Orchids AND Schweinebraten? The perfect day.

Our little indoor garten at our apartment...

Yesterday I must have won some karmic lotto, because it was simply the greatest day. First of all, it was Friday, which honestly used to mean more to me when I was working full time, pre-pregnancy but it was still Friday; secondly, I felt physically great, and walked a great walk early in the morning; thirdly, met a great friend for coffee mid-morning…a friend who really knows how to get me going spiritually and emotionally; I found some amazing finds at the Jerusalem Grocery Store, an Arabic/International grocery store which ALSO sells GERMAN products!! Kinder Bueno, Jacobs coffee, Maggi spice mix, anyone?? I also got a variety of Arabic teas, soaps, soft drinks and pickled veggies there, too.
I made lunch and took it to Christian at his place of work, and we enjoyed a wonderful picnic meal outside in the gorgeous sunny-but-cool autumn El Paso weather; we spent a lovely and lazy afternoon cuddling and laughing when he returned from work; I had a great nap…
But I really, really wasn’t expecting to wake up to a gift from Christian waiting for me… my favorite orchids sitting for me at my computer table (by the way, the photo shows our high chair for Hannah, NOT my computer table, lol), with a note that simply said thanks for all the little things I do… they’re not taken for granted… AND the smell of schweinebraten, sauerkraut and semmelknodeln cooking in the little kitchen. Man, was I still asleep????
The best tasting dinner to end the best-ever day.
It isn’t often I have a day I can look back on and say, “Yeah, that was a perfect day in every way.” This was one of them.

Do you remember your last “perfect day?” Tell me about it! What made it so special for you?

Oktoberfest, Part One…

I think I’ve got my baby Hannah’s message… she’s definitely on Team Bavaria! Christian and I went to the Fort Bliss Oktoberfest yesterday, and I managed to squeeze into the authentic Dirndl my mother-in-law gave me last year to attend. I was scared that one laugh, one sneeze, one cough would send carved bone buttons flying like projectiles, but I managed to button even over the widest part of my baby bump. I was close to chickening out, but I’m SO glad I wore it! Not only did all the German Air Force volunteers automatically speak German to me, I really felt a part of it all, and not some hokey tourist who has no clue about the traditions of Oktoberfest and that it’s not ALL about bier und schnapps!
So, why is Hannah already picking favorites, you may ask? When the band played the American anthem, she lay dormant as a log, with no movement at all. All of a sudden, when the Bavarian anthem began to play, she was dancing like a dervish, all over my tummy! She already knows how to express herself!
Yesterday was family day at Oktoberfest, meaning no dancing on the tables or Jäger shot contests, but more about eating, singing along to the band music, and shopping for souvenirs.
I ordered the Schweinebraten plate, which came with two slices of very tender but not so “roasted” tasting pork and gravy; very, very dry kartoffelsalat; and good sauerkraut, if a bit gray. Came with an outstanding Brötchen, however, and all in all it was a good meal. Christian ordered a dainty Schnitzel sandwich which he said was very good. Again, saying something if HE says it’s good. Unfortunately the German “Helping Hands” volunteer club had not yet set up its bake sale, so we couldn’t get any pastries or cakes, but maybe that’s a good thing, since I’ve got a 5-lb. blueberry cobbler at home I need to tackle.
Fort Bliss’ Oktoberfest is small, not full of eye candy like the real deal, and really can be navigated in less than two hours. But it’s a great family event, good food, good cheer, and definitely worthwhile. I consider it a great warm up for the Holloman Air Force Base Oktoberfest, which takes place next weekend at White Sands. And yes, we are going. And no, I don’t know if my Dirndl’s gonna fit then.
After Oktoberfest, we got in the Jeep, where I promptly unbuttoned my Dirndl for the ride home, praying we wouldn’t get pulled over and I’d have to explain why I was semi-undressed (couldn’t rebutton quickly if my life depended on it!). We got home, had a nice, luxurious nap, and then did a little baby gear research (me) and played some games and did some dual-citizenship research for Hannah (him). We’ll have to go directly to the German Consulate in Houston within a year after Hannah’s born to get her her German citizenship and passport, so we have to juggle the finances for our trip to Germany in the spring, a trip to Houston, four new tires for the Jeep, our medical insurance (my Medicaid runs out two months after Hannah’s born), whatever was not purchased on Hannah’s registry at Target, car insurance, etc…. Okay, taking a deep breath now! Christian managed to take us a way from planning worries last night by making the most delicious, delicious, delicious grilled pork loin, grilled zucchini/jalapenos, and potato salad (what SHOULD have been served at Oktoberfest!). This meal really was everything about early fall, with the weather JUST beginning to temper itself, the crispness in the air, and fall foods.
I didn’t do my 30 minute walk this morning. I had too much fun laying in bed, feeling Hannah thump to the beat of her OWN drummer this morning. This is what life is all about!

