Flavors 518

Yesterday I left work and my summer intern on his last day said "Thanks for everything this summer. Its been real." Then, I decided to stop in at Grafton Lakes on the way home. I waded in the water and called a former coworker who has a whole new position at my old job. Her boyfriend wants to go to grad school, I'm going to do some work in NYC  - so many new things.  Then the loud speaker announced "Everyone out of the water, this is the end of the day and the end of the summer. Please come back next year!". I squeezed my toes in my sand and felt ok leaving. There have been times in past years I tried so hard to pretend summer wasn't ending - trying to convince my husband to go on a last minute humid, hazy Labor Day trip to the Finger Lakes. But this time it  feels like something different. People say spring is a season of newness, but we spend our school years starting anew in September. We spend much of our lives having to pretend to be so many differ...

My in-laws bought me a gift certificate to the Arts Center of the Capital Region for Christmas last year, and last week I used the certificate on a cooking class. It was so fun. Have you seen the Dancing Ewe Farm at the Troy Farmer's Market? They usually have a line of admiring onlookers and really attractive looking charcuterie. Dancing Ewe Farm is a farm in Washington County ran by Louisa and Jody Somers. They have 150 sheep , spend part of the year in Italy harvesting olives to make olive oil, and are all around really impressive, laid-back people. The class that I took was about how to make things with ricotta. I personally love ricotta, but I don't ever really know what to do with it. First, Jody explained to us the whole history of making ricotta in Italy and what it is used for over there (hint: its not globbed into lasagna the way it is here, its more likely to be served with an appetizer plate and some bread slices). Then, we made a dessert. It was a really deli...

I'm feeling really hopeful about the future of Troy nowadays. Back last year when the Pioneer Co-op closed, I wasn't feeling as hopeful. I have a friend who used to shop there who now walks across the bridge to use the Watervliet Price Chopper (its not their best location). I really feel that things are looking up though, and not in a way like realtors have been saying that Long Island City in Queens has been looking up for the last ten years - where they build luxury condos assuming other businesses will follow, and they never seem to (unless you want to count the gentlemen's clubs under the subway tracks). The Troy Farmer's Market is great. Next week is the first week they are going to be outside, and as a bonus they are also going to keep things going an hour later (untill 2). They are also adding a twilight market on Friday nights. Some of our favorites at the market include: Danascara Cheese , Pika's Farm Table (I really like to throw a couple of their quic...

A couple years ago Revolution Hall stopped being a venue for concerts and became a private events space. Now you can have your wedding there! We went to a wedding reception there last night. There was a totally awesome photo booth the groom and his friend built. Here was the result. We had such a great time! They are such an amazing couple! Also, I still love weddings. I'm the type of girl who wishes there was a Valentine's Day every month. At this moment, I am checking out a "Bridezillas" marathon. I have to admit to still checking out Ruffled and Style Me Pretty when I'm totally bored or stressed. I will also admit to having the impulse to buy a Martha Stewart Weddings magazine once in a while, but resisting the urge. Perhaps I'm meant to be a crafty, low-key, totally personalized wedding planner. I do seem to have kicked the David Tutera habit completely, so that is something. I don't think weddings should be about materialism, weight loss, or...

 The crack staff at the Capital Region Dining Blog are big fans of The Hungry Fish , Chef Sarah Fish's locavore diner.   So we were pleased to see that they were moving to a slightly more convenient location (for us) in Troy.   We were able to visit this weekend, and can happily report that it's as good as ever.   The new room retains its offbeat charm, although the store portion is a little smaller.    The food remains both terrific and a good value.  I had the breakfast BLT: Very good homemade bread, high-quality bacon, fresh tomato, farm fresh egg -- how can you go wrong?   The home fries were very good too, with crisp exteriors. I'm not, in all candor, a big fan of the homemade ketchup -- it's better than most, but I'm more or less part of the foodie backlash that sees it as better in theory than in practice.  That quibble aside, it's a perfect brunch sandwich.  Ms. Garlic had the Croque Madame: ...

