Gifts from the Garden - a Super Tuesday!

My sister has the most beautiful garden and yes, I am openly jealous.  I know it is a lot of work and maintenance, but it is simply wonderful to look at as well as enjoy the bounty it provides.  It is even more joyous when I receive wonderful food gifts; both prepared and raw from my sister and her family.

The homemade, award worthy, bruschetta is my sister's specialty and was given with a loaf of French bread.  The zucchini bread was made by my younger nephew with pride and we decided to try it topped with the bruschetta as well with the theory that tomatoes and zucchini are a natural pairing.

Fresh zucchini were a lovely gift as well as a bag of fresh beans.  I remember when growing up we used to have a family garden and I would eat the beans raw while I was supposed to be picking.  The snap and something about eating fresh veggies under the sun...

All of the offerings are and were so appreciated.  They were perfect accompaniments to simply grilled chicken breasts and a red potato salad and cucumber salad, fresh corn on the cob, and for me a section of sweet potato I had been craving.

Here's how it looked for Ken -

and my plate before the ear of corn -

And what did I do with my bags of tomatoes you may wonder?  As I write this post they are simmering into sauce after being blanched, peeled then pureed with the immersion blender.  Meatballs are also in the pot and after grilling later, sausage will be added as well.  A two meal food experience and memories from these fabulous gifts from the garden.

Fed Well with freshness, food gifts, a visit and hugs on a plate.   Sometimes the hardest part is finding new ways to say Thank You!  Maybe tradition is best - Thank you for making sure my family and I are Fed Well from the inside out.

Racino Buffet with Mommy!

While going through a personal crisis I have lost about 12 pounds unintentionally.  I know, I know, some women are thinking they would love to have this problem, but trust me - you wouldn't. 

During times of trouble we reach out to friends and family and so I called my Mommy to see if she wanted to meet for a bite to eat and a bit of "gaming" at the local Racino (http://www.monticellocasinoandraceway.com/)

First, we will try the buffet because after all, who can gamble on an empty stomach!  At first I worry I won't like anything, but then I decide on a plate of may favorites; white, starchy carbs!  Garlic mashed potatoes and penne pasta topped with red clam sauce, a slice of chicken marsala for the taste and a splash of protein.  Buffet or not, it feels fairly rich and decadent and compared to the portions I have been eating, it feels like I have bellied up directly to the silver chafing dishes.  This meal is not about physical health, it is about comfort, healing and hoping to hit it big,

Mommy has a slice of the roast pork, the potatoes bathed in gravy and a sample of chicken marsala and wait, what is that I see on the edge?? Salad??  Who would have thought?

Yes, I monopolize the conversation.  Can't help it.  I pause long enough to ask about her personal computer repairs (not going well - Best Buy will in no way ever be endorsed by my mother) and of course her opinion on whatever it is I am sharing with the hopes she will certainly agree with me and validate all of my crummy thoughts and feelings.  It's part of the job description of a mother.  I believe I have read it myself in the handbook.

Dessert?  Why, of course.  While I am indulging, I should experience everything.  I actually first looked through the sugar free offerings.  No idea why.  I selected this slice of cheesecake with a carrot cake crumb topping.

Now, for the news you have all been waiting for... how much did we win?

Not a single dime. 

But an evening meal with my Mommy certainly gives many reasons to feel Fed Well.

Sweet Treat from my love, Lucy!

One of the best feelings in the world after an hour and ten minute commute home on a summer Friday is stopping to get the mail and seeing a package that is for you!  THIS NEVER HAPPENS - well, until now.

I peel open the outer envelope and know I need my cell phone to photograph this momentous event.  I already know who it is from and am super-dee-duper excited!!!!

A lumpy envelope!?  What could be inside???  It is early for my birthday, but anything could happen...

Oooh, it's going to be funny and I am positive it will have confetti or glitter or something inside so I carefully lay it down on the table before opening.

Yes, I am definitely feeling like throwing those damn lemons back at life.  Bully!

Mailbox love!  What could be better?  A mini-teddy bear and ...

a dark chocolate candy bar!  What woman doesn't want to be thought of, receive a mystery package, a motivational/funny card AND chocolate! 

Although the card was signed "Lucy" (I'm Ethel) - I know who loves me and wants to ensure that I am Fed Well!  Life wouldn't dare throw a lemon over here.  Thank you my friend -

I Love Lucy!

As Sunday Dinner Morphs...

