These Eggs will NEVER hatch!

I have been watching the NYU Hawk Cam religiously for a few weeks now.  The eggs were due to hatch last week on Friday April 22.  They are one week late and it is driving me crazy.  I am so excited to be able to see them hatch and then watch as the parents feed their chicks.  I want to see the chicks develop and lose their fuzzy feathers, up close and personal.  But I am tired of waiting...

On to other things...Monday I made chicken sausage and peppers and Wednesday I made chicken sausage with broccoli rabe over orecchiete.  Tonight may be chicken cutlets and salad (or not).  Saturday night we are taking Michael's mom and her friend Annie to meet Margo, Mike and Chrysalis to eat dinner at the Cobble Stone and then see Ryan perform in the Spring Concert at Purchase.  Sunday Michael is riding in the 5 Boro Bike Tour and I am going to open our cabana at Silverpoint.  Next Tuesday we have Isabelle's confirmation at St. Patrick's in Huntington then lunch at Piccolo's.  Next Thursday is not only Cinco de Mayo (5th of May, Mexican Independence Day-a good day for burritos and coronas-or tequila) but it is also our cat Frankie's 4th birthday!  Mother's Day is next Sunday and we are going to take Michael's mom with us out to Glenn and Eileen's.

Have a nice weekend! Hope the eggs hatch!

Three Days

Happy Spring!

We have had great meals for the past three days:  Friday night we went to 5 Burro with the Wisners and the Boyles.  Several pitchers of margaritas and a few beers along with queso fundido, guacamole, avocados stuffed with shrimp, chicken tacos, chicken chipotle and lobster burritos.  Afterwards, we walked to Agora Taverna (http://agorataverna.com/index.php) the new Greek place on Austin Street, for dessert:  Milopita-Granny Smith apples, raisins & spices, wrapped in phyllo dough served with cinnamon ice cream; Galactobureko-Milk farina custard wrapped in phyllo with cinnamon and powdered sugar; Yaourti-Authentic Greek yogurt with thyme honey, sour cherries and walnuts; Chocolatina-Warm chocolate souffle served with roasted figs and vanilla ice cream along with Greek and American coffees.

Saturday we were at Leslie's for her son Louis' 19th birthday.  Friends are always great and so is the food:  Warm artichoke cheese spread; crudite; cheese; olives; shrimp cocktail followed by cavatelli with gravy and Caesar salad and garlic bread.  Birthday cake and tons of goodies for dessert. Add wine and cocktails and stir till ready!

Sunday we had our annual Easter day with the Creutz family! Wonderful friends, happy kids, great food, beautiful sunshine!  We started with cheese, hummus and pita, grape leaves and tzatziki, marinated shrimp, wine, scotch, Manhattan's and bourbon (for the experienced crowd).  Dinner was amazing grilled, marinated, butterflied lamb (yes I nibbled a well done bit), wild and plain rice, asparagus, salad, more wine. Around the table we played a game similar to telephone, but you don't say what the person next to you whispers in your ear, you say the first thing that pops into your head (more like word association) and it goes around the table back to the person who started it. So, Louis starts by whispering "pussy" into B3's ear, and you can imagine what went on next. LOL. Boys will be boys...Dessert was apple strudel, Easter cupcakes, chocolate cake, cookies, coffee and cordials.  We gave the kids their Easter bags and one of Eileen's items was the big hit:  small Nerf guns.  It was all out war for a few hours after that.  A few games of Can-Jam on the lawn and our day was perfect!

Hope yours was too!

Bobby & Violet

http://www.nyu.edu/sustainability/hawks/

Check out NYU's very own red-tailed hawks.  I have become addicted to watching them.  The eggs are due to hatch any time now. 

Spring has Sprung!

CHINATOWN, WTF?

What the fuck has happened to Chinatown?  Michael and I went  to Ferrara's on Grand Street last night to pick up our usual Easter bread.  Even though we found a great parking space, we decided to leave and go to Chinatown for dinner instead of Little Italy (which really does not have good Italian food anyway).

