But in all seriousness though I really like writing about the news and politics sometimes I like it lighter (that's what she said) and I would like to share recipes book reviews etc so let's just sort of see what this blog develops into and we'll all grow together with it.
Apartment Clam Bake (or oysters, mussels, shrimp, scallops, really any shell fish)
Ingredients:
- shellfish (1 lb)
- olive oil (safflower oil) (2 Tablespoons)
- red potatoes (the little ones, or fingerling) 1 pound chopped in half
- celery (roughly chopped)
- peas or corn (1/2 bag of peas - I rely on frozen veggies for my existence) or 2 ears of corn
- 1/2 bag of baby carrots
- dill seasoning (1 tablespoon)
- cayenne seasoning (pinch) but if you'd like me and have literally 80 different brands of paprika and no Cayenne in your house interesting fact you can substitute it just double the amount of paprika to the amount of Cayenne
- mustard seeds (1 tables spoon crush them first)
- salt
- pepper
- 1/2 cup of white wine
- 1/2 cup of veggie (or seafood) stock
1)Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees (unless you live in my apartment in which case we're fairly sure the oven runs a constant temperature of 250 whether on or off)
2)Take a roasting pan or baking dish (think casserole) grease it with olive oil. (I've been trying to eat clean lately so interesting fact: safflower oil is like 6 bucks at Fairway and it's been shown to be a great fat burner so just a tip). Put chopped potatoes in pan and spread them around lightly season with salt and pepper. Pop in the oven until tender not burnt like 15 minutes.
3) Take the dish out and throw in the rest of the chopped veggies sprinkle with oil and some more S&P and the additional spices put back in the oven for 10 minutes.
4) Take the dish out pour in the wine and stock stir and put back in for 5 minutes.
5) Take the dish out and put the shellfish over the plate. If you are using actual shellfish then the heat will open them otherwise shrimp scallops self explanatory and same difference. Pop back in for 10-15 minutes or until the shells open.
Serve in bowls with parsley or lemon as a garnish.
Best Sangria Ever (and Homemade look at you aren't you Etsy)
I will preface this by saying that one of my friends and my favorite Saturday pig out places is Cascabel on 79 and 3rd. The waitstaff and bartenders are super friendly and nice (and this is a rarity I bar tend on the weekends and trust me I'm not that nice) and the food is delicious.Love the tacos! Is it extremely cheap? No, but it's not Nobu expensive (that's probably an outdated reference isn't it) and their sangria is amazing as well as their roasted corn (seriously I could eat a field of this).
This leads to a few weeks ago where a friend and I literally sat at their bar for 4 hours and decided our bank accounts couldn't take any more pitchers of sangria so we needed to leave and yet the craving was still there. So we made our own sangria at home and it was A-MAAA-W-ZING.
Ingredients
- 1 bottle red wine (Merlot, Cabernet)
- 1 small bottle of ginger ale OR 1 small battle of club soda (we actually did half and half and it was fantastic but to each their own and obviously diet both is an option)
- 2 tablespoons brandy (think hotel mini bottle size)
- Apples, oranges, lemons (or any other citrus you so choose)
All Things Stephen King but Especially "The Stand"
When my sister was little, like I'm talking 8 years old, her absolute favorite movie was The Shining. I also told her from age 4 on that she was actually an adopted monkey that we found whose original name was Mr. Boo so I don't know that her film preferences were really all that odd. Anyway later in life we read and watched a bunch of the book/film adaptions and here we parted ways. She loved the movies because they weren't really like the books in that there was no evil monster who was the center of the characters problems. Which is exactly why I loved the books I mean who doesn't want an adult boogie man to creep you out in the middle of the night (thank god the the I-Phone flashlight app because I would never be able to get out of bed in the night to check behind the shower curtains before I go to the bathroom).
It's interesting however because I was listening to Opie and Anthony the other day and they had John Cusack on talking about his new movie The Raven. He mentioned that when he did the film "1408" which is based on a Stephen King short story he never got to speak to Stephen King and that he had very little involvement in the film. Apparently this was also the same with the Shining and that most directors veer wildly from Stephen King's original ideas in his novels. Just a note: yes, Samuel Jackson IS in 1408 because seriously, what isn't he in?
Anyway, Stephen King's book The Stand is positively amazing. It's a couple 1000 pages and is the before, during, and aftermath of an apocalyptic flu epidemic which wipes out 99.9 percent of the world's population. No there aren't any zombies I'll save those books for a different review. The thing about Stephen King is this he's incredibly pop relevant which makes him seem cheap but in actuality he isn't writing for the ivory tower and his themes of good and evil, self vs. group, are pervasive in all of his novels. Also they're just addicting and it's fun to scare the shit out of yourself. Why am I bringing this up? Well you can also watch The Stand mini-series on Netflix right now and its horribleness is fantastic and Stephen King is heavily involved and stars in it. Other big names involves Molly Ringwold, Gary Sinise and Rob Lowe as well as George Clooney's cousin.
Yea who knew. So as summer is quickly approaching great guilty beach read.
The Sock Bun
#the greatest invention ever. Here's a little secret and guys may not want to read this. Most girls don't wash their hair every day. Seriously are you kidding me? If you straighten it you'd fry the hell out of it and if you leave it curly you dry it out. So all girls have their go to methods to surviving one blow out or hair do for at least 2 days out of the work week. The sock bun is something Pinterest inspired but honestly so so so worth it for the day two style. The best part is that no one has any idea you have it on your head (I kid you not I wore it out to brunch today and when I explained the method of my madness to my girlfriend she absolutely did not believe it for a second). This girl does it the best -->
but instead of ruining my socks (I'm on a budget) Duane Reade has a hair accessory for about five dollars that's reusable and completely absolves you form having to re cut your socks every day.
Agua Fresca
Featured as one of the top ten inexpensive restaurants in New York City Agua Fresca is named for the non alcoholic drink made of fruit popular in Latin communities. I went on Friday and let me tell you, the food was amazing, the service impeccable and the Latin jazz was great.
The whole time I was there I genuinely felt like I was being welcomed into someones home and they actually cared that I enjoyed the meal. We tried the pulled pork tacos, ceviche, and calamari salad and everything was better than the next. They also offered garlic flat bread on the house. The prices were extremely reasonable for two appetizers, an entree, and drinks the meal was 40 dollars. It's located at 207 117th between 2nd and 3rd. Take the 6 to 116th and walk east or take the M15 to 116th and 1st and walk west.
If the Times thinks it's good well then who the heck are you?
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