Big summer for our hero

First, Clarke will be a Counselor-in-Training at Floodwood - his dad's beloved Floodwood where he worked for 10 years and eventually ran the place. No pressure there, kid. Then, there is his first sleepaway adventure in dorms at a college. National Jazz Workshop in Virginia. Lots of talent. Lots to learn. No pressure there, kid. But I'm happy that he has this. He should know how capable he really is. And then, of course, there will be some fun and frivolity. Here's one of Clarke's audition tapes.

Not summer yet

A list of randomness:

1. Make this school year end. NOW. NYC is nuts. See this insanity. Of course I had to add my two cents in the comments.
   
2. For those that remember, on the last day of school, I always plan a crazy surprise for the boys. This one is finally finished and is slated for Friday. Not my most outlandish but should be a fun time. Years past have included: weekend cruise to Canada, beach, convertible car rental, water park, sailing trip. Can't write details on this year of course, because I'm certain the boys read my blog....right? I am loving slipping them hints and throwing them off the scent. Much harder now that they are old and cynical.
   
3. Very happy with quick dinner last night. Ready? Turkey burgers: mix ground turkey with salt, chopped cilantro, lime juice. Grill. Fancy relish: grated red cabbage and carrots, mixed with 2 TBL mayo, lime juice, dash of olive oil, cilantro, jalapeno. Sweet potato baked fries: Try to find the white sweet potatoes (are those yams?). The trick is heat the olive oil in a baking sheet in oven at high heat (450). When very hot, add the salted sweet potatoes. Bake till they are done. They crisp up nicely this way. Broccoli. Add sliced ginger to water/chicken stock before you steam/boil. Sliced melons: why are there so many delicious melons at the co-op right now? I thought melon season was late august. Anyway, delicious.
   
4. Barn: Nada. Can't afford rental cars to get up there on the weekends. Need a solution. Very sad. But we are going for July 4th!
5. To be honest, I am trying to remember that summer is supposed to be a time to relax and enjoy. Getting the boys scheduled into camps etc. to keep them occupied is expensive and time-consuming. I don't have a lot of time off work and I feel the whole summer is scheduled and budgeted down to the wire. Le sigh. Check back next week and hopefully I will shake this BS and start having some fun.
   
6. I biked here last weekend and it was amazing. 12 miles from the urban jungle and you have pristine beach and wildlife. Wowza.
   

Notice anything?

First, I know I was at the barn last weekend and yes I took some photos, but I can't find the darn cord that exports my camera so you'll have to take my word for it, that it was great. I really need to take pictures of EatnMeet next time I am there. Expect photos and details soon.

Meanwhile on the way up to the barn, I heard this great lyric. "If you hear any noise, it's just me and the boys." Made me laugh and made me happy. The storm blowing the roof off the barn thing was pretty powerful for me, for a time ( I don't think I ever blogged this but literally a piece of paper blew into my hand with that saying on it, during a pretty rough time. How. Weird. Is. That?) But now it doesn't quite reflect, so voila, a new blog tagline.

Finally

Back to the barn tomorrow. So so excited. I am once again going to essentially ignore house tasks and relax and hike and canoe. At some point I really have to spend a work weekend to get the barn back in shipshape (as shipshape as the Barn can be). Scarily neglected lately. Must. Rectify. This. Summer.

So back to this weekend. We leave tomorrow in a minivan (woo woo) with 2 additional kids. Their parents are taking the train and meeting us up there. Saturday will be croquet and catch and bike rides and filming Clarke's jazz audition video ( anyone want to come over for the live shoot? We are renting helicopters and groupies). Then EatnMeet for dinner. Sunday, we are heading out to Floodwood Pond to canoe the streams and small ponds. This is our home turf for canoeing and I can't wait. We have a group of 8 so we have 2 16' canoes and 2 kayaks. We are going to set up day camp on one of the islands and let people explore from there. After that, cookout back at our place. Deciding between pork burgers with asian slaw and fennel or chocolate, stout marinated steak. Um, and quinoa, feta salad for PK. Vegetarians!

We'll see you inside the blue line!

Hey Canoe People!

Here's what I need: A way to transport 2-3 canoes and/or a kayak. Here's the problem: I don't own a car so it would have to easily attach to any rental car I happen to have. Does such a thing exist?

It's very frustrating. We have friends coming to the barn this weekend and again, we have enough boats for everyone but no way to transport them all. So we end up renting from St. Regis (On Floodwood Pond). They are a great outfit but I don't need the extra expense. Any ideas?

The Music Man

"Clarke has a very very high level of musical ability. I do not say this lightly. His technique and musical aptitude are very advanced." The report then goes to to report specific areas where he should focus, ideas for moving forward etc.

