A Little Slice of Paradise

Doing my usual round of facebook stalking this afternoon, I came across a few pictures that an old co-worker posted of her backyard. It's not the perfectly manicured backyard oasis' we see in Home & Garden, but for some reason it's so perfect in a little Brooklyn backyard.

(if only people knew I stole from their facebook albums and blogged about them.)

I wish I were so lucky!

Chilly and Chili

As usual, I am leaving wintery New York to go back to California for the holidays. I'll be home for extra long this time, until the 7th, because yes I am still unemployed.

As a parting gift, New York dumped a couple feet of snow this weekend. B and I went out on Saturday night, amidst the blizzard, to romp and roll in the snow. Slightly underdressed, I became quite ornery quite quickly, but it was a thrill while it lasted.

The best part? We came back home, wet with melted snow and cold to our bones, to find the magical elves had miraculously finished our pot of Green Pork Chili. er, Stew. Chili? Whatever it was, yummmmmm.

GREEN PORK CHILI w/ TOMATOES
(adapted from Epicurious recipe)

Ingredients:
8 Poblano peppers

2.5 pounds pork butt strips, trimmed, cut into 1-inch pieces
3 tablespoons all purpose flour
3 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 large onion, chopped
2 leeks, cleaned and sliced
6 garlic cloves, chopped
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp paprika
5 cups chicken stock or canned low-salt chicken broth
1 14-ounce can diced tomatoes in juice
3 small vine tomatoes

Char chilies over gas flame or in broiler until blackened on all sides. Enclose in paper bag; let stand 10 minutes. Peel and seed chilies. Cut into 1-inch pieces.

Place pork in large bowl. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Add flour and toss to coat. Heat 4 tablespoons oil in heavy large wide pot over high heat. Working in batches and adding more oil as needed, cook pork until brown on all sides, about 6 minutes per batch. Using slotted spoon, transfer pork to large bowl.

Reduce heat to medium. Add onions and leeks to same pot and stir until tender, about 6 minutes. Add garlic, oregano, cumin, allspice, and paprika; stir 2 minutes. Return pork and any accumulated juices to pot; add stock, chilies and tomatoes with juices and bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer on LOW uncovered until chili thickens and meat is very tender, stirring occasionally, about 2 hours. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Fall in the Burg

Over-exposed camera phone pic. Doing the best I could to capture the feeling of the moment.

Kombucha Kegger

Are you on the kombucha train? As much as I hate to take part in anything that's a "what's hot" item, I am pretty into this. Not so much into the over-marketed $5 bottles of Kombucha that they sell at whole foods/at every deli in Brooklyn, but whatever, it's good stuff.

Now there's a local brewer of the fizzy fermented drink. There's a big party on Saturday at my local beer shoppe, Brouwerij Lane, to celebrate the very first keg of Kombucha. BYOG- bring your own Growlers! Amazing! As the flier notes, go in between 6-10pm and yell "Drink the Revolution!" and you'll get a free glass.

I'm there.

Brouwerij Lane

78 Greenpoint Avenue

Brooklyn 11222

Kombucha Kegger, 6-10pm

Gabe

Old friend Gabe was in town this past week, and we had a couple of lovely Brooklyn days.

The Lovely ms. dauphine hanging out by the lake in Prospect Park.

Polite Sleeper Album Launce at Union Hall

Brunch at Egg. mmmmmmm.

Burgers and Beer and Babes in Brooklyn

Pound pound pound pound

That's my head right now. Last night was the perfect night, spent a beautiful Brooklyn evening clucking with three lovely ladies and a delicious burger and many many beverages.

yum.

Blueberry Oat Scones

Yesterday I spent the day with Donna, baking and eating and being lazy- the things that we love to always do together.

We're going up to Maine for the July 4th Weekend (HOOORAY!) with several other friendsies so we wanted to bake a few goodies for the trip. After several email recipe exchanges and lots of thoughtful consideration, including an adventurous suggestion of macarons (too risky), we decided to make pound cake and batch of scones, both of which could keep for the remainder of this week in the freezer.

