The Bronx is Beautiful

Hello!  After a brief haitus, I'm back with good news.  I got a plot at the local community garden for the summer!  I've been busy busy lately on the weekend--first I took a trip to hike Mt. Washington, then I went to Maine for Memorial Day weekend.  But last weekend I spent some quality time in the garden.  I can't explain what a wonderful oasis Fordham Bedford Lotbusters is.  The garden is about 10 blocks away from my apartment but when I get there I feel miles and miles away from New York.  Here are some pictures from the garden:

I'm sharing the plot with my neighbor Tiffany.  We are both really excited to have our own plot--I haven't had such a big area to plant in since I was living in Maine almost 3 years ago.  We may have bitten off more than we can chew, but we bought a lot of plants and are deciding what else to put in our plot, here are some photos of the plot--it's a raised bed:

So far, we have two broccoli plants, four pepper plants, some romaine lettuce, four cucmbers, and four basil.  There is room for some tomatoes and zuccinis and maybe a few other herbs.  It's very exciting, but I do feel nervous about the cucumbers and broccoli since I've never planted those before.  Whatever happens, I think Tiffany and I are both going to learn a lot from the experience--and hopefully enjoy a lot of yummy food from our efforts.

Although gardening can be a bit of work, I find it to also be incredibly relaxing and I always feel as though I am in a meditative state while at work there.  Problems and worries melt away and suddenly every part of me--mind and body--is in the moment, not thinking about the past or the future.  I can't promise the garden will be a spectacular success, but I honestly enjoy the process as much as I enjoy the tangible rewards.  I'll keep you posted on my efforts as the summer wears on!

A few more blogs I love

You know those times when you are waiting for something and you have a few minutes to spare?  The other day, I was sitting around waiting for my yoga video to download (yogatoday.com if you are interested--great site!!)  and I was thinking about some wonderful people in my life who also have blog projects going on.  If you have a free moment--maybe you're waiting for your yoga video, maybe you're waiting for your tea water to boil, or maybe you really wanna look at some cool blogs, check these ladies out....

First off is Carin's site, The Scent of Freedom.  This blog used to be a place for recipes and political discussions but it morphed into the chronicle of her new vegetable garden's progression.  If you like gardening or are interested in the local food movement, this is a great one to check out--she and her soon-to-be hubby Chris are turning 1500 sq. ft. of land into a fantastic oasis of veggies, fruits, and flowers.  Her latest post includes this quote from Lewis Grizzard-- "It's difficult to think anything but pleasant thoughts while eating a homegrown tomato".....how true!

A fellow book clubber, Kat, who enjoys cooking and eating just as much as I do has a recipe journal called Kat is Cooking.  Her recipes always sound so yummy and creative.  Her latest post is all about homemade potato salad.....not the kind where you use mayo out of jar, the kind of real homemade salad where you make the mayo from scratch!  I've never done that before but I'm tempted to try--I remember when Julie Powell describes how difficult she found making mayonnaise in Julie and Julia so I'll have to see for myself what it's like.

Lastly, another JVC roommate, Martha, is a very talented knitter and shares her projects at Knitting by Martha.  She is very fast!!  Although I love knitting, I usually take it up in the winter and tend to leave it behind once the sun comes out again so my projects go very slowly.  Her most recent project is a gorgeous afghan.  Now if only I could have the patience to complete such a big undertaking....

If you have some time to spare, take a look at these sites.  I hope you enjoy them as much as I do!!
 

Book Club Roundup

I just spent a long weekend in Boston where I lived for a year.  It was really a fantastic little get away from New York.  I love this city, but sometimes it gets to you and even going to visit another city can be a relief.  I sort of decided that you can have a somewhat better quality of life in Boston, but New York is a more interesting city to live in.  So for now I guess I'm choosing the interesting one :)

During my visit, I stayed with a friend from my JVC year and I got to visit with other friends and see the (now very grown up) kids I used to work with at the after school program.  I also had lots of reading time on my four hour plus bus rides back and forth between cities.  I realize that I haven't mentioned my book club in a while....for some reason most of my postings here have been about cooking.  I wanted to do a quick review of a few books I've read over the past few months.  Just something brief to whet your appetite--if you are interested in them, I suggest you pick them up (or you could always ask me to to borrow them!!).

