Reserva Ecologica

For our second day in Buenos Aires, I had planned a day full of walking around, exploring neighborhoods and parks, complete with a picnic lunch in the Reserva Ecologica, an ecological park along the water that was created over a former landfill.

However, someone failed to tell me the weather forecasted rain. We made it nearly all the way down Florida, the main pedestrian shopping avenue, strolling and enjoying ourselves, before the rain started coming down. We tried to hide out in bars for a couple hours, but the rain showed no signs of slowing down. Stupidly, we walked/cried/ran all the way home in the pouring rain, completely drenched. I had to ring out my dress three times when we got home. Luckily the lack of humidity there meant that all of our clothes - even our shoes!! - were dry by the next morning. Phew. Crisis averted.


So Wednesday was a do-over of Tuesday. And it involved A LOT of walking - something like five hours of walking. From our apartment, we headed through downtown to Puerto Madero, the factory-turned-hip neighborhood separated from the rest of BA by a canal.

Our goal was the Reserva Ecologica, which has its entrance at the south end of Puerto Madera. We thought we had finally made it when we reached this park.


However, after wandering through the park and ending up on this street, we saw there was still even further to go before we'd reach the entrance. Luckily the street along the Ecological Reserve is lined with grill stands, serving up delicious "chori-pan" aka a big fat grilled sausage on a baguette with chimmichurri and other sauces.

So we stopped to rest, refuel, and enjoy a cool beer before forging on.


The Reserva Ecologica is a network of well-groomed paths with desert-y trees and grasses on either side. Not too exciting, but a pleasant walk. Jesse did see some parrots, but they flew away before we could photograph them.


We felt removed from the big city, yet this view was a reminder to my legs of how far we'd have to walk to return.


We inadvertantly chose the path that took us to a breathtaking little beach along the Rio de la Plata. Buenos Aires is not on the Atlantic Ocean proper, but this wide murky brown river that opens up to the ocean. There was just a thin strip of dark brown on the horizon, probably Uruguay, to remind us this was no ocean.


This beach was also missing the quintessential saltiness of sea air, making me long for a trip to the beach back on the Jersey shore.


After finally making it back to the city, my legs wanted to fall off and we were both sunburned lobsters, care of forgetting to wear sunblock. Jesse convince me we should visit a spa to soothe our aching muscles with a soak in a hot tub. This was not something in my original budget, but since we were on vacation...why not? It was fun and kind of surreal to pad around a modernistic spa in a robe and slippers. I think the soak was good for my muscles, but not good for our skin, which stayed red and painful for days - an unusual experience for us since our Mediterranean complexions don't often burn.

Argentina Adventure tales to be continued...

Our BA digs

Since this loft we wanted was unavailable, we looked for another apartment we could rent for our week in Buenos Aires. It turns out there are a lot of resources for weekly/short term apartment rentals in BA, but we ended up finding ours on craigslist, since we jumped at the first place that responded to our availability inquiries on such short notice. I was a little nervous, not knowing what to expect, but i told myself that was all part of the trip being an ADVENTURE and it turned out okay. I was really happy with our cute little place, and it was a really good deal for the price.


The pluses:

Our own junior one bedroom, with more room and privacy than a hotel.

A beautiful old Spanish style stone building with courtyards.

Open air windows and doors that we threw open to let in sunlight and breezes.

Humming fans that gently spiraled fresh air over us, heavenly in bed when sleeping or napping or relaxing.


A quiet location set back within the building away from the street, something to value in a place where streets can be noisy all throughout the night.

A futon so we could accommodate our friends for a sleepover toward the end of the trip.

It was mad CHEAP!


The minuses:

The hot water in the shower was finicky and our minimal Spanish kept us from approaching the landlord about it

(Though I didn't mind so much because cold showers were sometimes refreshing in the heat)


We missed having someone around for advice on transportation and nearby restaurants etc, like you can get at hotels and hostels and B&Bs.

The apartment was not technically located in its advertised neighborhood of San Telmo. It was within walking distance to some tourist sights and subway stations (that don't go anywhere convenient in terms of nightlife), but it unfortunately wasn't really within walking distance of good restaurants or bars. Hence taking cabs everywhere. Next time I'd like to stay right in the heart of a cool neighborhood like San Telmo or Palermo.


The "kitchen" was really more of a large closet with a mini-fridge, a sink, and a camping-size stove. Not conducive to cooking romantic dinners, so there was none of that. But I think (hope?) we saved a little money on breakfasts by making our own coffee, cooking up toast and eggs, and being able to have sandwich supplies (and candy) on hand.



