Dinner

It's beginning to feel like the blog has turned into a sort of instagram of dinners.  Busy days.

So tonight dinner:  101 Cookbook's Shichimi Mushroom Rice Bowl.

I use olive oil instead of butter and saute some shallots before adding the mushrooms.  I also add a splash of sherry towards the end of sauteing said mushrooms.  The tofu doesn't really behave the way it's supposed to - it tends to stick to the non-stick pan.  No matter, it still tastes fine.  Sometimes, I cook the kale separately with a little bit of water.

This always feels like a really healthy meal.

Dinner Tonight

Kale Salad

Sophie Dahl's Linguine with Cherry Tomatoes, Lemon, Chile and Crab - always works

Another go at the Yoghurt-Eton-Mess-Thing

Makeshift Sort-Of Eton Mess

The Husband and I had dinner with some family Monday night at Noho Star.  (I love that after all these years, the place hasn't changed much.)  For dessert, we ordered a Hot Fudge Sundae and something called, Lillie Langtry's Raspberry-Yogurt Meringue.  I think Hot Fudge Sundae is pretty self-explanatory.  Lillie Langtry's Raspberry-Yogurt Meringue turned out to be yoghurt mixed with raspberries and meringue pieces.  It was very good.  Halfway through eating it, I realised it was a variation on Eton Mess.  Instead of strawberries, cream and meringue, we had raspberries, yoghurt and meringue.

Needless to say, I thought about Eton Mess all week.  Last night, after a particularly satisfying meal at Red Farm (deserves a post all its own), I wanted to try making Eton Mess at home.  I knew we had fresh berries from the Farmers' Market.  So it was just a matter for getting the cream and meringue.  All the shops were closed.

So for tonight, I was better prepared.  I bought meringues from Le Pain Quotidien early in the afternoon.  I decided that instead of whipped cream, I'd just use some goat's milk yoghurt from the Farmers' Market we had lying in the fridge.  The preparation was pretty quick:  our extra liquid-y yoghurt in a bowl, followed by blueberries, raspberries and strawberries, and finished off with chopped pieces of meringue.  The slivered, blanched almonds in the meringue were a plus.  It was finished off pretty quickly.

For presentation's sake, it probably would have photographed better if I had put the meringue in first and topped it with the berries.  Also, the meringue bits could have been smaller, but I was a little impatient.  There are a couple of variations to this I would like to try:  Maple Tofu Whip (from Angelica Kitchen) instead of the yoghurt; homemade meringue sweetened with either maple syrup or honey.  All will be good, I think.

Belated Birthday Present

From a very generous loved one.  No words really, except, LOVE IT!  LOVE IT!  LOVE IT!!!

Nostalgia

There's been a lot of change in my neighbourhood in the past few years.  There's been a lot of change in New York City in the past few years.  The city has become less hospitable, less individual, less charming for a lack of better words.  It's nice to to see old buildings being repaired and renovated, but sometimes, some of their particular charm and character get renovated out in the process.

One of the loveliest streets in Greenwich Village is 11th Street.  Between University and 5th Avenue, there used to be a house which was covered by Wisteria for a couple of weeks every spring.  It was always a nice surprise to come upon the house in the middle of errands.

I found some old photos of the end of the blooms among my photos.

It must have taken a long time for this Wisteria to grow to that size and height.  This shrub looked like a tree!  In full bloom, the façade of the house would be covered in the lilac blooms, the entire front of the house a lovely pale colour.  And then there was the lovely scent of the Wisteria, wafting through the street.

This year, I saw a small cluster of lilacs on 9th Street and realised the season was upon us.  I raced to look at the house on 11th Street.  The first sight of the bloom-covered house always sort of took my breath away - a soft lilac tapestry draped over the front of the house, blooms undulating in the breeze.

The shrub was gone.  Sad.

Essex Market

This past weekend, I found myself in Essex Market.  The place had been on my radar for years because of Formaggio Essex.  (The husband and I were in Boston for months a few years ago and the highlight of my week was the Sunday afternoon trip to Formaggio in Cambridge.)  Formaggio Essex deserves a post all to itself.  So I thought I'd just post this image from one of the three(!!!) fish mongers in the market as a start.  Who could resist taking a picture when the fish look like this!

Details at Sunset

I have walked past this corner of Nolita more times than I can remember.  Then one evening a couple of weeks ago, walking home around sunset, I suddenly saw the building which housed the somewhat unremarkable hardware store.

I thought it was quite lovely.  (I even love that there's plant life - probably a weed - growing out of that little corner.)  It reminded me of Frank Lloyd Wright.  Somehow, it made sense to me since this is on the same block as the only Louis Sullivan building in New York City.  I wonder what the building was like before...