Sunday Six

E

erininny

Well-known member
Working backwards again...

1. We ventured out to the Bastille Day street festival on 60th Street today and, as every year, it was so packed that it was nearly impossible to move. Jakub dove in for a sandwich with grilled merguez (which was very good), and then we bailed. Rows after row of macarons beckoned, as did saffron couscous with chicken, platters of quiche, and too many tarts to count. Oh, well.

2. Stopped at a little cafe on W. 58th that's attached to the AKA Hotel, and had coffee. Very good--the coffee is from Counter Culture. Too bad they only have two (count 'em) seats in the coffee area... Clearly, they'd prefer it if you came in and sat down for lunch--plenty of seats there.

3. Made French toast with raspberries and bananas, using giant slices of whole-wheat bread that was served with a salad I had yesterday at Aroma Cafe in Soho (or ארומה אספרסו בר , as we knew the chain in Israel). smileys/wink.gif Perfect for French toast--and I'm really not above asking for a paper bag to stuff spare bread into, knowing that it will be great the next day for breakfast...

4. Our visit to see our friends' newborn daughter (very cute) ended with a two-mile walk through Prospect Park...for which I was not exactly prepared, especially when the newborn parents decided to off-road it and four-wheel with their baby carriage--their daughter was in a sling, not in the carriage--through the forest to get to a better path. We went back to Manhattan with other friends of ours and collapsed at a Mexican place known (only) for its margaritas and chips.

5. On the way home, stopped and sampled dark-chocolate dipped fruit with a side of guilt--the salesgirl with the samples outside kept saying, "Please come in and buy something!" Guilt is not an effective sales tactic. Plus, you're on MacDougal Street--you have approximately 5,000 people walking past here. I'm sorry, but one of them will buy something. My feet and I are going home.

6. Two kinds of pizza for dinner--one with broccoli and ricotta, and one with pepperoni; plus, an easy green bean, tomato, and vinaigrette salad, and slices of zucchini.

(In my defense, since there is hardly any real cooking in this, there's a heat advisory here, which I assume applies to kitchens, too...) smileys/wink.gif

Hope you all had a good weekend--

Erin

 
My Sunday six

- Not happy with the jam I made; I seems more like a sauce then a jam. Raspberries were picked from MIL/FILs so I was hoping to impress them, but honestly, I think the fruit this summer is not as "tasty" if that makes sense. Weird weather with lots of rain, then really hot followed by rain seems to have impacted gardens

- Had Tea on Friday, turned out to pizza, dessert, etc, etc... I am glad I had extra snacks on hand. Everyone, just kind of stayed put.

- Learned from our ShopRite that they are now charging tax to "steam" shrimp. I was in a rush on Friday to prepare for tea, so did not change my routine. BUT, they are now charging tax if you ask them to prepare the shrimp!!!

-Made Richards English Cucumber Punch on Sat. Huge hit! Very refreshing. (Thx Richard!)

- Made roasted Israeli couscous this am; used epi as a guide, and honestly, I am so cooked out, I just kind of faked it.

been entertaining non-stop since Friday.

Oh, and I made a b-day cake for my Mom!!! : )

I need a nap / good nights sleep!!

http://eat.at/swap/forum/index.php?action=display&forumid=1&msgid=129720

 
Barb that Cucumber Punch has become legendary here.. People are beggin for the recipe...

We're having a cocktail party in August and we will have three punch bowls, no bar, no waiters, just ladle it in people:

Cucumber Punch
Michael's Grapefruit and Basil Martinis
Pineapple Margartias.

That will lubricate the crowd.

 
Steaming the shrimp make it into a food that is ready to eat. Here in MO

if something is ready to eat, you charge a different sales tax then if it something you cannot eat right there. If that makes sense. I am guessing that is what happened.

 
I agree. We pay sales tax at restaurants and take-out places but not on most groceries.