Finally a good report card for our hero. However, this is not the kind of report I exactly know what to do with. This is not news to me but it is an affirmation that Clarke's mind is not "ideally suited", shall we say, for Brooklyn Tech.

I am so proud of him for getting through the last 3 years of hell and for being a really good kid. I am not so proud of his academic achievements to date. And I'm no longer sure that my yelling, cajoling, encouraging, or threatening will change that much. So then what? Where is the path if you deviate from the standard? Must he forge his own or should I feebly attempt to lead him?

Geez, now I'm awake

I am experimenting with food photography. Mostly because I love this new site www.food52.com. The concept is a curated place for ambitious homecooks. There is a cooking contest each week and the winner goes into a real cookbook. So cool. Hilariously, I keep missing the deadlines but end up making the intended dishes days later. Alas, anyway here are a few photos: okra with ginger/red pepper/rosewater, lamb/feta/cherry meatballs, croissant (not made by me!), barley risotto.

Oh yeah, the blog

too much work. too much homework. not enough sleep. not enough frivolity. Need the barn. SOS. The end.

Jamie Oliver

I know I am supposed to hate this contrived reality show, produced by none other than Ryan Seacrest but Oscar and I have watched it loyally on Hulu each week and damn, it is inspiring. I personally think Jamie Oliver is the real deal, and is authentically consumed with changing the way we eat. It is well aligned with Food Inc. and the local food movement and I am indeed appalled at the school lunch program in this country. So we are trying. What does this mean for our lives? When we moved to Brooklyn and I joined the Park Slope Food Coop, it made some very big changes in our eating. Out of my shopping cart, there are maybe 4 or 5 packaged goods, mostly healthy. The boys snacks are much better; we have healthy, creative meals. Yay me. But, we still do takeout or eat-out, probably one or two nights every week. I would like to reduce that. It's not great on wasteline, environment, budget, or health. Ironically, while I can throw down easily on 4-hour gourmet feasts, I am not great at really fast meals or meals that the boys would think are exciting so that is my challenge. Last week, I made Bittman's pork vindaloo which was 1 hour but only about 10 minutes of prep time and really easy. They loved it. Today, we went retro and I tried homemade, healthy, sloppy Joes. I must say, I think I nailed it. Start to finish, 15 minutes. Recipe: 1 lb, lean, organic, grass-fed beef, olive, oil, 1/2 onion- diced, 2 carrots-finely diced, 2 cloves garlic-minced, 1 bell pepper-finely diced, 1.5 TBSP dijon mustard, 3/4 can organic crushed tomatos (obviously easy to use food processed fresh tomatoes too) 1.5 TBSP maple syrup, dash of smoked paprika. Heat olive oil in saute pan, add onion, garlic. Saute for a few minutes, then add carrots. When carrots have softened, add ground beef and saute until brown. Pour off excess fat and then add crushed tomatoes, mustard, maple syrup, paprika. Simmer for 5 minutes. I served on these really good Brioche buns with sides of edamame and sweet potato fries (just sliced sweet potatoes with some olive oil and salt in oven. Happy boy food.

Two months later

Had to post this because it made me smile and be glad I'm in Brooklyn. From Sam Sifton, Restaurant Critic at the times.

Q:

Did you grow up in the USA — with a “regular” burger, hotdogs, and mac & cheese childhood? Or what was your gastronomic experience like as a kid?

A.

I grew up in Brooklyn, N.Y., which means there was slice pizza from Fascati and pork buns from Su-Su’s and chicken Yunan from China Chili. There was fried chicken my dad made on Sundays and my mother’s fresh yogurt every morning and big bagels still warm from the oven on Clark Street on the way to school. There were Saturday day trips all over the city to pick up sausages and cold cuts and ham, to buy bread, Jamaican ginger beer, hot dogs from Papaya King, tomatoes and greens from Norman, the hippie on Cranberry Street. There were appetizers from Russ & Daughters on the Lower East Side and sandwiches at Buffa’s in SoHo. There was always a goose at Christmas, a ham at Easter, and a hot turkey plate on white bread with extra cranberry and gravy in June on my birthday, at Junior’s, with cheesecake for dessert. There were Coke floats at diners and debates over the merits of diner cheeseburgers over the fat ones served in “real” restaurants, by which we meant bars. There were actual Merits, too, smoked by pretty girls drinking Ballantine Ale, and hot dogs cooked under the Brooklyn Bridge in the wind. There was sushi. There were tagines. Fruit rollups from Sahadi on Atlantic Avenue, halvah bars for the brave. There was rice and peas. Roti. Corned beef and cabbage. Maduros. Knishes. Some crazy brown-noodle thing at Dojo to impress a girl on a Saturday night. And then a slice from Fascati, again, on the way home. Fairly typical upbringing for a food guy out of New York City, actually.