Here I am at 24.5 weeks...

Peace OUT!

Day of discovery (or dumpster diving)

Okay, I’ll admit it. I have dumpster dived. When I lived alone, near a shopping mall, I used to find tons of discarded books and magazines behind Barnes and Noble. And behind a local sporting goods store, dumpsters full of perfectly good running shoes that had maybe one stitch out of place, but spray-painted neon orange to discourage DDs like me Gosh, and backpacks galore. Slits purposefully placed, also to discourage DDs, but with one patch or even a safety pin, totally salvageable.
I hadn’t dumpster dived in years, partially out of age/wisdom, pride and a better financial condition…until today. I stood out on my balcony very early this morning, watering my plants, when I glanced over at the dumpster at the neighboring apartment complex. I saw a mountain of furniture, which included a dining table, three chrome chairs, an ironing board, a broken bookshelf and a tall lamp. My old DD instincts awoke from their hibernation, and I was over the wall and at the dumpster in seconds flat. Just mere seconds before another DD drove up in an old Ford pickup, eyeing the very loot I was already staking claim to.
In Spanish, he offered me $10 for the dining room table, which I was not-so-successfully trying to lift over the 3-foot concrete wall between my apartment complex and the one that held the dumpster. I was not to be deterred. I said no, albeit cheerfully, and proudly but extremely awkwardly carried the two chairs over the wall and, to be safe, kept my foot on the table to make sure it was quite apparent I wasn’t deserting the table.
I somehow managed to get the loot to my apartment, and even found a place for the table in our 485-square-foot abode.
I’m really stoked about the chairs and the fact that they match our dining room table, meaning we can get the old fold-up card table chairs from circa 1969 and relegate them to the balcony for balmy evenings.
So, sorry to the poor guy who left with an ironing board. But hey, the early bird gets the worm.
•••
In celebration of Germany’s win over England (I was a LITTLE torn, since I am, in fact, partially English AND I have this lifelong fascination with the British royal family), we made brats, kraut and brotchen for lunch. Christian is continuing to lose weight like mad, and it’s all going to me, but before my pants literally pop, I guess I’ll relish it! We had ordered the rolls from Germandeli.com, and they really are spectacular. The closest thing we can get here are Mexican bollilo rolls, but they’re made with much more sugar, and are almost sweet enough to be dessert. So we’ll be getting more shipments of that great bread, direct from Germany (frozen).
•••
After getting the table into the apartment, I decided to do some rearranging and cleaning up, throwing away a LOT of things I really felt like hanging on to but realized I’d probably never have a place for. One thing I did not get rid of was this “hammer” I found on a walk in a hops field, under the snow, once on a walk in Christian’s home town of Rohr, in Bavaria. I would LOVE to know exactly what it was/is used for, since it is a wooden hammer and probably not used for nails. Pegs, maybe? Is it a farm tool? A keg tapper? I’d be so grateful if any of you out there know.
•••
It’s back to sweltering temperatures after yesterday’s lovely reprieve, and the clouds have parted. Christian’s cooking “shake and bake” chicken, oven fries and cole slaw, and he doesn’t even know what Shake N’ Bake is. He’s doing it from scratch, and even though I’m not particularly hungry, I know I’ll forget all about satiety once I dig in. I really think Christian needs to moonlight as a German food caterer. I KNOW he’d make a killing. But at least I have his talents all to myself for now
My bread talents are blossoming a little bit, at least. I made another loaf of bread today, with 1/2 spelt flour, 1/2 bread flour, egg, milk, mashed banana, cinnamon, sugar, almonds, almond extract and a few raisins. I have yet to try it, but if anything, it made the apartment smell PHENOMENAL all day long. Even in the scorching heat, the smell of freshly baked bread is ALWAYS welcome.

