Tag Archives: cooking

A Sunday Filled With Muffins and Tacos is a Good Sunday…

9 Jan

I’ve had a first for the new year… I baked muffins!  That’s right – I don’t think I’ve ever baked muffins before.   Yesterday my friend Wendy came over and she was eating a delicious pumpkin muffin and there on the spot we got inspired and decided we were going to bake muffins.  I checked out my handy Cooks Illustrated: The Best New Recipe Cookbook (everything I make out of this cookbook comes out great – I highly recommend it!) and found a recipe for Cinnamon Sugar-Dipped Blueberry Muffins.  I had most of the ingredients on hand and off we went!

The blog Stylish Cuisine already outlined this blueberry muffin recipe here – but we made a few little tweaks out of necessity… and a sense of adventure.  

First, I only had shy of one cup of blueberries (I’ve been eating them with my cereal in the morning) – but I did have some blackberries… so we threw those in with the rest of my blueberries equaling about 1 1/2 cups of berries overall.

Then – I only had one cup of sour cream (the recipe calls for 1 1/4 cups), which I had bought for the tacos I was making for dinner).  Oh well… we threw that cup of sour cream in and then decided to add 1/4 of a cup of ricotta cheese, which I happened to have in my fridge from making turkey burgers the other night.  I figured – hey… it’s dairy, it’s yummy, I don’t want want it to go to waste – why not?

Well – I don’t know what these muffins would have tasted like without our little tweaks – but MAN – they came out DELICIOUS!  Oh – and when I went to get the ground cinnamon out of my pantry for the topping, I realized I didn’t have any.  But I did have some cinnamon sticks.  So I used my zester and made myself some freshly-ground cinnamon and wow… grating the cinnamon fresh like that is amazing!  It smelled SO good – much more intense than the usual store-bought ground cinnamon.

Here is a pic of one of our beautiful muffins… light and fluffy, perfectly moist, crumbly on top, with a nice coat of crunchy cinnamon sugar – YUM.

Cinnamon Sugar-Dipped Blueberry/Blackberry Muffin

 

Then came dinner.  One of our favorite dinners is TACO NIGHT!  I used to just buy those taco kits in the supermarket with the powdered seasoning mix and the taco shells – but after I looked at the ingredients on that seasoning packet I was determined to ditch the packet and do it up from scratch instead.  Here are the ingredients to the seasoning that comes in the box:

Maltodextrin, Salt, Chili Pepper, Onion Powder, Spice, Monosodium Glutamate (MSG), Corn Starch, Yellow Corn Flour, Partially Hydrogenated Soybean Oil (otherwise known as Trans Fats), Silicon Dioxide (Anticaking Agent), Natural Flavor, Ethoxyquin (Preservative).

Bad news!!

So I found this recipe (I honestly don’t remember where I got it!) and scribbled it on a piece of paper and I’m telling you… it makes the most delicious tacos.  And now we’ve subbed lean ground turkey breast for ground beef and I actually feel like it’s a healthy meal (and we CRAVE it)!  Try it out… you won’t be disappointed!

  • 2 tsp vegetable oil (I typically use canola)
  • 1 small onion chopped fine
  • 3 garlic cloves minced (I often press them in the garlic press – easier)
  • 2 tbsp chili powder
  • 1 tsp ground cumin
  • 1 tsp ground coriander
  • 1/2 tsp oregano
  • 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 lb. ground turkey breast (I use lean ground turkey breast raised without antibiotics)
  • 1/2 cup tomato sauce (I use Cento San Marzano Peeled Tomatoes) and squish them – it’s fun.
  • 1/2 cup low sodium chicken broth (I use organic)
  • 2 tsp cider vinegar
  • 1 tsp brown sugar

Directions:

  1. Heat oil over medium heat – add onion and cook until softened (stirring around so it doesn’t burn) – about five minutes
  2. Add garlic, chili powder, cumin, coriander, oregano, cayenne and salt and mix together with the onion.  Cook until fragrant (smells DELISH) – about a minute.
  3. Add turkey and break apart and cook until no longer pink – about 5 minutes
  4. Add tomato sauce, chicken broth, vinegar and brown sugar and bring to a simmer
  5. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer uncovered, stirring frequently until thick and no longer liquidy about 10 minutes

That’s it!  Now – measuring out the ingredients might take a few minutes… but when I put them all in little ramekins, I feel like a TV chef and it’s fun.  And then once everything’s measured, you just throw it all in the skillet and it’s done in no time.  And it’s so much more delicious – and you don’t get that super dehydrated feeling from all the salt and MSG and there’s no trans fats to make you fat and eventually give you heart disease!  Score.

Usually, I heat up a can of fat-free refried black beans and put together some toppings, which include:

  • sour cream
  • chopped up avocado
  • chopped tomatoes
  • shredded lettuce
  • shredded cheddar
  • salsa
  • Frank’s Red Hot 

This time, I had used up my sour cream and my avocado wasn’t ripe – so I skipped both of those and I must say – I didn’t really miss them.  I might continue to skip the sour cream in the future because it just adds extra fat (and I go full-fat with my sour cream because I hate the low-fat or fat-free – they taste nasty to me).

Oh – and finally, this time, we bought these amazing white corn tortillas from La Tortilla Factory brand and Adam heated up them up in a little oil (next time I want to try doing it without the oil).  They were the perfect vessel for our delicious fresh turkey tacos!

If you end up making either of these (muffins or tacos) – do tell me what you think!

