Gotham Gal

President Gore

We have been invited to meet all the Democratic candidates in big setting, in intimate settings, here and there.  Truth is, I am not that "wowed" by anyone.  Lots of time before we actually go to the voting booth too.  Lots could happen between now and then. 

I read somewhere that over 60% of the people in the US are paying a lot of attention to the candidates now.  They like Guiliani.   Who knows why.  He was our mayor for quite some time.  He certainly cleaned up the city but he has zero compassion and could care less about people who need help such as social services, tax breaks etc.  His best moment which absolutely highlighted his best skill set was on 9/11.  He was fantastic.  That is what most people remember.  But as the months go by and diligence is done ( the media will do diligence this time - won't it?) , people will change their mind.  Just my 2 cents on that particular issue.  But what is interesting is the amount of people who are paying attention.  Says something about how disillusioned we are as a country with the current administration and obviously  hoping that time will pass quickly, as I do. 

What is interesting is Al Gore.  Will he run or won't he.  Winning an Oscar, murmurings that he will win the Nobel Prize for his efforts on Global Warming.  Also he willingness to admit the mistakes he has made is a rarity these days in the world of politics.  He has been a citizen for the past 6 years and has really done interesting things that have made an impact.  He gets technology, he understands the world that we live in today.  Quite impressive, right?  But boy did he screw up a missed opportunity 6 years ago (regardless that he really did win - didn't he?).  He should have won by a landslide.  Could he be the comeback kid?

Two articles on this particular topic today that I thought were thought provoking.  One was from Andy Ostroy who picked up an article on ABC with options from Andy really worth reading.  The other was from Maureen Dowd in the NY Times. 

Maureen Dowd writes about Bush's intellect and what little there is as Andy does but her best comments were " the best ex-president who was never president could make one of the most interesting campaigns in American history even more interesting" and "The Bush-Cheney years have been all about dragging the country into the past, getting the presidential powers yanked away after Watergate, settling scores from Poppy Bush's old war, and suppressing scientific and environmental advances.  How right she is. 

But Andy's last paragraph is the one that makes you think.  More likely that is what everyone is thinking each time they see Al Gore speak.  I do. 

Just imagine what the country would be like today had he become president in 2000 and not Bush. Imagine an America without this bloody debacle in Iraq. Imagine an America that commands the respect of its allies and is feared by its enemies. Imagine an America that puts the environment before big corporate interests. Imagine having a president who strives to bridge the gap between rich and poor, where the middle class, not the wealthy, gets the tax breaks, and where the minimum wage is not a shameful $5.15. Pretty powerful stuff on the campaign trail, huh?

The Honeymoon's Over

Andrea Chapin and Sally Wofford-Girand are friends.  They are both involved in the literary world.  They hung out as families, talked, drank and as most of us do come up with great ideas that we rarely execute on.  Not these two.  They thought wouldn't be a great thing to create a book that had a collection of essays from a variety of interesting people and authors that write about their relationships, marriages, divorces etc.  Womens perspective only.  Great idea.  Interesting topic.  They did it and I love the title.  The Honeymoons' Over, True Stories of Love, Marriage and Divorce. Their book came out this past week and the reviews have been stellar.

I went to their book signing Monday night.  You could feel the excitement in the room.  It is pretty exciting to not only get your book published and be acknowledged by your friends and your community but to get fantastic reviews from publications that are read around the country is a whole other ballgame.

I read the first chapter and am sure I will plow through this book.  Both Sally and Andrea will be making an appearance at our April book club to discuss the book with us.  Andrea happened to be one of the original members of our book club and had to bow out once the book began.  Sally attempted to join but timing wasn't right.  I do hope they return.

I really like the topic.  It appeals to women everywhere.  Why marriages work, why others don't, how nobody really knows what goes on behind closed doors, and how it is never easy having relationships work for decades, it is hard work.  Then having interesting people who write really well write about their personal experiences.  Thought provoking, for sure.

I remember years and years ago when I first got together with my boyfriend, who is now my husband.  He was my best friend.  After we finally made the plunge realizing there was more there than being just good friends, I freaked.  He wasn't  Jewish, perhaps it was time to date someone who was Jewish because this might end up being the person I married ( I was a Junior in college).  We came from such different backgrounds.  Was this going to work as the years passed because our baggage was so incredibly different?  Hmmm.  I expressed those feelings with him.  His advice was brilliant, then of course he was interested in my fears being allayed.  He said "Joanne, no matter who you are with, you are going to hate the way they brush their teeth in 2 months, there is always something that you will find charming at the start that will start to make you crazy at one point.  If being Jewish is the only thing that you are concerned with, we can always fix that".  Case and point.  We have now been together for over 26 years and I really don't mind the way he brushes his teeth.

