My Vegan Mondays

Some of the best vegetarian meals I ate this past week: busiate pasta and light, billowy fried polenta at Alimentari e Vineria; fresh tomato salad, the vegetarian dish (buttery corn kernels, beans, polenta, topped with a fried egg) and heavenly devil’s food cake at Lot 2; asparagus and goat cheese scramble with the softest, most garlicky home fries and a giant slab of walnut bread at Homemade. But today, no dairy...

Morning

Coffee with soy milk

Cranberry juice

Oatmeal

Afternoon

Smoked tempeh wrap

Banana

Apple

Evening

Kale salad

Lots of dried pineapple

I love, love summer

This sign from Homemade in Red Hook pretty much says it all. It's been a great week. 

From the beauty of hiking in the Colorado Rockies...

... to the fun and pleasure of staying at the Stanley Hotel...

 From heavenly food and a Sofia and Thomas sighting at Alimentari e Vineria...

 ... to one of my best friend's most charming wedding...

 ... (which included a day reconnecting with old friends.)

 From a morning of digging in the dirt at the beyond-cool Added Value community farm in Red Hook...

 ... and then walking around the inspiring neighborhood and indulging in one of the best brunches in the city...

 

The Olympics, foreign movies, urban strolls, dancing to 80s music, smooching on street corners,  reading great books, cracking up at Milo, rooftop drinks... there's nothing better than summer.

They're everywhere, those Francophiles...

My Vegan Mondays

I loved reading this piece from Dan Barber in the WSJ Magazine. (It inspired scheming to get back to Blue Hill at Stone Barns, tout suite.)

Morning

Coffee with soy milk

Cereal medley with almond milk

Afternoon

Steamed veg & roasted potatoes

Banana

Evening

Vegan tortellini 

Mixed salad

Happy eating, whatever your choices, mes amis!

Quiet Connecticut

There just wasn't enough space to get in all of the beauty and wonder of Connecticut. Or all of my love for it. 

I didn't talk about The Stone House in Guilford, the Oyster Club in Mystic or the Water Street Cafe in Stonington. About Harkness in Waterford or Bill's in Westbrook, and veering off the coast to glorious Essex wasn't part of the plan, no matter how much it's in my heart. I spared everyone my memories of living on the beaches in Niantic, of devouring Dairy Queen, of cruising Ocean Beach in New London. It's a tiny slice of heaven, and I could go on and on...

But I'm thankful I had the opportunity to share just a taste of the charms and loveliness of southeastern Connecticut for the Times. Connecticut home pride!

Off to Colorado

My friend Connie is so fabulous, she launched her own artists rep company, Click. And she's such a good friend that she's letting me horn in on her launch party. 

Tomorrow night, we'll be whooping it up over cocktails, in a French wine bar, surrounded by great travel and food photography. I'll read a little from Paris, My Sweet and feel  It will be a raucous night.

So if you're in the Denver area, please join us at Paris On the Platte!

My Vegan Mondays

I started doing My Vegan Mondays about two and a half years ago, inspired by the Meat Free Mondays celebrated in England. I’m obsessed with food—from the ridiculous and indulgent to the pious and pure; from the principles and practices to the customs and culture. This is why, at the turn of the millennium, after being introduced to MichaelPollan and feeling pretty scared about our environmental future, I gave up red meat. It was a combination of intellectual fascination and a very doable lifestyle change. It was a small thing I could do, and something that was personally meaningful. And when Paul, Mary and Stella McCartney, launched their Meat Free Mondays, I figured I would up my ante a wee bit by doing My Vegan Mondays—“my” vegan Mondays, a very deliberate label.

It may seem silly that I don’t eat any animal products or by-products on Mondays. But it’s my little thing. It’s not meant to co-opt the vegan label or be misleading about what veganism is. Just as I’m not preaching to those who eat meat, I’m not being ignorant as to what veganism is about. I don’t claim to be a purist. I just eat a vegan diet one day a week. Or at least try to.

