FLOATS

The weather is unbearably hot and my air conditioning is not functioning leaving the flat feeling like a oven on slow roast. In such circumstances, nothing tastes better than an ice cream float made with vanilla ice cream and various sodas. We started with the orange and cream sodas, and the orange creamsicle tasting delight was the clear winner. Much later, when we got even hotter and thirstier, the root beer float was like something sent from heaven to give pure cold pleasure to our mouths.

Best drunk out of chilled ice cold mugs on an evening so hot you can barely move and are covered in a thin layer of stickiness and any movements undertaken are done very deliberately and slowly.

ALEXA and FUZZY POTATO

There is mint growing in Dupont Circle. Alexa and I picked some on our walk home and then used it to make a glorious peach salsa (the only food light and tasty enough to eat when it is a hundred degrees outside). The peach salsa took just a second to make and while it sat in the fridge getting all flavorful and delicious we sipped rose and talked about the sort of found and special jewelry.

Runny rich peach salsa best eaten out of beautiful small bowls with some interesting crackers by golden candlelight.

My potatoes are sprouting. I promised Alexa I would post a photo of my fuzzy potato.

The swirling eggplants and french beans

reminded me of

Van Gogh brush strokes

Pinks and reds and nudes. Together!

It's like it should be too valentine's day but it's not.

Instead, looking sort of hard core,

going a little mad and on the verge

of something, so (a little desperately) seeking attention

Juergen. Inez and Vinoodh. Sorrenti. Teller.

What I see (and probably the photographer):

Brooklyn

Sunlight

My favorite type of flaking wood

What marketing people see:

A demographic

"smart sensuality" women

who keep the Prada lingerie line alive

It sort of makes me sad to say that

These are from EXIT magazine:

Gradoville shot by Horne

Food begs to be recorded and remembered
I like how the eggs are so brown
and so broken

Onions are by Renoir

PEACH SALSA

The peaches and nectarines got overly ripe so I turned them into salsa for lunch. Because the fruit was getting a little too ripe, I took off the skins. The exposed fruit looked like Marilyn Minter. The salsa tasted perfect on this over a hundred degrees heatwave day eaten with mediterranean sesaame seed covered crackers from firehook. Sweetness from the fruit, freshness from the limes, a little something from the mint, bite and crunch from the red onions. Just enough salt, pepper, and vinegar to bring out all the flavors.

I like how at the farmers market
there are many types of onions
and the garlic is practically
sculptural


Like Brancusi

(There was too much potato. I ended up using 8 eggs.)

TORTILLA ESPANOLA

and

TOMATO ONIONS

When I was 15 or 16 I spent a summer in Segovia, Spain. Tortilla espanola was so ubiquitous I ate it at home and at every bar and small cafe I visited. It's considered a snack food and the portions always left me wanting more. I also loved the idea that Europeans ate delicious room temperature eggs. I had always had to deal with a lot of grief for bringing cold scrambled egg sandwiches to lunch in middle school in Avon, CT.

Tortilla Espanola:

Using enough salt during the cooking process is key. Also, use a pan that is small enough to let the onion and potato form a thick pile so that the tortilla has lots of dense height and can be cut into fat slices.

I used a lot less oil than most recipes called for and think this still came out really well. Chop a yellow onion. Thinly slice about 1 and 1/2 times as much potato. I used new potatoes with very tender skins and so just left those on. Heat a generous amount of olive oil and cook the onions and potatoes until the potatoes can be pricked easily with a fork. While cooking, salt generously and move around a bit. Do not let brown. Meanwhile, beat about 6 eggs and salt and pepper (lots of pepper). Once the potatoes are down, add eggs. Move around a little to let the egg run into nooks and crannies. Let cook until set but wobbly. Flip onto a plate and slide back into the pan. Let cook until just firm. Take off the heat and let cool before eating.

Tomatoes and Onions:

My Spanish host mother also introduced me to raw tomatoes dressed with just a touch of salt, pepper, and vinegar. At first the pepper and vinegar tasted really strong to me, but I've come to love this combination. If the tomatoes are really fresh, they don't even need vinegar. I think I first ate raw tomatoes and onions together in a really well done wedge salad at Michael Jordan's Steakhouse in Grand Central.

You need brightly colored, fresh, ripe tomatoes and sweet onions for this dish otherwise it will not taste good. Slice 2 ripe red tomatoes. Slice half a white sweet onion (ideally picked only a week ago and has the word candy in the name and is uncured). Place tomato on a plate, salt and pepper, arrange the white onion rings on top.

Raw onions are one of those unexpectedly good foods. There was an Iranian restaurant in LA where they served white raw onion and bread as the appetizer. You just peeled off the onion layers and ate them with the bread.

Peach cobbler plus milk for breakfast.

(I added some more peaches because this cobbler had too few).

PORK CHOPS WITH PEACH SALSA

and

PEACH COBBLER

Brining and spice rubbing the pork chops makes a difference. The peach salsa with its raw red onions balances the delicious pork fatty greasiness. This meal is decadent, especially when it ends with peach cobbler and a glass of whole milk so rich it has a cream colored tinge to it. If you have time to prep and own multiple frying pans, this dinner would work for a large party because the actual cooking part is really simple.

