If I had my little way, I'd eat peaches every day

Given the season, the local farmers’ markets have been overrun with peaches. And, of course, there is always a plate of small slices to taste, each type delicious and amazing. Tastiness aside, a girl likes some variety in her life. I recently stumbled across a couple of different recipes for grilled peaches, one over arugula and one with ricotta. With peaches waiting to be eaten and having never had a grilled peach, I was very excited to try one or both of these recipes.

But I don’t have a grill. I don’t even have a grill pan. I am completely grill-less. Back to square one, with three yummy peaches sulking uneaten on the counter.

The absence of grilling materials has been a problem in the past, usually with vegetables, and one popular solution in my kitchen is roasting. I do have an oven at least. After a brief internet search to confirm that roasting peaches is not a completely stupid idea, my decision was made. I just had to find the right time.

Well, tonight was that time. Dessert sounded good for a change. I am leaving town in a few days so am in the process of emptying my side of the refrigerator. Thus, there was no arugula or ricotta on hand. Solution: ice cream. The bodega down the street sells single mini Haagen Dazs ice cream containers, which is just about the perfect amount for me when I want it.

After a quick trip to the corner, I had everything I needed: vanilla ice cream, a peach and cinnamon. And only twenty minutes after that, I had pretty deliciousness on a plate. I tried to take a photo for proof, but my hands are shaky and I couldn't get the angle right. Plus, my model was melting. I was forced to eat my dessert, every last wonderful bite of it.

Coffee blues

My sister was in town over the weekend and, though Bonnie was not able to join us, I thought it might be a great time to check out one of the restaurants I had spotted on First St. We ended up back at the ever-yummy Grape and Grain, but did do a walk-by-menu-check on First St. I was a little concerned when I noticed that, at noon on a Sunday in the East Village, Simon Sips wasn’t open. However, with no sign indicating anything was wrong I chalked it all up to NYC business quirkiness.

Sadly, I was right to be worried. NYC Mugged reported today that Simon Sips has closed. I wish I had the chance to try it before it closed (and it seems I only just missed it!) but at least a new café is rumored to be opening in the same location.

Mares eat oats and does eat oats and little lambs eat ivy

Earlier this summer I was having trouble staying productive at work. Every day around 3pm I became extremely drowsy and had a very hard time maintaining my concentration. After some self diagnosis with the help of the internet, I decided to change my eating habits and test a hypothesis. I made a lunch time switch from sandwiches to granola bars, fruit and yogurt. Success! Though I started spending more money on granola bars, I did stop the afternoon crash.

I had been toying with the idea of making my own granola bars for a while. Food gawker had turned up so many recipes that I couldn’t help but think about it. Then, on my last walk with Hey, I’m Walkin’ Here!, my decision was made. I had taken along a small selection of granola bars and, when we took an afternoon break, pulled one out for snacking. As I pulled the packaging apart, I thought that the glue on the seams was a bit more cobwebby than normal. Odd. Then something wiggled. It turns out my box of granola bars was infested with Indianmeal moth larvae. I threw everything away and bought a box of Triskets at the next CVS we saw. If I needed that final push into the kitchen, this was definitely it.

Most of the recipes I found were direct variations of Alton Brown's recipe - not surprising once you have read through the ingredients. Others I found struck me as odd and were nixed on the basis of my impatience, one including more ingredients than I thought necessary and another including ingredients I didn't want for this granola.

I finally settled on this one, again similar to the Alton Brown granola bar, because I liked the ingredients and the overall tone of the posting. (The way to my heart is through both my stomach and my head.) I did, however, tweak the recipe based on my own tastes and what was on hand in the kitchen.

Ingredients

• 2 cups oatmeal
• 1 1/2 cups sliced almonds
• 1/4 cup light corn syrup
• 1/4 cup light brown sugar
  
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup dry roasted sunflower seeds
• 1/2 cup toasted wheat germ
• 3/4 cup Zante currants (picked up on a whim and liked them - I may need to reevaluate my stance on raisins)
  
• 1 cup unsweetened coconut
• Zest of one lemon (last minute refrigerator find)

Presentation-wise, my granola bars will not win any beauty contests. I put them in for a few minutes longer than the recipe called for and they may have been crispier as a result.

But they're good. They're really good. Aside from getting granola crumbs down my shirt while sampling the results, I would call this a success.

I want the frim-fram sauce with the aussen fay

I’ve mentioned before the emails I receive from various listservs. They can be overwhelming if I’m not careful but they do provide a wealth of information. An email I receive only once a week from NonsenseNYC is a minimalist, ugly text-based email. But it includes a list of free or cheap events going on in the city. About a year ago, a Nonsense email led me to Hey, I’m Walkin’ Here!, a group that meets every other week to go on 20 mile walks through different parts of the city. Given my own (insane) penchant for walking, I joined their Facebook group… and then had conflicts with (or just plain forgot about) scheduled walks. I joined the group for my first walk a few weeks ago and for my second last weekend. They’re a fun crowd, relatively within my age group and I have had a great time on both walks. I’m hooked.

The walk last weekend took us through central Staten Island, starting at 8:45AM and ending around 7:00PM. When I left them at the end of the day I was, understandably, exhausted and starving. Specifically, I was craving a hearty dish of pasta and meat sauce.

