Thursday, June 30, 2011

America the Beautiful!

America the Beautiful

 by Katharine Lee Bates

On July 4th the United States of America will be celebrating Independence Day, and to celebrate I thought I'd illustrate with my photos the first stanza of the poem/song "America the Beautiful. " It was written in 1893 by Katherine Lee Bates as she viewed the sights from Pike's Peak in Colorado.  (all highlighted links under the photos will bring you to my blog posts about that area of the USA)
  
O beautiful for spacious skies,


For amber waves of grain,


For purple mountain majesties


Above the fruited plain!


America! America!


God shed his grace on thee


And crown thy good with brotherhood




From sea ......


......to shining sea!

American flags hanging in various locations around New York City

To all who celebrate have a happy and safe 4th of July!

I'm linking today with Skywatch Friday and with Beverly's Pink Saturday patriotic red white and blue event on her blog How Sweet The Sound, and with Mary of the Little Red House "Mosaic Monday.  Please click on the links to see all the blogs participating in all events.

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Tuesday, June 28, 2011

A Garden Grows In Brooklyn




How I would love a garden such as this! It is the Herb Garden section within the Brooklyn Botanic Garden


The Herb Garden sign shows us that the food we eat every day originated all over the world. (Please click on photo to enlarge and then click on it again to make it even larger to see the map) Did you know the potato originated in South America, okra in Africa and the eggplant in Asia?



The newly designed Herb Garden in the Brooklyn Botanic Garden opened in June 2010. It is comprised of a small orchard, perennial plants, and annual beds as well as a composting area, cold frame, tool shed, overlook pavilion, and trellis systems.  It is designed to be a decorative but utilitarian potager, or kitchen garden, that freely mixes medicinal and culinary herbs, vegetables, berries, fruit trees, and flowers.


 I visited the garden in May when it was in it's early stages.


I visited it again this past weekend to see that all within it was flourishing!


In a month it went from this....



....to this!


This decorative portion of the garden was mulched with buckwheat hulls which help retain moisture, enrich the soil and control weeds.


Other gardening tips are written on chalkboards along the garden path. There is even an occasional nature quote or haiku to ponder!


Set up as a living classroom,  there are also many informative placards throughout the Herb Garden which highlight the origins and uses of particular food plants.  (Each photo can be enlarged for easier reading by clicking on it once and then again when it opens as a new page.)



I found all the placards very interesting!











Fruit trees rimmed the garden in Espalier formation, which is an excellent way to grow trees in a city garden with limited amount of space.


These placards explain the benefits and traditions of Espalier.


Most grape vines are also maintained this way.


It was truly enjoyable to stroll along the lanes of the garden to see all its bounty! The herbs, fruits and vegetables in the garden are grown primarily for display and demonstration purposes, but extra produce is donated to charity.


The Herb Garden is truly an educational place for both adults and children as it gives city dwellers the opportunity to see and appreciate the way fruits and vegetables grow, and perhaps encourage them to plan such a garden for themselves.   I hope you learned something new about what you are growing in your garden this summer by reading this post.

Linking to the "Outdoor Wednesday" event on Susan's blog "A Southern Daydreamer" and Jenny Matlock's "Alphabe Thursday" for the letter "K" for all the fruits, herbs and vegetable that begin with the letter k such as kiwi, key limes, kale, kava, kelp, kohlrabi, kumquat ..can you think of any more?

I would also be so happy if you would please visit this link to visit my review blog to see the shopping spree I went on for my bride-to-be daughter and  for a chance to win a $100 HomeGoods gift card by leaving a comment there between June 20 and 30th, 2011! (click here for official rules)
Also, until June 30th, 2011, BlogHer is giving a chance to win one of ten $25 gift cards to HomeGoods on the BlogHer Prizes and Promotions Page that I know you'll want to enter, so you can have another chance to have your own mini HomeGoods shopping spree! Click here to enter that promotion! (Here are the official rules to enter)


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Sunday, June 26, 2011

Cloud Gate


This looks like a scene from a science fiction movie, doesn't it?  Can you guess what it is?


It is "Cloud Gate," a sculpture by Indian-born British artist Anish Kapoor in Millennium Park in Chicago, Illinois. It has also been nicknamed "The Bean" for it's bean-like shape. Made up of 168 stainless steel plates welded together, its highly polished exterior has no visible seams. It weighs in at over 110-tons, and is 66 feet long and 33 feet high.


The sculpture's mirror like surface reflects and distorts Chicago's skyline.

 

Visitors are able to walk around and under Cloud Gate's 12-foot high arch. On the underside is the "omphalos" (Greek for "navel"), a concave chamber that warps and multiplies reflections, which you can see in the upper right photo in the photo mosaic above.  Cloud Gate is becoming one of the most photographed features in Chicago as it is hard to resist all the special effect opportunities it provides.

Linking with Mary at The Little Red House for her weekly "Mosaic Monday" event.  Thanks Mary!


