, I made cod with butter and basil, red potatoes roasted with fresh rosemary, salt, and butter, and CSA-fresh grilled corn. For dessert, what else: s'mores! It was sublime.

For breakfast on both Saturday and Sunday, we enjoyed granola that I made at home (recipe in July, 2009 blog archive) and we had such a good time cooking on Friday that Saturday night, we decided to use leftover to try to make another meal. This meal was more modest: scrambled eggs (from our CSA), leftover smoked gouda, and grilled corn. While simple, it was just as wonderful. Cooking outside is such a pleasure, and we vowed to go camping at least one weekend of every month until it gets too cold to continue.

Here are some photos of our camping escapades....

Our Daily Kale Shake

Every morning, we have a kale shake. Why? What could possibly be better than raw dark leafy greens to jumpspark your day? If I go more than 2 days without this shake, I can feel a pretty severe difference in my moods and attitude. It is truly the best "multi-vitamin" you can possibly take. And, I SWEAR, it taste GOOD. The fruit almost completely overwhelms the kale...Really!

Kale Shake (makes 2 servings)

1 ripe banana

1-2 cups water (depending on thickness preference)

1/2 cup frozen organic blueberries, cherries and peaches (half a cup of each)

1/2 head of organic green or red organic kale (remove majority of stems

2 tablespoons flax oil (for omega 3)

Ice Cubes (as desired)

Misc: You can add ground milk thistle, or ground flax or hemp seeds, or anything that you know is good for you personally!

The secret is blending -- really blend this shake for a long time. We have a Vitamix, a fancy blender that really gets the job done in no time, but you can certainly use a regular blender -- just let it run for 5 minutes. I drink my kale shake with a straw...YUM!

Adzuki Bean Veggie Burgers

I've never made veggie burgers from scratch, but I will from now on! This recipe was given to me by my friend Ana, and I doubled it so that I would have plenty of patties to freeze individually for easy future meals. This is a great veggie burger for Blood Type A and Blood Type O, fyi. It was moist, filling, and truly uber-healthy.

I served the burgers with purple cabbage slaw which I made with Miso-Ginger Dressing (from the NYT's 101 Simple Salads, the best food article of the summer....)

Adzuki Burgers (serves 4)

Adzuki bean is great for kidneys because while high in protein and fiber for the body it will also reduce water retention.

2 cups cooked adzuki beans

½ cup brown rice flour or cooked brown rice works as well.

1/3 cup hempseed (I used flax seed as I didn't have hempseed)

3 garlic cloves, coarsely chopped

2 tsp ground cumin

2 tsp ground coriander

¼ to ½ tsp red pepper flakes

Coarse salt and fresh ground pepper

4 Tb. olive oil

1 large egg (may be omitted / I did not use it)

Yogurt-cilantro Sauce, for serving (optional)

Mix beans, flour or rice, hempseed, cloves, cumin, coriander, pepper flakes, salt and pepper and 1 Tb. of olive oil in food

processor. Pulse for a few minutes but leave some beans whole. If too dry add water until sufficient to make a ball that can be pressed into a patty. In a large bowl whisk egg and add bean mixture. Mix well. Divide into 4 equal patties, roll inot balls, and flatten with the palm of your hand into ¾ inch thick patties.

Heat the remaining 3 tb. of oil in skillet. (I use a cast iron skillet that is non-stick and not weird alloys) Add the burgers; cook over medium-low heat until crisp and browned, turning gently with a thin-edged spatula, 8-10 minutes. Transfer to a paper-towel lined plate to drain. Serve with yogurt-cilantro sauce, if desired.

Yogurt-cilantro sauce: ¾ c. plain yogurt, 2 TB. chopped fresh cilantro leaves, 1 Tb. fresh lemon juice, coarse salt and fresh ground pepper.

Brooklyn's Best Bar: The Bell House

There's no doubt -- The Bell House in Brooklyn's Gowanus is the best place to tie one on with friends. Last night's Music Trivia (which we won, once again...) and $3 beer specials just reminded me once again how awesome The Bell House is. It's the bar you walk into and see a long-lost friend or a band is playing that you are shocked (and excited) to see. I already miss you, Bell House....but I'll see you in one short day at Jen's birthday celebration: HOOP: THERE IT IS!

Astoria & The Greeks

MTZ / Astoria Park

After 12 years, I finally go to Astoria last night to eat Greek food at Agnanti. I'm embarrassed to report the food was so utterly perfect and delicious that I completely forgot to take any pictures, except for the carcass of my grilled red snapper. We started with a spicy cheese spread, baby eggplant and garlic spread, and grilled pita. My aunt and cousin got grape leaves (for dinner, odd I know) which were amazing, warm, rich but not overly heavy, and truly perfect.

We were disappointed that they were out of grilled sardines, which my husband and I had planned to get all day from perusing the menu via Internet. He got the grilled calamari and I got the catch of the day, grilled red snapper. Perfection, truly. They served us a sour cherry / yogurt / semolina cake / almond cake desert plate at the end for free. Delightful. I will definitely go back there before I depart, for another stunning Greek seafood meal.

After all, the park that the restaurant sits on is also worth a visit!

Meandering Around The East Village...

Tompkins Square Park / Sun Bathers

After a hectic work week, my husband and I finally got to indulge in one of our favorite day rituals together -- roaming around the East Village. We had a truly lovely day this Saturday drinking in the dive bars of the East Village, record shopping, wandering through parks, playing pinball, and meeting up with friends at the Blind Tiger. I occasionally remembered to snap a photo or two....

Our Favorite Dive, 7B / Pinball Bar

(at which we concocted a new Pop-Rocks inspired Jager shot, ewww)

I also bought the hubby his favorite candy bar, SKY BAR, at Economy Candy.

The day ended when we

picked up our old friend

Phil at The Blind Tiger

and had an impromptu

pizza party

-- after my learnings from Friday nite,

I can happily report that nothing went wrong on

Saturday night -- except that I am officially

pizzaed-out!

Friday Nite Pizza Party

Last night two dear friends came over for a pizza party -- I made the dough beforehand and had everything prepped and ready to go. I make pizzas all the time (thanks, Pizza a Casa!) but last night was a bit different... I turned off the oven so we could step out to run an errand, and forgot to turn the oven back on. Ack.

Every good pizza chef knows a hot oven is critical to good pizza. So, in goes the first pie (marguerita) and 10 minutes later, it's GOOEY. I'm trying to work it out with my pizza peel, but it's just mushing together on the pizza stone, as the oven was probably about 250 degrees at this point. Finally I realized the oven was off, I turned it on, rescued half the pizza (the other half fell off the stone and into the oven) and once the pizza was out, I had to turn OFF the oven, take out the stone and clean it, and then clean the oven! SIGH. Then I had to re-heat the oven to 550 degrees, which took a while.

Finally, pie two (potato rosemary) was put in, and it was delicious, as was the next pie, a sun dried tomato / smoked mozzarella spritzed with balsamic vinegar, and last but not least, our desert pie -- pear & blue cheese with white truffle oil and honey.

Sadly, I did not make it late into the evening -- too many cocktails and wine found me passed out in bed woefully early, but my friends and my hubby partied late into the night. I got t0 experience what they were up to when I woke up -- the liquor cabinet was empty, my frozen blackberries had been muddled in a cocktail shaker (which was oddly put in the ice container in the freezer) and, most disturbingly -- there was cat vomit everywhere. Weird.

But, weirdly fun. And the pizzas were de-lish, especially after the first pie mishap....Yum, yum, yum....