With the upset economy, a smart diner can find some really wonderful deals out there!   A few weeks ago, I met my friend Tim for lunch at his restaurant, Park Avenue Bistro, located on Park Avenue South between 25 and 26th streets.  

Classically trained French chefs cook traditional, elegant Bistro fare.  Yet in what is otherwise the busiest restaurant season, he is offering “buy-one-entrée and get-one-free” deals.  It is a steal for the quality of the menu.  
We met for a late lunch, the chef brought out several samples of the daily specials:

We began with the decadence of ...<< MORE >>

    All native New Yorkers know that the allure of a Diner is the “Greasy Spoon” quality it offesr its patrons.  You know, the server is a middle-aged woman that calls you “hun” and brings you a hamburger so large you have to use utensils.  Only, you don’t want to be “that” person… the one that eats their burger with a knife and fork.  So, you pick up the whopping mass of medium (because no matter how you order it, the meat always comes out medium) ground beef wedged between two pieces of flimsy, store bought rolls and try to ...<< MORE >>

    Earlier this week, I sat in our office cafeteria with some of my work friends eating a bowl of cottage cheese.  The conversation weaved around to writing and Ariel said to me, “You’ve been slacking on the blog lately lady, and frankly, I don’t appreciate it."

    I then realized I had at least three blog posts waiting for me to take fingers to keyboard and write.  I will begin my culinary tales with an adventure from last weekend.

    My friend Ronnie and I were set to see a play last Friday night called The American Plan.  Starring Mercedes Ruehl, ...<< MORE >>

Happy New Year!  I hope that all of you, dear readers, have enjoyed a happy, healthy and prosperous new year.  Before I share my thoughts with you about day one of this year, 2009, I want to reflect back on the past month… my month of blog silence.

December turned out to be quite a tumultuous month for me at my quiet country home.  About a week after Thanksgiving, we experienced major ice storms in the area.  An old ash tree fell across our road, taking out the power lines, the pole and the transformer; effectively leaving my neighbors and me ...<< MORE >>

Cold, dark winter nights create the perfect atmosphere for reading really imaginative and fantastic books.  You know, books that bring you into another world.  This month, our book club read two otherworldly books.  The Good Fairies of New York, by Martin Millar began with two Scottish fairies that got drunk, follow a moonbeam, land in the East Village (NY) and throw up on some guy’s floor.  Something Wicked This Way Comes, by Ray Bradbury was a bone-chilling horror novel that brought pure evil to life for a small and desolate Ohio town.  

We met today to discuss both books.  I ...<< MORE >>

I slept through the night last night.  I woke up around 9:00 AM this morning.  I reveled in sleep.  The dogs did not wake me up even once during the night to go out.  They snuggled up warmly beside me and we all awoke lazily to a dreamy twilight, the kind of soft grey light that streams in on a winter morning in the snow.  

My birthday morning began with a dusting of snow on the ground and little pellets of ice falling from the sky.  I checked my email and facebook accounts.  There is something so heart-warming about waking ...<< MORE >>

As a kid, spending the holidays with my family felt like a pain worse than death.  Everyone fought with one another.  I felt my dad’s tension swell from the moment we all piled into the car for the long trip to Long Island.  My grandmother brought new meaning to “back seat driving” as she situated herself directly behind my mother, the latter of whom was driving, and pretended to break each time another car came within 500 feet of us.  My brother squeezed in the middle and I sat behind my dad.  My brother kicked the seats.  My parents bickered.

Mom ...<< MORE >>

Last night, I met my friend Atsushi for dinner in the East Village at the Veselka restaurant, a restaurant I had not been to in at least 10 years.  I don’t make it down the East Village very often anymore. Although, each time I do, I am haunted by ghosts of my youth.  There used to be a restaurant on E7th Street and Second Avenue called the Kiev.  I would always end up there at 3:00 am after some concert or Hardcore Punk show at CBGBs.  They had the best Mushroom and Barley Soup.  I loved their Perogies.  We always ...<< MORE >>

Every so often, I want to make something hearty, nourishing and completely vegetarian.  In the summer, I will fill this craving with a plethora of different salads.  However, something in my body clock clicks off after the temperature drops below 50 degrees and I no longer want salads.  When that happens, I turn to soup.  

Now, as a child, my associations with beets consisted of canned, sliced beets in the salad bar at the diner, Russian borscht (which I hated as a kid) and the really yummy, garlicky Russian beet salads that my mom would bring home from Brighton Beach.  ...<< MORE >>

I have a few different recipes for this soup.  However, this is my favorite method.  It is consistently delicious.

Ingredients:

• 1 butternut squash, peeled and cubed
• 40 ounces homemade chicken stock
• 1 large onion, rough chop
• 2 carrots, rough chop
• 2 celery stalks, rough chop
• 1 leek, rough chop
• 1 tablespoon finely chopped parsley
• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• 1 teaspoon honey
• 1 cup heavy cream
• Salt and pepper
• Sage leaves

Method:

• After prepping all your veggies, season and sweat the onions, leeks, carrots, and celery on low heat, you do not want color, just translucency.  
• Once the onions begin to turn clear, add the squash and the chicken stock and bring to a simmer.
• Allow the ...<< MORE >>