linguine: salmon, fresh peas & mint

the bounty of summer brings many good things and along my walk through chelsea market one day, i came upon a moundful of fresh pea pods! i admit that i've never seen fresh peas or their pod - the peas i'm used to come from my local market's frozen food aisle, so i was quite excited at the prospect of grabbing a bunch and throwing them into something. while at the market, i also grabbed a bunch of fresh mint because - well look at it! also, i've read so many recipes with fresh mint and peas that i figured whatever i made with the peas some fresh mint would be a welcomed addition.

so what had i decided on making? well my easy go-to dish with any ingredient i've never used before (yes, i've used peas but fresh peas? i think not) would be pasta. pasta is such a blank canvas for me that i find i can play with different ingredients and flavor profiles and the result isn't horribly bad. armed with some fresh salmon and linguine, i kept my flavors simple in hopes to highlight the fresh peas and mint. 

as usual, i never really follow a recipe. so here's what i did in a quick recap:

• threw a pot of water with a "heavy" pinch of salt onto the stove
• while waiting for the water to boil, i shelled and rinsed the fresh peas
• diced up some pancetta (optional), shallots and sliced salmon into biteable pieces
• in fairly large pan at low heat brown the pancetta with a little olive oil, once browned, remove (around this time, the water should be boiling, throw in the pasta of your choice)
• in the hot pan on medium heat throw in shallots until soft then add the salmon, hopefully the bottom of the pan begins to get this crusty browned bottom
• 3-4 minutes before the pasta done, add the fresh peas into the water
• 1 minute before the pasta is done, i use a large hand strainer and transfer the pasta straight into the large pan with the salmon, shallots and turning the stove up to medium-high heat
• throw in some of the pasta water (nice sizzling sound) and add until there's a bit of liquid on the bottom (for added flavor you can add veggie/chicken stock)
• quickly chop a handful of mint, the pancetta and toss with pasta until coated, remove from heat and season with salt & pepper
• plate pasta and drizzle a little extra virgin olive oil

i quite enjoyed the dish and the fresh peas definitely have a different texture than that of its frozen counterpart. the fresh peas are sweet without being watery which i find is true of the frozen peas (grant it, i still enjoy frozen peas as well). it almost has a little more of a "bite" to it... i think the only frustrating part is that you would need to shell a lot of pea pods to get a good amount for a larger dish. but something like a pasta or risotto dish would make a nice addition. 

santigold: pumpin' jumpin'

(santigold w/ spankrock @ terminal 5)

taking it back to june 9th, i hit up the santigold show with some friends at terminal 5. yes the show was a while ago, but i had to say, if you ever get a chance to see her - you best to do it! the opening acts, trouble andrew and amanda blank were great and did a great job pumping up the audience and there's nothing like a pumped up audience exuding high energy that makes a show even better.

i've had some experiences where i feel like nyc audiences try to be "too cool" just standing there "listening" to the music instead of reacting to it. santigold's show and sound definitely deserved the reaction it got - sing-alongs, dancing, and definitely a lot of fist-pumping action... awesome.

calgon take me away pt.ii

part ii of the trip took us hiking up overlook mountain and ending with some lovely views of the catskill mountains. a 20-minute drive towards woodstock, ny (yes, that woodstock of historical art & crafts and festival fame) and through the town itself, we arrived at the entrance to overlook mountain which also happened to be near a tibetan monastery. after some research on the monastery, i wished we had some time to walk around it but we were also trying to make good time heading up and coming back down before the late afternoon... 

the trail up overlook mountain was not what i was expecting. i'm normally used to a path carved out in the middle of the woods - you know all dirt, leaves, moss... this path was actually a gravel road. the hike wasn't bad but still pretty tough for an out of shape person like myself. it's actually quite a short hike (5 miles total) however it was set mostly at an incline and that basically felt like climbing the stairmasters for 2.5 miles.

along the hike we crossed through the ruins of the overlook mountain house & lodge... definitely a nice break to take although by slowing down for photo-ops, i found myself getting plagued by these tiny little bugs that were taking a good bite out of me... 

after many promises of "this is the last little hill we need to climb", we finally reached the top and boy was it breathtaking and most certainly worth the bug bites and exhaustion. there was also a fire-tower which added another level to the view of the mountains. 

(looking south: view of the catskill mountains and ashokan resevoir)

hello celebrate brooklyn!

oh how far behind i am with posting up all the events that have happened this past june. so much so that well, they're all getting posted up around the same time. the beauty of summer in nyc are all the free shows and events that abound outdoors. to mark one the summer was the free show at prospect park at the brooklyn bandshell. every year celebrate brooklyn starts it summer concert series with a big act and this year it was david byrne. 

aware that it would be quite the madhouse we entered the park and saw the insane line winding through the park - we decided to set up camp near the entrance... we had a tiny view of the stage but were set up right in front of the tv screen. our good instincts had us already munching on good bread, cheese and fruit and enjoying the mob scene that later ensued as people attempted to find spots along where we settled. 

although there was definitely more to be desired with the sound (pump that *hit up!) it was still pretty great to see everyone enjoying the sounds of mr. byrne... nothing beats an free concert set in the outdoors and a picnic to go along with it... i'm definitely looking forward to more! 

calgon take me away pt.i

(en route)

(sunset view driving up the i-87)

and it took me to the catskills. 

i know it was quite a while ago and i am a bit late on posting this up, but i received a wonderful invite to spend a weekend up in the catskills back in may and thought i'd share the trip! for those who haven't had a chance to pay the catskills a visit, it's about a 2-3 hour drive from new york city proper and considered a get-away spot for those seeking respite from the hustle and bustle of the concrete jungle. fearing the worst of our drive up there (long weekend+mass exodus of the city = lots of traffic) we were pleasantly surprised to find that we had a pretty smooth drive up except for this one particular rest stop that managed to put the i-87 to a slow crawl.

it's amazing what a little greenery and the sight of mountains can do for someone! your senses heighten, everything slows down and your whole self goes into "calm-mod". grant it, i wax poetic about being out in nature - surrounded by trees, birds (not just pigeons) - something most of america experiences everyday but i grew up in new york city. i have the manhattan bridge outside my window, the sounds of the B/Q trains rolling by every 10 minutes, dogs barking, car alarms set off, plenty of sirens and let's not forget the very vocal neighbors. oddly enough, these are the sounds i'm used to - the sounds that are a part of my environment that i never notice unless someone else points it out:

"what's that weird grumbling noise?"

"what grumbling noise?" (sounds of a grumbling noise in the distance)

"there! that grumbling noise"

"oh you mean the train? it's just the train"

so when i find myself surrounded by greenery where an american robin perches on a bird feeder or a tiger swallowtail butterfly flits on by - it hits me immediately... i am somewhere else, somewhere far from the chaos of new york city...

saturday mainly consisted of planning out the menu and grocery shopping. but it was mostly spent sitting out on the deck and me armed with the omnivore's dilemma. it was a lazed about saturday and it was great! as you can tell from the photo above we did run into a weather snag - a brief downpour on sunday afternoon, which quickly cleared and gave way to some really blue skies. 

myself and the hostess decided to take a walk along the property and catskill creek... as city-folk we got pretty excited when we spotted a tiger swallowtail butterfly (i took loads of pictures but thought i'd edit it down to the one). you can't really tell but in that picture on the right, the butterfly it totally hanging out amongst the purple flowers (violets maybe?), here's a close-up on my flickr.

quickly how it passes but there was another day left of our weekend and we decided that monday morning would be devoted to a "quick" hike up overlook mountain in nearby woodstock, ny - a post of that to follow shortly!