Duck anyone?

My friend asked me, have you ever made duck?  Only a few times and it never came out quite right.  He went into a short diatribe on how he made the most amazing duck over the weekend.  Jessica said to me, you should make duck, we all like it.  Hmmm.

I had posted about this cookbook before, Vintage.  What I like about this book is two things.  One is that each recipe is a meal.  The second is that his recipes are truly fresh and creative, like no other I have seen.  The recipes aren't exactly simple but this particular one wasn't that hard and quite delicious.

Seared Duck Breast, Moroccan Style.  There are 5 things to make for this meal.  Red Wine Marinade (for the duck) Spinach and Goat cheese Salad, Sesame Dressing, Couscous and Tomato Ginger Jam. 

Duck is easier than I thought particularly when they are just breasts.  Start with the marinade and marinade the breasts for at least an hour.   You could probably marinade them all day if you wanted but not overnight.  Too much.  This recipe if for 4 people ( 4 duck breasts but I doubled this recipe and made it for 8 since we have 7 for dinner)

Red Wine Marinade:
3/4 cup red wine
3 T. sherry vinegar
1/3 cup thinly sliced red onion
1/4 t. black pepper
1/4 t. dried thyme
1 t. fresh rosemary
1 T. fresh oregano
1 t. whole fennel seeds
1 T. sugar

Mix this together, set the duck in it, skin side down.  Score the the duck first.  I made 3 large slits across the fat side before I set this in the marinade. 

Then I made the salad. 

4 cups of Spinach
1/4 cup red onion sliced very thin
1 small orange cut into small wedges
20 tsp. size chunks of goat cheese
1 tsp. toasted sesame seeds
(they called for mint with this salad - 2 T. mint leaves - I opted out)

Sesame Dressing:

3 T. red wine vinegar
3 T. seasoned rice vinegar
2 T. brown sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. whole fennel seed
1 T. lightly toasted sesame seeds
1/2 cup light olive oil
(again they called for 1 T. crushed mint)

Mix this all together.  This dressing could and salad could be fine solo any night of the week.  So good.  When I served the salad, I mixed the greens and onions.  I put a handful of oranges on top of the salad and dollops of goat cheese and then sprinkled it with toasted sesame seeds. 

Tomato Ginger Jam. 
This was the best part that I could keep in the refrigerator and serve with anything

1  2 1/2 lb can tomatoes and their juice
1 1/4 cup sugar
1/2 lemon quartered and sliced thin with the skin on
1/2 cup thinly sliced candied ginger
1/4 tsp. red chili flakes
pinch of cayenne
juice of 1/2 lemon

Put all of this together in a stainless steel saucepan, bring to a boil and then down to a medium heat.  Let this mixture hang out on the stove until it is thin.  Give it a stir every 10 minutes or so.  Easy and a winner.  Took about an hour.

Couscous.  I didn't do a great job with this part but I am going to give the what I should do to make it taste good and not bland. 

2 cup of vegetable broth or chicken broth
4 T. olive oil
1/4 t. kosher salt
1 1/2 cups couscous
1 t. lemon zest
3/4 cup 1/4 inch pieces zucchini
1/3 cup chopped sun dried tomatoes (preferably ones that have been soaked in hot water or in oil)
5 T.almond slivers, toasted
1 T. unsalted butter

In a small saucepan,  with 3 T. olive oil, saute the zucchini and lemon zest for about 5 minutes or so.  Just until the zucchini is soft. 

Boil the water and rest of the olive oil in a small saucepan, add the couscous and zucchini, stir.  Bring the water back to a boil, put the lid on and take off the heat.  Let it sit for about 2 minutes and then stir in the butter, sun dried tomatoes and almonds.  Put the top back on.  When I served this, I used a small round custard holder and filled it with the couscous.  Then I flipped it on to the plate so the couscous was shaped in a round sphere. 

Preheat the oven to 450 before making the duck. 