Growing up, Sunday Dinner meant my grandparents came over and my grandmother would bring a bag of goodies including coupons and a Pepperidge Farm cake.

On a recent Sunday, my younger son and I joined my sister, her family and my mother at my sister's house for a wonderful Sunday supper.  Toasted bread rounds with a coating of olive oil were the base for...

homemade Bruschetta using the freshest of vine ripened, organic tomatoes, straight from her garden!

 

An additional appetizer included a cheese plate including port wine and muenster...

which I enjoyed on crackers along with my Bruschetta!

A beautiful main course rested on the island before being carved and was not shy in the least in having a mini photo shoot for the blog.  The chicken was roasted beer can style - succulent meat with a crispy and seasoned skin made everyone drool just a bit.

A fresh and satisfying Sunday meal also includes baked potatoes (though not from the garden, they are not from a bag or a box) and super snappy green beans.

While dessert was not photographed, homemade brownies and a cheesecake were luscious endings for a satisfying Sunday gathering.

The best part of this Fed Well meal?  In the style of a David Letterman Top 10 - ok, 3 - list:

#3  Fresh Bruschetta

#2  Roast Chicken

and the # 1 best part:

Being with family who love you and want to share a wonderful meal in your company.

Feeling the love...

Tomato as Symbol

Symbolism in food - Adam and Eve along with Snow White come to mind immediately along with an image of a highly polished, red, ripe apple.  While the literary and social references to individual foods are arguably endless, I am experiencing one of my own this growing season and it is not all pleasant, but rather reflective of life.

In May, on the day before renewing my 25 year wedding vows, my estranged husband took it upon himself to weed one of my flower gardens though I had quite explicitly requested he leave it alone and assured him I would take care of it if it bothered him.  The gardens were my project - or so I thought.  He persisted and proceeded to "weed" numerous perennial flowers.  Plants that I enjoyed for years, he thought were weeds and simply removed them and threw them in the woods.  Our son made a reference to the argument in his toast to us and people laughed.

The following week we celebrated Mother's Day and along with some flowers, I bought my Mommy a few tomato plants and kept 3 for myself.  My estranged husband planted them in the garden in place of the missing flowers.  We had a second argument when I stated the plants were too close together.  The marriage appears to be over and I watch the plants bloom flowers that magically turn into tomatoes. 

The weight of the growing fruit pulls the branches down and a recent storm blew the thin metal supports over.  I told my older son the plants need wooden stakes driven into the ground but that I had no wood.  He said he would find me some.  Within minutes he had the circular saw out and shaped scrap wood into stakes while I retrieved twine and supported the heavy plants as best I could.

I daydream about these plants and the food they produce;  how will I eat the tomatoes, who will I share them with and what will life look like on that day?  Simple food, grown from the earth, tended to by family - basic and purely Fed Well.

One Saturday Night

Meeting a friend I have known for over 30 years is a wonderful reason to celebrate.  Meeting a friend I've known since elementary school to discuss life changing events, well, that simply requires a cocktail and for me, the signature drink of a choice is a Cosmopolitan.

As we talk about the twisty turns of life with it's ups and downs, mysteries that cannot be explained and the fabulous destination wedding of her sister's, we enjoy a meal which for me begins with a salad without dressing.

I tried the bacon and cheddar potato pancakes.  The inside was lush and delicately soft potato with cheese and bacon - what combination could be any better in an appetizer? 

Though my friend is quite active and disciplined about keeping physically fit by frequently participating in boot camps, she does treat herself to bacon cheeseburger with fries on this particular Saturday night.

We talk about life.  We try to make sense of things we will never understand. And best of all, we find a few reasons to laugh.

I had the Mako with yes, more potatoes and mixed vegetables.   The fish was quite firm and steak-like, the sauce a creamy pool to swipe the potatoes through before stabbing a piece of fish to create the perfect bite.  It is impossible to finish the meal and yet we are far from ending our time together.

We meet a friend at the bar once the meal is over and we talk some more.  Sometimes when life strays away from the path you thought you were on it's best to have some great friends to talk it over with, offer support and guard you through to the next part of the journey.  It was more than a Saturday Night, it was an opporunity to be Fed Well for the soul and the memory of it keeps me feeling full.

Was it the toxoplasmosis talk?

Let's see, where were we... a group of coworkers out to lunch at http://www.haciendadonmanuelny.com/

Hacienda Don Munel

Again, I have a regular favorite and rarely venture out to order something else.  I LOVE the beef burritos!

