Pineapple-Mango Pollock

It is currently "99º feels like 112º" at noon in NYC.

Cooking is at a minimum.

I made this delicious pineapple-mango salsa again and used it over some very quick-cooking pollock.

(Or tilapia, flounder, turbot... whatever has a good price.)

Minimal stove time is a plus right now.

That said, it was nice, but maybe missing a little something.

I have an excellent idea for the next time I make this.

Which if this heatwave continues much longer, may be in just a few days.

Stay tuned... and cool if you can.

Pineapple Mango Salsa

It's summer, it's hot, and no one wants to turn on the oven.

(Well, maybe people with central air, but they don't really experience summer.)

This is an incredibly tasty mix of bright and zippy flavors, delicious on its own, but also great over cooked meats.

Ingredients: 1 pineapple, 4 ripe champagne mangos*, 1 large jalapeño pepper, 1 medium shallot, and about 1/4 cup of fresh lime juice.

Try to chop the pineapple and mangos into the same size pieces, and give the jalapeño and shallot a fine dice. This will be time consuming but worth it in the end.

*If you cannot find champagne mangos, 3-4 regular ripe mangos will do just fine. I just used champagne mangos because there was a special on them! However, they taste just like the usual green and pink skinned mangos but they have a thinner skin and a slightly less fibrous flesh.

If you have never carved up a mango before, this is the best way that I have found.

First slice down either side of the pit, as close as you can get to the pit without hitting it.

Next, make a grid with your knife through the flesh of the mango halves in whatever size you want your finished dice to be, and be sure to go all the way to the skin but not piercing it.

Then you invert the mango half and carefully run your knife between the skin and the (very slippery) orange flesh. (Feel free to use your teeth to eat any remaining layer of mango on the skin when no one is looking!)

You should now have lovely little cubes of mango ready to eat.

While I was dicing all the pineapple and mangos, I let the finely diced shallot mellow in the fresh lime juice. Just as you might use vinegar to mellow raw onion or shallot in a salad dressing, the acid in the lime juice takes some of the bite out of it here.

About half way thru the "mellowing" process I added the (seeded) and diced jalapeno with a pinch or two of salt and gave it a stir.

Put everything in a large bowl and toss to combine.

This salsa will taste better if given some time to meld, and for the acids in the lime juice and pineapple to break everything down a little bit.

It should be sweet and tangy, with just a little bit of heat from the jalapeño. 

(Again, I only like a mild level of heat in my food, so adjust to your own tastes.)

A delicious summer treat!

Gelato = Happiness In A Cup

I hope you all had a lovely labor day weekend. The hubs and I spent ours mostly chilling on our roof deck or on the couch catching up on recorded TV, with nary a BBQ rib in sight. (How totally Un-American of us. Watch out! Some Tea Party Twit is going to find this and launch an attack on all foodies for their Un-American appreciation of other cultures, ergo they must all be Socialists! Oh no!)


Where was I?
Oh, right, the couch.
But also wandering around the city, running errands, and cleaning the apartment and moving furniture so some stranger can spray poison around my apartment to prevent bed bugs moving down here from the upstairs neighbors, who apparently have them. Ick.
(I have to remove my cats for 4 hrs so they don't breathe the poison... and I don't have a car in which to go somewhere... and I don't have a friend living within 90 blocks of me to hang out with... so I'm going to have to haul them on foot to the park and be A Crazy Lady in the park w/ two cat carriers and a book (right side up, so you know I'm a sane/safe one) and try not to be bored out of my skull sitting on a bench for four hours...FUN!)


Did I have a point or was this just a post full of tangents?
No wait, I DID have a point!
While wandering the city, the hubs and I decided to walk the 40-odd blocks home from Columbus Circle because it was actually a lovely day in the mid-70's. On our way uptown I finally stopped in at a legitimate gelateria (legitimate = totally sourced from Italy and done right. You WILL notice the difference!) called Grom that opened about two years ago and that I have been really wanting to go to.

Hubs: Do you want to stop for gelato?
Me: Of course! Yay!
(pause)
Me: So why did it take until the first day below 96º for me to finally go out for gelato?
Hubs: Because you don't leave the house when it's 96º out.
Me: Touché

From NYU mag of all places

Not like this place needs more publicity, because there is almost always a line outside the door, but it is really, really, really good stuff. At first you look at the prices and say, "$5 for a small?!?! Are you nuts?!" but then you get over that when you take your first bite of rich creamy goodness. A small is two scoops, so I got one of the Bacio (basically nutella in gelato form. swoon.) and one of Torroncino ("nougat" flavor, made from hazelnuts and honey) and I was in heaven. Totally blissed out. The hubs picked Cioccolato Fondente (super rich!) and Crema di Grom, which is like an egg cream flavor w/ chocolate chips. He just barely shared a bite of each with me.


I shall be treating myself more often in the future, no matter the temperature out. I'd say that you should too... but only if you're in line behind me ;)

It was Kismet

Greetings from San Francisco! Taking tons of food notes, but with three more days here that post will have to wait. First I must recap Kismet, NY.

