My Birthday Lunch

Today hubby treated me to my birthday lunch. We had reservations a couple of days ago on the actual BDay day, but the blizzard rolled into town, and we postponed the lunch until NYC was functioning again.

Does anyone recognize this?

Or, how about this?

Here’s a picture of hubby with the menu:

(Isn’t it cute how he purposely color-coordinated his outfit to match the menu?!)

Yep, we dined today in splendor at Bobby Flay’s Mesa Grill on 5th Avenue here in New York City.

Hubby had the pumpkin soup:

and the sweet potato ravioli:

I enjoyed the squid:

And a wonderful striped bass:

And we finished the meal by splitting a piece of 7-layer coconut cake:

Everything was absolutely out of this world! You can access the menu and read all about Mesa Grill here:

http://mesagrill.com/

Around Thanksgiving, Bobby Flay was on CBS and shared his recipe for his pumpkin soup. Here it is – Bobby won’t mind if I post it here? If he does, please let me know and I will remove the recipe!

Mesa Grill’s Pumpkin Soup with Cinnamon Crème and Roasted Pumpkin Seeds
Serves: 6-8

Pumpkin Soup
4 cups enriched chicken stock or low sodium canned chicken broth or vegetable broth
3 cups pumpkin puree (not flavored pie filling)
1 teaspoon ground Mexican cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
2 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons maple syrup
2 teaspoons chipotle puree
3/4 cup crème fraiche
Salt and freshly ground pepper
Roasted pumpkin seeds (recipe below)

1. Bring 3 cups of the stock to a boil in a large saucepan over high heat. Whisk in the pumpkin puree, 1 teaspoon of the cinnamon, ginger, allspice, nutmeg, honey and chipotle puree. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add more stock, if the soup is too thick.

2. Remove from the heat and whisk in 1/4 cup of the crème fraiche and season with salt and pepper to taste.

3. Mix together the remaining crème fraiche and 1 teaspoon cinnamon until combined.

4. Ladle the soup into four bowls; drizzle with the cinnamon crema and sprinkle with roasted pumpkin seeds.

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds
Makes 1 cup

1 cup raw pumpkin seeds
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
Kosher salt

1. Preheat the oven to 350º F.

2. Toss the seeds with the oil and season with salt to taste. Spread the seeds evenly on a baking sheets and bake for 25-30 minutes, tossing occasionally, until they are lightly golden brown and crisp. Let cool. Can be made 2 days in advance and stored in an airtight container.

YUM, YUM!

Thanks Bobby, and thanks hubby!

xoxo,

SAllan

A Cautionary Tale

A cautionary tale, my friends. (“Tale”? or”Tail”? No – “Tale”!)

Please – ALWAYS be sure to have your pet wear up-to-date ID tags.

Hubby and I were walking across Central Park the other day. We were doing our normal dog observing, when I spotted a leashless dog walking beside a gentleman. When they neared us I asked the man “Is that your dog?” and he shrugged helplessly and said “No”. Hubby and I petted the dog, who was a Brown Lab with a very gray muzzle and tremble-dy legs. A VERY sweet dog wearing a Christmas collar with no tags. We led the dog to a nearby park bench and sat with it while hubby dialed 311 (NYC help line) – hoping to reach someone within the park.

Meanwhile, a jogger stopped and asked us about the dog. When we told her the tale, she said that she would continue jogging and would be on the lookout for anyone who appeared to be anxiously hunting for their stray beast. Then a park ranger drove by and we flagged her down.

In my mind I was already working out how we’d take doggy home (certain our cat Sammy and Dog would get along famously!), run off some quick flyers and come back to the park to distribute. I knew whoever would put a holiday collar on their dog would not have knowingly abandoned it. But as we’re working out details between hubby and myself, the ranger and the 311 attendee, the jogger came back into view shouting that she met someone who was helping someone else look for her missing dog. Next, the other woman came into view. This lady had her dog on a leash and explained how she had just met someone across the park who was frantically searching for her lost dog, Ella – an 11-year-old Lab. Ella!