In a nonstick pan, at a very high heat, put in the duck breasts, skin side down for about 5-6 minutes.  If it appears to be too hot and fat is popping out everywhere, lower the temperature to medium.  I did.  The skin side should be crispy after about 5-6 minutes.  Then put in the oven at 450 to finish.  It took longer than I thought but our duck breasts were quite large.  The temperature internally should be around 160 for rare. 

Then, take out the duck and let is sit for a few minutes to set.

On the plate I put the salad, then the couscous, then then the duck and then the tomato jam.  The flavors together really work.  Sounds like a lot of work but the whole thing took less than an hour.  A definite make again..

Kids and food

Ruth Reichl, editor in chief of Gourmet magazine, wrote a great letter from the editor in the March edition of Gourmet.  She basically ranted on children and food.

People have written me before and asked me about how did I get my kids to become foodies.  I have thought a lot about that since people have asked.  First of all, I never fed my kids special meals to accommodate them.  What I served is what they ate.  If they didn't like it, they didn't eat.  I always introduced them to new flavors and encouraged them to try which they did.  If they didn't like it, fine but most of the time they liked it.  I also made cooking a fun activity.  We made cookies, cakes, cupcakes and dinners together.  Becoming part of the process made them become more interested in food as they got older.

Emily loves to read the latest food magazines that come in the house.  Every one of our kids put in their 2 cents about what is for dinner.  This past Saturday there were 3 overripe bananas and Emily asked what they were for.  I said I was planning on doing something with them.  She said, let me. She made a delicious banana bread and through in some dried cranberries which was really changed the entire flavor of the bread.  So good. 

Reichl went off about restaurants that cater to children - that would be chicken fingers and mac and glue.  She says that grown-ups offer them choices that are not what the grown-ups are eating.  Why?  Offering kids a special menu says something.  Kids learn from their parents.  If parents continue to give their kids special menus like grilled cheese sandwiches then why would they make interesting decisions as they get older.  I particularly liked her last paragraph which I will quote.

"Sitting down to dinner, at any age, should be an invitation to the fabulous banquet that is life.  The most important lesson that we learn at the table is that great rewards await those who take changes.  Do we really want to be telling our children, "just eat your nice chicken nuggets?" It would make much more sense to say, "Pull up a chair.  Take a taste.  Come join us.  Life is so endlessly delicious."

Gusto

We have attempted to sit at the bar at Gusto a few times over the past month so instead of trying again, I opted for getting a reservation.  No problem the day of to get a reservation for 2 of us that evening.  Gusto has had tremendous success as the local neighborhood joint. 

I was really interested in going back and having dinner since Jody Williams, the original chef and creator of the menu, has left for bigger horizons.  Were the owners of Gusto able to take what she created and keep it going?  She is now the head chef at Keith McNally's newest venture, Morandi in the West Village. 

One of my favorite things is when you sit down at Gusto they give you a plate of raw radishes coated in a salty sardine sauce.  I admit, that I ate 3 of those trays.  I told them to stop bringing them.  Addictive.  We split everything so I got a full on taste.  We began with the grilled octopus.  Grilled perfectly served alongside a sliced celery lemon salad.  Simple and good.  Our other starter was the roasted oysters.  Over powered with lemons.  Not a true winner. 

For our main courses we had the famous meatballs and the fish of the day.  The meatballs were really good.  Good combination of meats and flavors.  The fish was really disappointing.  It was a tad overcooked and not that flavorful. 

We had a really good bottle of wine that we had actually just bought a case of that we had when we were in Italy. 

As a whole, the flavors and tastes were a bit more interesting when Jody was there but they have done a pretty good job keeping the place rolling.  I will continue to go there for a neighborhood meal but I am really looking forward to following Jody to the next stop too.

Stand

Stand is one of the variety of hamburger restaurants that have cropped around the city.  Perhaps the success of the Shake Shack got everyone thinking.

My friend said to me this morning that she is surprised that there aren't more restaurants in the local downtown neighborhoods catering to families and kids.  Good question.  Downtown NY's demographics has changed considerably over the past 5 years.  There are so many families with young kids.  Perhaps that is why Stand was packed last night, with people of all ages.  The couple next to us had an 8 month old. 

A great burger.  There are about 10 options as a main course.  The classic, cheeseburger, chopped steak, salmon burger, veggie burger, chicken burger, etc.  Salads and lots of sides. They also have wine and beer.  Biggest bonus is the milkshakes and floats made with Il Labatorio del Gelato which is so delicious.  Chocolate, Toasted Sesame, Banana, Pumpkin, Apple Pie and more in the shake category.  For floats, root beer floats, Cel-ray tonic with strawberry gelato.  Some of the desserts coming out of the back looked pretty sweet too.

