August, 2014 | This is authentic

August 2014

Yesterday, at some point…

We had lunch at La Fondita in Amagansett, which is well worth a voyage down the over-travelled Montauk Highway if you are in this neck of the woods. Delicious street style Mexican food, picnic tables or blankets by the pond, cheese quesadillas for the little ones, watermelon juice…

This photo was taken while waiting very patiently for the number 15 to be called…

La Fondita
74 Montauk Highway
Amagansett, NY
631-267-8800
open every day

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Yesterday, at some point is a series of photographs that describe a moment I experienced during the previous day. The posts are meant to be stand alone images, though at times I can’t control myself, and I end up expanding the caption into a more lengthy bit of text. Hopefully the extra information is useful, or at least interesting. If not, feel free to ignore it.

Yesterday, at some point…

food - photography

A perfect summer meal…

Baked fresh halibut with a charissa/yogurt sauce, fresh broccoli sprouts, tomato/mozzarella salad with fresh basil and perfect, sweet, barely cooked corn on the cob.

A heartfelt thank you to my extremely gifted husband for cooking this meal and creating a perfect ending to a wonderful summer day.

Monday, Monday– or more links about sleeping, shopping, summer…

links

My daughter made me go to the Sag Harbor carnival three (3!) times last week. It is a miracle I am still standing.

First off, in case you missed it, T magazine published a great story this week about my favorite suppliers of farm fresh food, Good Eggs. And while you’re reading the piece, you might just recognize a name or two. (I just happened to be eating lunch there during the interview!)

My husband is obsessed with air conditioning and sleep. He is also supposedly trying to lose weight, but refuses to put aside time to exercise. Turns out, if this recent study is right, all he really has to do is sleep in a chilly room and the pounds will just melt away. Sounds like a match made in heaven!

And while were on the topic of sleeping, check out this Ultimate Bedtime Routine For Better Sleep. I bet if we all turned off our electronic devices an hour before bedtime, we’d not only sleep better… we’d be happier people.

NYC water towers are about to get a makeover…

Oooh… the new Apiece Apart line has just hit the racks at Bird. Run, don’t walk…

Uh oh… summer is almost over. Go to The Archivast and buy a vintage photograph from the New York Times to keep that warm feeling going all year long. (They’re having a sale!)

But before the season is out, maybe you’re going to spend an August weekend at somebody’s house and need to bring along a hostess gift… check out this beautiful post on summertime gift wrapping and turn even a jar of jam into a priceless present!

Amber Waves of grain, and flowers, and tomatoes, and greens…

food - places

These are some of the delicious tomatoes at Amber Waves just hanging there on the vine, waiting to be picked…

Amber Waves Farm is a little slice of heaven, located down a semi secret stone driveway behind the totally not secret, overpriced, full on Hamptons-stylie Amagansett Farmer’s Market which is actually an outpost of Eli Zabar’s in NYC. Now to be fair, Zabar’s swept in and saved the old market, which was poised to go out of business. I am genuinely happy that the local farmers still have a retail outlet for their goods and are able to keep on keeping on. But I am letting other people pay $15 for a small crate of plums. Me and my more limited bank account shop elsewhere, for the most part.

One of our options is the just new this year non publicized retail table at Amber Waves. They are, for the most part, a CSA serving up the most incredible looking boxes full of their lush organic produce. But this summer they have started to offer a few things for those of us non-members who may happen to make our way down the driveway. Some of the stuff is prepackaged, and some (like the tomatoes) we go pick ourselves!

This is far from a one stop shop, as the selection is super limited, but it makes a great place to begin, as the vegetables they have right now are well worth planning an entire meal around. Plus it makes the horrors of driving on the infamous Montauk Highway feel worthwhile. And there is a little play area with two mini houses that the kids can run around in should you decide to break down and buy a watermelon juice or lemonade from the market up front and want to sit down and enjoy it.

And then, when you get home, you should consider making one of these delicious gazpachos that the great Mark Bittman has written about in the New York Times recently. One of these, some bread and maybe a salad and you’re good to go!

Here are a few photos of the farm just to get you motivated to come out…

Shorter cutting

food

This lovely photo of perfectly sliced cherry tomatoes is by James Ransom via Food52.