Anyway – happy Monday everyone.  Looks like it’s going to be another fairly mild week in New York.  Yay.

xo

 

 

 

nell’s kitchen

7 Nov

So I told you already that I’m getting all ‘nesty’ lately right?  I’ve been doing lots of cooking and organizing and even a little baking.  Last week I set a personal record for myself.  I cooked five nights in a row.  I seriously don’t think I’ve ever done that.  In fact – from Sunday brunch to Friday lunch I didn’t eat one meal outside our home.  That’s honestly kind of a big deal for me.  I think part of this is stemming from being pregnant.  I’ve just felt sort of cozy at home lately and it’s been fun trying out new recipes and playing with all our new kitchen gear (wedding presents that spent nearly two years at my parents house in Massachusetts because of our previously teeny apartment).  Besides that – our new neighborhood (though completely pretty and awesome) is sort of lacking in delivery options.  Back in the East Village – we had our regular spots that we craved every week.  Delivery was quick, cheap and easy – and we had just about any type of food available to us nearly twenty-four hours a day.  Fort Greene definitely has some good restaurants – but the delivery scene just isn’t really doing it for me quite yet.  So Adam and I have started trying to recreate all our favorite restaurant cravings at home.  It’s become a fun little project for us.

Craving #1: Quality Pizza

It all started with pizza.  For my twenty-eighth birthday party, I hired my good friend (and pizza maker extraordinnaire) Mark Bello to help me put together a pizza and beer pairing party at Beer Table.  Mark has since opened his own pizza-making school in the Lower East Side called Pizza-a-Casa.  He is a pizza guru and all around foodie and I am oh so happy to have him in my life.  Anyway, I got hooked on the fun of making pizza, so I registered for a pizza stone and peel as shower gifts, but I didn’t really end up making much use out of them over the last couple years.  Then recently, I discovered frozen pizza dough from Fresh Direct.  They deliver the dough in four little balls to you frozen and you just thaw it out the night before you want to make a pizza.   Thanks to my work with Mark, I have all these recipes and ideas for yummy pizzas to make at home – so lately Adam and I have been on a pizza-making kick!  With a few simple ingredients: good quality fresh mozzerella, pizza sauce (been using Mario Batali’s jarred pizza sauce from Fresh Direct – but simple good quality San Marzano crushed tomatoes from a can will also do the trick), fresh basil (growing on my windowsill), thinly sliced sopressata picante and a little freshly grated Pecorino Romano for a finishing touch (especially over the crust) and there you have it – a restaurant-worthy, super yummy pizza.  Plus – making it at home is so much fun!

Meanwhile, Adam got inspired by a breakfast pizza recipe he found on Smitten Kitchen, so he adapted it to our liking and it has since become our new favorite breakfast treat.  Last weekend (and the weekend before), we invited over friends and made breakfast pizzas – topped with scallions, chives, garlic, bacon, some ricotta, fresh mozz and then finished with eggs and some fresh-grated parm.  Stupendous!  Here is a picture of one of Adam’s specialty breakfast pies:

Adam's Breakfast Pizza

The eggs on this one were a little over-cooked… it’s more delicious when the yolks break and run over the pie – but you get the idea.  Isn’t it pretty?

Craving #2:  Indian Food

I often get a craving for super flavorful, creamy, spicy, saucy Indian food.  However the Indian delivery in this neighborhood has left me rather cold.  I mentioned in a previous post how I picked up some Indian spices recently so the other night, with my friend Robyn coming over for dinner, I decided to make an Indian menu.  I used a Cooks Illustrated recipe for Chicken Tikka Masala and a recipe for Matar Makhani – Green Peas with Creamy Sauce from Madhur Jaffrey’s Quick & Easy Indian Cooking book.  Alongside I made a simple basmati rice to soak up the yummy sauces.

Well – I must admit that the preparation for this meal took me quite a while (overall prep and cooking time was about three hours!) – however, it was SO worth it!  The flavors were incredible!  And it was rather pleasing measuring out all the beautifully colored spices and ingredients into my little ramekins (you know I have a love for ramekins).  These were the measured out ingredients for the peas… I had even more measured out for the chicken!

Ramekins a plenty

This meal totally rocked!  Here is a photo of the finished dish (with peas on the side):

Chicken Tikka Masala & Green Peas with Creamy Sauce

Robyn showed off her fancy rice presentation skills by using a ramekin to shape the rice and sprinkling a little cilantro on top – another win for ramekins. :)

Chicken Tikka Masala with Basmati Rice

Craving #3: Turkey Burgers

When we lived in the East Village, we’d order from Westville almost every Sunday.  We loved the turkey burgers there  - though the turkey burgers from Zaitzeff also became a go-to for variety.  We’d both order turkey burgers with cheddar cheese, fries and then a side of hot buffalo sauce for dipping!  Now that we don’t have Westville or Zaitzeff around, I’ve started making weekly turkey burgers at home and I must say – I am beginning to master the recipe and they have now become just as satisfying as our favorite delivery burgers.  I once again use a Cooks Illustrated Recipe from the Light cookbook!  Instead of 93% lean turkey meat – I usually just buy ground turkey breast from the farmer’s market and keep it in the freezer until the night before I’m ready to cook the burgers.  Turkey breast can get dry – but this Cooks Illustrated recipe adds in ricotta cheese (use part-skim to make it lighter), which makes these burgers juicy and moist!  I add shredded cheese to each burger for the last five minutes of cooking, which melts the cheese perfectly – and I often serve these burgers on Bay’s Multi-Grain English Muffins.  Now we just need to figure out a hot sauce that completes the dish… I’ve heard Franks or Crystal tastes the most like buffalo sauce.  I’ll keep you posted on that.

(Sorry – no pictures of the turkey burgers just yet – but I’ll be sure to take one the next time I make them).