We all hugged, and with tears running down not just a few cheeks, with “Happy Holidays” and “Thank you so much” to the jogger and the park ranger, the dog walker put her leash on Ella and we crossed the park with both dogs in tow, searching for the rightful owner.

The dog walker said that she had spoken with the owner a half-hour earlier – didn’t get her name or number – so we were hopeful that she would still be nearby. Before long we saw the frantic woman and we called out to her. She turned to us and began to sprint towards us. The dog walker removed her leash from Ella’s collar and Ella began running to her mistress. It was just like a slow-motion scene in a movie! The lovers (I mean, the dog and human) met in each other’s arms (I mean – oh, you know what I mean!) and happily everyone was reunited and thrilled about it. Again, hugs and thank yous were passed around, and more hugs. The distraught owned said that she had just that morning put the holiday collar on Ella, leaving the ID tags on the old collar – and Ella had slipped away. We gave Ella one more hug and sniffled as they turned to go home. We were so happy that Ella and her mom had found each other, so very happy that so many New Yorkers cared about Ella, yet just a tiny, smidgen sad that Sammy would never know Ella.

xoxo,

SAllan

These Are A Few Of My Favorite Things

Hubby gave me some very nice gifts this Christmas. Amongst my favorites:

“As Always, Julia”

This book is a fascinating read for any foodie out there – I cannot put it down! Letters between Julia Child and Avis DeVoto (who helped Julia throughout her career) – these letters begin when Julia & team were roughing out their masterpiece-to-be cookbook “Mastering The Art Of French Cooking”. Letters unintended to be read by others – frank, funny, informative and charming.

For music, I received:

The Crosby-Clooney radio sessions just put out on cd called “Bing & Rosie” – 61 tracks of songs, jingles and interaction between the two singing sensations as previously only heard on the radio.

And, the traditional Wheat Pie – we get for my mom-in-law F every holiday. She loves it, and we do too.

We buy it every year at Rocco’s in Greenwich Village:

http://pasticceriarocco.com/

Recipe from Colavita:

Easter Wheat Pie

Wheat (grano) can be purchased by the ounce in an Italian Specialty Market. For this recipe use 2 1/2 ounces or 1/2 cup. Simmer grano with 1 cup water and the peeled rind of one orange to a barley form, 30-35 minutes. Cook, drain, and use in this recipe.
Origin: Italian
Ingredients:

DOUGH:
2 cups flour, sifted
1/2 cup sugar
Pinch of salt
1/4 cup butter
3 egg yolks
1 Tbsp. milk
FILLING:
1 can wheat
1/4 cup milk, scalded
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. sugar
1/4 cup citron, diced (optional)
1/4 orange peel, diced
1 1/2 lbs. ricotta
1 cup sugar
6 eggs, separated
1 Tbsp. orange water
1 tsp. vanilla
2 Tbsp. confectioner’s sugar

Preparation:

Crust:
Mix flour, salt and sugar. Cut in butter evenly through flour mixture. Stir in egg yolks one at a time. Work until dough is manageable. Add milk. Turn onto a lightly floured board and knead until smooth. Form into a ball and chill for 30 minutes. Divide the ball in half, roll on lightly floured board to about 1/8″ thick (large enough to line a deep 10″ pie plate). Butter pie plate and line with pastry, leaving 1/2″ overhang. Roll out other piece of dough and cut into 3/4″ strips for lattice topping.
Filling:
In the scalded milk, mix wheat, salt and sugar. Boil for 5 minutes. Remove from heat, add citron and orange peel, set aside. To prepare filling, beat ricotta and sugar, then add egg yolks, vanilla and orange water, blend well. Stir in prepared wheat and fold in beaten egg whites. Pour into pie shell. Arrange lattice topping over filling, flute the edge. Bake in preheated 350 degree oven for 1 hour or until firm in center. Let cool in oven with door open. Refrigerate. To serve dust with confectioner’s sugar.

I’ve never tried to make this, Rocco’s is so good – just be prepared to take a number and wait if you go on Christmas Eve day!

xoxo,

SAllan