Today, after I pick up my daughter from camp, I am planning on heading further into the farm (her camp is located at the lovely Amber Waves Farm in Amagansett, NY) to pick some tomatoes. Because there is nothing like a freshly plucked tomato, still warm from the sun. The littlest ones taste like slightly melted candy.

For the most part, we just eat them raw out of the box, but sometimes one wants to be slightly more civilized and perhaps cut them in half and add them to a salad. Perhaps this salad also contains fresh corn and basil and mozzarella and is dressed with a white balsamic vinaigrette.

Who knows?

The particulars of the salad contents notwithstanding, one needs to slice those tomatoes and do it quickly (before they all get eaten up!) Enter this brilliant hack for slicing cherry tomatoes from the wise ones at Food52.

Don’t say I never hooked you up…

A temporary oasis

places

This tipi is one of the defining features of the temporary but no less wonderful Havemeyer Park in Williamsburg.

The other day, a friend of mine took my daughter and me to Havemeyer Park, on the south side of Williamsburg. It’s technically only open on the weekends, but the gate was open and some of the farmers were in there tending their crops and getting ready for the weekend farmers market. No one seemed to object to our being there, so in we went.

It is one of those beautiful magic spots, a real oasis sprouting out from the rubble that was this abandoned lot across from the old Domino sugar factory that is now on it’s way to becoming yet another gigantic luxury condo building. The park will soon be a part of the development as well… though there is hope that at least the garden (run by North Brooklyn Farms) will find a permanent home in a space across the street. I guess even developers want organically grown produce these days.

We had such a nice time, exploring the tipi and yurt, looking at the produce, talking to the farmers and just playing on the grass. It is well worth checking out if you find yourself in that neck of the woods. They have all sorts of classes and events there as well… both the tipi project and North Brooklyn Farms have all sorts of fun things planned for the rest of August (like regular Wednesday and Saturday farmer’s markets, yoga and kids dance classes, etc) And of course, there is the by-now-famous dirt bike track, which is open on Saturdays and Sundays from 11 to 5.

But it all has to be enjoyed before September 1, when the park is slated to turn into a pumpkin (aka part of the new Domino condo complex) so now is the time!

A few more photos for you to enjoy…

Yesterday, at some point…

art - photography

Ok so I took this on Saturday, but it’s close enough.

The brilliant, irreverent Joe Bradley threw me a total curve ball with his most recent show. Last time I was paying attention, there were lots of almost kid like drawings with very minimal color. This time around, it’s huge shiny blocks of bright primary colors, with some suggested potential activities (“VISUALIZE DOLPHINS”, “EAT A PEACH”, or my favorite “GO BUILD IN HELL”) posted on the surrounding walls.

Never a dull moment. Always a good one.

If you’re out East, check it out. You have 2 weeks.

Joe Bradley
23 Skidoo
at Karma in Amagansett
August 2 – August 16

Joe Bradley 23 skidoo karma amagansett 2014

Sound advice, if you ask me…

Monday, Monday– back on Monday at last

links

Time for a little digital cleaning!

Finally getting it together to post in a timely fashion… sorry about the last two weeks. My hope is to get my digital situation a bit more sorted this month… My daughter is in a 3 hour day camp down the road from a library, so my plan is to get some tea and go hunker down in the library reading room with my laptop and really clear out my digital universe during the next two weeks. To be honest, if all I do is clear off my desktop, I’ll be a happy woman.

But before the cleaning begins, some links to get the week rolling:

Here’s a really long, detailed and completely thorough video explaining how to remove the keys and clean your MacBook Pro (which is what I have) I am not sure I’m going to take things this far, but it’s good to have the knowledge just in case.

Apartment Therapy has a whole bunch of posts about digital spring cleaning… this one is all about cleaning out your hard drive by eliminating huge files and all of those duplicates (how many copies of Elton John’s Goodbye Yellow Brick Road does a person need?)

Here’s a list of 17 apps to help with clearing some space in our digital worlds…

But digital stuff isn’t all bad. Check out this rad new online art school for girls.

Evidently, our light bulb woes are over. Hooray! Now I don’t have to keep stockpiling my favorite incandescents.

When we get back to the city from these two weeks of beach/farm bliss, these are the types of off the beaten track museums we are going to visit.

And last but not least, we watched The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe this weekend and is was actually really good. Here’s the trailer, if you haven’t seen it a thousand times already…

This is authentic - "

August 2014