7.01.11: hummus and musings about time, cooking, and shopping.

Caramelized Onion Hummus

In the five and a half years I’ve lived in Connecticut and New York, I’ve been fortunate to be within easy walking distance to gourmet shops that stocked most of the basics we might need for a weeknight meal–in New Haven, it was Romeo and Cesare’s, and in New York I didn’t even have to leave my own building as our apartment was literally above a bodega. I’m going to miss being able to take the elevator down there and swan around in flip flops and tank tops ind the dead of winter while the bundled-up folk give me the side-eye, but now I miss it as an easy resource to pick up a block of cheese, some lemons and limes or a can of chiles in adobo whenever I needed it without adding any significant time to my otherwise epic commute, because it allowed us the freedom to be spontaneous.

Now that we’re in Stamford, things have changed drastically. The closest convenience store to our building advertises their stock of sodas and body oils, which doesn’t inspire the most confidence in the quality of any food they might carry,  so if either random inspiration strikes us or we realize that we forgot to get something at Fairway, the closest store we have to walk to is…Target.

Images from New York, random ramblings edition.

Outside the Time & Life Building, 50th Street and 6th Ave

On
to Times Square, where the sign
blows smoke over my head, and higher
the waterfall pours lightly. A
Negro stands in a doorway with a
toothpick, languorously agitating.
A blonde chorus girl clicks: he
smiles and rubs his chin. Everything
suddenly honks: it is 12:40 of
a Thursday.
Neon in daylight is a
great pleasure, as Edwin Denby would
write, as are light bulbs in daylight.
I stop for a cheeseburger at JULIET’S
CORNER. Giulietta Masina, wife of
Federico Fellini, è bell’ attrice.
And chocolate malted. A lady in
foxes on such a day puts her poodle
in a cab.

Frank O’Hara, “A Step Away from Them“

Saturday was a day that required to be spent outside. Despite the unseasonal coolness the sun was out in force, and I had an itinerary that was to take me all over the city. As I mentioned yesterday and last week (and endlessly last Friday to all of my coworkers who were probably sick hearing me yap about it), Michael is off gallivanting at a conference all week, leaving me to my own devices and plans, both those of a culinary and non-culinary sort.

Shopping in New York: Russ & Daughters on the Lower East Side.

Russ & Daughters

I have a new thing–sitting on benches in front of world-famous stores and glaring at people as they pass by making asinine comments.

Michael

It’s a good thing (for us) that the Lower East Side requires several subway changes to get to it from where we live, mainly because the primary attraction for us is Katz’s Deli. Were it any closer than I’m pretty sure M would be dragging me there any time he had a craving for pastrami to the point where we’d require assistance in getting out of our doors on a daily basis. As it is, we save our trips down there for special treats, maybe only going a few times a year at most. But we now have an additional excuse to visit this neighborhood, which will test my limits of self-restraint whenever I’m craving some smoked nova salmon: Russ & Daughters. I had heard of it prior to going in on Saturday, of course, but never ventured inside because the timing never seemed conducive to shopping there. On Saturday I told Michael that we would be stopping there so I could get brunch provisions for the next day, and my resolve was to the end so steely that I even refrained from ordering my usual lox platter at Katz’s and went for the latkes.

Shopping in New York: Sea Breeze Fish Market (40th St and 9th Ave)

Sea Breeze Fish Market

I lived in New Haven, Connecticut for five years while I went to graduate school. Although some of my friends might balk at this, and certainly time and distance has given me a shot glass of perspective, I enjoyed living there–most of the time, anyway. New Haven is an old city with a surprisingly rich food culture and filled with enthusiastic people. Also they let me cook on TV a bunch of times. Anyway. We wrote a post for our old blog last year extolling the wonders of the #1 Fish Market in North Haven, and until recently I have been hurting for a replacement, even though I moved to the supposed center of the universe.

Shopping in New York: Despaña

Storefront

Tucked away a few blocks off Broadway in Soho (and not far from one of my favorite brunch places) is probably my favorite boutique in the city: Despaña. It’s in a fairly unassuming location on Broome Street, and could be easy to pass by without a second thought if you didn’t know it was there–but then you’d be missing out on all of the delights that wait on the other side of the door.

Let’s go inside, shall we?

Shopping in New York: Eataly (23rd and 5th Avenue)

The line at Eataly

Our Shopping in New York series makes its return with a bang: the grand opening of Eataly, the Turin-based food behemoth brought to American in part by Mario Batali and the Bastianichs (both Lidia and her son Joe). Michael knew that it was a question of when, not if we were going to be there to mark its arrival; Sunday’s inviting weather seemed to be as good a reason as any to take a trip to the Flatiron District to pick up some Italian goodies for dinner.

What follows is a record of our initial impressions of the place–and for an extra treat, you’re going to get both of our perspectives. Please bear in mind that this is not a formal review, as a few more visits are required to give it a fair evaluation–this is just a recount of our first visit during its opening weekend.

Images from New York: springlike weather in Union Square edition.

Considering how lousy the weather was here last weekend (based on what we heard, as we were in Boston and missed the worst of it), it was hardly surprising to see New Yorkers out in force over Saturday and Sunday, all trying to enjoy as much time outside as humanly possible.  We were fortunate enough to have good reasons to head outside both days:  on Saturday it was to check out the goods at the Union Square Greenmarket, and Sunday I needed to walk over to Pinkberry to do some research for work.

Yes, you heard me right:  I had to go to Pinkberry for work.  More on that later. 

Shopping in New York: Murray’s Real Salami in the Grand Central Market

Murray's Real Salami

On my list of Things In Italy I Really, Really Miss, the salumeria (specifically, the Salumeria Centrale in Acqui Terme) is ranked in the top five, along with access to inexpensive-and-delicious wine, fresh pasta shops, roundabouts, and the kitchen at Baur B&B.  It may have taken us all week to get there thanks to the wonky Italian scheduling strategy of “Yeah, let’s be closed Wednesday for no reason!” but it was completely worth it in the end.  Not only did we leave with a few etti of Prosciutto di San Daniele, but Michael got his first short joke in Italian. 

Images from New York: Upper East Sider edition.

81st and Columbus, near the Museum of Natural History

Spotted:  two New Yorkers walking towards Central Park, the shorter of the two getting increasingly annoyed at being subjected to overhearing random, inane conversations while the taller one was trying to prevent any random acts of singing or screaming on her companion’s part.  The situation dramatically improved after snickering at some prep-school boys who were surreptitiously sipping illicit drinks in the park itself while trying to not be in the view of any NYPD officer scattered along the paths, however, and made the rest of the walk much more enjoyable.

And with that, I end my Gossip Girl references for this post.

Shopping in New York: Columbia Greenmarket

The view up Broadway

The phrases “let’s go to the farmers market” and “bitterly cold outside” tend to not go hand-in-hand, but Michael wanted to do something on a particularly quiet Sunday, and I had wanted to check out the Greenmarket that’s held on Broadway every Thursday and Sunday.  Since we’ve spend a considerable amount of time traveling over the last few months, our Sundays tend to not be our own, and it seemed like if we were on Broadway, it was usually because we were schlepping luggage along with us and therefore not interested in looking at cage-free eggs or picking through fresh vegetables.