Dinner with Friends

Spring Clothes

I have tried so hard to stay out of stores in the past year. I still manage to spend too much money on the weekends and I'm not really sure how... but so it goes.

I remember, from seeing the spring 2011 shows a year ago that brights and color blocking would be fashionable this spring. Ok, not my favorite but I can alternate a few bright dresses with my black clothes and my white things, oh and safari still seems to be strong. I also remembered big florals being shown and I remember thinking that I could buy one or two dresses that could satisfy. I could live with all this.

But where did all these peachy ruffly things come from????   They are floppy and wan and I prefer structured and like high contrast dark colors against my pale skin. I've tried some new pieces on and they make me look floppy and wan. I like ruffles on the bottom of a skirt or the sleeve of a jacket but layers of ruffles against my face makes me think I have to go to a beauty parlor on the upper east side to get my hair coerced into an upper east side lady who lunches helmet head do. Where did stores get the idea that women want to wear peach?  Black women look gorgeous in that color as it's a warm high contrast color against the cocoa of their skin. But moi?? I AM pale peach-I need black...navy...brown...dark colors.

What's a girl to do?  Well, I will always shop but clearly this spring I won't be buying very much. 

Annual Passover Dinner Party

My dinner party on Saturday night was an absolute blast! Lots of laughing and happy screaming.

Now I can tell you about the near catastrophes that only my husband, my glam best friend, one other good friend, and my mother know about before. The menu: sauteed duck breast over roasted baby vegetables, then roasted turkey breast (disks that alternated with parsley mashed potatoes), a broccoli/grape tomato salad garnished with toasted matzo crumbs and fresh horseradish, matzo farfel (matzo broken into a 1/4 inch dice) with wild mushrooms (it comes out a bit like a wild mushroom risotto and the techniques is the same), and sliced Persian cucumbers with sea salt.  With a carrot cake and a chocolate almond torte for dessert.

Passover baking is not so easy as one cannot use flour.  Flourless chocolate tortes are always good options but usually I make my signature dessert-chocolate fondue with fruit or pound cake to dip. However, since I had so many days off I was willing to give baking a try this year. Have I ever mentioned just how much I dislike baking?  Too much exact sicence in it.  I chose a chocolate walnut torte and a carrot cake, also based on nut flour.    Every Passover cake recipe starts out with separate 1000 eggs (!). I separated the 5 eggs and added the 2 whole eggs to the yolks, I put the bowl near the outlet, which is not on the counter I am most comfortable working on, then looked at the recipe, measured the next ingredients and promptly dumped them into the bowl in front of me.  Continued reading the directions only to realize I just dumped all the extra ingredients into the whites but I was supposed to mix them into the yolks. OY. I had to run to the deli to buy more eggs. I started again and it was all fine, the batter for the carrot cake was pretty good so I stuck the pans in the oven. I washed all my equipment and started on the chocolate. I separated 6 eggs but very carefully put each ingredient where it was supposed to go. I also beat these eggs with the mixer my mom gave me the day before as she somehow had an extra. All was going well. Until, I was about to beat the egg whites. No whirring beaters. I checked the outlet, the plug, that the beaters were in the machine correctly. Nothing. I called my husband downstairs to see if he could get it to work. Nothing.  I grabbed a fork and started mixing. My husband thought I was crazy that should run out and buy a new mixer. But I'd have to drive clear across town, to Macy's or Bed Bath and Beyond spend time finding one then drive all the way home again-by the time I did all that I could be finished beating. Yes, my arm and wrist hurt and I would have been happier had I a whisk.   I called my Mom who agreed with my H. I called friends so I could chatter while beating to lessen the pain in my wrist and arm.  I'm left handed and tried giving my left arm a rest by using my right, but I couldn't get the motions right. I know there were meringues and cakes with beaten eggs long before there was electricity so I just kept beating. And eventually I was done.  When I finally served both the carrot cake was underdone and the chocolate cake was a bit overdone. See why I really really HATE to bake!?!???!!