We start with warm and crispy chips served with chunky, fairly zippy salsa.  We are all careful to pour our salsa into a separate dish to avoid double dipping (which happened in the past, but the offending colleague has since moved to Thailand).

Ah, the beef burritos are heavenly.  The meat is tender, well seasoned and soft.  The shredded beef can be the subject of food dreams. 

I also love a second helping of chips with the guacamole and sour cream.  I rarely eat the rice and beans but bring them home to a son who loves them as a late night snack.

One coworker orders the vegetable quesidilas.  They are not what I expected, but she is happy and though she is not a vegetarian loves the feeling that she is making a healthier, guilt-free choice.

Chuletas a la Diabla - well, I don't like too much heat in my food, but for one coworker, spice is a perfect choice.  She requests the sauce be served on the side so she can control the amount both for flavor and sogginess purposes.

And for my vegetarian friend and next door neighbor co-worker, the vegetable burritos. 

We talk about the spicy pork chop diner moving into a house in the area with her boyfriend.  She shares stories about the various wildlife she has seen including devilish groundhogs, deer and the former residents honey bees.

Somehow the conversation segues to the parasites found in cat feces and how toxoplasmosis is considered to especially be a threat for pregnant women to be concerned about though none of us are pregnant (that I know of).  My vegetarian buddy recites a bit of news from the Internet on the subject which basically includes this bit from Wikipedia, "Toxoplasmosis is a parasitic disease caused by the protozoan Toxoplasma gondii.^[1] The parasite infects most genera of warm-blooded animals, including humans, but the primary host is the felid (cat) family. The parasite spreads by the ingestion of infected meat or the feces of an infected cat, or by vertical transmission from mother to fetus. A 2001 study found that direct contact with pet cats is probably a less common route of transmission to human hosts than contamination of hands with cat feces by touching the earth, and that "contact with infected raw meat is probably a more important cause of human infection in many countries"  (source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toxoplasmosis)  How fun!!  Yes, cat poop is perfect lunchtime conversation... 

Simultaneously, the pair of men at a nearby table ask to move and relocate to the far side of the restaurant from us.  Was it the toxoplasmosis talk?  Were we laughing too much?  How could we have possibly offended them so much that they felt the need to move across the room?

The empty table with chips is where our nearby neighbors started but all the way to the far left corner of the photo, against the wall a slice of arm is visible to where they repositioned themselves.

The deviled pork chop loving coworker couldn't resist asking the waiter why the men moved.  Turns out, they were simply cold.

Street Fair - Food and Fun

A local town, a street fair and the guarantee of food truck cuisine - my Mommy and I were in!

Though it was a brutally hot Saturday, we made our way through the crowds and kept an eye on the ever darkening, cloudy sky.  Crafts, leather goods, designer impostor bags, jewelry, toys, face painting, rides, all lovely but none of it was anything that really interested us.

For whatever reason, I am drawn to the heart shaped stones.  Not sure if it is necessarily for romantic purposes or simply the idea of a heart shaped stone.

I have never before seen "Soggy Bandannas" for sale.  While I am no grammar expert, does anyone see anything wrong with the sign?  Doesn't matter.

Moments before deciding we must need a bit of fuel, I spotted a fresh lemonade truck - a small was $5.00.  Am I cheap?  I decided I didn't need a designer impostor lemonade and kept walking.

Soon my mother came upon a home made fudge tent.  She recognized the proprietor and happily made an immediate purchase.

A few more feet and we found the falafel/gyro stand.  Woo hoo!  One of each please! 

Beef Gyro for Mom and falafel for me.  We walked to my Aunt's yard for a bit of a picnic and were both quite happy with our lunch choices.

A friend of my Aunt's soon arrived with two plates of "cheese ribbon fries."

Designer handcrafted potato chips drizzled with melted orange cheese sauce.  The chips were as crisp as they look and though quite tasty, I'm a sucker for more salt.

And what better way to display bottled water for sale than with a platter of freshly cut lemons and limes as well as ice.  I didn't buy it, but it made me want to as I told myself I wasn't thirsty as much as I was attracted to the "fancied up" display!

We were at the far end of the Street Fair when the fat and juicy first rain drops began to fall.  Car Show participants scrambled to put up soft tops and some left immediately.  I protected my camera the best I could and headed for home with Fed Well memories.

