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! 

the love of my loves... the canelé

the canelé is a beautiful little specimen of pastry creation. this isn't a bold declaration - it's just a fact. my first encounter with the canelé was at bouley bakery & market in tribeca. a coworker wanted to stop in after lunch for a treat and as it happened the bakery was selling them on a lovely summer day. i had never seen a canelé before and it received such a huge rave from said coworker that i had to get one and try it out for myself. i mean - what sort of baker would i be if i did not give this a go?

occasionally described as a crème brûlée in the form of a tiny cylindrical bundt cake - the essence of the canelé is a crunchy caramel exterior enveloping a vanilla custard center. and that my friend is weak-in-the-knees at its best. needless to say the rest of that summer was spent going into bouley for a canelé and an ice tea/lemonade treat. i also researched a bit more about the canelé and to see what it took to actually make them myself (at $2.50/each the cost of a canelé treat was getting a bit pricey). 

so here's what i found:

- the canelé required a special copper mould

- these copper moulds ran about $20/each 

- one would need about 8-12 moulds to yield a decent amount of canelés in one baking session

aside from throwing down at least $160 on baking equipment alone, assembling the batter was fairly easy even if a bit fussy... my only concern was the investment in the copper moulds - there was no way i could drop that much on equipment with only one sole purpose (even if to produce something so yummy) and luck should have it that several manufacturers did make canelé moulds in other materials like silicone and aluminum - a much more affordable option.

concerned about the alternative materials not yielding the same results as the copper moulds would (as some forums had discussed) i felt that i had to stay true to the canelé recipe or at least what was considered "true" by other canelé experimenters. i found that the one recipe that many people referenced is the one written by paula wolfert and after googling "paula wolfert canelé bordeaux" i found that not only was there a lovely recipe on the canelé by written by paula but with it a great explanation on how to achieve a near perfect result.

of course a near perfect result requires at least a few attempts and after my 3rd attempt which included adjusting baking times, i achieved that essential crunchy caramel exterior and a lovely vanilla custard filling that i remembered from my first canelé experience. baking times and temperature were critical in achieving the right color & darkness as well as ensuring that the height and custard center of the canelé did not deflate. the other important thing for me was really getting that crunchy exterior - you would certainly get that result if you go with coating the moulds with a mixture of melted beeswax (non-treated of course) and canola oil or "white oil" as called for in the recipe. 

i've said it before - i'm not a huge fan of sweets, but the canelé without a doubt has a permanent place in my heart... and even more so now that i can make them for myself - this is most definitely a dangerous love.