"I would pay cash money for these" Apple Pancakes

I love apples, and I love pancakes.  I have a good basic buttermilk pancake recipe that I have been using for years and I wanted to create a really good apple pancake. A real apple pancake with apples inside, not just a glumpy mass of apples dumped on top.  I played around with it a bit and this is what I came up with.  I don't make many dishes that I can say "I would pay for this at a restaurant"  but this is one of them.  Enjoy !

Ingredients

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1/2 cup white wheat flour ( I always use King Arthur Flour)

3/4 cup regular flour    

1/4 cup dark brown sugar

1/4 tsp salt

1 heaping tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1 1/4 cup buttermilk

1/4 cup oil  

1 egg

2 tbsp apple butter (I use low sugar from Adam's, a local market)

1 apple, peeled and diced finely ( I do this right before I use it)

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Mix the first 7 ingredients in a large bowl.

In a small bowl or a 2 cup measure, mix the rest of the ingredients except for the apple.

Now peel and dice your apple, then mix it in with the dry ingredients in the large bowl, getting all the apples coated.

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry, mix it until no sign of dry flour, a little lumpy is cool, you don't want to mix this to death !

Let the batter sit for a least 5 minutes to let the soda and buttermilk play, then make your pancakes in your normal fashion .

You might need to cook them just a bit longer than plain ones, as they are a little thick and you want to make sure that the 

apple is soft and cooked through.

<------  Simple, rustic looking and good !

I'm With You...

I recently went  with my 16-year-old son to a movie theater broadcast of a Red Hot Chili Peppers concert from Köln, Germany.

"So what?" you might be thinking.

Well, it meant a lot to me.    

I have actually been to Köln, so I was curious about the filming there.

I am a Chili Peppers fan,  I listen to them while at the gym at least a couple of times a week.

They were playing new music, something that has not happened in five years.

My son was interested in going too, and since I was a fan through him, it  seemed like the right thing to do !

You can argue about how lame it is to watch a rock concert in a movie theater.  Of course it is better to hear the

music live and you can't quite capture the thrill of a live performance on film.  At least in a theater I was guaranteed

a good view of the band, something a 5' 2" person is never sure of getting unless  pressed up against the stage.

You can argue about the Chili Peppers themselves.  With guitarist John Frusciante gone, are they still the Chili Peppers ?

They can't possible sound the same, how can that be good, and so on and so on.

Well, we went and we had fun! 

We got into the theater about half an hour before the show was set to start, and to our delight they showed a little travelogue of he band driving into Köln.  I recognized the majestic Cathedral, it brought back memories of climbing countless stairs to get to the top and enjoy the view of the city.

There was a interesting interview of band, discussing their new guitarist and their new music.  So far, so good!  It was worth it just to see bassist  Flea's aqua hair and gap-toothed grin filling the entire movie screen.

The concert finally started, they were playing at an indoor theater called E-Werk.  The German crowd was ready, many wearing RHCP tee-shirts and jumping along with the music.  The band played all but one song off the new record being released that day, plus a couple hits as an encore.

Yes, they do sound different.  Their  former guitarist had a very distinctive sound, and the young replacement Josh Klinghoffer  kept it very low key, perhaps a conscious effort to not try to copy the sound.  The new songs emphasized drums and bass much more, plus the extra sound of a trumpet and curiously,  a cowbell !

No matter, the music flowed and my son and I listened and watched. We took a couple snaps with our phones, just for documentation purposes, of course,

The only disappointing part was perhaps the very short encore, it would have been interesting to hear a few more of the old songs, but this was not intended to be a greatest hits concert.

After it was over, my son told me that he thought that the new guitarist was different but still very good. 

The best part happened the next day. After I got home from work, my son told me that he had a good time seeing the concert with me.  Just hearing that made me feel great, then It struck me that the music was mirroring life.   I was the old Pepper and he was the young Pepper, and  the music was bringing us together...   

I'm with the choir...

    Why do I sing in a church choir ?  I don't really know, to be honest.  I am not very religious, I have lived outside the Catholic church for longer than I have been in. But I love to sing and I like a lot of sacred music. I am also fascinated by the sound of harmony in voices, and I like the comfort of singing in a group. When I realized that the St Mary of the Snow choir did not require auditions, all are welcome, I decided to chance it and see if I could survive there.

   That was close to 10 years ago. 

   The first year was frightening.  I was promptly put into the alto-soprano section and handed tons of new music.  When you are an alto you rarely sing the melody line, so even if I knew a song,  I had to relearn it.  I can read music, but sight-singing on the fly is a whole other thing !  I would just sit in the group of altos and try to listen to the others and follow along, singing very quietly if at all.  The first few years were very stressful to my voice,  I had bouts of  laryngitis, especially in the winter months.  My voice has never been a big powerful one, so the 1 1/2 to 2+ hour practices (depending on the time of the year)  were a challenge.

