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Summer in NJ

  • Posted on July 16, 2011 at 3:42 pm

It’s full on summer in New Jersey, there’s no doubt about that! NOAA said it was only supposed to get into the low 80’s today, but it was at least 92 when I was out.

Today’s haul from the farmers market. First of the cherry tomatoes, sugar plums, peaches, blueberries, and eggs. At the Amish I got some cheese and cherries and a peach shake. Not to mention some steaks and all natural ground beef. Oh, and some shrimp! At Griggstown I got some plums, a chicken, a biscotti and one cookie for each of us. Lol.

After all that did a run to the supermarket for some staples, and then the dry cleaners so I can be presentable when I go out in the world. Tomorrow is laundry and maybe the other supermarket. We’ll see what it feels like after brunch.

I know I’m not supposed to have too many of the tomatoes; they’re one of those vegetables that many fibro folks don’t do well with and unfortunately that does hold true for me sometimes. But for the first ones of the season, I really will just suck it up and try not to eat the whole container in the weekend. I’ve been making a concerted effort to up my fruit intake especially over the summer when I’m able to get so much stuff fresh and local. I’ve been trying for three servings a day. I know that doesn’t seem like a lot and is definitely less than is recommended but considering I could go days without any, that’s a big step. And it’s keeping me away from the vending machines if I have something at my desk that I can nosh on at that moment.

I’m not quite sure how it’s gotten to be the middle of July.

Weekend Roundup

  • Posted on June 26, 2011 at 8:38 pm

First, thanks to elements for squeezing us in for a last minute, leisurely, lovely dinner in the cube Saturday night. It was TRULY appreciated and very much needed. Mattias, thank you for the swizzling! Thank you, Justin, for helping me to understand why my greatly appreciated french toast for brunch was tasting like bacon. You have no idea how thoroughly disconcerting it was. The Husband’s cardinal rule is no greens in the eggs, mine is nothing that tastes like bacon. As much as he loves it, I can’t stand it.

Next, the farmers market continues to disappoint. Maybe it’s still too early in the season (I didn’t think so), or maybe it’s that one of the vendors I’ve come to depend on doesn’t seem to be there yet this season, even though all the materials and emails say they should be. I’ll continue to go, of course, but it was a disappointment to walk away this week with just two boxes of blueberries. We’re not big veggie eaters much of the time, especially if I’m not cooking a lot which I haven’t been.  I’ve still managed to pick up some good fruits between the Amish and Griggstown, but it’s just not what I’d been hoping for. I do also have the farmers market near the office on Tuesday, which is always good for strawberries at the very least and hopefully some more shelling peas this week.

We’re starting to plan a real vacation for August. A long weekend at someplace with both a spa and fine dining. It’s hard to find some place to meet all our parameters. Maybe we’re just too picky? No, I think I just need to refine my search a bit to find what we want- and are willing to pay. We looked at the Inn at Little Washington, but to stay on site was just a bit more than we were willing to splurge for.

After that, we’ll be planning a trip to Vermont. The 3 year plan involves a move, and VT is one of the first places to consider. Aside from the ski areas. Need to find places away from all that. Otherwise maybe New Hampshire. Need land, water and solitude. Pretty much the rest is negotiable.

New year, day 2…

  • Posted on January 2, 2011 at 9:55 pm

What a delightful way to start the year! First off this morning was brunch at the Bernards Inn, as Elements had the weekend off. Honestly? It was good, but not for what we paid for it. A nice backup for when we need something more in that area, than Princeton, but definitely not something that will be part of our rotation. Then we were off to cruise around for something to do. We ended up in Princeton looking for desk chairs for the office. Husband had been researching and looking at some schmancy ergonomic chairs online so we found the place we could try them out, and decided that they weren’t as comfortable as we had hoped they would be for the money required to be shelled out. Even an Aeron knockoff would be an option at this point! Alas, nothing they had worked for us. So back out we went wandering around Palmer Square for the first time. Stopped into to Thomas Sweet chocolates and picked up some marzipan and chocolate orange peels for me, and some mint thingys for the Husband. There was also a store where we got some olive oil. We would have gotten some balsamic vinegar but it had sulfites in it! At least we found out before we bought some. But the fig balsamic was very tasty. We also found a kitchen stuff store, what Lechters used to be if you remember that, only more bigger and  little stuff. I could get lost in there for hours and spend a small fortune (holy Le Cruset!). But today, it was actually the Husband who found a few things for himself. Then it started to rain again, so we headed back to the car.