Meanwhile, other cravings on our list include:

  • Thai – I’d like to master a yummy Pad Thai recipe along with a curry (perhaps Masaman?).
  • Ramen – we sorely miss our visits to Minca in the East Village and are interested in trying out Ramen at home!
  • Mexican – I’d love to make Huevos Rancheros and Chilequiles Verdes
Oh – and I’ve decided, with so much cooking going on lately I should get an awesome “nell’s kitchen” sign made to hang up in our kitchen.  Right?  That thought makes me happy.

Hello Lovely Weather

3 Jun

Flowers on a Windowsill

So now I just want to freeze time.  It is so amazingly beautiful out today.  It’s that lovely mid-seventies springtime weather that is my absolute favorite and unfortunately, typically lasts for just a few weeks before the hot, sweaty, smelly summer rolls in to NYC.  Adam is out of town on a shoot this weekend, so I’m enjoying a girly weekend with my dear friend Faye – a friend since childhood.  Faye is a little over five months pregnant, which is a total trip for me!  She’s got her cute bulgy belly and everything.  I keep freaking out every time I look at her (in a good way)!

I’m enjoying feeding her while she’s here.  I think my future kitchen-to-be is inspiring me to get my cook on!  Last night I made turkey burgers, roasted asparagus and a salad.  This morning I made egg sandwiches and I just made her one of my new favorite snacks that I make for myself all the time for lunch.  I had it in a restaurant and decided it was easy enough to re-create at home.

Avocado Toast:

1/4 ripe avocado (easily spreadable)

Good olive oil

Sea Salt & Pepper

Parmigiano Reggiano (shaved thin)

Lemon

Piece of healthy bread (I’m using whole wheat)

Toast the piece of bread in the toaster.  While it’s toasting, cut the lemon in half, shave some thin slices of Parmigiano Reggiano cheese and slice the avocado open.  When the bread is toasted, put it on a plate, drizzle it with a little bit of olive oil and sprinkle with a little sea salt.  Then scoop out 1/4 of the avocado and spread it on the bread.  Squeeze fresh lemon juice on top of the avocado and then add the shaved Parmigiano Reggiano cheese.  Sprinkle a tad more olive oil on top and add one or two twists of the pepper mill!  Voila!  A super easy, tasty, snack that is nice and filling.  It also has fiber (bread & avocado), protein (cheese) and good fats (avocado and the olive oil).

Have a lovely weekend everyone!

PS – I took the above photo walking around in the west village.  It totally feels European to me – the faded green watering can, the bright flowers, the open window with no screen.  Charming isn’t it?

Fab Dinner, Mediocre Balls.

20 Apr

Yes, sadly the matzo balls didn’t come out so hot last night!  I’m convinced it was because I used this other brand of matzo meal.  I followed the same recipe I always use – but I usually use Streit’s or Manischewitz – this time I used some organic Israeli brand I picked up at Whole Foods.  Big mistake.  They didn’t turn out as light and fluffy as they normally do.  Everyone was kind – they all said they like their balls denser and slightly chewy (yes, we had a rather comical conversation over dinner about how we prefer our balls).  The denser style seems to have a nostalgia factor – I guess mothers have been screwing up matzo balls for decades. :)

Anyway, other than the matzo balls, our meal was fantastic!  Amie made the most incredible roast chicken I’ve ever had.  The recipe came from the book A Bird in the Oven and Then Some by Mindy Fox.

A Bird in the Oven and Then Some - by Mindy Fox

It was a roast chicken with green olives, fennel seeds and thyme.  It was incredibly flavorful!  I don’t usually like recipes that use olives (even though I love olives), I think the olive flavor tends to overwhelm – but this was PERFECTION!  I’m totally buying the book.  It has a bunch of different roast chicken recipes, along with recipes for sides and then finally – recipes for meals to make with your leftover roast chicken.  Brilliant.

Amie also made a side dish from the book – warm snow peas with sea salt and olive oil – totally delish!  You flash-boil the snow peas for two minutes until they turn this gorgeous bright green and that’s it!  Crisp, fresh and sweet… drizzle a little good olive oil on top and a sprinkle of sea salt and you’re good to go.  I made some roasted butternut squash with butter and brown sugar and then I threw some Shitake mushrooms in the oven with some garlic, olive oil and sea salt and roasted them up and they were spectacular – super meaty and full of flavor!  I’m having a new love affair with mushrooms lately.  I’m obsessed.  And Adam used to hate mushrooms, but now that I’ve been cooking them up all yummy, he’s a fan too.

So, the bad news is, I was so concerned with finishing up my dishes and getting them to the table, that I completely forgot to take pictures before everyone started chowing down (it might have been the wine too)!  We realized when we were about three-quarters into the meal.  So I have ZERO pictures of the food.  I didn’t think you’d want to see a photo of our picked over roast chicken – right?  Oh well.  Next time!  I did however take funny pictures of Adam and Brett (Amie’s brother).  People always say they look alike.  So we did a test:

Adam.

Brett.

Funny right?

Rain. Bah Humbug.

19 Apr

Drip 2 - Settings: ISO 400, f/5, 1/30 sec, 100mm macro lens

I don’t know if it’s the gray rainy weather, a cold or just allergies, but I’m feeling ridiculously draggy today – headache, scratchy throat, the works!  Yuck.  I was thinking of the little saying I learned as a child – “April showers bring May flowers” – and that gave me some comfort that at least all this rain isn’t some global warming phenomenon.  April is simply supposed to be rainy.