Today I got a real tour of outer Troy from my lovely new friend and professional cake decorator, Sandy. When I first found out she was a professional cake baker I am pretty sure I mumbled something like "livin' the dream!" even though I worked really hard for and am really lucky to have the job I have. Hoping to learn a thing or two from her, I suggested we check out the Confectionery House in Brunswick. It was way cool. You could make any kind of candy or decorate any kind of cake with the supplies from here. I had fantasies of buying all the candy bar making supplies and coming up with a cool combination called "The Emily Bar" to show up to the food swap with and give as Christmas presents, but I couldn't think of what that bar would be so I gave up on the idea. I bought a cool angled frosting spreader type of tool, brioche molds. and this awesome bear pan. Watch out, everyone I know, I am going to start showing up everywhere with bear shaped cakes! ...

Today I want to the food swap with the From Scratch Club in Troy. It was on Saturday instead of Sunday to be part of Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution Day . I juiced 31 lemons to make 6 bottles of lavender lemonade. Check out the recipe on Joy the Baker . Unfortunately, I didn't get a photo of my bottles of lemonade or my piles of lemons I juiced, but I can say the very cool bottles I got were from Christmas Tree Shops ($1.99). The recipe is incredibly delicious. I juiced about 18 more lemons for my sample jug. I had extra from that batch and sat around drinking that, watching not very good movies ( One Day and half of Horrible Bosses ), and watching my coworkers Cheasapeake Retrievers last night. It was pure heaven. Without bragging too much, this item was ridiculously, almost overwhelmingly, popular. Other ideas I had for this time were: fresh pasta , oyster crackers, BBQ sauce, and ice cream. But once I read the lavender lemonade recipe on Joy the Baker a couple weeks ago,...

Today I went to the food swap with the From Scratch Club . It was extra fun because author Alana Chernila was there and spoke about her book The Homemade Pantry . She spoke about the connection between politics and food, and it was very interesting. My friend Jessica came along with her fabulous lip balm made from Lloyd Spear Honey , so that made it even more fun. I made hot sauce from an Emeril's recipe I found online . It was green though, like the green jalapenos I used. I bought the jars and labels at Brooklyn Kitchen when I went down to see Joy the Baker . Check it out: I brought the chips for sampling. People apparently thought it was super spicy, including Albany Jane who totally turned me down for that reason. Check out what I got this time! Garlic croutons, which was the item I wanted the most during the sampling period - totally delicious! Beef jerky ( here is the beef jerky maker's blog ). I also got a beautiful lavender body powder that you can use...

I always look forward to President's Day because that means I usually get the Monday off after my birthday . This year, however, I am auditing a class at the conservation lab , so I ended up going into work anyway (it is a floating holiday for us). It is a fun class because I get to hear about all kinds of art related gossip, like how the people at the Red Lion Inn in Stockbridge put paintings where the pastry chef ended up burning them with his setting the cherries jubilee on fire. The conservators told them not to put the paintings near any food, so they put them above the boiling water of the coffee station, and five years later had to pay to get them fixed all over again. Also, The Clark's Bourgereau is getting conserved and every time we go it is a little different looking as the yellowed varnish gets removed gradually. Anyways, this class is making me tired as two days a week I get home at about 10:00 at night so I took today off. We had originally sampled some fo...

We had an out of town friend visit a couple weekends ago, and we continued on the tour around town we started giving him when he was in town for our wedding 5 months ago. The day he was heading to the train station we had a nice afternoon hanging around Brown's . Then we headed to Muza for dinner. It has been previously established that I enjoy restaurants that feel like some relative's living room. I grew up eating peirogies, but just the frozen Mrs. T's variety - not anything this flavorful  or fresh tasting.  We started out with some creamy carrots (in a tasty sauce) and some potato salad (the chopped up pickles and dill liven it up). Previously, I have had the pickle soup - which sounded just weird enough to be irresistible, and was so interesting I felt compelled to research pickle soup recipes once I got home. I have also previously had the beef stroganoff, which was way more better than the beef stroganoff of my childhood (I think that was just beef mixed with c...