We went for an early sushi dinner and stopped at the bakery on the way home for some fresh bread for the week and to go with the garlic olive oil we picked up.

Now to get ready to go back to work tomorrow, for the first time in the office in over a week and a half. Meh. Oh well. This too shall pass. And we have anniversary and vacation travel plans to make and look forward to.

Finally Fall

  • Posted on October 23, 2010 at 2:59 pm

It’s finally Fall here, without a doubt. Today was the last day of the farmer’s market. I got the last tomatoes- probably the last I’ll have until they open again, as even the ones from the Amish last week didn’t do it for me- and some pears.  They were down to just three tables, one of which the Market itself shares with the bread folks, and I didn’t even stop to look at what they had.

I went over to Griggstown Farm and picked up a chicken pot pie to stash in the freezer, plus a soy-ginger duck breast and a boned out chicken. I wish they sold just plain BSCB- boneless, skinless chicken breasts but I guess it’s not feasible for them so the chicken seems to be the closest I’ll come.

I picked up some all natural ground beef from the Amish yesterday. I was going to make a cauliflower soup with it at some point, but I’m liking the roasted cauliflower right now so I’m not quite sure what will happen with it. Maybe tacos on Monday.

Elements: dinner and star struck

  • Posted on July 10, 2010 at 8:56 pm

At the last minute we decided to try and get a reservation at Elements tonight, and they were able to accommodate us in the cube. I keep forgetting to bring a wrap when we sit in there. After dinner (which was fabulous) Joe comes in and asks us if we’re Star Trek fans, which we are, and asks us if we want to meet Avery Brooks who is eating in the dining room and always comes back to the kitchen before he leaves. Um, wow, yes. Avery Brooks. Captain Benjamin Sisko. A few minutes later it was just as they said, first his wife came back, then he did, to thank the kitchen, and then Joe brought him over to introduce him to us. He was genuinely nice, asked our names, where we lived. We chatted briefly about the food, “the man is BAD” he said referring to Scotty in the kitchen, and we had to agree. I’ve got to admit to being a bit awe-struck over this. OMG, we just met Avery Brooks!!!! So seriously cool.

Dinner was fabulous as usual. The fois gras was phenomenal, served with cherries and chocolate and granola. The skate was unexpectedly served with sesame seeds so I didn’t enjoy very much of it, but what I did have was excellent. Joe sent out three desserts for us to try- the tres leches, strawberries including a strawberry “pop tart” and some fresh blueberries , and banana panna cotta with chocolate peanut butter ganache atop a rice krispies disk.

We got to meet Avery Brooks. What a cool way to end the evening. Thanks, Joe!!

still here

  • Posted on June 13, 2010 at 7:59 pm

I’m still here. Hanging in and hanging on. It’s the start of summer already, and I’m not quite sure where the time has gone.

Yesterday was the first day of the Montgomery Farmers Market. It seemed a bit smaller than last year, but no matter. English peas are still in season- I should’ve gotten more than I did (’cause they’re all gone already)! Hopefully next week they’ll still have some and then I’ll get a pound or two. I got some blueberries too. I got an Olive loaf for the Husband and some local honey, and barely resisted the raisin challah. I’m not sure what bakery they’re from this year, I think last year was Witherspoon. The multigrain rolls looked good too. Fresh mozzarella from Griggstown. Next week I think I’ll get some mushrooms too, and some eggs. I’ve been getting the weird craving for eggs again so it’s time for the annual mushrooms and egg. I got some cherries from Tree-licious; turns out the spray them with grape juice to keep the birds away!

Then it was off to the Amish for more breads and snacks (chocolate chip whoopie pies!), some melon, cider and lemonade. Chocolate malt balls and some mints. A few chocolate orange peels to snack on. What can I say, I have a weakness for them! Quick run to the supermarket and then back home to do as little as possible for the remainder of the day.

We had a delightful brunch at Elements today, did a bit of laundry, tried to catch up on a few things and still rest.

How is it the middle of June already?

dinner at elements

  • Posted on April 24, 2010 at 11:42 pm

Work has been insane, more than 70 hours a week for me, ever since we got back from Florida.  The guys at elements have been blogging and Facebook-ing and posting pictures. First it was the local chicken liver pate. Then it was the first of the season morels. There was also the sour cherry dessert, but that may have been after I made the reservation. Somewhere in there Mattias had made a rhubarb cooler and posted in their bar blog. The picture of the morels did it for me, though, or more accurately I knew it would do it for the Husband and I’d been jonesing for a good dinner out.