But I have a little sunshine in my refrigerator in the form of chicken soup!  Heal me!  Heal me!  Oh Jewy remedy of deliciousness!  Yes tonight is our make-up Passover meal because I had a photography class last night and we didn’t do a Seder.  So in a couple hours, we’re heading downstairs to enjoy a home-cooked meal with Rob, Amie and Amie’s brother, Brett.  They’re our little substitute Jewish family.  I like having a tradition that involves cooking and eating with good friends (when family can’t be around) – especially when all I have to do is go downstairs!!

So in addition to my matzo ball soup, Amie is cooking up a lovely roasted chicken and some sugar snap peas and I’m also making some roasted butternut squash and asparagus (not exactly traditional seder food – but delicious!).  So now, it’s time to get cooking!!

I’ll take some pictures of the meal and let you know how it all comes out.  I’m using a different brand of matzo meal so I hope the balls are up to snuff.  Fingers crossed.

Til tomorrow. :)

Photo 214 out of 365 – “Cat in a Second-Story Window”

10 Nov

"Cat in a Second-Story Window" - Settings: ISO 200, f/18, 1/125 sec, 50mm lens

This is the scene I stumbled upon literally one door down from my apartment building yesterday when I left to go run some errands.  I love it!  The cat is just chilling… watching the passersby, getting some fresh air.  I love his stance… and how he’s looking away from camera.  I have another one where he’s looking right at me, but this one was more powerful.  And that lens flare just makes it for me.  I knew it would be my photo of the day even though it was the first photo I took!  It just has that magic in my opinion.

Meanwhile, I seem to have a bug up my butt for some reason this week… some sort of restlessness.  I think it’s because I finished with the prints for the photography show, which was a big, challenging task – and now I’m done with it and I’m feeling like – “ok… what’s next”… you know?  This photo project and blogging is definitely both stimulating and difficult, though because I do it every day, it is starting to take on a more routine feel vs. a big exciting challenge I have to rise to.

I had the craziest most exhausting dream last night.  I was at my friend Faye’s wedding weekend (which happened already), and I was SUPER late for the brunch because I couldn’t find my hotel room.  I felt really guilty!  And panicky!  I kept running around the halls of the hotel endlessly and couldn’t remember which room I was in.  Then, after the brunch, I was supposed to pack up and catch a bus somewhere, but I kept losing my suitcases.  I gave them to an attendant and then I couldn’t remember who I gave them to – and again, I was running around in circles for what seemed like HOURS – looking for my bags – and all of the hotel employees were rude and completely unhelpful.  I was happy to wake up to the fact that it was just a dream – but it definitely seems related to this little bit of anxiousness I’m feeling this week.  Dreams are so interesting.

I have a few projects I’d like to start working on, which will hopefully ease this feeling, including re-starting a yoga practice (I just bought a beginner’s package and will go to my first class tomorrow).  And today, I’m working on a shoot for Bodega, which should be really cool.  We’re doing time-lapse photography of the Barneys holiday window being put together.  This is my first exposure to time-lapse photography, so I’m excited to learn something new!  Plus – it’s the Barneys holiday window… how fun!  I am working on this today, Friday and next Tuesday – and then Tuesday night is the big unveiling party and I believe I’ll be there shooting party footage as well.  That should be really cool!

Anyway – that’s what’s on my mind this morning.  Oh yeah, and the healthy tuna meal I made last night was NOT very good.  I didn’t like it at all.  It was too salty and needed a sweet taste to balance the salty soy… maybe honey?  The little parchment packets were fun to make though – and they made cleanup quite easy!

Here is the runner up for photo of the day, which was the last picture I took yesterday.  The cat wins… but I like this one quite a bit too.  A totally different vibe.

"Roses" - Settings: ISO 400, f/2.5, 1/100 sec, 50mm lens

 

Photo 213 – Tree in Amber Light

9 Nov

"Tree in Amber Light" - Settings: ISO 100, f/1.8, 1/160 sec, 50mm lens

Well… this was another late-night forced to get creative shot… though there’s a few things I really like about it.   First, the subject matter makes me happy.  This tree is a little piece of art I got on a Father’s Day weekend several years ago in Woodstock.  I had just gone through a bad breakup and I had just moved into my very first apartment living ALONE!  I was blue – but excited about my apartment, so my mom took me shopping for cute things to spruce up the place.  We found this great little home decor and gift shop in Woodstock and we bought a bunch of adorable things.  The owner of the store was so nice and he threw this little tree in for free with the rest of my purchases.  I still have all those things we bought from that shop, hanging up in our apartment now and it all brings me back to that day shopping with my mom – and how she took care of me and wanted to cheer me up.

As for the photo, I just held the little tree from the top with my left hand in front of our cloth lampshade.  I thought it would look cool to have the silhouette of the tree with light coming from behind through the stones.  I also thought the color of the lampshade was a nice compliment to the amber color of the stones themselves.  I really like how the texture of the lampshade looks – especially through the big stone on the bottom (sort of warped and magnified).  I also like how in the background, the reflection of the lampshade in the mirror on the wall echoes the amber color as well – but I like how it’s blurred – so it’s just really an additional accent of that same color without being a distraction.  It almost looks like another lamp in the distance.

Now I’m going to go make dinner.  I’m making an Andrew Weil recipe because I’m trying to be healthy after all that heavy food we ate over the weekend!  Tuna en papillote (in little parchment paper envelopes)… I marinated the tuna in soy, ginger, lime juice and chopped jalepeno (seeds removed).  The recipe called for cilantro as well – but Adam hates it so I left it out.  Then you put the tuna in the parchment envelopes on top of a little bed of chopped spinach, thin-sliced red onion, orange rind zest, red peppers sliced thin and a little grated ginger…  and serve with a lemon slice.  I’m also going to serve some brown rice alongside. I hope it’s good because I’m hungry!!!