The simple life

Yesterday morning, I got up at the crack of dawn. Oh, actually around 4:15 a.m., and walked the perimeter of Cloudcroft, with not a single person besides me awake. Just a few cats, a skunk and some overly eager birds. The air was cool, and the pine scent in the air mixed with the faint smell of bread baking down at the Mountain Top Mercantile intoxicating. This is MY time — my early morning walks alone are my church, my meditation. I love taking walks and hikes with my husband, but I must have this alone time before the day starts, when I really can focus JUST on nature, on taking one step in front of the other, and taking every sight, smell and sound in wholeheartedly.
After my walk, I made us some breakfast of scrambled eggs with pico de gallo, a blueberry scone for me and cherry jam on toast for Christian, along with coffee made on an old percolator on the oventop in the cabin kitchen. Afterward, we went down to the Jamocha Bean coffee house to catch up on a “big-city” coffee (i.e. Americanos) and emails at the only free wi-fi spot in the village. Then we took the long and winding road (and I DO mean long, and I do mean winding) to Bluff Springs, a hiking area with a nice little waterfall and trails. The sound of the trickling water and the gorgeous flora and fauna surrounding it are well worth the annoying 35 mph speed limit to get there

After we returned back to the cabin, we made lunch of the last of the Mountain Top garlic cheese bread, again making our “poor-man’s panini” with muenster cheese, jalapenos and chicken left over from the previous evening. Added to that the rest of the salad we had, and a slice of cherry pie for dessert. The LAST slice of cherry pie from the High Rolls Cherry Festival. But we do have our own cherries and I have a BUNCH of ideas for those cherries, which taste 10 times better than the best cherries from the grocery store.
Which leads me to this question…do foods actually taste better when eaten at a place you love, or a place with wonderful memories, like Cloudcroft is for me? I mean, if I took that same piece of cherry pie and took it back to El Paso or even just down the hill to Alamogordo, would it be as good? I don’t think so. I think we all associate different foods with different places, and those foods ONLY taste their best at the places we associate them with. For example, cherry or apple pie in Cloudcroft, as well as potato bread; Schweinebraten and smoked mackerel in Rohr, Bavaria; sushi in La Jolla, Calif.; Lobster roll at a clam shack in Wellfleet, Mass.; etc. There are just some foods I associate with some places, and can’t replicate the experience or the enjoyment anywhere else.
Even the great potato bread and Tigua Indian bread I bought and froze to take down here to El Paso. It won’t have the same mouth feel, the same feel-good factor or the same aroma as it did sitting there in the Mountain Top or on a table under the pinon trees in High Rolls. But at least it’s a reminder of the simple life.
Speaking of the simple life: That is why I adore Cloudcroft so much. Everything is so amazingly simple! It’s just you and nature and the interaction… if you allow it. I really feel so sorry for those tourists (you know who they are. The ones who stay in town to shop all day, eat all their meals at a restaurant, and remain with their cell phones stuck to their ears the entire time) who don’t go up to Cloudcroft and enjoy it for what it’s meant for, and that is to get away from technology, angst and cynicism. It’s all about enjoying the beauty of nature and to get in touch with yourself, not depend on a restaurant, or a shop, or constant contact with the office to validate your existence. To me, I am validated and feel a “part of” just by walking in a hidden meadow, listening to the wind whip through the trees and looking at the minute details of a leaf, a flower or how a shadow can create a word…

