and a happy new year

christmas took over december, and it was the same old thing that happens every year: everybody goes crazy with shopping, christmas music is played in every store you go in (and seemingly wafting from the air itself), holiday markets pop up everywhere (i spend way too much money), the city is flooded with lights, nobody cares about chanukah (again), and all the tv shows run christmas specials. it really is kinda magical. this year, i was lucky enough to sneak down to virginia for the holiday with my beau to spend some time with his family. it was tons of fun, especially because he has 2 hilarious kid nieces and a 2 year old nephew who referred to us all weekend as "hunkle mark and saywee." what was intended to be a 3-day visit turned into a 5 day vacation (thank you massive nyc blizzard) and we relished the extra time with plenty of visits to the mall, a matinee viewing of true grit, and late night xbox pictionary. then we came back to our lives and the worst thing ever happened to me. ok, not like disease or famine, but basically the worst. and its gross and humiliating but i have to write about if only to help slightly absolve the shame i feel towards those innocenct bystanders...i  threw up on the train! i swear i wasn't hung over. that morning we got into town around 11am after a very early bus ride from dc. we rode on empty stomachs and went for breakfast at the diner across the street from our apartment. i had lox on a bagel, mark had the california omelette. i went to work at 4, already feeling queasy, and things went from bad to worse very quickly. i was sent home by 4:30 and opted to take the subway vs. a bumpy cab fighting to drive through half plowed streets. on the A train, i got a seat and things seemed stable. my transfer to the f train proved more precarious- packed car, no seats. i swayed back and forth with the motion of the wheels; a metal hydroplane below ground. two stops before my own i started to get concerned. one stop before, i opted not to get out and struggle home through the snow banks. just a few more minutes...and it was over. over everyone around me. i cried out "i'm so sorry" between heaves and gasps. people desperately attempted to dart my stream and struggled to find  non-existant inches to seek refuge in. the doors opened and i escaped into the more forgiving concrete platform. i waited until everyone else had exited, my face tear-stained, my jacket, well just stained. above ground, a man saw me soaked and dazed. he asked if i was ok. i must have looked like i'd holed up in a bowl of egg nog during the storm or possibly a meth addict who'd just escaped the clinic, or like that girl who pukes on the train (you know, that girl). i couldn't believe this was me! he offered to buy me a soda and i mumbled something about living around the corner and ran off into the snowy night towards the memory erasing hot shower awaiting me inside my apt. but I am still so sorry, to all of you unlucky folks who got on my car on the downtown f train that evening. so to all my homies whose night i most unintentionally but certainly ruined, i wish you the happiest of new years. may your 2011 be vomit free, esp in small closed in areas with no escape.

as for you lox, we're not over yet. it takes more than a little 7 hour bout with food poisoning to make me quit you. i'll be seeing you soon again, but probably. definitely. not at that diner.

*picture from here

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thanksgiving eve: a list of thanks and no thanks.

thanks:

1. tofurky
i have had it for thanksgiving dinner every year for the past 15 years, and it has never disappointed. it is delicious, nutritious, and the gravy that comes with it is awesome and tastes good on everything. i would eat tofurky all year round if it was available. all you tofurky haters are just jealous.

2. my mom is here visiting from california.
it's my mom. she's totally cute and i love her lots. thanks for coming to visit, mom!

3. puppies
what's better than puppies? um, nothing.

4. silk nog
stop reading and go get some. then put rum in it. you're welcome.

5.where i live
because it is beautiful and lovely and full of books and coffee shops and i am grateful and thankful for it every day.

6. barack obama.
you guys. stop with the negative nancies! this guy is awesome and he's still our president. remember george w. bush? yeah, well we have barack now so start getting psyched again!

7. mad men
because it is phenomenal and brilliant. i just finished season 3 and i am so excited for season 4 yet i am reluctant to get to the last episode because i don't want it to ever end....

no thanks:

1. snuggies for dogs
just humiliating for everyone. come on!

2. dunkin' donuts pancake covered sausage bites.
20g of fat in 3 little bites. enough reason for the rest of the world to hate america.

3. sarah palin.
another book and a tv show. why do i still have to see her face in front of my face all the time? ahhh!

4. red bull & vodka
the official drink of douche bags.

5.open toed boots.
an awful idea serving no purpose whatsoever.

