Waning days of summer

Well, this is it kids, the last week of my stay in England. I am totally bummed out. I have been pounding the pavement for the last week and a half in search of a job that might pay me in cash (since I don't have a work visa), but alas, these are hard to come by in the days of recession and EU expansion, and I came up empty handed, so the logical thing to do is pack it all up again and head home. I wish I had the money to continue my education, and stay on here a bit longer, but unless I wanted to do something drastic (i.e. fake marriage, or fake national insurance number, even riskier), there is not much more I can do. I guess I am just a little scared about having to face real life again, find a job in a new career in such a hostile economic climate, and get back in the rat-race New York City frame of mind. Last week I sent a text message to my friend saying we should move to LA, half kidding, but actually half serious. Like I had said in the beginning of the summer, NYC to me is a real love/hate relationship, and next week will be my 10 year anniversary of moving to the city in the first place. Maybe it is time to move on.

Before I pack up everything here in London I did an obligatory weekend in Stockholm, where I got to visit my lovely Swedish friends and bask in the glory of the Swedish summer sun. It being late August there was not the near 24 hour light that there is around June, but it was still a beautiful time of year to visit. I came in on Thursday afternoon and met Sara, suitcase in hand, to hike down to the waterfront and take a swim. It was freezing. I went in for about 30 seconds and hopped out, while Sara was more brave and went in for several dips. Phil showed up and we drank Pimm's and lemonade (Phil's duty free gift from me) and some fruit.

Friday afternoon I met up with Emil for some brunch and then a walk up to Observatory park near Odenplan. We had not seen each other since San Francisco so it was nice to see each other on the other side of the world in a completely different context. We brainstormed Iphone applications and get-rich-quick schemes. Needless to say, we did not come up with any in the 2 hour period.



Later that evening I met up with Phil to attend the Grolsch block party, which is basically a few different businesses in the "Sofo" (south of Folkunsgatan) area of Stockholm which were giving away a few free beers. Free beer or booze of any kind is a very rare occurance in Sweden, and by law you have to be on the list because it is listed as a private event. As a result, any free beer that appears usually disappears immediately. Fortunately Phil was able to get me into the Beyond Retro party where I did a little drunk shopping (no purchasing) and attempted to watch the burlesque show but everyone in Sweden is too tall so I could not see anything.

Later that evening I went to go meet up with Sara for her boyfriend Igor's birthday party, which was at a restaurant called Allmanna Galleriet 925. It was a really cool place, hidden within an office building next to a porn shop (Sara had to come get me from the subway since I would never have found it on my own). We played Swedish round-table ping pong (weird tradition where you get three or more people playing ping pong and run around the table, hard to explain) and had a few more beers.

Saturday Phil and I had some Thai food and then went into town to go shopping. I was very good and only bought a couple of 150- K tops at the new Weekday shop. On the way home, we walked along the water at Hornstull and accidentally came upon a giant Swedish food festival called Smaklust. Every area of Sweden was represented and there were hundreds of vendors with their local specialities for sampling. I had just eaten the leftovers from my Thai lunch so was not hungry but got some ice cream and sampled about a dozen cheeses and different kinds of sausage. Phil had a Gotland lamb burger. We knew we would have to come back the next day with a proper appetite and bring friends.

We went to a Stockholm institution Saturday night, Debaser, one of the first places I'd ever been in Stockholm. In the summer they have a huge beer garden that stays open until around 3am, without any fear of being shut down for noise complaints because they are basically on a little island not near any businesses. There were rumors that Debaser was going to shut because the city was re-constructing the Slussen area but it seems red tape has stalled that process and Debaser continues to thrive. I made Sara and Phil balance drinks on their heads in tribute to my well-known party trick. They need some practice.

Sunday it was back to Smaklust where Phil, Emil, Sara and I came hungry and left satisfied. Emil and I sampled what was one of the more bizarre things I have ever eaten, it was a moose burger with lingonberry dressing, but this was not just your ordinary moose burger, it was in the shape of a moose with a moose shaped matching bun. The vendor apparently had a patent on this design and was very proud of his invention. He was also wearing a hat made out of Swedish flatbread.

