5779: Shana Tova!

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At Home: Peachy!

Here they are! Jersey peaches! My favorite fruit! As in the past, they’re from Fralinger Orchards, in Bridgeton. This year, not only has Wegmans been carrying them, but so has Whole Foods.

For the first time, I made peach ice cream. Why I haven’t done it before is a mystery. The recipe I use for strawberry ice cream worked very well. I did make one addition: peach liqueur.

Super Yum!

Dining Out: April – June 2018

April
New York City
Dinner:
Thimee Table
Cote Korean Steakhouse

Lunch:
Eleven Madison Park

Late Supper:
Bar Boulud

New Jersey
Dinner:
Drew’s Bayshore Bistro

Lunch:
Old Bukhara

May
New York City
Dinner:
Frenchette
Trattoria Italienne
Dog & Bone
Maialino

Lunch:
Made Nice
The Modern Dining Room
Covina

Brunch:
Trattoria Italienne

New Jersey
Lunch:
Pete & Elda’s

June
New York City
Dinner:
Augustine
Tivoli Diner
Leonelli Taberna
The Clocktower
Trattoria Italienne

Lunch:
Eleven Madison Park
Simon & the Whale
Marta
Covina
Benoit
Dog & Bone

Brunch:
Trattoria Italienne

Late Supper:
Boucherie Gramercy
Lincoln
Tivoli Diner

New Jersey
Dinner:
SamVera
El Meson

Lunch:
Chez Catherine (50th Anniversary)
Jersey Shore BBQ
El Meson

At Home: July 4th BBQ Lunch al Fresco

During the summer months, the trees and shade inn our backyard usually make temperatures many degrees cooler than the official numbers and with a definitely difference from the front of the house which gets full sun most of the day. But for several days this week, the combo of near 100 degrees along with beastly humidity made it impossible to eat on the patio. However, on Wednesday, July 4th, there was a change. Temps in the high 80’s, less humidity, not much sun, and a gentle breeze allowed us to have our holiday lunch al fresco. Jen and Louis decided to pass on coming out, so it was just the two of us.

I grilled three Hebrew National Franks — two for Michael, one for me.

I made Chilled Zucchini Soup to start.

Batampte Deli Mustard and Sour Kraut are musts. But lately, rather than pickles, I’ve been buying Batampte Pickled Green Tomatoes. A delicious change of pace.

Franks and beans are the classic go-together. So, as usual, there were Busch’s Vegetarian Baked Beans.

I usually make cole slaw, but since I didn’t have any cabbage, I put together some Macaroni Salad. The mix includes onions; green, red, and yellow peppers; and black and pimento-stuffed green olives.

Michael had the Yankee ballgame on (on the radio) while we ate.

My Plate

Drinks: Dr. Brown’s Cream Soda for me. Diet Coke Zero for Michael. He also had Perrier

For dessert, Homemade Strawberry Ice Cream. I made a quart last month. Since I didn’t do pick-your-own at Battleview Orchards this year, we bought boxes of the berries their crew picks each day at their market.

By the way, Michael pointed out to me that, in line with the occasion, he changed his watch band to the appropriate colors.

I hope everyone had a wonderful 4th!

The photo set for this meal can be viewed on my Flickr here.

July 4, 2018

Appropriate for today’s holiday, James Cagney in Yankee Doodle Dandy, one of my favorite movies. I love watching him dance.

Addendum:  Turned out, TCM showed Yankee Doodle Dandy in the evening. Of course, I watched it for the umpteenth time.

At Home: About Tomorrow’s Weather Forecast…

Happy Birthday, Jen!

50!

June 8, 1968

At Home: First Franks of the 2018 Season

Those who come here with any regularity know that chez nous, the hot dog season begins on Memorial Day Weekend and will end on Labor Day Weekend. This year’s inaugural event took place on Saturday which, weather-wise, turned out to be the best of the holiday weekend’s three days. With our brand new umbrella in place, lunch for two was on the patio.

Our franks of choice are Hebrew National. They come in packages, but I prefer to buy them from Wegmans where they come on strings. They didn’t have any regular franks, so I bought two “specials.” Each weighs about 4 ounces which is perfect for portion control.

To start:

Chilled Zucchini Soup

Accompaniments:

Sour Kraut and Pickles

Homemade Red Cabbage Salad

My plate:

On the side:

Busch’s Vegetarian Baked Beans

Drinks:

For dessert, Michael had two scoops of Breyer’s Vanilla (which I didn’t photograph), while I had Red Velvet Cake from ShopRite’s in-house bakery. It’s one of my favorite dessert, and theirs is surprising delicious! It comes two slices to a plastic see-through box which makes it difficult to pass up. This is the top half of one slice. An exercise in portion control.

The complete set of photos for this lunch can be viewed on my Flickr here.

At Home 2018: New Umbrella Up!

As happens every year at the start of the Memorial Day Weekend, Michael puts up the patio umbrella. However, when he tried to do so on Friday, he discovered that the 21-year-old umbrella that matches the patio set had an unfixable problem. Obviously, we needed to buy a new one. Since there was no way we could get a matching umbrella, we figured we’d get one in a solid white or green. Checking on line, we found that Central Jersey Pools 15 minutes from our house sells patio umbrellas. Michael snapped a photo of the fabric with his iPhone. When we showed the photo to the gal who was helping us, she immediately recognized the fabric, and even knew its name! She told us that at the time we bought the set (from Fortunoff’s), that fabric was No. 1 in popularity and remained so for 10 years. Once we told her the table size, she selected an umbrella in green that was a perfect match.

Et, voilà!