This is authentic |

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

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…

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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.

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…

Monday, Monday (on Wednesday, which isn’t as bad as last week, right?)

food - links

Look at these amazing butterfly cookies they were selling at Dean and Deluca the other day. Their mere existence is enough to renew one’s faith in humanity, isn’t it?

This time it’s all about food, which is what I’m thinking about all the time for some reason I can’t explain…

A summer without ice cream is… well… something I can’t print on this blog, but hanging out with Mr Softee might not be your thing. (It probably shouldn’t be, if you ask me…) If you’re in NYC this summer, check out these slightly more wholesome ice cream options.

My name is Yeh is a great food blog. Check out the great weekend she just had…

How many times have you asked the question: “What am I going to cook with all of this stuff from the farmer’s market?” Cooking, the brand new food site from the New York Times has the answer…

Tonight I ate too much dinner. In fact, I eat too much dinner most nights. Perhaps I should take Miann at Free People Blog’s advice and listen to my body a bit more closely.

When recently visiting A Cup of Jo, I saw a post called “How to get your kids talking at dinner.” I, of course, had to click on it, even though my daughter is one of the most talkative kids you’ll ever meet. Turns out it was re-posted from Dinner a Love Story, which is another blog I frequent. And, not surprisingly, it has some good tips.

Now who wouldn’t want to make a bourbon slush punch THE MINUTE you saw the recipe?

Martha Stewart isn’t Martha for nothing. Take her delicious cook it in one pan style pasta with fresh tomatoes I just saw re printed (with slight adjustments) on Food52… I’m making this TONIGHT. Or actually, tomorrow night. Tonight I’m going out!!

Monday, Monday on Friday (sigh…)

links

This is completely random and has nothing to do with the post below, but I just spotted this photograph randomly on a friend’s facebook page. I shot it over 20 years ago during the Rodney King riots in Los Angeles. We were marooned up in the hills for over 24 hours… perhaps that explains the captain’s hat…

Ok ok I know I usually do these links posts on Mondays. Maybe, if things are really hectic, it’ll come out on a Tuesday. But posting one of these on a Friday is a new low, even for me. Sorry about that. I’m hoping to become a completely different person who creates systems for getting everything done in a methodical and timely manner, and for that, I’m going to need some help. I spent a little time online looking for the answer, and while I came up with a few ideas, I meandered off the track (as usual) Here’s hoping next week is more focused.

In case you’re interested, here are a few things I found this morning during my search for more productivity…

First off, I’m getting Elevate for my phone. Because lord knows my poor brain needs help in the memory department…

Hmmmm… do I need to pay more attention to these 10 tips for staying focused while working at home?

Oh no! Is this imminent kale shortage going to get in the way of my getting enough of my favorite green juice? How will I keep my energy up?

Or maybe I should not worry about what greens are in my juice and just be glad we narrowly escaped total catastrophe caused by a massive solar storm two years ago.

Here are 7 ways your home can help you have more energy, according to Apt Therapy. It might sound a bit far fetched, but I’ll try anything, at this point. No kale required.

Imagine how much simpler life would be if we didn’t have to keep track of all of those pesky passwords. Evidently, that time is right around the corner…

Hey I just found out that the entire New Yorker archive is available this summer for free. Online. Does sitting at home reading beautifully written articles about fascinating people by some of my all time favorite writers count as being productive?

I was planning on heading into Manhattan this morning to do a few errands, but (surprise!) the L train was delayed, so I bailed. To avoid future surprises like this, we addled L train riders can check the MTA alert page for real time updates on all service (bus, subway, LIRR…) Or you can check the more L specific istheLtrainrunning.com, though they don’t go into detail about delays, etc, so you could easily still walk into a nightmare.

Yesterday, at some point…

food - photography

… I finished the box of these delicious two moon rosemary sea salt shortbread cookies I got from Good Eggs last week.

Luckily, I had the presence of mind to photograph them before they disappeared. Unfortunately, I did not think to include another box in my next order, which makes me very sad.

How I will survive, I do not know.

Yesterday, at some point…

photography

I’d like to say that the reason I have been MIA from this blog for a couple of days is that my husband swept me up and took me on a whirlwind vacation in Paris.

Unfortunately, that is not the case.

In real life, I have been getting our house ready to surrender to another family for the month of August. This is the second summer we are renting our place, and while this year’s prep is less painful than last summer’s, it is still a drag. I’m not gonna lie.

But we still have to eat. So rather than a photo of my basement that is filling up with boxes of our stuff, I give you this shot of the farmstand from which I bought the pint of gooseberries that I am planning on turning into jam.

Just as soon as I finish scrubbing down the railing, cleaning the front porch, scouring the oven…

Any excuse to serve up some vinegar

food

Our dinner the other night, thanks to the NY Times new cooking site and my daughter’s love of vinegar.

My daughter has long been a fan of vinegar in general. Pickles are one of her favorite foods, and she tends to lick the salad plate if I’ve made balsamic vinaigrette. So imagine my joy when I encountered this vinegar chicken recipe by Mark Bittman while trolling the almost overwhelmingly extensive and superb new cooking site from the New York Times.

Oh happy day. I get to go to Iacono in East Hampton, my favorite chicken farm, to pick up a fresh bird, maybe stop at the farm stand across the street for a side and we’ll be good to go.

And good it was. The chicken is perfectly crispy, the vinegar sauce is mellow but flavorful, the whole thing is done within 40 minutes with minimal prep (I think the most difficult part is cutting up the scallions) and my daughter lapped it up.

I’ve put the recipe below, but if you are feeling adventurous, here’s how it looks on the NY Times cooking site which is still in beta (Exciting! Get in on the ground floor!) and well worth checking out.

If you really want to go all out and learn all about the history of the dish and why it is a Bittman favorite, you can always check out the original article in the Paper Of Record.

Oh and the side dish of carrots, also delicious, is beyond easy. Just drizzle some cut carrots with olive oil, a little salt, and some chopped parsley and roast them in a 400 degree oven till they’re brown (about 15 mins), turn them over so the other side gets a chance to catch up (another 10 minutes or so) take them out and enjoy.

And now, without further ado, Mark Bittman’s Chicken with Vinegar

Ingredients

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 3-pound chicken, cut up for sauteing
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
¼ cup minced shallots or scallions
1 cup good red-wine vinegar
1 tablespoon butter (optional)

Preparation

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Set a large ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat. Add oil; when it is hot, place chicken in the skillet, skin side down. Cook undisturbed for about 5 minutes, or until chicken is nicely browned. Turn and cook 3 minutes on the other side. Season with salt and pepper.

Place skillet in the oven. Cook 15 to 20 minutes, or until almost done (juices will run clear, and there will be just a trace of pink near the bone). Remove chicken to an ovenproof platter. Place it in the oven; turn off the heat, and leave the door slightly ajar.

Pour all but 2 tablespoons of the cooking juices out of the skillet (discard them). Place skillet over medium-high heat, and add shallots; sprinkle them with a little salt and pepper, and cook, stirring, until tender, about 2 minutes. Add vinegar, and raise the heat to high. Cook a minute or two, or until the powerful acrid smell has subsided somewhat. Add 1/2 cup water, and cook for another 2 minutes, stirring, until the mixture is slightly reduced and somewhat thickened. Stir in butter, if desired.

Return the chicken and any accumulated juices to the skillet, and turn the chicken in the sauce. Serve immediately.