Argentina adventures tales to be continued...

Back from Buenos Aires!

Jesse booked us a flight to Argentina rather spontaneously. With just nine days to plan, I hit the books. We needed surprisingly little time to arrange the trip - the hardest part was finding an available place to stay, but that worked itself out within two days of booking the flight. It made me realize how easy it is to just pick up and go somewhere totally new and different. The trip was something of an adventure, but I had a lot of fun despite all the bumps and stress. I've got the travel bug now.

Although Buenos Aires is known for its European flair, it's still rough around the edges. Jesse was in love from the moment we arrived, but it took me a few days to settle into being in an unfamiliar place. The streets feel louder than in New York City (or maybe just Brooklyn) thanks to diesel-powered vehicles rushing through the streets. Cars drive willy-nilly without regard to lanes or the lack of stop signs. The sidewalks grow diry on garbage days, when people literally pick through all the trash. Not many people speak English, unlike traveling in Europe, which made things kind of difficult since we don't know Spanish. But at the same time - people were nicer than in Europe about encouraging us trying to communicate in haphazard Spanish.

We ended up taking cabs almost everywhere, which I normally never do, because although there are buses on every street, figuring out the intricate maps of it overwhelmed me. And because the blocks there are so much larger than NYC blocks that maps deceived me. Like when what I thought would be a ten minute walk in light rain turned into a twenty minutes walk through a downpour that drenched our clothes because we hadn't thought it necessary to hop in a cab. Ugh, oops. But not to worry, because when you factor in the 3 peso : 1 US$ exchange rate, sometimes taking a cab was as cheap as taking the NYC subway. And the cabs there run on natural gas, so it's kinda better for the environment?

Since it's on the other side of the equator, I was excited about stepping out of winter and into warm summer, but it was overwhelmingly hot - like the sweaty heat of New York City summers. And the sun was so strong, we got muy sunburned. But luckily, it cools down a great deal at night there, probably thanks to a desert-ish climate. It was a drag coming back to winter; now I can't stop daydreaming about my plans for this summer...

But there was so much to see and do and eat. We lingered at cafes and bars; we lost a day because of rain so we didn't get to go for a boat ride up the river delta like I had hoped; we indulged in a hot tub after a day of walking; we saw a traditional Argentine folklore show at La Pena del Colorada; we were entranced by ordinary people dancing tango at a milonga (tango bar) called La Catedral filled with Argentine hipsters, putting Brooklyn bars to shame; we drove through the plains to Rosario, a smaller city up the Rio de la Plata; we drank a lot; and we ate a lot of meat and cheese.

I think my favorite part of the trip was getting to see my friend Meag, who now lives in Argentina in domestic bliss with her boyfriend. We had hardly talked in the six months since she moved, and suddenly there we were together again, the four of us sightseeing and eating and laughing our way through the second half of the trip. Saying goodbye was surreal, to go back to not seeing them again for who knows how many months and years, until the next time one of us makes the trek to the other continent.

So we are planning to go back. With just six days to see two cities, there wasn't enough time to do and see everything that Argentina has to offer. I'd love to go back and take a tango class, stay up in a club till 6am, see more of other areasof Argentina, hike in the wilds of Patagonia, go to a traditional Sunday asado (their version of family barbecues in the summer, with a lot more meat), eat more empanadas. Jesse has a plan for us to take Spanish classes together and then travel all over South America. I don't know about that, but I'll concede to making more of an effort to learning Spanish for our next trip - I want to go to Peru, and Brazil if my sister returns to work there, and back to Argentina of course.

To be continued

New Amsterdam Market Auction!

New Amsterdam's first fundraiser event may be sold out, but you can still support them by bidding to win one of their many awesome auction prizes!

I am so excited about almost everything on this list, I can't decide what I will bid for! Here are my favorites.....

A Small Repast with Alice Waters

Tour and Lunch with Blue Hill at Stone Barns

Uncork New York! case of wine

Bluepoint Kayaking Tour and Clambake

So head on over and indulge in some fun foodie longings to support New Amsterdam Market, the organization trying to bring a permament monthly indoor farmer and artisan market to New York City.

I'm Off!

I'm off to Argentina to escape winter for some sunshine, steak, wine, and tango. See you in a week!

photo via flickr

Beet Oreo Cakes

I've been feeling culinarily challenged lately. What's the point in telling you about the same old dinners all the time? And the internet is annoyingly spotty in my apartment, making it hard to upload photos and post regularly.