Verdict: Moose are delicious. Phil had a reindeer wrap, and Sara had a Swedish traditional dish that translates to a "bodycake," which is basically a mashed potato ball stuffed with meat (pork in this case), boiled and then eaten with cream and lingonberry jam. Not especially healthy, but really, really tasty. I had all kinds of random animals today, I will not go into more detail so as not to offend my vegetarian friends.

And that was that... said goodbye to my Swedish friends and hoped to see them soon as I headed off back to London, carrying sausage, goats cheese, and carrot chutney with me (carrot chutney seized by airport security a few hours later sadly). The older we get, the less and less we see each other, it is a bit sad.

Sara said that to go to graduate school in Sweden is free and they admit foreign students. Maybe I will apply for next year.

Baking with Rachel

Tonight is Passover, and though I am not a very observant Jew anymore, I do tend to enjoy any holiday that revolves around eating and getting drunk (there are 4 glasses of wine specified in the Passover ritual). I got invited to a big dinner party at Samantha's and last night we had an epic shopping trip at one of the coolest grocery stores I have ever been to, Fairway Supermarket in Red Hook. I didn't bring my camera and we were too frantically trying to find everything on her list but you should go sometime.

Anyway, I did tend to hate Passover growing up because its a lot of sitting around reading from the special book (the Haggadah) for hours before you actually get to eat, and all the food gets cold. BUT it was the one time in the year that my mom would make this amazing dessert which I whipped up (literally) for the first time today without a recipe and mostly from memory. It is probably one of my favorite desserts ever, seriously try making this ASAP. Kosher for Passover for all my heebs!

You will need:
6 eggs
sugar (regular and confectioners)
cream of tartar
heavy whipping cream
big ol' bar of chocolate (I prefer dark)
strawberries

equipment:
Standing mixer or a hand mixer (I only have a hand mixer it works fine)
cake tins or a baking sheet
parchment paper
spatula

So first you are going to separate the egg yolks from the whites. Use the egg yokes for an omelette sometime (Rachael Ray says you can freeze them!) and put the whites in a mixing bowl. Add a pinch of cream of tartar, or salt if you don't have. Whip them with the mixer until they are kind of a foamy, frothy texture. Then you're gonna add a cup and a half of regular sugar, little by little. Keep mixing and in the end you should get a creamy texture that will keep shape when you move it around. I forgot to take a picture at this point, oops. Oh, I also added a little vanilla at the end, makes everything better always.

Trace a large circle (I just traced the bottom of my cake tin) on your parchment paper to make a lining for your cake tin, or your baking sheet, and leave it on there. With a spatula spoon some of the egg white mixture onto the paper and smooth it down flat-ish. Make sure you like the shape as it will tend to bake in this shape. Put it into a pre-heated 325 degree oven for 20 minutes. Reduce heat after 20 minutes to 275 and then let it bake another 20-30 mins or so. It should look crispy and brown-ish and will be chewy on the inside. I was able to make 3 meringues out of the 6 egg whites that I whipped up. Here is what they look like:

Let them cool, my mom tended to let them cool overnight but you don't have to. Be gentle with them as they may crack.

While my meringues were baking, I whipped up my heavy whipping cream with about a half cup of confectioners sugar. I don't like super sweet whipped cream but you can add more to taste. Don't eat all your whipped cream before you finish the dessert! Also, you can cut up your strawberries now. The ones I got were not that sweet, wish I had remembered to get them when I was at Fairway.

Once your meringues are cooled off enough you can start to melt down your chocolate in a saucepan. Use super low heat you don't want your chocolate to burn! You can add a bit of water or milk to make it smoother but don't use too much. Once its melted (keep the heat on throughout this part) you can start to build the layers of your dessert. I find its easiest to go: meringue, chocolate, whipped cream, strawberries. You should also wait a minute to put on whipped cream after you put on the chocolate because if its too hot your whipped cream will melt a little as mine did. Try not to eat all your melted chocolate while you are making this!

The finished result is a little messy, which is fine because its really hard to cut this thing and will end up basically as a big strawberry/chocolate/whipped cream/meringue-y mess but that's ok because you are about to experience what heaven tastes like. It took all my willpower to not eat this before I brought it over to Sam's house. I did, however, get to lick my saucepan and whipped cream bowl clean.

