It’s never too early for Christmas punch, honey!

This is Martha Stewart’s recipe. I didn’t to the simple syrup for two reasons: 1) I didn’t read the recipe properly so I had run out of time before the guests came to make it. 2) The cranberry and pomegranate juice added a lot of sugar and it didn’t need more.

Christmas Punch to get you through any holiday occasion.

2 cups chilled pomegranate juice
1 cup chilled cranberry juice
8 ounces (1 cup) vodka
8 ounces (1 cup) Cointreau or other orange-flavored liqueur
1 cup chilled club soda
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice (from 6 lemons)
1/2 cup Simple Syrup

Friesday, Friesday, gotta get down on Friesday

I’ve always been a savory person – meaning I prefer savory foods to sweets. If someone offered me oreos or doritos, I’d grab the chips. A piece of cake or french fries? You already know.

 

As a Hanukkah present my girlfriend got “Perfect Fries”. Who doesn’t love an “As Seen on TV” type of present? If you don’t have the courage to buy it yourself, have someone get it for you as a gift!

 

Needless to say, we used it immediately. We had some blue potatoes from our CSA and we decided to bake them in the oven with salt, pepper, rosemary and olive oil. This is the bomb azz result:

 

And then we went to one of my fave places in Harlem, Yatenga. A french restaurant that is still getting the kinks out of its newness, it’s near CUNY, it has good vibes and is next door to the Shrine, an awesome music venue. Both of these places are worth visit and/or a trip Uptown.

So what do you do when you go to a french restaurant and it’s Friesday? You get frites, duh. And lamb meatballs and a salad so you  get some nutrients.

 

 

Pretty frequently I grab lunch with a college friend who works near by. We exclusively test out taco venues. It’s a never-ending project that I thoroughly enjoy undertaking. And a couple Fridays ago I celebrate Friesday at this fun taco place, Otto’s Tacos in the East Village. What’s that? Fries and Mexican you say? Oh, yes honey. “Massa Fries” are made out of corn, like deep-fried, dense, corn tortillas. So good. This is real life:

Shout out to my homie for his beautiful hand-modeling.

 

Anyway, I’m headed home to the PNW today so I’m not sure I’ll have time to celebrate Friesday properly… unless anyone knows of some good places at JFK? And no, McDonald’s and Burger King don’t count.

 

If you have any suggestions outside of places to eat fries out side of the airport I would love to know! Where’s your favorite place to eat fries?

 

 

 

Step up your DIY game

Hi there.

Trying to figure out what gifts to give for the holidaze? Don’t have that much $$$? Yeah, me too. And yeah, me neither.

Here’s a way to make your friends & family think you really tried this year!

Homemade vanilla extract  is the solution to your holiday problems.

We went online and ordered little bottles, vanilla beans, went to the liquor store for some vodka & bought some pretty gold ribbon at one of my favorite stores. http://www.paperpresentation.com Yup. One of my favorite stores in New York is a craft store….

 

We made these earlier this year and they were the bomb. It tastes so much more natural than the “natural” vanilla extract you find at your local grocery store.

 

Slice open the vanilla bean. The coffee ground-like stuff inside is like the caviar of the land, in my opinion. That’s where are the vanilla flavor comes from. When you get ice cream and they brag about vanilla flecks – that’s what they are talking about. Make sure that goes in the jar.

 

 

 

Just stick the pod right in, too.

 

And then add the vodka in. Let this chill for about 2-3 weeks in fridge (aka, do it right now and it will be a perfect gift) and then you’ll have your vanilla extract ready to go for all your cooking & baking needs!

 

 

Give this as a gift and guar.an.teed someone will be jealous of your creativity & thoughtfulness. And isn’t this what the holidays is all about?

Done with the garden

Last Saturday was our final garden cleanup for the season. We raked leaves, pulled up tomato stakes from our plots an got prepared for the winter season. This meant pulling up everything from our plots. Walking away with an empty plot felt very cyclical – that’s nearly how it looked when I arrived in April of this year.

 

And then it made me think about my participation next year… I don’t know if I’m going to be a member in 2014.

I loved gardening here. The trial, error, sharing, community that comes from gardening is very similar to cooking and I think that’s why I enjoy it so much.

But there were some things that I did not enjoy so much.

1) People stealing vegetables. I thought that it was just a coincidence. A cat? A bird? However, later in the season I would go to my plot hoping to see a ripe tomato, or full basil leaves… but one too many times it was missing. At the final meeting this season, many other gardeners lamented over the same ‘coincidences’. And then one woman shared she had seen another gardener taking plants from others’ garden. Needless to say, this is weaksauce and did not make me too happy.

2) Upper management. A wise person once said to me “there are stupid people everywhere”. So just because community organizations & gardens are awesome … doesn’t mean they aren’t immune to difficult, rude, patronizing people. The meetings we had once a month were rarely productive and they didn’t build community in any way. Like, why did I role out of bed at 8AM for this? I became friendly with some of the members but my frustrations with other people may have outweighed the friendships.

3) Time commitment. From the beginning of my membership I realized quickly how different it was to have a garden not in your back yard, but a several blocks away. I really had to make an effort after a long day at work to get off the train one stop early, stop by the garden and water it properly.  Luckily, I had a fairy godmother who took care of a lot of the watering for me on those hot days. She lived across the street from the garden. 

 So next year… I will be in grad school and working fulltime. Time will still be an issue. And the garden certainly isn’t moving any closer. And I doubt Upper Management is going to improve over the winter…

 Maybe I’ll be looking for a plot a bit closer? I don’t know. But as I’m writing this I am realizing that not having the garden doesn’t seem like such a great option either.

Well, I have a few months to think about it!