So...After finally finding a spot in Chinatown, we went to our favorite (and only) restaurant...Wo Hop (upstairs).  And they are closed for renovation.  Downstairs is always too busy and has different hot and sour soup anyway. Hop Kee on the corner is wildly expensive, as are almost every other restaurant we checked out.  We looked at at least ten different menus and found prices such as:  $10 for fried rice, $15 for the average chicken or pork dish, $18-25 for the average seafood/shrimp dish, even $6 for soup (not those big bowls full of noddles either).  What happened to the regular priced places?  Have they all gone the way of the tourist, the juror, the court employees and the hipsters?  Pissed me right off!

We even sat in a place, had tea, read the menu and then left because the prices were outrageous (we did leave $5 for the tea though).  We finally ate at a small place with reasonable prices but below average food.  Can't even remember the name of the place, but the guy sitting across from me had a gun under his shirt (that was exciting-probably undercover or off-duty).

So, the deal is this:  Eat Chinese food as take out in Forest Hills or sometimes go to Flushing to Joe's Shanghai. 

Happy Easter!

So...

Once again, I am remiss in writing regularly. These things happen.

Since I have been home from Ithaca I have made:  chicken braciole in sauce over ziti with broccoli and cauliflower on the side; buffalo chicken sausage over salad with blue cheese dressing; borscht with matzoh balls.  We also ate take out:  Chinese; turkey burgers from tower diner. How exciting! Tonight will be turkey meatloaf.

Tomorrow night I am picking Michael up from work and we will head downtown to Ferrara's to pick up Easter bread which we always bring to Glenn and Eileen's.  While we are down there we will probably eat in Chinatown.  Saturday we are at Leslie's for Louis' 19th birthday and Sunday we'll be at Glenn and Eileen's for Easter.

Even though I am not supposed to talk about Jesse (at all) I want to say that he got into the frat he was pledging for last night and we are proud of his commitment, but glad that it's over!

In Ithaca, Again

I have been in Ithaca since Sunday afternoon, visiting with our family and Jesse too!! I am coming home tonight on the bus and will get back to my routine as soon as possible.  Hard for me to be away (surprise) even though I love being here.

So, Saturday night turned out very well.  Our friends were so happy to hang out with us and we with them! The roast was NOT ruined, the cheesecake was NOT ruined either.  I thought they would both be dry, but somehow the fates smiled upon me and all was well.  The veggies were yummy especially the carrots and pearl onions that roasted along with the pork roast.  It was a really great evening with special people and Michael and I are thankful that we can welcome friends and enjoy time spent with them!

Since I have been in Ithaca, I have not been cooking at all.  WOW, how unusual you say.  Yes, it is, but nevertheless...I did some raking in the yard, some laundry-a washing machine and dryer right in the basement-how marvelous, some cleaning, etc...Mostly I was just here for Jesse :)  However, Margo made a birthday dinner for Chrysalis last night and we had chicken pot pie (way yummy-i even ate the chicken which was organic and I watched it being cooked from start to finish) and Brussels sprouts.

The night before, Chrysalis, Jesse and I went to Viva a Mexican place right off the commons.  Super good!  Eating in Ithaca is always a treat.  They have so many good restaurants with so many vegetarian choices that I almost don't know what to order.

I am coming home today to see my honey!! I am sure I will be cooking again soon.

The Week and the Weekend

This past week I've made pizza and salad (totally homemade crust with fresh mozzarella); baked chicken breasts with Brussels sprouts and ziti with eggplant.

Friday night will be a mystery :)

Saturday night the Creutz' and Carbones are coming for dinner.  We will be eleven at the dinner table.  I am making:  Pork Roast covered in garlic then wrapped with bacon, seared and then  roasted with pearl onions and baby carrots in white wine.  Accompanied by:  Sauteed broccoli and cauliflower with olive oil, garlic, red pepper flake and bread crumbs, Greek Salad and Baked Potatoes.  Dessert is home made cheesecake (I will make that on Friday) with strawberries and freshly made whipped cream. 

