Devour this

tiny tasty tidbit

'Just tossing a bone out there -- this won't be a lengthy piece.  I just have to record this wonderful week Jeff and I spent dog/house-sitting in Manhattan last month.  Our friends Vanessa and Dan are fortunate to live in a spectacular old apartment in Gramercy and we were lucky enough to answer the phone when they called to ask us to dogsit their pup Sputnik (who, by the way, is our 2nd favorite dog after Mia).

Here's the sweet, yogic boy (he does more downward dogs and updogs in a day than I do in a month!):

We woke up Saturday morning, suited up the pup, and headed to the Union Square farmers' market, conveniently located only a few blocks away (swoon).  We lolled about, smelling this, tasting that and much, much later meandered home, bags heavy with fresh food and an armful of beautiful yellow and white daffodils to boot.

Oh, and here's a better shot of the busty sourdough boule; I'd be remiss not to show her off:

So I went about chopping some little round onions and fresh plump garlic, and threw it in a sizzling pan with creamy white potatoes.  (Sidenote: Yes, those are sunchokes in the bag in front of the teapot.  I decided to start purchasing vegetables I've never tried before.   It took me a few days before I got up the nerve to do something with those, but I must say they're absolutely delicious sliced thinly and thrown into a salad.  Oh, and that square of milky cheese -- fresh mozzarella that was crumbly and holey and salty, unlike any I've ever had.  Amazing.)
Back to breakfast.  The potatoes.

As you can see, they were simple potatoes.  In a simple pan, in a simple kitchen.

The simpler, the better.  It was probably the best meal and best morning/afternoon and best overall week I've experienced so far this year.

Yup, that's beer with breakfast.  Just for fun and because we're silly like that.

Sunday morning delight

What's better than waking up by your natural alarm (sans beeps and buzzers), looking out the window to see the first snow of the year blanketing the streets, and making a scrumptious Sunday morning breakfast?  Not much.  Except maybe having your loved one make the scrumptious breakfast for you.

In a red apron, no less.  It might be difficult to discern from the picture above, but those are two wooden spoons you see hovering around the skillet of cubed potatoes, onions, and red and green peppers.  That's right.  Those are Jeff's "Two Spoon Hashbrowns."  (I just made that name up.)  He was maneuvering a spoon in each hand, scooping and tossing those spuds around to achieve the perfect golden brown crust before transferring the taters to the oven to finish their crisping action.

Meanwhile, he whipped up two perfect omelets, sliced cold oranges, double-toasted the toast, and warmed up my cup of coffee.  While he was creating our feast, I was able to unload the dishwasher and clean out both the refrigerator and freezer (I think I may be the only person on the planet who enjoys going through the fridge and freezer, dumping old things, and reorganizing.)  My point is, it's so much more satisfying to be productive on a Sunday morning while someone is making you a delicious breakfast.
   

It's exactly what one needs to tackle a cold day full of studying vocabulary and dreaded geometry problems (GRE, anyone?).  And to top off the whole shebang, he even gets into taking food pics.