Our trip to Fire Island was definitely a success, and you know it was a good time because other than coming home with more bruises, freckles, and double vision in one eye (a solid night's rest set that to rights tho), I only managed to take pictures on the first night we were there.

And it was a good night.

 Most of the night was spent dancing on the table.

Some strange fairy/ghost crashed the party pictures too...

  As well as dancing on futons and belting songs along with the stereo.

 The instigators of the Table Dancing, also the friends that invited us out there ;)

Proof I was actually there and these aren't stolen photos

 The house we stayed in happens to have the highest roof around, which is a deck, so the sunsets are quite excellent.

The end.

P.S. - There was also teriyaki steak, roasted potatoes, salads, "Bob rice", green beans, tomatoes, mangos, plums, flounder two ways, just about anything you could possibly want to snack on, and many many many many drinks.

P.P.S - We also spent three lovely days on the beach, but the effort of lifting a camera at that point was just too much. Had to conserve for nighttime shenanigans. See above.

Rooftop Dining

While the weather during the day is still rather frightful (read above 90º and frequently humid) some nights have been blessedly cool (only 81º!) and that means picnicking on the roof!

And no, I'm not sneaking up there. We happen to be lucky enough to live in a building with a finished roof. This is a first for me in my NYC dwelling, and it makes me somewhat absurdly happy.

So does this!

The proper way to start a roof picnic is with margaritas and guacamole. (Since the hubs won't touch guac, it was all mine!) It contained the usual suspects: ripe avocados, lime juice, cumin, chili powder, diced shallot or red onion, minced jalapeño (seeded), diced tomato, salt, and chopped fresh cilantro.

The key to the margarita is of course good silver tequila, lots of fresh lime juice, and salt, with a bit of cointreau and agave nectar to taste.

For the food I tried to keep it fairly simple.

Step one: cook two chicken breasts. I just used some shallot (left over from making the guacamole) and salt for seasoning. (I did this ahead of time so I could make dinner in 5 minutes when we were ready to hit the roof.)

Now the fun part.

I set down two slices of prosciutto, and layered fresh mozzarella and 3-4 fresh basil leaves.

Place the cooked chicken breasts on top and wrap the prosciutto around.

Place them cheese-side UP in a medium-high nonstick skillet. Leave them there for about two minutes to allow the prosciutto to seal itself to the chicken (and crisp a bit.) Then flip.

When the cheese has just started to ooze and melt you know the second side is done as well.

For the veg I diced a bit of bacon, crisped it up and added frozen peas and a splash of water. Three minutes after adding the peas, it was done.

Now to the roof!

The hubs kindly cut into his so I could take a picture.

Wow does natural light make a difference!

And I shall leave you with a little more natural light.

Beautiful.

Electric Six Boat Cruise

No, I have no pictures of the band as we stayed up on the deck the entire time. That way we had the view, the breeze, and the speakers playing the music for us. We = Smart.

We were joined on our 3 Hour Tour by my big bro, friends Jim & Cathy, Candy & Joel (newly engaged!), and a few surprise appearances by newer acquaintances and even a fellow Wesleyan alum.

It was a good group.

Have you ever tried to take pictures, at night, with a mildly banged-up point and shoot that is almost 5 years old, on a boat that is bobbing up and down and moving forwards?

Yeah, the pictures don't quite come out in focus...

But at least you can (probably) tell that that's the Brooklyn Bridge.

That is the view of the southern tip of Manhattan at night.

(It was a bit dèjá vu after our trip to Governor's Island.)

So many bridges.

Some of the crew havin' a grand ol' time.

And a grand ol' time it was.

Friends, booze, live music, and a boat with balmy (once you were actually out on the water) weather.

Definitely an anniversary well spent.

MEATOPIA

So this weekend on Governor's Island was what should have been a brilliant event entitled "Meatopia." Dozens of well respected and popular chefs and representatives had tents serving various forms of BBQ'd meat. Unfortunately, the people who planned this clusterf*$k had no idea how to organize it, how to limit human traffic, or how to plan for how many tickets they sold.

Ideas for the future:

Limit the number of attendees (a.k.a. have a sell-out point)

Inform the chefs of the highest projected number of attendees

Have different entry times. Try using different colored wristbands so people have to leave.

Just a few suggestions...

I planned this day as a gift to the hubs, as our 4-year wedding anniversary is later this week, and as I may have mentioned before, he is a big fan of most meats and just about anything barbecued.

We got to the event about 3 hours in (would have been earlier except there were delays on the ferry) and three hours before it ended. We each had a ticket for six tastings, which means we SHOULD have been able to sample about half of the dishes available.

We were not.

