days sixteen through nineteen.

here we go.

day sixteen: shira cooked up this amazing lemon rice from bon appetit (we are really putting them to work these days!) it was delicious and lemony and nutty and just awesome.

i put together a salad from bought, borrowed, and stolen. you toss bibb lettuce (i used boston--it's similar in its pillowy nature) with chopped artichokes (in oil) with peas and corn which are boiled just for a minute with the eggs. you add 2 tbsp of olive oil and some sea salt and black pepper and toss the whole thing together. slice the eggs and add a little turmeric to the tops of them.

seriously. this dinner was absolutely incredible.

 day seventeen: taco-deficient we were... so, we sauteed white kidney beans with onions, garlic, and jalapeno and made a little box of spanish rice. the tacos included the bean mixture with radishes and tomatoes and salsa and monterey jack cheese.

 

day eighteen:  vegetarian sushi with carrots, cucumbers, and avocado. a little side of broccoli sauteed in seasame oil with sesame seeds, sea salt, and crushed red pepper.

day nineteen: late, late dinner tacos with alex. i think i put everything i had leftover in the fridge into those tacos. no photos.

la bonne année.

most people celebrate the new year on january 1st. but not everyone. while they celebrate the regular new year as well, the russians also celebrate old new year on january 13th and the jewish people celebrate yom kippur in the fall.

well, we sort of moved it, too. tracy and keith and i wanted to throw a party, but we were all traveling throughout the holiday season, and so we decided it would be a post-new years new years party of sorts. so, i made some treats. obviously. hummus and carrots and peppers, to start.
vegetarian sushi with carrots, peppers, chives, and cucumbers .
two of my favorite dips, recipes from ina garten: pan-fried onion dip and sun-dried tomato dip. they are both full of fatty awesomeness that i cannot describe here because then my friends will no longer eat them.
finger foods. tomato+basil+mozzarella.
fancy olives and sesame-crusted almonds.
and punch! in my new punch bowl. yes, i realize the bowl itself is ugly. it's vintage. be nice.

this was the harvest moon punch, created by a bartender at prime meats, with the recipe found on the internet. it was a hit. a smash, if you will.

additionally, tracy and i made some fancy-schmancy margaritas with those infused tequilas: blood orange margarita with the cinnamon tequila AND red chile guava margarita with the pepper one. so very awesome, these cocktails. and we have so many good liquors left to drink. with fancy bitters. we have a coveted bottle of angostura bitters, as well as 2 types of fee brothers: cherry and rhubarb.

the nytimes was right when they said it was a good cocktail decade. an evolving. we learned that the drinks of our grandparents are the best ones. my own grandfather likes whiskey; maybe that's why i am so into the old-fashioned these days.

bonne année. let's make it a good one.

fruit sushi.

in addition, lindsey was dying to go eat fruit sushi. she had written me emails telling me how incredible she thought it would be, and so when i went to visit, we drove to brookline and went to some organic sushi place called genki ya. it was almost 10pm and we were the only ones there, but that's besides the point. (lindsey plans to go every day, i think, so that it remains open.)

what do i mean by fruit sushi?
well, there were so many bizarre and lovely options: with mango, sweet potato, banana, plums, honey. our roll had cream cheese, cucumber, carrot, sweet potato, and banana. other things, too, maybe.

it was delicious. and organic. and inexpensive.