After lunch, the carb overload, the cool air and the down comforters beckoned us to take a nap, which lasted almost two hours. Then we packed up and left our little cabin in the woods, back to the flatlands, and to “reality.”
We didn’t want to dig into our stash of Cloudcroft bread too early on, since we won’t make it back up to the mountains for another month or so, so we dug up what we had left in the fridge in El Paso and made some “Everything But the Kitchen Sink” penne, meaning penne with sauteed zucchini, garlic, tomatoes, parsley, olive oil, crushed dried chiles, a bit of ketchup and a splash of vinegar. Oh, and a few spoonfuls of leftover sauerkraut! And that was dinner. God, what I would have done for just a slice of cherry pie. But I knew it just wouldn’t taste the same.

Rocky Mountain high

I’m on a high because in just about 28 hours I’m going to be back in Cloudcroft, in the high altitude, lazying away with my husband in our tiny little cabin in the woods. Oh, and Cloudcroft just so happens to actually be at the foot of the Rocky Mountains, so I’m not just channelling John Denver for the poetry of it

We’ll be attending the High Rolls Cherry Festival on Saturday, where there will be vendors selling everything cherry: pies, cider, cakes, woodwork, clothes, etc. Except most likely the cherries will be from California, not High Rolls, since the crops have been dismal in recent years. But oh well, cherries are cherries and festivals are festivals, so I’m game.

I went to a farmer’s market this morning and stocked up on local (El Paso) plums, nectarines, corn, zucchini, and apples, and I think I’ll attempt my first pflaumkuchen this weekend. I’m not telling Christian, lest he tell me I’m doing it completely wrong and totally opposite his mother’s recipe (I will do it wrong, and it won’t be his mom’s recipe) but I gotta learn, right?

We planned to buy a rack of ribs and make those up at the cabin, but most likely we’ll eat dinner at the Texas Pit Barbeque up there, where you’re served, cafeteria-style, ribs (beef or pork), brisket, chicken, catfish, coleslaw, beans, cornbread, etc. A great, great restaurant with a really authentic country decor and menu. The rest of the time it’s home cooking (hopefully Christian’s!).

Christian stocked up on Knorr and Maggi spices with the gift certificate from GermanDeli.com I got him for his birthday, so he wants to make some goulash or meatballs in a mushroom cream sauce for us one meal. I’m already frothing at the mouth thinking about that, and I just had lunch! Lunch left something to be desired. I now realize sauerkraut doesn’t freeze well, because I packed up a previous meal’s leftovers of a wurst, sauerkraut and potatoes, and nuked them all in the microwave here at work. Watery, limp and pathetic! Thank god for the SoyJoy mango coconut bar and nectarine I had stashed away.

So, lots more photos and stories comin’ at ya from Cloudcroft, as soon as we find a hotspot to blog and check emails up there. In the meantime, I want to hear from YOU. What are your weekend plans? Any cookouts, travel or special projects?

