This morning I decided I was going to walk down to the newly opened Jessie’s for a TEC (Taylor, Egg & Cheese) breakfast sandwich that I’ve been craving for months now. Remember Jessie’s that burned down? They have reopened in a a different space: a restaurant that went bust just a few doors down from where their old place used to be. It’s right at the bottom of the hill on the main road that we live off of. We’re glad to have Jessie’s back! I’m not certain if they are going to rebuild in their old spot or not. For now they are renting the building.

This location has been three different restaurants since we’ve lived here. Most of the time it has just sat vacant. Every time we’ve seen a new restaurant open up we get excited since it’s so close to us. We eat there once and think meh. When they put up a sign that says “On Vacation” we know we won’t be seeing them again. It was a grill, then a pancake house (basically diner food) and most recently “Mexican” (I use that term loosely to describe their food) called El Rusty Anchor. The bars associated with the assorted restaurants always did a lively business but the food has never been great.

The last owner even planted a palm tree in the front to go along with his Mexican theme, which as you can see does not like life in northern New Jersey. It thrived the same way his restaurant did.

It’s a nice walk, maybe 3/4 of a mile? And here was my reward. Yum! I don’t indulge in these very often but they sure are tasty.

My walk took me past Green Turtle Pond which was placid and reflective this morning.

Alongside the road the woods are brown brown brown right now. Still pretty. But very brown.

This sign caught my eye and I thought it was funny.

I was hoping that the walk would help to burn off the calories I consumed but probably not! It was a nice walk either way.

I’ve been drinking a lot this. I caught Rick’s cold bug and have been trying to shake it now for a week or more. It’s not the flu, just an annoying drainage down the back of my throat combined with laryngitis, a hacking cough and just a general malaise. I’m ready for it to be gone!

Today we are supposed to have freezing rain, my least favorite wintery precipitation. It makes the roads slippery with black ice that you can’t see and you don’t get much out of it moisture wise. It’s just nasty.

So I’ll be sticking pretty close to home today. I have the bone from our ham that we baked on Sunday (we’ve been having ham all week in one way or another) and I’ll be cooking the bone with split peas for Split Pea Soup tonight. I think I might even make these oh-so-easy-and-super-tasty rolls too.

Bring on the freezing drizzle and more hot tea and honey, please!

Last night Rick and I went in to the city for dinner. We’ve long wanted to go to Sue Torres’s Sueños in Chelsea ever since we saw her battle it out with Bobbie Flay on Iron Chef and also when she competed in Top Chef Masters, Season 4. We love Mexican food and we were intrigued by her style. But, like everything else we never seemed to get around to actually going.

Then a really good deal came up on Rue La La: a three course prix-fixe dinner for two for $60.00! It was not the normal prix-fixe menu as a part of their usual menu, but an upscale menu just for Bloomspot and Rue La La customers. I purchased the deal and we had two months in which to use it. Since our coupon expired this week we knew we had to use it or lose it (like they say).

We left ourselves more time than usual for the drive in since we didn’t know how the traffic would be. Traffic turned out to be unusually light and one hour and eight minutes after leaving our house we were parked and walking towards our destination. Only thing was that we were also 45 minutes too early. It never ceases to amaze me that we can drive in to New York City faster than we could drive to Denver back in Colorado from our house!

We had booked the first seating of the night which is a little bit earlier than most people eat (5:00 p.m.) and that is exactly when they open their door. We did it early so we could sandwich ourselves between the evening rush and still get home at a decent hour.

So, we roamed up and down 8th Avenue to kill time. It was downright cold! And damp. I always forget how just the littlest of breezes gets funneled straight down those city streets and becomes a much bigger, and chillier wind! Brrrrrr!

A few minutes before 5:00 we finally gave up walking and tried the door to the restaurant. It was open, so we stepped in. Clearly they were not ready for customers as employee jackets and backpacks were strewn in the bar seats. A waiter came up to us and told us they were not quite open and could we please come back in a few minutes? Not looking forward to going back out into the cold again, we complied.

We opted to stay in the little passageway between two buildings that leads back to the restaurant’s entrance which is tucked away from the street. At least we were blocked from the chill wind that way. We waited.

One minute after 5:00 the door opened and an unassuming woman with her hair pulled back in a ponytail wearing a sweatshirt hoodie and jeans popped her head out and asked us in. It was Sue Torres herself! I think the look on my face was one of surprise and recognition but I forced myself not to be a groupie and didn’t gush something silly like oh it’s you, Sue! We joked about being early as she grabbed a few menus up and went to seat us, but then she asked if we might not want to sit in the bar and take advantage of Happy Hour 2-for-1’s. So that’s just what we did.

Imagine a chef/owner seating customers! She was so cute about it. She went back to the kitchen and that was the last we saw of her. A celebrity appearance just for us!

Rick had a straight-up margarita (which they are known for) and I had what they called a Paloma which was silver tequila, mexican grapefruit soda and lime. Very refreshing and two was definitely enough given the amount of tequila the bartender put into both our drinks. We opted to drink the second one with our meal.

They started us out with a complimentary appetizer of extremely thin cornbread with a bean and crema dip. For appetizers we chose shrimp in a coconut-habanero sauce and chicken chilaquiles. It was hard to say which one we liked better. (We shared!) For mains we chose Chicken Enchiladas with mole sauce and a Poblano Chile Relleno stuffed with quinoa, mushrooms and spinach. Again, they were both very good. Desserts were a dense bittersweet chocolate cake with crema de Mezcal whipped cream and an apple galette which was made with very thin slices of apple and cinnamon toasted tortilla “chips.”

All in all a delicious dinner for $60.00 (Plus a tip based on the real value of the meal and our drinks.) And let’s not leave out the ridiculously expensive parking! Oh well, it is New York City after all!

This has become our favorite little late afternoon drink on the weekends.

The “Autumn Evening”

1 oz. lemon vodka
1 oz. apricot nectar
1/2 oz. Cointreau
1/4 to 1/2 oz. vanilla extract, according to taste

Mix in a shaker. Pour over ice. Sprinkle with some cinnamon.

I know it might sound a bit odd, but oh my goodness, it’s GOOD!

In the mornings I throw the windows open wide, letting in the fresh, albeit dampish air. It feels good. It smells good. The sun is just warm enough; not too strong.

By 5:30 p.m. I go around the house closing the windows. I think about starting a fire in the wood stove.

Wow. It’s autumn. Welcome!

Autumn is not only the time when the weather changes, but also the time when our cooking habits change.

We start cooking things like cipollini onions cooked with apples and bacon.

And Swiebelwahe (Swiss Onion Tart: onions, bacon, milk, eggs), one of our favorite autumn treats and also a meal we always make at the cabin.

This year we made it with in-season local onions from the farmer’s market.(The Black Dirt Region in Pine Island next to Warwick, New York has been known for its onions for decades.) It was DELICIOUS. And so good heated back up in the oven a second time.

The recipe was adapted from an old cookbook I bought on eBay about ten years ago called Tante Heidi’s Swiss Kitchen. The recipe is here. If you make it don’t skimp or cut corners by not making the yeast dough. It makes the tart!

I love autumn. It’s so easy to get caught up in!