Filed under: Things I Love
I first tried BuddhaPesto, made in small batches in Woodstock, NY, at Merrie’s New Moon party. I was immediately hooked — it is the absolute perfect balance of fruity olive oil, Romano cheese, pine nuts, and basil. Not too finely pureed, either, which I like.
We stopped by the Pleasantville Farmer’s Market last Saturday, and I had to buy a container for J. to try. It’s an indulgence at $9 for 8 oz., but it is the pesto I aspire to make myself at home. It’s great over pasta or on French bread. And as you can see from the photo above, we have unfortunately already finished the small container.
July 8, 2010
Last weekend we put in a small garden. Before we belonged to a CSA, we would grow lots of lettuce and tomatoes, plus some peppers and sugar snap peas. With the farm share, though, we get more lettuce than we can eat, so we held off on planting any this year.
We did plant several varieties of tomatoes, a black bean plant A. started growing in school, sugar snaps, and a couple of hot peppers. We filled in the rest of our squares with some flowers A. chose. I’ve never had flowers in a vegetable garden before, but we had the room and I like seeing them as I pull into our driveway.
May 23, 2010
Updated on 4/25/10: The bake sale raised more than $1,000 for Share Our Strength! And sold out of all the donated goodies.
This Saturday, April 24, Club Fit in Briarcliff is hosting a Share Our Strength Great American Bake Sale. The event is organized by my friend Alison, all the goodies are donated (by Club Fit and bakers like me), and the money raised goes to Share Our Strength, a charity aiming to end childhood hunger in America.
I made two types of muffins: Chocolate Chip Banana, and Apple Flax. They both turned out well, and look cute all wrapped up in the cello bags and ribbon we were given for packaging.
Stop by this Saturday, April 24th, from 8 am to 1 pm, and pick up a treat or two while making a contribution to a worthy cause.
April 22, 2010
Clockwise from top left: Beet, Orange, & Arugula Salad, Macaroon Cake, Poppy’s Horseradish, and Passover Triple-Chocolate Brownies.
I am not turning over my house for Passover this year. (Here’s what I did in 2008 and 2009.) I’ve been thinking about taking this year off for a while, and my decision was reinforced when we dealt with a 4-day power failure a month ago. I had to toss everything in my fridge, and while it was empty it seemed appropriate to do a deep cleaning. It felt like Passover — the cleaning part beforehand at least — had come early.
I have never been good at explaining the “why” of the choices I make for my kitchen to my boys. The why, to me, is often “because that’s how my mom did it” and that’s not a very satisfying answer to a little kid. It’s not satisfying to me when I say it out loud either, though I guess that is the very definition of tradition. I label my kitchen kosher-style, but over the past year or so I have become a lot more lenient in what that means. Without the personal conviction that I’m keeping this set of rules because of my own religious beliefs, it has been harder and harder for me to see a reason to keep shredded mozzarella off the table when I am serving meatballs. The boys don’t eat the meatballs anyway, so there’s no actual mixing of meat and cheese going on — they just want some cheese on their pasta. And I could not care less if you want butter on your baked potato while eating a steak. I still don’t combine meat and milk in the same dish when I cook, but this is more a lifelong habit than anything else.
This relaxing of my overall nod to kashrut has definitely colored my feeling about keeping Passover, and the work involved in doing so in my home. So, 2010 is a trial year. As we get closer to the start of the holiday, I am feeling a little left out of that small club of people that completely turn over their kitchens. I am, however, really looking forward to making a great dinner for my parents on Sunday. They will be in the jaws of that no man’s land of no more chometz in the house, but the holiday hasn’t started yet — what do you eat? I’m glad we’ll be able to feed them! Then on Monday I’m looking forward to cooking for the first seder with my family at my parent’s house. The Pesadich dishes, silverware, and pots I grew up using for just 8 days out of the year are touchstones that bring the holiday home for me.
Still looking for Passover recipes? Here’s a roundup I put together last year: Passover Recipes, Past and Future. I’m going to be making a version of the Beet, Orange, & Arugula Salad pictured above, using my newly-learned knife skills to supreme the orange.
