Nature Goes On

In "Nature...a Beautiful Thing"...posting on June 13, I wrote about my plants and how I didn't want to obsess. And in a month and a half, I have been following through...kind of.

I had a large rectangular planter that held pansies last year. By the time I opened the house, it was just dried soil. But after a week or so, green sprouts started growing and I couldn't tell if it they were weeds or good plants. So I left it alone. In other pots, I dropped some zinnia seeds and some wildflower seeds and walked away.

I couldn't help but get excited when the seeds erupted into life. And 2 weeks ago, I discovered the "weeds" were not weeds but indeed...they were pansies returning. And I didn't do anything. Amazing.

Showing off my "botanical" shots





Wild Flower Pot - can't wait to see what comes up:


Zinnia on the verge of blooming:


And then there's this curiosity. When Nikki came up for 4th of July, she made pesto. And brought with her a huge bunch of basil. She didn't use it all and was going to throw out the rest but I couldn't see throwing it all away. Instead, I put bunches in cups of water. Kathy didn't feel they would take root since they were cut. One cup did turn into mush. But the other cup had hearty vivid green basil and plenty of roots. I planted them and they are thriving!

Extreme

The Sister's Birthday Club had a meeting today. The hottest day of the year...possibly century! Extreme heat! We were celebrating Winnie's birthday and plans were already made. Since it's not easy getting our schedules to mesh - I didn't want to cancel or postpone. The girls met me in Forest Hills at 9:30am and we took off soon after. I loaded an insulated cooler with ice packs, frozen bottles of water and even a frozen face cloth.

Our destination was Tanger's Outlet at Deer Park. The last time we were there for my birthday, we discovered the Christmas Tree Store. Or rather Kathy & I did and it was overwhelming and unfortunately the last store we stopped in before we had to leave for lunch.

So this time, we went there first and really got to look through each and every aisle to our hearts content. After that, we visited other stores on our own and although it was lovely to walk into nicely air conditioned stores, exiting was another story.

It was H-O-T!

We left around 2pm to head back to Queens for our traditional sushi. And as always, it hit the spot and filled us up. I drove everyone back to Chinatown where after dropping Winnie & Connie, Kathy & I made a quick surprise visit to our mother.

I am so glad I belong to this "club" - it's simply an extremely GOOD time!
Thanks Ladies!!

Cuba & Asian Fusion in One Day

I had a dine-around kind of day today. First I met up with Winnie - did our 10,000 steps though I am sure we did more than 10,000! Then we rewarded ourselves with lunch, as always. Today's was abit more special. I wanted to treat Winnie for her birthday. We were going to go for lobster on City Island but yesterday I was in Forest Hills and drove by La Cabana. We have been there a few times always enjoying their Chicharonnes and Winnie asked to dine there. I have always loved their Caribbean decor of different bold colors on the walls. The lunch special consisted of a choice of soup or salad..we opted for salad. The crispy chunks of chicken were juicy and tender on the inside. Served with yellow or white rice with red or black beans. Very yummy.



Later, I picked up Nikki from her office and we went to "ssäm bar". Finally. A couple of years ago, Nikki gave me a Momofuku gift card for Christmas and I was excited since I had been wanting to try this restaurant. Last year, we made a date, went to Momofuku Noodle Bar and was told the gift card was only good for ssäm bar! Sure enough, in small little letters, under the big bold MOMOFUKU on the gift card was "ssäm bar". That certainly left a bad taste! So I have been holding this card waiting to use it. Tonight was the night. But I didn't have high expectations.

But it started off pretty well. Driving over from Varick St to 2nd Ave & 14th was not bad. And then there was plenty of parking on 14th St. ssäm bar is located on 2nd Ave on 13th Street. Meters were done by 7PM - we were there at 6:52 and waited the 10 minutes in the car.

When we got to the restaurant, it was already pretty packed. But we were told it would only be a 5 minute wait and asked to wait outside. Space is at a premium. The hostess came out to get us and we were seated at the long bar with tall stools. Not my most favorite of seating. I thought we would be sitting next to each other but Nikki actually walked around and sat opposite me. The other diners were right at our elbows. Under the counter are hooks to hang your purse or bag - I don't know what happens if you have a coat. Momofuku Noodle Bar has the same set-up and I remember sitting on my coat! At least this time we didn't have to deal with that.

We both decided to share their popular pork buns. Presented more like Peking Duck than chai sui baos. It was much better this time than my first time which had very fatty pork.


I bit into it before I remembered I needed to take a photo!

Nikki ordered: "roasted lamb loin & belly– bulgur, snap peas, egg yolk"

And I had the: "poached chicken – sticky rice, morels, spring onion"


Surprisingly both dishes were quite tasty. My dish was like an avant garde "nor mai gai" which is chicken stuffed with sweet sticky rice except it was reversed and the rice was surrounding the chicken. Nikki gave me a bite of her lamb and it was done well and had nice flavor and texture. I had to admit I walked away very pleased.
I have to apologize for the quality of the photos...too busy eating!

July 4th Get-Together

Ahhh....4th of July. One of my favorite times of the year because the family gets together at my upstate house. And for the last few years, I have been able to get a family portrait taken.

Evelyn's family showed up around midnight(after a drive-in movie)and stayed over on Friday night. The next day, Nikki arrived by train around 11am and Kris around 3pm. We had glorious weather and so much side-splitting laughter...it was truly wonderful.

And now a tradition, we celebrate Xavier's and Mark's birthdays which fall on June 24 & 27th.

For brunch: my 4th of July waffles:


Served with bacon and sausage (not shown)

In between meals...hanging out on the deck with our beautiful kids:



The MEAL: Kathy's famous ribs (spicy and non-spicy, boned and boneless), corn(not bread)souffle - apparently people go crazy if "bread" is mentioned
My garlic chicken wings with chimichurri sauce, shrimp ceviche, potato and egg salad & Texas garlic toast



The birthday boy:


The Family (this year, we missed Tom & Lupe)