1. This morning, at some point, I asked the Deke if she wanted to do something today. She didn't, really. She wanted to take the day to continue to get acclimated to PST some more, rest from all her travels over the last month, and take it easy. That sounded good to me, so I joined her in taking it easy, napping, and having a quiet day around the house.
2. This book, Up in the Old Hotel, I'm reading is a long book. Joseph Mitchell writes copiously in long paragraphs about his subjects and I love feasting on all this detail, whether he's describing the Manhattan cityscape or bringing one of the persons he's profiling alive. The pieces are a bit long. I'm reading this book very slowly and I enjoyed indulging in the world of NYC gypsies again. His first gypsy profile centered on Johnny Nikanov, presented as the king of the gypsies. The second longer profile focused on women gypsies and their elaborate schemes to con unsuspecting and troubled women out of all kinds of money. It was painful to read how they were able to trick entire life savings out of some of their marks, but, again, the detail and the depth of Mitchell's reporting fascinated me.
In another piece I read today, Mitchell eulogizes a favorite old gin mill, Dick's Bar and Grill, located on a narrow street near the Brooklyn Bridge, but now closed because Dick opened a shiny new bar with nearby. Mitchell laments the loss of the grittiness and chaos of the old place and can hardly bear that the new establishment is so nice. And clean. And polite. And orderly.
3. When the Deke is out of town, I cook for myself, I experiment with food a bit, and I enjoy it, but I don't have to cook very often because a roast or a chicken or a pot of turkey soup will last me three, even four days. Now I am getting back into the swing of daily cooking for both of us. Today I sauteed a half a pound of sliced mushrooms in one skillet and wilted a container of fresh spinach, dampened with balsamic vinegar, in the other, combined them, and put them on a plate and covered them with aluminum foil. Meanwhile, I roasted a head and a half of cauliflower florets at 400 degrees for nearly a half an hour.
When the Deke returned home from doing some window shopping at Furniture Exchange and having a glass of wine at Hill St. Depot, I seared a small chunk of salmon on the gas range grill. In one of our wide and shallow bowls, I created a bed of the spinach and mushrooms, halved the salmon chunk and placed each chunk on the bed, topped the chunks each with a slice of lemon, and created a circle of cauliflower around the salmon. The Deke and I were astonished that such a simple meal could have so much flavor and texture and be so pleasing.
No comments:
Post a Comment