These photos were taken by my next-door-neighbor, Aileen, on Monday. They were too cute not to share! She said this tiny cub was hanging out on her deck for about a half an hour. No mother was around, so it looks like it’s an abandoned cub. It seems to be wondering if their wooden bear might be a good surrogate. It looks kind of right, but it sure doesn’t smell right!
The sad thing is it might be one of the three cubs that were left to fend on their own when their mother was euthanized about a month ago. (The rogue bear that knocked down a man and swiped at his dog in Jungle Habitat.) It looks about the right size because they were “about the size of a Pomeranian” when their mother was killed.
I haven’t seen it around my yard ... yet, but I’ll be keeping a close eye out for the dear little thing.
When we lived in Ft. Collins we had a peach tree that bore beautiful fruit each year. We made a lot of “pickled” peaches using Rick’s grandmother’s recipe. When we ate lunch at Penning’s Farm Stand this Saturday and saw all the fresh peaches for sale we decided to put some up. Especially when we saw that they were selling their own Spiced Pickled Peaches for $12.00 a jar!
It’s been at least six years since we’ve done this and I think we’ve pretty much forgotten how. Like how much work it really is. Like what kind of jars we should have purchased (the wide mouth kind). Like how the peaches really should be pretty darn ripe because if they are too big to fit into those narrow-necked jars you have to pit them which is not easy an easy process on an un-ripe peach. More like butchering instead of pitting. Like how you really should watch the sugar syrup closely so that it doesn’t overflow the pan and run all over the cooktop and make a big sticky mess.
First the peaches have to be peeled. Putting them in a boiling hot water bath for a minute or so helps to loosen the skins. Again, must remember to get riper peaches so the skins come off more easily to avoid butchered peaches.
After peeling they sit in cold water with some vinegar and salt added so they won’t turn a funny brown by they time you get them all peeled. Only thing is, here’s a hint. Don’t put the peaches in a double boiler/strainer because as the peaches displace the water it will begin to overflow—all over the cooktop and counter before it finally makes its way down the cabinets and to the floor in a big puddle.
After a quick dip in the syrup mixture they get put in clean, hot jars along with some cloves and a piece of cinnamon stick. Peaches just a tad too big to fit through the mouth of the jar? No problem! Just give them a good push and hope like heck you can get them back out when you are ready to eat them. Pour syrup mixture over peaches to cover within one half inch of the top.
Out of the canning bath and they are looking good!
For all our trouble we got four quarts of mostly intact peaches and one quart of butchered sliced peaches.
We can only hope they taste really good because after all the mishaps and an hour or more to clean up the mess, we are beginning to think that $12.00 a quart is not too much to pay after all.
Ever since fellow blogger, Lettuce Eating, visited New York City (she lives in London) and told me how she went on this food tour, I’ve been longing to do it. What better excuse to finally just “do it” than hosting a visitor over the weekend last week? Anne-Lise (the daughter of our dear friends in France) took a few days out from her busy college schedule in Quebec to come and stay with us. Since we had not seen her since she was 8 years old it was nice to “meet” the wonderful grown woman she has become at age 22! Where did the years go?
We drove in to the city and left early in case the traffic was all snarled up, which if course it wasn’t and we arrived at the closest parking garage to our meeting point in the Village in just over one hour. Amazing! It still seems unreal to me that we live that close to NYC and that Rick is brave enough to drive in Manhattan!
We met in front of Murray’s Cheese.
Here is the only photo I took while inside. It was really crowded, so kind of hard to get photos of all the luscious cheeses and other cool things they had to offer. You can buy these “gift” boxes!
Our first tasting stop was Joe’s Pizza. Did you happen to notice that pizza pie at the beginning of the post? Hmm ... how could you not? I hope it made you hungry because it was certainly delicious! I thought we would each get just a bite of pizza, but we had one whole slice to ourselves. Our guide, Barri, gave us the background history on Joe’s and how they make their sauce. No big list of topping ingredients here. Just your basic tomato sauce and cheese on top of a wonderfully thin crust. Photos of a younger Joe posing with famous people covered the walls. As we left the store we actually got to see “Joe” standing outside talking to someone. Hey, a “celebrity” sighting!