But a couple weeks ago I did host two dinner parties, both lovely. I had some extra time to get ready for the second one, so I decided to experiment with using beets in baking. I was aiming for brownies with edges by baking them in cupcake tins, but they really came out more like dense little cakes, not quite fudy enough to be brownies. I also added some oreo crumbs leftover from my last baking endeavor to make an amazing crunchy topping that really set these cakes over the top. The hint of beet flavor made these cakes rich, moist, complex, (and slightly reddish). I'll definitely be using beets more often in my chocolate goods.

adapted from here

Beet Oreo Cakes
about 4 small beets
3.5 oz dark chocolate
6 tbsp butter, softened
2/3 cup sugar
2 eggs
3/4 cup flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp cocoa powder
1/2 cup crushed oreos
1 tbsp butter, softened

Preheat oven to 350. Boil beets with skins on until fork tender. Let cool, peel, and then puree in a food processor. You should have about 3/4 cup of beet puree.

Melt chocolate in a bowl over a saucepan of boiling water, stirring until melted completely. Set aside to cool.

Cream butter and sugar together until fluffy. Whisk in eggs, then chocolate, and beet puree. Add flour, baking powder, and cocoa powder, and beat until smooth.

In a smaller bowl, make oreo topping by combining crushed oreos and butter until butter is incorporated.

Pour batter into two greased muffin pans. Sprinkle oreo topping over each cake. Bake for approximately 20 minutes until knife inserted comes out clean. Enjoy!

Oreo Cupcakes

My sister and I threw a party on Friday night to welcome her to the hood. She made these fab Oreo Cupcakes, displayed in a new cupcake holder I got for Christmas. Scroll past the pictures for the recipe

Oreo Cupcakes
1 cup butter
1 cup plus 2 tbsp sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
3 oz melted chocolate
1 1/2 cups milk
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 cup cocoa powder
dash cinnamon
dash ginger

Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.

Oreo Frosting
1 cup butter
1 cup powdered sugar
3 tbsp milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
chocolate shavings

Combine ingredients, frost cupcakes, and top each with Oreo crumbs and one large Oreo chunk.

Healthy Beans and Rice

It's a typical story but true - after gorging on food of all sorts over the holidays, I actually couldn't stand the thought of any more sugar and started craving whole grains and greens. So I devised this healthy version of rice and beans, with spinach, brown rice, and quinoa for added nutrition. For flavor, I tossed in salsa and cheddar cheese, but plenty of other cheeses would work well with this. Likewise, feel free to swap in an onion for the leek depending on what you have on hand.

Jesse called it his "favorite thing you've ever made." Of course - this is exactly the kind of one pot dish he loves - a creamy bowl of hearty grains, protein and greens. I only wish I had made more because he ate about 3 straight servings, leaving me without leftovers, so next time I might double the recipe.

Healthy Beans and Rice

1 cup dried black beans (or 2 cans black beans)
1/2 cup brown rice
1/2 cup quinoa
1 leek
1 bunch spinach
1/4 cup grated cheese
1 cup salsa
salt
pepper
crushed hot pepper
cumin

Soak dried beans overnight (or bring to a boil and then let soak for one hour). Rinse beans and then return to pot covered with two inches of water. Bring to a boil and simmer until tender, about 60-90 minutes.

Combine rice, quinoa, and 2 1/2 cups water in a small pot, and simmer for about 40 minutes until rice is tender.

After about 30 minutes, rinse and chop the leek into half moons. In a large pan, sautee leeks over low heat. Then rinse the spinach, chop into small pieces, and sautee until wilted. Add salsa to pan to warm.

When rice and beans are done, combine in pan with spinach, grated cheese, salsa, and spices. Makes about 4 servings.

Xmas Cookies

I haven't quite gotten into the holiday spirit this year. Instead, I've been feeling stressed and overwhelmed by holiday preparations and life in general. Maybe it's seasonal affective disorder. Who knows.

Anyway, every year I dream of mammoth cookie baking sessions, like the ones I remember with my mom when little, involving several kinds of cookies, sprinkles and decorations, cookie cutters, and Christmas music in the background. I dream of tins filled with a variety of cookies to give to all my near and dear ones. But as with most years, I instead wimp out and cheap out by just making a couple kinds of treats for just a few people.


Last year, I made truffles, but rolling out 60 some truffles was too time intensive and daunting for my jam packed schedule this year. What I chose to do instead was to make a batch of biscotti for my dad again, swapping in almond extract and out the chocolate chips for a pure unadulterated almond biscotti.

