Saturday, November 22, 2008

My How Time Flies

Wow, its been a while since posting. Life has been pretty busy lately, but this looks to be a productive but relaxing weekend. I spent this afternoon filing about 6 months of paperwork (paid bills, statements, paystubs, etc), and mailing in flexible spending receipts, and it feels so good to be done. We've been seeing a lot of theater recently, mostly at BAM's Next Wave Festival, so that's been filling up a lot of our time. We saw Continuous City this past week, and it was really interesting - a true melding of modern technology with the theater. And following the show we had a great dinner at No. 7, which looks to be the next happening restaurant in our neighborhood.

We also saw Complexions Dance Company last night when my parents friends had to cancel at the last minute. Half way through, we realized we had seen them last year with my parents as well. I remember them being good before, but not leaving that much of an impression. This time, however, they really shined. Highly recommend them if you can make it to The Joyce in the next week.

All the going out means we haven't been eating at home that much, but we've still had time to try out a few new recipes. And Sam's actually cooked a few of them himself! I made Apple Potato and Onion Gratin a few weeks ago, which I highly recommend, though with a tad more salt, but Sam made the Chicken with Sherry Vinegar Sauce to go with it. And later in the week, he made Pork Chops with Spiced Sweet Potatoes, also very tasty, even without the apples since I had used them all up in the gratin. And Thursday night Sam whipped up a simple pizza with mozzarella and prosciutto from some store bought dough I picked up at Trader Joe's the week before. Pretty much the only cooking I did in the last week was last Sunday's dinner of Pan Seared Chicken w. Tarragon Butter Sauce and Spaghetti Squash w. Moroccan Spices, both of which were very good and I was jealous that Sam got to eat the leftovers for dinner. That and the leftover gnocchi that I had frozen a few weeks ago, which may have been even creamier than the original. Definitely making that again.

Oh, and I almost forgot, the other thing we've been busy with is swimming at our new pool! Our swim team got kicked out of the Dodge Y, so the Brooklyn Dodgies are no longer, but we worked out a deal with LIU and we started swimming this past Tuesday! Love the new pool and am so glad to say good riddance to the Y. Sure, I'll miss having towel service and a locker to keep my stuff, but I won't miss the hot pool, poor air quality, random pool closings and broken showers on a regular basis. Hurrah!

Friday, November 14, 2008

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Economics Update

From my man Dean B.;

"There is considerable effort by many analysts to blame the current downturn on a credit crunch, implying that if we could somehow fix the financial sector, then the economy would be back on its feet. While the troubles in the financial sector are certainly exacerbating the economy's problems, the main cause of the downturn is the loss of more than $5 trillion in housing wealth, coupled with a loss of an even larger amount of stock wealth over the last year. The disappearance of so much wealth is the main reason that the economy is crashing, not difficulties that individuals and businesses face getting credit."

Sam rephrases as;

The problem is not "credit".
The problem is also not, and never was, "subprime".
The problem is an overvalued housing market.

Saturday, November 8, 2008

Gnocchi and Pork

This past week, we actually had time to cook some new stuff. First, Sam was in the mood for some pork, so he picked up some tenderloin and parsley and I tried out this recipe for Roasted Pork Tenderloin with Sage Corn Bread Crust. Very easy to make and it was a good opportunity to use some sage from our deck that has really grown huge (its actually taking over the rosemary a little bit).

And then later this week I finally got a chance to try out a recipe I've meant to try for a while - homemade gnocchi. Ricotta gnocchi is a lot easier than potato gnocchi - no ricing needed. Just some waiting for the water to drain out of the ricotta and some mixing. And the fluffiest gnocchi ever. So tasty.

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Sunday, November 2, 2008

NYC Marathon 2008




As you can see from Sam's posts below, we spent this morning watching the New York City Marathon from our favorite viewing spot (three years in a row) outside of Choice Market on Lafayette and Grand. We probably would have been happier if we had worn gloves, but otherwise it was great weather to watch the race. Now just on to some studying and laundry for the afternoon, and probably some Pan Grilled Chicken for dinner. And maybe wishing we still had some leftover chili from last week.

+ More New York City Marathon 2008 photos

NYC Marathon 2008


NYC Marathon 2008
Originally uploaded by samtny

NYC Marathon 2008


NYC Marathon 2008
Originally uploaded by samtny