Heavenly Berkshires Getaway

8 Nov

Well hello everyone!!  It’s nice to be back… well sort of.  I mean I totally wasn’t ready to leave our little idyllic country cabin in the woods, but it is nice to be back to the blog and to a social life!  I do have to say though, it was quite refreshing and restorative to completely disconnect and spend some quality time with my hubby away from the internet and the television and the craziness of NYC!

So – before we get to the weekend, I have to post my photo from last Tuesday night.  Tuesday we had a screening of Hello Lonesome at Tribeca Cinemas as part of the Big Apple Film Festival.  It was a tiny theater and a rather small screening – but the audience was great and really receptive to the film.  Thanks to all of you who made it out… and to those who couldn’t… don’t worry, I think there will be more NY screenings at some point!  I’ll be sure to keep everyone posted.

So, Tuesday night I got home around midnight and I hadn’t taken any photos that I liked yet.  Therefore, photo 207 was a result of a last-minute before-bedtime perusal around my apartment for something interesting to photograph.  I ended up with this:

Photo 207 out of 365 – “Headboard with Extremely Shallow Depth of Field”

Headboard with Extremely Shallow Depth of Field - Settings: ISO 800, f/1.4, 1/40 sec, 50mm lens

This is a photo of our headboard – it has horizontal ridges like you see here – but I used the lowest aperture setting available with my lens (f/1.4), you can see how the shallow depth of field creates a really interesting blurry look – with just that sliver of headboard in sharp focus in the middle.  In contrast, here is a very similar photo, this time taken with an aperture setting of f/3.2 instead of f/1.4.  You can see how changing your aperture setting can really affect the look of the photo.

Headboard 2 - Settings: ISO 1600, f/3.2, 1/13 sec, 50mm lens

In this photo, the area in focus is a little wider.  Of course, f/3.2 is still rather shallow (this lens goes up to a maximum aperture setting of f/22) – so here you still get blur, but it is a definite change from the f/1.4 setting above.  This is one reason to abandon your auto settings and start playing around with the manual camera settings… it gives you more control over the image and allows you to be more creative with the look!  Please feel free to email me with any photography questions if you are interested!

Now – let’s go away to a little cabin in the woods!

So – I booked this mini vacation only a couple weeks ago.  Adam has been working straight through since our honeymoon without a break and with everything going on in the month of October, we hadn’t had a chance to celebrate our one-year anniversary at all.  Thus I thought it would be perfect to get away for a long weekend and kiss our frantic city life goodbye in exchange for some quiet R&R in the country.  What a good idea.

We hit the road on Wednesday afternoon at around one o’clock.  We rented a mini-SUV as the owners of the cabin alerted us that it tends to be snowy this time of year and the cabin is located on an unpaved road towards the top of a mountain. AWESOME!  I found the cabin on homeaway.com a few weeks earlier.  It looked very simple in the photos – but that is what I wanted… simple and cute.  And the reviews were all stellar!  With good reason.  The cabin is located just outside of North Adams, MA – in the North of Berkshire County… about a twenty minute drive into Vermont.  Adam and I both love mountainy country landscapes – so we were in heaven before we even arrived.  Here, we pulled over along the way to document the beautiful road taking us to our cabin:

On the road on our way to the cabin

And here she is…  very plain and simple on the outside… but magical, warm and cozy on the inside.  We grew very attached in no time at all.

Our little cabin in the woods... ahhhhh.

We got the tour of the cabin from Randy, one of the owners, unloaded the car and then hopped back in for a drive to the town to load up on groceries.  When we got home, we got the fire going in the wood-burning stove and made a simple dinner – pasta with some local arrabiata pasta sauce, a big salad and some chicken breast I cooked up on the cast-iron skillet.  Here is photo 208 – the fire, which became a major focus of our weekend!  We’ve discovered we’re both sort of pyros!

Photo 208 out of 365 – “Cozy Wood-Burning Stove”

"Cozy Wood Burning Stove" - Settings: ISO 3200, f/3.5, 1/15 sec, 50mm lens

 

Now it was a good thing we stocked up on groceries on Wednesday night, because it poured all day Thursday and we did not leave the house!!  It was wonderful.  Adam had a couple film-related things he needed to get done, so he worked away on his computer, while I kept the fire going all day, took photos around the house and got experimental in the kitchen.  I wanted to make a potato soup – similar to one I loved as a child, but I had no recipe.  There used to be this baked potato soup at Houlihan’s restaurant… do you remember Houlihan’s?  Anyway, it was delicious and thick and chunky with little crumbles of cheese and bacon on top and I was craving it.  So – without a recipe, I decided to follow a recipe for clam chowder instead, substituting chicken broth for the clam broth and adding shredded cheese to the mix.  It ended up coming out pretty good – though it wasn’t as thick and chunky as I wanted it to be.  But – it made a good hearty dinner on a cold rainy day!  Here are some of my cabin shots from Thursday:

Photo 209 out of 365 – “Cabin Interior”

"Cabin Interior" - Settings: ISO 3200, f/3.2, 1/100 sec, 50mm lens

The thermometer on our front porch... was under 40 most of the visit!

Adam at work - of course he still manages to sneak in some computer time!

Stones piled on one of the cabin's wood beams

After a relaxing day, we ate our potato soup for dinner and watched About Shmidt on Adam’s computer.  I thought it was ok… very depressing and slow, but entertaining nonetheless.

