Farmer's Market Recipes

Luckily, since my last post, the summer weather returned and I snapped out of my winter baking kick and went back into summer mode. And one of my favorite things about summer is farmer's markets! Bright, fresh, colorful fruits and veggies from local farmers, usually in odd, imperfect shapes and shades that clearly are not genetically engineered to look perfect, and as a result, are tasteless. I mean, just look at all these different kinds of eggplants!

Over the weekend I made two recipes from fresh farmer's market produce. The first was Balsamic Strawberries - which sounds weird, but just give it a try. And be sure to pair it with some cool whip or vanilla ice cream, and mint leaves!

The next day I made Pan-Cooked Summer Squash with Tomatoes and Basil, all ingredients from the local farmer's market. It was beyond delicious, and so fresh and flavorful! And take a look at these adorable little yellow squashes that I picked up:

I used a few of those yellow squashes, a zucchini, and both a red and yellow tomato, and this was the colorful result:

Serve over whole wheat spaghetti, top with chick peas and parmesan, and enjoy!

Autumn food in August

The chilly rain over the past few days, combined with the realization that I won't be able to have Thanksgiving and Christmas food this year, has put me in the mood for some good old-fashioned winter comfort food.

Probably my absolute favorite autumn food is pumpkin. Pumpkin everything. Pumpkin pancakes, pumpkin scones, pumpkin pasta. (Okay, I might be able to get that last one in northern Italy. But Sicily? I'm not sure.) This weekend I took it upon myself to bake pumpkin banana muffins, and their perfect pumpkiny accomplice, pumpkin spice cream cheese.

Yum.

Pumpkin Banana Bread and Pumpkin Spice Cream Cheese

But alas, the chilly rain lasted through the weekend and into Monday. And nothing makes an inherently depressing Monday even more depressing than rain! As a result, I was hit with a craving for a steaming bowl of hot, spicy chili, and I had no choice but to indulge in this craving. Sorry, no photos, but it turned out delicious - despite the fact that we didn't have chili powder (oops!) and had to improvise. Here's the original recipe, with the chili powder. Get a nice loaf of bread to accompany it and a bottle of Merlot and you're set for a cozy winter's night...or a slightly chilly, damp August night.

Lentil and Black Bean Chili

1 1/2 cup(s) dry lentils, French-variety, picked over for debris
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 large onion(s), diced
1 large sweet red pepper(s), diced
2 Tbsp minced garlic
3 Tbsp chili powder
2 tsp dried oregano
1 1/2 tsp Durkee ground cumin, or other brand
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp kosher salt
29 oz canned diced tomatoes, fire-roasted with chiles, undrained
31 oz canned black beans, rinsed and drained
1/2 cup(s) cilantro, fresh, chopped

Place lentils in a large sauce pan and cover with water by several inches; bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer until lentils are tender but retain a little bite, about 10 to 15 minutes; drain well and set aside.

Meanwhile, heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Cook onion, pepper and garlic, stirring often, until vegetables are softened, about 10 minutes.

In a cup, combine chili powder, oregano, cumin, cayenne and salt; add to skillet and stir well to combine. Cook, stirring often, about 1 minute.

Add tomatoes and their juice, and beans to skillet; stir well to combine. Cover skillet and simmer so flavors can blend, about 5 to 10 minutes. Fold in lentils and cilantro; serve. Yields about 1 cup per serving.

Museum Extravaganza

This weekend I went to 6 museums in 2 days, all for free! That's what I call a successful weekend. And I also a friend in for free with me at each of museum, thanks to my museum ID from my internship. Here's a recap of what I saw:

Day 1:


1. Neue Galerie
I'd never been to this small gallery on 5th avenue that specializes in German and Austrian art. They have a lot of paintings by Gustav Klimt in the permanent collection, and their current exhibition is "Vienna 1900: Style and Identity"which was really cool. A little impressionist painting, a little decorative arts, a little sculpture. It's up through August 8th, go check it out!

2. The Guggenheim Museum
A trip to the Guggenheim is worth it for the building alone. Walking in and looking up at that spiral and art deco window ceiling, then getting to the top and staring at everyone spiraling down to the ground floor is pretty cool. However, this weekend the building was the best part of the experience. I've seen great exhibits at the Gugg before (Chaos and Classicism last November, for example) but the current exhibit "Lee Ufan: Marking Infinity" was the kind of abstract contemporary art that makes me go...this is art?! Think a single brush stroke on a large canvas, or a room of large rocks sitting on pillows. I mean, I've taken art history classes, I get it from an academic standpoint...but really? Seeing this after the beautiful art in the Neue Galerie made it clear there was no comparison, in my opinion. To each his own, but it did nothing for me.

3. The Jewish Museum
We stopped by the Jewish Museum because it was only a few blocks north of the Guggenheim, and they had two really interesting exhibits. The first, "Collecting Matisse and Modern Masters: The Cone Sisters of Baltimore" is pretty much like it sounds, the private modern art collection of two sisters at the turn of the century. The art was great, but since it was their collection, the wall panels were explanations of the paintings in relation to them and the collection, rather the art itself, which bothered me a little. I didn't really want to know what this or that person thought of the painting when she bought it, I wanted to know about the artist and the subject! But it was an exhibit worth seeing. The second exhibit, "Maira Kalman: Various Illuminations (of a Crazy World)" was fantastic, and closed July 31st. Kalman has illusstrated New Yorker covers and writes a graphic arts blog for the New York Times, and the exhibit was eclectic and entertaining. The original print of her most famous New Yorker cover, New Yorkistan, was one of my favorite pieces.

Read it closely, it's hilarious!

Day 2:


4. Museum of the City of New York
Lael and I went to this especially to see the exhibit "Joel Grey / A New York Life." Yes, that's right folks, Joel Grey has his own museum exhibit. It was both artifacts from his stage and film career (like costumes, props, ticket stubs, and even his Tony award) as well as photographs he'd taken of New York life over the decades. Apparently he's a photographer with a knack for capturing the details of New York life...who knew?

Liza Minelli and Joel Grey in Cabaret

5. Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Met was PACKED to see the Alexander McQueen exhibit, but luckily, I saw it in May when it first opened. (But I never blogged about it...oops.) There was a 2.5 hour long wait to see McQueen. The Met has extended the exhibit's end date twice, has created a pamphlet telling visitors what galleries they'll see on their long wait as the line snakes through the museum, and has even decided to stay open until midnight the last two nights of the exhibit, next weekend. Phew! It's a great exhibit, but no way I'm fighting the crowds to see it again. I was actually there to see the new exhibit "Frans Hals in the Metropolitan Museum," which features all of the Hals paintings at the Met, plus some from private collections and museums in the Netherlands. Definitely worth a trip.

6. The New Museum
Okay, by this point, I was pretty burnt out. My feet hurt, and I was sick of standing up looking at paintings. Yes, even me. And the New Museum has never thrilled me - its appeal is that it's in the neighborhood, and the view from the roof of Lower Manhattan really is worth seeing. The constantly changing contemporary art exhibits are less than thrilling. Worth a trip for the roof...and that's about it.

 The Financial District

Looking west on Prince Street 

Fourth of July Weekend

Last weekend, I took a few college friends out to the Hamptons with me for the Fourth of July. There were 7 of us all together, 3 of whom had never been to the Hamptons before, so I really wanted to show everyone a good time.

The girls (the three boys not pictured)

We did it all - the ocean, fireworks at the bay beach, barbeque, even the Montauk Lighthouse. It really felt like a vacation, even though it was only three days, and it was hard to come home!