Sunday Morning

Ahhh. The boys spent last week skiing at the barn with their dad for winter break. I missed Winter Carnival again but did fulfill some wanderlust, used my free miles and scooted out of town for the weekend to Bermuda (!) with @Pk. Bermuda would require its own post but summarized by "hmmmm". The British colonial thing was freaky. But it IS beautiful and 1.5 hr flight from NYC. Not on my "must return" list. I then worked and worked and worked until the boys arrived home.

But this weekend. This weekend! Boys are home, windows open, pancakes, cooking, board games, chatting for hours with the boys. Just heaven.

Oscar and i are at the kitchen table now. He's catching up on his various communication devices and we are listening to Langhorne Slim. Great Sunday music.

Trying to make soundcloud work with streampad on blogger to share some music, but not not working...

It's not like I don't know

I have wanderlust. Yes, I am enjoying being back in the routine. I'm really enjoying my great, yet intense new job, and I'm enjoying just being with the boys. But, late at night, in the dim of my computer light in my room, I start fantasizing and perusing... Homeforexchange.com and while not accepting an offer yet, I am astounded at the volume and quality of people who want to come to Brooklyn for a week, a month, a summer, a year! Even if I can't pull it off, it's fun to look. Maybe this summer....Paris....? And it's FREE! One thing I know is there had better be a bit more skiing before spring. I will save my pennies to get a few more trips in.

In the meantime, here are a few recipes I've been experimenting with:

• Shredded red cabbage and celery root with lime/shallot/cilantro vinaigrette, queso fresca, roasted pumpkin seeds, roasted corn. Really really good.
  
• Roasted pineapple with maple syrup and cayenne over pancetta. I don't have this one quite right yet but there is something really yummy here.
• Puerto Rican Beans: @Pk's boss is Puerto Rican and his wife let me watch her make these incredible beans (while she made me do tequila shots - I'm not kidding.) The beans were incredible...if I remember correctly. Anyway:

First, make the Sofrito: Recau (or cilantro), onions, garlic, ajillo peppers, red bell peppers. Food processor until well blended thick, granular sauce. I didn't use any measurements, just to taste. I made a big batch and froze the rest in ice cube trays
Saute onions, add sofrito, add pink beans which have been soaking overnight, cover with water, bring to a boil, add tomato paste, and salt and simmer for 3-4 hours, until beans are tender. Add water as needed to keep saucy consistency. Add potatoes in last 15 minutes and top with cilantro before serving.

Hibernation

So the excitement and travel and fun of Christmas and New Year and my birthday and the ski trip and Clarke's birthday (last Wed.) are now over. Thank. God. Now this is winter! Cold and dark and monotonous. Just the right timing. We are all ready to settle in a bit. Let's work hard and organize and get back to our routine. I (really @pk has been driving this and I am gratefully letting him) am in the middle of changing the boys room into two separate sleeping spaces and a common area. Tuesday, our friends Linnae and Sandy arrive with some tools and then the boys should have curtain panels which they can pull back when they want to be alone. Even this week with the rooms arranged with the wardrobes dividing the area, there has been a vast difference in their peace of mind. Oscar's room? Pristine, bien sur. Clarke's room looked like a mental patient lived there but it was his own mess in his own private small area, and finally even he had enough and cleaned up.... a bit. It's just the sort of January project for which winter is meant.

