Summer on a Plate, 2012 edition*


Green zebra-striped tomato, you were irresistible and destined to be in my mouth when I saw you sitting on a table at the farmers’ market. 

Sliced and perched on top of a little bit of mayo (but a bit of butter would be just as good) and basil on a thick slice of toasted sourdough bread, you were joined by an almost-purple and exceptionally ripe fellow tomato and one of my best efforts at a hard-boiled egg to date, before I sprinkled you all with corse salt and black pepper.

The crunch, the sweet, the tang, the juiciness. This was a close-your-eyes-while-eating worthy lunch.

Perfect to eat in a sunny apartment while watching a bit of Julie & Julia.

*Here’s last August’s “Summer on a Plate”

Just came back from a screening of this fun movie at a coffee shop that made me feel like I was back in college. This is not bad thing. I’d seen the movie once before, but I hadn’t heard of it at all until at least 15 years after it came out in 1989. Surprising due to my intense and long-term LOVE of the 1987 dance movie with the same choreographer.

Can I enter/win a dance contest at the beach and make out with my goofy but excellent dance partner now, please?

In the summer of 1996 I was 14. I had graduated from junior high at the top of my class in June. I spent my days here, making jewelry and tap dancing. I spent my nights pining over my junior high school crush, who I would not see again until 2006 or so, and worrying about the impending start of high school. Except for during two weeks in August, when I obsessively watched the summer Olympics. In honor of the London Olympics, and because there is no Cringe happening during them, I’m posting a picture of the sculpture I made of an Olympic gymnast as a side project in my jewelry class that summer, and a transcription of what I wrote in my diary upon the close of the ‘96 games. Monday night, August 5, 1996 Dear Kitty,     Yesterday night and through the wee small hours of the morning I watched the closing ceremonies of the 26th Olympiad — the Centenial Games in Atlanta. I was sad to see them go. For the past 2 wks I watched almost every day, sometimes staying up untill 12:30, just to root for my favorite gymnasts or swimmers.    I truly caught Olympic Fever, I think because I was proud that they were taking place in the US. Anywayz - Yesterday the closing ceremonies were like one big party - with famous performers like Gloria Estefan and Stevie Wonder and hundreds of little kids from atlanta, who sang a cute song - I envy them so much.    Now that the games are over my sprit & patriotism will die down & I will no longer see so much red, white & blue, but I will never 4-get  the stories, the drama, the close calls, the wins, the loses, the tragedies & of course being so proud of little Dominque Moceanu - a 14 year old gymnast whose parents are Romanian.     Anywayz - May we alwayz be triumphant and let us all year to be as heroic as Kerri Strug!! And as the Coca-Cola commercial yesterday said - “Let’s hear it for the fans”                                                                                           Love,  Allison
Pop-upView Separately

In the summer of 1996 I was 14. I had graduated from junior high at the top of my class in June. I spent my days here, making jewelry and tap dancing. I spent my nights pining over my junior high school crush, who I would not see again until 2006 or so, and worrying about the impending start of high school. Except for during two weeks in August, when I obsessively watched the summer Olympics.

In honor of the London Olympics, and because there is no Cringe happening during them, I’m posting a picture of the sculpture I made of an Olympic gymnast as a side project in my jewelry class that summer, and a transcription of what I wrote in my diary upon the close of the ‘96 games.

Monday night, August 5, 1996

Dear Kitty,

    Yesterday night and through the wee small hours of the morning I watched the closing ceremonies of the 26th Olympiad — the Centenial Games in Atlanta. I was sad to see them go. For the past 2 wks I watched almost every day, sometimes staying up untill 12:30, just to root for my favorite gymnasts or swimmers.

   I truly caught Olympic Fever, I think because I was proud that they were taking place in the US. Anywayz - Yesterday the closing ceremonies were like one big party - with famous performers like Gloria Estefan and Stevie Wonder and hundreds of little kids from atlanta, who sang a cute song - I envy them so much.

   Now that the games are over my sprit & patriotism will die down & I will no longer see so much red, white & blue, but I will never 4-get  the stories, the drama, the close calls, the wins, the loses, the tragedies & of course being so proud of little Dominque Moceanu - a 14 year old gymnast whose parents are Romanian. 

   Anywayz - May we alwayz be triumphant and let us all year to be as heroic as Kerri Strug!! And as the Coca-Cola commercial yesterday said - “Let’s hear it for the fans” 

                                                                                         Love,  Allison

My 24-hour cold brewed iced coffee experiment was a success!  I’ve been spending so much money on iced coffee this summer (even at $0.99, they add up), so when I was more or less stuck inside my apartment due to extreme heat last weekend, I decided to take the opportunity to brew some of my own. I’d had some ground coffee in the house that I wasn’t crazy about, so I figured it would be fine if the resulting cold coffee ‘extract’ wasn’t amazing, since the coffee I would otherwise make from it wouldn’t be either. I followed these instructions to a t, starting of course with step 3 since my coffee was already roasted and ground. It was fun to sort of play scientist in the kitchen. The worst part of the whole experience was that the by the time the brew was done, it was late on a Sunday, and I would have to wait for a more caffeine-appropriate time to taste the results. Well today was the day. I didn’t bother to dilute the elixir with cold water, just some milk and ice. Yes, I tried the tiniest pinch of salt and a bit of sugar too.  The results: definitely the best iced coffee I’ve had at home. Hoorah.
Pop-upView Separately

My 24-hour cold brewed iced coffee experiment was a success! 