The Return of Scallion Pancakes to Jade in Suffern, NY

http://www.jadebistro.net/

When I first started working with the 300 +/- people at "The Company's" Global R & D, I welcomed the vast differences of coworkers backgrounds, ages, education levels, life experiences and cultures. I was introduced to foods and traditions I would never have any other chance to experience and while the simple Scallion Pancake may not seem like a life altering event to many with various simple Chinese take-out restaurants in their neighborhood, I was one to sort of stick with the items I was mostly familiar. Branching out may mean trying a different version of Four Seasons or Happy Family.


One day, a group of us went to lunch with our Director who often shared stories of her past employment in food related industries including Kraft and Pepsi (ok, she somehow worked it in to every conversation) and she ordered Scallion Pancakes to start.

I couldn't wrap my head around what was to come. Would they be like a potato pancake, a breakfast pancake, a knish? Would they have shoots of green onion sticking out? Aaackk!

When the plate was set in the middle of the table and my nose not only accepted but welcomed the warm blend of aromas from gentle oniony to the familiar whisper of fried food.  I waited to see what the proper etiquette would be for eating the new found treats - did one pick them up or use the fork?  Well, the jury is still out as my table mates were divided about the correct procedure.  However, the one thing I knew for sure was that I had found a new top 10 favorite food.

The Director has since left.  The restaurant underwent a major renovation and revamping of the menu which eliminated our beloved appetizer.  We would still go, a smaller and smaller group, and find new favorites.  I am guilty of having the shrimp with rice noodles (that I eat with a spoon and fork in a quasi-Italian fashion) so frequently that the waitress simply brings the spoon without my request.

This past Friday, a smaller more intimate gathering of myself and just 2 coworkers ordered a plate of Scallion Pancakes.  Our lives have changed vastly.  I am going through the most transition right now and try to walk a balanced line between a wildly and ever changing range of emotions.  I find comfort eating with my friends and being reunited with a wonderful food.

Rehearsal at Stony Brae

A special time, a special occasion and the eve of a special day requires celebration.  The tradition of the wedding rehearsal dinner is alive and well, the experience is personalized and tweeked to suit. 

The feeling of a custom made event should be required for all of those preparing to enter into marriage as the needs are as individual as the union itself.

Yes, the location was incredibly convenient from the church...

 http://www.cragsmoorstonechurch.org/

But, if need be, we certainly could have traveled.

The entrace and walk way were welcoming and well kept.  I wanted to go in, wanted to know and see more, to continue, to dine and start making a new memory.

And so, our party of 13 is seated in the upstairs dining room, We are family and friends, longtime relations and new acquaintances joined by a religious man and his wife.

We were given regular menus and the listing of specials. 

http://www.stonybraeatcragsmoor.com/Menu.html

A cocktail to begin - the Cragsmoorpolitan - not just a dressed up girly martini, but one with meaning for the area.  Cragsmoor was once known for its blueberries and so to offer a drink with a nod to the area's history is more than appropriate and so I make my selection.

 

The bride and her future mother-in-law decide on the Castaway.  We are all happy with our decisions. 

I offer a toast of happiness and we peruse the dinner choices.

I decide to skip an appetizer as I hope I will instead be leaving room for dessert.  However, my older nephew, seated on my left, opts for a fresh Caesar salad. 

Conversation ranges from one end of the table to the other and the edge of sitting in the middle allows me to let my attention wander from one topic to another.  The young men at the left speak with the religious man about his birthplace (Southeast Asia), the lack of ethnic variety in restaurants in the nearby geography, tattoos, professional athletes in baseball, football and basketball, moving from New York city to the country and the beauty of the area we are currently dining.



My homemade Tagliatelle is not for the whimpy of apetite.  The dish is hearty and filling with ample amounts of mushrooms, red bell peppers and topped with a bit of micro greens.  Quite a successful plate of which I am forced to take half home in order to leave room for sharing a dessert with my younger nephew.

He orders the cheesecake with caramel sauce on the side (he's not sure what it will taste like).  The cheesecake was prepared in an individual mold and so the shape is a pleasing change and makes the portion size a bit more manageable.  I am only able to have a few forkfuls before pleading of being absolutely full.  He did dip a forkful of cheesecake into the caramel sauce but the verdict is still undetermined.

A lovely local spot to which I am sure we will return, but not without remembering The Rehearsal Dinner.