Pork Chops almost worthy of those in the Greek restaurant in Chevy Chase and made because Sebastian likes pork chops and I wanted to impress him:

Hours ahead of time, soak the pork chops in water flavored with enough brown sugar and salt so it's like tastes like a strong tea. Pat dry. Rub with a mixture of 3 parts brown sugar to 1 part paprika, 1 part old bay, 1 part cayenne pepper, and a generous amount of fresh ground salt and pepper. Have just enough olive oil to cover the pan. Throw on the pork chops on medium heat. Let sizzle for at least 5 minutes. You want the pan down side to be well browned before turning. After turning, let the other side brown for about 5 minutes. Take pork chops out of the pan and let rest on a plate. Throw sliced sweet onion into the pork fat. Salt a little. Let brown and almost caramelize. Throw a splash of water into the pan to deglaze. Let the water boil off. Throw the meat back in the pan and mix all together. Let sit a few minutes on the plate and then serve with peach salsa.

Peach Salsa should go on everything when peaches are in season:

It's important to keep the taste bright, fresh, and light. This means going very easy on the dressing part.

Chop two ripe yellow peaches, 1/2 of a smallish red onion, lots of mint. In a small bowl mix the juice of 1 and 1/2 key limes (the tiny sort), sugar, splash of balsamic vinegar, salt, and pepper. Mix everything together. Let sit at least an hour.

Peach Crisp inspired by Alex's:

Alex forever changed my opinion of crisps. She learned how to make hers as an assistant pastry cook at Chez Pannise. An Alex crisp is a nutty, deeply fruit tasting, slightly buttery experience that tastes like I imagine everything delicious described in the Red Walls series. The secret is using nuts in the topping and not too much sugar on the fruit. I remember her's was nectarines and blackberries. I'm using peaches and nectarines there were piles and piles of them at the farmer's market. I think I like a combination of yellow peaches and nectarines best. The nectarines have more fruit flavor and the peaches have sweet sugary juiciness.

For the fruit, start by briefly submerging 6 peaches (nectarines okay too) in boiling water then transferring to ice water. The skins should easily peel off. Pit and slice. Toss with enough sugar to just sweeten (it should be sweet, but not too sweet) and a small amount of flour.

For the topping (based on an Alice Waters recipe), toast 1 cup of sliced raw almonds for about 6 minutes or until they smell good and are just starting to brown. Chop. Mix with 1/2 flour, 1/4 brown sugar, 1 tablespoon of white sugar, 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Chop up about 6 tablespoons of butter. Rub butter and dry ingredients between your fingers until crumbly.

Lay peaches in a dish, cover in topping, let cook at 400 until the fruit are bubbling. Let cool completely before serving. Can be reheated.

Fresh oregano.

These are the farmers market eggplants.

Roasted, the darker one tastes better.

EGGPLANT CAPONATA

Sebastian and I also picked up some eggplants today, and because these also don't keep for too long we used them to make caponata for dinner. In addition to the eggplants, we also used vine ripe tomatoes, uncured yellow onions, music garlic, butter, and fresh oregano from the farmers market. Sebastian took all the photos above, which I absolutely love. The caponata still isn't perfect, but it's getting there. I'm taking Sebastian to Casa Nona so we can establish a caponata benchmark.

Third attempt at caponata:

I've made caponata with four different types of eggplants -- large dark round purple American, large round paler purple Sicilian, small longer dark ones, small longer paler purple ones. The best so far are the small dark ones from the farmer's market. I think they are Italian eggplants. The farmer's market person claimed that the small dark and lights were the same, but the dark tasted better to me and they had a slightly greener and firm flesh when raw. Below is how I want to make caponata the next time around.

Chop four smaller longer dark eggplants into half inch cubes. Toss with a sparing amount of olive oil (what might seem like barely enough to coat a fifth of the eggplant pieces) and a generous amount of freshly ground salt. Cook at 400 degrees in a single layer on an oiled surface until browned. Ideally, chop two small spring onions plus the green stems OR if this is not available, half a yellow (or other not sweet) onion and some green onions. Cook in olive oil until starting to color and then add two cloves of minced garlic. Before the garlic starts to burn, deglaze the pan with a splash of sherry vinegar. Add the roasted eggplant plus all the browned bits that stick. Cook briefly but do not overcook. Add two small very ripe chopped tomatoes that have been salted. Salt, pepper, red pepper flakes to taste. Mix in chopped basil and oregano. Serve over small rounds of bread toasted until golden brown in butter and olive oil and rubbed with garlic.

Note: the version I made today included balsamic vinegar, dried thyme, and chopped dried sour cherries. I thought the thyme was distracting and Sebastian thought the balsamic and cherries made the taste too sweet. Thus the absence of these ingredients in my "next time" recipe. I've also tried serving the caponata with fresh mint leaves and have considered adding toasted pine nuts, but I think that it would just be too many competing flavors if you're using fresh ingredients. With fresh ingredients, you can already taste the eggplant, tomato, onion, etc.

ASIAN CUCUMBER SALAD

Sebastian and I went to the Dupont Circle farmers market today. We picked up some small persian cucumbers that don't last very long, so we ate them today for lunch.

I've almost got these cucumbers right:

This is the third time I've made these cucumbers. They are inspired by crunchy Japanese cucumber salads that are usually a little sweet, spicy, sour and have a hint of toasty sesame seed oil (I love this combination of tastes). The last one I had was at the Ramen place Ippudo in New York. This preparation is based on a recipe for a Thai cucumber salad. I think using a coarser salt is important otherwise the salt dissolves and sort of disappears into the juices that get left at the bottom of the bowl.

Peel cucumbers. Split lengthwise and chop into bite sized pieces. Toss with a generous amount of coarse salt, pepper, a dash of red pepper flakes, and a not too heavy drizzle of sesame seed oil. Stir a generous amount of sugar into not too much rice vinegar and add this as well. Throw in some chopped cilantro if you have it.

Best eaten in silence to better enjoy the satisfying crunching cucumber sounds.

Waiting at 20th and O by these lilac and raspberry flower trees.