     I stuck with it.  I started making friends with many of the people there, and my voice definitely improved, though still firmly in average territory.  There was a sense of accomplishment in learning  a new part, and there is a thrill in hearing voices vibrate in harmony, that magic moment when all that hard work comes together.

     When I say hard work, I am not joking.  We practice every week for at least 1 1/2 hrs, often longer if near Christmas or Easter.  Our choir director has heavy Napoleonic tendencies so you sing as you are instructed, this is no democracy...   He moves quickly, hears every wrong note, and makes you practice until you get it right or a least reach a level of sound that'

he can tolerate.  He throws new music at you constantly, you will always be challenged in some way.  We like to complain about it, but I think the challenge is why we keep coming back.

      Through all of this, we have somehow become a family,  a dysfunctional one as we like to joke, but a family none-the-less.  We range in age from college students to grandparents. Some are extremely devout, others not so much.  Some I count as close friends, some I don't really know well at all. We are as diverse as any family, but when push comes to shove, we are there for each other.  We gather together for seasonal parties and laugh and drink just like a real family.  Our summer dinner/cabaret dinner is lots of hard work, but fun in that it gives us a chance to do some secular music and have fun with it.  Some sing and act, some cook and serve, but we all come together and make it work. 

       So why am I in this choir ?  When you combine the joy of making music with  a sense of community, service and friendship, the lure is irresistible. 

      

     

     

Get your goat on !

Sometimes, it is good to let them get your goat.

I  certainly am  glad that Chef Ric Orlando has no problem sharing his goat with a roomful of eager diners.

It was Braai night at New World Home Cooking, a barbeque with wine tasting featuring South African wines, what is not

to love about that ?

Braai is the African form of barbeque or grill, and has a whole tradition around it.  There is a large wood or charcoal fire, men do 

the cooking, and everyone eats sitting around the braai, it is a very social event.  Sound familiar ?

I was determined to attend this, even though no one was able to go with me.  I got the usual sinking stomach feeling right before I 

walked in alone, but I have come to accept my shyness and do my best to push through it.

There was no need to worry, the Saugerstock crowd is very laid-back and welcoming.  I was seated with Bruce and Gene and Dianae, all new to me.

We introduced ourselves, chatted a bit about where we lived and what we did and it was all fine.  By the end of the evening we wished each other well

and hoped to meet up again at the next foodie event.

On to the good stuff, the FOOD !

It was cloudy and rain showers threatened, but luckily it remained dry enough so that the outdoor grilling went on with no problems. Ric was manning the long,hot grill and 

nice chunks of citrus marinated goat was grilled up, nicely blackened on the outside.  Sausages, chicken and shrimp skewers were the other proteins but for me the goat was the big draw.

This was a real BBQ, big platters of food laid out, you grabbed a plate and helped yourself.  I settled in with  a nice chunk of goat meat and some shrimp.  I have no clue what part of the goat  I 

got as I took a chunk not on a bone, but you could see various leg bones and such on the platter.   The goat meat looked and tasted like a cross between lamb and pork, if that makes any sense.  It was lighter colored than I expected 

and while tender enough it had that bit of chew that you would expect from a gamier animal.  I really liked it and from what I could see and hear so did everyone that tried it.  Ric mentioned that the 50 lb goat was pretty much finished off by the 40 or so people eating.  

In addition to the meats, there were seasoned grilled vegetables, corn, a mango salad to die for, various chutneys, and grilled potatoes.   There were also some grilled whole jalapeños and jalapeño slices, the mango salad providing

the welcome cooling effect.  The mango was combined with red onions, peppers,scallions and vinegar, really nice.

Along with all this were some nice South African wines.  During the pre-BBQ appetizer hour we had a chenin blanc with little venison sausages and some cheese toasted bread.  This was an easy drinking white wine, pleasant with the bread and sausage.  With the main meal we had a pinotage, a blend including pinot noir which was great with the goat and BBQ foods.  We had a second red wine with dinner,  made by "Goats Do Roam",  a nice little wink at our dinner.  Though I liked the name of the second red, the pinotage was my favorite. 

Any fine meal deserves a little sweet at its finish, and this meal ended with grilled bananas with caramel sauce and fresh whipped cream.  This was a big hit at our table and one of my gentleman friends even had seconds, but you didn't hear that from me...

Cake ballz !

Ok, I have been making a lot of cake balls lately.  I was turned on to them by a co-worker and decided to make them my "bring to a party"  food for the endless parties of summer.

What are cake balls, you ask?   They are delicious little dense,  moist balls of cake, almost truffle-like in texture, coated in chocolate and impossible to resist !

Here is the simplest and easiest ingredient list for cake balls :

1 box cake mix, baked as instructed, typically with water, eggs and oil.

