The brightest full moon of 2008

December 12, 2008

It's Christmastime in the city

Manhattan: Festivities at Rockefeller Center.

Brooklyn: Bensonhurst lights.

Friday afternoon in NYC

Spotted at New Kam Man on Canal Street.

RECIPE BOX

This is one of my favorite cheesecake recipes ever. It's so good and so simple to make and, frankly, it's ruined me for all other cheesecakes. My mom spotted this recipe in The Ford Times Cookbook: A Traveler's Guide to Good Eating at Home and On the Road and the rest is delicious history...

Three Cities of Spain, Santa Fe, Cream Cheese Cake
Make graham cracker crust right in a 10" springform pan by mixing:
1-1/3 cup graham cracker crumbs
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup soft butter
Press the crumb mixer along the bottom of the pan and partway up the sides to form the crust.

For the filling, cut 1-1/2 pounds softened cream cheese into small pieces. Add 1 tablespoon vanilla and 4 eggs, one at a time, beating well after each egg. Blend in 1 cup of sugar. Pour mixture over crust and bake for 20 minutes at 375 degrees. Then add the topping: blend together 2 cups sour cream, 2 tablespoons sugar, and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Spread over the top of cake and bake 5 minutes more. Cake will be soft when removed from oven. Chill for 4 hours, then get ready to taste a little slice of heaven.
(Note: A friend of mine likes to top this with fresh strawberries or other fruit, but I think it's best as is!)

Thanksgiving in the Catskills

Winter wonderland: Hiking in the snow on Slide Mountain.

Hardware store in Phoenicia, NY.

This time two years ago...

Mexico, 2006. View of the Soothsayer Pyramid from Governor's Palace at Uxmal.

No one in sight for miles at a beach on Cozumel Island...except Seth.

RECIPE BOX

When it comes to Thanksgiving dinner I can take or leave the turkey, all the fixin's, the pumpkin pie, even the wine as long as green bean casserole's on the menu: a few cans of green beans, condensed mushroom soup, water chestnuts, and crunchy onions. Happy Turkey Day everyone. GOBBLE! GOBBLE!

RECIPE BOX

I usually save this recipe for special occasions like Christmas, but it made the perfect treat for such a sweet night! Each batch makes four little loaf cakes (use 5-3/8" x 3-1/4" x 1-7/8"-pans). Wrap them in foil and they can be saved for about a week at room temperature. Add a bow and they make great gifts!

Orange Poppy Seed Pound Cakes
(adapted from a recipe from the original Victoria magazine)
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1-1/4 cup sugar
2-1/2 sticks butter, room temperature
5 eggs
1/3 cup fresh-squeezed orange juice
1-1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1/4 cup poppy seeds

Preheat oven 350. Mix flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl. In a large bowl beat sugar and butter together, add eggs one at a time, then orange juice and almond extract. Fold in the poppy seeds. Divide batter into four buttered and floured pans. Bake for 55 minutes, let the pans cool for 10 minutes, then enjoy!
(Note: the original recipe calls for an additional 1/2 cup sugar, which makes it too sweet for my taste, 1 tablespoon grated orange peel, and 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract instead of the almond extract.)

This time last year...

Nightmare on Flatbush Avenue.

Ghouls and zombies dining in Soho, October 31, 2007

Portrait of an October bride, NYC Halloween Parade 2007

Halloween spooktakular

Ghosts in Manhattan! Spotted at the NYC Halloween Parade, 2008.

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Sunday afternoon

OCTOBER 19, 2208: Spotted near the Gowanus Canal on Douglass

Go fly a cat...er kite!

What the...? R2D2???

Wish you were here.

FIRST DAYS OF FALL: Camping in the Adirondacks.

Graffiti at 5Pointz in Long Island City. This was my favorite.

Swoon's floating sculptures at Deitch Gallery in Long Island City.

Doorway, Lower East Side.

Bird watching near the Gowanus Canal.

Fish eyes.

For all I know, I'll never go to Asia again, so when Seth and I vacationed in Taiwan last year I did things I wouldn't normally do. Like eat eyeballs...well, eyeball soup. These fish eyes were about 4 inches in diameter, so who knows how huge the rest them must have been. The chef/owner held up one of these eyeballs and jiggled it a bit so we could get a good look before he chopped it up and added it to the soup (eye fluid, cartilage, and all) and served it with a side of cold cucumber and some sort of vegetable cake (pictured below). Tasty, but not for the squeamish!

We tried it at a sushi restaurant in Taichung called "Funny Shoes" because the chef/owner always wears traditional Japanese geta sandals. Sea urchin (yum!), sushi, grilled fish (possibly from the fish used for the soup), were also on the menu; we washed it down with saki and scotch. Gambay!

Hello.