The Fest Is Done. Long Live the Fest

In some ways, this was just like every year. Sara, Oscar, and I drove up late Thursday, got lost in NJ (don't ask), were pulled over by troopers but released with no ticket (god, I like traveling with blondes!) and arrived around midnight. The rest of the crew had rolled in at various times throughout the evening. We all said hello, agreed we were all completely exhausted, and then....opened a fine bourbon and spent the next 3 HOURS catching up and story-telling. I knew I was going to regret but was just so glad to see those faces. You know we are getting old because we talked a lot about work. With most everyone somehow affiliated with media, there was a lot of talk of the future of journalism and hilariously, many strategy discussions about twitter. The next morning we (big shock) had a late start and then headed to Whiteface. I had a very low key day helping darling Maeve learn to ski before her mom and I went off to the main mountain for a bit. The airlines lost skis, so the cross country folks waited around until late afternoon for their skis and then headed to Dewey Mountain for some lit trails. We all convened for dinner and I threw together flank steak, mushroom risotto, and some salad. We all huddled around the kitchen, and then started old jokes, brutal personal assaults etc.. As I so clearly remember doing about 10 years ago, Mark and Carter spent much of the evening trying to get a revved up Maeve into her bed. Even Oscar and Erik took turns to no avail. Clarke and @PK arrived around 10pm in a ridiculous sports car. The rental agency had "upgraded" them from economy not into SUV or something ADK suitable but a two-seater. So funny to watch them drive up. After snow angels, we all collectively crashed. The next morning we had a breakfast that I think will be a new tradition: the Irish oatmeal bar. McCann's oats with serve yourself bowls of brown sugar, maple syrup, cinnamon, pecans, almonds, mangoes, apples, berries, bananas, etc. Super delicious. We were at the hill at a reasonable hour and the boys skied their legs off. Jim, dad of Erik, led the boys and Clarke swears they skied the whole mountain. Where was I? Teaching @Pk how to ski. He promised he would try. And he was valiant. Next up, he's trying cross country. So then I ditched him, and joined the rest for a few runs before we headed home. Then the last of our people finally arrived from DC, "Big Air Spider Dan" and Jill. That night, we had early appetizers of cheese (did I mention they were all from Wisconsin?) and then went to a late dinner at...you guessed it, Eat N Meet. We literally took up the entire restaurant and spent almost 3 hours there eating, drinking, and talking. So fun. We now have 16 more Eat n Meet fans. Favorite dishes included meatloaf, crab beignets, sauteed squash. The next day was sort of anticlimactic as people started to file out. Everyone had different schedules and airports. On the last full day, Oscar and I went to Cascade to ski with Sara, Clarke stayed home to study, Jim and Erik skied Whiteface with Dan and....the lawyers went to Starbucks to work. Mamas don't let your babies grow up to be lawyers. I really loved the few hours of cross country and the lodge after is such a treat. Finally, our day to return to reality arrived but I decided we'd stop at Gore and downhill ski a half day before heading to NYC. I hadn't really felt I had gotten my proper skiing in and it was a fantastic half day. So warm that I was wearing no hat, absolutely no crowds and great conditions. So worth it. So it was a typical trip in that we laughed a lot and skied a lot. It was atypical because I think, frankly, we are getting older. We cared less about the food and less about the booze, though don't get me wrong, much of all was consumed. I think everyone feels these weekends are something special and we treasure it. I know I do. I think people are definitely have fallen for the Adirondacks too. It's such a good match for the go get 'em Wisconsin mentality. There is talk of trying a summer canoe retreat, an extra weekend for Tom and Katrina to do the Loppet and extending the weekend to a week+ next year and adding on Mont Tremblant. Even if we can't pull these things off, we are going to all damn try.

Look Out Adirondacks

Sixteen friends, all united by their love of Wisconsin, snow, and good food and drink, will be descending upon the barn in T-minus 24 hrs. This is our 15th annual I believe. I am so glad it is back at the barn and can't wait to see my oldest and dearest ones. As the years have progressed, there is a gentle migration from "all downhill, all the time" to cross country, napping, reading and that's ok by me. In a few more years, I am sure there will be snow-shoeing and communal BenGay ( that sounds far naughtier than intended). We don't stay up nearly as late as we used to, but we still do some damage. Or else why would I have kept the dining room trapeze installed?! Past years have included mango rum snow cones, a communal ladle, an overflowing dishwasher scene worthy of the Brady Bunch, a medical snowcat trip down the mountain, outings to a bar/taxidermy store, and a run-in with homeland security. Like I said, look out ADK.

Connor Mitchell Bower

My 40th birthday aside, you know when you really feel old? When you realize your kids and nephews and nieces are way more accomplished and cooler than you are. My oldest nephew Connor was in a terrible accident at his college this weekend. He has a broken back and nerve damage and will have to drop out of school temporarily to recuperate. I am listening to my sister tell about his demeanor and his gumption and it is now crystal clear that he is way more amazing then me... and he's only 18. Arghgh -Youth! To be honest, I sort of knew this already: the fantastic grades at the competitive school, the gourmet cooking at 13, eating uni at 15 (Ok I'll take credit for that one). His wit, his open-mindededness, his winking at the world. Seriously, there's more: His two jobs, done well and without whining all through highschool. Jeez. His piano playing and his faith. His ability to watch cooking shows and retain recipes. But when I heard he was making a plan for school and contacting his advisor 1 DAY AFTER HIS SURGERY, I knew i was old and sort of a loser. Truly, if I had gone through what he had gone through, the next day, I'd be searching for my next morphine dose and trying to make sure my hospital gown was snapped correctly. I am old and withering and I have never been as cool as Connor.