On Friday I had a bit of literal “cabin fever”… from not leaving the house on Thursday, so after a nice home-cooked breakfast by Adam our breakfast chef, we headed into town to explore.  We went to a great little coffee shop in N. Adams called Elf Parlor, where we got hot drinks and Adam took advantage of the free wifi for a few minutes to send out some important documents.  Then we checked out the little town of Williamstown – super charming.  Here is Adam taking my picture standing in the middle of Main Street… as you can see… it was rather quiet.

Adam standing in the middle of Main Street in Williamstown, MA

Then we took a drive out past the center of Williamstown to look for this country farm store the waitress at Elf Parlor told us about.  Along the way, the sun started to come out a little bit and we saw this gorgeous rainbow form – we pulled over immediately to capture it!

 

Photo 210 out of 365 – “Rainbow in Country Paradise”

"Rainbow in Country Paradise" - Settings: ISO 200, f/10, 1/60 sec, 50mm lens

I mean, come on!  Could it get any prettier?  I was freaking out.  Then we arrived at the Green River Farms, which was also ridiculously picturesque and wonderful.  At the country store I bought some beef & thick cut bacon for the beef burgundy recipe I planned to make on Saturday.  Here are some pictures from the farm:

A scarecrow at Green River Farms in Williamstown

I couldn't resist... little Adam drives a tractor!!

The sky was CRAZY beautiful and stormy! I pulled over to take some shots as we left the farm.

When we got home, we decided to make some cocktails and have a rummy 500 tournament.  We are both rather competitive when it comes to rummy 500, so this resulted in a rowdy evening to follow, including lots of trash talking and finally a drunken dance party!  Good times!  I believe Adam won that round of rummy… but I won our other two games, making me the overall rummy 500 champion of the weekend!  YES!  Victory is mine.  Here is Adam winning (for the time being).

Adam shuffling the cards and laughing at something...

On Saturday we had an artsy day.  We started off by exploring these artists lofts in N. Adams that are located in old mill buildings.  One of the buildings is called the Eclipse Mill.   Here we found a book seller with the most amazing collection of books!  We spent about an hour checking out his selection and left with a few purchases.  I bought a photography book about Edward Weston.  Adam bought a book about the making of Woody Allen’s movie “Radio Days“, a book about Hawaiian birds (for a movie idea we came up with on our honeymoon) and a movie poster design book.

After the mill, we headed to the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MASS MoCA), where we first ate lunch at the Gramercy Bistro, which is located in the museum.  I had the most wonderful curried sweet potato soup and a vegetarian lasagna made with butternut squash, spinach, ricotta and a brown butter sage sauce.  It was heavenly!  I want to re-create it at home.  After lunch, we toured the museum, which was very cool.  I had never been there before but read a lot about it when researching the Berkshire area for our wedding.

Mass MoCA Museum (Museum of Contemporary Art) in North Adams, MA

One of our favorite exhibits was called “Material World: Sculpture to Environment” – where artists used everyday materials to make large-scale installations, which took up entire rooms!  The best one was made by Tobias Putrih – here is a description from boston.com:

One installation, by Tobias Putrih, stretches long strands of fishing line across a dark and cavernous gallery. Bunched neatly together, the parallel lines start high on one wall, ending low on the opposite one. A single light source illuminates the strands at about the midway point, causing an optical effect reminiscent of spinning rotor blades or a mystical halo.

You can follow the path of the stretched filaments, which slowly descend below head height to waist level, in a tunnel-like space the dimensions of which become harder to perceive as you move away from the light.

I wasn’t allowed to take photos in that gallery – but here is one from the MASS MoCA website – it was an amazing exhibit… I walked through the tunnel of course and it felt really cool… like you were entering some time warp or something.

 

Photo from MASS MoCA website (www.massmoca.org)

Another great exhibit was in the kidspace called “Pink and Blue Projects” by Portia Munson.  Here is the museum’s description of the exhibit:

Munson will use paintings, photographs, and everyday objects to organize an installation focusing on how the colors pink and blue help to shape and reinforce gender roles. Her work will also be used to discuss the mixed messages sent to children about gender and about mass consumption. The sheer mass quantity of collected pink and blue material goods to be displayed will make plain how children are indoctrinated into the world of materialism and are taught social rules for gender identity.

It was interesting (and a tad disturbing) to examine even adult products like deodorants and razors marketed to us in pink and blue packaging!  In one section of the gallery space, there was a room set up of everything PINK!  My niece Monique would be in heaven in this room!

 

Photo 211 out of 365 – “Pink Explosion”

"Pink Explosion" - Settings: ISO 1600, f/5.6, 1/160, 50mm lens

 

After our day of art appreciation, we picked up a few more things at the grocery store and headed back home.  We were a little homesick for the cabin now after being gone all morning and afternoon!  Immediately upon arriving, I started making my beef burgundy, which was from a Cooks Illustrated recipe.  I had the Meryl Streep version of Julia Child in my head talking about “beef bourguignon” with her high-pitched voice!  I kept mimicking her as I danced around the kitchen putting together all the ingredients.  The recipe looked like it would take about three hours to cook.  After all was said and done, it took over five hours from start to finish!  We ended up eating our beef bourguingnon at ten o’clock at night – a little heavy, yes… but yummy – and RICH!

I learned something with this recipe… first, beef bourguingnon is NOT worth making for two people… though we ate the leftovers last night for dinner and it was divine reheated the second day!  Second, this is a type of recipe for people who simply love to cook.  If not for the experience of cooking, I do not know why  you would make a dish this complicated and labor-intensive.  As you know, after five hours of cooking, it is gone within ten minutes of eating!  That being said, I did actually enjoy the process and the cabin smelled heavenly all night long!  So, I’m glad I did it.