1 can frosting

chocolate bark candy coating (or any meltable chocolate)

Bake and cool the cake, shape doesn't matter so I just use the trusty "9" X "13" pan.

Crumble the cake into tiny bits in a large bowl, I break it in chunks then use the hand mixer to finish it off.

Mix in frosting, one tablespoon at a time, until the cake will form a ball when rolled together.  Typically anywhere from 1/2- 3/4 of a can of frosting is enough.

Roll walnut sized balls of cake, lay them on a wax paper covered tray.

Freeze them for at least 30 minutes.

Melt your chocolate bark in the microwave according to the package instructions.

Take the cake balls from the freezer and coat them in the chocolate, two forks work pretty well.

Lay them on a wax paper covered tray.

If you are decorating them with sprinkles do it as you dip them since the bark will harden quickly on the cold cake.

They are done, keep them in the fridge and you are good to go !

This is the easiest way to make them, but you can take this to a higher level by using a good homemade cake and frosting and quality chocolate to coat them.  It is your call and your friends that you have to please.

The best thing about cake balls is that  the variations are endless.  You can use any flavor cake with any frosting flavor you want.  You can decorate them with sprinkles, or coconut flakes, or crushed nuts, or a drizzle of a contrasting color chocolate.   You can mix in a little fruit filling  with the frosting. You can leave out the frosting and use a creamy liquor like Bailey's Irish Cream to make an adult version.  Stick a lollipop stick into them and make cake pops.

You are only limited by your imagination here.

Here are some of my favorite combos :

spice cake with cream cheese frosting

chocolate cake with chocolate fudge frosting

white cake with Bailey's Irish Cream

What do I want to try ?

banana cake with cream cheese frosting 

key lime cake with some tequila ! ( Can you say margarita-ville ) 

chocolate cake with raspberry

You get the idea ...

Who needs a plain music festival when you can have Solid Sound ?

  What is so special about WILCO's Solid Sound Festival ?  It is kind of hard to put into words.  Most music festivals have, well, music. 

There is certainly plenty of that at Solid Sound, both by WILCO and its members and many other musicians  that WILCO finds intriguing.

You can hear the Levon Helm Band, Thurston Moore, Pajama Club (Neil and Sharon Finn) and Sarah Lee Guthrie and Johnny Irion.

Just the music would make this a great festival but Solid Sound is so much more than just music. 

      First of all, it is set in a large art complex called MASS MoCA.  The place is full of  modern art exhibits and you are 

encouraged to walk around and take it all in.  It is a pretty cool place, many exhibitions are sculptural and multi-media, making 

it surprisingly fun to wander around and see what discovery is around the corner.

      Okay, so you have music and art.  Then you discover that they have stand-up comedy sessions, too.  You can enjoy

comedy segments by people like John Hodgman,  Wyatt Cenac and Eugene Mirman.  Hmm, this is not like any 

music festival that I have seen. Oh, that's right, they do call it a Music and Arts Festival !

        So you have music,art, comedy.  Oh wait, there are also film shorts.  There are Story Pirates running around singing

and doing skits and entertaining the children.   There is falconry.  Yes, I said falconry.  You can see trained hawks doing

their thing here. 

        Did I mention the food ?  There are plenty of local vendors selling anything from vegetarian specialties and Indian cuisine to hot dogs and 

pizza plus great coffee and beer and wine.  There is also a record store on site, Euclid Records. There is a dunking booth, for charity.

Who wouldn't want to get a chance to dunk Jeff Tweedy ?  

        So you are thinking, all right, Solid Sound has music, art, comedy,film, Story Pirates, falconry and food. There is something for everyone

here. Bet it doesn't have yoga.

Um, yoga is Saturday and Sunday at 10 am :)

       

fish and chips, New World style !

Simple food, cooked well, is not as easy as it sounds.

When you throw lots of foods and flavors together, it is like a big cocktail party.  Even if  everyone is not sociable or interesting, there are usually one or two guests who are exciting enough to carry the evening, or at least spark some interest.  

When you are having an intimate dinner party, only 3 or 4 guests,  each guest becomes much more influential and important to the success of the evening.

I have eaten quite a few fish and chip dinners in my life time, some good, some not so good, many not remarkable in any way.   I like to order fish when I dine out.  I don't make it often at home because no one else in my immediate family will eat it.  So when I saw that New World Home Cooking is now featuring fish dinners on Friday throughout the summer,  I was ready !

I ordered the fish special of the evening, a fried flounder with lemon and baby potatoes.  Simple enough, right?   Yes, and no.  Leave it to chef Ric Orlando to take a simple meal and bring it to another level.  That is what makes you a chef, not a cook !