I set the table and that gave me much joy, as it always does. See below for lots of pictures.
 







On Sat morning (and please know that by now, all the kosher for Passover stores were closed as it was Sabbath) I defrosted the turkey breast and went about my cooking and cleaning. I ran to the supermarket for some last minute vegetables and lo and behold saw a mixer for $6.74!!!!

I made all the hors d'ouevres to use then get the food processor out of the way early in the day. I enjoyed making all the side dishes too. About 5 on Sat I put the turkey in the oven, when I took it out and let it cool to start slicing it is the first time I realized I wasn't going to have enough. This has NEVER happened to me before. I always have way too much food and frankly I prefer it that way. I panicked for a minute and cut some slices in 1/2 getting 10 but I had a 11 people. How horrible would it look if everyone took 1 piece and then there was nothing left???  I remembered I had a few pieces of roast chicken left over so I planned to heat that up and tell my husband not to eat turkey. I'm a quasi vegetarian so no problem with me not eating it. I had to leave to pick up my glam BF and while I was waiting him to emerge I called a good friend and told her the story. She panicked with me for a second but had a fabulous idea-trim the left over, raw duck breasts into circles and add them to the turkey, telling my husband and GBF to take the duck pieces. On the way back with my BF in the car I revealed all to him and he was happy to help as he much prefers duck to turkey. I'm quite relieved to say, I had enough turkey on the platter to serve everyone with 2 tiny pieces left over. My husband ate chicken, which he prefers but my glam BF got to eat turkey which he says he liked a lot. Whew!  2 adorable friends at the last 2 pieces! (I'm so releived there were seconds! And, as my cousin said at the end of her Seder last week, "it's wonderful to have one thing not to have to find a place for in the refrigerator"). 

Eventually, everything worked out, everyone had much fun and I enjoyed myself immensly.

Passover Cocktails

I think I've mentioned before that I really prefer cocktails to wine. I knew that one of the guests at my dinner party liked wine and was bringing it, so I put wine glasses out for everyone. I don't get to do that very often since I never really serve wine, but I sometimes fall in love with vintage wine glasses the same way I do other vintage glass pieces, so I buy them and was glad to be able to use them. I think, I'll have to use them as water glasses from now on...

Back to the cocktails... What goes into creating a Passover dinner party cocktail is more complicated than other dinner parties because Jews are not really drinkers so the ingredients I need to make them aren't always easy to find and sometimes aren't available at all.  I can get the base spirits kosher for Passover but I can't always get the secondary ones-like campari or vermouth... But I can get fruit juices and sodas easily enough.  Vodka is easy enough but I had to do alot of research to find a gin that is kosher for P-there are only 3 brands that are and one of them is so new it was only available on the Dean & Deluca wesbite-or so I thought...It turns out that one of them, Dean or Deluca created it specifically for Passover in his vineyeards.  Gin is made from ingredients that aren't kosher for P so he distilled it from sugarcane.  But it wasn't overly sweet, it got a good review in the NY Times and my friends all liked it a lot.  It was quite smooth, I must say.

I want my cocktails to be fashionable and delcious and for an April holiday-springy, something other people will like as well... And something I can make ahead in a pitcher. Cocktail recipes are so  often given in 1 drink measurement and making one drink at a time for 11 people is ridiculous, plus it would be a real hardship for my glam BF, my cocktail host (by the time guest 11 gets a drink guest 1 is ready for another, my friend would spend his whole night in the kitchen mixing drinks.  And the kitchen gets so sticky, plus with cooking for 11 people there's no room on the counter for cocktailing). What I've done in years previous is to puree strawberries with lemon juice, mix in a little simple syrup  then shake that with vodka and strain it into vintage glasses. It's delicious but I was bored of it and this year's weather didn't really suggest spring. So I decided on Tom Collins and because most people prefer vodka to gin I planned on vodka collins too.

