Friday Night Chili

Quarantine supper tonite...  Live from NYC...
They’re baaaaack...  today the crew stained the cedar shakes on the upper part of the house...  what a difference...  looks much more like a home and less like a hovel...   of course, the lower part of the house...  the wooden planks...  still looking very sad... one job at a time...  each part has to dry thoroughly before we can proceed to the next...  it’s a work in progress...

The hubs came home exhausted from the days travails once again...  the heat takes a toll...  although we had planned to have a cold fish supper ( tuna, sardines, anchovies and raw veggies) he looked so tired it was time for a pick me up supper...  one of his favorites...  chili.

This version with 85/15 ground sirloin & dark red kidney beans was enhanced by the addition of spices that graced our Lebanese eggplant  boats yesterday...  and the result was resoundingly delightful...  the warmth of the cinnamon and cumin against the fruitiness of the allspice worked especially well alongside the fresh onion and garlic inside the chili.  The hubs finished up the Pinot Noir...  I opted for the Sauvignon Blanc.  It was a quick simple dish that worked well for a tired guy needing to relax after a tough week.

Just before supper we were able to connect with the family of the marine who recently married and is moving south.  Hoping our two huuuge bags of linens and curtains help them in their new life together...  it was an honor to acknowledge his service...
How was your day?   What’s on your plate?   Thoughts?

Lebanese Eggplant Boats & Mango Lime Sorbet

Quarantine supper tonite...  Live from NYC...
🎵 Rain rain go away...  come again another day...  painting house will have to wait...  so rain rain go away... 🎶

Today was dreary and rainy...  humid but cooler than the past few days.  After the days office work...  filing...  paperwork...  yawn...  there was no playing in the garden since everyone was still damp from yesterday...  so off to the kitchen to experiment...

Bought a big bag of overripe mangos at the market on Tuesday...  after last nights supper we still had mucho mangos...  so today it became sorbet.  So simple...  four ingredients...  mangoes, sugar, lime juice, salt...  I couldn’t help but taste the purée as it loaded it into the ice cream machine...  soooo yummy.  Haven’t had any frozen yet...  tomorrow for sure.

Special thanks to Linda Kiger Smith for the Lebanese eggplant recipe...  it was beyond delicious...  fabulous flavors made the best possible use of our first two eggplants from the greenhouse....  today’s cooler temperatures allowed the oven to do the work without heating up the kitchen...  Served it alongside some toasted bread gifted to us by our lovely neighbor and accompanied by a delicious Pinot Noir...  the hubs eyes lit up when he tasted it...  this will be made again...  the spice combination is already rattling around in my head for more applications....  wonderful 💞😷

Tomorrow we are donating two lawn and leaf bags of linens and curtains to a local family who’s son just returned from deployment...  is getting married and moving out of state.  We are so pleased to be able to help this marine veteran get on his feet with his new wife.  👩‍❤️‍💋‍👨
How was your day?  What on your plate?  Thoughts?

Turkey Kefta, Cucumber Onion Salad, Chili Lime Corn & Lemon Mousse

Quarantine supper tonite...  Live from NYC...
And so it begins...  the house painters arrived this morning at 8AM with their ladders and scrapers and their pressure washer to assail our home from the exterior...  so they can seal it up again.  After the scraping and pressure washing it now looks like a hovel...  large areas of raw wood exposed...  gaps with no stain on the cedar shakes...  our home looks sad and dilapidated.   This step is (as the painter explained to me) necessary to remove all the dirt, mold and grime so the new stain and paint will adhere...

For those of you who read my posts you are aware that I am a night owl...  8AM is not a cheery time for me...  so today I was a bit off until about noon when my body finally said... “ok, you can wake up now...  coffee time”

Following appointments it was time to hustle into the kitchen for some well deserved play time...  supervising painting crews isn’t usually my strong suit...

Supper was a melange of dishes created out of the necessity to use up items left languishing in the fridge...  cucumber onion salad made with a yogurt sour cream dill sauce perched atop ground turkey Kefta (forgot the photo...  we were hungry 😂)  with grilled chili lime corn and fresh mango slices...  the hubs enjoyed his lemon mousse (which wasn’t firm enough last night before he was off to bed) with vanilla coffee...

I saw a piece today that explained my feelings about school re-openings perfectly...  I am the daughter of two teachers...  my DIL’s Mom ( a close friend) is a retired teacher...  many of our friends & family are teachers...

“We are asking one of the most underpaid educated groups of people in the nation to go back into their classrooms during a pandemic while we are releasing convicts so they won’t get COVID”
How was your day?  What’s on your plate?  Thoughts?

Parsley Cheese Sausages & Orange Fennel Salad

Quarantine supper tonite...  Live from NYC...
Today was triple H... hazy, hot and humid...  the air felt like pea soup against the skin...  the breeze barely noticeable...  the babies in the greenhouse all enjoyed the breeze from the fan as they guzzled their afternoon drink and rain shower.  

The hubs came home hot and exhausted from the days adventures...  showered and took a nap while supper was prepped.  By cooking time he was up and ready to grill.  Parsley and cheese sausages with red pepper and  the NYTimes Orange and Fennel salad by Marián Burros...  sausage and peppers go together like peanut butter and jelly...  this salad was a refreshing bite of salty sweet acidic deliciousness between each mouthful of dinner.  Can’t recommend it enough...

Had to have dessert tonite...  lemon mousse with whipped cream and a chocolate covered almond topped off supper with a light citrusy finish...

Biden picked his running mate today...  the tickets are now Biden/Harris vs Trump/Pence... and it’s off to the races...  eighty three days until the election but likely we won’t have a clear winner on Election Day due to mail in ballots.   Such vast differences between the platforms...  be sure to do your civic duty...  be informed...  do your due diligence to read reliable sources... and most importantly VOTE!!
How was your day?   What’s on your plate?  Thoughts?