Most fish fries you get are chunks of fish, heavily coated with batter and pretty greasy,  with a nice dollop of super fatty tartar sauce lurking off to the side.  Ric's fish is nothing like that.  The fish fillets are thin and slightly crispy, allowing the good mild flavor of the fish to come through without being smothered by a heavy coating.  This fish is fresh and moist and flavorful,  it makes you sad when you realize you have eaten the last bit of it ...

The other guests at this intimate little party are remarkable in their own ways.  There are delicate slices of roasted potatoes,  all nestled in with fresh herbs, rosemary making a spirited appearance.  There is no heavy mayonnaise here, but a nice olive oil and herb dipping sauce, much more complimentary to the mildness of the fish.   Yes, there be lemons,  but these are not those sad little wedges that are thrown on the plate as almost an afterthought.   These are elegant little lemon wheels, super thin slices of lemon that are lightly fried, allowing you to eat them just as they are, skin and all.  So simple, yet so unique, with an intense lemon flavor.  Every party needs a surprise guest, and these little lemons provided the pizzazz !

Simple food done well, there is nothing boring about that !

If I missed some of the finer details of the meal, forgive me, but I spent a lot of time with this cool little guest :) 

Wanna party like it's 1399 ?

    So, did you ever want to party like it's 1399 ?   Then a Blackmore's Night show is just what you need !

Who is Blackmore's Night ?  The core of the band is master guitarist Ritchie Blackmore  (of  Deep Purple and Rainbow fame) and his wife and vocalist/lyricist  Candice Night.  Add to this a bassist, a pianist, a violinist and a drummer and

there you have an accomplished and versatile band, for any era,

     What will the show look like ? These musicians  dress in Medieval garb, perform  on a stage decorated with vines and rocks, and have been known to hand out mugs of beer to fans during the show.  You will see various  types of instruments played, things like mandolins and dombras,

 shawms and rauschpfeifes.   Ye olde hurdy gurdy can even make an appearance, though its temperamental nature makes it a short term guest.

     What kind of music will you hear ?  Quite a variety, actually.  Ballads and drinking songs will be interspersed with rock-like modern sounds.  This band does not do ancient music in the authentic way, it takes the sounds and feel of  Medieval  and folk songs and  weaves it into something that sounds more modern.   They do original songs, adaptations of medieval/folk songs and even covers of more

modern songs.  Candice does some standout versions of songs like Joan Baez's  "Diamonds and Rust" and Deep Purple's  "Soldier of Fortune."  Blackmore's Night music is more about a sound and feel and is not limited by categories.

     What will the crowd be like ?   This is where it gets really interesting. The front rows are reserved for people dressed in Medieval garb, or at least making some attempt at it.  Some will have truly beautiful clothes, fancy lace-up bodices for the ladies and jaunty jackets and breeches for the men.  You will see people that look more like gypsies or peasants,  your typical Ren Faire look.   The people in garb are like a family,  they hold hands and sing along, dancing often breaks out during the more lively tunes.  Many of these people are friends because of their love for the band and the camaraderie is obvious.  People bring their children to the shows, they are very family friendly. Once you get past the first several rows the crowd is more typical, dressed in jeans and casual clothes.  You will also see the guys in Deep Purple and Rainbow tee-shirts,  yelling out for "Smoke on the Water"  and looking puzzled about the whole thing.

      Who is in charge of the show ?  Ritchie Blackmore is, without a doubt. Candice may do most of the talking, but not a note gets played or sung unless it is with his total approval.  Watch the band eye his every move and wave of his hand...

      What  DON'T you want to do at the show ?   You definitely don't want to be shouting out loudly and continuously for old Deep Purple songs.  Even though Ritchie does on the rare occasion play "Smoke on the Water"  he only does it when HE feels like it.  He has a notorious temper and if he is not in the mood, you can bring the show to a halt by doing this, not making you a favorite with the crowd.

      What DO you want to do at the show ?  Relax,  enjoy the variety of instruments and sounds.   Sing-a-long, dance, make new friends.

Leave the worries and troubles of modern life aside, even if only for an hour or two and lose yourself to a simpler time....

When do you know that the show is over ?   When the lights come up and you hear  "The Bloody Red Baron of Germany" over the speakers !

Portuguese Wine Dinner at NWHC - I came, I ate, I drank !

So,  I really don't know much about wine.  I can decide if I like a wine or not, but I can't really tell you why.  (Note to self : need to take a wine course)  So it was with a little bit of trepidation that I decided it was time to attend one of the Wine Dinners featured at  New World Home Cooking.

This was a Portuguese Wine Dinner, featuring the wines of the  JM Fonseca family, five wines coupled with the savvy creations of Chef Ric Orlando.  Oh yeah, and there would also be a Professor of Wines, Michael Weiss,  from the Culinary Institute of America and the brand ambassador of JM Fonseca, Maria D. Stevens.  No worries, right ?