A weekend to remember

Historically, I’ve not been a big fan of Memorial Day weekend. All of my previous jobs in journalism meant no Memorial Day off and twice in the past I was hospitalized on those weekends. No, not from too much partying (I wish!), but suffice it to say, I’ve tried to forget Memorial Day.
This year’s been different. Very different. I’m celebrating Memorial Day with my German-citizen-permanent-U.S.-resident husband, and I’m trying to make it a postcard perfect Memorial Day weekend. But actually, he’s doing that for ME.
This morning we rode our bikes for about 1.5 hours on the banks of the Rio Grande. To get there, we rode on the irrigation levees in the shade, and were in awe that such a great Venice-looking bike path existed in our neighborhood! Okay, “Venice-looking” might be stretching the truth a LITTLE bit, but if you have a very active imagination like me, you could just think maybe so…
On the way back, a wave of nausea hit me, and then some pretty intense dizziness, which scared me because it reminded me of the previous Memorial Day weekends. “Oh no, no, no, no!” But I made it home, drank tons of mineral water, lay on the couch and dozed an hour. Then I took a bath, and felt much better. Almost ready to take on another bike ride. But not quite
For lunch, I made a Banh Mi sandwich…or at least with what I had on hand… I used baguette, Srirachi sauce, some parsley (didn’t have cilantro), sliced green onion, sliced jalapeno, some mozarella cheese and a touch of mayonnaise. Okay, so not quite a Banh Mi, but it tasted great nonetheless. Served with a salad and a San Pelligrino lemonade. The PERFECT pick-me-up sandwich and lemonade and I must say, it looked very Bobby Flay-ish in its presentation, a Southwest-Vietnamese summer sandwich. Delish! Oh, oops. That’s Rachel Ray.
•••
After lunch, we decided to rearrange the furniture in our apartment, moving the sofa to the front of the apartment, near the front door, and our work station toward the back, in order to see our monitors more easily. This apartment is tinier than tiny so we really have to get creative or even desperate in terms of storing our things. But it also makes us not want too many things, at least now. The only worry I have right now is making a safe, comfortable and healthy space for the baby, but I’m sure we’ll figure that out! I love this apartment because it’s the first place my husband and I have lived in, alone, together. It’s OURS and we can do with it what we want (well, within the parameters of the lease, lol). But it’s nice to have our little starter home. It may be ours longer than as a “starter” with what we have now, but at least we are both content with it and grateful for what we have.
And I’m grateful for being grateful! I wasn’t always like that. I used to be one of those “the grass is always greener…” types, comparing my lot in life to others who were smarter, prettier, wealthier or all of the above. Now I’m not like that. I take such pleasure in the smallest things, and that is true happiness to me!
•••
So Christian made Schweinebraten, semmelknodeln, sauerkraut and potato salad tonight. His homage to his homeland. I “decorated” our balcony with little American flags for Memorial Day weekend, but paid tribute to Germany by placing the garden gnome by our potted plants (look how fast the corn from Rohr, Christian’s home town, is growing! And just two smuggled seeds in my jean pocket brings us a piece of Bavaria). The empty pot is holding seeds for sweet peas, which should sprout up any day now. No room to plant my oh-so-desired Victory Garden, but at least we’ll have some peas.
Tomorrow we attend a pot luck, and it’s my turn to cook. I’ll be making an Asian slaw with cabbage, green onion, jalapeno, sesame oil, sesame seeds and rice vinegar. In my experience with potlucks, 65 percent of the items are usually a potato salad, 20 percent macaroni or pasta salad, 10 percent potato chips and 5 percent dessert (when the entree meat is already included). So a nice, healthy slaw with no mayonnaise sounds like a sure-fire winner (and if not, Christian and I are winners, since we love the stuff and we’ll have lots to take home).
But then again, those potato salads at potlucks, no matter if they’re varied or not, always seem to run out, don’t they?

Dancing bellies

Today Christian and I went to the Feast of the Middle East, held by the St. George Antiochian Orthodox Christian Church on El Paso’s Westside.
Christian and I had attended two years ago and, to be honest, were pretty unimpressed. Not enough seating, looooooong lines for the food, excessive heat outside, and the entertainment left something to be desired. Also, why in the world do they have a bar that serves Jägermeister shots at a church function?? First of all, Ouza maybe, a good white wine, sure. But Jäger? Hmmm. Well, since we don’t drink alcohol, that was easy. Just straight to the water “bar,” where we waited in no line and felt good in the heat after our drink.
The gift section offered your typical “fair” ware. Bracelets with Madonna (the biblical one, mind you), stuffed camels (toys, not taxidermy), candles, those tacky gold coin belly dancer “belts” that the little girls around 12 years old were buying in bulk, and incense.
But we all must face it … all of us came for one thing and one thing only. The FOOD. This is a food fest and it’s worth every excessive calorie. On the $15 per plate list: Malfouf (cabbage rolls), Yakhnit Loubieh (Green Bean Stew), Salata (‘nuf said), Rice Pilaf, Gyros, Hummus, Fatayer Laham (Meat Pies), Tabouleh, Ka’ick (Sweet Cookies), Khubz (Arabic Bread), Kibbeh (Ground Meat and Bulgur Mixture), Falafel, Charboiled Chicken and Shish Kebab. Oh, and LOTS and LOTS of Baklava (or Baklawa).
Since Christian and I had eaten lunch beforehand at home, we chose to just have dessert at the fair, although I could have easily downed a Gyro or some Kibbeh if I didn’t balk at the $15 price tag. And what’s with charging $45 for a plate of Baklava? Eh??? Okay, it’s got lots and lots of layers of filo. But come ON! We instead got a “sampler” size for ourselves and one for a friend who requested one for us to bring to her. It was enough to satisfy our sweet tooth and to give us another tooth filling about 6 months down the road
The Feast in the Middle East is an expensive culinary experience, but it supports a good cause and it’s something DIFFERENT for El Pasoans. We like to go to as many different cultural events as we can here, be it Thai, Mexican, Arabic, German or regional American, and it was so encouraging to see that others are starting to feel the same way.
•••
Tonight Christian makes Schweinebraten, Kartoffelsalat und Sauerkraut. Gooooood my favorite dish in the world! I don’t care that it’s one of the hottest days of the year, or that I had more than my fair share of calories and fat today, or that it takes 4 hours to cook. I’m so there! And it means pork sandwiches in all of its incarnations all week long! I’ll definitely be doing my own version of a belly dance at the end of the day