Chili Lime Chicken Thighs & Watermelon Feta Salad

Quarantine supper tonite...   Live from NYC...
Today was busy...  laundry all morning...  work all afternoon...  4:30pm escaped outside to play in the garden...  it was still very warm...  90°F today...  Mr Sam joined in when the hubs arrived from work...  getting a good rub in the process.

All the babies are growing...  cucumber and squash bursting forth while the root vegetables growing underground give up few secrets.  The herb garden is doing well as always...  herbs need little care and grow well even in the poorest of soils...  I am encouraged by the results in the greenhouse...   though we started in late July growth is steady at the three week mark...

We sat on the deck with Mr Sam sharing the days events and before we realized it was time for supper.  Chili lime chicken thighs quick marinated and grilled to perfection crisp skin...  moist juicy meat...  alongside a refreshing watermelon feta salad...  our lovely neighbor gifted us a delicious loaf of fresh bread from her restaurant which we enjoyed with supper along with a grilled red pepper...  a crisp Sauvignon Blanc rounded out the meal.

Our country has reached a very grim milestone...  5 million plus cases of COVID...  the virus wins as too many of us experience quarantine fatigue.  We cannot allow ourselves to become complacent as regards our health and the necessary protocols required to keep us safe until we have either an effective remedy or a vaccine...  of the 20 million COVID cases worldwide 733,000 died while another 12 million recovered making the pandemics mortality rate just under 4%...  for comparison the seasonal flu has a mortality rate of .1% making COVID 40 times more contagious and deadly than the flu.  Please wear a mask...   stay safe...  💞😷
How was your day?  What’s on your plate?  Thoughts?

PIZZA & School Re-openings

Quarantine supper tonite...   Live from NYC...
Pizza...  what deliciousness is conjured up in the mind when that magical word is uttered...  it is the perfect in between meal snack...   it is portable...   a slice fits neatly in the palm of the hand folded just right to accommodate the bite...  it has all the requisite flavors...  salt (sauce and cheese) fat (also  sauce and cheese) acid (tomatoes) and heat (red pepper flake added to the sauce and sprinkled liberally atop)

So many of you fellow foodies here on the NYTCC  made pizza this past week...  it motivated me to do the same as I drooled over your creations each day...  thanks for that... the results were sooo worth the effort 💞😷

This pizza (courtesy of King Arthur Flour) cooked in the 14” cast iron... 450°F for 20 - 25 minutes...  sported toppings of shredded chicken...  ricotta...  kalamata olives...  and a hefty dose of Parmesan...  it was spectacular.  Served alongside a crisp green salad and a bright Sauvignon Blanc made for a wonderful supper following our weekly visit to Mom.

She is doing well...  healthy...  cheery...  walking 16 laps each day in two sets of 8...  glad to have a visit with us and a video chat with her grandson and grandDIL on her iPhone via WhatsApp.  We brought her a new stack of books to read...  she has finished all the novels available and so we move on to non-fiction this month.

Governor Cuomo has authorized schools to re-open in the fall so long as the COVID new case rate stays below 5% in the state and 3% within NYC.  He has given parents the flexibility to choose either home schooling, classroom schooling or a mixture of both and set up red flags which will close a school if the virus begins to spread either among staff or children for a period of time to clean the school and track & trace...

There are mixed opinions regarding this announcement...  although many agree that kids learn better in class there is much concern that kids, teachers and staff will be at high risk in this environment.  Early school openings in other countries have shown poor results with many developing new outbreaks...  summer camp results here in the US have shown the same kind of spread...  we are concerned for the health and well being of all students, teachers and staff and welcome your opinions...
How was your day?  What’s on your plate?  Thoughts?

Porterhouse, Elote, Grilled Mini Pizzas, Baba Ghanouj & Seared Red Pepper

Quarantine supper tonite...   Live from NYC...
Tonite’s supper is brought to you by the numbers 5, 3 & 1...
Five photos of all the different parts of supper...
Five ears of elote corn broken into easy to eat size pieces...
Three mini pizzas covered with melty cheese...
One rare porterhouse steak cooked to perfection...
One bowl of baba ghanouj smokey from the grill...
And one red pepper seared on the grill ready to peel...

Today was a bit dull... spent it doing necessary paperwork (yuck) paying  bills (double yuck)  making phone calls (yawn) about bills and paperwork...  and doing the grind that keeps homes and businesses moving forward...

I had planned to do some laundry as well (excitement?) but finally gave it all up and went outside to play in the garden.  It was warm with a soft breeze by late afternoon and the babies were all snuggled in their pots and grow bags...  happy after a long drink and daily dose of sunshine.

On the deck the cucumbers are tall, twirling their tendrils around the piece of chicken wire tied to the railing encouraging their climb.  The basil now tops two feet and after today’s second haircut...  8” off the top...  is getting bushier and bushier.  The four eggplants hidden under downy leaves in the greenhouse are almost ready to harvest and the second planting of snap peas are beginning to show their first sets of leaves.

The radishes will all be harvested in about a week thereby freeing up space for a second planting.  Root veggies (carrots, beets, turnips) are busy growing underground sending up a few leaves to show their progress.  Arugula seedlings are filling out (now I know why it’s called rocket lettuce) and will be ready for their first haircut in another week or so.

Our tomato plants have produced a bumper crop of cherrys and romas...  glad they’re ripening at intervals...  our second planting of tomatoes are beginning to show flowers and our third planting are now just a few inches tall.  We are hoping to harvest through the fall months inside the greenhouse.
How was your day?   What’s on your plate?   Thoughts?