3rd House Journal

Noho and snow

[Viva Fresh Pasta, Northampton MA; 10/17/09]

We took a drive out to Northampton on Saturday, about 100 miles west of Boston, straight out the Mass Turnpike. D had never been there, so I showed him around campus at my alma mater as well as the many shops and restaurants downtown. After our wanderings, we ended up at Viva Fresh Pasta for an early dinner. We'd passed the place a couple of times but ultimately couldn't pass up the sweet potato ravioli with maple walnut saute on the specials menu. At least that's what D chose, quite happily. I started with a bowl of butternut squash bisque followed by grilled chicken with romesco sauce and asparagus, with fresh garlic-parsley fettuccine - all scrumptious. As the name implies, Viva Fresh Pasta makes all their own pasta, but everything else we sampled was excellent as well. We were also lucky to snag a great table in one of the two front bay windows (see above).

[Paradise Pond view, Smith College campus]

It was a rather gray and chilly day, but at least we had none of the rain that was predicted to wash out the entire weekend. On Sunday afternoon, however, it went beyond rain to fat wet snowflakes that fell all afternoon and into the evening, although generally melting on contact, at least where I live. Out in Foxboro, the New England Patriots played at what I first thought was a hockey rink when the game came on the TV because of the white field (a ridiculous blowout over the Titans, 59 to 0). We had considered going to the Head of the Charles regatta in Cambridge on Sunday until we saw first the cold rain in the morning and then the snow in the afternoon. So after running errands by car, we stayed in with the football game and I puttered in the kitchen making a turkey meatloaf (see leftovers tonight for dinner, below), warming up the house with the hot oven.

Stirred not shaken

[Chicken, asparagus and baby bok choy stir fry; 6:15pm, 5/7/09]

I ran to Russo's after work to pick up a papaya, since those at my local Shaw's market have been unreliable and I didn't feel like fighting the traffic to get to Whole Foods. Russo's had a pile of heavy, ripe papayas to choose from, along with the usual distracting mountains of ripe and beautiful produce everywhere. Focus! Since I'd steamed brown rice last night, I decided on a quick stir fry - a bunch of asparagus, a couple of baby bok choy (I think these were marked Shanghai bok choy), a handful of crimini mushrooms, scallions and fresh chicken breasts. I had ginger and garlic at home, along with sesame oil, hoisin sauce and tamari soy sauce. Quick and yummy. And enough left over for lunch tomorrow.

Eating well in Santa Fe

[Jivara Chocolate Palet d'Or - at Geronimo, Santa Fe; 2:45pm, 3/8/09]

Since you asked, yes, I did have fantastic food. I've never had anything but fantastic food in Santa Fe. I noticed when I was there 10 years ago (twice in 1999 - more on that later) that the bar was set very high for restaurants in Santa Fe. I did go to some of the top ones back then - generally Southwestern - but I also remember having the best Chinese food I ever had in Santa Fe. The standards are very high all around.

My first night in Santa Fe on this trip, I brought my book and ate at the restaurant downstairs at the hotel, the Inn of the Governors - the Del Charro, which has a saloon section and a quiet (heated/enclosed) patio where I sat. I had the salmon wrap, which came out on a lovely bed of fresh greens, stuffed with grilled salmon and black beans, artfully drizzled with light stripes of red pepper coulis and creme fraiche, with a side of cucumber salsa, all for $6.

After wandering around town the next day, I went back to the Del Charro for lunch and had a nice tostada before heading off to Absolute Nirvana for a massage. On the advice of several people on tripadvisor.com, I booked a classic massage followed by the rose petal bath (luckily at a winter discount price) that was OMG fabulous. This is actually food related, because alongside the bath you get a pot of Javanese ginger tea, fresh fruit, and an extremely intense chocolate truffle, no doubt of medicinal quality. Wish I'd brought my camera (no, not for the bath!) because the spa is located in a lovely old Victorian inn called The Madeleine, with lovely grounds. The last time I was in Santa Fe, we'd gone up to the venerable Ten Thousand Waves for massages, but I thought I'd try something different this time and it was delightful.