Kitchen confidential

Every so often, I’ll take my readers into the netherworld, that is, give you a peek into my pantry and refrigerator. Some say the fridge is the window into one’s soul (or did I get that wrong? ) Well, if it is, I have a lot of existential problems going on, and definitely multiple personality disorder. Here’s a peek into our fridge:

Some magazines have this featured — a peek into a celebrity’s (be it movie/TV/music or culinary) refrigerator, and I never quite believe it. Of course everything always looks perfect, and well stocked, and the labels are always facing forward. How convenient! Not ours. We never put an item back in the same place, so there’s lots of, “Amanda, where’s the…,” or “Did we run out of …,” or “Why do we have an empty jar of…,” or “Are jalapenos supposed to be furry?”
Well, here’s our fridge in all its unadulterated glory. Twenty four hours after grocery day. If we were to show you the fridge on, say, a Friday, then you’d see a lot of nothing.
•••
Last night, Christian made sauerkraut and sausages, and this had to be the best sauerkraut he’s made on this side of the Donau since I don’t know when.
We both were realllllly craving sauerkraut last night, and I haven’t had any pregnancy cravings yet, but if I had to say one thing, it would be sauerkraut. I know it’s got plenty of Vitamin C, but I can’t think of anything I’m needing or lacking that sauerkraut takes care of, other than it’s just so great. We had run out of bread (we didn’t buy any this week since Christian is in the process of making a big batch of sourdough (hmmm, see a “sour/sauer” trend?) bread that will last us a while, so we had toasted “everything” bagels with our dinner. You would think sauerkraut would be a cinch to make. Open jar, empty contents into pan, heat and serve. But no, it actually takes about an hour if done traditionally and correctly, with lard, chopped onion, beef broth and caraway seeds. And it’s so worth it. Hmm, and Christian also said it would help with “regularity” since I could run into that problem in my pregnancy. Okay….
We have a busy baby week this week, starting today. I have a Medicaid interview this morning, a WIC application interview tomorrow and my first lab work/initial doctor visit Thursday. I am dying to get my second HCg results done, since I had them done last Wednesday and the levels were 4,338. The doctor’s office said that indicated I was about 4-6 weeks along, but that’s a long stretch! Lol. What? Four weeks, five weeks or six weeks??? My guess is that I am at 6 weeks now, if I used that calendar correctly.

Okay, I admit I’ve got baby on the brain. Baby thoughts everywhere and any time!
I’m so excited at the thought of having our baby grow up with a dual citizenship and knowledge of both American and German cultures from birth on. How lucky he or she is going to be! And at the rate I’m going, he/she will teach ME German.
•••
And finally, here’s my corn plant grown from some kernels of corn I picked up on a morning walk in Rohr i. NB, Christian’s home town near Abensberg.
It’s so nice to have a little bit of Bavaria growing here in El Paso, and it’s doing quite well! Don’t know if it was legal to bring the corn into the States, but dear Mr. or Mrs. FDA…I swear I didn’t remember I had the corn kernels in my pocket!

