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.