Gotham Gal

Bergdoff Goodmans New Restaurant

Bergdoff Goodman has really done an incredible job of renovating the place.  They are still at it.  Yet, the restaurant is finally done on the top floor.  The top floor drives me a bit crazy with all the little rooms but the restaurant is open airy and beautiful.

Eating at Bergdoff's for lunch is always a treat and a great people watch.  I sometimes go to the mens store across the street, 3rd floor.  Same menu and not as frenetic.  Now you can eat dinner at Bergdoff's too.  I guess they decided that Barneys had the right idea. 

The menu is totally different than the standard salads that they have serve.  It is quite pricey and not a lot of options. 

The really  nice thing about the new restaurant upstairs is that when you are totally burnt out, you can gravitate up to the top floor, kick off you heals and have a drink.  I could be into that. 

Dulce De Leche Cookies

Jessica decided to make these cookies for her Spanish class party.  She found this recipe.  They were delicious!

2 sugar cookies with Dulce de leche in the middle holding them together.  An Argentine Oreo.

Take a 14 ounce jar of sweetened condensed milk.  Take off the paper on the can.  Put the can in a pot of water, almost covering the can, and boil for about 2 1/2 hours.  Pour more hot water in from time to time so that the can is submerged in water.  This is how you make Dulce de Leche.  It is pretty cool when you take the can, cool it, and then open it with a can opener.  Warm caramelized milk.  So good.

Cookies:

1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter at room temperature
1/2 cup granulated sugar
4 egg yolks
1 t. vanilla
1 T. brandy ( I used cognac )
1 1/2 cups flour
2/3 cup cornstarch
1/2 t. baking powder
1/4 t. salt

Beat together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Beat in one egg yoke at a time until fully incorporated.  Add the vanilla and brandy. 

Take all the dry ingredients and put them in a bowl.  Whisk them until they are mixed up. 

Add the mixed dry ingredients into the sugar mixture.  She put in 1/2 and mixed it and then the other half.  The dough should be soft but not sticky.  If it is sticky, add another 1/4 cup flour.

Form the dough into a ball and roll out on a floured covered counter.  Make sure you have ample flour so the dough does not stick to the surface.

Take a 1 1/2 inch round cookie cutter to make the cookies on dough that has been rolled out until it is about 1/8 inch thick.  Press in to make the cookies. We kept doing small portions of the dough otherwise is just stuck to the counter.  We also did not have a cookie cutter that small so we used a small glass candle holder.  It seemed to do the trick.

Bake at 350 for about 10-12 minutes or until the cookies are browned...not to brown.  Cool.

Take one cookie and a pastry knife or any type of unsharp knife and spread the Dulce de leche over the top.  Put another cookie on top.  Now you are looking at your Argentine Oreo.  They are delicious!

Claire McCaskill

I had the pleasure of meeting with Claire McCaskill today.  She is running for the US Senate seat from the state of Missouri.  She is smart, honest and not afraid to voice her opinion.  I like that.  She has wanted to be in politics from the young age of 11 and has literally pursued her career since then.

Chuck Schumer, who has become the visionary behind the DSCC, is the reason we met with Claire.  Chuck, like all other fellow Democrats, wants to take back the Senate.  So, he is strategically looking at races across the country where Democrats have to win and where they have a chance to win.  Unfortunately one of the biggest keys to winning is money.   So, he has championed NYers to raise money and give money to specific candidates across the country.  An interesting statistic that I learned today is that of all Senatorial campaigns across the company, 30% of their money raised comes from NYers.  That is a pretty interesting statistic. 

There are other campaigns that Chuck is supporting too.  For instance, Casey in Pennsylvania.  Although he is pro-gun and pro-life, he is a Democrat.  In Pennsylvania, which happens to be a very pro-gun and pro-life state, Casey can win.  He is actually ahead of Rick Santorum in the polls by 18%.  So, Chuck is trying to become a larger party instead of  having the Democratics be so adamant that each issue must be addressed a certain way.  It is the only way the Democrats can win.  Casey is not my type of candidate but there should be room in the Democratic party for Caseys and alike.

Claire on the other hand, is my kind of candidate.  Pro-choice, pro-stem cell research, pro-Israel, interested in running a more efficient Government that is fair to all the people not just a small percent and above all, she's really sharp.

We will be having a fundraiser, in NYC, for Claire in the first quarter of next year.  I am thrilled with Schumer's strategy and am happy that I can be part of it.

Podcast is up..