I’ve been spending so much money on iced coffee this summer (even at $0.99, they add up), so when I was more or less stuck inside my apartment due to extreme heat last weekend, I decided to take the opportunity to brew some of my own.

I’d had some ground coffee in the house that I wasn’t crazy about, so I figured it would be fine if the resulting cold coffee ‘extract’ wasn’t amazing, since the coffee I would otherwise make from it wouldn’t be either.

I followed these instructions to a t, starting of course with step 3 since my coffee was already roasted and ground. It was fun to sort of play scientist in the kitchen.

The worst part of the whole experience was that the by the time the brew was done, it was late on a Sunday, and I would have to wait for a more caffeine-appropriate time to taste the results.

Well today was the day. I didn’t bother to dilute the elixir with cold water, just some milk and ice. Yes, I tried the tiniest pinch of salt and a bit of sugar too. 

The results: definitely the best iced coffee I’ve had at home.

Hoorah.

Dispatches from Dinner Club My friends and I are still at our International Dinner Club and tonight I prepared a meal based on the cuisine of Burkina Faso. Burkina Faso, it turns out, falls into the category of good food, bad country. Alas. Let’s talk about the food though, because I’m not about to get into a discussion about poverty and human rights in this space. I made a modified version of the rice and greens dish called Babenda — the recipe found here contained some ingredients I wasn’t too keen on (dried sardines and fermented lotus beans), so I sauteed onions, garlic and the hot pink chard stems with some soy sauce and vinegar for a little added umami before adding the ground peanuts and rice and chard. It was really tasty. I could definitely see myself making this again. This was served with cubes of spiced lamb (I was massaging a lamb leg at 10pm last night and had the cinnamon/garlic perfumed hands to prove it until this morning) that I broiled and pan-cooked. Also delicious. The recipe is also from the awesome Global Taste Adventure. We washed it down with the pictured Hibiscus iced tea (aka Bissap a la Bonne Dame) that I brewed last night. So refreshing and lightly sweet that I’m brewing up another batch as I write. I think tomorrow I might use it as a base in a cocktail of some sort. (Taken with Instagram)
Pop-upView Separately

Dispatches from Dinner Club

My friends and I are still at our International Dinner Club and tonight I prepared a meal based on the cuisine of Burkina Faso. Burkina Faso, it turns out, falls into the category of good food, bad country. Alas. Let’s talk about the food though, because I’m not about to get into a discussion about poverty and human rights in this space.

I made a modified version of the rice and greens dish called Babenda — the recipe found here contained some ingredients I wasn’t too keen on (dried sardines and fermented lotus beans), so I sauteed onions, garlic and the hot pink chard stems with some soy sauce and vinegar for a little added umami before adding the ground peanuts and rice and chard. It was really tasty. I could definitely see myself making this again.

This was served with cubes of spiced lamb (I was massaging a lamb leg at 10pm last night and had the cinnamon/garlic perfumed hands to prove it until this morning) that I broiled and pan-cooked. Also delicious. The recipe is also from the awesome Global Taste Adventure.

We washed it down with the pictured Hibiscus iced tea (aka Bissap a la Bonne Dame) that I brewed last night. So refreshing and lightly sweet that I’m brewing up another batch as I write. I think tomorrow I might use it as a base in a cocktail of some sort. (Taken with Instagram)

photojojo:

Photos of the Olympic Aquatic Centre in London have finally surfaced, and it’s a beauty. Designed by Zaha Hadid and photographed by Hufton and Crow.

via The Fox is Black.


Reblogging this because these are gorgeous shots of a beautiful space, but mostly because I know I’ll be spending *a lot* of time looking at the Olympic Aquatic Centre next year. 

I am an Olympics nut.

Fire Island Highlights, in no particular order

I spent the weekend on Fire Island—a magical car-free place where straight people (and women) are in the minority and you are never more than 2 minutes from the beach. It was my first time journeying to this destination, and though it rained for nearly the last 24 hrs that I was there, I still had a pretty wonderful time with some wonderful friends. Read on for the highlights (some might sound like lowlights but I say they made the weekend all the more memorable).
a dude walked by while this pic was being snapped and he asked if it was for grinder. #senseofhumor

  • The calmest bit of the Atlantic that I’ve ever been in in the North East
  • Seeing Cheyenne Jackson while grocery shopping and texting Daniel about it.
  • Shopping for and preparing bbq chicken for 8 people. There was a lot of: “Are you sure we need that much chicken?” “Yes, we’re EIGHT people!!”
  • Running out of propane for the grill and having to finish the bbq inside
  • Watching “Extreme Couponing” — a show about people who go to extreme lengths to pay next to nothing for their groceries— after spending a lot of money on groceries at the island’s only store.
  • Opening cans of beans and tomatoes without a functional can opener and living to tell about it. 
  • The most beautiful ears of corn ever (they were also delicious)
  • Getting unexpectedly splashed on the ferry ride out to the island
  • Hearing LOTS of Robyn coming from the neighbor’s backyard
  • The SWAN and watching D fall asleep in it for a good 20 minutes
  • The TOMS (not shoes, but the interesting/lovely people we were sharing the house with, both named Tom)
  • Beating three of my most well-read friends in Scrabble; G-A-Z-E in a triple-word-score corner clinched it for me.
  • Playing Scrabble for “community” points as well as regular points
  • Reading almost an entire novel in 2 days
  • Walking to & from the store in the rain holding a giant neon yellow beach umbrella