You can’t change the world, you can only change yourself.

Morning

Coffee with soy milk

Green juice (kale, apple, cucumber, lemon juice and banana)

Peanut butter Clif Bar (it had been a long, long time; I had forgotten how these can be like eating candy bars.)

Afternoon

Brown rice bowl with some eggplant, sprouts, carrots and edamame

Dried pineapple (I had a book event in Stamford tonight. Any time I pass through Grand Central, I have to get dried pineapple from the market. From Zabar’s, they’re some of the gummiest, most decadent rings in the city.)

Evening

Fruit salad

Lentil salad

Two Days in New York

I adored Two Days in Paris. Julie Delphy and Adam Goldberg had that brilliantly believable love 'em but annoying chemistry. Naturalment, it was wonderful wandering the streets of Paris with them, and Julie's actual parents, who played her parents in the movie, stole the show.

I've been anxiously awaiting Two Days in New York. But... this trailer inspires a few doubts for me.

What do you think? Is the new addition going be fantastique?

Oh la la

Bread and chocolate...

...and chocolate...

... and even more chocolate...

In fact, I don't know if I've ever seen such a beautiful and varied selection of chocolate. Mountains of the stuff. Caramels, too.

And then there are the roughly 300 varieties of cheeses...

 Sardines and antipasti...

All this and tons more at the one-week-old Bedford Cheese Shop on Irving Place, which kicks the original shop's ass and is going to allow me to travel to Paris via my taste buds any time I want. I'm very, very excited.

French word of the day: billet-doux

Def: love letter

What a lovely little (compound) word to know.

My Vegan Mondays

I had a girl’s reunion last Monday. Not only did it necessitate drinking wine, but it also included chicken and shrimp on the grill, plus generous portions of cheese and ice cream. In other words, it was no Vegan Monday.

This Monday started earnestly enough: oatmeal and blueberries, steamed veg and roasted potatoes. Nuts.

But then I had a client dinner at Imperial No. 9. And when Pacific halibut and duck fat potatoes and chocolate cake with Fruity Pebbles are all over the menu, it’s easy to forget the rules for awhile.

In fact, dinner tonight was par for the course as of late. Last week, I had brioche french toast at Café Cluny and chili lobster at Marc Forgione. A late-night dinner of gnudi, tagliatelle and fried artichokes at Alimentari & Vineria. And a piggish Minetta Tavern dinner that included Manhattans, wine, pan-fried trout, frites and chocolate tart. And as if that weren’t enough, I grabbed a pint of ice cream on the way home and proceeded to polish it off in front of a cheesy movie (One Day. What can I say, I'm a sucker for Anne Hatheway). 

Good grief.

If summer so far has been filled with glorious weekends outside of the city, lots of ice cream and lobster rolls, and being very stationery while I binge on books and the occasional movie, it hasn't included being very healthy and it definitely has not entailed wearing a swimsuit. But I think about it. I'm going to get better. I swear. Just as soon as there aren't so many irresistible summer treats waiting to be scooped up...

Hark, it's summer

The smell of fresh cut grass

Kites

Morning walks

Blueberries

Sundresses

Books, books, books

Frisbee

Beach towels

Watermelon

Picnics

Ice cubes

Cheesy movies

Baseball

Ospreys

Rooftops

The freedom of walking barefoot

Flower gardens

Zucchini blossoms

Fireflies

Ladderball

Soft serve

Naps

Elm and oak trees

Sunhats

Sundaes

Cold soup

Shady oases

Sand between your toes

Front porches

Midnight strolls

The windows, rolled down

Sunsets

Firecrackers

Green, everywhere

Gentle waves

Gin and tonics

Herbs

Underwater handstands

The coolness of movie theaters

Kayaks

Rosé

SPF 50

Bicycling

Eating breakfast outside

Salty air

Lobster rolls

Drifting

What do you love about summer?