The Upside of Irene

Okay.  I figured it would be too easy to hate on New York for having TWO natural disasters in one week.  Earthquakes and hurricanes both suck and are scary.  Not to mention the hurricane ruined my plans for three visitors I was really looking forward to seeing!  But instead of bringing the normal complaining, I will list a few of the nice things about Irene.

1) Having an excuse to buy lots of carbs because they are not perishable.

2) Sleeping in really late because nobody has any plans.

3) Getting to talk to my mom a million times a day.

4) Having an excuse to make a noodle pudding because it's not perishable?  (note: it very well may be perishable).

Grandma Leah would be proud!

5) Going out to breakfast in the rain for peanut butter and banana crepes on Saturday.

6) Being inspired on Sunday from previous breakfast to make peanut butter and banana french toast with Challah.

7) Appreciating how awesome it is to have power and air conditioning.

8) Taking lots of walks with Mike.

9) Not having to get on the subway because it was closed!

10) Getting flowers from Mike, who appreciates how stressful things can be :)

I even brought them to work!

SEAreal

My mom just quit her job and moved.  Okay, so she retired!!  Congratulations, Mommy!

Anyway, this means that she had to move from a large 4 bedroom house into an already completely furnished 3 bedroom condo.  This means that I can no longer keep a full bedroom and garage full of my old things at her house.  I took a trip down to Florida and had to make some of those "tough decisions."

As I tried to convince my mother that she did not need 16 different sets of beer glasses or 26 expired tubes of neosporin, I knew that I had to get rid of some things myself.

When I went on Semester at Sea, I was going through an interesting phase.  I'll call it what it is - my cereal phase.  (Julia recently reminded me of this phase last weekend as I was looking at my rear end in a bathing suit... "you look great - remember when you used to eat all that cereal?").  Not only was I obsessed with EATING cereal - I was obsessed with everything about it.  Traveling through 10 countries, I decided to buy some memorabilia from each one.  I bought a piece of jewelry from each one.  I also bought a box of cereal.

Can you tell which country each of these are from?

Needless to say, I was disappointed in my choices.  I was hoping for the Russian Count Chocula or an Irish bee saying honey nut "cheerio!"  No cute little cartoons in European cereal.

As fun as it was having empty cereal boxes from 2002 to store, I decided it was time to say goodbye.  Farewell, fiber-filled boxes of fiber.  We need all the space we can get.

Farm Sharing

Ever since I saw a beautiful basket of fruits delivered to Julia (Thomas nee Zimmerman) when she was living in Pittsburgh, I have always wanted to participate in a farm share.  Those who know me know that I have trouble committing to long term purchases - especially if they are not on sale.  I got lucky when Groupon was selling a one time trial farm share for $25!  I was giddy when this showed up at my door!

I quickly realized, however, that I was not entirely familiar with everything that showed up.  I texted my mom, "What is this?"

or this?

When I got no answer, I texted Mike's mom.  She spotted the second one as a tomatillo.  The first, she still had no clue.  In addition, a space ship showed up.

I'll spoil the surprise... the unrecognizable green was purslane!  I had watched an episode of Dr. Oz about 2 years ago where he discussed purslane and I was so excited about it that I wrote down the name.  I've NEVER seen it in real life until now.  What luck.  Turns out, while it's very healthy for you, it tastes kind of bitter.  The spaceship turned out to be a delicious squash!

Here's what I made with each of the vegetables:

Tomatillos - Tomatillo Chicken Stew http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/tomatillo_chicken_stew/

Purslane - Purslane and butter crunch salad

Swiss Chard - Swiss Chard with parmesan http://www.beyondsalmon.com/2006/07/technique-of-week-how-to-cook-swiss.html

Tomatoes - Tomato Mozzarella Basil (with fresh italian mozzarella from Fairway!)

Squash - squash and sausage pasta

Mint - Mint dressing on top of quinoa, cranberry, sweet potato, walnut salad

PARKED! Carless Park Avenue and Food Truck Festival

Last weekend we finally had a very New-Yorky day!  It was bright and sunny and they had shut down Park Avenue to all cars!  That meant swarms of bikers, walkers, joggers, and a very special freeliner called Mike!