 The Help by Kathryn Stockett

I can't say enough about this book!  If you haven't read this yet, go out and get it!!  This book is told from the perspective of three women living in Mississippi during the 60s.  Two of the main characters  are black maids that practically raise the children of the local white families and the other main character is a young white woman who is anxious to find out the truth about what happened to the maid who raised her.  There is much more to this book than just that basic description--race relations from several perspectives, all kinds of female friendships, struggles, successes, sadness.  I loved the plot and the characters--both developed in such a thoughtful way and I came to feel that knew the places and people intimately.  Often I don't care for either the plot or the character development but here, Stockett definitely didn't let me down!

In Other Rooms Other Wonders by Daniyal Mueenuddin

This is an interesting book of short stories that take place in Pakistan.  I have to say that I didn't truly love this book but it did hold my interest and some of the stories stayed with me a bit.  This may have been the first book I ever read by a Pakistani author and I was pleased to read something from a new voice.  I think I learned a bit about the complexity of life there--especially given that all most Americans know about Pakistan is in relation to terrorism.  It was really nice to get a sense of the people who live there.  I think this would be a good summer read since you can just read a little bit at a time, a chapter here and there.

Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier

This book has been around for a while (published in 1997) and I saw the movie a few years ago.  I had wanted to read it since I saw the movie way back when but I was motivated to suggest it to my book club after visiting Carin back in February.  It is one of her favorite books and the actual mountain has had a pretty significant impact on her life.....it's the place where her soon to be husband proposed to her (how much more romantic can you get?!).

I was definitely not disappointed--although perhaps some fellow book clubbers were :)  The book is a challenging one, that is for sure.  Don't start digging into this if you are looking for an easy chick-lit, beach read! This is much more a work of great literature than a best seller trendy paperback (not that there is anything wrong with those books, they have their place!!).  Despite the challenge, I loved this book.  I think the minor difficulty is worth it!!  If you enjoy nature and a love story that is not mushy, this could be your book.  Essentially, the story is a sort of re-imagined Odyssey that is set in Tennessee during the Civil War.  Ada and Inman met briefly before the war began and both struggle during the war.  Inman is a wounded soldier who ultimately decides to take his chances, leave the hospital,  and head back to home (by Cold Mountain). Ada is struggling to learn how to take care of herself and her farm after her father's death, having been coddled and sheltered by him all her life.  Each chapter is a window into either Ada or Inman's life as we learn of both their pasts and their presents.  Mixed into all of this, Frazier provides his reader with beautiful descriptions about the life of the local people, the countryside, nature, and animals of the rural South.  I could write so much more--I have many dog earred passages that I was very moved by--but I'll leave it to you to discover the full pleasures of this novel.


And now, book club is on to American Taliban by Pearl Abraham.  I won't say too much since I need to save it for the book club meeting next week, but this was a really interesting read.  It's a pretty intense book and a lot happens very quickly in it.  In a nutshell, it's an imagining of the John Walker Lindh story.  The main character is a different John but one who is a very young American who gets wrapped up in Muslim life and eventually gets involved with the Taliban when he travels to Pakistan to study Arabic.  I also think this one is a good summer read--easy to read and moves very quickly.


Hopefully these can help you figure out your summer reading list.  Any suggestions for me for my new book club book?  Happy reading!!

Carrot Ginger Soup

Here I am!  It's been far too long since I've posted but I blame that on the absurdly warm weather New York has been having and my recent birthday festivities.  I've still been here, cooking and reading and crafting. 

The temperatures here have finally fallen back within the normal springtime range and it seems like a perfect time for a carrot soup.  Ok, I sort of made that up--I don't really go around figuring out the perfect time for carrot soup ( I think I've only had it once before).  The thing is, our latest CSA delivery has left us with oodles and oodles of carrots in our vegetable drawer.  I checked out a carrot bread, carrot cake, and carrot curry recipe but none of them required more than 4 or 5 carrots per recipe.  I needed to use a lot of carrots, not just a few.....I'm talking about pounds and pounds of carrots here!  Mollie Katzen to the rescue (as always!).  Although I wouldn't say this was my favorite recipe, it is very healthy and quite filling.  Interestingly, it comes out less of a soup and more of a velvety sauce, it sort of looks like a curry.  I ate it with rice and tempeh that I marinated and baked. My roommate ate it with corn tortillas.