Finally, we arrive at Sunday… boo hoo… it was time to pack up all our belongings and leave our little cabin in the woods.  We were super sad.  We have vowed to return someday not too far away – maybe in the Summer or even during the winter when everything is covered in snow!  It was a wonderfully relaxing weekend and truthfully, time in the country like that really just fills my soul.  We will miss our little cabin in the woods.  I wish I were still there right now… typing at the little writer’s desk, looking out the window at the trees and mountains in the distance… ahhhhhh.

Before we left the area, we decided on a slight detour and took our car up a switchback-heavy road to the summit of Mount Greylock – the highest point in all of Massachusetts.  As we started nearing the top, the tree branches became covered in frost – then, all of a sudden it was snowing!  It was so beautiful seeing the top of the mountain covered in a dusty snow:

Approaching the summit of Mount Greylock... things started getting all snowy!

Which brings us to the final photo of our Berkshires weekend getaway:

Photo 212 out of 365 – “Wintry Branch”

"Wintry Branch" - Settings: ISO 100, f/6.3, 1/100 sec, 65mm (28-105mm lens)

 

So there you have it… I’d say we definitely have a fantasy now of having a house in the Berkshires at some point in our future.  It is so beautiful and open and quiet… and with our wedding weekend there, it sort of just feels right – you know?  I enjoyed this northern Berkshire County area too (our wedding was in the Southern Berkshire County).  The town of N. Adams has so much character – with the old mills and the houses climbing the steep hillsides.  It is really an awesome place.  Our snowy send-off was the perfect end to a lovely weekend, which exceeded all expectations.  If only it could have lasted just a bit longer…

Photo 199 out of 365 – “Retro Rose”

26 Oct

Retro Rose

I took this photo yesterday with my cellphone “Retro” camera.  The app comes with a choice of four different cameras – this one is the Barbl option.  I decided to go out for a run… because with all this eating I do – I figured it’s time to start exercising more.  I hadn’t taken my photo of the day yet – but I can’t run with my big Canon – so I carried my phone with me instead.  I am actually pleased with the results.  It’s rather pretty I think.

Anyway, last night’s chicken was delish.  I just love that marsala sauce – with the mushrooms and the deep flavors that come from the wine and the little bit of bacon!  Yummmmm.  For real – I can eat it like SOUP!  Is that wrong?  I made it with a side of green beans (boiled until tender) with toasted almond slivers and just a touch of butter and lemon juice.  And I also had rice – good for soaking up that sauce!

Tonight I’m going to make those little mini turkey meatballs again from Giada… it was a recipe I’ve referenced here before.  They were wonderful and I’m in the mood for a little Italian flave.  I got some wonderful pasta from a company called Rustichella d’abruzzo.  The shape is called bucatini, which is long and thin, like spaghetti – but more tubular… they actually have a tiny hole in the middle – you can blow through it like a straw.  This gives the pasta more body than regular spaghetti… it has a nice chew to it. I’m rather fond of it myself.  I’m going to serve the mini meatballs with fresh tomato sauce, a little bucatini and a nice healthy salad!  Of course with a little grated Parmigiano Reggiano to top it all off!  No meal in this house is complete without at least a little cheese!

Dentists, Cheese and Brooklyn

25 Oct

And here we are… it’s Monday again.  Really – the weeks are just flying by lately.  Before you know it, it’ll be Thanksgiving and then Christmas and New Year’s, and then I’ll turn thirty-two.  Crazy.

Meanwhile, I’ve had a very Brooklyn-centric few days, which is good – because I’m doing some research for which neighborhoods we might be interested in moving to next summer.  Last Thursday, I stopped by Brooklyn Victory Garden to drop off the last of my photo show materials and I decided to take a nice long walk through Clinton Hill, Fort Greene and then into downtown Brooklyn before heading home.  I was amazed at all the beautiful residential buildings in Clinton Hill.  It’s fun wandering around and discovering the beauty and character of each of the different Brooklyn neighborhoods.  Photo 195 was taken in Clinton Hill… I wish I looked to see what building this is – unfortunately, I didn’t!  But it was gorgeous!  I also sort of messed up with my camera settings.  I probably had the ISO all the way up to 6400 from shooting previously in a darker setting and I forgot to change it – if I were to take this photo again, I’d use a much lower ISO. Using the high ISO setting creates that grainy quality that you can see here.  I actually think it works with this photo (looks like a newspaper print or something) – but it was an accident!

Photo 195 out of 365 – “Columns”

"Columns" - Settings: ISO 6400, f/11, 1/3200 sec, 50mm lens

On Friday I spent another three hours at the dentist.  I’m in the process of having some major dental work done and have seriously logged probably fifty or more hours at the dentist since before our wedding last October.  It’s pretty intense.  But I’m almost done and the finished product should be fabulous and well worth all the trouble.  My dentist visit inspired photo 196 – a nice close-up self-portrait of me looking not so happy.  Ouch.

Photo 196 out of 365 – “Another Trip to the Dentist”

"Back in the Dentist Chair" - Settings: ISO 100, f/2.8, 1/60 sec, 50mm lens

On the way home from the dentist, I stopped at Barnes & Noble to look for a good recipe for dinner.  I had an entire head of broccoli and I wanted to do something with it so I found a recipe for Broccoli Cheddar soup in the Cooks Country Cookbook.  I wrote the recipe down on the back of my magazine and headed down to the subway.  On the F train, I was sitting there, listening to my ipod – wondering if I indeed looked as funny as I felt like I looked (major novocaine action – mouth totally numb).  Then this guy got on the subway – he was super preppy and was wearing these corduroy pants with little dogs on them.