  My brother Tim and arrived at the restaurant and were directed to the back Garden Room.   I took a deep breath, and walked in.  I was expecting one big table set up, but the room was set up with 5 or so smaller tables.  We were directed to one of the smaller 4 seater tables.  So far, so good.   Looking around the room,  I recognized one other face, a woman that I have seen at my gym.   I guess now I know part of the reason why we work out...

There was a table set up at the front of the room with the appetizers and the first wine of the night,  a crisp and low alcohol white wine called Twin Vines Vinho Verde 2009.  This was a lovely light and citrusy wine, easy to drink and with a touch of fizz to it.  The appetizers included grilled bread, hummus, radishes and carrots, marinated ramps and pickled mussels.  The pickled mussels were outstanding,  tender and well seasoned with a touch of heat.  One of the servers warned us that the ramps were strong flavored and that a little went a long way, not really sure what he meant by that as I did not find them overbearing in any way at all...  We later learned from Ric that each of the appetizers featured some kind of vinegar as he felt that the wine would be the perfect foil for that flavor.  

I was expecting to get a small taste of this wine but the servers were eagerly filling our glasses as soon as they got low.  Hmm,  I guess I had better pace myself, this was only the first wine !

Cocktail time was now coming to an end and we got short speeches from Ric the chef, Maria the ambassador and Michael the professor.  Maria was charming and lovely in a sequined suit and spoke about the family owned wine company.  We learned that the Twin Vines wine was named in honor of the family's twin daughters,  Matilda and Francesca.  Apparently Matilda is the strong willed one and Francesca is the more laid back one.   Michael spoke briefly about the history of Portuguese wine making and Chef Ric gave us some insight as to how he came up with the menu.  The Portuguese were quite the explorers, which explained the variety of tastes that we were about to enjoy.

As a side note, our table companions ended up being no-shows.  We were given the option of moving to a different table, but the only open spots were at a table of earnest looking young culinary students and we were not sure that they would be happy with an invasion of  "ancient ones", so we decided to stay put.

Course one was Curry Dusted Lobster and Sweet Bread Nuggets with a mango yogurt chutney butter and  accompanied by another white wine, this time Periquita Moscato 2009.   This wine was a bit heavier than the previous one, fruity but to my taste not as distinctive as the first.  Our glasses were once again topped off before they got too low.  The lobster was sweet and free of shell, with a lovely curry sauce.  I decided not to dwell on what a sweet bread really is and just to embrace the nuggets, which were savory and tender and kept their secret very well.  The wine was complimentary to the course, but was probably our least favorite wine of the night. 

Feeling pretty good after nearly 4 glasses of wine, we were ready for course two, Duck Prosciutto Ramen accompanied by our first red wine of the night, Periquita Reserva,  Peninsul de Setubal 2007.  Yes, I said duck prosciutto ramen.  You have to give it up for Chef Ric, he can come up with food combinations that surprise and even amuse, but win you over with their masterful blending of flavors.  Our server first brought the bowls of ramen and warned us not to start until the duck prosciutto arrived.  I didn't want to get thrown into food jail for violating this dish, so we meekly waited for the duck to arrive.  

Once we received the small plates of thin layers of proscuitto,  the chopsticks came out and our heads were in the noodle bowls.  The ramen was accompanied with tiny brown beech mushrooms, baby leeks and Szechwan pepper.  We dipped the salty sheets of duck prosciutto into the dark brown ramen broth and there was no going back from there.  Our server confided to us that one of the perks of their job was to be able to down a bowl of the broth back in the kitchen.  This rich brown broth was definitely spoon worthy and the savory paper thin proscuitto just added to the salty pleasure.  The Periquita Reserva was a nice deep red color with a definite berry aroma.  My brother and I tried to determine which berry flavor was coming through,  I thought maybe raspberry and he thought maybe blackberry.  Cheating and looking at the brochure let us know that our palates were sadly way off.   The mystery berry was blueberry, with cassis and violet.  Apparently, I have the palate of a Philistine...

Humbled by this, we awaited the third course.  We did note that we were not offered any refill here, we must be entering serious wine country at this time.  We were forewarned that the red wine coming with this course was a big old red monster, "living under the floor" as Ric colorfully put it.  It was named Domini Plus 2007, made from grapes from the Douro Valley.  This was served with Braised Northwind Farm Beef Brisket and Morcilla (blood sausage),  galega olive pesto and something called teff gnocchi.  Ric left us know that the teff gnocchi were gluten free as a courtesy for one of the guests.  This was not a course for the weak of heart, this was serious meat eating. The slices of brisket were tender and meaty, with some crisped chunks of morcilla and were complimented nicely with the tangy olive pesto.  This was wanton meat eating at its best, I could feel a surge of testosterone with the first bite !   The wine was hands down my favorite of the night.  It was much more complex,  with an earthier flavor.  It did not have as strong a berry smell or flavor as the previous one.  It reminded me of the scent of an Ex Libris wine that I liked, but for the life of me I can't identify what the mystery aroma is.  Is it anise or is it spice, I don't know.  I really do need a wine class.   I would have loved a second glass of this one, though.

