July 29, 2012

Every Sunday I get a Brain Pickings E-Mail. Today featured an article from 1939:The Usefulness of Useless Knowledge by Abraham Flexner. Fascinating stuff.

July 28, 2012

Civic Virtue is leaving Kew Gardens. Many think it left many moons ago. LaGuardia moved it from City Hall Park because he didn't like being "Mooned" every morning.



Bowery Street Art.



Canary Melons.



Carlos Santana at the Jones Beach Nikon Theater was incredible.



Beautiful place to watch a concert.



Saw Into the Woods, unusual haunting play. Glenn Close provides the taped voice of a Giant. Got tickets at the Queens distribution, waited on line a half-hour. Life is good.



The hunt for Osama Bin Laden.

July 22, 2012

Same peaches, same Orchard, but at Forest Hills they are $3 a pond compared to $5 a pound at Union Square. The Pura Vida Boat has higher prices than Union Square.



Fresh Andouille Sausage at my local Supermarket. Made in Brooklyn. Today, will be Stuffed Peppers.



Spicy Tomato Salsa from a recipe posted by Amy Goldman, a well-known advocate for heirloom fruits and vegetables.

The key to a well-balanced salsa—apart from picking the right tomatoes—is pickling the onions in lime juice. This recipe can be combined with mashed avocados to make an outstanding guacamole. Serve as a dip for chips or spoon as salsa over grilled fish or fowl.

1 cup small-diced red onions
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
2 teaspoons salt
½ teaspoon fresh-ground black pepper
4 pounds tomatoes, peeled, seeded, and cut into small dice
1 teaspoon minced or pressed garlic
2 tablespoons minced and seeded jalapeño peppers
½ cup finely chopped cilantro

1. Combine the red onions with the lime juice, salt, and pepper in a medium, nonreactive bowl. Cover and set aside for 20 minutes while preparing the other ingredients.
2. Combine the tomatoes, garlic, jalapeños, and cilantro in a medium bowl. Add to the onions and serve immediately.

Of course, I will add my acidity killer: Sierra Mist. Also, a shot of Tequila.



In honor of my upcoming Golf Trip. Only four out of ten will actually play, the rest will drink and play cards.

July 21, 2012

Striped Bass on ice.



Garlic in the sun.



Oysters at P.E. and D.D. Seafood. Bought two pounds of Blue Fish ,Corn and Peaches. I had to forego Sycamore Farms Corn because their ears are too scrawny. I bought some hefty Pennsylvania Corn.



James Garfield was an interesting, accomplished individual. I'm glad I know more about him thanks to Destiny of the Republic. A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President, by Candice Millard.



My book didn't get delivered and I went to the Maspeth UPS facility after a phone call assured me my package was there. I descended into the fifth Circle of hell :Wrath or Sloth. Had to wait 2 1/2 hours. They can track a package from across the country but not at their site.



Fifth Annual Summer Streets! On August 4, 11 and 18 from 7 am to 1 pm.



Beer for the weekend. The Stats:

Malt: Bohemian Hanka, 100% floor-malted, Czech Republic
Hops: Hallertau Perle, Hallertau Mittelfrueh (Germany) and Saaz (Czech Republic)
Yeast: A proprietary lager strain, lent to us by our awesome pals at New Glarus Brewing of Wisconsin
Original Gravity: 14.6◦ Plato
ABV : 6.5% (estimated – Gold Standard is just about to go out for official lab analysis)
Food pairings: Spicy foods, fresh cheeses, burgers, oysters

July 20, 2012

Goodbye Jeremy Lin, it was a special time in Knicks history.

July 15, 2012

Flowers are always interesting at the Greenmarket. Here is some Orange.



Terhune Orchards had White Peaches at the Union Square Greenmarket. At Forest Hills today, Terhune had small peaches at $2.50 a pound. No tomatoes at the FH Greenmatket but they had the Pura Vida Boat from the Hamptons with Fish. Prices were steeper than Union Square.



Street Art at the Lower East Side.



I like the Jack Nicholson drawing.



Yearly stop at the South Shore, lots of people just hanging and partying.



Was on a boat and just hanging, the bar band was decent.

July 14, 2012

Happy Bastille Day !



Beer for the weekend."Abends Bit, morgens fit", "Bit in the evening, fit in the morning."



James Garfield and his assassination. Don't know much about it and now I will.



"Delenda est Carthago", "Carthage must be destroyed." Cato the Elder must be smiling.
I can't believe that I bought this book in October 2011, and never read it. Now, I have a companion book.



I went to Barnes and Noble and they didn't have it, ordered it online. They Wished They Were Honest by Michael Armstrong about The Knapp Commission. Now I have to find On the Pad by Bill Phillips which I have somewhere in my collection.



Lots of Books in the Queue, loved one starts second round of Chemo.



Bought the box set and am now on Season One. Great series.

July 9, 2012

R.I.P. Ernest Borgnine.

Pike Bishop: I'd like to make one good score and back off...
Dutch Engstrom: Back off to what? 

Pike Bishop: We're not gonna get rid of anybody! We're gonna stick together, just like it used to be! When you side with a man, you stay with him! And if you can't do that, you're like some animal, you're finished! *We're* finished! All of us! 



As always, the absolute best of NYC Restaurant Week ( List of Menus), Smith and Wollensky:

Apps
Mixed Greens Salad
Caesar Salad
Split Pea Soup
Soup du Jour
Fried Calamari
Mains
Filet Mignon (10oz.)
Surf ‘n Turf—Filet Mignon w/5 oz. Lobster Tail—($10 supplement)
Roast Beef Hash
Chicken Cobb Salad
Grilled Salmon
Colossal Lump Crab Cakes
14oz. Dry-Aged Sirloin ($10 supplement)
Desserts
Cheesecake
Bourbon Pecan Pie
Chocolate Mousse Cake
Coconut Layer Cake with Vanilla Ice Cream
$24.07

July 8, 2012

Greenmarket Plums



Wildwood BBQ Shrimp Diablo remains a top appetizer.



Their Jerk Wings are delicious.



The Rib Tips were tasty but a little overcooked.



Forest Hills Greenmarket
South side of Queens Blvd at 70th Avenue,
Open Sunday, 7/8/12 - 11/18/12
8:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.



The Web Site says Terhune Orchards will be there but it wasn't today.



Small but nice. Looks like a good Sunday place to get some extras like Corn or Tomatoes.

July 7, 2012

The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business, by Charles Duhigg, is next on the reading list.



Full Service: My Adventures in Hollywood and the Secret Sex Lives of the Stars, by Scotty Bowers with Lionel Friedberg. Saw this guy on CBS's Sunday Morning and read about it in the NYT. Then saw this in the library. I wish it had an index, but I will plow through it. Charles Laughton : How could You ?



This is a real good album of Mozart pieces. The "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" was a revelation.



So was this from The Magic Flute.



Great game last night. Today is a rare Day/Night Doubleheader.