Brooklyn by bus

Spring has definitely sprung in New York, and summer is well on it's way (90 degrees yesterday)!

This past weekend I avoided the city and never went underground. Instead, I got to know the bus system a little better and never left my beloved borough of Brooklyn. It began with a trip to Fort Defiance, a sweet little spot in Red Hook with a killer cocktail list and great food. Despite the list of more elaborate cocktails, I opted for a Cucumber Collins. I love how refreshing they are and the unique flavor the cucumber provides. I loved it so much, I wanted to make my own, and low and behold, the NYT published the Fort Defiance recipe last summer! Bliss.

The next morning it was on to Alma, the rooftop restaurant in Columbia Heights with the best views of the city with some cool industrial cranes and shipping crates in the foreground. They have the best breakfast burrito in town, according to Chris, and I had an equally delicious baked dish of bubbly cheese, tortilla strips, fresh avocado, and poached eggs on top.

After that, we walked along the water to the recently opened Pier 1. The park is beautiful and pristine, and it will only get better as they continue to open more of it! A little while later, and after a scoop of coffee ice cream from the Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory, we took the bus over to Habana Outpost for some frozen mojitos, sunshine, good company, and good music. Some Mexican snacks were consumed at Pequena (the name is true to the space) across the street too.

After all that, and a sunburn to go along with it, the rest of the weekend was filled with more productive, less interesting activities, except for a KILLER yoga class at Bend and Bloom in Park Slope. If you want to kick your core into high gear, take a core integration flow class with Angela. It'll hurt to laugh afterwords, but it hurts so good.

Seasonally Fresh

I am all about eating what's fresh. I have a calendar in my kitchen that highlights each month's freshest produce. I initially got it as a joke because my boyfriend didn't understand the concept of things being seasonal - he always wanted mangoes in December and blackberries in February - but it has proved useful for me too. I'm pretty good on fruits and basic veggies, but I never really thought about onions or certain herbs, for example, being seasonal.

Then I got an e-mail from Vital Juice Daily that was all about what's in season! Here's a list of the highlights, and some recipes to go along with it. Who knew peas had so much fiber?!? And I have a lifelong weakness for strawberries, and more recently mangoes too, so I will definitely be trying that recipe!
Asparagus: Contains a type of fiber called inulin to promote healthy gut bacteria. Grill it or use it in this delicious Pasta Primavera.
Artichokes: They pack the most antioxidants of all vegetables.
Apricots: For a super breakfast bowl, soak 1/2 cup rolled oats in 1/2 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk for 10 minutes. Top with chopped apricots and slivered almonds.
Fennel: Beats bloat. Also tastes great shredded into a salad.
Swiss chard, collards, mustard, spinach and spring greens: Loaded with vitamins A, C and E, these leaves boast blood building vitamin K and iron and bone boosting calcium and magnesium.
Peas: Give peas a chance! A half cup serving has more fiber than a bowl of oatmeal.
Chives: Make this recipe for Herb Cheese Spread and use it as a veggie dip, a sandwich spread or stir into pasta dishes.
Strawberries: One cup contains more than 160% of your daily quota of immune-boosting vitamin C. Try this recipe for Strawberries with Whipped Mango Purée tastes like a beach vacation.
Mangoes: Unlike most fruit, this tropical treat has plenty of age-fighting vitamin E.
Honeydew melon: Eat your water! This fruit is 90% water to help hydrate the skin and fill you up.
Vidalia onions: These stinkers are rich with sulfur compounds that may reduce the risk of heart disease.

And if you're a New Yorker, here's another cool new resource: What Is Fresh is an online guide to local food and farmers markets and what's available now.

Happy seasonal eating!!

Making do with who knows what...

For me, food = life. Not just in the obvious survival sense, but in the sense that I am obsessed. Eating it (at home or elsewhere), cooking it, buying it, researching it, talking about it, reading about it, anything! Bad food is not an option for me. Of course it happens, but I try to avoid it at all costs. Eating just to satisfy hunger doesn't work for me either, its about the experience, the taste, the ingredients.

I do have a job and do many non-food related things, but I'm often thinking about it even when I'm doing something else. This morning as I started writing this, I was thinking about my grocery list for the week. When I'm in down dog, I'm often thinking about what I can make for dinner that's healthy but fast since I get home late.

Usually I try to make three recipes a week, all with the capacity for leftovers for lunch. I try to go for healthy recipes, but I don't shy away from a little oil or carbs or healthy fats. I get the recipes from blogs (see list at left), the NYT, magazines (a favorite is Cooking Light), and the various cookbooks I've collected over the years.

I'm very proud of that ritual, but this week I just couldn't cut it. I wanted nothing to do with the store, recipes, or planning. Instead of my usual trip to Trader Joe's & the produce market on Sunday, I went on Monday night. Longest. Line. Ever. What did I buy? $100 worth of who knows what (for two people). What have I done with it? So far, a turkey sandwich with arugula (my favorite green) and ricotta (my current obsession, and the best in NY comes from here), and a raw zucchini salad I copied from a restaurant in NYC, Fig & Olive. I've always winged it, but just found the actual recipe.

Tomorrow's lunch will be a salad filled with whatever wound up in the fridge from the grocery store (probably asparagus, chicken, cucumber, beets, bulgar wheat, grapefruit, and zucchini, at least). I love making big salads not base on anything but what I have in the kitchen. There always has to be a protein, usually chicken, and a grain because lets face it, when are veggies enough to fill you up?

We'll see what happens the rest of the week, but so far I've survived on my haphazard trip to the grocery store. Next week its back to planning and discovering new recipes, but its nice to have a break sometimes and realize my existing food knowledge serves me just fine. Not four stars, but just fine.

P.S. For anyone that read my previous post about pole dancing, I am happy to say I met my goal last week and am a day's worth of classes away from achieving my goal for this week too!