Two Foxes

Nicholas is headed out to the mountains today.  He goes way out in the middle of the woods, an hour north of Laporte, Pennsylvania.   I was so proud last week to have made a turkey pot pie from scratch.  Nicholas is actually building a small cabin from scratch.  That is an amazing thing to me whether in the city or the country.  It’s a skill and a talent that I certainly don’t possess. (I found out what a sump pump was just last year.)   To see the progress of a house being put up board by board, tile by tile is quite impressive.  I’m looking forward to blogging some how-to’s on home improvements and building tips in coming posts.

But, for this weekend, I decided to stay put and not take the trip out to the mountains.  I thought of my top 3 reasons why based on the last time I was there:

3.   When pitch black outside, it was hard to tell whether the eyes glowing back at me in the night belonged to a raccoon or a black bear.

2.   I spotted what I thought were two crabs alongside of a rock.  Turned out they were spiders.

1.   With the cabin being a work in progress, the bathroom is now an oversized paint bucket with a Glad bag and kitty litter, topped with a toilet seat cover.

That was enough for me to take a pass. 

But, I did ask Nicholas what was drawing him out.  He said:

3.   I stood on a hill overlooking a mountainside and wondered if a Native American stood in that same place before me looking at the same mountainside.  I wondered what he was thinking.

2.   I sat motionless in my tree stand and watched the randomness in the patterns of falling leaves.

1.  I smelled wood burning as I watched two foxes wrestle.  They didn’t know I was there. 

Seeing what others see may just change the perspective.

Begrudgingly,

BB

Go Make Me A Turkey Pot Pie!

If on occasion I whine about being over worked at home and underappreciated, Nicholas gets in character and quotes one of our favorite John Bender lines “Go fix me a turkey pot pie!” 

Well, today I actually did it.  I made a turkey pot pie. 

Since it was my first time making one, I just figured if it didn’t come out well then I just wouldn’t blog about it.  But, it was DELICIOUS, so I’ll share.

You will need:

2 cooked oven roaster turkey breasts (they are usually next to the rotisserie chickens in the grocery store)

2 sticks butter

6 cups chicken stock

1 chicken bouillon cube

2 cups chopped onions

2 cups chopped celery

1 cup all-purpose flour

½ cup heavy cream

1 cup diced carrots (steamed)

2 cups frozen peas

1 tbsp ground oregano

1 tbsp thyme

(optional: dash of Tony Chachere’s seasoning)

4 Pillsbury Cressent seamless dough sheets (or you can make your own)

In a pot, heat the chicken stock and dissolve in the chicken bouillon cube.  In a separate dutch oven, melt the butter and saute the onions and celery until translucent.  Turn to low heat and pour in the flour, stirring continuously for about 3 minutes.  Add the heavy cream to this mixture and continue stirring for another 5 minutes.  Add the hot chicken stock and simmer.  Add the peas, steamed carrots, oregano, thyme, Tony Chachere’s, and turkey cubes and mix.

Preheat the overn to 375 degrees F.

Pour the mixture into a ovenproof single-serving bowl and cover with the dough sheet.

Or, if you are using a cup pie set, spray with cooking spray and line the bottom with the dough, fill, then place the dough sheet on top and pintch the top and bottom dough closed.  Cut slits into the top dough to allow steam to escape.  Brush the top with egg wash and bake for 40 minutes.

Voila’!  Homemade Turkey Pot Pie.

Begrudgingly,

BB

Marsha Brown

Somewhere between the country and the city is New Hope, Pennsylvania.  New Hope is a quaint, historic town situated on the Deleware River.  On any given weekend, you can find city-dwellers and locals alike perusing the antique shops, restaurants and art galleries along the tree-lined streets. 

  

On this afternoon, we decided to eat at Marsha Brown’s restaurant.  Marsha Brown is located at 15 South Main Street in the center of New Hope – about an hour north of Philadelphia and an hour and a half north-east of Manhattan.  Marsha Brown, the owner, has roots in Louisiana and opened the restaurant as a ‘creole kitchen & lounge.’  I lived in Louisiana for five years and take any opportunity I can to seek out authentic creole cuisine up north.

The restaurant is in a converted 1800’s church that held its last service in 1996.  The street level space has a private dining area and a large, square four-counter bar.  The second level, where the church services were held, is now the main dining room of the restaurant.  The ceiling-to-floor mural and stained glass windows add to the splendor of the decore. 

The main dining room is only open for dinner, so we were seated at the tables in the first floor bar area.  The lunch menu features burgers, salads, Po Boys (Po Boys are to New Orleans as Cheesesteaks are to Philly), and entrées including Jambalaya, Mamere’s Crab Cheesecake, and Crawfish Etouffée.   Soups include Lobster and Shrimp Bisque and Gumbo Ya Ya.  The dinner menu features these creole dishes, plus a raw bar, fish, shellfish, and grilled steaks and chops.

For lunch, I orded the Lobster and Shrimp Bisque for my appetizer and the Crawfish Etouffée for my entrée.  I have had several styles of lobster bisque, and this one was quite unique with chunks of diced shrimp and lobster and a hint of oragano.  It was hearty and enjoyable.  My entrée, Crawfish Etouffée, was a distant variation of the traditional creole dish.  It was made with a thin, tomato base as opposed to the thicker, flour-based roux that I am used to.  The spice was heavy and flavorsome, but overwhelmed the taste of the crawfish.  The dish as a stand-alone had a good flavor, but unfortunately left me longing for the traditional crawfish étouffée that I had grown to love thoughout my stay in southern Louisiana. 