[Cafe Pasqual, Santa Fe; 8:45am, 3/9/09]

Another beloved Santa Fe spot is Pasqual's, which was just a block away from my hotel. I went 10 years ago, but missed it this time on my short visit. One place I did return to was Maria's New Mexican Kitchen, which claims to have the best margaritas in town (hey, mine was good!) and serves great Southwestern food. I had the blue corn enchiladas, which were deliciosas. I went with a friend of a Massachusetts friend of mine, who moved out there a year ago with her husband. We had a nice time eating and discussing the state of the world and the state of our careers, with no conclusions, but when fueled with endorphins set off by chiles and tequila, who needs conclusions. Afterward, I met up with a couple of online friends (one from Santa Fe and another from Texas) at the Pink Adobe's bar, which I'd also been to 10 years ago. (It got to be a bit of a joke, my revisiting old territory, sometimes places that the local person hadn't ever been to. My ex-bf R had been quite the travel guide.)

[My room at the Inn of the Governors]

On Saturday morning, I met up with my online friends at Tia Sophia's restaurant in the plaza (I'd had breakfast at the hotel, since a full buffet came with the price of my room). After wandering around the plaza area and touring galleries on Canyon Road, we took a siesta. The evening's plan - a trip out to Gabriel's Restaurant north of Santa Fe, one of my absolute favorites from a previous trip. They make guacamole tableside the way some restaurants make Caesar salad, and I could have been muy contenta just eating the guac and fresh warm corn chips. But the pollo en mole poblano was rich and delectable, so I'm glad I saved room for it. When we returned to Santa Fe, we went to the piano bar at Vanessie for some entertaining live music and a glass of wine to top off the night.

[Geronimo, on Canyon Road]

On Sunday, the Texans had fled south (as I mentioned, it got pretty chilly in SF, especially Saturday night!). But I got an unexpected call from M asking me if I wanted to join her for lunch at Geronimo, one of the top restaurants in town. I'd been taken there in the evening for my birthday 10 years ago, and it's quite pricey. But for lunch, it's more reasonable, and it was a welcome treat for my last day. I had a corn-encrusted chili relleno stuffed with shrimp and asiago cheese - heavenly. As you can see in the top photo, we split a dessert - Jivara Chocolate Palet d'Or, a flourless chocolate cake with apricot cream sprinkled with a few carmelized rice crispies for texture. Yum.

Did I have some good meals in Santa Fe? You could say that.

Cura enchilada

[Spinach, roasted red pepper and corn enchilada in Chimayó red chile sauce]

As if today's wintry mix (alas, not to be confused with Wintry Mix or even Wintry mix) wasn't enough, I dutifully went to work this morning (had to turn the lights on in my area as everyone else was working at home) to respond to a review of my work on a client's requested 4th draft (we usually do 2, then off to med/legal review). This is a client who on one draft requests that we do something throughout the piece and then on the next draft asks us why we did such a thing as it makes no sense. (My freelancer friends deal with this by finding a way to add extra charges to the bill, whereas my company coddles such people, but don't get me started... We are now, in these tough times, as I was informed this morning, to do even more to bend over backward to give our clients what they want. Which means of course reading their arbitrary little minds.  But did I mention how lovely our client is from another company we visited last week? I digress...)

So at the end of the long, aggravating day, I decided the proper cura was something I used to make all the time when I worked from home, but haven't much since because it's kinda messy and time-consuming: spinach, roasted red pepper and corn enchiladas, a variation on a recipe from Jeanne Lemlin's Simple Vegetarian Pleasures (it's in the "do-ahead" section at the back of the book, with other not-quite-so-simple pleasures). The recipe is still on my old blog (with a few weird characters that I have no power to fix), so you can try it yourself. The secret, as ever (and adding to the time consumption), is in the fresh-made red chile sauce made from Chimayó, New Mexican chile powder. I went to Chimayó when visiting Santa Fe a decade ago and ever since I've bought bags of the chile powder in bulk and stored it in my freezer. There is nothing like it, especially on a cold day when one is in need of good fiery inner warmth.

