Gotham Gal

Paella

I am thrilled to know that we have raised a family of chefs.  In this past few days, everyone has been using their chef jackets which they got for Valentines Day, each monogrammed, of course. 

Josh and I made octopus the other night.  Something I have never tried before.  It is incredibly easy to make.  Fun to make with a 9 year old since the sight of an octopus is a good "wow" for a 9 year old and he really enjoyed cutting it up.

Emily is obsessed with our new panini maker.  This morning she made an experiment which ended up being lunch for everyone.  Oat bread smeared with peanut butter, sliced bananas on top and then another piece of oat bread and grilled on the panini maker.  Really top.

Jessica was the most creative this week.  She had to make paella for Spanish class.  I helped but she basically made it herself.  It was pretty impressive for the first try. We sort of played around with the recipe because we decided straight seafood wasn't the way to go for 8th graders.  You can substitute anything here but here is what we did.

• 3 cups chicken broth
• 2 cups clam juice
• large pinch of saffron
• 2 onions sliced and diced
• red pepper sliced and diced
• yellow pepper sliced and diced
• 5 plum tomatoes sliced and diced
• 6-8 boneless chicken thighs - sliced into pieces
• 24 large shrimp
• 2 large sausage sizes of chorizo, sliced
• 3 cups rice - we just used plain Carolina rice but you could use a medium rice
• 1 box of frozen peas

We used a large dutch oven pot although you could use a beautiful paella pot but I don't own one, yet. 

In a stock pot, add the chicken broth, clam juice and saffron and bring to a boil, cover it and simmer for about 15 minutes.  You could substitute one cup of the chicken broth for one cup of white wine if you wanted. 

Cover the bottom of the dutch oven pot with olive oil and throw in the sliced pieces of chorizo until they are browned.  Take them out and put them in a separate bowl.  Toss in the shrimp and cook until pale pink and put them in the chorizo bowl too.  Toss in the chicken thighs and cooked until done.  You could use chicken with a bone or even legs if you wanted to or you could do white fish or calamari if you wanted instead.   The chicken tends to make the pot a bit watery, so once you are done, empty out the liquid.

Put in new olive oil, heat up and toss in the onions and peppers until they are softened, about 5 minutes.  Add in the rice and tomatoes and stir for about another minute.  Add in the stock concoction, bring to a boil, cover and reduce to simmer.  If you wanted to use mussels or clams, I would put them in when the rice is cooking.  The rice takes about 20 minutes.  When the rice is done, toss in the bowl of chicken, shrimp and chorizo and mix really well.  Now, finish off with the frozen peas, mix thoroughly and cover. Let the peas warm up. Season with salt and pepper.   Serve. 

I am looking forward to the day when I come home and a gourmet dinner is being made by the kids, and all I have to do is grab a glass of wine and enjoy!

Ashes and Snow

Ashes and Snow runs through June 6th, and I plan on taking the kids back.  I went today with my pal.  It is a very interesting multi-media presentation. 

The space that has been created for this exhibition sets the tone.  A huge cavernous space with a boardwalk that leads from one end of the exhibit to the end.  The large photographs are hung down the walk way on the left and right side.  They hang over small white rocks.  There is quite a zen feeling with music chanting in the background.  We almost felt like we were waiting for our masseuses to appear.  At the end of the boardwalk was an ongoing black and white film that was the culmination of the event.

The photos were interesting.  They are of elephants combined with young children or whales in water.  None of the photos were digitally manipulated which I was sure they were.  I am not sure of the process he used but I really love the paper the photos are printed on.  They give each picture an ancient surreal look. 

As a whole, I didn't love the photos except for 2 of them.  One being a huge group of elephants walking into water and the other is of an elephants feet and a child directly below. 

Gregory Colbert was the writer and director of this project.  He has created something that has never been done.  This is a true multi-media project using photography as the base.  The books that you can buy in the gift shop are even representative of the show with the same type of paper used in the large photos.

Everything exudes calm, zen, beauty, earth.  It is quite impressive.  I am not sure the photos taken out of context would have the same impact on the audience but as a whole, this is one impressive show. 

