Friday, July 4, 2014

Up On the Roof

4th of July Fireworks on our Brooklyn roof!
Renewed holiday excitement this year due to DiBlasio bringing the fireworks back to the viewing pleasure of Brooklyn residents.  




What a treat to lay on the roof and watch all these amazing displays.











Ultimately, I totally dug them!









But first, the rooftop picnic!  Iced lemon seltzers, cold watermelon, veggie chips.  After work I did a quick salad resuscitation on these already pretty good chicken taco bowls from Habana to go.  I added corn and black beans, more tomatoes, avocado, shjuzzed up the meat and I took the greens and tossed them with fresh herbs and a garlic lime vinaigrette.  Much, much better!
At first the night threatened to be a bit cloudy.
....but they all drifted away by nightfall.
 
I was ready like 3 hours early for the festivities to begin.  Nerd Alert!
 By the way, coldest NYC 4th that I can recall.  We had to reconnoiter and run down to put jackets on!  What?!

Thursday, July 3, 2014

Turn It On, Turn It Up, Turn Me Loose

These super awesome rainclouds blanketed the area leaving just a small stretch of blue skies with sunshine in the distance.  Everything began to turn dark really quick and you could smell the rain coming with the breeze in the air.

Don't you LOVE when that happens!?


It's like magic and sorcery and nature mixed with danger and excitement.  The storm gave the neighborhood that quiet low ceiling feeling.  I tend to get a bit wound up during a storm.  Feels like it ignites something primitive in me, like an ancient monkey gene that never got turned off.  This is similar to my full moon fever but way more pleasurable.
I was flipping through a magazine at PathMark and found this tip for a new salad.  Everyone is doing weird things to vegetables, cutting them oddly, peeling stuff into ribbons, and other produce manipulations.  This recipe replaced the bulgar wheat with grated cauliflower!  Great idea right?!  I loved it and of course you can add just about any herb, tomato, whatever.  I put some marinated artichoke hearts and a small avocado. So good and perfect with a spicy pork chop and side of edamame.
One warning: when you're grating, the cauliflower goes everywhere so it's mad messy, be prepared.  You have to just go with it and clean up afterwards.

1/2 head of cauliflower
bunch of parsley, chopped
bunch of mint, chopped
1 or 2 tomatoes chopped
1/2 English cucumber chopped
splash of red wine vinegar
small jar of artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
small avocado, diced
squeeze of lemon or lime, s&p
mix with spoon, let sit 5 minutes before serving & chill