Just when you think you can't eat or drink anymore, you are tempted with the final dessert course.  How can you say "no" to a Fried Fig/Ricotta dumpling with Chevre ice cream along with a small glass of Moscatel de Setubal ?   I am an unabashed fig lover, so this was perfect for me. The tender dumpling was warm with chunks of fig inside and the creamy taste of ricotta running through it.  The ice cream had the distinctive flavor of goats milk, lovely for a goat cheese lover like me.  It reminded me of the goat's milk that we were served with coffee in Germany, bringing back a rush of good memories.  The wine here was sweet and caramel like, almost syrupy in viscosity.  A little goes a long way here, as is with most dessert wines. 

At this point, there was nothing left to do but enjoy a good cup of coffee and wonder why in the world it took me this long discover the joys of a fine wine dinner...

Just a final note here -  this dinner may have been very relaxed and casual, but the care and level of cuisine was of the highest quality.  We were asked about any dietary concerns by our servers,  a relief to a food allergy person as myself.  Ric came around and stopped by every table and chatted with us all, same for Michael and Maria.   Run, don't walk, to the next wine dinner.  

Fun times in NYC !

I am still recovering from my concert weekend in NYC.   Two concerts in two days plus losing that hour to greedy Daylight Savings Time has left me weary, but happy.  Here is how it all came down -

Friday - First stop of the day was at the Orchid Show at the Botanical Gardens,  a suggestion by my brother Tim, my accomplice in most of my music and food excursions.  After a long drab winter and days of torrential rain, this was the bit of springtime that magically appeared to lift us up and warm our spirits !  We walked through a series of green houses filled to the gills with lush topical orchids and trees and plants.  It was warm and colorful and soothing, as long as you didn't touch 

or eat 

or sit on 

any of the exhibits !

After all this wandering through Paradise, we did manage to forage up a nice lunch in the Garden Cafe...

Dinner was at a local chain called Jake's, adequate but unremarkable. The best part of the meal was the popcorn shrimp appetizer, probably do to the frying more than anything else.                              

Concert of the evening was Pete Yorn at Terminal 5.  I like Pete Yorn.  I fell in love with his songs "Strange Condition" and "Life on a Chain" many years ago and enjoy his singing.  He has never been tremendously well-known but he has a sizable devoted fan base.   He is one of those artists that write lots of good songs, but can't seem to make that leap into writing great songs.  I would love to see him really focus his talent and  make it big.  But in the meantime, he can sing to me anytime he wants...

A few notes on Terminal 5 -

It  is this large rectangular factory-like building with 3 levels -  floor and then a second and third level each with a bar and not many places to sit.  It is cool in concept, but not so cool in execution.  Unless you are right along the stage or up against the rails in the balconies, you can't see the stage.  Even on the first level balcony where we landed, the sound was muddy and the vocals not clear enough.  In my shortness I was not even able to see Pete until it thinned out near the balcony and I could get right against the rail. If you want to see a show here, get there early and stake out your spot.

Saturday -  Concert of the night was Lucinda Williams at Webster Hall.  We did not have a long time to spend in NYC this day,  we got there basically to eat and go to the show.  The meal this day was much better, we ended up at Bobby Flay's Mesa Grill on 5th Avenue.  The service was quick and friendly and the food tasty.  Fried oysters were a flavorful appetizer, Bison steaks were the meal of choice, served with garlicky mashed potatoes.  Everything was sauced nicely, nothing too hot but distinctive flavor.  I am always a sucker for dessert and had a hard time choosing,  but the Toasted Coconut Cake that I picked was an absolute winner.  Many layers of moist cake with coconut cream and crispy toasted coconut frosting.   This was worth the hours on the elliptical machine that will be necessary to support it !

Webster Hall is much smaller than Terminal 5, but is still a standing room theater with one balcony level.      We arrived just before the show started, and the theater was packed, no way could I see a thing downstairs so once again ended up in the first balcony.  Lucinda Williams attracts an interesting crowd, lots of people in their  40's and up  and a smattering of younger fans.  No one is wishy-washy about Lu, you either love her or you hate her.  She is an American original, singing with a pronounced Southern accent in a whiskey-soaked voice.  Her songs  are blunt yet beautifully written,  telling tales of drunken angels and lost love and atonement.   This was definitely a crowd of Lu lovers, hanging on her every song.  

