fox wedding

kitsune wedding in a sunshower.

Chez fusilli w/peas & pecorino

single flower boutonnieres

(for both wedding parties)
from Martha.

budget centerpiece from Martha

from outstanding in the field

naturey tent wedding

i don't totally believe that this wedding is real & not totally designed for camera, but im dreaming of this kind of long tables for dinner everyone together kind of reception...

Garlic Tattoo

purple spring garlic, for color:

flower head:
(and another)

flower stand haul, oct 3

got what felt like a thousand flowers from Lebak Farms this weekend, mostly dahlias. family businesses rule.

"i can't get into a bed without you, I stack up all the pillows and imagine that you are there" painting by Lauren Vincelli.

Transposition Trailer up!

I've been working with the charming and talented Juliette & Cooper Richey-Miller on producing their latest documentary - Transposition, a portrait of a working-class artist's struggle to balance a blue collar job with his passion for jazz. This lyrical double portrait is in the early editing stages - here's a trailer for you!

Transposition - Trailer from Juliette Richey on Vimeo.

PLEASE DONATE:
Transposition is a sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, a non-profit arts service organization. Contributions in behalf of Transposition should be made payable to Fractured Atlas and are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law.

https://www.fracturedatlas.org/site/contribute/donate/2557

illegal gardening

adventures in fire escape gardening-
arugula covered in cayenne in an attempt to keep squirrels away. mostly it works!
the spinach in late may. see the red chard spouts behind it? we let it take over...the red chard harvest of this week - a good fist full, maybe a $3 bunch at the farmer's market, but about one serving in the pan. but i grew it!

Ramps!

oh spring, you have finally arrived. with spring, apparently in NY culinary circles (or more commonly in West Virginia) comes ramps, wild leeks, Allium tricoccum. Super pungent wild member of the allium fammily, tastes like a garlicky spring onion. I'd never eaten them before, but I'm seduced. Apparently its not possible (or preferred) to cultivate them, so they must be hunted on semi-wild lands which, naturally makes them cost more. I'm sure I paid too much for a wild plant that i could find if I only had a place to look, but alas, i don't. They're only available a few weeks a year, which is now, at the Park Slope Co-Op, or from the nice meat-sellers at the Prospect Park farmer's market (i think it's these guys: www.dinesfarms.net) maybe some other places. I jumped on a bunch from the maple sausage guys at PPk (another temptation for another post); thought i could find them growing wild in Prospect Park (fail), and had to buy them again at the Co-op today. Thought I'd post recipies:

Spaghetti with Ramps - this seems to be one of the more common recipes i saw, so i made my own adaptation - sauteed chopped ramps in olive oil (yep, the whole plant) tossed w/ hot (drained but not shaken) pasta, a hunk of goat cheese swirled around to melt onto the pasta, salt, pepper. Good but lacking sparkle, some lemon, red pepper flake might help, and maybe some butter to add some fat to dilute the ramps (does that work?).

Avocado-Ramp Potato Salad - this for dinner tonight w/ homemade blackbean cheeseburgers (it's hot almost like summer here i wanted picnic food). very pungent! with garlic instead of ramps, this is my favorite pasta salad dressing. about 4 side servings.
put 1 lb potatoes on to boil
mash 1 avocado in a large bowl, dress with juice of 1 lime (or lemon), ~1/2 C olive oil
fine chop root end and stems of about 5 ramps & toss in bowl
add fistful of basil, finely chopped & ~1tbsp salt (way more than you think you'd need but the avacado seems to want it), hearty grinds of pepper. stir, let sit while potatoes are cooking.
when potatoes are fork tender, drain and chop in to bite size pieces, add hot to avaocado dressing.
mix potatoes & dressing w/ spatula. season to taste w/ S+P.
now, you can dress with any number of additions; we put in sugar snap peas, feta, capers.
other good additions might include artichoke hearts, tomatoes, good tuna chunks, blanched green beans, pickles, pickled beets? pickled okra? Anything with flavor strong or different enough to combat the ramps. if you wanted milder flavor, you could saute the ramps, i'm sure that'd help at least a little bit, but part of their charm i think is that they're stinky.
serve and kiss the person you're eating with because they have ramp breath, too. it doesn't matter.

apparently, according to JR, the WVA way to eat them is to fry them in bacon grease (like everything else), but we haven't really committed to a baconatarian lifestyle yet. they seem to be often eaten with hashbrowns & eggs, which sounds like an awesome breakfast, too.

any other suggestions? i've got a few left!

p.s. - photo by Dave Smooth, naturally.

Wintery Orchid

it snowed on Saturday, the same day the orchid finally bloomed. this a kaleidoscope orchid from jen from about two years ago that came back from near-death.

Green Bean Pizza (for ohyouknowocto)

by request, here's last week's pizza dinner:sicilian style with a pesto base, onions, greenbeans, mushrooms, garlic, some kinda spanish goat bleu cheese, swiss and hazelnuts on thick homemade white-wheat crust - delicious!

i was craving the supremely greasy and delicious green bean-hazelnut-smoked mozz pie from my former pizza slinging days, but compromized by using ingredients in the house, including hazelnuts picked out of some mixed nuts. nuts on a pizza? yes!

sadly, the old joint no longer serves that, their best pie, so if you want it, i guess you'll have to hook it up yourself. I think their secret was that they roasted the green beans w/ lots of garlic and oil in the pizza oven. what's your latest homemade pizza?