• 2 lbs. carrots (I used about 6 cups of sliced carrots)
• 4 cups water (you'll need to add more later)
• 1 1/2 c. sliced onions
• 2 garlic cloves
• 2 tablespoons of fresh ginger (peeled, chopped, and pureed)
• 1/4 tsp of: dried mint, cumin, cinnamon, and crushed fennel seed
• the juice of 1/2 a lemon
• 1 cup of cashews, lightly toasted 

1. Chop up all those carrots and put in a big pot with the water.  Bring to a boil, then simmer until tender (about 10-15 min).
2. Chop up the onions and throw them in with the carrots.  Add the garlic and ginger, simmer another 8 to 10 minutes.
3. Add the rest of the spices and the lemon, let simmer for another 5-7 minutes, meanwhile toast the cashews lightly.
4. Blend everything together in a blender or food processor--it might be necessary to do this in batches.
5. Serve with some sort of carb on the side.


My notes about this recipe: I think this is a good side dish.  We attempted to eat it as dinner and I think it was a little over powering.   But it was still yummy and filling and a nice way to us up all our carrots!!  Oh and it made me covet one of those immersion blenders.  That would be so much easier than using a blender, but there's always next time!!

Here are a few photos:

 For those of you who don't know tempeh, you should!  It is a soy product, sort of a cousin of tofu.  Now I know not every loves tofu, but tempeh is tofu's smarter, better looking cousin!  It's texture is much more palatable to those who don't like tofu--it's sort of the consistency of sausage.  Also, it comes in lots of varieties (this one is 5 grain) AND it doesn't have some of the negative qualities linked to other soy products.  Now I'm no scientist, but I've read a lot about how soy mimics estrogen in people's bodies and can make your body react negatively because it thinks that you are getting a surge of hormones.  Don't quote me on this (since I'm not an expert) but I've read that tempeh doesn't have those qualities....something about how it is produced differently than other soy products.   Like tofu, tempeh is highly amenable to marinades--mine was oil, soy sauce, cumin, garlic, salt, pepper, and a little sugar.  Bake it in the oven at 400 for 10-15 minutes and you're all set.

Enjoy!

Springtime Quinoa Salad

Saturday was the first official day of Spring!  Here in New York we've already had a healthy dose of sunshine and blue skies over the past week, but it is nice to make it official.  Alas, my daffodils have died, but I did notice some beautiful purple and yellow crocus popping up in the neighborhood.

Since I starting writing in the Fall, I've mostly been writing about cold weather recipes--hot foods that fill you up and stick to your bones.  Today I am pleased to present my first Springtime recipe (although it was technically winter when I made it).  The other day, I was doing a quick shopping at Whole Foods and I was trying to think up something delicious and fast.  As I thought over our pantry at home I came up with a few things I knew I had--quinoa, sliced almonds, dried cranberries.  Then, I remembered a quinoa salad that my roommate had made a while back.  To my cart I added red onion, scallions, and apples and I made my way home.

This salad is so refreshing!!  I just know you will love it.  Make it on a warm spring day as a main dish or even a side dish.  If you haven't cooked with quinoa yet, what are you waiting for?!  It's very versatile--you can use it as a substitute for rice or any other grain.  I even have a recipe for quinoa muffins that are very very good.  Quinoa is actually easier and faster to make than rice and many other grains and it is so good for you.

I didn't use measurements, so you're going to have to get creative and do some taste-testing along the way.

-chopped red onion (about 1/4 c.)
-3 scallions/green onions chopped
-dried cranberries
-walnuts
-quinoa (I used 1/2 c. dried which equals 1 c. cooked)
-olive oil
-lemon juice
-dijon mustard

1. Prepare the quinoa according to package directions (make sure to rinse it first!)
2. Mix quinoa with the first four ingredients.
3. Add in the other ingredients for the dressing--adjust to taste.  I probably did 2 parts olive oil, 1/2 part lemon juice, and 1 part dijon mustard.  Don't forget lots of salt and pepper.
4. Refridgerate for about a half hour.  Taste it again and adjust the seasonings.
Enjoy!