March 27, 2010
A. ran into Bed, Bath & Beyond with me the other day and noticed these cute thermal cups made by Copco immediately. “Mom, look… coffee!” he said. Sadly for me, they were not filled with coffee, but these insulated, BPA-free travel mugs are designed to look like a disposable cup from your favorite coffee shop. They hold 16 oz. of coffee, which is the same size as a Starbucks grande, and are dishwasher-safe.
I am totally in love with my mug, which has a brown band like this photo (the BB&B site sells them in all different colors; in the store they only had brown and pink). Over the past several months I have found it more convenient to make coffee at home in the morning rather than stopping to buy it while I’m out, and the take-away shape of both this cup and lid make my home-brewed coffee feel a little more fun… even decadent. For $7.99 (and use one of those ubiquitous BB&B 20% off coupons), you can hardly go wrong with this little gem. I am tempted to buy more of these cups in different colors, but I am not ready to put my already-loved Tim Horton’s travel mugs (gifts from Jodi!) out of service.
February 20, 2010
The boys are still chuffed about the Wii they got for Hanukkah, and decided that the best birthday present they could give J. this year was another game (that they could play too, of course) — Wii Sports Resort. J. and I stayed up doing the archery module while the kids were asleep last night! It seemed natural that they wanted to make J.’s cake in the shape of a Wii controller.
I baked brownies in a 9×13 pan, and then cut them in half the long way to make two strips that I stacked to make the shape of the controller. Some vanilla frosting roughly covered the whole thing, and I did my best to draw on the details with blue gel icing. Thankfully, G. added his touch to the cake by covering everything I’d done with sprinkles. It wound up being the most attractive part of the decoration.
It might have looked a mess, but there were no complaints when we ate it!
January 10, 2010
Chopping onions makes me tear up like I’m at a funeral. Cutting up a medium-sized onion leaves rivers of mascara running down my face, and I often have to leave the room in the middle just to regain my composure. I’ve even continued cutting the last third or so of an onion by touch alone, because my eyes were closed against the vapors.
I have written about my struggle chopping onions a couple of times, and I’ve tried so many tricks to keep me from crying: freezing them before chopping, cutting them with a burning candle nearby, using very sharp knives, holding bread in my mouth while I worked, and rinsing the cut part in cold water. I even wore A.’s swim goggles once. None of those tricks worked for me.
Usefulthings.com recently contacted me to see if I’d like to review something from their site — it’s full of random gadgets that you didn’t know you needed but that can make your life easier (or at least more fun). As soon as I saw the Onion Goggles, I knew I had to try them. Usefulthings.com was kind enough to send me the goggles for free, and I offered to give my honest opinion about them in return.
The glasses have a foam seal that is contoured to fit around your eyes, and mine fit fairly snugly but not so tightly that I thought they’d seal out any of the oniony badness. They fit a man’s head, too — J. thought they’d feel tight on him, but once they were on he said they were comfortable. I put them on before cutting to the onion, took a deep breath, and made my first slice. No tears. I got through chopping half the onion, and still nothing. Nothing! I finished chopping the whole onion and slid the pieces into a saute pan with a little olive oil (they were going in some couscous — yum). Once the onions were cooking, I washed my hands and then took off the goggles. I was pretty thrilled that my make up was intact, I didn’t need a tissue, and I hadn’t had to walk away from the prep once I started cutting. Once they were off, I did feel a tingle from the onions caramelizing on the stove, but not enough for me to be bothered by. I am totally sold on them, even if I look silly wearing them!
If anyone local wants to try out my pair before buying them, let me know. But you’ll have to return them quickly, because I hope to never chop onions without them again.
January 7, 2010
Since this past September, I usually make a travel mug of coffee in the house before I leave for the morning, rather than stopping at Starbucks. (I never thought I’d get to the point where I felt stopping at Starbucks was inconvenient, but that’s how my schedule has played out recently.) I used to use a simplehuman pod coffee maker, but I could never get a strong enough cup of coffee out of it. I occasionally use our 12-cup Krups automatic drip brewer. But most often I boil water in a kettle, and then use a Melitta filter cone.