Since I moved to this city I have made my own pasta sauce. But I taught myself how to do this and they are not based on anything other than what tastes good to me and what I logically think should go into pasta sauce. I shared one of my recipes here last week. From that you can easily see my standard sauce base: tomato sauce, onion, garlic, salt, pepper. Depending on what I have in the kitchen other things will be thrown in randomly, usually to a tasty end. My method for making pasta sauce is obviously not the way pasta sauce is supposed to be made but it tastes good to me, is cheap, and is a single girl’s dream in the kitchen (mainly because I cover it and let it spit all it wants while I tend to other things).

Aside from throwing sauteed chicken into the mix, I have not yet made a pasta sauce with meat. But last Saturday I was craving red meat. This is extremely rare (haha) so I usually give in to these red meat cravings when I have them, figuring my body knows something I do not. I browned the meat and added it with diced tomato into my usual base… and it was bland. Not horrible. Just bland. Solution? Adding red pepper and burning my mouth into submission.

However, this bland non-entity of a meal set me on a mission: figure out a real (and relatively simple) way to make a meat sauce. Foodgawker - devil of my google reader feed that it is – turned up a nice selection of recipes to choose from. Luckily, I’m extremely picky once I have an idea in my head so narrowing down my options was not an issue.

Peeling and de-seeding tomatoes? I am only starting to come to some sort of understanding with tomatoes so let’s not push it.

Heavy cream? I’m not in the mood for a creamy sauce (for once) and I’d have to figure out another recipe to use up the rest of the cream before I go out of town next week.

Ingredients that I don’t keep in my kitchen? Maybe later. I like recipes that are realistic, that come from similar pantries. And this is pasta sauce for one! I don’t need anything fancy to start this experiment.

What about a basic recipe, adjusted and perfected after many uses in many different dishes, that is normally made without measurements or calculations? Yes. Other than the can of diced tomatoes, I have everything I need in the kitchen! Maybe it’s not traditional but it’s more formal than my own pasta sauce so this is the place to start.

Ingredients (for the most part, halving all of her measurements)

• 1/2 lb ground beef
• 1 14 oz can diced tomatoes
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 2 cloves chopped garlic
• 1 8 oz can tomato sauce
• 1/2  of a 6 oz can tomato paste
• Oregano
• Basil
• Salt
• Pepper

I browned the meat with the veggies while heating up the other ingredients over low heat. Once the meat was done, I drained it and tossed it in with the tomato mix, covering it until the pasta had finished cooking.

Result: delicious.

Granted, even though I halved the recipe I now have a few more servings of sauce left. So this will easily feed me until I leave for Seattle. Such is the life of a single person kitchen. Le sigh.

Wherever I may roam

Two weekends ago, I was walking through the East Village on my way to meet a friend for brunch. When I walk through this city my general habit is to take the "path of least resistance," meaning I turn or cross the street whenever it is convenient, whenever the light changes, or whenever I see something interesting I want to check out as long as it is along the general path to my end location. Someone once said I "make goat trails". I like my goat trails. Thanks to them I often find new things I hadn't seen before.

On this particular weekend morning, I turned down East 1st Street and suddenly found a small collection of restaurants I hadn't seen before between 1st Ave and 2nd Ave. As I had some time on my hands I stopped and looked at menus as I passed, zig-zagging across the street as each caught my eye. They all have delicious potential and are reasonably priced. We have no excuse to not check them out in the coming months.


Brunch or coffee

• Simon Sips 
• Joe Doe 
• Prune

Lunch, dinner or drinks

• The Elephant
  

When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie...

Let's start with a fact: I love pizza. I adore pizza. It is easily one of my favorite foods. So, when Bonnie casually mentioned that she hadn't had much pizza in the city I almost flipped out. However, she did also say this in the context of suggesting that we try out a pizza joint or two. An excuse to eat more pizza? Do you really have to ask?

I have a few favorite places close by. Il Porto is not very close but the location is interesting: past the BQE, close to docks. While not an inviting walk, it does guarantee a seat and extra attentive service in a nearly empty restaurant. They also deliver to my house, which is the option I usually take. However, if I'm going to have pizza delivered it is both faster and cheaper to order from Not Ray's. They make a damn good pizza, too, but they close entirely too early, even on weekends.

Nowhere close but yummy is South Brooklyn Pizza. Their crust is crisp and flaky unlike any I've found in the city so far. However, I have to say what truly draws me here are their cookies. If you order dessert, they warm the chocolate chip cookies in their brick oven. Two words: gooey deliciousness.

There are still other pizzas on my own little island that warrant an exploratory meal. Oddly, they all seem to be named after people: Franny's, Graziella's, Ignazio's.

On Bonnie's island, most of my pizza experiences have been limited to the random corner shop, usually with a name that includes "Ray's" and "famous" in a combination more interesting than any of their slices. One notable exception is Koronet, not for the quality but for the size. One slice, which costs only a dollar or two more than any other slice, is as long as my arm. An entire pizza could probably feed me for a month.

But in the interest of quality, I need to try more Manhattan pizzas. Luckily, it seems that quality pizza is the current food fad in the city. A number of new places keep cropping up in daily email announcements, including Keste, Luzzo's, Farinella, and Co.

So we have a few places to add to our list. In the meantime, I continue to buy my favorite cornmeal pizza crusts from Whole Foods and make my own.

Dinner pizzas include:

• Stir fried broccoli and red onion, mozzarella, tomato sauce
• Diced red and yellow pepper, asparagus ribbons, goat cheese
• Roasted brussel sprouts, pepper bacon, mozzarella, tomato sauce

Breakfast pizzas include:

• Scrambled eggs, onion, sausage, gruyere
• Scrambled eggs, pepper bacon, heirloom tomato, mozzarella, minced garlic