“Husband?”

“Yes, wife?”

“elements has first of the season morels….”

“when can we go?”

“I’ll call and ask.”

A day or so later I finally remembered to call and the young lady who answered was able to accommodate us at 5 pm on Friday in the Cube, which is their private room adjacent to the kitchen. The chef’s table in the kitchen was already booked so this was really just perfect for us. Score! It also meant I’d need to stop working at a reasonable hour to get dressed and ready to go because I really did want to try and relax and enjoy myself. To say it had been a hell of a week is an understatement.

We arrived a few minutes early and got to hang around with the staff out back behind the kitchen before service started. It was nice to be missed as much as we missed them. It seemed the NY Times review photographer was coming that night at 7 pm to take the pictures for the review they had just gotten. You’d think if it was just for pictures, they’d come at an easier time than Friday or Saturday night!  After being seated, we looked at the menu and realized we were in trouble- there were just too many amazing choices! This was definitely one of those menus where there were more things up the Husband’s alley and I had a harder time. We ended up sharing a number of different dishes and everything was just incredible from start to finish.

We’re bad foodie bloggers. We completely forgot to write down or photograph entire courses, so most of the descriptions will be straight from their menu.

Amuse was a trio of interesting tidbits. Beef tongue wrapped around sushi rice with pickled carrots (yum); house cured something sausage-like fresh not dried with a grain mustard (which I liked), and a third bit with piquillo peppers and tasted fishy.  This last one even the Husband liked!

chicken liver pate with pheasant egg, mushroom, leek with crispy toast points

What a way to start out the meal. I knew I had to have this first because if the Husband did I may have only found some mushrooms left! Seriously good.

short rib pierogi  caraway, potato, leek, sour cream

These were outrageous. The short rib pierogi had the most amazing texture and I would definitely order these again.

spaghetti carbonara  our bacon, peas, duck egg

I only had a bite of this but it was very good. How bad can it be with their own bacon and these fresh tiny peas?

sablefish  romesco, marcona almond, charred scallion spaetzle, shrimp

romesco sauce shmeared across the plate. scallion spaetzle with Laughing Bird shrimp and spinach. oh yum. and the fish was good too.

Columbia river sturgeon  local asparagus, osetra caviar, quail egg, garlic

We got two small portions of this, mostly so I could give the caviar to the Husband. This was outrageous. The fish was perfectly cooked. The asparagus was pureed into a soup or broth that we both sopped up with bread and a spoon. I don’t usually eat eggs but knew there was no way I was giving that one up to the Husband. Perfectly soft cooked,

local skate  split pea & ham, spring onion, morels, carrot

We haven’t had skate in a long time and this was a perfect version of it. My only issue with it was that to me it tasted strongly like caraway, which I don’t really like. But otherwise it was fabulous. Came apart easily with a fork. Just so so good.

tilefish  local morels, ramps, horseradish, spinach, quinoa, white asparagus

Yum, yum and yum. By this point I was getting full, and wanted to save room for dessert, so the Husband got most of it. This was just insanely good.

When we first looked at the menu I knew I was going to be in trouble with dessert. I have a weakness for anything cherry, and there happened to be two cherry desserts on the menu. So with a little encouragement from everyone we ordered both, plus the vanilla panna cotta for the Husband.

black forest cake. black cherry, chocolate, lambic granite, sponge

I’ve got to say, I’m often impressed and intrigued with the desserts and presentations that Joe and the team come up with here. I know enough never to get my heart set on an exact anything and have never been disappointed. Tonight was no exception. Black forest cake was almost like a devil dog without the chocolate coating, chocolate cake rolled with creamy frosting of some sort. Served with two griotes (I snagged the Husband’s), some tasty and really interesting chocolate sponge, and a bit of chocolate topped with the lambic granite, which the Husband loved. Next time, I would probably ask them to hold the granite but that’s just me.

vanilla panna cotta. shortbread, spring pea ice cream, peanut, bacon

Who would’ve thought pea ice cream? It was the most incredible shade of green and really tasted like spring peas! Not something I’d ever order at an ice cream shop but it really did work here. I wasn’t crazy about this dessert, as bacon so doesn’t do it for me, but the Husband was, and thought it was delicious.

sour cherry bar. nilla waffer ice cream, cookie crust, “cherries”

Yum. Nilla wafer ice cream. Sour cherry bar was outrageously good and the “cherries,” even the Husband’s eyes lit up when he ate one. I’m not quite sure what it was made out of but it sure tastes like sour cherry!

