Snow Day!!

I couldn't believe it when at 1 in the afternoon yesterday I heard that the Mayor was canceling all NYC public schools. Being from Minnesota, the thought of canceling school before the snow has even hit just seemed absurd. We got an email from work telling us the number to call in case of severe weather the following morning, just in case.

"No way," I thought. Well, I woke up this morning to snow falling, perhaps an inch or two on the ground, but the news networks were going crazy with BLIZZARD! SNOMAGGEDON! So, I figured, well, I might as well call work just in case. I promptly jumped up and down and danced around the bedroom! SNOWDAYSNOWDAYSNOWDAY!!! I have no idea how it happened, but all of our NYC clinics were closed! HURRAY!

I must say, I was a little surprised, the snow didn't pick up until around 1pm this afternoon, for a Midwestern girl like myself, I'd say it was a pretty normal snowstorm. But, I'll take what I can get!

In any case, I've been enjoying my random day off and went out earlier today before the snow picked up and took some photos around the neighborhood.

Enjoy and Happy Snowday!












The little park on the corner.






View from our rooftop. Normally you can see Manhattan, but for today, just lots of snow!


Every single little kid in our neighborhood was getting hauled around on a sled!






Our street. Our apartment is the second "balcony" up in the second set of fire escapes.

Tunisian Potato Omelet

I am somewhat of a library fiend. I love getting my books for free and not having to keep them around to pack in boxes when we move. (Hint, hint to husband with books overflowing upon books... :-) ) Upon moving to New York and taking the subway everywhere, I also now read a TON.

For some bizarre reason I never realized that I could get cookbooks from the library. Having recently discovered this moving to our new neighborhood, I couldn't be more excited to try all kinds of fun new recipes. I enjoy finding recipes online, but something about paging through a cookbook is much more fun. The only problem is many of my own cookbooks are well loved (re: splattered with sauce), so I just have to be sure to be more careful with the library versions. (Maybe I do need one of these crazy things from our old wedding registry...)

Anyhow, in my quest to cook more vegetarian, (mostly as a money saving venture in keeping CAFO meat out of our kitchen, I still love a good Medium Rare steak, don't get me wrong), I've come across the Moosewood series, and am having a good time perusing their tasty recipes.

The following is from their Simple Suppers book, and it was delicious. I didn't have much in the kitchen but eggs and potatoes, and this made for a fantastic filling meal both Alex and I loved. It is very similar to Tortilla Espanola, a dish both of us had regularly on our adventures in Spain.

Please note that I didn't have ground caraway in my kitchen at the time, so I left it out. I'm not quite sure how this would taste with it, as I have no idea what caraway is like.

Moosewood Restaurant
Simple Suppers For the Weeknight Table

Spicy Tomato Sauce
1 TBS Olive Oil
4 Garlic Cloves, minced
.5 - 1 tsp red pepper flakes
1 tsp ground caraway (We didn't have this, so I left it out)
1 tsp ground coriander
1 15 oz can of diced tomatoes

Omelet
2 TBS olive oil
1.5 cups diced onions
2 tsp ground caraway
2 tsp ground coriander
2 cups diced potatoes
6 eggs
1/4 Cup plus 2 TBS of water
1/3 - 1/2 C grated parmesan or pecorino romano cheese

For the Sauce:
Saute your garlic in olive oil for a few minutes, add the tomatoes and spices and simmer on low, stirring occasionally while you cook the omelet. Be careful you don’t overcook it, if it gets to be more then 10 or 15 minutes, just turn off the heat and leave the sauce covered.

For the omelet:
Saute your onions in oil in a large skillet for a few minutes until tender. Add potatoes and spices and cook 3-5 minutes. While the potatoes are cooking, scramble 6 eggs with 2 TBS water. Add your eggs to the pan and mix carefully to distribute evenly. Once the eggs begin to set, loosen it from the sides of the pan and tilt the skillet so the uncooked eggs flow underneath and around and begin to cook as well. Once the omelet firms up, sprinkle the top with cheese, cover, and cook a few more minutes until the cheese is melted. Cut into slices and serve topped with sauce.

Apple Porkchops

I had purchased some pork chops from the local butcher last weekend and decided to make another tasty winter apple meal.

I couldn't really decide on a recipe, but wanted something with a fall/winter feel, so came up with combining two recipes, one from Martha and one from Rachel Ray.

I really enjoyed this, though Alex preferred just the Pork Chops without the apple topping.

The chops were made with this Maple Glazed Pork Chop recipe. Then topped with apples and caramelized shallots. (I actually subbed a red onion because I realized too late we were fresh out of shallots.)

For the apples and shallots:
Adapted From Martha Stewart

For two chops:

1 smallish to medium red onion, chopped
A few pinches of brown sugar
A good TBS of butter
1 good size granny smith or other tart apple, chopped
1/4 dry white wine

Toss your chopped onion in the skillet with butter. Melting the butter and saute the onions. Add a bit of brown sugar to help sweeten the deal. Let everything simmer, stirring occasionally until the onions are soft and translucent. Add the apples, saute until tender. Add the wine, stir, and cook, over low heat, covered until the liquid is cooked off.

Winter in the Woods

In honor of Alex's last weekend without school, we decided to head up north this past weekend for a little time out of the city. We didn't really have a plan, but figured we would make use of the car and have ourselves an adventure.