We will begin with a coffee table full of bread, cheese, olives and wine.

Boy, I hope the evening turns out all right after the hype I just gave it...

Wednesday at Macy's

Yesterday I met Barbara after work (that would be her job,  not mine) and we went into the city to Macy's 34th Street. The flower show is on (not too impressed I must say) so the store is super crowded.  We made our way through the throngs of tourists taking photos and tours (do they not have flowers outside of NYC)? Barb tried on dresses and shoes for her niece's wedding and was quite successful.  We cruised The Cellar and then wandered outside and down 35th Street in search of dinner.

We came to Brendan's (http://www.brendansbar.com/).  The space is really nice: very high ceiling, long bar, white tablecloths, tiled floor, stained glass.  Barbara thought that maybe it used to be a bank.  We each had a glass of Chianti, shared a Caesar salad.  Barb had the Crostini appetizer and I had a thin crust pizza. We shard the warm apple tart with cinnamon ice cream.

A respite from the average day!

Old Photos



Broccoli and Cauliflower




Balsamic Chicken and Olives



Apple Strudel

Tri-color Mixed Salad

Pork Chop and Peppers

Lemon Chicken and Brussel Sprouts

The Crust

The pizza crust came out pretty well. I used Il Pane e la Pizza flour from Italy. Not a word of English on the label. I also used a recipe from Alton Brown for the dough, with slight alterations (of course). The dough has to knead in the standing mixer for 15 minutes! Wow! No wonder mine was previously not working too well, I was kneading BY HAND, and not for any 15 minutes either. My standing mixer is a Krupps. It's kind of old and not heavy duty, but it does the trick. I have usually used it for cheese cake and carrot cake, and not much else. Using a pizza stone also improves the crust (thanks Denise). Hopefully it will continue to improve each time I make it :)

El Quijote

Saturday night Michael and I went to one of our favorite spots in the city...El Quijote on 23rd Street. We are CRAZY about their garlic soup. We also shared a salad. Nothing to talk about as far as lettuce goes, but they give you a plate with 3 small containers of different dressings and we LOVE to mix the blue cheese with the vinaigrette-it has chopped onions and stuff in in it (yum). Michael ordered arroz con pollo which comes in a metal pot, quite a nice size portion, way too much for one sitting and I had a 1 1/4 pound broiled lobster. It was sweet and delicious and just what I wanted. We began at the bar with a 1/2 pitcher of red sangria (it's REALLY good) and finished it at our table.
Afterwards we passed Eataly (Mario Barali's homage to Italy) (http://eatalyny.com/) so Michael made a u-turn to park (2nd u-turn of the evening on 23rd Street). It's a HUGE place with several different seating/ eating areas/styles. One is stand up bar height tables where you can order wine by the glass and antipasti, etc. Another is a fancier white table cloth area, also a cafeteria style area, coffee bars, wine bars, chocolate, cheese, meats, pasta, eating and cooking paraphernalia, bread, desserts, and anything else you can think of that might come from Italy. Expensive, but so fun to walk around and look. I bought flour for pizza. I am still trying to perfect my pizza crust :)

Surprise!

Last night I went to a surprise 50th birthday party for Monica at Barosa. Her daughter Emily planned the event and it all went very well. We had carafes of white and red, appetizers of clams, mussels, caprese and antipasto. Everyone ordered their own main dishes: soft shelled crab francese; penne arrabiata; sausage and broccoli rabe; seafood risotto; filet of sole...We sang happy birthday over dessert: cheese cake; profiterols and tiramisu. It was the first time sitting downstairs and it is a bit cramped and gets noisy, but no real problems. It was a nice ladies night out!