My glam BF came to dinner on Thursday evening so we could have our weekly evening together (I can't go to restaurants on Passover because of the kosher issues but I can cook like in a restaurant for us, appetizer was slmon 3 ways (smoked, sushi, tinned in olive oil with lemon curl garnish followed by baby lamb chops in rosemary olive oil garnished with a green olive and orange tapendae). But also because I wanted him to perfect the cocktails with me. We had much fun with them!  We got our measurements settled. The next day I took said measurements over to my Mother's house and she, the 5th and 8th grade math teacher, along with my brother, the CPA figured out how to increase the one drink measures into a pitcher.

The drinks went over really really well and we had to make 3 rounds of pitchers that evening!!!  I beleive that classics develop into classics for a reason.

Pasta for Dinner

While I don't believe in that Atkins diet-cutting out an entire food group seems foolish to me, your body does need the nutrients and when you feel deprived you end up over eating. I have, however, severely cut down on the amount of pasta I eat. You see, I never met a noodle I didn't like.

The past few times I've gone to Maialino for lunch I've had the Tonnarelli Cacio E Pepe  pecorino & black pepper (pasta with cheese and pepper). I also ask the restaurant to put a fried or poached egg on top so I can have the protein I need to get through the rest of the day. The heat of the black pepper against the creaminess of the cheese and the bland chewiness of the divine hand made pasta makes an almost perfect dish.

I got my May Bon Appetit the other day and it has a dish of tomato sauced spaghetti on the cover that has made my mouth water!! I have craved pasta ever since. This morning, unbelievably I got my Daily Candy and unbelievably there was the recipe for the Maialino Tonnarelli Cacio E Pepe  with pecorino & black pepper!!!!!!!!! The woman who sits next to me at work has had the dish at the restaurant and was equally excited about seeing it. I called my husband to say, be prepared for pasta for dinner! He was and it was incredibly delicious! Just what I was craving for days and days. YUM. 

I stopped at Eataly for provisons on the way home.  As soon as I got in the house I took off my accessories (I don't know about you but I can't cook draped in Yves Saint Laurent flapper necklaces) and got to work.  It's an easy dish to make, and I added the egg, but what a lot of pots and utensils it uses.  I want to do it again, it was delcious, but how to cut down on the number of pots to use is key for me.  Unless the dishwasher from Mailaino wants to come over after dinner?

 



 

 

 

 

 

 

The Times they are a Changin'

I'm sitting on a marble bench in a yuppie style Washington Square Park, waiting for a small march in support of the tragically beaten Damian to begin, more than that I'm waiting for the friends I'm there meet. I'm reading from my Nook, glancing around seeing everyone either on a smart phone or being parents who over protect yet don't discipline their children-it was quite the modern rally. Yet on a marble bench a few feet away from me was a group of guitar holding, old hippies, singing and strumming their way through proper "march and protest" songs from the proper groups-Peter, Paul, and Mary, Bob Dylan, Jim Croce...Leaving on a Jet Plane...I've Got a Hammer. I'm too young to have really known the great protests of the 60's but I do know of them. And let me tell you-the times they have a changed. My husband however, does know them and even participated in some-Kent State, a March on Washington, he even went to Woodstock. There were no Blackberrys and iPhones-people paid attention to the March.

It was an important rally in its way, we marched from Washington Square Park to The Stonewall Bar. Do you know the basic history of gay rights in NY, the story actually ends at the Stonewall Bar in 1969, where the gay men at the time were still very much underground, but the times they were a changin', many gay men became activists in major cities across the country just at that time. They were tired of being harassed by the world and the cops (who were supposed to protect them) so it was at this bar on Christopher St in 1969 they fought back. Slowly things changed.

There have been several gay bashing incidents around the city lately, which is tragic. and, unacceptable. This small band of men and women yesterday tried to say "no" and I can only applaud their efforts. I went along with them because I don't believe anyone should be bashed for any reason, the least of which because of who you are. And we must stop this at the beginning. I am a white Jewish woman married to a black man, believe me if hate violence continues unchecked, my husband and I will be on the top of the list of victims. I also went because my best friend and some his other friends were going and I would be spending the afternoon with them and as it turned out, the evening. I only wish the band of young organizers had called some news organizations but it felt right to be doing something. As we walked on our very circuitous route, people honked their horns in support, people in sidewalk cafes clapped and chanted with us. Yes, it felt good to be doing the right thing.

