so, um, well, yeah.

i bought garlic flowers in the farmers' market last sunday. they were just so darn pretty.

i think they come from the top of the scape. you can sort of pull the bulb apart with your fingers and little pieces of garlic seemingly appear. they are difficult to mince into small pieces, and were really garlicky when i ate one raw, but not so much when cooked. what to do with garlic that's best raw? who to eat it with? mortal enemies?

and now i have a bunch of them. so there's that.

late to the game.

i just discovered eatocracy. and i love it.

i also think i should be the host of "kid in a candy store" on food network. i would be awesome at that job. potentially better than the current host.

more to come. this packing/moving extravaganza has gotten the best (and worst) of me.

in a jiffy.

in which i convinced yelena to come to my neighborhood for dinner with me and keith. we cannot eat all the vegetables fast enough.

• roasted kohlrabi with parmesan
• green beans with italian bread crumbs
• sauteed baby kale with mushrooms, scapes, and baby squash
• salad of boston and red lettuces, blueberries, radish, cucumber, and roasted beets
• grilled cheese: scarmozza on ciabatta

i am in love with this cheese, by the way. it's lightly smoky and, apparently, only slightly aged. it is really incredible. i could eat blocks of it.

omg.

the best csa share so far: boston lettuce, red lettuce, kohlrabi, baby kale, radishes, baby squash, the BIGGEST BEETS EVER, spring onions, wax beans. and! the fruit share: 1/2 peck of peaches so awesome i had to eat mine over the sink, blueberries, raspberries.

i thinking i am forgetting some things, too. this summer rocks.

oldie but goodie.

in which i eat and grade papers at the same time.

independence.

on the 4th, i had park plans with babies (and their parents). i had planned to make patriotic snacks, which didn't really pan out, but i did have a breakfast in a bowl early in the morning.

a HARD-BOILED egg with black-eyed peas and chives, bok choy with turnips, apricots, strawberries, and a piece of sourdough toast.
and then i introduced miss jordan to good headphones and an ipod. love.

minetta tavern.

i knew about the black label burger at minetta tavern months and months ago. i had heard some pretty awesome things. i have been a vegetarian for over 18 years.

the black label burger is a 1/2 pound mix of prime dry-aged ribeye, brisket, and skirt steak. the exact combination is a closely-guarded secret. it comes on a brioche-style bun with caramelized onions. it needs nothing else. no condiments, no other vegetables.

so i feel like leaving new york is like dying, like there are things i have to do before i go. eating this burger is one of those things. and my friends got really excited about the prospects of it all.

we made a plan. and went last night. and i ordered a drink called the josephine, which had an entire apricot in it. and then we ate. appetizers to start and then half of a burger.

yelena filmed it:



it was buttery, and a bit bloody, and tasty. decadent and spectacular.

everything is better on a stick.

tracy and i had been talking for months about visiting steve's authentic key lime pies in red hook. we had to make a date to make it happen. and it was worth it.

we ate swingles, which are 4 inch key lime pies on a stick and covered in chocolate.
they were incredible.
we probably could have shared one but i was not sad about eating the whole thing.
neither was tracy.
i was a mess. covered in chocolate. and happy.

closer to now.

june 30th: leftover white rice sauteed with black-eyed peas and onions, topped with garlicky potatoes and a fried egg. the starchiest meal ever.
july 1st: curly red lettuce with strawberries, chickpeas, tomatoes, and goat cheese. and a teeny, tiny green squiggly bug from the csa lettuce. wonder how many of those i ate before i caught the runaway.

cold salad.

it was really hot earlier this week so cold food was the only thing edible. i made a cold pasta salad of cucumbers, tomatoes, spring onions, basil, and goat cheese. with a little sea salt and crushed pepper. delicious.

what i like about a cold salad i that you can make it with anything. it's like a sandwich that way. good ingredients just taste lovely; they need no real sauce or dressing. that's what made this meal so awesome. either that or i had been at the beach all day and was hungry and would eat a horse.

close up.

easy dinner, from earlier this week: nectarine slices and a sandwich of tomato, basil, goat cheese, and avocado. delicious.

with envy.

sometimes an avocado is so perfect, you don't want to ruin it by putting it with any other flavors. so, i put mine on sourdough toast. best avocado in a while.

p.s. in french "avocat" means avocado and lawyer. that's you, michelle--an avocado lawyer. or a lawyery avocado. tee hee.

pop.

ice pop numero uno of the summer. a yummy, frozen, tart success.