In addition, I made two batches of oatmeal cranberry cookies for Jesse's family. Interestingly enough, I thought I used the same recipe, below, for both batches, but that came out oh-so-different. It's because the local Ronnybrook butter I typically use comes in tubs, not sticks, making it hard to measure out in tablespoons. I try to scoop out a tablespoon of butter at a time, but the butter typically isn't soft and pliable enough straight out of the tub and I guess I usually end up with a low approximation. My first batch of oatmeal cranberry cookies (sadly no picture), probably had just 1/4 or 1/3 cup of butter instead of 1/2, and came out tall and caky, like a dense mini muffin, but the sugary taste was amazing.

For the second batch, I used an actual stick (1/2 cup) of vegan Earth Balance to accommodate Jesse's dad who is lactose intolerant, and what a difference it made. These cookies came out thin and crisp with an overwhelming taste of butter (er...vegan butter). I've never had cookies spread so much on the baking sheet, probably because I always skimp on butter. Clearly, I have much to learn in the science of cookie baking. Because I thought the buttery taste was overwhelming this time, I've lowered the butter in the recipe from 8 tbsp (1/2 cup or 1/ stick) to 7 tbsp.

My favorite part of these cookies, whether thick or thin, is the cranberries, which taste like bright jewel tones. Yes, I know jewel tones are colors, but yet I can't stop thinking of that word every time I bite into some oatmeal cranberry goodness. I also recommend trying to find raw sugar if you can, which adds an extra sugary spark to each mouthful. The spices make the cookies more seasonal. And with the goodness of some whole wheat flour, oats, and dried fruit, you can pretend these are good for you!


Oatmeal Cranberry Cookies
adapted from my friend Luke's recipe

7 tbsp butter (or Earth Balance)
1/2 cup raw sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup all purpose or white flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/s tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp ginger
1 1/2 cup oats
1 cup dried cranberries

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Whisk in one egg and then vanilla. Dump flour, baking soda, and spices over top, and mix dry ingredients into wet. Stir in oats and cranberries. Scoop out teaspoon sized mounds and place on greased baking sheets. Bake 10-12 minutes. Makes approximately 36 cookies.

Thanksgiving Recap

I got my chance to take the lead in cooking Thanksgiving dinner for my family this year. I spread the cooking out over a few days and it was surprisingly unstressful. Thank you to Lisa, my sous chef and my Mom for supervising. Here's the run down:

The turkey
My mom always gets a free turkey from Shoprite and I wasn't about to rain on her parade. I also wasn't about to bring a Greenmarket turkey on a 3 hour public transportation ride along with the rest of the food I needed to bring. Better luck going heritage and free range next year. Mom supervised the turkey, I just did what she told me to do.

Roasted butternut squash with parmesan and thyme
Replaced the traditional baked sweet potatoes that I never liked. These were devoured. Although I thought there was too much thyme and too mushy from too much cooking time.
Lisa's single-rise yeast biscuits with lemon, rosemary, and sage (before baking)
Replaced the traditional Shoprite from-a-can-slice-and-bake rolls. Couldn't taste the lemon. Didn't rise as well as in her test run. Surprisingly similar to the usual rolls = I still liked them.
My parents' remodeled wet bar
Replaced the old wet bar where alcohol was unwelcome and looked like a stereo closet crammed with science fiction paperbacks
Appetizers, including homemade rustic wheat crackers, roasted garlic and herb white bean dip, and hummus
Balsamic marinated roasted beets
My family is afraid of beets so these were not a hit, but at least Jesse ate up the leftovers.
Mashed potatoes
I tried to infuse roasted garlic flavor, but didn't use enough garlic
Steamed broccoli with balsamic-mustard sauce
To replace the plain traditional steamed broccoli. Could have used a little more tang.

Roasted green beans with lemon juice, dill, toasted almonds, and caramelized onions
I finally figured out why my mom serves green beans on Thanksgiving even though it's out of season - because she has a ton in the freezer from her garden and wants to use them. Defrosted green beans don't roast well. The dish also could have used more than one onion for a better green bean-to-onion ratio.
Pumpkin snickerdoodle cookies (before baking)
Not pictured: Stuffing with baguette, celery, apples, and onions (replacing the traditional Pepperidge Farm/Stouffers/whatever it is stuffing from a bag); two gravy dishes, one made with real turkey drippings and one made from a Shoprite gravy packet; Mom's cranberry-cider sauce (replacing the traditional canned cranberry); and most of the desserts: Mom's apple pie, Mom's pumpkin pie, Lisa's real pumpkin pie with whole wheat crust, storebought sweet potato pie, tiramasu, truffles, blueberry muffins, and banana bread

The best part about Thanksgiving: The leftovers

The worst part: My fat belly from sitting around eating and headaches from playing Minesweeper all week.