We met up at Cafe Pedlar to start our day with Stumptown, of course, then made what seemed like a Carroll Gardens supermarket Odyssey through Trader Joe's, KY Mart (hehe), the Natural Foods store, and finally the Fish Monger. Er, the fish wasn't for the pound cake nor the scones, it was so we could have a little lunch, let's just clear that up right here.

We baked the pound cake first, a super-easy recipe I found in this month's Martha Stewart Living. Yes, I subscribe to Martha Stewart Living.

After lunch and a short tv break/catnap, we moved onto baking the scones. Though we encountered a tiny problem when Donna's mini-cuisinart food processor couldn't handle the entire recipe at once, we solved it by breaking up the ingredients in two and processing the necessary ingredients in two batches. Other than that minor snafu, the recipe was easy-peasy, and didn't take longer than 30 minutes to bake. They look fabulous, so delicioius! So here's to hoping they will taste that way, too.

From left to right: Unloading Trader Joe's groceries (!), pound cake on the cooling rack, and our decadent lunch spread.

Blueberry Oat Scones

adapted from Molly Wizenberg's recipe in Bon Appetit July 2009

Prep Time: 30 min

Bake Time: 30 min

Plus time to cool

3 cups all purpose flour

1/2 cup (packed) golden brown sugar

1 tbsp plus 1 tsp baking powder

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

3/4 tsp coarse kosher salt

11 tbsp chilled unsalted butter, cut into cubes

1 cup plus 3 tbsp old-fashioned oats

1 cup fresh blueberries

1 3/4 cups half and half

1 tsp vanilla extract

5 tsp raw sugar

Our ingredients, all set out on the table. Look! You can see mini-upside-down-me in the stainless steel bowl!!

Position rack in upper and bottom thirds of oven an preheat to 350 degrees (F). Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Alternatively, you may line the sheets with foil and lightly butter the foil.

Combine first five ingredients in a processor, blend for 5 seconds. Add butter. Using on/off turns, blend until the mixture resembles a coarse meal. If you have a mini-processor like we did, halve all ingredients and do the same thing twice. Transfer mixture to a large bowl, mix in oats and blueberries. Stir blend evenly.

Stir half and half and vanilla together, gradually add to flour mixture and toss until dough just comes together. (dough will be very moist and sticky!)

Using 1/2 cup measuring cup for each scone, drop dough in high mounds onto prepared baking sheets, spacing a few inches apart (as they will flatten during baking). Sprinkle tops with remaining 3 tbsp oats, then raw sugar.

Bake 15 minutes. Reverse sheets and continue baking until the scones are golden and tester inserted into the center from side comes out clean, about 12 minutes longer. Let cool for about 5 minutes, then transfer to a rack. Serve warm or at room temperature

Improv cooling rack: The bottom side of muffin pans!

*1/2 cup portions ensures 12 large scones. Use smaller portions if desired.

Namaste

I've recently started working a couple mornings a week at a yoga studio in the neighborhood. I love the studio, there are great teachers and great classes and it's quite a beautiful studio. It's brand new, so tell all your friends about it and come visit me!! Sign up for a 'newbie' special which gives you 2 weeks of unlimited classes for $30 (gasp!). Get your downward dog on!

Sangha Yoga Shala

107 N. 3rd Street, #2H

between Berry & Wythe

http://www.sanghayoganyc.com/

also check out our cute little blog

Good News in the 'hood

From NY Mag:

Adding to the excitement that Prime Meats has started serving burgers and steaks, Williamsburg all-American spot Walter Foods quietly started serving lunch last week, and where better to enjoy it than the new back patio you see before you. Owners Dylan Dodd and Danny Minch tell us they’re carrying items over from the dinner menu at the same price (the short-rib burger, the lobster club, the French dip, etc.) and adding a few under-$10 options such as a daily omelette and a bagel sandwich of scrambled eggs, bacon, and cheese. Tomorrow they’ll add a pastrami sandwich, and you can also expect a half-sandwich-and-soup special. Maybe best of all, the full raw bar is available during lunch, and (starting now) also at the bar during the break between lunch and dinner. Tuesday through Friday, lunch is from 11:30 a.m. till 4 p.m; dinner is from 6 p.m. to 1 a.m. On the weekends, brunch is from 11:30 a.m. till 4:30 p.m. and dinner is from 6 p.m. till 2 a.m. — these are also the hours when the 50-seat back patio is available for your alfresco pleasure. Drinking-lunch recommendation: a John Daly (an Arnold Palmer spiked with vodka).