6.kids with iphones/ipads
it ain't right. stop it.

the calm before the (holiday) storm

so it's that time again.

when people start putting up christmas decorations before thanksgiving has even arrived.

let's all take a deep breath. because i love this time of year...the calm before the storm.

there's been some serious goodness lately. i got to see bloody bloody andrew jackson on broadway, which i'd been looking forward to forever. it was great; so creative and smart. it made me miss the process of creating theater, but i know i will always be able to see great theater regardless if it is part of my career or not. i also got to see my friend, dave, be amazing in this play which just closed. if you find high school acapella groups hilarious (and you clearly don't have a funny bone in your body if you don't)  go see this play if it is ever remounted. you will laugh your ass off for an hour and a half...without intermission.

my friend, caissie, was in town this past week. i hadn't seen her since i went to london in june where she had been starring in hair. she is on her way back to london this very moment to star in the new musical production of ghost (yep, as in the one with demi moore & patrick swayze and that hot hot pottery scene!) before she took off again, i was lucky enough to get my best girl friends in the world together for dinner at the stanton social. some had never met each other before, so it was kind of a big deal for me. i don't usually post pictures i'm in or of people in general, but i have to make an exception this time.

i have the most amazing friends, and i'm feeling very lucky and grateful about that.

mark and i are having some friends over next weekend for a little house warming, so i thought i'd test out some recipe ideas tonight for our party and for thanksgiving. my mom will be in town for the holiday and i'm going to cook up a feast!

tonight i came up with the idea of making lasagna muffins, which sounds disgusting, but it's really just little mini lasagnas cooked into cupcake molds. i cooked the noodles then tore them into small sections and layered them with ricotta and tomato sauce inside the liners. it went okay..i think it might be too messy for a party.

they tasted good and looked cute, but i can just picture those layers going everywhere. yikes.

i also made stuffed mushrooms, which turned out really well.

i made a filling that combined lentils, rosemary, mushroom stock, savory crackers, and chestnuts. i got the chestnuts canned in water so they were really soft and easy to cook with. turns out chestnuts have no fat in them and add a great flavor. i combined all the ingredients and filled the baby bella mushrooms with the puree and roasted them in the oven for about 20 minutes. i first sauteed the mushrooms with a little balsamic and olive oil to bring out their flavor. they were great, so i think i'm definitely going to serve them on saturday.

i've also been playing around with a pumpkin dessert which is really just pumpkin pie mix, egg whites and condensed milk all blended together and baked in the over for 45 minutes. i'm calling it a custard, but it should really be called super easy delicious pumpkin food because it is effortless and with non fat condensed milk it really is a healthy alternative to pie...not that i'm hating on pie. just saying.

looks gross but tasted awesome. if i had had a scoop of vanilla ice cream or some whipped cream, i promise i would have added it.

i will be back soon with more holiday recipes. happy almost tofurkey day!

what's been going on

hey, this has been a busy month!

2 food festivals, a wedding, and atlantic antic. there's been a lot going on.

and did i mention i moved? i'm finally doing the domestic partnership thing and it sure is nice. i got a cute boy to live with and a cat out of the deal, so i win!

earlier in september i attended the farm city fair which was an all day food fest conveniently located in my neighborhood. there were lots of yummy freebies, including a slow poached egg prepared and served by master chef wylie dufresne!

another highlight was a "geographically inspired new ice cream flavor based on bergen street and the festival" created by food artist, miwa koizumi. this was so cool...she created a flavor called bread & cheese which was inspired by the fromageries that used to line bergen st. back in the day (still looking for info on this) miwa has created a project called ny flavors which she creates new flavors inspired by local neighborhoods flavors and histories. she describes her work as an installation "mapping the tastes and smells from nyc's different tribes into a comestible frozen liquid." other flavors include a lox and bagel ice cream for the lower east side and kimchi sorbet for korea town in the the east 30's. i was skeptical at first, but her ice cream was delicious--i don't know if tasted like bread or cheese necessarily, but it was yummy and amazingly creative. check out some of her other flavors here. 

inside the festival, which was held at the invisible dog center there were these amazing grass sculptures of human bodies. the sculptures were constructed out of soil and exhibited after grass seeds had begun to grow.

the artist, mathilde roussel giraudy, says the sculptures demonstrates how what we consume affects our bodies on a level beyond just taste, i.e we are what we eat. although i believe it to have been unintentional, the sculptures were eerily reminiscent to me of some of the very disturbing preserved bodies i saw when i visited pompeii a few years ago. those were casts that had been created of the petrified exteriors of humans who had perished in the volcanic explosion of mt. vesuvius in 79ad. the positions of the grass sculptures were similar to those of some of the casts, and i assumed it was an interesting commentary on humans who has perished in ash vs. humans growing and generating out of earth. i liked the dichotomous idea of dying in soil and being reborn into earth, but i think my theory may have been a bit farfetched.

