Fall Salad and Pasta

Wine: Vigneti Massa Monleale 2003

We made a Radicchio Salad, composed of Radichio, Shallots, Apples, Lemon Juice, Olive Oil, Walnuts, Saba, Gorgonzola Cheese from Sunday Supper at Lucques cookbook. We made some changes adding apples and replacing the treviso with Radicchio. This is a great fall salad. It is easy to make and tastes of fall.

We then made Orecchiette Pasta, Broccoli Rabe, Sausage from Fra Mani that we purchased from Cube, Pecorino Cheese from The Cheese Store of Silverlake. The recipe is from Cooking with Master Chefs by Julia Child. This is a wonderful pasta dish and is vey earthy. It reheats especially well.

Radicchio Salad
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Shred 1 radicchio
Thinly slice one medium size shallot
1 apple cubed
Mix well in a bowl
Add 1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 -3 tablespoons olive oil
2/3 cup walnuts
Salt and pepper to taste
Mix well
Plate the salad then top with crumbled Gorgonzola cheese and douse with Saba

Got my "P" Back

Wine:
Domaine De Nerleux Saumur-Champigny 2000
Chateau au Pont-de-Pomerol 2000


I had spilled some wine on my keyboard and had to send the computer into Sony to get fixed. For some reason the wine made it so my letter "P" wouldn't work. Glad I got it fixed because the ingrediants in this dinner have a lot of "P's"!

Bea came over to join us for dinner. Fires are ranging everywhere in Southern California and it was great to be with friend for dinner. Luckily other than the air quality we aren’t affected by the fires. For some reason they ring LA but aren’t in the LA basin itself.

We started with a fall salad. This is the first time since last fall that we have made this great salad. The salad is very easy to make. You just need (as usual) great fresh ingredients. The pomegranates were exceptionally good this year. We make the salad with Persimmons, Prosciutto, Pomegranate, Saba and Mescaline
Lettuce.

From the Bistro Cookbook by Patricia Wells Tendrons de Veau le Cameleon with Pasta. This is classic dish. Veal shanks are cooked for hours until they fall of the bone. It makes a great pasta sauce.

We had been to the newly enlarged Joan’s on 3rd Street. Who can resist Coconut Chocolate Cupcakes?

It was a very nice dinner and the wines were perfect for the food.

Fall Stew

Wine:

Virginie de Valandraud Sait-Emilion Grand Cru 2004
Batic Sivi Pinot 2004
Curran Sytrah Black Oak Vineyard 2004

Billy was on vacation and so we invited Kevin and Bea to join us for dinner. The weather has cooled in LA and it was a great fall dinner. We started with a Radicchio Salad - from the Zuni Café Cookbook.

We followed that with a great stew, Estouffade Provencale, from the Bistro Cookbook by Patricia Wells.

We had been to Campanile on Friday and a very simple and good desert. Ice Cream with a Sherry poured over it and a cookie on the side. The Sherry is called: Don PX 1971. We had never had the Sherry before and it is GREAT over ice cream, couldn’t be simpler (or better).

Estouffade Provencale
==================
2 ½ pounds stewing beef cut into 1 ½ inch cubes
2 medium onions, coarsely chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 carrot, peeled and cut into ½ rounds
1 celery rib, minced
Salt and freshly ground black pepper.
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 bottle red wine
1 bunch of fresh thyme
3 imported bay leaves
1 stip of orange zest, chopped

1. 2 days before serving the stew, combine all ingredients except the zest, in a large enameled casserole. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
2. The next day, open the lid of the casserole and cover the stew with parchment and then replace the lid.
3. Place in a pre-heated oven at 350 degrees for 1 hour
4. Lower temperature to 250 and bake 4 more hours.
5. Allow the stew to cool down.
6. Refrigerate until the fat rises to the top and can easily be scrapped off with a spoon, about 12 hours.
7. At serving time, scrape off any additional fat, reheat on top of stove until heated through, about 10 – 15 minutes, remove the bay leave and thyme, stir in the orange zest. Serve over La Macronade pasta.

8. Cook the Macaronade, then drain. Pour half the cooked pasta in a gratin dish and add 1 cup of the cooking liquid from the stew and stir. Cover with ¼ cup of Parmesan cheese. Top the mixture with the other half of the cooked pasta and cover with another ½ cup of Parmesan cheese. Broil a few minutes till browned. Serve the Stew over the pasta.

NYC Day 5 - Hot!

This was the hottest day on record in NYC for this day! It was very hot! After being in Thailand, Loas, and Cambodia we were in condition for this!

We got left the hotel and subwayed to Zabor's on the West Side where we bought some bread and rolls for the flight home. We then walked into Central Park where we met Courtney and walked around the reservoir. From there we went to a great art exhibition at the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum located in the Andrew Carnegie Mansion. The show was called: "Provoking Magic: Lighting of Ingo Maurer". He does magical things with lighting. It was really a great show.

We then took the cross town bus and the subway and went to the West Village to have lunch at a great little fish restaurant: Mary's Fish Shack. The food is delicious, just like being in New England. Loved it!

We then walked around the Village to Washington Square. It was VERY hot and humid. Like the middle of summer. We then subwayed back to Mid-town and went to the Sony store at what used to be the AT&T Bldg. We checked out the new Sony's and Courtney bought and great PC Laptop.