Writing Again and the Evening Gown Saga

I haven't written anything in several months, I can't really say why, I don't know. I just know I haven't been feeling it. The course of my life hasn't changed, my amazing husband has taken me to Paris again (where I had the honor of accidentally meeting one of my heroes, John Galliano, in his shop and Dior's only to be dropped into the depths of despair upon the evidence of his outbursts and firing).  I've entertained at home and at work and loved it all, I've gone to all kinds of restaurants-some fancy, some not... I bought a tiara after years of wanting one, finally finding the crown of my princess flapper dreams. I bought the cutest little laptop-in turquoise!  Since I now have a color Nook, I’ve been reading even more than I did before I had one, if that’s even possible.  However, Wi-Fi is not so easy, even though the intimation is that it’s EVERYWHERE.  Not so much… 

I hadn't talked much about shopping, even during the months I was writing.  I was trying to pay some credit cards down. But let's be real and know, accept that that is never going to happen. 

My nephew's Bar Mitzvah is going to be over Memorial Day weekend and my brother told me "black tie". I adore being dressed up so I am completely thrilled!!! I went to the back of my closet to pull one of my evening pieces-none was there. I looked through every garment bag (!!) though; I did find my husband's tuxedos, so that's good. I went to the attic and looked through more garment bags and boxes to no avail. Nothing. I did find some other things I hadn't worn for a while and pulled them out, so that was fun. But no Nanette Lepore pale grey hammered silk... The other is velvet but French from the thirties, that I bought on our first trip to Paris, so I'm equally concerned about not finding but for different reasons...in between hours of looking I thought shopping was a good idea. And that really paid off!

 I went to Lord & Taylor to buy a beaded top for my wheel chair bound grandmother (I found several for her to choose from) as I turned to leave the store, I spotted a "take 60 percent off the lowest price" sign on a fixture of (real!) gowns!  Not L & T private label junky stuff but Ralph Lauren Purple Label, Badgley Mishka, Carmen Marc Valvo etc. So!! I tried on 7 or 8 gowns bought 4 with an extra 15 percent off coupon and tried them on again at home. My husband and I ruled out 2 grey ones, they weren't so flattering...I kept the black Carmen Marc Valvo you see here
 

and the Ralph Lauren in navy, also seen here.

 
 

 I love them both and cannot decide which to wear to my nephew's Bar Mitzvah in May. The black halter gown needed to be altered, it hung too low, I'm short-waisted so the waist of the gown hit my hips meaning that it didn't sit quite right. I pulled it up from the strap behind my neck and lo and behold it was perfect!!!!!  I was terrified of how difficult and expensive it would be to alter a bodice full of gorgeous bugle beads.   I took it to the tailor last weekend and he described the perfect way to alter the bodice. From his tone, however, I grasped he had another idea. He carefully pinned the strap in the right place and one week later I had a perfectly fitted gown. He just folded the back of the strap and stitched it down, you really don't even know there is a new seam. During the week I picked up my shoes from the shoemaker (the jewels detached themselves from the leather strap). I've worn them often through the past few summers with jeans, a T-shirt, and shrunken jacket but this would be one of the few times I could wear my magnificent evening shoes as evening shoes!  (I'll post their picture tomorrow) Again, let's be honest, I do love the navy gown, but in my heart of hearts I already know I am going to wear the black one. I think I knew it in my head the moment I saw the clouds of black silk crepe settle on the floor around my feet in the dressing room.

 

I'm not terribly worried-my glam best friend now knows of a late night club we can go in black tie!!  The navy is a little conservative for his taste but once I add the tiara, I think that will change his mind. I have made him promise we can go twice-so I can wear both gowns.  Flappers live on!!!!!!!!!!