Small bite of the Big Apple

We got back from New York City last night, not knowing what to do with ourselves when we got back to the apartment. Since Christian and I are both creatures of habit and create routines wherever we go (as we did in Manhattan), we floundered a bit before we finally went to bed.
We left El Paso with pretty much NO groceries in the fridge, other than some eggs, the remnants of oatmeal, and two small gorditas. Luckily I had purchased a HUGE apple at the Union Square Farmers’ Market the other day, so I had that for breakfast this morning and Christian had two eggs. NOT exciting, compared to the great deli breakfasts served with amazingly good coffee every morning. We’d gotten used to getting up at 7 a.m. and walking a few blocks south, past Lincoln Center, to “our” place, a chain deli/pastry/pizza joint called Europan. Every morning I’d stop first at a small market to buy my new favorite, Greek yogurt, and put that in my purse. Then we’d head over to Europan and I’d get a multigrain toasted bagel and coffee (and eat that with my smuggled yogurt), and Christian would get an everything bagel with cream cheese.
Actually, the FIRST morning we had breakfast at a deli/diner on Madison Avenue in the Upper East Side. It was there that I saw Andrew McCarthy and took a secret photo of him (and of course those never turn out too well). Well, he was very much Andrew McCarthy, with that shy smile and doe eyes. But he did look really tired (older?) Definitely older than the “Pretty in Pink” days), and I didn’t summon the nerve to “papparazi” him while he tried to enjoy his breakfast. No one else seemed to notice him, like he was really a regular there.
Later on that morning, I DID bump into Al Roker and Meredith Viera on the street. They weren’t filming at all, just hanging out on the street, and again I was the only one who went, “Ohhh, ahhh!” Lol. But rather than betray my “I’m such a tourist” appearance (I think my NYC hat did that for me), I casually went up to them like I was an old friend and just asked if I could take their photo. No gushing, promise!
Other than McCarthy, Roker and Viera, I also saw Elaine Stritch at the airport in Atlanta. I’m sure I saw many other celebs, but it really is amazing how different they can appear in person.
We never did see Anthony Bourdain at Les Halles, but the food MORE than made up for it! I had the roasted half chicken with frites, and Christian had the steak frites. We started with crawfish in puff pastry, which I wish I’d been able to lick the plate. I did manage to smuggle a menu out of there (a family tradition, hee hee). Sorry, Tony.
One night, an old friend from El Paso and his wife took us to Isabella’s on the Upper East Side, and it was full of the Upper East Side type: you know, the intelligenscia, the writers, the artists and gallery owners. But totally unpretentious and great food. To save my husband extreme embarrassment, I withheld taking photos, but I did have the pasta special with gnocchi, ground beef, spinach and an amazingly garlicky tomato sauce. Oh, and lobster sliders to start with.
So, all in all, I ate at some very nice restaurants, some dives, and a few in between. One restaurant on the nicer side of the equation (in Columbus Circle) messed up my order of wurst/potatoes/sauerkraut, so the meal was comp-ed. I really pulled a NY attitude, i.e., I stood my ground and didn’t say, “Oh, it’s okay, no problem, I’ll wait.” I felt so empowered!
But out of all the roasted Amish chicken, lobster sliders, $30 pasta, $20 pizza for one… my favorite meal of all was actually the Banh Mi sandwich for $5 Christian and I had near Union Square at a place called Baoguette. That simply rocked. The baguette was superb, filled with marinated chicken, cilantro, hot Vietnamese spices, cucumber, carrot, etc. I could easily eat that at every meal! I am going to try to make a version as close as that one as possible, but there is no substitute for the ambiance of sitting in a small Vietnamese dive in the heart of New York City, watching the rain outside and the hustle and bustle. Ohhhh, and the smells!
Alright…this is a small bite. I just got up, we have 200 more photos to go through, and we need groceries!!!!!! Why, oh WHY is there no Dean & Deluca here in El Paso?? Well, at least I still have two black and white cookies and a street-vendor soft pretzel in my freezer to pull out on days of Manhattan withdrawal (probably this afternoon). More on our gastronomic goings-on in Manhattan later today. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy some photos from our trip…

