New York Monday #47: On a Cloudy Day

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Last week, I posted photos scenes of a clear day. Today, I'm posting the same scenery, except it's a cloudy day. Despite the weather, I think there's something hauntingly beautiful about such settings.

Gattina commented, earlier, that the trees should be changing colors. She's right. Some trees around the city have already completely turned colors. The trees in these photos only started to change colors last week. There are tiny patches of color, not very visible in the photos. In the next couple of weeks, I'll post photos of the same trees in their new colorful autumn clothing.

Have a great week, everyone, and don't forget to click on the photos here for larger images!

Paz




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Poulet en Fricasée à la Lyonnaise

I got this recipe from SaltShaker. It's easy to make AND tasty. Dan served his chicken with brown rice, flavored with garlic and basil. I didn't have that on hand, so I used plain white rice. I also garnished the food with freshly chopped cilantro. I like to garnish. My favorite part was chopping the cilantro and catching a whiff of its scent, as it floated upward from the chopping board. Mmmm, Mmmm, good! Thanks for the recipe, Dan!

Paz


Poulet en Fricasée à la Lyonnaise

Salt Shaker's (Dan's) adaptation from the recipe of bistro A l’Alliance, Paris


1 large frying chicken

3 plum tomatoes, seeded and chopped (you could also peel them if you like, I didn’t)

2 tablespoons of olive oil

3 tablespoons butter

½ cup dry white wine

¼ cup heavy cream

1 tablespoon red wine vinegar

2 tablespoons of flour

salt and pepper

Cut the chicken into serving pieces and shake in a bag with the flour and a little salt and pepper until lightly coated. Heat the butter and oil (traditionally, a fricasse would be only butter, but I wanted to lighten it slightly - probably didn’t make enough of a difference, but it makes me feel better about it) in a pan big enough to accomodate the pieces all in one layer. When hot, put the chicken in and fry to a golden brown on all sides. Then lower the heat to minimum, cover the pan, and let the chicken cook through - about 20 minutes.

Put the chopped tomatoes in a small saucepan and cook with just a pinch of salt to help them release their juices. Cook for 7-8 minutes. Remove from heat but keep them warm.

Back to chicken - remove the lid, add the vinegar around the edge of the pan to help deglaze the sides, add the wine, the tomatoes, and the cream.

Mix the sauce ingredients together, leaving the chicken in the pan. Cover again, and simmer for about 9-10 minutes. The bit of flour from the chicken, along with the cream, will thicken the sauce nicely. Serve the chicken along with rice (I used brown rice here, the light nuttiness worked really well - and I’d flavored it with garlic and basil). Adjust the seasoning in the sauce and spoon around and/or over the chicken and rice.

I’d say that this serves 4, but it’s so good that it probably only serves 2…

New York Monday # 46: On a Clear Day (You Can See Forever)

Hi folks!

Sorry I missed posting photos last week. My schedule has become even busier and I wasn't able to do any blogging or visit other blogs.

Here are some shots overlooking the Hudson river. On a clear day it's a beautiful sight. Mischief Mari usually comes up with tunes for some of the photos that I post (like here and here). This time, the lyrics to a song that Barbara Streisand sings came to mind as I stared out into the clear view. Here are the words to the song On a Clear Day. Anyone familiar with it?

Don't forget to click on the photos for larger images.


On a Clear Day (You Can See Forever)
LyricZZ.com

On a clear day
Rise and look around you
And you'll see who you are
On a clear day
How it will astound you
That the glow of your being
Outshines every star
You'll feel part of
Every mountain, sea and shore,
You can hear from far and near
A world you've never never heard before

And on a clear day
On a clear day
You can see forever and ever and ever and ever more.


Have a good week!

Best,
Paz


P.S. I'd like to wish all those celebrating Deepavali and the end of Ramadan, a joyous time!






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World Bread Day - October 16, 2006

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As written in an earlier post, The International Union of Bakers and Bakers-Confectioners (UIB) have designated October 16, World Bread Day.

In celebration of this day, Zorra from Kochtopf is hosting a bread blogging event, where we're all invited to bake or buy bread and blog about it.

I had planned on baking my first bread ever, but I just haven't had time. So here are photos of the bread I bought to use for lunch this week. Pita bread. It tasted nice, fresh, and good smelling when I removed it from the plastic bag covering. I like the light yet filling pita bread, especially when I have it with foods like fallafels, tabbouleh, and fattoush salad.

My future plans include baking bread, so you may still see it here one day. Stay tuned.

Paz





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Mawuena's Spinach Stew

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In my childhood food memories meme, I mentioned a spinach stew that my mother used to make. I set out to see if I could recreate it. In The Butterfly Effect meme, I wrote how my efforts were very successful.

Well, here is the spinach stew. There is no written recipe for it. I jotted down some notes as I prepared it. However, I lost them. To give a somewhat proper recipe, I’d have to make the dish again and write down everything.

So, for now, I just give you the ingredients: Frozen spinach, shrimps, canned salmon, tomatoes, tomato paste (I think), onions, olive oil, salt, pepper, hot pepper. That’s about it.

Paz



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New York Monday # 44: Full Moon

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My photo doesn't do justice to the beautiful and mesmerizing full moon that appeared back in September. I never had an opportunity to post it. Ilva's recent blue moon photo has inspired me to post mine now. If you haven't seen her wonderful and dramatic shot, please go see it.

I remember reading somewhere that strange things are supposed to happen when a full moon occurs -- werewolves become more active, people do crazy stuff, the dogs howl at the moon, the tides are affected, etc...

Happily, as far as I know, everything was fine. Nothing out of the ordinary happened in the city. My dogs didn't howl, I didn't howl... ;-)

I want to send my dear Cindy from Gorgeous & Delicious (formerly Cindy's Kitchen) a Happy, Happy Birthday, today! May all your dreams continue to come true, my dear friend! Keep baking and creating all those gorgeous and delicious foods and blogging about them!

Have a great week, everyone! And don't forget to click on the photos for larger images.

Ciao,
Paz




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World Bread Day 2006 - Invitation to Participate






The International Union of Bakers and Bakers-Confectioners (UIB) has designated October 16, World Bread Day.

Zorra from Kochtopf is hosting the event to celebrate the day and she's inviting us to join her.

Simply bake or buy a bread and blog about it by Monday, 16 October 2006.

Send Zorra an e-mail (Kochtopf AT gmail DOT com) and include the following information:
- Your name
- Your blog's name and URL
- The recipe name and your post's URL
- Your location -- hometown/region/country

Go to Zorra's site for the techonorati tag and banner code.

Happy baking!

Paz

New York Monday # 43: The Window Washers

I happened to look up and saw the window washers working on this building. The third photo shows the scene below them -- there was lots of automobile and pedestrian traffic.

Hmmm... I'm not to sure I'd want their job, especially on this particular building. This is a lot of work! I admire these workers.

Have a great week, everyone! Don't forget to click on the photos for larger images.

Paz

Looking for Lunch Suggestions!

The other day, I asked for breakfast suggestions and you so graciously supplied me with a lot of wonderful ideas.

I'm now looking for lunch suggestions to take to work. Lunches that I don't have to worry about heating up or putting in the fridge. I'd love to hear from you!

Thanks,
Paz