Had a Brunello di Montalcino last night. Brought it to BYOB restaurant, Arturos in my town. It was a Scopone 2003 and I enjoyed it. Brunellos are expensive and need time to develop. I have not had many of them. This one seemed to die halfway thru the bottle. My wife did not think it was anything special. The meal was good. We had kale caesar salad. It was original and good. The kale was tender. We also had fire roasted zucchini and a margherita pizza. The pizza is baked in a wood burning oven and was really good. This place has perfected it.
Saw Swan Lake at the American Ballet Theater last week. The music and dancing were great. I find the ballet very calming. We saw the last performance by Jose Manuel Carreno. He is retiring. If he can dance Swan Lake at 43 then Derek Jeter can still play baseball at 37. After the ballet we ate dinner and went to Greenwich Village for desert. We bought pastries at Francois Payard Bakery, which is small pastry shop/cafe on Houston Street. They make rolls of sponge cake with flavored creams that are superb. We had the hazelnut and espresso mocha. Payard is on the short list of best bakeries in NY and it is very reasonable. fpbnyc.com
Was in Clearwater Beach, Florida several weeks ago and stayed at the Hyatt Regency on the beach. The hotel was very nice although I am no fan of the Gulf. It was 87 degrees in mid June. Not refreshing. However the hotel had a really good pastry chef who made interesting things for breakfast and lunch. There was banana bread, a peach tart and guava empanada. It is always good to see that large hotels employ pastry chefs. I have no idea if the person was a recent culinary school graduate or an experienced pastry maker.
I need to stock up on wines this weekend. I need some light reds and interesting whites. I will be looking for Beaujolais, Sancerre, Albarino, some sparkling wines, maybe some Italian reds that are light in alcohol, rieslings. Places of interest for wine will be Chile, Argentina, Spain, South of France, South Africa an maybe some California. Stay tuned. Let me know your favorite summer wines.
Recently had the Provenance 2010 Sauvignon Blanc from California. No oak and it was very good. I bought it for $11 but that was very cheap. Nice fruit and good structure.
Also had an Edna Valley 2006 Paragon Syrah. It has held up and is spicy like a Syrah should be. I got it for the ridiculous price of $4.50. Very good wine.
Also had a Chapoutier Cote Du Rhone Belleruche 2007. Excellent bottle and I think I paid about $10.
Had to change planes in Chicago around dinnertime a few weeks ago and had about 3 hours to kill at O'Hare. I found a Japanese restaurant in the concourse area between Terminals 1 and 2. Had a great salad with a light dressing. The salad was topped with 4 huge shrimp perfectly cooked. It cost about $18 which I think was an amazing bargain in an airport.
I have been cooking with quinoa (keen-wa) lately. It is a grain that looks like cous cous. I under cook it slightly which makes it chewier. Cook with with chicken stock, low salt preferably, and then after cooking add sauteed onions, dried fruit, pine nuts, something crunchy like kohlrabi or jicama and you have quinoa salad. Hot or cool it is good. I added some seared scallops on top of a scoop and it was delicious.
Just bought the first fresh sour cherries of the season. It may also be my only chance for fresh sour cherries. I will be making my sour cherry tart this weekend. One of the best things on earth. Details at a later date. Hint - cherries and almond flavor go together like a horse and carriage.
It is summertime so you have no excuses for eating non locally sourced foods. My zucchinis are almost ready to eat. I have already harvested lettuce, arugula, string beans, sugar snap peas and some not too great radishes. Also local corn is out and I have been cooking it and using it fresh off the cob for salads. Blueberries from NJ are also very cheap and good this weekend. Blueberry pancakes, blueberry coffee cake and blueberries in cereal are all staples for me this time of year.
Keep eating and drinking or drinking and eating if you prefer.
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