Then on to the rooftop of the Peninsula Hotel for drinks at sunset. It is a great outdoor location with a view of 5th Ave. A very nice hotel indeed!

From there we said our final farewell to Courtney who has made this NYC time so exciting for us. We went back to our hotel packed and then headed our for our last dinner in NYC. We had reservations at Peter Lugar Steak House in Brooklyn but canceled. Instead we went to Fatty Crab in the Meat Packing area. It is a spicy Malaysian restaurant and was recommended to us by our restaurant friends in LA. It was excellent and we really liked the neighborhood. We will explore the area some more on our next NYC adventure.

We tried to reach our friend Harsha but he was unavailable. Our biggest regret was that we weren't able to see our in-law Jessica and her new husband Danny this time, we will on our next NYC visit!

Back to the Hotel, and ready to fly back to LA tomorrow and see our cats and have dinner at our friends Billy and Kevin!

NYC Day 4

We left the Hotel and took the Subway to the look at the new New York Times building. We were not overly excited. We then taxied to Columbus Circle to see the nicest mall in NYC - the Time-Warner Center. Same stores as everywhere but an incredible view through the window of Columbus Circle. I walked over to view the new Hearst building and then we went to see more of the West Side to a flea market, where we were met by Courtney. Best of the flea market a guy he sells reconditioned vintage toasters. He was great and the toasters were fun.

We grabbed a sandwich and ate while walking to a clothing store: Really Great Things. We then took the subway to SOHO. We went to a huge Chinese gift store but it was kind of tacky, then on to the Yohji Yamamoto Store which was not tacky, but very black! The salesmen recommended two other stores that we went to, one was great: IF Soho.

We then went to the Mercer Hotel for drinks but they won't serve drinks to non-registered guests in the lounge. We walked to the Soho Grand Hotel which does serve wine to all in a far more beautiful room. It is a great Hotel and we would consider staying there but don't really like the location. We then subwayed and taxied to dinner at Momofuku Ssam where we met Yuh who we know from visiting her store near Tokyo and then re-meeting in Santa Fe. Scott joined us and we basically ate the menu and drank a lot! The food was very good, I really liked the ribs. They were terrific!

We then joined Courtney and Scott and they took us in a taxi to our Hotel.
Great Day!

New York City Day 3

We went Gemini Gel Gallery and met Courtney. We walked down to Julie's Artisan and Cathy and Courtney did their usual checking out of the clothes and jewelry. From there we went to Takashimaya on 5th Ave. The store from Tokyo. Very high end nice things! We ate Bento Box lunch at their restaurant. I had a great tea made from soba. On to the remodeled Museum of Modern Art. It is huge and confusing! Then to the gift stores. From there we went to Aaron Faber Gallery. Vintage watches and jewelry. We then bussed to Courtney and Scott's. They have a great home on 5th ave directly across the street from the Guggenheim Museum. We had wine and sushi. Cathy and I then went to a lobster dinner at a Greek Restaurant estiatorio Milos. Costly but good. We then walked back to the hotel enjoying the warm NYC weather.

New York City Day 2

Ferris and Courtney met us at the Hotel. It was a full NYC day.
Remember I have lost the ability to use a key on my keyboard. It is the letter following "O' before "Q".

We went first to the Ja-an Society and saw the show there.
We then went to the Morgan Library to see the new addition. Very Nice!
We then went to a Moroccan Restaurant near the Morgan, named: Barbes Restaurant. The food was great.
Went downtown to Tribecca.
Went Gallery Gen then on to Issey Miyaki.
We always wanted to visit the store where we had ordered our good knives, Korin. An amazing variety of knives.
Next on to see the World Trade Center hole in the ground. There is a tremendous amount of construction going on there.
We subwayed back to the Asia Society where we saw a Kashmiri Art Show and a Chinese artist: Zhang Huan: Altered States. It was an a great show. Drinks sitting on the floor and then on to the Bollywood Lecture.
We then met Scott and had an Indian Meal at a very good restaurant: Dewat.
It was a great very full day! The weather was hot during the day, but wonderful at night.

New York City Day 1

This is going to be a difficult blog. Last night when we returned from seeing Clint Eastwood introduce his favorite Western "Unforgiven" - it was a benefit for the AFI. I think I had one to many wines. I knocked over a glass of wine I was drinking on my Sony Viao Com-uter or la-to- (dashes stand for the letter that follows “O” and comes before "Q" in our ABC's) doesn’t work. Neither does my backs-ace. When I return to LA I will either get this damn thing fixed or buy a new one. So what follows will be without the letter that follows “O”!

We arrived in NYC at 7 in the evening. We checked into our hotel (Marriott on 49th and Lexington) and went to our room. Some one had left a towel on the floor and there were no bathrobes so I called room service they immediately changed our room to a great room with a fantastic view of the Chrysler Bldg.

For dinner David at Mozza had arranged reservations for us at Casa Mono, one of Mario B’s restaurant. It was great. He has two very tiny restaurants that are next to each other. First we went to his very tiny S-anish wine bar (remember I can’t use the letter following “O”) and drank some rose, then we went next door for Ta-as. It was great. I feel like I am lis-ing like a true Barcelonian! At any rate, the restaurant is small, loud and good! We had Fried Calamari, Toast with Tomato and Garlic, Razor Clams, Fideos with Clams, Scallo-s, and a dessert with dessert wine. It is a great restaurant. Thank you David. The weather in NYC is wonderful: warm and dry.