Our last Podcast is up and running.  Lots of post-Thanksgiving banter.  Listen to it live here.  As always, for more information, check out Fred's blog.

Enjoy..

Thanksgiving Flowers

I am finally getting over the gluttony of Thanksgiving.  Every year I promise myself that I won't over eat.  Ha!  The truth be told,  it is all about the skin, stuffing, cranberry chutney and just a few bites of dessert.  I could forgo the rest. 

Part of the fun is the pre-hype.  What is going to be on the menu?  Which desserts should we make this year?  We stick with the basics, god forbid we make any major changes.  Only the squash/sweet potatoes, greens and one dessert gets a change each year.  Otherwise, it all stays the same.  I guess since it is only a once a year meal, why not.

All the kids had their part.  Emily made the pumpkin cheesecake and cranberry pie (new this year but not that great).  Josh made the stuffing.  Jessica got involved with the flowers for the table.

Last year I bought the green Styrofoam pieces from my florist and wooden boxes that they use.  The Styrofoam was good to use again this year.  We soaked the Styrofoam overnight in a water filled sink so it was good and wet.  The Styrofoam acts like the vase.  Then we took a variety of flowers and created our own table decorations.  They are so easy to make and look like you bought them at the florist.  It is fun and creative.  We also used wooden sticks that we stuck through the lady apples and gourds to create a Thanksgiving look.  I think we also through some dried pine cones on top too.  I love these.  I am not sure why I only pull out these boxes at Thanksgiving but I should consider using them at other times of the year too.  I love the way they look.

Jarhead

I have been taking a power boot camp class 3 times a week.  I am in my 6th week, and it is killer.  We are trained by former Marines who all served in Desert Storm, the Gulf War in Iraq. 

The marines are great guys who are in great shape.  They were talking about the movie Jarhead and recommended we see it.  They said the movie is very true to what actually happened in Desert Storm.  So, I went.

I have been thinking about the movie for a few days now.  I am really glad that I saw it.  I understand why people didn't love the movie because there is no particular relationship or conflict.  Yet, the movie shows exactly what is takes to be a Marine. 

The movie begins in basic training.  You ask yourself how did I get here?  They break you down until you get in the best shape you can possibly be in.  Then, a war breaks out and off you go.  There is excitement about finally going to war and to be able to represent your country and use your skills.  They get out to the desert and wait and wait and wait and wait.  You could seriously lose your mind hanging out in the desert doing nothing but training for a moment that might never happen.  They do lose their mind. Then, once you finally do get to combat, it is scary yet exhilarating

Although you are with a group of Marines, you are out there alone, solo.  You are in your own world. 

Some of the characters end up in the Marines because they had no where else to turn.  Some thought it was the right thing to do for four years or more and serve their country.  Mixed batch.  One character ends up that he was actually in jail before so once they found out they had to boot him out.  Perhaps these are the type of armed forces people that we should be helping out to fit in.  They could benefit instead of just booting them out to wander aimlessly through society or worse yet commit more crimes.

I guess what struck me at the end, after they all came back, is there seemed to be no path for any of the marines to take after their service was over.  They served and then it ended.  The main character was seen living in a small shack near a railroad track with no vision.  He was home but in some ways he was still over in Iraq.  Jarhead gave you an interesting psychological perspective into the psyche of the Marine Core.

It would seem to me that the military should spend some money and time helping the people of our Armed Forces that give their time and lives for our country to help them in their next career.  Help them become civilians.  Help them with their marriages.  Help with their futures. 

I spoke to the Marines at boot camp about this.  They said I was right on the money.  There is no guidance from the military once you reenter civilian life.  Big mistake on our Governments part.  The majority of these men and women have had incredible training.  They could be making an impact on our work force.  I give these men and women a huge amount of credit for giving a chunk of their time to protecting our country.  The least we could do is protect them when they return to the other side.

Another podcast

Another podcast is up.  To listen live click here.  For more information go to Fred's blog. 

The Year of Magical Thinking

I just finished reading The Year of Magical Thinking.  There has been a lot written about this book.  Joan Didion wrote this book after her husband, John Dunne, died of a massive coronary.  They had been married over 40 years.  During this time, her daughter was incredibly ill.  After the publication of the book, her daughter died soon after.  Devastating for anyone who just lost the 2 most important people in her world. 

What is most interesting about the book is she grieving process that she goes through.  We all are going to die but somehow we never talk about it.  These days, through only one degree of separation, we hear stories of illness, cancer, etc.  I always ask, how is the surviving spouse?  How are the children?  It breaks your heart. 

