Warm
Ahhhh. This is more like it. Though it is still one of those days where you walk around your house and there's still those odd pockets of cold air. They float around like memories of the winter just passed but if you keep moving and they dissipate making the previous season seem more dreamlike and unreal. Windows are opened and warm currents drift in pushing those cold air ghosts into corners, into closets with coats and boots and chilled memories. My cat is stretched across the mat in front of the back door warming herself in the young April sun. Lawn mowers are thrumming for the first time.
Bring it.
The season also opens up more free time that had been filled with winter activities (mostly curling). So naturally I tend to fill it with what I do best: eating.
Thursday night we had a fine dinner at Enoteca Maria, a teriffic addition to the Staten Island restaurant scene. The concept there is that they employ a handful of women from various parts of Italy and a different woman cooks each night. The menu is different every day depending on who's cooking and what ingredients are available. On Thursday it was Teresa from Sicily so of course I opted for fish dishes: a wonderfully fresh frutta di mare appetizer that would have been even better with a bit more salt and an entree of pasta con sarde that was served with a dish of finely ground bread crumbs mixed with a bit of brown sugar for me to use as topping to taste. The sweetness of that topping perfectly balanced the fishiness of the sardines and although the pasta was slightly overcooked for my taste I ate every bit (my wife insists my definition of "al dente" is actually "undercooked" so I'll give the chef the benefit of the doubt). My wife ordered a burrata appetizer which had a thoroughly enjoyable sharp sour bite hidden in the rich creaminess. Her tilapia entree was beautifully cooked and sauced. On top of the glorious food Enoteca Maria has an excellent (to my limited knowledge anyway) selection of Italian wines. We had a white from Piedmont called Cordero di Montezemolo Arneis delle Langhe which is typically grown among red grapes used for Barolo. It had a clean, citrusy profile that reset the palate nicely for each new bite of food.
Friday night we went to Eight Mile Creek, an Australian place in NoLita (gotta love those Manhattan real estate definitions) with my niece and her Aussie husband. Good Australian wines flowed and tasty, tender kangaroo skewers were eaten. I also enjoyed a nicely cooked rack of lamb chops with garlic mashed. And more wine. Dining outside with good company is one of the greatest joys of my life. Maybe the greatest. Hopefully we'll do it again soon .
After dinner we went to the basement bar to check out (I hoped) some cricket or maybe some Australian rules football and found....the Yankees game? Yes indeed, apparently there were no Aussie sports on the dish until midnight so we wound up being treated to the Yanks and Mets before those games ended and we got the bartender to switch to NHL network to catch the night's highlights. Hoo boy, Marty Brodeur got old (and cranky) fast, didn't he?
Today's fun? Making pernil. The pork shoulder is from Flying Pigs Farm. Yum.
Bring it.
The season also opens up more free time that had been filled with winter activities (mostly curling). So naturally I tend to fill it with what I do best: eating.
Thursday night we had a fine dinner at Enoteca Maria, a teriffic addition to the Staten Island restaurant scene. The concept there is that they employ a handful of women from various parts of Italy and a different woman cooks each night. The menu is different every day depending on who's cooking and what ingredients are available. On Thursday it was Teresa from Sicily so of course I opted for fish dishes: a wonderfully fresh frutta di mare appetizer that would have been even better with a bit more salt and an entree of pasta con sarde that was served with a dish of finely ground bread crumbs mixed with a bit of brown sugar for me to use as topping to taste. The sweetness of that topping perfectly balanced the fishiness of the sardines and although the pasta was slightly overcooked for my taste I ate every bit (my wife insists my definition of "al dente" is actually "undercooked" so I'll give the chef the benefit of the doubt). My wife ordered a burrata appetizer which had a thoroughly enjoyable sharp sour bite hidden in the rich creaminess. Her tilapia entree was beautifully cooked and sauced. On top of the glorious food Enoteca Maria has an excellent (to my limited knowledge anyway) selection of Italian wines. We had a white from Piedmont called Cordero di Montezemolo Arneis delle Langhe which is typically grown among red grapes used for Barolo. It had a clean, citrusy profile that reset the palate nicely for each new bite of food.
Friday night we went to Eight Mile Creek, an Australian place in NoLita (gotta love those Manhattan real estate definitions) with my niece and her Aussie husband. Good Australian wines flowed and tasty, tender kangaroo skewers were eaten. I also enjoyed a nicely cooked rack of lamb chops with garlic mashed. And more wine. Dining outside with good company is one of the greatest joys of my life. Maybe the greatest. Hopefully we'll do it again soon .
After dinner we went to the basement bar to check out (I hoped) some cricket or maybe some Australian rules football and found....the Yankees game? Yes indeed, apparently there were no Aussie sports on the dish until midnight so we wound up being treated to the Yanks and Mets before those games ended and we got the bartender to switch to NHL network to catch the night's highlights. Hoo boy, Marty Brodeur got old (and cranky) fast, didn't he?
Today's fun? Making pernil. The pork shoulder is from Flying Pigs Farm. Yum.
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