This stuff's made in New York City

With two new rear wheel bearings replaced with complements of the local (45 mins away) Subaru dealership (turns out those parts had been recalled a year ago and were the explanation for the low, loud rumbling that had been competing with the radio for the past few weeks), we packed up the car and the dog and did the 5.5 hr drive southeast to NYC for some good food and family time.

5 floors up was probably higher than Gretch had ever been in her life...she enjoyed checking out the view and probably amused herself this way while we were out enjoying some of our old dining favorites.

One great thing about NYC is that it is not only possible but totally acceptable to sit down for a very late dinner. We got into the city around 10pm on Friday night and with unloading the car and some initial catching up (and getting over Auggie's surprise presence in NYC), we showed up at Tiramisu, a stalwart neighborhood Italian place, just before 11pm and the place was still relatively busy.

The namesake dish (and my favorite version of the once-hip dessert) on the house, complements of the longtime, friendly Ecuadorian manager.

We basically ate on Saturday (though we luckily did make it to Central Park for a reservior run before lunch).

Vietnamese Bo Luc Luc and Pho. Unfortunately, our favorite Vietnamese place Miss Saigon closed its doors after many years (though for a couple of months they mysteriously were still able to do delivery) so we had to try out another establishment. It's not Miss Saigon but it still beats the Vietnamese food we could probably find in Rochester.

Post-lunch Pinkberry. Lines have died down a bit and menu has slightly expanded. Still pricey but my year-old $10 gift card (thanks Lakshmi!) came in very handy.

Dinner was at Artisanal. We went from pulling the late night NYC dinner to the early NYC dinner...sitting down to eat at 6:30pm. The reason was because two of our friends had to catch a train that evening and it was definitely worth the early dinner to be able to catch up with our NYC dinner cohort
I usually get the steak frites but given that we'd only eaten lunch around 2pm, I opted for the moules frites...and it was not a bad choice. (Artisanal's fries are one of my favorites so as long as I got those, it was okay to forgo a steak)

Owen tried the pork chops, which he also approved of

The main part of the meal and the main reason we keep coming back, however, is the fondue. And, with six people, we were able to get double fondues!

Artisanal blend on the left and fondue du jour (which I am totally blanking on now but it included pieces of apricot) on the right

Sunday brunch with the whole family

included...

west coast oysters before noon

range of egg benedicts (traditional, crab cake, and lobster)

CSA - Week 3

We mentioned a couple posts ago that we joined a CSA for the season and our goal is to eat through the week's veggies within the week. Week 3's bounty included more types of lettuce, spinach, zucchini, and sweet onion with tops. Below is some documentation of how we worked toward this goal last week.

Juicing is always a good way to whittle down the remaining greens. Here's the remaining pulp from our greens that did not make it through the juicer

zucchini casserole and three-lettuce salad

Pizza I (topped with mozzarella and feta). Ribboned red lettuce actually isn't such a bad topping.

Pizza II (topped with cheddar and supplemented with a can of artichoke hearts)

Spinach gratin topped with a bechamel sauce and a pair of hard-boiled eggs. The large leafy spinach we got worked really well.

Nachos with zucchini and spring onions

Berry Picking - Round II (Black Raspberries and Blueberries)

Our friend Lakshmi came to visit from New York City earlier this week just in time to catch our mutual friend Kristen's final days in Rochester (before a long move to Buffalo) and the very beginning of the raspberry and blueberry picking-seasons.

Lakshmi and Kristen showing off the fruits of their labor...

Black raspberries at different stages of ripeness. The farm had a red raspberry field too but the black raspberry field was where the good harvest was, at least for now.

Our bounty - besides going straight from crate to mouth, these have also been turned into three jars of black raspberry jam, some black raspberry sauce, and great granola topping

Blueberries were just starting to come out, but we were usually able to find at least one ripe one in each bunch

Eating Local

We joined a CSA (Community Sponsored Agriculture) for the first time this year. It's a 22 week season that is supposed to start in mid-June, but cooler weather pushed our start date back to the very last Saturday in June and we just picked up our third week's produce a few hours ago.

These first few weeks there has been a plethora of variants of lettuce. I'm not sure if it's because it's the start of the season or perhaps because it has been an excessively cooler and wetter one this year. We've also had a different type of onion each week so far, which includes the entire, long, green portion, which I've been chopping up and freezing in the hopes that it will get us through a year of garlicky chicken dinners.

We split the bag with another couple, which has been a good thing because it would be really hard for the two of us to get through that many greens in a week, even though I have a penchant for cooking for more people than actually live in this house. The goal has been to get through our entire share during the week and use only what has come in the bag for the vegetable portions of our meals (this has been good for testing out new recipes). On the whole, we've been successful...both weeks we had to carry over a bit of lettuce and purchase one or two other produce items...but we are getting really good at integrating lettuce and other leafy greens into our diet.

Frittata made of Week 1's sweet onions and swiss chard

Week 2 (red onions with tops, romaine and green crisp lettuce, red and golden beets, and spinach)

There were only four beets total in week 2's bag, which meant only two for us, but we roasted them and made the most out of them...

and they were a great main attraction (along with homemade blue cheese dressing) on a salad (using the CSA lettuce of course) to go with a roast chicken dinner

Korean bulgogi/pulkogi with lettuce wraps

Juiced greens (lettuce and beet greens...with some apples for some sweetness) along with pure fresh apple juice

Week 3 (picked up today: sweet onions, green and yellow zucchini, spinach, boston and romaine lettuce). Currently brainstorming about what to make this week...

Berry Picking - [Truncated] Round I - Strawberries

These photos are taken a few weeks ago on my inaugural summer 2009 berry picking excursion (back on the day when Owen was at a non-descript testing center for 8 hours taking Step 1), but I did not post them immediately as I hoped to have records of at least a couple strawberry picking expeditions. Unfortunately, there's been an insane amount of rain this year...causing the farm we get our CSA items from to post stories about their flooded fields and the other strawberry patch I'd been hoping to hit up call a premature end to their season!

Beautiful field on what was a beautiful day

Our friend Hannah working hard for her bounty

Our bounty


Someone else's bounty (most likely an overachiever, manic jam maker, owner of a large freezer, or parent with many little mouths to feed?)

Reward for the morning's work...pre-lunch ice cream and strawberries

*****

The strawberry season was too short this year, but it was fun while it lasted. So long fresh, handpicked strawberries. Keeping our fingers crossed for repeated rounds of other berry (raspberry and blueberry seasons are just around the corner) excursions to report back on...

Independence Day: A Baby Weber Holiday

No one came decked out in red, white, and blue; no fireworks or flags were raised; the burgers were chicken not beef; the buns were wheat not good old American white; there was a pineapple from Costa Rica, and the Weber grill needed some tag team help (even soliciting help from a French-made indoor kitchen pan...).

the remants of our Costa Rican pineapple (brought to our dinner table courtesy of Dole inc.)

the above picture may explain why the Weber couldn't handle the entire meal

and needed to call on the Le Creuset grill pan below:

Nevertheless, good food and good company still made it a enjoyable holiday experience...

marinated and grilled fresh veggies (mix of public market, CSA, and Wegman's wares)

a seasonal fruit salad that may have rivaled our Weber grill in size

and Sam's Club pink lemonade that was "as invigorating as it [was] affordable"...how can you turn something like that down?