In CA any prepared fresh food is taxable. Maybe if they had chilled it and repackaged it, it would be tax-free.

 
Same here in NY. Just the other day I got some sliced turkey and also some

ready-made macaroni and cheese from the same deli, same store, same day, same cashier, etc. Turkey was tax-free, mac and cheese was considered a take-out meal. Kinda dumb if you ask me.

 
My Belated Weekend Six

Friday night I decided I had to start cooking at home again, no matter what the temperature. So I made a risotto with zucchini and ginger. I improvised with some Fontina cheese that I had, which I think I liked even better than the Parmesan that the recipe called for. A salad with greens and a few grape tomatoes (our first!), both from the garden finished it off. I'm experimenting with a lot of different things - red lettuce, chard, and other greens - this year. More broccoli flowers for garnish. Pretty, and they have a nice, nutty flavor too.

Our power was off right after that so I also had to improvise with the blueberry-lemon dessert I had planned on making for a cookout. I ended up using a graham cracker crust and put a layer of whipped cheesecake (cream cheese, sour cream, and Cool Whip), thought about topping it with lemon curd (but didn't because I couldn't refrigerate the leftover jar, due to no power). Then I topped it with blueberries and a spring of mint from the backyard. Topped each piece with a dollop of more Cool Whip. It was great and was well-received by even the pickiest of the group. Recipe follows for anyone who is interested.

The cook-out. A beautiful day, on on the lake was even better. After dinner, we went out on one of the guys' boat and all was fine until the engine started beeping and then shut off. Outa gas, so we called 911 and got "rescued" (towed to shore) by the fire department's water boat. Actually quite relaxing and funny, seeing that land was never out of sight. Several hours longer than we had planned, but oh well. "The weather started getting rough, a tiny ship was tossed; if not for the courage of the fearless crew (and the fire department's rescue boat), the Minnow would be lost." No skipper, but we did have 2 Marianne's on board!

Oh I have to mention the blower fan in the car that was making a funny noise until suddenly rice came flying out of the vent. I don't wanna know, but I think it must've been related to the mouse incident from last week. :eek:(

Missed the lavender festival for the first time this year, but was kind of exhausted after Saturday. Sunday dinner was just green beans from the garden and microwaveable dinners - had to clean out the freezer for my ice cream maker that I'm buying this week tomorrow!

I did come upon a yard sale on the way to the party and bought some fun kitchen gadgets for 25 cents each! Banana slicer, cookie-sized spatula, vintage (or just old?) butter knives, looks like they might clean up nicely with some silver polish.

Blueberry-Lemonade Pie

1 block (8-oz) cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup sour cream
1 T lemonade concentrate
1 cup whipped topping
graham cracker pie shell
1+ cup blueberries
sprigs of mint and more whipped topping for garnish

Comine cream cheese, sugar, sour cream, and lemonade concentrate in a large bowl and blend well. I used a stick blender to incorporate a lot of air. Fold in whipped topping and pour mixture into pie shell. Top with blueberries (concentric circles make a nice presentation), and mint. Garnish each piece with more whipped topping, a few blueberries, and more mint, if desired.

 
yay for margaritas and chips---not a bad thing to be known for! record cold July here so far. you

all don't want to hear about it. warming up this week, just in time for major red salmon fishing. FishOn!

 
Dawn, your pie sounds wonderful. and I about spit coffee when reading about the rice! too funny.

 
and I made Cyn's fudge topping for some Texas sheet cake brownies and it was perfect. a bit thinner

of a coating than the 9X13 pan it should cover, but still a good bit of fudge on the brownies. I was out of powdered sugar for the normal frosting, but had plenty of choc chips and some sweetened condensed milk. perfection.

 
Maria, ask your dr about how much grapefruit it would take to interfere with the meds. My DH did

this, and he can now have the small cups of grapefruit. Your dr may not agree so check with them of course, but the amount of juice in one of these drinks would be quite small.

 
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