She’s 92 and her eyes are blue…who is she?
She’s my Grandmother! Actually, she’s 92 on Christmas Day, and her name is Natalie, as in Buon Natale!
May December bring a Merry Christmas and Happy Birthday to my pretty, Sicilian Grandmother!
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.
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.
Here’s a Red Hook bee, doing his bee business.
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.
Red Hook…it may be the new addiction. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. 
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!
Today I didn’t think about my air conditioner…I thought about my oven. How nice it would be to turn it on and just let it bake stuff. So I made Morning Glory Muffins - yummy and nutrient packed with whole grains, fruit and fiber - I feel healthier already! Plus they freeze beautifully and after a quick zap in the microwave they’re perfect again.
And since I was in there anyway why not keep going? So I made another of my CookClubCandy recipes, this time Almond Cookies - these were submitted by Christina, who found them in Everyday Food. I don’t know Christina, but she found SugarCookieBrooklyn, left a nice comment, and joined my cooking club. She has a really cute website - check it out. The cookies are delicious! I need to give them away immediately! Let me know if you’re in Brooklyn and need a snack… 
As many of you know, I run an online cooking club called CookClubCandy which is hosted on the website FoodCandy.
This is our first month and the winning submissions were Picadillo (or Cuban Beef Hash), Coconut Fried Shrimp with Pineapple-Mango Salsa, and Almond Cookies.
Today I went for it with the Picadillo, and with great results! Ground beef and potatoes surround a mound of hard-cooked egg , everything perfectly spiced up with onions and peppers, spanish olives and tabasco, but also sweet with raisins, dry sherry and tiny early peas. Delicious according to my 2 trusted taste testers!
I will go for 1 more recipe this month, probably the almond cookies next…..and then we’ll see what’s up for October! It’s a lot of fun to cook things that I never would have considered before the club…here’s to new possibilities, in the kitchen - and anywhere else they may appear!
SCB
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 | mike on It’s Two Thousand Miles … |
 | SCB on It’s Two Thousand Miles … |
| mike on It’s Two Thousand Miles … |
| SCB on It’s Two Thousand Miles … |
