Archive for 2011

thompson les eats

December 30th, 2011

We are usually those overnight suburban visitors who just settle for a hotel in midtown because it’s convenient to Grand Central Terminal. With an unusual 3 nights in Manhattan, we wanted to explore a new neighborhood and set our sights on the Lower East Side. We found the perfect match on Jetsetter, a 500 sq [...]
 


We are usually those overnight suburban visitors who just settle for a hotel in midtown because it’s convenient to Grand Central Terminal. With an unusual 3 nights in Manhattan, we wanted to explore a new neighborhood and set our sights on the Lower East Side. We found the perfect match on Jetsetter, a 500 sq ft room at the Thompson LES (190 Allen St). I was attracted to the Lower East Side because it is home to so many great restaurants (we also ate at wd~50 and Frankies), but I had no idea how many eateries would be within 2 block radius of our hotel.

First stop after check-in: Meatball Shop (85 Stanton Street)

It’s a cozy spot with a simple menu, but it features some incredibly appealing comfort food. We walked in on a weekday at 2pm and were able to immediately get a seat at the bar. Even mid-afternoon, the entire restaurant remained full. The Meatball Shop is open until 4 am, so if you’re also in business if you happen to get a late night craving!

My surprise favorite of the sliders: chicken with Parmesan cream sauce

Classic beef meatballs with tomato sauce and provolone on an Il Forno baguette

No trip to NYC in your future? There’s a cookbook and right now the copies in the shop are signed.

It is a rare day that I will eat ice cream, but this was worth it. D initially announced he had no room for dessert, but I dare anyone to turn down caramel ice cream, sandwiched between 2 chocolate chip cookies.

I had no idea Prune (54 East 1st St) was so close! After reading Gabrielle Hamilton’s memoir earlier this year, we took a chance as walk-ins for a weekday lunch. There are no reservations for weekend brunch and I heard you need to be prepared to wait in line. This Rock Shrimp Roll was so delicious I would take it over a lobster roll (hot or cold) any day! I cannot stop thinking about it. PS: Old Bay French Fries. Why have I never had this before?

Grilled Hamburger with Sharp Cabot Cheddar on an English Muffin. Our lunch looked deceptively simple, but the food at Prune was so perfectly balanced I was won over and have dropped my grudge about being squished like a sardine at our table. It was quite easy to overhear neighbors raving about the shaved kale salad.

If you’re staying overnight, of course you’ll need breakfast. I wanted to return to Russ & Daughters (179 East Houston St) for more Scottish smoked salmon. There’s no indoor seatting, just a bench out on the sidewalk, so having a hotel room around the corner really comes in handy.


What do you eat before a 15-course lunch at Ko? Nothing! Just stick to a macchiato at Bluebird (72 East 1st St).

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dulce de leche crispies

December 29th, 2011

December always seems to bring on an urge to bake, but the oven and I are not really friends. In my annual hunt for new recipes, these dulce de leche crispies sounded manageable. A riff on the ever-popular Rice Krispies Treat, I figured I couldn’t go wrong. Problem 1: Dulce de Leche is not available in [...]

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December always seems to bring on an urge to bake, but the oven and I are not really friends. In my annual hunt for new recipes, these dulce de leche crispies sounded manageable. A riff on the ever-popular Rice Krispies Treat, I figured I couldn’t go wrong.

Problem 1:
Dulce de Leche is not available in every grocery store. I looked in the Goya section, the baking aisle and by the hot fudge sauce in three different stores. Finally D took pity on me and went to a C-Town on Grand Ave in New Haven.

Problem 2:
Much like Rice Krispies Treats, taming this mixture can be a sticky mess. You’ll probably notice mine look more dome-like than the ones in the Food + Wine photo. When these hit the baking sheet, there was no pressing down without them falling apart.

Problem 3:
On a cookie platter these crispies don’t attract much attention.
D said it’s because they look healthy, like they’re jammed with oats. Who wants a healthy holiday cookie?

Finally, some good news!
These airy and crispy treats paired with salt and caramel are delicious. The more leftovers for you, the better.

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tasting menu wd~50 – NYC

December 28th, 2011

Tasting menu at wd~50, December 2011 Fluke, red pepper, za’atar, fried lentils Everything bagel, smoked salmon threads, crispy cream cheese Foie-lafel Poached egg in the shell, pumpernickel, caesar dressing, lily bulb Sweet shrimp, miso noodles, chicory, yuzu Monkfish, smoked barley, beet-mustard, nori Quail, chartreuse yogurt, turnip, nutmeg Lamb loin, ‘red beans & rice,’ chayote squash [...]

