Thought for Food

Ding ding dinner! Paisley Farm zucchini and summer squash with a heirloom tomato, oregano and rosemary from our garden, garlic, salt, pepper, and olive oil. Roasted at 350F for about an hour. (Bonus: while they roasted, I turned off the AC and made the apartment into a sweatbox while I did Tracy. Sweat = burn.)

06.30.2010, 8 pm. East Village.

Mos Dub, “History Town” // via fred-wilson who writes: “this is from the excellent mashup record Mos Dub (free download)”

lauraemily:

Holy SUMMER. This makes me want pile all my friends into a ridiculous rental car, eat popsicles,  and cruise into the sunset. 

Who’s game?

I was just sitting here, feeling like I might be getting a head cold and feeling very sorry for myself about it, wondering if I should go back to sleep, thinking how I’m going to get out of plans tonight, and not in the mood to listen to music. But, intrigued by Laura’s rave review, I clicked play.

And in five seconds flat I shot up like a Fourth of July firecracker, did a little hip-shake (this is one of my favorite samples everever), put on a pot of coffee (which shall be iced and slurped while doing Tracy’s dance cardio), and felt blessed to be alive in summer 2010.

The plans are back ON (and what fabulous plans they are). I’ll sleep when I’m dead — or in winter, whichever comes first.

101 Fast Recipes for Grilling. Mark Bittman’s past 101 recipe roundups are here.

I saw him at má pêche on Friday. Homeboy’s looking skinny. He created and is definitely following the “Vegan Before 6” diet which is not only effective but gentle on the earth and just plain sensible. If I didn’t have such a hankering for cheese in salads I would be following it, too. But that’s what Tracy is for. (Not sure about Bittman, but my weekends? Anything goes.)

veronicalovesarchie:

i love the wardrobe confession videos that bluefly are doing.

remember the nicky hilton one?

here’s a peek into kelly cutrone’s wardrobe.

I love her, and I love that she has a “skinny closet.” So many women have alternate wardrobes for the “better” version of themselves (like super-heroes!). It makes me smile.

I’m the opposite. For years I hauled around my fat clothes (ok, not fat, but big). My thinking went like this: What if I gain weight again someday? Or maybe this will come in handy when I’m pregnant? Just a couple weeks ago I finally threw it all in two humongous trash bags bound for the Salvation Army. (Most of it was woefully out of date, very Bush-era bling.)

So I guess what I’m saying is: Tracy, it’s just you and me. There are no fall-back jeans. Don’t fail me now!

After the Illegal Wedding Fair we were famished, having subsisted only on teeny cupcakes and cocktail-in-a-keg all day. We tried to hit this up, but they were fresh out of crawfish and I was like, whatever, we’ll have ‘em next year in NOLA for Katie’s wedding and then it hit me that there probably won’t be any Gulf crawfish next year and that could have been my last-ever chance to eat it and so I drowned my fuckBP in a Gibson. It helped.

M. suggested we go eat at the bar at Minetta Tavern and he had that look in his eye — that let’s do/eat something kahraaaazy look (seen most notably here but also here and here and lots more besides) — so I said yes! and we hightailed it over and proceeded to go effing nuts on that menu:

Tartare “Goûtez” (three count ‘em three: lamb, beef, and precious little veal which tastes all the better ‘cause it never had a chance to live)

The grilled anchovies special (no red meat! a problem)

And the mother-lovin pièce de résistance: Dry Aged Côte de Boeuf for two, with roasted marrow bones and sucrine lettuce salad, seen above as it was presented, before they took it back to slice it.

(The proportions of meat vs. salad were hilarious, and perfect.)

Plus crispy Pommes Anna that smelled gloriously of duck fat, an amazing Burgundy (don’t know which, that’s his department), several digestifs, and an exquisite Chocolate Dacquoise for deeeesert.

The meal in a word: oh!

In two: oh my!

In three: oh my yes!

And in four: oh my fuck yes!

06.06.2010, 7 pm. MacDougal Street, the Village.

PS: (Feel I need to say this, lest you think I’m an utter glutton.) I do Tracy six days a week. Burn it to earn it. (Oy. What an embarassing phrase. Let’s never mention again that I used it.)

You know that “V” that men have, where the abs give way to the groin? Hot, right? Manly.

So why does Tracy want me to have one? (She calls it “that V shape you’ve always wanted.”)

In my (super-official, one-man) survey I learned that 100% of men do not want an abdominal “V” on their special lady friend.

I’m curious — what do you think?

Eat your greens!