Next we sampled rice balls (or arancini) from Faicco’s Italian Specialty Food Shop (Previously Faicco’s Pork Store) which is right next door to Murray’s Cheese. That’s our guide passing them out. We ate on the street because the shop is just too small to fit us all in at the same time.
Even though they took the pork out of the name, the pig remains on the sign. *oink, oink*
Just look at this line up of wonderful food shops: Amy’s Bread, The Lobster Place (we just peeked in here—so much wonderful looking fresh fish!), Murray’s Cheese Shop and Faicco’s all in a row! Bread, fish, cheese and pork. The only thing missing is a butcher shop for beef.
Our guide told us a lot about the the area and different buildings. I even learned something new about how to tell how old a brick house was by they way the bricks are laid. She pointed out places along the way where a film or television series had been shot. We saw the outside of the house where contestants from the Next Network Food Star were housed a few years ago, the church garden where most of the garden scenes from the movie Doubt were filmed, and the outside of the building that was supposed to be where they lived on Friends. I never watched the show so I didn’t have a clue.
It’s quiet and lovely and at times hard to believe you are still in the city. And, from what we understand, extremely pricey to live here now. No more starving poets and artists. You pretty much have to have “made it” to live in the Village today.
After the rice balls we headed to Home (American Gourmet Comfort food). In this tiny little restaurant we got to sit down and eat in their little courtyard garden in back. By this time it had started to drizzle so the chef rolled out the awnings for us.
Our tasting here was none other than comfort food at its best: Mac & Cheese. This was not your average Mac & Cheese though ... yum. Go ahead, take a bite. You know you want to.
We visited the Cornelia Street Café which has club space downstairs in the basement for aspiring poets, musicians, and storytellers. It’s like a cave down there and very reminiscent of the old beatnik days. The stage is tiny. Our guide told us that Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick had their first date here. You can tell how narrow it is by looking at us all standing around. When we resurfaced, it was pouring rain! oh dear. Some people came prepared but others did not.
Our guide herded us back over to Faicco’s to the shelter of their large awnings as the rain continued to pour from the sky. While she went in search of some rain ponchos for those that were not prepared for the rain, we all got a chance to go inside the “pork store.” Those are huge “logs” of provolone cheese hanging from the ceiling!
Our next stop was another sit-down tasting which got us out of the rain. By this time I was so full I could barely put another bite of anything into my mouth. They say that the tasting tour is “enough for people to eat so lunch is not usually necessary afterwards.” Hah! That’s a slight understatement. Soy and Sake (Asian inspired Vegetarian Restaurant) was something completely different. We were presented with a beautiful little Bento box full of goodies: BBQ pork (really tofu but tasted a lot like the real thing), fried rice, a dumpling and some delicious fried seaweed.
The other nice thing was the chance to order a glass of wine or sake if we wanted to. (Cost not included in the tour price.) Rick was intrigued by something on the menu called Sake2me described as a “sparkling drink infused with all-natural Asian flavors.” He chose the pear flavor. Stupid me, since I don’t really care for sake I didn’t order one but had white wine instead. His Sake2me was absolutely delicious: light and so refreshing! My wine paled in comparison. I’ve since tried to find it around here but right now it looks like no one is carrying it. I highly recommend trying to find it! Where are Rowan & Martin when you need them?
Back out on the sidewalk again it had (thankfully) mostly stopped raining. Well, at least it wasn’t pouring. The dessert course was up next at Milk & Cookies where we ate huge still-warm-from-the-oven oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. I ate half of mine and saved the rest for later.
But wait! We aren’t done yet! We still have the cheese and olive platter over at Murray’s Cheese Shop and last but not least, cannolis at Rocco’s Pastry Shop which have been voted the best cannolis in NY! Rocco’s is only a few doors down from Murray’s, Amy’s etc., and across the street. Good thing I don’t live in this neighborhood.