---

Enchilada means "with chile pepper added." Enchiladas are native to Mexico. Cura means cure.

The real reason to host the Thanksgiving dinner

[Turkey soup; 6:15pm, 11/28/08]

I've missed making the Thanksgiving -- and Christmas -- feasts that I used to prepare for my parents and myself (and occasional guests) every year until they moved away in 2005. The last couple of years for Thanksgiving I've been invited to friends' homes, which has been nice, but I missed the preparing of the feast (okay, not the cleanup, but that's another story). I've also missed the leftovers!

So this year, I had a small gathering for Thanksgiving -- just a couple of friends. I roasted a turkey breast (organic and fresh, delicious) rather than the whole beast, and various fixings -- roasted red potatoes and sweet potatoes (without a large bird in the oven, there's room in there for the sides), asparagus, homemade cranberry sauce, gravy, salad, etc. My friends brought biscuits and pies. There was way more food than any of us could eat, though we really and truly tried, so everyone ended up with some leftovers. I did keep the leftover turkey as there wasn't that much and I wanted enough to make a sandwich or two next week. Best of all, there was the carcass for boiling into broth, and yesterday afternoon I made my favorite Thanksgiving leftover: the soup.

One more yummy leftover: homemade pumpkin pie my friend brought. Yum.

Between the meal and the dessert, we took a nice long walk. But I think it'll take a couple more good walks this weekend to burn this off. Just as it should be. (Oh, and my guests were the ideal kind -- they helped clean up before leaving. For which I am very thankful.)

Sweet potato frittata - and the figs

I tried this sweet potato frittata recipe last night and - yum. It might be a new comfort food classic. I used half a green pepper and some green beans I had in the frig. And it didn't hurt to mix in some of the prosciutto I'd picked up on the way home from work to go with the fresh figs (see previous post).

I tried, but sitting and nibbling figs and prosciutto... It struck me as a lovely, sensual thing to do, with perhaps some nice sparkling prosecco, but with someone else, not alone. I have no qualms about making full meals for myself alone, and do it regularly, but somehow the fig nibbling idea just made me sad. Which is rare when it comes to food! Maybe it was the chilly dark apartment I came home to. Anyway, after making and happily eating the frittata, I found a recipe for fig newtons, stewed the figs, and tried out a few - not bad! By then it was late and I was tired (the day had started with an overflowing toilet just before leaving for work, which is already too much information I'm sure), so the figs and dough are in the frig for another evening. But lunch today is made - frittata on the go.

Give a fig

[Fresh figs off the tree; 6:45pm, 10/21/08]

My landlady has done it again. I ran home at lunch time to get something I needed, and the doorbell rang. She'd been up the street raking leaves, saw me pass by, and so came over to hand me another small brown bag, this time with figs from her tree, soft and just ripe. I feel so spoiled. Renting from Italians is not a bad thing.

So I snarfed a couple after dinner tonight. Should I just run out and get some prosciutto tomorrow to eat them with? There's probably not enough to bake into pastry. I'm not very familiar with fig-eating, 'cept the ones found in packaged Newtons or the occasional bakery fig bar...

Tomato victim

See Tomato victim search.

---

I found this tomato onion tart recipe tonight that looks fantastic! I just might make it this weekend if the ton of cherry tomatoes I have hold up til then. On the other hand, then I'll have a 10-inch cherry tomato tart on my hands that I'll have to eat or figure out what to do with... Hm, maybe the roasting and/or freezing idea was better. At any rate, I should do something with them this weekend, so this doesn't happen.