Fleabag

look what's coming into town!

http://williamsburgfleamarket.com/about/

That, and this:

http://www.billburg.com/walks/

Lots to do in my hood this summer!

Day 1

Quote of the day:

"Let's start a book club, where all we do is watch movies"

I tossed and turned last night, a mixture of anticipation and anxiety keeping me up. That, and the 90-degree days NY has been experiencing have left me with a close to 80-degree room for me to sleep in.

Today was day one of unemployment. Unbeknownst to me, it's now commonly referred to as "Funemployment". Hm. We'll see if it lives up to that. Since I don't want to fall into the deep dark depths of white-trash unemployment (read: drink until wee hours of the morning, sleep in 'til the afternoon, watch Price is Right/Days of Our Lives/Maury, eat jenny craig TV dinners) I am trying to create a schedule for myself, filled with many fun activities. Factivities? Anyway, these activities, so far, are comprised mostly of having lunch with friends who are either unemployed or have odd-hour jobs, and trying to do yoga/go to the gym. Fun.

I celebrated Day One by meeting up with my funemployed mentor Laura. No really, she is my inspiration in layoff life, talk about milking unemployment for all it's worth... I also think she was the only person, when I told her I was getting laid off, that actually physically jumped for joy and told me what great news it was. And no, she doesn't hate me. I think...

Back to lunch. We ate at Egg- I kept hearing about this place, but since I don't eat eggs, there wasn't much desire for me to go there. duh. But after perusing through their menu upon Laura's suggestion (and this amazing drool-inducing article in Edible Brooklyn) ohhhh meohmy there was SO much desire to go there! For all you breakfast aficionados, they serve breakfast until 3pm every day. And for all you penny-pinching aficionados, all their main breakfast/lunch plates hover around $7-$8. Their menu was simple but so elegant and rich, how could I say no? And looking back, it is everything I look for in a solid neighborhood joint. A great, open atmosphere, good music, super quirky waiter who gets things done with a smile on his face, great hearty fare imported from artisanal farms, and the strongest iced coffee I've had in awhile. AND the two of us had a perfect filling lunch for $20. Yum, on account of stomach and my wallet.

We also had great lunch conversation, which is where that quirky quote of the day came from. Laura did nothing short of coach me through what will be a rough week one of unemployment. Rough, only because it's so foreign and so mind-alteringly different. I mean, I am not gonna lie- I've been ridden with anxiety this entire weekend. So many what-ifs, so many things up in the air. What if I don't want to work right away, what if I pass up job opportunities now and they don't come back, what if I become straight up lazy, what if I slowly drift away from my friends at work, what if WHAT IF WHAT IF. So many of them. Laura managed to assuage my minor freak out and bring me back down to funemployment land. She told me about all the people she's met and networked with since she was laid off, the opportunities that have been presented to her, the trips that she has taken, and the lovely projects she has been able to work on, the super cool program she is volunteering with (http://feastinbklyn.org), and how the new thing to do is to barter services for goods.

It's a novel idea- this new concept on bartering goods. In a time where so many people are unemployed, it's really a great tool, both for your own benefit and to others, not to mention to build community character and comraderie as well. I'm totally into it.

From our lunch we took a short walk around Wburg into Spoonbill and Sugartown, my favorite independent bookstore in NY. I got two books, and the reason I share this with you is because this is one of them:

Excuse the shitty picture, but you get the idea. I mean, I like Tom Robbins and all, but really, the main reason I purchased this book was for its cover. (And the $2 price tag)

I came home, and after spending about an hour looking at craft blogs, my mind was spinning and I could barely keep my eyes open. So I took a nap.

No one told me unemployment was so exhausting.