I would also be so happy if  you please visit this link to visit my review blog to see the shopping spree I went on for my bride-to-be daughter and  for a chance to win a $100 HomeGoods gift card by leaving a comment there between June 20 and 30th, 2011! (click here for official rules)
Also, until June 30th, 2011, BlogHer is giving a chance to win one of ten $25 gift cards to HomeGoods on the BlogHer Prizes and Promotions Page that I know you'll want to enter, so you can have another chance to have your own mini HomeGoods shopping spree! Click here to enter! (Here are the official rules to enter


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Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Al Di La Trattoria -- a Taste of Venice in Brooklyn!


"Al Di La" in Italian means "beyond."  Al Di La Trattoria, a little corner restaurant located at 248 5th Avenue, in the Park Slope neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York, is  one of New York City's top  rated restaurants, offering Northern Italian cuisine from the Veneto region, beyond compare!


It's not unusual for Brooklyn residents to go over to Manhattan to dine in a wonderful restaurant, but it once was unusual to see Manhattanites taking cabs over the Brooklyn Bridge to dine, except for exceptional quality like Al Di La presents.



You can see by Al Di La's front window that they are deservedly proud of their well earned acclaim!



They are the first restaurant profiled, out of 31 Brooklyn restaurants, that put Brooklyn on the NYC culinary map, in the equally acclaimed The New Brooklyn Cookbook. Cookbook authors Melissa Vaughan and Brendan Vaughan credit Al Di La for being the pioneers of this wonderful new gourmet food scene movement to Brooklyn.


The restaurant is tiny, and they do not take reservations except for a limited amount of parties of 6 or over people.  It is not unusual to see a line of hungry customer queuing up before opening hour -- us among them!
They now opened Al Di La Vino - an extension that offers fine wines in bar seating and an intimate dining room that can accommodate up to 20 more people for those that can not wait for the main dining room.
Owners Anna Klinger, a chef, and Emiliano Coppa, a native Venetian born food stylist who was working in Milan, met while she was travelling through Italy.  When they moved to New York they were both working long hours separately. As a result Anna and Emiliano decided to open Al Di La in Brooklyn in 1998, so that they could could work together, and it became an instant hit!  They did all the restaurant renovations themselves, and were delighted to uncover authentic antique floor tile and and a tin ceiling in the building. They decided to preserve their charm and leave them as is.



The beautiful Venetian glass chandelier in the dining area once belonged to Emiliano's grandmother.


The evening my husband and I dined I chose the Steamed Bouchat Mussels as my appetizer. The plump and succulent mussels were steamed in white wine, with tomato, parsley and chili and served over grilled Italian bread.


My husband chose the Trippa Ala Toscana as his appetizer. It was a delicious blend of tripe, stewed in white wine, soffritto and a few tomatoes. Tripe is one of my Italian husband's favorite comfort foods, and he was very pleased. You can see a recipe I posted previously for my vegetable tripe soup here.



For the main course, I chose the Braised Rabbit with Black Olives and Creamy Polenta. I saw this recipe as one of the ones profiled for Al Di La in The New Brooklyn Cookbook and wanted to try the Venetian version of rabbit, as I was more familiar with the Southern Italian way of preparing it -- see my blog post about that here.



My husband chose Calf Liver Alla Veneziana as his main course. The liver was lightly sauteed with onions in butter, and finished with a red wine glaze. Liver is not something I prepare very often at home, so this was a special treat for him!



We usually do not indulge in dessert when we dine out, but decided to treat ourselves this evening, and I ordered the Affogato al Cafe'. It was a decadent and generous combination of vanilla ice cream and crushed almond praline, drowned with hot decaffeinated Espresso.  Pure heaven in every spoonful!



My husband had his espresso on the side and ordered a desset special,  an Almond Panna Cotta with a Mixed Berry Compote topping. Another taste of heaven in every spoonful!




You can watch this charming short video about Al Di La above or at this link. It also shows a few of their specialties, all made with simple, pure ingredients, yet all tasting so superb.

This link also has two video you can watch, where cookbook author Michele Scicolone interviews Al Di La's Chef, Anna, and shows her preparing two recipes: Risotto Nero and Sarde in Saor.



The evening turned to night and we went home sated and happy!

If you are looking for a taste of Venice in New York City, or just a fabulous lunch or dinner, make sure to cross the bridge from Manhattan into Brooklyn and visit Al Di La!

I am linking up with the "Foodie Friday" event on Michael's blog Designs by Gollum. Please visit Michael's blog on Friday to see links to all this week's participating blogs and their wonderul array of recipes and food related blog posts!

I'm also linking with Beth Fish Reads for her "Weekend Cooking" event and Sandi at Whistlestop Cafe Cooking, for her "Friday Favorites" event!

I would also be so happy if  you please visit this link to visit my review blog to see the shopping spree I went on for my bride-to-be daughter and  for a chance to win a $100 HomeGoods gift card by leaving a comment there between June 20 and 30th, 2011! (click here for official rules)
Also, until June 30th, 2011, BlogHer is giving a chance to win one of ten $25 gift cards to HomeGoods on the BlogHer Prizes and Promotions Page that I know you'll want to enter, so you can have another chance to have your own mini HomeGoods shopping spree! Click here to enter! (Here are the official rules to enter




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