Every time we go out and Mike puts on his free-line skates, I love to hear all the comments from people watching.  Last Saturday, as he rolled down Park Avenue, I heard a kid tell his mom, "Mom, that's the coolest thing in the WHOLE WORLD!"  Other packs of people just talk among themselves trying to figure out what he's doing!  "Is that a skateboard?"  "Are those strapped to his feet or is he just standing on them?"  "How is he DOING that?!"

All types of people were walking down this street.  I saw a man on his motorized wheelchair barreling down the middle of a highly-sloping part of the street.  Then, an old shirtless midget sprinted by me with no shoes on.  Not to mention the purposefully ostentatious riders blaring music or dressed as clowns.

But, I think Mike got most of the looks :)

After walking all the way from 86th street down to 14th street - Union Square, a distance of over 3 miles, we got a nice tall Lemonade and went down to South Street Seaport for PARKED - a food truck festival.

We quickly ran to the falafel and smoothie truck and ordered a falafel sandwich and banana, date, lime smoothie.

Then we waited in the longest line for Gorilla Cheese!  We had a bacon tomato cheddar grilled cheese sandwich!

While we were waiting for our $7 grilled cheese sandwiches out of the back of a truck, Jessica had the foresight to stand in the hour long Korilla BBQ line.  There, also for $7, you can get a tasting of three Korean style kim chee tacos that are some of the best tasting tacos in our out of the back of a truck.

Also available is bacon kimchee fried rice and kim chee mochi.  MMMMM!

We finally relaxed at the beer garden on the water before making the trek home and falling promptly asleep.  For all of you who think I'm only a hater... it was a GREAT New York day!

All Shook Up

Sitting at my desk on the 44th floor of this building (the whole building is only 47 stories high):


I became very dizzy.  All of a sudden, I realized I was REALLY not feeling well.  But then my office mate and I looked at each other and said, "do you feel that?"  We ran out into the hallway and looked at the hanging lights swinging back and forth.  One of the secretaries said, "we are definitely shaking."

Everyone started coming out of their offices and, of course, being in New York, the first thing we think is a terror attack.  "Why was our building shaking?!" everyone worried.  By everyone worried, I mean I worried. Everyone else seemed calm but curious.  We called the downstairs operators who said they didn't feel anything.  I was scared and had no idea what happened.

I went back into my office and see that Mike has sent me a message, "WE JUST HAD AN EARTHQUAKE!"  An EARTHQUAKE?!  Finally, the PA came on and announced that there was a 5.9 magnitude earthquake.  Then I started getting really scared.  I knew there might be aftershocks and I really just wanted to get out of the building.  I was afraid to take the elevator!  What if there was another one while I was in it!  Kim was so kind and offered to take me out of the building in the elevator.  I took her up on the offer.

When we got to the lobby, there was a huge crowd of people outside the building.  There was no chance I was about to get in the subway so I began walking to the east side to catch the bus.  Every time I passed a tall building there were hoards of people crowded outside.  Every phone call I overheard was talking about the earthquake.  I was so thankful to have made it out alive.

Of course, there is a fault line right on 125th street.


So, I'm hoping there will be nothing else.  New York just won't stop!

Scanatura

Last weekend we went out to Southampton to celebrate Mike’s birthday and I was finally able to experience the long-awaited Pasta Scanaturra.  This is an experience his first generation Italian family has been telling me about for three years.  I was excited to experience it and glad that we would also have friends to share it with.  Friends who did not really believe what we were going to be doing.  I’ll let you see why – Mike emailed this photo as the sole explanation of what dinner was going to be…

And it was that!  We arrived and were each handed a knife and sent over to the chopping block where the fresh pasta was being made.  “If you don’t help cut, you can’t eat!” we were told.  So we cut.

And we cut.

And we played.

And we ate bread.  (too much bread).

[photo not available due to its grotesque nature]

And we dined.

Sitting at one of the three homemade wooden tables, Uncle Michael came by and slopped pasta sauce right on the table.  Fresh cheese and roasted eggplant was also placed on the table.  Then, the cooked pasta was poured along the entire table.  It looked delicious, but I thought I might leave hungry.  I guessed it would be hard to make enough pasta to feed 24 people!