There are support groups for grievers.  The connection is the process they are going through.  My mother lost her husband of 25 years about 7 months ago.  I have listened to her and watch her go through a process that I knew nothing of.   Joan Didion basically is going through the exact thing.  That is what I found interesting about the book.  The stages of grief are universal.

The book rambles in some way, but so does grief.  For no reason at all, you find yourself overcome with thoughts of a moment in the past.  You wonder if you will ever be able to travel again to somewhere you had been with the person that you lost.  Your memories are starting to fade and the new memories are without your loss. 

I found the book incredibly insightful and well written.  In a time when more and more people are living longer than expected.  Finding themself having to chart out the next 20 years or more for a new and different life.  This is a book absolutely worth reading.

As hard as it, and I am watching grief first hand, life is for the living.  Joan Didion not only lost her husband but her daughter as well and I give her a huge amount of credit for sitting down and writing this book.  I am sure it was part of her grieving process. 

There is one line that she continues to write through out her book which has stuck with me.  Life changes fast.  Life changes in the instant.  You sit down to dinner and life as you know it ends. 

I say, carpe diem. 

Another dinner party

We had a really great dinner party the other night.  5 couples plus us makes 12 people in total.   I truly enjoy these evenings.  The preparation, the anticipation and the entire event. 

I was thinking about how my parents frequently held dinner parties for business and friends.  Perhaps that is where I got the bug to entertain.  It is great for our kids to see us open our home to friends and family all the time.  I hope it is something that they will continue to do. What is interesting is that I find we are some of the few people I know who entertain often or at all. 

Anyhow, here is the menu for the past dinner party.  I am not going to post the recipes but I will share the full on menu...and maybe some info on the "how to".

We started with cheese sticks and curry spicy nuts.  I like serving this with pre-dinner drinks because it is light and just whets the appetite.  All easy.  I just use pre-made puff pastry.  Take about 1/2 lb. of Gruyere and grate it.  Mix with some paprika and some herbs.  Put on the bottom half of the rolled out puffed pastry and flip the dough over to seal in.  Cut up into long strips and bake on a cookie sheet for 15 minutes or so at 350.  The nuts.  Take unsalted butter, some curry and herbs and melt together.  Add the nuts and toss for about 3-4 minutes.  That's it.

First course...spicy crab soup.  Love crab soup.  Must be that Maryland childhood.

Second course...mache salad with pomegranate seeds, roasted acorn squash, sugary walnuts and Gorgonzola cheese.

Main course....panko macadamia nut crusted talapia fish pan fried over spinach sauteed with ginger oil and a sauce of carrot/ginger juice reduction.  The sauce I couldn't replicate if you paid me. I played around with it at least 4 times before serving.

Dessert....lemon mousse with chocolate pistachio biscotti, Mexican wedding cookies, peppermint patty chocolate chip cookies on the side.  I always like serving a few different type of cookies on the side as an added bonus.

All good.  Not light on the calories, but hey, it's a dinner party.  Enjoy.

Full Jars of Cookies

There really is nothing better than walking in the kitchen and seeing a full jar of homemade cookies.  I made 3 types.  Chocolate pistachio biscotti, chocolate chip cookie doughs with peppermint patties and Mexican wedding cakes.

The Mexican wedding cakes are so good and melt in your mouth.  Here is the recipe.

4 sticks of of unsalted butter softened
kosher salt - pinch
1 t. vanilla
3 1/2 cups flour
2 cups powdered sugar + another 2 or so cups more powdered sugar
1 cup pecan halves

Take the nuts and grind in a Cuisinart.  It is really the key.  Then in a bowl whisk together the flour and nut and a pinch or two salt.  In a mixing bowl, cream the sugar and butter together until it is really light and fluffy.  Beat in the vanilla.  Then slowly beat in the flour/nut mixture until completely mixed in.

Take 1 tablespoon and make a small ball in the palm of your hands and place on a cookie sheet.  Put parchment paper down on the cookie sheets first.  Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes until the cookies are just browned.  Take the cookies out of the oven and let them cool for about 2-3 minutes.  Use a small spatula and a few off at a time and put into a bowl of confectioners sugar.  Cover the cookie completely and put on a sheet until they are cooled.  You can roll them again after they are cooled to really get the cookies even more powdery.

As for the chocolate chip cookie dough with the peppermint patties.  I did add a bag of chocolate chips and then the peppermint patties cut up.  It is a scientific experiment.  They get really flat and chewy.  But yummy!