Most of us went with the classic.  Cooked to your liking.  I highly recommend the house special sauce on the side.  Big buns, toasted with a nice sized burger, crisp pickles, tomatoes, red onion and cheddar if you want.  Nice and juicy.  We opted for a variety of sides.  Onion rings which were excellent.  Not thick but thinly sliced with a very lightly coated crust.  Not heavy at all.  We did two types of fries.  The regular sized fries and the thin fries.  I am particular to thinly sliced crunchy browned fries.  They didn't let me down.  I also liked the cole slaw.  Not to heavy but with a nice flavor and fresh.  We also tried the cucumbers that were sliced thin in a sour cream sauce.  It didn't sound that interesting but the waiter ( who happened to be great ) said it was worth it.  He was right.  Light and refreshing.  A good accompaniment to a burger.

Josh sucked down his root beer float so quick that I didn't really get a taste but I think that speaks for the flavor. 

A wonderful addition to the neighborhood.  Good vibe. They play good music too.  We will be back, for sure.

Moving

Moving is one of those activities that rank up there in stress.  A total organizational nightmare.  Lucky for all us, I happen to be pretty organized.  I actually recall going on an interview and I was asked "are you organized?"  I said "very".  He said, "you're hired". 

It is exhilarating on one hand, and overwhelming on the other.  I always love the next challenge, the next project so this is sort of up my alley. 

As a family, we are all about what's next, so there isn't a member who is feeling nostalgic about leaving our home but more excited about the upsides.  Different neighborhood, new rooms, etc. 

My blogging will probably slack off the next couple of weeks but I will attempt to get it all in.  Just because you are moving doesn't mean the rest of life doesn't stop.  Moving is just an addition to the norm.

It was a blustery day

I am a fair weather skier.  March skiing is prime.  January and February can be questionable.  Yesterday was a very blustery day.  Although it was around 30 degrees, the wind, the snow, etc. created a white out.  It was actually difficult to see the person in front of you at times.

Here is a picture of all the kids.  I love it!

Emily and I went out on our own.  I navigated us into the woods (oops).  We ended up in a double black diamond ravine, all moguls.  On skis, I'd be psyched.  On a board, questionable.  We got through it, actually turning and felt pretty damn good when we got down to the lift.  Took the lift back up, cut over and were blown out.  Lunch was inevitable. 

The afternoon opened up.  It was gorgeous and sunny.  We hit the trails on the lower end of the mountain.  We are going out this morning for a few runs because it is back to NYC this afternoon.  Praying for an easy flight and simple connections. 

As long as we are not on the slow bus to China, we'll be very happy campers.

Skiing

Once the havoc of travel is over and you hit the mountain, all is forgotten.  We couldn't asked for a better weekend, weatherwise.  40 degrees, sunny and perfect conditions.

We have made the rounds too.  Snowmass, Buttermilk (all for the terrain park), and Highlands Park.  Not hitting up Ajax this trip.  It is just beautiful out here. 

We ( two other families and us) are staying at our friends ranch which is very sweet.  We are all skiing together as a group which is quite fun.  Lots of good stories around the dinner table at night.  We basically come home, hit the hot tub, make dinner, have a few drinks, watch sports, do guitar hero, play some pool, play the variety of toys and go to bed and do it all over again. 

Really nice.  Makes you want to come back next year.  Did I say Caribbean next year?  I think I can't help but feel the tug of the West slopes calling our name.

Missing Luggage

Many times we have fedexed our bags all over the country instead of using the airlines.  Why do we do this?  Because since 9/11, airline travel within the United States sucks.  International travel,  is not like this at all.  It is generally efficient and nobody has to go thru the insanity of taking of your shoes etc.

Our journey has been hell.  Now we have 2 of our 5 bags.  My mistake not fedexing the bags this time.  But the worst part is the United Airlines customer service. 

Customer service, for most companies, is not local anymore.  They are from call centers all over the world where the person on the other end is just reading a computer..  I am very familiar with this because one of Fred's first investments as a venture capitalist was Upgrade.  They  provided a way to create call centers for software products.  Quite successful.

United call centers are in India.  Not to be disrespectful to India but it is hell talking to the people on the other line.  Truth is, I am not sure it would be better in the good old USA but from now on, only FEDEX.