“Tira!” I yelled – the Italian word for “pull” – as I twisted my fork in the middle of the table, forcing as much pasta to pile up in front of me as I possibly could.  “Tira!” Everyone else yelled in unison.  We grated our cheese and started slurping our noodles.  They were delicious and slightly chewy.  The sauce, as always, tasted fresh with basil and garlic, and the Ricotta Salata was just salty enough to give the meal some bite.  As I was halfway through my pile, Uncle Michael comes back and pours a second, LARGER portion of pasta on the table.  All right! I think – guess I won’t be hungry after all!  Mike and I decide we want to make the meal special like the picture we saw.  So we dig in head first.

As we have faces full of pasta, Uncle Michael comes by a THIRD time with pasta.  Now I’m starting to think that perhaps we won’t be able to finish!  We push ourselves to eat until we get the pile down low enough to have an end in sight just as….. “No more!” we yell as a fourth pile of pasta is thrown down on our wooden tableplate.  

The Purrazzella family has done it again.  Not only do I never leave the table hungry, I am usually doubled over in pain, and this night was no exception.  As we continue eating, Mike's eyes have become large and he doesn't look like he's feeling very well.  He puts his fork down and is chewing very slowly - never a good sign for such a speed eater.  It hits us at the same time, we need to get away from the food!  We go for a walk in the yard to work off some of the meal.  Just as we finally begin to feel better and can come back to the table, we're greeted with this:

Mike's mom had made his favorite birthday cake!  Of course there was room for that!

Just Like J-Lo

Deciding to take the 6 train, for whatever reason, I am ecstatic to actually get a seat!  I quickly pull out the book I get to read for 5-6 minutes a day.  I once again think, no wonder I haven’t finished a book in the last three months.  As I am staring at the book, rather than reading it, I feel someone staring at me.  I turn to face the woman who has not only sat down next to me, but is staring me up and down. 

She is definitely in her 80’s, with bright white hair and large eyes full of laugh lines.  Only homeless people ever speak to me on the train.  I wonder if she’s going to speak to me.  She does.  “Do you have anywhere to go tonight?” She asks.  Of course, the first thought I have is that she is asking if I have a home to go to.  I look homeless.  I run a checklist through my mind: did I shower today?  Did I forget deodorant?  Is my hair really messy?  Once I realize that I do not appear homeless, I clearly decide she must be homeless.  She’s going to ask to come home with me!  I look a little closer at her groomed hair, tailored clothes, and manicured nails.  She’s not homeless!  What does she want from me?!

“YES!”  I blurt out in answer to her question.  I speak quite a bit louder than I normally would on a subway, even when talking to the elderly.  Did anyone notice?  “Oh...” she says, reaching into her purse, “I have an extra ticket to Shakespeare in the Park and you look like a really nice girl.  I was going to ask if you wanted to come with me.”  Wow.  I’m a jerk.

Now that rationality reappears in my brain, I feel horrible guilt.  Did she know my horror when she began to speak to me?  She said I looked nice, so maybe not.  Of course, now I have to justify her compliment.  How do I be nice?  I’d better keep talking to her.  “That is so sweet of you!  I absolutely would go if I didn’t already have plans – that sounds like we would have had fun!”

She continues our conversation, “What plans do you have?”  Oh!  This is my time to shine and show her that I’m not blowing her off because she’s old!  “I’m having dinner with my boyfriend’s grandparents tonight – they’re in town for the week!”  This doesn’t seem to have the effect on her that I was hoping for.  Her eyes drop and she lets out a deep sigh, “My grandson was supposed to come to the play with me tonight, but he canceled.”  Oh no!  I consider asking for his number so that I can call and let him know his grandmother is asking strangers on the train to hang out with her, so he’d better not stand her up again.  This whole conversation has been a disaster.  I make some sympathetic noises and am relieved when she decides to look away.  I read my book but keep a smile plastered on my face so she knows I’m willing to start the conversation any time she wants.  Finally, it’s my stop.  “Have a wonderful night!” I emphasize my words as I slowly walk off the train as if I didn’t want to leave my old friend. 

What about that interaction made me feel so guilty?  Was it the initial assumption that I was talking to a maniacal homeless person?  Was it that I was a better grandchild than she had?  Perhaps it was the fact that she said I looked nice when I certainly didn’t feel like I was.  Either way, her invitation certainly had an effect on me…I can’t wait to find someone to take me to Shakespeare in the Park!