Breaking the rules

I am all about breaking rules when it comes to cooking. In fact, I am all about breaking rules. That’s why recipes are just suggestions to me, and I’ve never, ever made the same dish twice, even if I call it the same dish.
Tonight was our New York’s Eve dinner party for two, mainly a meal we didn’t put toooo much thought toward. We’re already thinking of the first meal in NYC tomorrow, and we’re wondering what and when it will be. We don’t arrive at La Guardia until 8 p.m., and we’re newbies to the transit system, so by the time we get to where we’re staying, it may be 11 or so. We’re guessing our first official NYC meal won’t be at the Four Seasons, but more like the 24 Hours, meaning whatever we find that is open all night long. I just really hope it’s not a taco stand.
We already had chicken thighs (four, two each), a can of pickled jalapenos in escabeche, canned mushrooms, milk, potatoes and garlic. When we went to go read the Sunday paper at the Albertson’s Starbucks cafe today, I saw a shopping cart filled with discounted items. They were all Passover foodstuffs, and although I’m not Jewish, I love the dishes I’ve had at different Jewish events I’ve attended. For $2, I picked up a large canister of Matzo Farfel from Manischewitz (broke my own rule of not buying any new food until we literally ran out of everything we now have).
I’ve never used matzo for cooking, but being the pushover that I am when it comes to heavily-discounted items flowing from a shopping cart, I decided today would be the first time.
I did not take the easy road and look online for recipes nor did I read the side of the container. I just knew what ingredients I had, that matzo meal would thicken whatever I made, and that it was bland. So here’s what I did:
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I diced one large potato, skin on, and put it in a saucepan on the stove with about 1/4 cup olive oil. I cooked that until it was easily cut-able, but still firm. Then I added the canned mushrooms with their liquid, and a chopped clove of garlic. When the liquid simmered away, I added one cup of whole milk and a cup of the Matzo, and stirred then covered. I waited until the mixture had the consistency of turkey stuffing.
While that was cooking, I seared the chicken thighs in a pan on the stove, skin side down, until the skin side was dark and the skin beginning to get crackly and removed from the flesh. I then added the canned pickled jalapenos in escabeche (onions and carrots), and seasoned the chicken with salt, a dash of teriyaki sauce, and some garam masala. I turned the chicken around and covered the pan to let the chicken finish cooking and for the jalapenos and carrots and onions caramelize.
This I served with leftover salad from lunch, and I thought it was fantastic. Well, the chicken anyway. I burned the bottom of the Matzo mix, although the top was still creamy and thick. But the burned smell of course wafted up through the saucepan and affected the overall aroma of the dish. Not horribly, but I could have spent a little less time checking emails and more time watching the stove.
For dessert, I had the last of the chai cake I made last week, and Christian had two almonds. Yep, two almonds. He’s on a health kick and so that was his dessert. Two honey smoked almonds. That isn’t possible for me. Either a can of almonds at one sitting or none at all.
Christian is amazed by the variety of almonds at the grocery store: honey roasted, raw, chile-lime, jalapeno smokehouse, wasabi, etc. I know in Germany at Oktoberfest and Gillamoos, warm candied almonds were his favorites. He is quite happy he’s found something that satisfies that craving, although I must admit, I loved the paper cones the almonds came in at the fairs in Germany, and the fact that they were nice and warm.
We are very fortunate to have been invited to dinner by a few friends, and the places they’re taking us are said to be just incredible. Granted, being from El Paso, where a very nice dinner can be had for $30 for two (sans alcohol), an appetizer of asparagus for $30 makes one want to wonder if NYC is the perfect place to start that long-promised diet.
Does anyone know how much a Papaya King dog is, just with sauerkraut? Or a street-vendor large pretzel? I’m so curious!