recently i was lucky enough to attend just food's let us eat local event, which made me feel like i had graduated to being a real foodie, at least for one night. i've been volunteering with just food, which is one of the coolest organizations ever. they help communities get access to local food and support the farmers who provide it. they also do free workshops about community supported agriculture groups and provide education and support to schools and neighborhoods throughout nyc. they generally rock and i was pretty psyched to be at their benefit, which featured the best restaurants in new york and the local ingredients used in their menus. basically i spent the whole night being fed from chefs from abc kitchen, dovetail, gramercy tavern, etc...and i got to drink beer sponsored by nyc craft beer week. yep, it was a very good night. here are some pics of the food at the event that i got off the metromix website.

beets and watermelon salad from gramercy tavern

cucumber vichyssoise from dovetail

smoked tomato soup from almond.

speaking of food and festivals, last week was one of my favorite events, brooklyn's atlantic antic. it only happens once a year, so i've made a point to go the past three years. it's an all day festival of food, music, art, and general fun. the spirit is infectious, and i got some pics that i think really captured the energy of the day.

and yes, we did make it to a wedding in boston and had a great time catching up with good friends, hanging out with babies, and seeing some of the city. congrats again to brett & lindsay, who threw a pretty great party and esp. to lindsay for her choice of stylish and comfortable footwear on her wedding day.

oh yeah, i'm obsessed with this snake ring from st. kilda in park slope. it's only $13,200. let me know if you have the extra money laying around. i'll pay you back...not.

what it means to me

tonight marked the beginning of the jewish new year, which for most of us who are more jew-ish than observant, it is yet another opportunity to get a head start on all those resolutions we have probably broken since we swore them on jan '01 of the previous new year according to the christian calendar. yep, us chosen folk get not one but two shots to swear off smoking, or resolve to exercise more and eat junk food less. both new years symbolize renewal; a chance to be reborn and reinvent ourselves. as humans we spend every day either indulging in or fighting our vices. often we feed our temptations with very little recognition of their consequences until that one day out of the year when we are forced into a tete a tete with our flaws and we convince ourselves that next year will be different. we promise ourselves that we will be a little less, well, human. we are after all nothing, if not imperfect in every way. so tonight I accompanied my fantastic friend, franny, to these crazy hippied-out services she goes to to welcome in the jewish new year. they were unconventional to say the least; held in a winery instead of a temple, led by a new-agey gay man who was more guru than rabbi, and accompanied by a band dressed like the cast of mad men, most with multi-colored hair cuts...i liked it right away. i grew up in synagogues, but i thrived on praying outdoors. never religious but naturally humanistic, i resented stuffy crowded rooms of worship but was easily enticed by acoustic guitar harmonies and outdoor services. i got my fix of this at the jewish camp i spent every summer from age 8 to 18 at. i matured and grew in those wooden cabins and rocky roads. i had heart-break and accomplishment, pangs of loneliness and exalted freedom. i went from student to teacher, child to adult. i endured a full cycle of being and i know i am better for it. the feeling i have when i think of that place is a feeling of home that connects me to my mother, my father, my sister, and every ancestor i've ever had. it makes me feel big in a small community of people i would see year after year, and small in an infinite community of my cultural relatives. sometimes you can just show up somewhere and know all the words to the songs, even if the tune has slightly changed, like tonight. a room full of frizzy-haired adolescents, skinny-jeaned hipsters with suspenders and yamachas, well dressed mothers with better dressed children. whatever--this is new york, and we all came out to see the alternative services with the guru rabbi guy. he talked a lot about that whole renewal thing, and he said it wasn't about making huge changes, it was just an opportunity to be better. we have that ability, as people to always be a little bit better, cause we just want peace, right? we could all just be better and maybe be that much closer to what we want. i have this amazing friend named caissie who is a performer and through her work has been able to do a lot of international travel of late. i woke up with an email from her wishing me and some of her other friends a happy jewish new year. caissie is in morocco right now and she is one of those people that when you meet her you are inspired to be better because she just radiates kindness and love. she's seen a good amount of the western hemisphere in the past few months, and she finished her email by saying that what she's really learned by this journey of travelling and performing abroad is that the world is cool as fuck. i think that's just it. during the service i thought of my parents in california and my sister and my friend standing next to me and caissie in morocco and all the places i've been and the strangers in the room and i just thought, yeah, the world is cool as fuck. i walked back to my apartment tonight under a sky lit with two beaming lights memoralizing two towers that once stood and the many people that stood inside them almost 9 years ago. if we could all just be a little better...