We ended up in the adorable little town of Cold Spring, about 1.5-2 hours north of NYC, where we had previously come to go hiking. I was thinking there would be lots of snow and was hoping we could enjoy perhaps some cross country skiing or snow shoeing or something of that sort. However, to our surprise, there was very little of the white stuff to be seen anywhere.

We decided instead to spend a late afternoon up in the hillside taking a similar hike to what we had done earlier in the fall. It was only icy in a few spots, but there was a good deal of ice on the creek which made for some fun photography.














A fun day had by all.

Parsnip Apple Soup: Eating Local in January

Living in NYC means we're lucky enough to have access to a farmers market year round. Though the selections certainly are few, there are still many tasty goodies to be had. Meats, cheeses, eggs, root vegetables, and apples; piles and piles of apples! I just learned that apparently New York is the second largest producer of apples in the country.



Today I picked up a few of those apples along with some parsnips and onions and headed home to see what I could make. I was originally going to make our usual soup with ginger and carrots and such, but then looked through the new cookbook I got for Christmas, The Cafe Brenda Cookbook, and found this recipe instead. (I know Cafe Brenda is closing or now closed, so I'm happy to have snagged this cookbook, as there are a lot of tasty recipes in here!)





This soup was a little different, but both Alex and I really enjoyed it. The savory of the parsnips blended perfectly with the tartness of the granny smith apples. It was light, but still a warm winter soup.



Parsnip Apple Soup
The Cafe Brenda Cookbook

2 TBS Butter
2 medium onions, chopped
3-4 cloves garlic, chopped
3 Cups peeled and chopped parsnips (About 3 large Parsnips)
1 large tart apple, chopped (about 2 cups)
4.5 - 5 Cups stock (chicken or veggie stock)
salt and pepper to taste



Saute onions and garlic in butter for 3-5 minutes, until tender. add parsnips and apple, saute for an additional 3-5 minutes. Add soup stock. Simmer, covered, over low heat until veggies are tender, approximately 20-30 minutes.

Blend until smooth. ENJOY!

Black Bean Crockpot Soup

So, the blogging has been a little sporadic lately, my apologies for that. It turns out moving, particularly in a city like New York, is quite the ordeal. Especially moving from a very large apartment to an itty bitty one.

Needless to say, there's still lots to be done, but, amidst the unpacking, we still needed to eat. I was so ready for a home cooked meal... and then found out our stove didn't work. Well, it works, I mean, it's brand new, but, there is no gas to cook with. Turns out, that's a problem.

Our landlord actually had no idea this was going to be an issue, they didn't know the gas line wasn't labeled and didn't have a meter, etc. Apparently the tenants before us were actually the New Yorkers who never once used their stove, so never had gas installed. Anyhow, it's being fixed and hopefully we will be able to cook by this weekend, and in the meantime apparently aren't paying full rent, so that's good.

But, Alex and I could neither afford to eat all our meals out nor wanted to just use the microwave. (I'm sure there's some mighty find cooking that can be done in a microwave, but I don't have skills that reach beyond defrosting meat and reheating leftovers.)

So, crockpot to the rescue! I've actually managed to meet my goal of finding new vegetarian recipes and using my slow cooker all in one shot thanks to not being able to use the stove. This recipe was from a cookbook I've been meaning to use, but never got around to. It was super tasty, easy, just the right amount of spiciness, and incredibly cheap if you're looking for that sort of thing. This goes great with a green salad or some garlic toast.

So without further ado:

South American Black Bean Crockpot Soup

Adapted from 125 Best Vegetarian Slow Cooker Recipes by Judith Finlayson

Ingredients:
2 onions (on the smaller side) finely chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped
2 carrots, chopped (I have taken a lead from KNG and stopped peeling my carrots)
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 finely chopped jalapeno, seeded and ribbed
1 tsp dried thyme
1 TBS cumin
1 TBS dried oregano
Sea Salt to taste
A few grinds of black pepper
¼ tsp cayenne pepper
2 TBS tomato paste
6 Cups chicken or vegetable stock
2 cans black beans, drained and rinsed
the juice from 1.5 limes
Topping: Sour cream and cilantro if desired.

Chop all your veggies and add to the crockpot, along with spices, tomato paste, beans, and stock. (The original recipe says you should cook your veggies first in a skillet until tender, but I thought if you're cooking for 10 hours in a crockpot, that was highly unnecessary.) Cook on low for 8-10 hours. Add your lime juice. Puree everything with an immersion blender. Serve with a healthy dollop of sour cream.

YUM!

*Apologies for the terrible photo... I've realized the new kitchen lighting is pretty poor for photos, and didn't really feel up to digging through boxes for my flash.

To New Beginnings

From this weekend...

To New Beginnings

Today I was happy. I was happy to be where I am. I was happy to walk where I live.

Today I woke up after a quiet night’s sleep that was not punctuated by loud voices, and sirens, and car alarms.
Today I bought fresh beautiful produce from a local independent grocer.
I discussed my purchase of a pasture raised chicken and drooled over the delicious looking prosciutto and grass fed steak cuts with the butcher at New York’s oldest meat shop.
I admired the local neighborhood park, and thought about reading a book there in the springtime.
I checked out a vegetarian cookbook from the library that wasn’t even reserved for me.
I went for a run by the waterfront and was never yelled at or given a funny look.
I purchased a beautiful wedge of delicious manchego.
I partook in a free wine sampling.
I perused the local community bookstore.

All within a few blocks of my apartment.

Today I finally felt the exhaustion of the past 16 months begin to lift.

Today New York made sense.