Monthly Archives: October 2007

Hook Me Up!

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I’m hooked on Red Hook.  I visited recently, and that only made me realize that I need to go back.  A lot.  I need to shop at Fairway, I need to eat a sandwich from DeFonte’s and I need to have dinner at The Good Fork…but in the meantime…I checked out Pier 41’s garden center.

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They have gorgeous plants and flowers - tons of varieties - fun to just walk around and look at them even if you have no idea what you would possibly do with them if purchased.  That’s how I feel.

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Here’s a Red Hook bee, doing his bee business. 

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If all this urban nature has you thinking, man, I could really use a slice of key lime pie right about now…then you’re in luck. 

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Red Hook…it may be the new addiction.  Don’t say I didn’t warn you.  ;-)

That Would Be Keen!!

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OK, I must be slow because everyone knows about this stuff, but I have just this moment discovered Quinoa (pronounced keen-wah).  I cooked the pot (above) quite easily, just boil, simmer and fluff.  It’s delicious!  It is chewy and kind of nutty and can substitue for white or brown rice or couscous.  It is considered a “super-food” in that it is a complete protein.

Try to get the boxed kind (as opposed to scooping it out of a bulk foods bin) because the nice people who put it in the box get rid of the bitter-tasting coating called saponins and save you the trouble of a lot of rinsing.

Wikipedia says that quinoa originated in the Andean region of South America where it has been an important food for 6,000 years.  Prized for it’s high protein content, it’s commonly referred to by the Incans as “the mother of all grains” and considered sacred.

It’s also whole grain, high fiber, gluten free and easily digestible.  NASA is considering using it on long duration spaceflights!

Well, I’m not traveling to outer space, but I did engage it here in Brooklyn as a bed for my chickpea kale stew, and the quinoa and the stew liked each other a lot, they will forever be a happy couple in my cooking repertoire.  Keen!