As always, our thanks to the staff for a fabulous meal, that was as much food for the Spirit and Soul as it was for the body. From Mattias hiding the bottle of sake from Joe and Scotty (sorry, guys!) so that it would be there for the Husband,  to reassuring us that we could do whatever we wanted to make our own tasting menu, they went over and above for us, particularly for a busy Friday night.  We kept saying to each other, “why has it been so long since we’ve been here?” From start to finish this was an extraordinary meal, and just what we needed.

Raleigh recap

  • Posted on April 6, 2010 at 11:32 pm

From Savannah, we headed out to Raleigh. We were going to break up the last big push of driving into two days, see a new city, and get a chance to see some old friends who have moved down there a couple of years ago.

All started out well enough. Packed up and checked out of the hotel, stopped to top off the gas tank and on the road we went. We figured the trip would be about 5 hours, no problem. Once we arrived, we had a massage scheduled for the Husband, a carriage ride around town, and then dinner with our friends.

We made really good time on the road, so much so that we stopped for lunch at Tart’s 50’s Diner off Exit 77 on I-95, it’s on a side road on the  north-bound side. Shiny red vinyl. A Wurlitzer jukebox. Cheap food. Everything made fresh, our waitress said, except the veggies that are on the steam-table, but everything else is fresh. It certainly tasted it! I started with some fried mushrooms and the Husband had fried macaroni and cheese bites. I had one, and they tasted like Kraft Macaroni and cheese in the blue box- that’s NOT a bad thing, mind you, I used to like it quite a bit. The Husband had eggs and bacon and french toast (I think), and I had a mushroom swiss burger with sweet potato fries. My mistake was the burger. It wasn’t bad by any means but in most cases I shouldn’t order a burger out. The Husband makes them too well and I’ve been spoiled by some good diners through the years. And -never- order a burger where they don’t ask how you want it done. I was so spaced I forgot to specify and she didn’t ask. I like my burgers rare to medium rare and this was definitely cooked through- I don’t even know what to call it other than for the Husband, not me. I was so hungry, though, which is why I’d settled on the burger in the first place. It definitely wasn’t terrible and the sweet potato fries it came with were quite tasty.

From there we got the rest of the way to Raleigh (with a slight detour, u-turn, etc). The bed-and-breakfast we stayed at was lovely, the Cameron Park Inn. We ran into a bit of an issue with the air conditioning in the room not working well enough as well as it being too hot out to enjoy a carriage ride. Note to self: never pre-reserve carriage rides in anything other than the winter. There was also a little snafu when we realized we had all the reservation times wrong, for the carriage, and for dinner. Ugh! I could have sworn I’d booked everything for on the hour, but apparently I did not. And I did not look over the final confirmation email carefully enough either. So we nearly missed our reservations and told our friends the wrong time as well. (We suggested to our inn-keeper Nikki that she go over anything scheduled when she goes over everything else when guests are checking in.)

It’s -hot- out, hotter than we had expected this trip to be. That’s never really a good sign. It was actually 20 degrees hotter than average that day. Our luck. <shudders>

taken from the Second Empire website

Dinner, however, was the highlight of the trip. The restaurant is called Second Empire and we had reservations for the Chef’s Table in the kitchen. Elements in Princeton has tables “in” the kitchen as well, but they are more of in an alcove off of the kitchen. At Second Empire, we were really IN the kitchen. Our table was set up right in the middle of the kitchen, with everything going on around us. It was really cool, and I would have loved to have had more of an interaction with the Chef and his staff but we were having SUCH a good time catching up with our friends, it was hard to know where to focus. I think we flustered the poor guy too, which was not at all our intention. Should he happen to read this, Chef Schurr, we had a FABULOUS time and can’t thank you and your staff enough for a delightful evening. We’re a little nuts, as our restaurant friends up here can certainly tell you, so please don’t think that anything was or went wrong.