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Tasting menu at wd~50, December 2011

Fluke, red pepper, za’atar, fried lentils

Everything bagel, smoked salmon threads, crispy cream cheese

Foie-lafel

Poached egg in the shell, pumpernickel, caesar dressing, lily bulb

Sweet shrimp, miso noodles, chicory, yuzu

Monkfish, smoked barley, beet-mustard, nori

Quail, chartreuse yogurt, turnip, nutmeg

Lamb loin, ‘red beans & rice,’ chayote squash

Bourbon, cranberry, gingerbread, walnut

Apricot, buckwheat, quince, green tea

Milk chocolate, black bean, plantain, soy, peanut

Rice krispy treats

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flying a hawk – manchester, vt

December 27th, 2011

This post goes all the way back to May when we were in Manchester Vermont when I attended a planning session at The Equinox. No one would ever say that I’m an outdoorsy-nature type, but for some inexplicable reason after combing through the activities list at the Equinox, I was filled with one wish. I wanted [...]
 

This post goes all the way back to May when we were in Manchester Vermont when I attended a planning session at The Equinox. No one would ever say that I’m an outdoorsy-nature type, but for some inexplicable reason after combing through the activities list at the Equinox, I was filled with one wish. I wanted to fly a hawk at the British School of Falconry.

Upon arrival the handler will give you a tour of the barn and its inhabitants. You also check the board for weigh-ins (above). This allows the handler to see who’s hungry. A hungry bird is motivated to work in exchange for food. A full bird, not so much.

After a bit of instruction, you’ll be given your glove which is when things start to get real.

Next step, you’ve got a hawk on your hand, with its leather straps secure between your fingers. The birds also have radio transmitters in case they decide to make a break for it, but they ‘re looking for the easy meal and are waiting for the trainer to leave a return reward - a little morsel of meat- on your fist.

You do have a bird of prey that is directly eye-level, occasionally pointing a fierce looking beak right in front of your face. It’s intimidating, but mostly exhilarating to see these birds up close.

As it turns out, D is better at casting hawks.

You’re flying a hawk (not a falcon) for a reason. These Harris hawks are incredibly well-trained. They put up with clueless visitors who have no idea how to cast or communicate with them, inquisitive close-up stares, cameras… Follow the rules and they are not spooked.

The hawk perches on in the side of your hand. You make a fist with your thumb straight out and keep your thumb upwards towards the sky. Every landing is extremely gentle and graceful on your gloved hand.

Towards the end of our session we got a taste of the next class, the hawk walk. In it, the hawk flies along the treeline and follows you, returning (when called) to your gloved fist.

Don’t worry! This is just a decoy used to show how quickly the hawk can strike its prey. You never want to come between a hawk and its lunch!


Photography note: if there are no ‘spectators’ in your group, this is definitely a point and shoot kind of camera gig. I was so thankful to have my G10 because there is no way you can shoot with your dSRL on manual and have a hawk on your other arm. The handler will also take a few photos for you.

Now that I finished writing this post, I remembered what started the whole bird of prey obsession.
Mordecai in The Royal Tenenbaums. I love Wes Anderson.

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holiday vintage subway – ny, ny

December 23rd, 2011

The theme for today’s New York City post is serendipity. Staying in the Lower East Side, we weren’t overwhelmed with the usual December holiday chaos. To avoid being total grinches, we decided to make a trip up to Fifth Ave to see the tree and a few windows. Our hotel, Thompson LES is half a block [...]
 

The theme for today’s New York City post is serendipity.

Staying in the Lower East Side, we weren’t overwhelmed with the usual December holiday chaos. To avoid being total grinches, we decided to make a trip up to Fifth Ave to see the tree and a few windows. Our hotel, Thompson LES is half a block from the 2nd Avenue station. And the F subway line is where we got lucky. When we descended to catch a train uptown, a vintage subway car was waiting in the station and a trombone player was cheerfully bumbling through Christmas carols. The train was bound for Queens Plaza, so we decided to wait 20 minutes for the chance to ride this piece of history to Rockefeller Center. The seats were covered with caning, vintage advertisements hung overhead and at each stop the station name was yelled out the door by MTA crew members.

If you’re in the City on Saturday, December 24, the Nostalgia Shoppers’ Special will be making its final runs for 2011. These R1/9 subway cars were mostly in use during the 1930s-1960s. Schedule available on the MTA site. No extra cost, just the usual $2.25 fare.

There is something misleading about riding a vintage train. I had concluded: older train = slower speed. Wrong! The doors were open between each car, as were the upper windows. In the dim light and noisy din, it felt like we were traveling at an exceptionally fast speed between stations! The suspension (or lack thereof) ensures you notice every bump and turn. All of this combines to make for a fun and memorable subway ride. Traveling underground in these unusual surroundings, I began to wish we were hurtling through the darkness to a far-away magical destination. No such luck, so we got off at 47-50 Rockefeller and piled into the crowd of other tourists heading for the tree.

