Well, I’m in my child’s living space and I think I’m going to do the same thing as in Oregon. I’m up, have some breakfast, then head over to Union Square with Michael to the Whole Foods. I really hate this particular store, but what’s a mom to do? We pick up supplies
and then head out to a NYC street scene:
and back home on the subway. Have to make stops along the way to get an oven baking bag, dried onion soup and some flour (how can Whole Foods NOT sell flour in bulk?). We get home and unpack, have a bit of lunch and I get the brisket started in the oven (Cohen style). We hang a bit longer, turn off the oven, then head back to Union Square to see the new Wes Anderson movie, “Moonrise Kingdom”. Enjoy the previews and then the movie0 which is typical Wes style in acting and story. Not one of our favorites of his, but it’s off the list.
We then head out to the Staten Island Ferry. We have 7 pm dinner reservations at Enoteca Maria, then Michael is going to go to a friend’s birthday party while I head home. We don’t know exactly where to go when we exit the subway, but it becomes pretty obvious soon:
It’s a free ride (I guess that’s what Johnny Winter was talking about), and we all wait until the glass doors slide open and then it’s a cattle stampede. It takes me a bit to realize, but everyone on the starboard side of the boat gets an incredible view as we pass the Statue of Liberty (is it windy there, Deb?):
and Ellis Island (where my maternal grandfather and his family came through in the early 1900’s):
the Brooklyn bridge (from which Martin Brody jumped to his death and my family decided to adopt his last name because they would all be able to remember it):
the new World Trade Towers going up on the side of the old ones:
On the way over, Michael receives a text that his friend’s party is actually from 6 – 9 (it is 6:45 now) and he is torn. I urge him to go see his friends and when we exit the ferry, he reluctantly circles around to take it immediately back. I walk up the hill and behind city hall and find Enoteca Maria easily. In case you haven’t seen the article on NPR, this is a restaurant opened a year or so ago by a gentleman who wanted an Italian restaurant, but he didn’t want to hire some fancy chef. So he placed an ad on Craigslist for grandmothers who were Italian and interested in cooking for work. He has a staff of about 7 women who rotate through the restaurant and post family recipe specials for the nights they cook. Tonight I have Adelina from Casola, Napoli:
A glass of wine, scrabble on my iPhone, and I’m sitting pretty. I have a raw veggie salad first, and then they bring me the complimentary snack plate:
Upper left is cauliflower, anchovies and black olives (not my favorite, I prefer olives on their own and fresh anchovies), to the right of that are stewed yellow and green squash and carrots and closest is cabbage with prosciutto and black pepper. I mop it all up with the freshly made focaccia.
Up next, pappardelle sautéed with pancetta, ground beef and porcini mushrooms with a hint of cinnamon:
I don’t eat quite half and she boxes up the remainder for Michael. Main course is chicken stuffed with prosciutto crisps and fontina cheese then wrapped in zucchini and spinach and baked:
I decide this is the time to try affogato, vanilla ice cream with expresso poured over the top, but my waitress says that if I like coffee, I should try to coffee parfait with chocolate sauces. So, of course I do. However, it is so disappointing that I do not eat much, nor think it worthy of a picture here! So I pay and head out to catch the 9:30 ferry, only to discover they’re running every hour instead of half hour now. So I sit and read on the iPhone and try to ignore the two women verbally jousting on the bench next to me. It may come to blows, but does not, and I finally decide to move away. Boat docks, pukes out all its passengers, and we board. I lay across the bench until we chickens get to the other side, and head out to the subway. I hop out and move briskly to the L, and move quickly down the stairs to run into a packed car when the doors slide open briefly. It’s cramped like pictures in rush hour Japan! The train starts moving and then I realize I didn’t even check to see if this was going in the direction I needed, I just jumped onto the full one! Luckily, I made a good move and am walking to the apartment in 15 minutes. I turn the oven on for the brisket and Michael arrives about 20 minute later. I set the alarm to turn the brisket off at 1:15, but unfortunately haven’t fallen asleep by then. I pull it out and throw it, still bagged up, into the refrigerator. Good night!