"Dog Pants" - Settings: ISO 1600, f/2.5, 1/40 sec, 50mm lens

I thought the pants were pretty amusing… I always think that style is funny – is it Nantucket style?  With little flamingos or lobsters, or in this case… dogs?  I don’t know – I looked up and there was this kind of thuggy guy sitting across from me on the train and he was staring at the guy’s pants too.  Then we looked at each other and both giggled… but my mouth was so messed up from the novocaine, that I felt like my smile was all crooked and stupid-looking.  I was embarrassed.  I wanted to explain that I had novocaine mouth – but honestly… who really cares?  He got off at the next stop.  But it was a funny moment.

On the way home I had to get butter and cream for the broccoli cheddar soup so I stopped by Saxelby’s at the Essex Market.  They had organic fresh local butter on the menu – YUM – so I asked for some of that.  Turned out – they had to cut it fresh from a ten-pound block.  Great photo op!  I had never seen butter in a ten-pound block before – drool.  Here is my favorite shot from the butter-cutting session:

"Butter" - Settings: ISO 1600, f/4, 1/80 sec, 50mm lens

The soup came out quite delicious!  And I was happy because we ate an entire head of broccoli between the two of us over the course of Friday and Saturday.  I served the soup with some toasted fresh baguette for dipping and had some bites of dark chocolate for dessert.

On Saturday, we took a trip to Clinton Hill again to check out Brooklyn Victory Garden on opening day!  It was super exciting – my photos look fantastic and I’m really proud of myself for actually getting it all done!  And the store is so adorable.  Tess, the owner, has such a distinct style and has decorated the store with such charm and character.  I so admire her bravery in opening her own business.  So much time and energy and work goes into something like that and I just think it rocks to have the balls to go out and do it!  She’s a total inspiration!   Photo 197 is Tess… in her new shop… on opening day.  Congrats Tess!  I was happy to be her very first customer and took home some Cabot Clothbound Cheddar, fresh local eggs, amazing thick-cut bacon and a container of Salvatore Bklyn Ricotta, which basically tastes like a mixture of butter and ricotta.  Ridic.

Photo 197 out of 365 – “Opening Day”

“Opening Day” – Settings: ISO 800, f/5, 1/60 sec, 50mm lens

On Sunday we really just chilled at home – Adam’s previously-mentioned rib injury took a turn for the worse and he was in major pain for most of Saturday afternoon and all day Sunday.  I was contemplating a trip to the emergency room, but we decided he should just take it easy and see if the pain subsided with rest, which fortunately, it has.

In the early evening, I left him at home – lying on the couch and recouperating and I headed to Brooklyn once again for Jess’s birthday drinks!  We went to Floyd – on Atlantic Avenue, which was a cool spot with a Bocce court.  Anyway – here is photo 198, taken at Floyd.

Photo 198 out of 365 – Birthday Drinks at Floyd

"Birthday Drinks at Floyd" - Settings: ISO 6400, f/2.8, 1/30 sec, 50mm lens

Tonight I’m using the rest of my bacon in a delicious Chicken Marsala recipe from Cooks Illustrated.  I love this recipe – it comes out quite sophisticated and the sauce is wonderful over rice!  This dish actually made Adam like mushrooms – which he hated when we first met.  The recipe calls for pancetta, but I have bacon in my house more often then pancetta and I think the substitution works just fine.  Here is the recipe – try it out!  You will be pleased with the results… I promise!

 

Cooks Illustrated Chicken Marsala for Two

1/2 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (6 to 8 ounces each), trimmed, pounded, and patted dry with paper towels
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 1/2 ounces pancetta (2 to 4 slices), cut into pieces 1 inch long and 1/8 inch wide
4 ounces white mushrooms , sliced (about 1 cup)
1 small clove garlic , minced (about 1/2 teaspoon)
1/2 teaspoon tomato paste
3/4 cup marsala wine (sweet)
2 teaspoons lemon juice from 1 lemon
2 tablespoons unsalted butter , cut into 2 pieces, softened
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley leaves

INSTRUCTIONS

  1. Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position, set large heatproof plate on rack, and heat oven to 200 degrees. Place flour in shallow dish. Season chicken with salt and pepper; working one piece at a time, coat both sides with flour.
  2. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in heavy-bottomed, 10-inch skillet over medium-high heat until shimmering. Cook chicken until golden brown on first side, 2 to 3 minutes. Add remaining oil and using tongs, flip chicken; continue to cook until meat feels firm when pressed gently and second side is golden brown, 3 to 4 minutes longer. Transfer chicken to heated plate and return plate to oven.
  3. Return skillet to low heat and add pancetta; cook, stirring occasionally and scraping pan bottom to loosen browned bits, until pancetta is brown and crisp, about 2 to 3 minutes. With slotted spoon, transfer pancetta to paper towel-lined plate. Add mushrooms and increase heat to medium; cook, stirring occasionally and scraping pan bottom, until liquid released by mushrooms evaporates and mushrooms begin to brown, about 4 to 6 minutes. Add garlic, tomato paste, and cooked pancetta; cook while stirring until tomato paste begins to brown, about 1 minute.
  4. Off heat, add Marsala; return pan to medium heat and simmer vigorously, scraping browned bits from pan bottom, until mushroom sauce is slightly syrupy and reduced to about 2/3 cup, about 4 minutes. Off heat, add lemon juice and any accumulated juices from chicken; whisk in butter 1 tablespoon at a time. Season to taste with salt and pepper, and stir in parsley. Pour sauce over chicken and serve immediately.

That’s all for today!  See you tomorrow. :)

← Older Entries

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 103 other followers