Yesterday evening, I had Andrea over for dinner & a workout (the very-January answer to December’s cocktails & more cocktails). We did Tracy’s ass-kicking treadmill workout, followed by her abs & arms routines. And then we sat down to a meal befitting our healthy intentions: Greens Pie (more on that in a moment), Satur Farms arugula (the very best in the NYC region) with Villa Manodori balsamic vinegar (amazing stuff), olive oil, and Bulgarian feta, and roasted beets. Oh, and a bottle of 2008 El Chaparral de Vega Sindoa Old Vines Garnacha Navarra from Tinto Fino, a charming Spanish wine store on 1st Avenue. (Even Tracy drinks wine. Or at least that’s what I tell myself.)

Greens Pie is a dish passed on to me from Audrey Arner, the proprietress of Moonstone Farm in Minnesota (read an article I — er, make that my former boss — wrote about her here). It’s a mess of hearty greens bound with just a touch egg and cheese and baked in a pie crust. I learned the “recipe” from my mom who was the lucky witness to Audrey as she made the pie last summer with greens straight from her kitchen garden. She fell in love with the results — and I’m willing to bet you will, too. Even my kid cousins loved it.

I say “recipe” because like many good, simple foods, there is none. That said, this is the basic how-to. Feel free to experiment at will.

Two Greens Pies

The way I figure is: if you’re going to make one, make two; they’re excellent as leftovers, and frozen pie shells come in packs of two.

• 2 frozen 9” pie shells, preferable whole wheat (I used Wholly Wholesome Organic Spelt shells — really wonderful, flaky and subtly nutty)
• 4 bunches of fresh greens (any type of kale, collards, chard, spinach, or the like), cleaned and chopped into 1” strips
• 1 - 1 1/2 cups grated Parmesan or Romano (or another type of cheese entirely, perhaps crumbled feta or fresh chevre)
• 2-3 eggs (use less eggs and cheese — or none at all — if you’re feeling particularly holy)
• 1 small yellow or white onion, diced
• 2 tablespoons minced garlic
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• Salt & pepper, to taste

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Bring a big pot of water, liberally salted, to boil. Add the greens, cover the pot, and cook for 5 minutes, then drain the water with a colander. Allow the greens to cool slightly before chopping very finely.
2. Heat the olive oil in a big saute pan over medium heat. Add the onions and a big pinch of salt, and saute until tender, about 7 minutes. Add the garlic and saute for 1 minute. Add the greens, two big pinches of salt, and saute for 15-20 minutes, until the liquid in the greens has cooked off.
3. Remove from heat and let cool a bit. Whisk the eggs in a separate bowl. Add cheese and eggs to greens. Taste and add black pepper and salt as needed. (If you’re squeamish about tasting something that has raw eggs in it, taste before adding them, but after adding the cheese.)
4. Transfer the greens mixture to two frozen pie shells and smooth the tops. Bake for 45 minutes. I like to serve the pies just above room temperature but of course they are good hot — and cold, for that matter.

Lady Goo-Goo Ga-Ga

Like elephants, Tracy has become my “thing.” People send me all sorts of Tracy-related news and videos, including this one, in which I learned that her “baby food diet has been a cult-obsessive thing for a long time” among her celebrity clients (and will soon be available to plebes through a “food delivery system,” which sounds freaky, but let’s move on).

She explains that she was inspired by the fact that we feed babies every couple hours, to keep them healthy and (more importantly) happy. Everyone knows the “grazing” approach is important for achieving and maintaining a healthy weight — but c’mon, a baby food diet? Even in the short term (as the diet is meant to be followed)?

My first thought was Oh lord. I knew Tracy had to be over-compensating when she was constantly insisting that she eats a lot. (Don’t you hate when celebs do that?) But upon further reflection, I have to agree that the approach makes sense in the short term: if you can give up your desire for, y’know, texture, you can consume a lot of veggies with very little else (i.e., fat and salt), in baby food puree form — so long as you use flavorful seasonings and good ingredients (perhaps adding pureed nuts for protein?). And the thickness of puree means you feel fuller faster (just as smoothies do).

I should know. My throat is constricted and sore so I’ve been eating soft things from our Thanksgiving leftovers: celery root and apple puree with a drizzle of white truffle oil, and a mash-up of Holst’s creamy, Parmesan-y broccoli puree and Andrea’s relatively saintly, low-fat turnips (pictured above). Note the baby-sized portion. I’ll be eating more in an hour or two.

Of course, I’ve also had slices of pumpkin bread and chocolate-whiskey cake, so moist they almost slide down the throat — plus a near-daily Ramos — but that’s why I do Tracy six. effing. days. a week! ;)

Point is, as a short-term diet, the baby food approach sounds pretty smart to me. Maybe not Baby Einstein smart, but smart.