We were so caught up on catching up that we didn’t take any picture, though I did remember to grab the menus, I just need to remember where they are, or where the folder they are in is. There was seared tuna, veal cheeks, lamb and scallops, a sorbet palate cleanser. Dessert was a Warm Fruit Galettesweet yeast bread style pastry folded around brown sugar & cinnamon-roasted apple & pineapple, baked to a golden brown, served with vanilla ice c­ream & dried cranberries, finished with mango & caramel sauces. I think I’m missing a course in there. Two kinds of bread were served, but I didn’t write down what they were. Tasty, as we all had several rounds. I would definitely go back and recommend it to anyone else. The food was excellent, even though we all have different preparation of done-ness for things like the tuna, from rare to cooked through for the four of us, we all agreed that everything was just superb. I can’t comment on the dining room or the service, but from what we could see from the kitchen, it was definitely the kind of place we could get accustomed to.

We came back to our room after dinner and it was still hot. So hot that after our friends left we went for a drive in the car to see if we were going to try and stick it out or get back in the car and head off for home. Fortunately by the time we got back and decided to try and stay and sleep, we put the ceiling fan on and it was barely tolerable. By the next morning it was lovely, but overnight was a bit rough. A sleep number bed helped slightly; at least it wasn’t a slab of concrete like most others had been this trip. I got my massage in the morning while the Husband packed up the car and took some pictures and then we were off for the final journey home.

It’s the Saturday before Easter and we’re traveling I-95 from Raleigh, NC up to NJ. We were ok for most of the trip, except Virginia, which sucked. And our foo with alternate routes was pretty lousy too. It was so bad, we actually took a detour THROUGH Washington DC on 395 to take a look at whatever we could see of the Cherry Blossoms from the road, instead of staying on 95. In the grand scheme of things we were lucky- no accidents, flat tires or encounters with police- but it sure could’ve been an easier drive.

It was a good, not great, trip, and I’m not sure if we’d stop in to Raleigh again other than to see our friends. To me at least it didn’t ease the trip any, it was just an additional day in the car. To a certain extent, 5 hours or 11 hours, doesn’t make all that much of a difference to me.

Yay Savannah

  • Posted on April 1, 2010 at 10:11 pm

We escaped from Florida today and not a moment too soon. An early breakfast with Peep started our day, then we packed the car and and got on the road. A brief stop at a starbucks in Jacksonville to see and old and dear friend who I hadn’t seen in far too many years broke up today’s travels.

Finally in Savannah. Our favorite room at the Planters Inn with a semi private balcony overlooking one of the squares. Best part is room service on the balcony from Ye Olde Pink House.

Pan seared jumbo sea scallops with sauteed spinach

Blue crab beignets with a creamy old bay lemon sauce

Sauteed local shrimp with country ham gravy cheddar cheese grits cake

Caesar salad

Pan seared salmon grape tomatoes arugala fingerling potatoes shitaki mushrooms saffron chive butter edamame?

Grilled pork tenderloin bourbon molasses sweet potato with pecan vanilla butter

Buttered cornbread and rolls

Pecan pie

Leopolds ice cream- girl scouts thin mints and cream, rum raisin and rum ?

Can you tell we were hungry? Leopolds has become a tradition since last trip, especially since it’s walking distance. There’s now a hemp shop downstairs from the hotel too so we found a cute little pouch for me to stash things in and a few other neat little things quite reasonably priced.

Tomorrow we’re off to Raleigh.

Final FL day

  • Posted on March 31, 2010 at 12:30 pm

As is typical of our visits to Florida, it’s never complete without at least one doctors visit. Today, we take Peep to the dentist. At least it should be a short appt.

Have tentative plans with one cousin for dinner today; need to figure out how to see the other. Argh. No time for friends down here, hopefully we’ll get to see Tara on the way back north. Passover is a rough time for visiting.

I slept really late today, remarkable considering the bed is like a slab of concrete. I hurt all over, the deep aching to the bone hurt in some spots. Current meds are not touching the nerve pain, either. Tomorrow we start the drive back. We’re taking three days this time instead of two, breaking up the second day with a stop in Raleigh to visit some dear friends who moved down there.

Today lunch was at IHOP of all places, ’cause that’s just where we ended up. Tonight should be dinner with my cousin which we’re both looking forward to.

Tomorrow, off to Savannah. Worst case scenario is we get room service delivery from the Pink House. That certainly doesn’t suck. Ice cream at Leopold’s. Drinks at Jazz’d. Tomorrow night shouldn’t suck.