staycation, of a kind

last weekend we had a staycation, of a kind, as we stayed in New York but not at our apartment.  we checked in to the Mercer Hotel in SoHo on Saturday.  we had one of the best celeb sightings ever - MIA on Mercer Street!  she's itty bitty and as beautiful in person as in photos, or more so.  after drinks and dinner at Cafe Habana we saw Exit Through the Giftshop at Sunshine.  (great film -- the first half is energetic, raw and inspiring and the second half is so much faux realism, it might be real...?)  the next afternoon we had lunch at Jean George's Mercer Kitchen.  perfect New York weekend!

i can do anything good

so worth missing our csa pickup

Black Keys

so ready for this! my favorite band

4 words:

Black Keys
Central Park

csa week 7

bring it on, sun

the sold out everywhere Karen Walker Number One sunsies in Crazy Tortoise are mine

quick, someone please tell me how to make this necklace mine

via stil in berlin

csa week 6

Sneak Peak: Lima, Peru

pizza night

Inspired by a section of the book I (and, it seems, everyone else in the world) am reading,

I made pizza on Friday night using some pantry and freezer basics, and CSA vegetables that NEEDED to be used (a giant baby bok choy, flat leaf parsley and chives).

It turned out delicious!  I love a deep dishy pizza crust that's chewy and bready,

but my other prefers a thin, crackery crust.  

Any suggestions for a good thin crust recipe?  I'll try that next!

kohlrabi kimchi, 24 hours later

two things i love

flowers and cheese.  yum.
squash blossoms courtesy of our CSA.

summer fare

We decided to join our neighborhood's CSA this summer, and are enjoying a fridge OVERFLOWING with fresh, local, organic produce.  We've got so many vegetables, in fact, I'm already searching for ways to keep them beyond their normal refridgerated life. 

My answer is always: make kimchi!  The variety I made last night was seafood-less, so technically, I'm not sure it can be called kimchi.  Maybe a spicy Korean-inspired pickle?

Recipe:

Group A

-3 or 4 tblspns Sea salt or Kosher salt

-3 or 4 Kohlrabi hearts, trimmed of outside layer and sliced into bite-sized pieces
Group B
-3 Radishes, finely minced
-2 Hakurei turnips, finely minced
-1/2 Spanish onion, finely minced
-4 Scallions, finely minced
-4 or 5 cloves of Garlic, finely minced
-1/3 c Parsley, finely minced
-3 or 4 tblspns dried red pepper flakes
-2 tblspns Sea salt of Kosher salt
-cracked black pepper to taste
-fresh squeezed juice of a lemon or lime

Dump all peeled and sliced kohlrabi pieces in a large bowl and sprinkle generously with salt, tossing in bowl to ensure that all pieces are coated. Set aside for 30-45 minutes to allow the salt to draw water out of the vegetable.

In a separate, smaller bowl, mix all ingredients from Group B, beginning with the radishes, turnips, onion, scallions, garlic and parsley and lemon/lime juice and the salt. Toss to ensure the salt gets on everything, then add the pepper flakes and black pepper and toss some more. Set to the side to let the juices mix.

After 30-45 minutes, a significant amount of water will have been drawn from the kohlrabi slices by the salt. Drain all of this off and lightly rinse excess salt off the vegetable and put back in the large bowl. Now mix the spicy mixture of Group B ingredients (with juice) in, tossing until thoroughly encorporated. Move mixture from bowl to a clean and dry airtight container, cover and put in a cool, dark place for a minimum of 2 weeks. The salt will continue to draw water from the kimchi until the veggies are completely covered in their own fluid.

This is the fluid level in my kimchi last night, right after making it.  Already (I excitedly checked this morning) there's about two inches of fluid in there.