Whew! Are you full yet? Did you have enough to eat our would you like some lunch now?
Which one was my favorite you might ask? Well…a close tie between the pizza and mac & cheese. Least fav were the rice balls I think. They were good, but heavy.
Now that we’ve been on this tour there are so many restaurants we passed by and heard about that I want to go back to. Like Fish where for $8.00 you can get a half dozen oysters on the half shell with a glass of beer or wine. Uhm ... do I need to point this out — bargain!! And, I am certain that is exactly what they hope the people on the tour will do: come back and patronize their establishments. Works for me!
I’ll leave you with a somewhat hazy view of Manhattan taken from the Jersey side of the Hudson from Weehawken just as we got out of the Lincoln Tunnel. (Jersey really does have the best view of Manhattan—forget the Empire State Building!)
There are a few other food tours that we’d now like to take after having been on this one. The one to Chelsea Market and the one in Chinatown sound the best. It was so interesting to taste the food and get a lesson on history and architecture all at the same time. I highly recommend the experience next time you happen to visit the Big Apple!
Here is the link to the tour we went on. Other tours are listed on the page as well.
P.S. Be sure to click on all the provided links to visit each restaurant’s/shop’s web site. If there is no link there isn’t a web site!
P.P.S. If you have no clue what I am talking about in my reference to Rowan & Martin you are probably too young to be reading this blog.
No, I am not talking about the TV show which I have never watched. (Hey, I don’t watch all those Jersey shows!)
I am talking about our pool. Our recent weather. Our true summer. Simply Jerseylicious.
Tonight Rick and I sat around after dinner thinking about swimming. Neither one of us really felt like it. No energy. I said to Rick I think we should at least go out and test the pool temperature and go from there.
Hello!
The water temperature was absolutely perfection as well as the cicada background symphony.
We swam lap upon lap. Just one more we promised each other, yet neither one of us could stop.
There is something to be said about swimming at night. Sans suits. Cicadas singing. The rest of the world recedes.
We swim until we simply can’t anymore, promising each other to get up and swim again before we’ve even had our morning coffee.
The days of summer are all too short and soon the pool will be a distant memory.
Seize the day. (or night)
I don’t even know if I should admit this or not, but I am addicted to two “Jersey” shows. The Real Housewives of New Jersey and Jersey Couture. Oh. There I said it out loud. Totally. Completely. Addicted. And I’m not really sure why. Do these shows really portray Jersey? No, not really. But they are real people. If you don’t watch you might not want to read on ...
I guess I like watching Housewives because they are always going to some place I have been or know of. Like the boutique Posche. I’ve been in there. Too rich for my taste, but I have been in and long before it appeared on the show. Some of the restaurants too. They go to the salon for their hair and nails in the same little shopping center where the Market Basket is in Franklin Lakes. It’s weird. Danielle seems to hang out in the Preakness Mall in Wayne, and after all that’s where she lives: Wayne. I go to the Preakness Mall a lot. I’ve not seen her yet ...
The dental assistant that works for my dentist (where I spent a good three hours last week having a crown pulled off and prepped for a new one ... ugh) has seen Carolyn’s two sons, Chris and Albie at the Brownstone restaurant. She said she went there for two weddings recently and they were both working the floor. Plus, her husband is a cop in the Haledon/Paterson area and he just happened to be at the Brownstone when Danielle created such a scene. He’s also pulled Dina over for speeding. Too bad Dina left the show, I really liked her.
The other show, Jersey Couture, is in its first season. Right now you can catch it in repeats as the season finale was last week. I’ll miss it! Unlike Housewives there is less drama. Just a wonderful close-knit family going about their lives for everybody to see! They own a high end dress shop, Diane & Co, in Freehold, New Jersey. Mom, Dad, son and two daughters all work in the shop. I enjoy seeing the formals people buy just as much as I enjoy the interaction between the family members. If I had any excuse to buy a fancy dress or formal I would love to go there and meet them all. It’s not over the top, just enjoyable to watch.
What can I say? I don’t watch soap operas, so I have to get some drama from somewhere, don’t I?