Unemployment entertainment

It's week 4 of official unemployment. The first week was nice, the second week I had a house guest to entertain me, but weeks 3 and 4 have been pretty fucking boring, in all honesty. Between applying for the odd job here and there (its slim pickings out there on the internet, today I emailed a contact at AIDS Walk to see if they were hiring and I am supposed to get an interview to be a sign and poster distributor...wooooooo) I am trying to find different ways to pass the time. Trying as hard as possible to avoid shopping, I have been sewing (some, not tons), cleaning & reorganizing, reading (and yes, watching lots of tv), working out, but probably mostly cooking and baking. Cookies from scratch, muffins from scratch, gnocchi from scratch, and today, bolognese sauce from scratch.

Though I've always enjoyed cooking, this is a huge departure from the kind of food I was eating while employed, which generally consisted of food that I could either pop in the microwave, oven or pot and go lie in bed till it was ready. I am making way more than I can actually eat myself. Now I know what a 50's housewife must have felt like.

I have never felt so much that I need a purpose in life.

A Tour of East Williamsburg Bizarro Businesses, Part 1

I live in a corner of Brooklyn often referred to the "3rd Stop" or "East Williamsburg." Technically I live in Greenpoint according to my zip code but my closest L train stop is the Graham Ave. stop. It is a mix of 20-something and 30-something hipsters, old Italian people, and Poles. The latter two were obviously here first. Naturally, the make-up of businesses in the area generally reflects this mix. Next to newcomer coffee shops like Variety and boutiques like Treehouse, you will have places like Grande Memorial, for all your funeral and tombstone needs ("For 24-hour service call Jerry!" a sign proclaims). But perhaps because of the changing nature of the neighborhood, Grande Memorial is maybe not getting as much business as it used to... not enough 20-something kids OD'ing on heroin unfortunately. So what does Grande Memorial do? They decide to supplement their tombstone business by SELLING BREAD. Take a good look at photo number two below and you can see fresh loaves of French Rustica nestled alongside a stone statue of Jesus:





Good thinking, Grande Memorial. Now next time I am browsing tombstones I'll remember to pick up a couple baguettes.

Stay tuned for more installments of WEIRD EAST WILLIAMSBURG BUSINESSES.

the week in pictures part 2

The culinary adventures continued the rest of the week with visits to Teany, Coffee Shop, Oak Wine Bar, Sunset Diner, Motorino, Lombardi's, and special visits to One if by Land, Two if by Sea (restaurant week menu!) and Craftbar, where I had a gift certificate courtesy of guests who stayed with me back last may. We also had some delicious pizza prepared by James Ryang at Keren's now on hiatus Gossip Girl dinner party night. I'd say One if by Land was probably the highlight... we were able to eat in this legendary restaurant based in Aaron Burr's old carriage house, a 300 year old building in the West Village. Thanks to Restaurant Week we were able to experience it for $35 prix-fixe, whereas the regular prix-fixe is $78. The stunning room featured some impressive paintings, ornate chandeliers, working fireplaces, and live piano. Amusingly, they got our dessert order wrong 3 times (first two cheesecakes, then cheesecake for me, then cheesecake for Robin: neither of us ordered the cheesecake), but it was still over all a special experience. Oh, and I gained a couple pounds. To be expected.





Life is back to normal now as I continue to look for work. I had a phone interview today with the Third Wave Foundation for a very cool job that would definitely be a challenge for me, but something I think I could handle as well. Unfortunately, interviewing is not my strong suit and I faltered a little bit. Phone interviews in particular kind of throw me off so I don't know if I'll make it to the next round, but here's hoping.

the week in photos part 1

Robin came to visit this week from London. We did lots of dining out. Too much to go into detail about everything, but we decided to capture it all in pictures, when we remembered. First off was a journey to Jackson Heights where we had Indian buffet at the infamous Jackson Diner and explored an Indian grocery store. They had an entire wall of different kinds of lentils and bags and bags of spices and snacks. I brought some stuff to take home.