For dessert, I had Granmere’s Comfort Custard, which is a vanilla custard topped with tosted meringue.  It was good, but was better after I ordered a Frangelica to pour over it. 

For lunch, expect to pay between $20 and $45.  Dinner will run you between $40 and $60, but the drinks are expensive (about $10 a pop), so plan your finances accordingly. 

The atmosphere at Marsha Brown is cozy and plush.  It’s a great date destination where you can enjoy and relax to the tunes of Joss Stone and Les Nubians.  

Overall, I give Marsh Brown a “Ca c’est bon!”

Begrudgingly,

BB

Guarnaschelli Fever

Back from the country and now it’s time to share some of my own tried and true interests.  Where should we start?  Cooking, live theater, dance, writing…?  All of those wonderful perks that come with living within a major metropolitan city.  How about the experience of eating at a restaurant owned by your favorite chef from The Food Network?

I have been a huge fan of the show “Chopped” since it came on the air.  I watch it every Tuesday night, and sometimes on the weekends.  What a rush to see those chefs frantically combining their secret ingredients to create the perfect flavor profile.  But what I love the most are the judges.  I don’t know if it is careful editing or what, but I relish the moments when the contestant chefs crack a joke or try to make light of their undercooked lentils and the judges stare back with that “I am not in the least bit amused” look.  Wipes the smile right off their faces.  And then there is that uncomfortable silence followed by a video cut to a competing chef sneering.  Great formula,  producers!

Even though I have gotten an occasional chuckle from blogs out there urging the judges to 'take the 4x4s out of their asses,' I really am a fan of theirs.  Especially, Alex Guarnaschelli.  Her manner, her demeanor, the way she doesn’t let the men judges bulldoze her… she’s got that no-nonsense something that makes me think this lady can cook!  And, when I finally did get to her restaurant, Butter, I found out that she really could. 

Having lived and worked in NYC for years, I never – ever – slipped to reveal any inkling of excitement any time that I saw a celeb.  From sitting behind Gweneth Paltrow at Jerry’s… to sharing lipstick tricks with Naomi Cambell at Merc… to bumping into Anthony Kiedis on Greene Street… to wishing I had bumped into Robert De Nero when I saw him crossing the street in front of the Soho Grand… to burying my head into my computer when Leonardo DiCaprio walked into our office loft when he should have been at the Oscar’s that night for his Titanic nomination - - nothing and no one could cause me to flinch. 

But sitting at Butter, braised short rib in hand, I turned to look towards the kitchen just in time to see Alex Guarnaschelli standing there in all her glory - white chef’s jacket and disheveled up-do.  And I shrieked.  I actually shrieked.

So, Alex, if you were wondering who the woman was that shrieked in your restaurant, that was just me J

Begrudgingly,

BB

Imagine You're A Deer!

I know this blog is about exploring interests that have never been my own, but I don’t think I can get into the hunting thing.  I’m not sure I understand it either.  I mean, I understand the purpose of hunting in terms of survival and nourishment and even the necessity of hunting to balance the environment in some cases… but I don’t understand the whole mindset of its attraction as a sport. 

I love a good pork chop and make a mean meatloaf too, but I keep my mental distance from what happens before that neatly packaged and unrecognizable part of the animal makes it into the grocery store.  I guess this ‘interest’ is going to take some more conversations and probing for me to understand the triggering of pleasure receptors at the success of a kill.  

In the meantime, I think Marisa Tomei said it best…

Yeppp.



Begrudgingly,

BB

Sound the Antlers

After I posted my first blog entry, I asked Nicholas what he thought about it.  I wondered if he would give me his thoughts on the reflective nature of the theme.  I anticipated a comment from him on my intension to provide introspective snip-its on our conscious attempt to retreat from the effects of social bias and conditioning in order to gain an appreciation for ideas we had disregarded or resisted. 

He looked at me and said, “B, bucks don’t have horns."

Begrudgingly,
BB

Click here to link to an article explaining deer markings.

Clash of the Cultures

Sometimes we fall into situations that we never thought we would encounter.  Sometimes we are exposed to environments and activities that we were never interested in, and sometimes even resistant to.  What happens when two people from vastly different American cultural backgrounds come together as companions? 

What I find to be ironic is, as different as our backgrounds and interests are, we do have traits that are identical.  We are both strong minded, guarded, and incredibly stubborn.  I was born over a decade after him, and to add to the complexity, we were born on the same day (which happens to be a major holiday), have three older sisters, and mothers named after southern cities.  

Begrudgingly BB chronicles the ups, downs, discovery and pain as BB and Nicholas take turns exposing the other to personal interests they never thought they would share.  Will Nicholas learn to appreciate a reception in SOHO where the discussion topic is the application of the CMYK color model to the art of mixology?  Will his heart be tugged when he joins BB at an urban spoken word performance by an old friend in West Philly?  Will BB learn to appreciate being in the woods and to decipher buck horn markings on tree trunks?  Will she get past her notions of NASCAR and come to see Jeff Gordon as a hero?

We don’t even know.  But we’ll see where it goes...

Begrudgingly,
BB