I eventually did earn a place along the balcony rail as a couple of her more exuberant fans got ejected from the venue for indulging a bit too much in illegal substances.  Their loss,  my gain...

Oh yeah, in with all this food and music there was a bit  nonsense.  My brother and I, through a combination of sleeping and inattentive listening managed to miss our stop on the train ride home and had to take a taxi from New Haven back to Miford.   Hey, it isn't cool to call your 80ish father  to come pick up his 40 and 50ish  "kids" at 2:30 AM !

Wanna eat a heart shaped donut ?

Okay, people let's eat a heart shaped donut !  I guess I should use its proper name, it is a "Cupid's Choice Donut"  by Dunkin Donuts.  This is a basic vanilla raised-donut filled with Bavarian creme.  Let's get right to it.

  I know this is not high cuisine, but let's select a donut and put it on a proper plate.


There we go, this looks like a treat !

For the record, I chose the top/middle donut, it appeared to have the most sprinkles.

I am not sure how to properly approach this, so I decide to start at the bottom tip of the heart.

 Let's take that first bite.  Not bad, the pink frosting is strawberry flavored, a nice touch ! There is not much filling in the tip of the heart though, a bit of a disappointment... 

The cake is pretty good, considering that it has been sitting in the box since early morning.  I am sure that there are enough preservatives in this baby to keep it soft for at least 12 hours !

The candy hearts on top don't add much flavor, just a little sweetness, which it okay with me as it lets the artificial strawberry frosting take center stage at this point.   I really want to get to that Bavarian creme, though, so let's keep eating ...

Ah, now we are getting somewhere !  This is a mellow vanilla creme, a bit pudding-like,  going well with the strawberry frosting.  For some reason I think I am tasting a mild coconut flavor, but there is no discernible coconut in this at all.   The mystery of artificial flavor...

Uh oh,  our enthusiasm has gotten the best of us and there is not much left.  Ether our eyes are getting blurry from the sugar rush or I need to figure out the camera on my new Droid X phone, but that is the matter for a whole other blog.

Popping that last bite into our mouth and we are done !

Yum, nothing left but a few stray crumbs. As far as donuts go, this was satisfying in a trashy kind of way.  I have to admit that I am a cake-donut girl, but this was a good raised-donut choice.  The strawberry frosting saved this from being a bland vanilla-ish donut.  For a junk food treat, this was just fine.

Of course, after eating 310 calories in about a minute, the only thing that you can have for the rest of the night it something like this -

Don't even THINK of putting cream in it!

Don't be afraid of the food !

Here are some random musings about cooking and food that have kept my wheels turning...

Food can be frightening !  Not just the fear of not being able to prepare it well,  but if you have a severe food allergy it can damn well kill you.  I have been cursed with such an allergy to various tree nuts, and it definitely limits what foods I eat and makes me very cautious about dining out and new foods.   I know for sure that I am allergic to walnuts and Brazil nuts, and not allergic to almonds.  I don't know about the other tree nuts because I am too afraid to try them.  After you find it difficult to swallow because your throat is swelling, you are not too eager to try that category of food anymore.  My loss, definitely, as I will never really know what Nutella tastes like...

Sometimes I think about the "art" of cooking.  Is it an art?   I think that it can be, but isn't always.   Arguably, you can live without music or painting (though I would  not WANT to)  but you really can't live without food and drink.  So cooking is unavoidable and necessary, whether you enjoy doing it or not.  Most people can learn to cook,  they can make things edible, but the food may be unremarkable or unmemorable.  To me, if you eat to live you are a cook, if you live to eat, you have the makings of a chef !

Then there is the whole "right and wrong" argument about cooking.  I remember my grandmother telling my mother  that she was using the "wrong" pot to make some sort of dish.  The pot was not wrong because it was the incorrect shape or size, it was wrong because it was not the exact pot that my grandmother liked to use !  No wonder my mom was never an adventurous cook, she was always using the "wrong" pots !

Then there is the whole recipe thing.  Many of us learn to cook from recipes, and we get too dependent on them.  They are this crutch that we don't know how to throw away.  It can take a lifetime to figure out that  we need to learn techniques, not recipes.  I have been one of those recipe dependent cooks, and only in my old age am I starting to be comfortable with experimenting more and feeling more confident.

One last frightening thing about food, perhaps especially for the home cook, is pleasing everyone.  As the saying goes, you can choose your friends, but you can't choose your family !  Unless you are blessed with a family that loves every kind of food and is not afraid to try new things, you have limits put  upon you.   Many of us are trying to cook for a small set of people who have radically different tastes and making a meal that is fine for all can be a daunting task!   No one in my family except me really likes fish, mushrooms, or lamb, so guess which foods I rarely cook with ?   My daughter and I love broccoli and my husband and son dislike it, and so it goes...