Whole Foods Opened in Union Square

The people in the Village have been waiting for Whole Foods to open.  I for one have been waiting for the doors to open...and today they have. 

Whoever came up with the design of the store is brilliant.  The store has 3 levels.  The first floor is ready to eat food.  Breads, chocolates, muffins, sushi, salads, salad bar and other goodies.  The floor above is a picnic area with plenty of seating, magazines and coffee.  Downstairs is for the serious food shoppers paradise.  Meats, fish, pasta, juices, sauces, etc. 

Check out the salad bar.  Clean, bright, airy.  I love it!

Thanks Whole Foods for coming to the Village!

Emily's BDay

Don't all girls turning 12 ask to go to the Mercer Kitchen for their birthday dinner? 

5 1/2 years ago we moved back to the city from the suburbs ( the best decision ever for us) and we lived at the Mercer Hotel for 6 weeks before moving into a rental which we then lived in for 3 years.  We have a lot of great memories.  We were starting a new life as a family, we were living in a hotel, the kids were starting a new school, we were eating out every meal and everything was in change. 

One particular night, the city had literally been shut down due to a huge hurricane.  It was freaky.  We had Kozmo deliver entertainment first thing in the morning.  I miss Kozmo.  Anyway, we ended up eating at the Mercer Kitchen that night - and actually many others - the place was empty.  We were literally the only people in the restaurant.  It was so much fun.  We were in the kitchen, we had a blast with the staff, it was a very memorable night.  I happen to love the kitchen there. It is open and airy and very well designed.

Tonight we had pretty much the same type of experience.  The place was pretty empty.  I am not sure why because the food is still really good.  The portions are much much larger than I remember.  I had the arugula, Parmesan, mushroom salad which is light, simple and good.  The kids had the tuna rolls which are raw with a crispy wrap served with a spicy edaname paste.  A real winner that continues to stay on the menu.  We also had a few shrimp cocktails where you just can't go wrong.  Emily, her bday, ordered her favorite, the roasted chicken.  They roast chicken on a hot flame, rotisserie style, against a wall of fire.  It is very juicy and good.  She also split a pizza with Jessica.  The pizza's are good, especially the raw tuna wasabi pizza.  It sounds weird but it is amazing.  Josh had the lamb chops with lentils and Fred and I each had the Peking duck with a stir fry.  The portions were a bit too large but otherwise, everything was good.

We celebrated Em's bday with dessert.  Josh made sure the waiter brought a candle.  It was very cute.   Em and Jess had a warm apple tart which was cut up apples sauteed and shaped into a small cylinder and praline ice cream on the side.  Josh went with the cookie plate which is always good. 

We took a bunch of pictures afterwards and Emily blew out her candles and got an extra wish with an eyelash hanging out on her cheek.  It was a great night.  Happy 12 Birthday EM!

John's on Bleeker

   John's on Bleeker is doing some major renovations in their second room which is only accessed by the main room.  Who knows what is happening in there but it is completely demolished.  Maybe their business has gone down hill due to all the new pizza places?  Personally I think their pizza doesn't stand up anymore.  Only time will tell...

Art Show at the Pier

Modern galleries from all over the world converge at the Pier once a year for an annual art show.  I like to go every year because the vast amount of artists that are represented gives you a pulse on what is emerging out of the art world.  What galleries are showing, who they are representing, what they are seeing.

  There are nothing there that I had to have but I did note a few things that I am just starting to see.  Art that is more crafty.  I saw a lot of craft oriented art at the Affordable Art Fair made out of maps and paper but never have seen it at the higher price level.  There were a variety of different pieces that are almost origami based and also clay based.  The piece on the left was small paper pieces that were folded like quilted pieces and then hung with string every couple of inches and had about 6 layers of that.  It was pretty cool and very intensive piece. 

