August 01, 2007

fish are jumpin' and the cotton is high

Sticky, is how I’ve been feeling lately – sticky, thirsty and in constant longing for a shower. Little tank tops and shorts don’t help, neither do gauzy dresses. It’s not so much the heat as the humidity. Feels like the air is liquid.

We spent the greater portion of the Saturday swimming in such air, wondering various locations spanning Cobble Hill and Park Slope. We walked through a house party in Boerum Hill that used more sub woofer power than I ever imagined possible and my insides vibrated – it’s a unique feeling you should try it sometime. I wanted to find out what that hip-hop song was – because it would have made a great addition to my running mix, but it didn’t feel like the right move in asking.

We also learned that just because it’s a new construction, doesn’t mean it’s already construct-ED. It’s a bit of a downer walking up to a building that’s got scaffolding all around it, and is missing, say, walls and windows. While I’m good at visualizing, when it comes to real estate I need to see if for myself, no thank-you, autocad. Oh and upon turning around you realize it’s located right across the street from a correctional facility. Right. Next. Door. Or “f*ck da police” graffiti sprayed on the construction site. Lovely, just lovely. Real estate woes notwithstanding, we still got a good and enjoyable walk out of our Brooklyn real estate research, stopping by at Oko and sampling their frozen yogurt, which was good, but still not as good as making your own at home. Our consensus on Brooklyn prices – in-friggin-sane – the cost of living in a decently renovated apartment is not a bargain by any stretch of imagination. And when you already have visions of a backyard where you can grow your own vegetables and a door with a special doggy door at the bottom, urban living begins to look less and less sparkly and seductive. Or maybe I’m just getting old.

Even with all this schlepping around, when it’s this humid out, I stop eating. I long for ripe fruit, sorbet, lemonade. Traditional meals don’t hold much appeal and I become much like a fruit fly, eating a peach here, nibbling on blueberries there. When I saw Louisa’s post on a mango salad with tofu, I remembered that back in college, when I didn’t want to eat anything (and I was a vegetarian back then) – I would make a version of a mango salad I had in a Thai restaurant once – with avocado, mango, a tangy/spicy dressing! I could live on that salad all summer, and often would make it for several days in a row. And while variety is the spice of life, I cannot place enough premium on tried, true and much beloved. And while the salad didn’t make up for lack of a/c in those summertime days, it certainly made the livin’ more easy.

July 27, 2007

getting spoiled rotten, and loving every minute of it!

In the spirit of full disclosure, let me just be very honest here. I’ve lifted nary a finger in my kitchen this week. I washed a few dishes here and there, but I didn’t even have to boil water. And yet, I’ve been treated to some amazing home-cooked meals every night. Lucky me, right? With KS playing head chef recently, I’ve been one lucky girl, enjoying wonderful food after coming home from work.

Ladies (and gentlemen), let me tell you this much – a man who can cook, and cook well, is more precious than gold, and I am quite grateful for it. I know that there’ve been articles about couples who cannot cook together, that there’s always an alpha cook, one who dominates and tries to take over, with the other person left to feel inferior in the kitchen, and quite possibly in the other aspects of the relationship. But in our case, we let the other person do what he needs to do in the kitchen and kindly play the sous chef role. All in all, it works out rather nicely.

I didn’t mean to be such a slacker this week though, it just kind of happened. It all started with my idea of making tabbouleh, as it is summer and I dream of summery cuisine. Because if there is such a thing as a perfect summer dish, then tabouleh has to be in its Top 10 list. The parsley, the mint, the lemon juice, tomatoes, cucumbers – light, vegetarian, easy to assemble, consumed when cool. What could go wrong with my plan?

Well, naturally, I got the idea to make tabbouleh in the middle of my morning coffee – a time when many a creative thought seeps into my head and while my mind should be focusing on the markets, it veers off and drifts to thoughts of dinner, kitchen toys and grocery lists. This time, while imbibing my morning dose of caffeine, I was taking a mental stock of my kitchen. There was cracked bulgur, a tomato, some parsley and mint – waiting to become that big bowl of tabbouleh. Hot coffee in my hand, I searched online for tabbouleh recipes to get the proportions of ingredients right and assembled a list of ingredients, noting the items I’d need to pick up for the dish.

And then (and you can probably tell by now, there’s a problem with my planning) I read that the tabbouleh has to sit for four hours prior to consumption. Four. Hours. If I got home at 8pm from the gym, then even after all the chopping and assembly, we’d be eating dinner at 1am. In a bit of a panic I sent KS a message, "Can you pick these ingredients up and get the process started?" And he, within a few hours emailed me back with, “All done. Ingredients bought, chopped, mixed. The tabbouleh is in the fridge – will be ready for dinner.” In other words – get home hungry, there’s dinner waiting. Or, quite simply put – you don’t have to cook tonight. And with all my love of kitchens and chopping and sauteeing, sometimes, it’s nice to get a night off – and still get a home-cooked meal! Being spoiled rotten isn't the worst thing that can happen to you, is it?

April 27, 2007

ringing in the warm season

And so we woke up on Saturday morning to find ourselves knee-deep in morning errands, but the weather was so thrilling and bright that we postponed everything and went for a long stroll with our friends’ dog, whom we were babysitting. But then morning errands were still calling, and off we were, running in different directions.

Afternoon held promises of brunch with friends and the sun pouring so generously upon our heads, we said al fresco brunching it is! But then KS had an even better idea – why schlep all over lower Manhattan in search for an outdoor idyll, when we can serve mimosas and barbecue on our own deck? Why indeed?