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the thing about summer (a post about cooking)

oh, summer. we've always had kind of a love/hate thing.

in winter's chill how i long for your long lazy days, your carefree weekends, your sunshine, and then i wake up in a reverie of hot hot heat, sweat dripping off my temples and i curse your long languid days and steamy nights.

you are my ultimate frenemy.

but then i see your luscious fruits and vegetables, and oh how how i sing your praises. i'm having a fling with your vegetables, and it's going really well.

oh fava beans, if only you weren't just a summer thing. i'm so into you.

i've been cooking, oh yeah, i've been cooking and i just can't stop.

in san diego there was quinoa with strawberries and shitake, watermelon, feta and fennel salad, and chilled peaches with white wine and mint.

in north carolina there was linguine with clams, chilaquiles, and also a cooking demonstration i gave with some kick-ass ladies about eating well with vegetarian meat substitutes. i made quinoa and kale salad with tempeh, veggie tacos, and pad-thai. these awesome ladies who were staying in the house with me in north carolina were not vegetarians, but wanted to know how to cook with some great vegetarian products. i introduced them to quorn veggie beef, tempeh, and my favorite seasoning, nutritional yeast. here are the recipes for the north carolina crew and for anyone else who wants to know how to cook a few quick and easy healthy veggie meals:

COLLARD GREENS & TEMPEH SALAD W/ QUINOA

1/2 cup raw shredded collard green or kale

1 package of tempeh

1/4 cup red or natural quinoa

1/4 cup chopped tomatoes

1/4 cup chopped cucumbers

1/4 cup garbanzo beans (canned is fine)

DRESSING

3 tbsps nutritional yeast

2 tbsp apple cider vinegar

2 tbsp tamari

salt & pepper to taste

add salad ingredients together. make dressing separately and then combine.

VEGETARIAN TACOS

2 cups quorn vegetarian beef

1 package taco seasoning (preferably a natural brand without and msg or high fructose corn syrup).

2 tbsps taco sauce ( i like old el paso)

cheese, guacamole, salsa, beans, etc...to taste

combine veggie beef in a pan with seasoning and taco sauce then add to tacos.

there are lots of brands to use if you can't find the quorn type. i personally love gimme lean vegetarian beef and use it in everything from tacos to spaghetti.

back in ny, i can't stop eating fava bean puree with crusty bread. so simple yet so delicious.

this recipes just requires a few handful of fava beans a few cloves of garlic, a tsp of olive oil, a few dashes of salt & pepper and a couple squirts of lemon juice, and voila!! one of the most delicious  spreads you will ever taste and very impressive to guests with some crusty bread to dip. the annoying part is shelling the fava beans, which i do with a little sharp knife slit to the top of the bean, then i can break it open and pop out the bean. i've also heard that boiling the beans will remove their shells, but i've never tried this method. all i know is get em while you can. they're going soon...

last night, dinner started with some goat's milk gouda i picked up with truffle honey i bought in london and fresh figs. it felt very fancy.

after appetizers come a cooling gazpacho and spaghetti with rock shrimp, clams & pesto.  i've made gazpacho every summer for as long as i can remember. i like mine spicy with lots of lime and cilantro.

the spaghetti was really simple and light. i made my pesto with just garlic, basil and olive oil. after i boiled the noodles i put them in a big pan with the shrimp, clams, some more garlic, english peas, red pepper flakes some white wine, and salt & pepper. i tossed them together until the shrimp and clams were cooked and the flavors had blended. it was a perfect summer pasta.

and of course, there has to be dessert. i bought some green chili sugar on a whim at whole foods the other day, because i am obsessed with spicy sweet desserts. turns out, it's really spicy and really good. i sprinkled it over some fresh strawberries and it was delicious.

so, summer, as long as you're here i'm gonna make the best of you. i long for the relief of the fall, but until then it's fava beans, strawberries, sweet corn, and watermelon, and that's all right with me.

part 5: north carolina

because europe was fast-paced and not very restful

because four weeks wasn't enough of a vacation

because we were dreading going back to the grind

because we had no more money and didn't want to face it

because we were invited to go the outer banks for a week!

because jet lag can be worse coming back

because you only live once

we took another week of vacation.

we got to stay in an amazing house in nags head, north carolina with 13 other adults and about 1,000 children (10?) with a pool, a hot tub, a beach nearby and a plethora of seafood buffets. ahh....

north carolina was all about family, and sand and water, late night karaoke and waking up early to make breakfast. it was peaceful and perfect and i'm so happy we didn't let our common sense stop us from going.