After I’d already boiled the water this morning, I realized my filter cone was in the dishwasher, and the dishwasher was in the middle of a cycle. So I jerry-rigged the set-up above, using a chinois, a bottle of olive oil to balance its handle, a filter, and my travel mug:
Not bad for something so ridiculous-looking! I was feeling pretty pleased with myself, and my mug was about half-way full before… (more…)
January 5, 2010
I have a dealer up North… my friend from Canada who likes to send me and the boys boxes of treats every now and then. The reason behind this package was that Jodi wanted me to taste CheeCha Puffs. These airy chips are gluten-free, and are basically hot-air puffed potato flour and starch. Mine are the Sea Salt & Pepper variety, and they’re really tasty. Plus, they’re not bad nutritionally: 2 cups is less than 100 calories, and no fat. Unfortunately, you can only order them online in the U.S. at this point, and that’s where my personal Canadian supplier stepped in!
In addition to the CheeCha Puffs, we received enough chocolate to last us for months: Kinder Surprise (oh, G. is heaven and asks for them all day long), Smarties (two kinds), Cadbury Mini Eggs, Cadbury Popping Mini Eggs, mini Kinder Chocolate bars, some additional Cadbury chocolate bars and chocolate-covered sunflower seeds.
Although I’m not a chocolate fiend (the Puffs are more my style), I can’t help but want to eat it if it’s around! Thankfully I am very good at the whole out of sight, out of mind thing when it comes to chocolate. It’s tucked away in my pantry and will be doled out to the kids in reasonable amounts. G. has tried to argue that one Kinder Surprise for breakfast is reasonable, but I’m not buying it. At least not until vacation…
December 17, 2009
Cravings Eats & Treats, at 549 North State Rd. in Briarcliff Manor, NY, was just opened by my friend Erica a couple of weeks ago, and already G. is hooked on the frozen yogurt. In fact, I’m sure it’s the yogurt that had everyone buzzing about Cravings before it even opened. Aside from baked goods, sandwiches, salads, and soups, they also offer up to 6 flavors of Frogurt at a time, including the elusive slightly-sour, slightly-sweet “plain” — the same kind Bloomingdale’s serves. A small yogurt, which is more than just a kid-sized portion, starts at $3, with a long list of toppings (melba sauce, M&Ms, dried cranberries, etc.) for 50 cents each or fresh fruit for a dollar.
I’m most interested in going back for the Hale and Hearty Soup — Cravings offers three kinds a day. The Sweet Corn Chowder (gluten free, surprisingly) smelled delicious, and I like that the soups are all-natural, with ingredients I’d use in my own kitchen. A 12 oz. portion starts at $3.95, going up to $9.50 for a quart.
There were a number of guys buying salads to go the last time I was in the store. You build your own, starting with a choice of iceberg, romaine, spinach or mixed greens. Then top it with everything from hearts of palm (a favorite of mine) to mushrooms to roasted red peppers. A small salad, which includes 2 toppings plus dressing, starts at $6.95. You can add some protein on top if you’d like: roasted turkey, chicken, and tuna are available. Unique sandwiches, like a Greek salad in a pita, and paninis round out the light meal offerings.
Don’t forget the bakery — I can give you a rundown though I haven’t sampled any of it yet. Cravings has muffins, cookies, brownies, cupcakes, scones, and more. Plus, they do special orders and seasonal items — they had honey cake for Rosh Hashanah, for example.
I like the vibe of this place, shabby chic but with crisp, clean edges. You’re instantly comfortable when you step inside:
That’s my little guy eating Frogurt at the back of the store (vanilla with rainbow sprinkles). You can see that in addition to all their food offerings, Cravings is something of a gift shop as well. What caught my eye were a range of cute baking kits from Sassafras. I’d never seen them before and thought they’d make an original birthday gift.
Cravings is really a take away cafe, although there are a couple of benches with small tables. They’re right across the street from Terra Rustica, and on the way to Club Fit — I expect they’ll get plenty of business from people going to and from the gym. You can reach Cravings Eats & Treats at 914-944-4622.
September 21, 2009
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I'm Dara, the Chick in the Kitchen. Living in the suburbs of Manhattan with my two boys, ages 4 and 6, and husband. Trying to feed my family something more diverse than a different shape of pasta each night. Read more 