Harlem Omnivore

So lucky for me Jane gave me a call this afternoon and gave me the motivation to get off my booty and get out in the world!  The motivation? What else but yarn!

First stop was Yarntopia where I picked up some great Noro yarn to finish up the cutest sweater vest ever!   Second stop was the Lion Brand Studio. Jane got some awesome cotton bamboo yarn for an adorable baby blanket and I picked up a ball of some great white silk mohair yarn that I’m going to pair with another beautiful yarn I have tucked away.

Ok, dear readers, here is the lesson of the day, please learn from my f-ups.  I would suggest not keeping yarn hidden away in your stash for too long.  I did not follow this advice and sat on 3 skeins of yarn for about, um, FIVE years.  When I finally decided it was time to put that yarn to work and got toward the end of such said project, I realized I needed more of my now discontinued yarn.  Luckily the Noro yarn is pretty close.  You’ll get some close-ups when the vest is done.

No really, how long has it been since I posted.  Forever?  Yeah, that sounds about right.  I’m going to make it up to you my dear readers.

I am approaching what I’d like to call “Leslie’s Summer Unemployment Tour”.  The tour starts on Tuesday.  I pledge to post EVERYDAY of my unemployment.  (I go back to work on Sept 12)  That’s a whole lot of blogging!! 

Some posts will be events of the past that I’ve been too lame to get my stuff together and write, some posts might just be a pic of the day.  I also tend to do a lot of cooking and crafting during my unemployment tours so there should be posts about that excitement as well!

Are you with me!?  Countdown to Tuesday! August 18 to Sept 12!

(OK, so I’ve been slacking on my posts. I apologize. I wanted to make a bold statement like “I’ll post one entry per day” but life is a bit busy right now. But stay tuned, I have some goodies in the works!)

Sometimes I get so wrapped up being a New Yorker (ie rush, rush, rush) that I forget to take a few minutes to do some of the little things that make me happy!  One of those things is the Union Square greenmarket.  I got off of work early on Friday and was too sore from the previous days workout to go to the gym, therefore I headed on down to 14th St.  I picked up two kinds of kale, some squash blossoms, spring garlic and some garlic scapes.  I’ve never had garlic scapes, but they were everywhere and I just had to give in.  I was so hungry and excited when making them I forgot to take pictures.  I made a pasta with sauteed scapes, olive oil, and lemon.  It was tasty, but next time I’ll steam them and toss them in lemon and oil.

Tonight we were recovering from the madness of the BBQ festival so we ordered pizza and I made the kale with some crispy spring garlic.  I love adding crispy garlic to stuff and the spring garlic has this toasted lightly garlicky taste.  I want to buy a ton of spring garlic and freeze it in every way possible!  Here’s some pictures:

FYI: If you want to make your own crispy garlic slice your garlic thinly and saute it over medium heat with 1tbs olive oil and 1tbs butter.  Cook until lightly brown and crispy.

Ok, I’ve had one sock knitting experience, really only an attempt, I did about 1/4 of and inch, my tiny needle broke, and I was over it.  I may have to rethink socks though. (Check out the link below to adorable-ness)

http://www.purlbee.com/pom-pom-peds/

I had a good two weeks where I was totally uninspired in the kitchen.  Then came along Alton Brown.  (Not that I just discovered Alton, I’ve been a long time fan.)  I was innocently watching his tamale episode and I found myself thinking “That looks really easy!!”  and Jake agreed.  (really he just wanted me to make tamales)  I bought the lard (!), and made the turkey tamales along with some of my tomatillo sauce to go with them.   There were a lot of steps, but it wasn’t hard at all and Jake helped my assemble them.  Actually he was way better at making them than me.  My next batch will be chorizo and black bean, yuuuummm!

I made some tasty baked eggs yesterday morning with some awesome spring garlic and heirloom tomatoes that I got at the Union Square farmers market this week.  I layered olive oil, tomatoes, garlic then cracked 4 eggs over that, bake for 30 min and voila!

The movies for Bryant Park have been announced!!

http://www.bryantpark.org/calendar/film-festival.php

Today I got a great email from Epicurious.com. They had a really cleaver party idea based on your favorite TV show!  Some of my personal favorites were the Mad Men party with several different cocktail recipes from the 60′s, Beef Wellington, and smokey peanuts (in honor of the copious amounts of smoking done on the show). The recipes for The Office had to do with some of the lunches that the characters eat and a reference to the free pretzel day at Dunder Mifflin.  Overall the ideas for the parties were very well thought out and it was obvious the writers were fans of the shows. 

It got my thinking about what the menu could be for my favorite show, 30 Rock (do you watch? If you don’t you should, it will make you a better person)  On 30 Rock Liz Lemon likes her junk food.  The first season there were a lot of jokes about the amount of hot dogs Liz ate(even the hot dog vendor wouldn’t sell her any more).  There was also the episode where Liz’s gorgeous boyfriend made salmon with gatorade.  Or Jack’s $1,000 sundae: “Imagine a dessert for two, Tahitian-vanilla-bean ice cream in a pool of cognac, drizzled in the world’s most expensive chocolate, covered with shaved white, black, and clear truffles, and topped with edible 25-karat gold leaf.”  But I don’t think I could afford that.  This may require more thought.  Any ideas for my or your own TV dinner party?

I’m working on a big post about my most recent cooking adventure, TAMALES!! I should have it up sometime this weekend.

Me oh my, I had to share that I took my first trip to the New York institution that is Barney Greengrass! If you love some smoked fish this is the place for you. It may also be the place for you if you love a place that looks like it hasn’t changed in 40 years (and I mean that in a very good way). It’s like a little time capsule with its muraled walls and sturdy old tables and chairs. I had latkes followed by eggs with pastrami salmon, which is pretty much what it deliciously sounds like. Sooo tasty.* The bf even was into it and he doesn’t eat seafood. (He opted for one of his faves, salami & eggs) And the bagels were perfect. This will definitely be added to our brunch rotation!

*I’ve recently realized that I really hate scrambled eggs Really. Can’t stand them. And of course its the only way my significant other will eat them. My fav? It’s a toss-up between poached and baked (oooh, baked with tomato sauce!! Or poach the eggs in a tomato sauce and eat with bread….droool)