So yeah, food can be frightening.  If it is rich and decadent, it is bad for your figure and health.  You can't eat that, it tastes too good, you know it must be bad for you.  But, you CAN eat that, you just can't eat  tons of it and you shouldn't eat it every day.  It is all about balance  and variety, there are no right or wrong foods, you can eat just about everything in moderation.  Well, I guess except Nutella, for some of us....

Shake it up !

Sometimes it feels good to shake things up a bit.  Not in a major way, but enough to get you thinking and acting a little differently.

I had an opportunity to switch around my work schedule to a much earlier one and I decided to take it!
Previously I would awaken at 6 AM, have a cup of coffee and go to the gym.  Then I would come home, eat breakfast and shower, then head into work for 9:30 AM, to work until 6 PM.   This was all good, I was used to it and I enjoyed working out before work, it felt good to get that done first thing.

Starting last week my schedule flipped around.  I now get up at 4:30 AM,  have coffee and breakfast and head out to work for 6 AM.   I am done with work at 2:30 PM (this is the awesome part!) and then stop home, go to the gym, come back with plenty of time to cook dinner, shower and early to bed.

The first week was definitely rough, the first day was fine but I  got progressively tired as the week went  on.  It felt good to just wake up, eat and head to work, but by 2:00 PM  I was starting to drag.   Plus it took effort to go to the gym right after work,  especially if I needed to pick up groceries or do any other errands.   This was the danger of working out later in the day, the longer you wait the more things try to pile up and stop you...

I decided that what was most important was to do everything that I would ordinarily do each day,  just do it at a different time.   I made sure that I went to the gym everyday and did my normal workout.  It made more sense now to shower and wash my hair at night, to save time in the morning.  All of this felt odd and it was hard getting used to going to bed at 9 PM instead of 10 or 11.

I have made it to week two and it is feeling much better !   The roads are nice and quiet at 5:30 AM, and it feels wonderful to be done with the work day by the middle of the afternoon.  I am getting used to working out later in the day , and I love having time to cook dinner and not feel rushed and stressed when I get home.  I definitely think that this is a good thing.  Sometimes, it is good to shake things up.

New Year's Eve Eve at New World Home Cooking !

      I never go out on New Year's Eve.  I really don't know why,  it just doesn't seem to work for me.  Actually slept right through it this year, and rather enjoyed it !  Of course, having to be at work by 7 am New Year's Day kind of put a damper on any New Year's Eve revelry...
      So I started thinking, what would be the lamest night of the year to go out to dinner ?   Why, New Year's Eve Eve, of course !  All of the cool people are going out on the Eve, why not take advantage of  the uncoolness and venture out on the Eve's Eve?  Brilliant !

       So my husband and I decided to head out to one of our favorite local places, New World Home Cooking.  Apparently, we were not the only practiced uncool people around, the dining room was buzzing when we arrived around 8 pm.  Waved hello to chef Ric and wife Liz as we walked in, greeted by a pretty impressive model of the restaurant done up in gingerbread.

One of the things that we love about New World is that it is more like dining at a friend's house rather than a formal, stuffy restaurant.  This is a place to go where you can come as you are.   People are here to savor food, laugh, drink and talk with their friends.  This is slow cooking at its finest, your meal is made for you and it will take a little time.  If the drink orders are getting backed up, chef Ric might just step in and deliver them himself,  keeping it real...

The worst part is deciding what to eat,  there are so many varied and interesting dishes that it is hard to pare it down to what you can reasonably eat !  We started out with a couple of  appetizers, Cajun peppered shrimp and feta stuffed olives with red pepper tzatziki.  We have had the shrimp before and love them, spicy but not overly hot.   The olives were a new item for us and were delicious, lovely green olives stuffed with feta, then  battered and fried until lightly crispy, so good with the creamy tzatziki sauce.  I could have eaten them all myself, but that would have been just rude...

 Thai Italian Love was my husband's choice,  pasta in a Bolognese sauce with the fun addition of lime, curry and coconut !  He decided to ask the waitress to up the heat a bit, and the result was a seriously spicy dish, suiting his fiery palate.  This looked seriously good...

I opted for the Tandoori salmon with curried winter vegetables, tamarind coconut sauce and brown rice.  The salmon was perfectly cooked, with a crackle of spices on top.  Lanky sprigs of cilantro just added to the seduction.  The curried brussel sprouts and sweet potato were a nice compliment to the rice and tarmarind sauce.   Only some rice was left on the plate by the time I was done, a testament to the fine flavors.

Somehow, I still saved some room for Vegan Chocolate Raspberry "Access" Cake.  Now, I really don't know what the name of this cake means, but it was one very vertical, very fine cake !   It had rich chocolate flavor, not overly sweet, and the raspberry sauce was one of the most intense berry flavors that I have ever tasted.

I restrained myself and ate half, then gladly took the rest home.