Friday, July 16, 2010

Food glorious food, mi hermana and my cup o joy is brimmin'

Hands down this past week's most interesting food was chef Nadine Nelson's blueberry pesto with goat cheese served at the "Berries in the 'Bury" tea at the Shirley Eustis House hosted by Discover Roxbury (Check out their fabulous programming: http://www.discoverroxbury.org/)

It was savory not sweet, complex, surprising and blue! We need more blue food! My palate hasn't been this excited since La Mar in San Francisco this past April (if you get there try the ceviche flight. Trust you won't be disappointed. http://www.lamarcebicheria.com/web/index.php.

I hope I can recapture one pinkie digit of Nadine's dish by trying this internet-found recipe at home:

Ingredients
2 cups fresh blueberries, washed
1 cup parsley, cleaned and packed
1/2 cup parmesan cheese, grated
1/2 cup toasted walnuts
1/4 cup olive oil
4 cloves garlic
8 oz. goat cheese

Directions
In a blender, process all ingredients, except for goat cheese, until a paste forms. Spoon the blueberry pesto over the goat cheese, enough to cover and drip down sides. Garnish with fresh blueberries.

I plan to serve it with Iggy's Parmesan Toasts http://www.iggysbread.com/main.html an amazing farmer's market find AND I intend to eat it while listening to Ahmad Jamal's Spartacus Love Theme http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFv7uVXJgp4 I'm just saying!

By far the past week's most interesting looking dish was the Moroccan veggie couscous topped with a cumulus cloud of hummus and encircled in a basil olive oil infusion at Cafe Gitane where I dined with my sister of 48 years, Monique, and my sister of 15 minutes, Nicole. There's a long story here but the bottom line is this: I have another sister, y'all. How strange and wonderful to see my face in an unfamiliar face, to be the big sister to another! I knew my family was a Modern Family http://abc.go.com/watch/modern-family/235331 when we gathered at my son's CCNY graduation this May (Go, Cyrano!). It could have been ugly but it was hella-wonderful. Picture me, my wife, Pam, my ex-husband, Chuck, his main squeeze, Lizette, my mother, Carmen, my father, Billy, my father's wife/my step-mum, Connie, my sister, Monique, her fiance, Jacques, Mo's ex-husband, Ken. I neveh in my life see sich a sight* AND it was all good. Now there's Nicole, her hubby Jimmy and her babies Phoebe and Astrid. Welcome to the family, you crazy kids!

Shameless plug: Nicole is an amazing artist. Check her out: http://www.nicolewillis.com/news.html

*I borrowed this line from Paul Laurence Dunbar's poem The Party. If you haven't read his work, well then, you absolutely must. He's too too wonderful!

Here's a taste of "When de Co'n Pones Hot"

Dey is times in life when Nature
Seems to slip a cog an' go,
Jes' a-rattlin' down creation,
Lak an ocean's overflow;
When de worl' jes' stahts a-spinnin'
Lak a picaninny's top,
An' yo' cup o' joy is brimmin'
'Twell it seems about to slop,
An' you feel jes' lak a racah,
Dat is trainin' fu' to trot—
When yo' mammy says de blessin'
An' de co'n pone's hot.

Read more at http://www.poetryfoundation.org/archive/poem.html?id=173468
What's a "racah"? Oh well, I'll figure it out.

Mantra for the week: Dream more. Dream bigger. I love you for reading.

Chef Nadine Nelson and lady Fulani's hat
Ladies and their hats at "Berries in the 'Bury"
Veggie couscous with cloud of hummus, a basil olive oil infusion and roasted red pepper toasts (sausage extra) at Cafe Gitane -- a little bit of Cuba in NYC's West Village.
Lovely Nicole and an equally lovely black lentil and smoked trout salad.
Las hermanas
The modern family, for real though
Pone starts with corn. Hahahahahahaha.