The other fun piece, at least I thought, was a wall of little plastic men pieced together.  Again, craft and whimsical.  Richard Prince, who I find whimsical,  has influenced a lot of artists at the show.  There were many pieces at a variety of  galleries that had funny sayings not only with a with figurine paintings but solo.  I have always liked Richard Prince's work.  His comical sayings just make me laugh out loud.  The piece below is a Richard Prince print with a funny saying on what looks to be a t-shirt. 

I thought the Richard Prince piece was a good ending to an interesting show. 

Crossword

When something makes the New York Times Crossword puzzle, you know it's been made.  Did anyone notice in Saturday's crossword puzzle one of the questions? 

Most Blog Posts?  Answer:  Rant

What do to with an 8 year old in NYC?

Every morning, I'm up around 7am, wake the girls and then do about 10 minutes of email before I wake up Josh.   This morning, in my box was an email from my husband from one of his CEO's asking for help with a client coming in town from Dallas with an 8 year old kid.  What to do?

Here was my quick stream of conscious in 2 minutes. 

kids love the wax museum although it is ridiculously expensive and stupid.  museum of broadcasting.  serendipity for frozen hot chocolate.  dylan's candy bar.  if it is a girl, to to the american doll place on 5th and 49th (est.), shake shack if they are coming past april 1, down in battery park city,  rent bikes at gotham in tribeca and drive up the west side highway, sign up for trapeze school in advance and do that if the kid is that kind of kid, empire state building, the met's egyptian tombs, zoo in central park, skating in rock center(it will still be open), katz's deli, moma, guggenheim, whitney, galleries in chelsea, if it is a boy the nba store, if it is a girl go to infinity which is a block from the MET on madison, on the upper east side or betwitx downtown on 10th between hudson and greenwich.  dim sum in chinatown, otto for dins.

Mad Max

When I was about 22, I used to watch the Today show every morning before I went off to work. I got the news, the weather, the latest, etc. The other morning I hopped on the treadmill and watched the Today show for about 1/2 an hour. I happened to catch a new car that that was so American, I don't even know what to make of it.

In front of Rockefeller Center, Willard was interviewing a serious conservative who was showing the new Hummer now available for only, I believe, $179,000. It was a Mad Max vehicle. This particular vehicle gets 8 miles per gallon and can get you through a terrorist attack. That's right ladies and gentlemen, a terrorist attack. Now you too can grab your loved ones, hurl them into your latest vehicle and plow through an area that has been attacked by terrorists. The vehicle can get you 400 miles on one tank of gas which will more than likely get you out of the zone of terror. My mouth dropped.

Angry people are killing people they are pissed off at. Our judges are scared to practice their profession. We are marketed to by our President, like McDonald's markets the virtues of Happy meals. We give our kids ritalin at school instead of a good education. People around the world are not exactly embracing us. Our dollar has slid out of control. We read in the paper that the majority of people don't exactly support Bush's policies but then why did they vote for him?

The car was such an American reaction. Why don't American companies put pressure on this administration to do something about national security? Then again, why would they when this Administration just makes sure more money goes into the companies pockets and screws the average American. Instead, Hummer just markets a new car that will get around the ability of our Government to actual do something about security.

It is frightening, scary and pathetic at the same time. We are living in a Mad Max world.

On LIne Research

As our kids do projects for school, they are told that they can not use the Internet only but must use at least one book and possibly one magazine. 

My response to that was to say, that's ridiculous.   So, the question that I posed to the Principal of the school is why?  He happens to be technologically savvy.  I posed the question,  doesn't it make sense to teach the kids to use the Internet for research more intelligently.  Don't we agree that kids who are more Internet savvy will be better off for their future?  Won't there be more filters in the future that will allow students to find high-quality data?  Are libraries at colleges eventually going to become obsolete?

He made the point that kids tend to just try and get the work done.  They need to spend time wrestling with their thoughts, their ideas and come to some understanding of what they are doing. 

Agreed but I am not sure that opening up a book is going to change that.  Why don't we spend time teaching kids how to promote their thinking through technology vs. the antiquated use of the library. 

My kids will certainly agree with me.  Through their constant use of the Internet, they have figured out what is rich data and what is not.  We all love books for reading but for research, it's all on line.