And so in a blink of an eye, ingredients were bough; deck furniture uncovered; and the barbecue fired up. KS, showed off his expert manly barbecuing skillz (that’s with a z for y’all, ‘cause we ain’t playin’ here) while I tended to all things vegetarian – an avocado mint salad with citrus dressing and strawberries in sugar/balsamic syrup over blood orange and coconut sorbets.

It is with mint in mind, that I went to the store and picked up a ripe avocado, some Boston lettuce (to pay homage to my hometown) and a red onion.

With some phenomenal barbecued chicken, grilled sausage and beef as well as vegetable/turkey burgers (that is four types of meat, people!), we sipped our mimosas and tropical screwdrivers, and accessorized our plates with the avocado mint salad. It was after 3 o’clock and as far as brunches go, it was a rather late one. By the end, we were sufficiently pickled in our brunch liquor as we rolled into a Saturday evening, hiccuping and giddy, wishing all brunches were like this.

And I think it will be wrong if I don't plant some mint for us this year - I'll just wind up buying it every other day, making mojitos, lemonades, limeades, salads, iced mint tea, yogurt dip! Let's hope I have a green thumb!

December 02, 2006

More Matter with Less Art

It wasn't enough, you see, for me to marry apples and pears in perfect union at 350 degrees Fahrenheit. I wanted more apples - apples raw and uncooked - to accompany our holiday meal. And when someone suggested the Waldorf salad, I yawned, been there done that. It's a great and fabulous salad, but we've all had it before and it was time to do something slightly different.

For me, the regimented and anal-retentive Thanksgiving menu planning commences sometime in August. I start looking at various recipes, thinking about what to keep and what to toss, and what new recipes to introduce.

And I must admit to enjoying the "coming together" of things rather than the prer work that comes with cooking. All that chopping sometimes can get so monotonous, so I was grateful to have some lovely people around who pitched in and chopped, diced, sliced, separated eggs, mixed, blended and tasted. Without them, I would have been more frenetic and stressed out.

The good part about this salad, found in Bon Apetit of last year, is that it's deliriously easy to make. Even the chopping is easy. I made it last year and the celery apple combination was so good, people gobbled it up in minutes. The apples serve as a perfect side to the turkey and the stuffing - the fruit cuts through the thick protein and bread adding a bit of that tartness.

January 10, 2006

Heirloom Tomato Salad with Marinated Onions

Summer and fall months are unusually good to tomatoes letting them ripen until the fruit is so full of sugar, it requires no background on which to rest it. To me, often, salad greens upstage the tomato itself, often the main star of the dish. I've been known to bite into a tomato or two and eat them straight up, as one would an apple.

Or at times, I've sprinkle a little Maldon sea salt onto it, and relish every bite. The sweet and the salty in one taste.

However, most people think me funny for allowing my summer tomatoes to be divas all on their own. Sometimes, I would be asked if I had run out of mixed greens. I'd say no and then find myself greeted by a confused look. Why just the tomatoes?

Well, for those who cannot imagine the tomato without its leafy friends, this simple salad should do the trick. Mixed greens, tomatoes, and red onions soaked in a solution of apple cider vinegar and sugar. All tossed together with the best balsamic and extra virgin olive oil you can find, and sprinkled with crushed, black pepper.

For those of us who are missing the summer produce - this is the salad to get us through the cold wintry months.

January 05, 2006

Apple Celery Salad with Candied Pecans

I was in the mood for a nice, fruity salad a little while back. But I was growing tired of leaves in my salads - arugula, spinach, lettuce. Been there, done that.

I wanted a salad that focused on things other than the green leaves. I wanted it to have a bit more substance and fill to it. And I wanted a crisp bite without the overbearing taste.

Radish never turns down apples in her salad (well, maybe she does, but rarely) but at the same time, I didn't want to recreate a Waldorf - no blue cheese to overtake the fruit. I liked the idea of nuts, but I wanted them to add some sweetness, so they would have to be candied.

The BF was ecstatic to finish a generous bowl saying that it made for a perfect complement to the baked rainbow trout I made. I was just excited to watching him devour the mix, realizing this was a keeper of a recipe.

July 27, 2005

Sassy Radish Cucumber Salad

When I was quite young, I was never quite interested in eating. I liked to help out in the kitchen, but when the time came to sit down and eat, I was never hungry. Eating, for the most part, was a chore.

What I always liked to eat, however, were salads. Salads with tons of fresh vegetables – the more, the merrier – and herbs lightly salted and dressed with a bit of sour cream.

Sour cream, you say? Who on earth would do such a thing?

Well, growing up in Russia, we didn’t have salad dressing and used either sour cream or sunflower oil for that purpose. The sour cream made the salad delicate and refreshing, particularly in the summer months when it was hot. (Yes, it gets hot in Russia.)

My favorite salad consisted of cucumbers, dill, scallions, and radishes. It was the radishes that made it so irresistible, so crispy, so delicious. The bite in the radish, not too bitter, not too spicy, made the salad come alive. I was acutely aware of the taste even as a child and crave the flavor combination to this day.

Incidentally, the flavors remind my Indian friends of raita, where the dressing is plain yogurt, not sour cream, but the general result is quite similar.

And so, without further ado, the salad that brings me back to my childhood, summer months, scraped knees, my grandmother’s cooking and all:

The Sassy Radish Cucumber Salad