Examples of things we did not get to try:

Pecan Smoked Short Rib over Asian Slaw & Bourbon Infused Mashed Sweets

Pulled Pork Shoulder

Pulled Pork Sliders

La Caja China Roasted Pigs

Smoked Duck Tacos (Sue Torres of Sueños Restaurant)

Barbacoa De Boreggo (Mexican BBQ Lamb)

Baron of Beef (from The Little Owl)

Marinated Skirt Steak (Christopher Lee of Aureole)

Grilled Bacon Sandwich

Honey-glazed Baby Back Ribs w/ Thai Basil & Mint (The Hurricane Club)

Lamb Spare Ribs, Plum & Sesame Glazed

The reason we did not get to try any of these things is because THEY RAN OUT! Hours before the event ended most of the tents were empty, and in the last hour there were only 4 places still serving, and the lines were hundreds of people long. We only got to taste three things total, and the only really decent one was the bison steak from High Plains Bison.

Apparently the people running it had no clue how many tickets and tastings had been sold and so no information was passed to the chefs. NOT COOL, PEOPLE!

Standing in lines in alternating sweltering heat and showering rain, after paying between $60-90 for tickets, and only get three 2oz tastings (rather than 12) is absolutely unacceptable.

Luckily the hubs kept his calm, I only got moderately cranky, and when it really started to rain we found a little tarp set up on a field and hung out under it. So we only got severely damp instead of drenched.

If you enlarge the photo above, you can see the rain drops on the right that are falling even while the sun is shining. It would have been an interesting day, had we been fed.

The alternating rains made for some seriously dirty feet.

I showered the instant I got home.

While the rest of the grumbling crowd went to stand in line for the return ferries (at least they are free!) the hubs and I went to explore some of the old barracks on the island. It was very interesting and very pretty. 

I took this picture from a rocking chair on the deck inside a square that once had a moat around it!

View of the southern tip of Manhattan from Governor's Island.

You can see all three bridges going up the East River from the ferry port as well.

The Statue of Liberty with some interesting post-rainstorm clouds.

The Governor's Island Ferry Station. Really interesting architecture, if a questionable color scheme...

A moment of cuteness between two hungry & bedraggled folk on the ferry.

(a.k.a. me & the hubs)

The post rainstorm clouds were doing some stunning things.

I leave you with this stunning image, and know that upon returning home (and showering) I made some lovely panko & lemon thyme encrusted tilapia so we did not die of starvation.

(I had planned on fish for dinner because it would be light after our feast of various meats. HA!)

The day may not have gone even remotely how I'd hoped and planned, but it was an adventure if nothing else. And I'm thankful that the hubs is the type of person to put the positive spin on things ;)

But man do I hope they get their sh*t together before next year...

4th Wrap Up

I hope you all had a fabulous Fourth of July!

The hubs and I spent our Nation's Holiday Down the Shore ( I use the NJ colloquialism because I now try not to say "at the Jersey Shore" anymore because that summons horrible visions these days. Reality TV is The Devil.)

I spent most of my holiday in the kitchen because my mother is one of those mothers (even tho she is neither a Catholic nor an Italian) who buys enough food for at least a dozen people who are staying for a solid week, even when we are only 5 people staying for two days and three nights. (The furballs will not get their beach vacation w/ the grandparents until August this year, so we had to get back to the city a bit faster than we may have wished. And Keats was still a constant shadow on me because she does not like to be left alone. Even tho she is a HORRID traveler most of the time. I'm talking Hooch of Turner & Hooch style drooling and panic and guilt-laying. It is neither pretty nor sweet smelling. I must go back to drugging her for travel...)

Anyway, I helped with breakfasts, cooked my own, helped with lunches, helped with dinners, and attended The Parade (sorry no pics of the ancient Fire Engines or snazzy old cars, but I watched my father walk, heavily laden with medals with the other War Vets, and was surrounded by both new families and what were probably the children of some of the children I used to teach in sailing.) I also survived the 97º weather and guzzled more water than I usually drink in a week. Yikes.

I also made some tasty guacamole for snacking (while watching a Miss Marple) and some seriously tasty margaritas for sipping in the late-evening heat.

Dinner consisted of burgers (made my my mom) and dogs, all grilled by the hubs, who has never manned a grill to my knowledge, so that was literally a Trial By Fire (credit to my mom for that joke.)

Baked beans with extra brown sugar, ketchup, onions and bacon done in my mother's special style, and a Caprese salad. All the trimmings of raw red onions, cheese, ketchup, mustard, relish, pickles, etc. were available.

Like I said, there will be a cleansing and tasty soup recipe to follow soon...

After roasting marshmallows on the dwindling fire for dessert, we waited for nightfall for the fireworks, which from our vantage were many but not all visible. (Trees, houses, etc.)

Usually we can see the fireworks at both boardwalks north and south of us. This year we thought we were seeing fireworks farther away in the north, but even closer in the south (maybe Normandy?)

So, the few pics I go that night were far away and mediocre at best.

But they're better than nothing.

It remained a happy holiday, and we played a few rounds of euchre after my dad went to bed while munching the guacamole and drinking margaritas. (Even tho he technically won Apples to Apples the last time we played, he refused to play this time. Tho he kept shouting out clever answers on his own while theoretically reading his book.)

It was a nice weekend, but I think I will be eating nothing but fish and vegetables for the rest of the week to offset the burgers, dogs, beans, and cheese consumed. Oof.

However, future margaritas are always welcome :)