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maple row farm – easton, ct

December 22nd, 2011

It’s Brent’s third and final holiday season in New England. During his time in CT, we’ve gotten a bit of a Christmas tradition going. Fortified by our fully loaded hot dog at Super Duper Weenie, we set off to find a tree at Maple Row Farm in Easton, Connecticut. I know it looks like fields [...]
 

It’s Brent’s third and final holiday season in New England. During his time in CT, we’ve gotten a bit of a Christmas tradition going. Fortified by our fully loaded hot dog at Super Duper Weenie, we set off to find a tree at Maple Row Farm in Easton, Connecticut.

I know it looks like fields and fields worth of options, but I’d guess we searched for 5 minutes or less. D does not really have the patience to obsess over tree shape.

Brent selected and cut our tree. It is shorter than usual, but it fits perfectly in our front living room window.
What is the deal with Christmas lights? Designed to fail? This string was purchased last year and is already on the fritz!

Late in the day there were still some elaborate tailgate setups in the Maple Row parking lot. We just sipped hot cider and listened to our holiday playlist, which of course includes a little Bing Crosby:

Brent is already long gone,  jetting off for a month-long holiday with family in California and Hawaii. Have I mentioned how smart my cousin is?

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kindness of strangers

December 21st, 2011

The week before Christmas, I can always start to feel things come a little unglued. It’s that one last gift you can’t figure out, the traffic jam in the parking lot, and the stress over entertaining family. Last night a person we had never met before bought us dinner. We were a surprised and hesitant [...]

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The week before Christmas, I can always start to feel things come a little unglued. It’s that one last gift you can’t figure out, the traffic jam in the parking lot, and the stress over entertaining family.

Last night a person we had never met before bought us dinner. We were a surprised and hesitant in accepting his generosity, but he simply insisted we pay it forward. This afternoon I had the answer. I remembered Community Plates, a local Connecticut non-profit recently featured on CT Bites.

‘Tis better to give than receive. So true…

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carnival of the animals – bergdorf windows 2011

December 20th, 2011

This charming holiday video reminded me to walk up from Rockefeller Center to 57th during last weekend’s stay in NYC. My mission, to see the windows at Bergdorf Goodman. Glimpses of them appear in the video, but there is nothing like viewing the windows in person and lingering over the texture, sparkle and color. We [...]
 

This charming holiday video reminded me to walk up from Rockefeller Center to 57th during last weekend’s stay in NYC. My mission, to see the windows at Bergdorf Goodman. Glimpses of them appear in the video, but there is nothing like viewing the windows in person and lingering over the texture, sparkle and color. We arrived mid Saturday morning and there was a terrific glare of the skyline reflecting off the glass. From Fifth Avenue I could only capture shots in the lower portion of the window, but you’ll easily see why I fell in love with these stunning creations.

This year’s theme is the Carnival of the Animals which always makes me think of Saint Saens The Swan. It is a luxurious and relaxing piece, especially welcome the week before Christmas.

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thymes frasier fir

December 19th, 2011

As we close in on Christmas, I have a great little discovery for all of you who have said “bah humbug” to pine needles on the floor and the question, “did you remember to water the tree?” If your Christmas tree was assembled after digging out the storage box, there’s no doubt you may still [...]
 

As we close in on Christmas, I have a great little discovery for all of you who have said “bah humbug” to pine needles on the floor and the question, “did you remember to water the tree?”

If your Christmas tree was assembled after digging out the storage box, there’s no doubt you may still miss that woodsy holiday scent that comes along with dragging a live tree inside your house. The Thymes Frasier Fir collection is the answer. So many candles feature an overbearing fragrance, but this is one is very balanced and natural. Light this candle before the doorbell rings and you’ll notice  guests immediately comment that the tree smells great! I received this candle from a co-worker and now that I’ve test-run it a few times, I’ll say it’s a worthwhile investment and makes a fine holiday gift. It burns cleanly and evenly and when you take down the ornaments, you can pack this candle away knowing it will last for many Decembers to come.

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Super Duper Weenie – Fairfield, CT

December 13th, 2011

D and I are both born and raised in Connecticut… but it took an out-of-state visitor (Brent came back for his 3rd Christmas tree) to get us to Super Duper Weenie in Fairfield. If you like your dog heavily-adorned in homemade condiments, this is the place for you! We fell hard for the french fries. [...]
 

D and I are both born and raised in Connecticut… but it took an out-of-state visitor (Brent came back for his 3rd Christmas tree) to get us to Super Duper Weenie in Fairfield. If you like your dog heavily-adorned in homemade condiments, this is the place for you!

We fell hard for the french fries. They are thin and crispy, with a hefty coating of salt AND pepper. We shared, but next time I will be getting my own order.

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