Tonight I used up some of the vine tomatoes I had left over from the party (not sure why I thought I needed a half a dozen ripe tomatoes) by cooking some pasta sauce... Sautéed diced onions, diced green pepper, minced garlic, sliced zucchini, and then three or four ripe tomatoes, chopped... leftover rotisserie chicken I had in the freezer... a bay leaf, a bit of dried thyme, salt and pepper, and then some chopped fresh basil just before ladling it over penne. Yum. (Sorry, no photo of that - I was hungry.)

Food&friends

[Before the deluge]

Among the provisions (mine and others'):  Hommus, pitas, black olives, ragula (rugelach) and nazoug (all from Eastern Lamejun in Belmont), and green olives; romesco dip with crostini; crudites with garlic-herb dip; crab dip (which I think never got put out); red grapes; cocktail meatballs (in chili sauce with grape jelly and apricot preserves - honest); Mexican chicken stew; all-butter cookies from Lakota Bakery; birthday cake; brie, Jarlsberg, cheddar, and some kind of stinky cheese (I didn't look too closely); crackers of all sorts, including Z Crackers a friend brought; sauvignon blanc, pinot grigio, pinot noir, vin de savoie, zinfandel; I must be missing something. There are lots of leftovers (but only 5 cocktail meatballs!).

I'm off to a pie-baking party this afternoon. Really.

Waiting to inhale

It's been a bit of a washout of a day, not so much because of the weather -- what is now tropical storm Hanna blowing through the area tonight -- but because I've been under the weather. I thought the humidity and rain would give me a break from hay fever, generally ragweed allergies now, but they still got set off this morning and though I finally took loratadine and it helped, it made me tired and gave me a splitting headache. This with half the normal dose, mind you.

I ran some errands and then took a walk at lunchtime. No rain yet, but the humidity was more than 90% and it got tiring pretty quickly. When I got home, I wanted nothing more than to lie down on the kitchen floor with my face against the cool linoleum. But I did have the wherewithal to turn on my bedroom air conditioner and, after being revived a bit lying on the bed, it occurred to me that I needn't be conscripted to the bedroom nor air condition the entire apartment. Every room in this place has a door. So for the rest of the day I kept both and only the bedroom and kitchen air conditioned, which I haven't needed to do all summer. Forays into the other parts of the house to retrieve things have felt like entering a tropical jungle, so I've quickly retreated.

I'm lucky to be alone today, too tired and irritable and sorry for myself to come up with the energy anyone else would need from me. But at least I did get out last night. In the late afternoon I had an appointment with Maddy, whose salon is right by the Minuteman Bikeway, and it so happened that some of my walking/biking friends were meeting up there after work. I caught the tail end of the ride and then we met up with some other friends for dinner, a spontaneous treat. Plus, my friend Martha, who lives not far from there, also called me, so after dinner I stopped off to visit with her for awhile as well. Tomorrow afternoon I have plans to see a couple of friends in Cambridge. Indulging myself in slothful hermitage today doesn't seem quite so bad when sandwiched between those social events.

Still, I hate to waste my precious time off neither being productive nor having fun. I haven't posted much here lately for similar reasons. Any creative thought that might surface is quickly dulled. Maintaining my energy is a full-time effort.

One thing I've had some success with is the allergy-related digestive issues I've had. My holistic practitioner gave me digestive enzymes to take between meals. This means no eating between meals, since they must be taken on an empty stomach. I'm used to my mid-morning snack, my mid-afternoon snack, and my sometimes late night snack, which are all off-limits. It's been an adjustment, but I've been disciplined about it. I can't tell you how much I've enjoyed my meals since doing this! Sheer heaven! I am so ready to eat when mealtime comes around. And they really go down so much better when my GI tract isn't already stuffed. :-)

I also managed to spend a bit of time today thinking about food for the birthday party (I'm throwing myself!) next Saturday. Will (hopefully) post more about that. I have no big thoughts about turning 50 other than taking care of my health. That's what Virgo is all about, after all.