I’m starting with the men and women in the mirrors; at the Brooklyn Flea this afternoon, my good friend Laura (who is in town for a few days, we always have adventures) and I ventured toward new treasures and reflective objects.

Fresh from a walk through a rollicking street fair in Carroll Gardens where the entire band accompanied the drummer on air bongos (this is what you might call the “Rock Band Effect”),

we walked through the DUMBO Farmers’ Market toward the Flea,

which is, as advertised, held under the Brooklyn Bridge.

and met up with my friend Eudie from high school, who I ran into the other day in Park Slope.

It’s so nice to meet up with people years later and discover they are even more fabulous now than they were then.

As the lobster roll line snaked around most of the vendor stalls (next time!), we opted to try raw chocolate ice cream on dry ice (you can choose between cashew and coconut bases) and wander the flea.

Before leaving, we found sparkly slippers to keep easing on down the road (that Laura and I began Saturday night at a midnight showing of “The Wiz” at BAM punctuated with wild applause for MJ as the sweet Scarecrow)…

And before that screening, I admired the emerald trees as I walked through Prospect Park to the Farmers’ Market at Grand Army Plaza on Saturday morning,

charmed by the flowering lemon thyme

and sage.

Heading out with my friend Matt (a fellow member of the Park Slope Food Coop), we admired the glass seltzer bottles in Ronny’s Seltzer truck (a Brooklyn delivery tradition),

before hopping the ferry to Governors Island to see the PLOT09 art exhibition,

where everyone seemed pulled toward giant chimes,

that we could still hear faintly as we opened apple chips from the market and sipped strawberry cider (actually very good) along with “Womanchego” cheese.

I looked up at the trees,

and listened to the sounds of families playing games, this little girl toying with a bike.

Old-fashioned music awaited near a reception for the PLOT09 opening,

and children were similarly smiling and happy on a beautiful wooden play structure (I like the exposed dowel ends below) and the nearby miniature golf course on another part of the island.

My favorite piece in the show was Edgar Arceneaux’s installation (Edgar is one of the Knight Pulse/GOOD L.A. Community Leaders tapped a few months back) of a machine that transmitted eerie sounds at low frequencies from a closet in one of the old houses with flaking drywall that ring the island.

For many years, Edgar has been working on the Watts House Project (”a collaborative artwork in the shape of neighborhood redevelopment”), and so it was especially appropriate for him to suggest disquiet in such a way that could be reversed, or at least removed at the end of the exhibit.

Is it the sounds without and within that bring comfort in a house, that ease the mind? I listen to my new Brooklyn neighbors laughing, steel drums, and the thum-thum of the train as I fall asleep lately…

Walking the greenmarket on Wednesday, I was surprised to see nettles still in season. Usually appearing in March, at the beginning of spring markets that close in the winter, nettles are an incredible source of protein as well as being a folk remedy for all sorts of things.

If you should find nettles, I like to buy two bags/bundles (about ~1/2 packed cup of leaves in each).

Use the first to make nettle pesto: blanch the leaves (take them off the stem with gloves or a paper towel, they sting a little) for a minute, then drain and dry. Pulse 1 clove garlic in food processor until minced, add the nettles, 1/4 cup of grated Parmesan, and 1/4 cup of pine nuts. I like the pesto on strozzapreti (the pasta shape that means “strangled priests”), below.

Then, with the other bundle of nettles, make your favorite brothy soup (vegetable stock, garlic, onion, diced potatoes are a nice base), stir in the nettles, and top with some of the remaining pesto (without the pine nuts, the pesto becomes a pistou), perfect for the drizzly weather we’ve had in Brooklyn lately…

I’m reposting last November’s Thanksgiving family video, a remixed version of the Jackson Five’s “I Want You Back,” in honor of MJ’s death today.

Not that five white kids in wigs can do this justice (the song’s magic), but here we are, and so it goes:

Favorite song or memory?

Perhaps because I’m spending time on trains and in tunnels lately, perciatelli was the pasta I reached for today when I realized I had beautiful guanciale from Formaggio Kitchen and fresh eggs from this morning’s Union Square Greenmarket—a carbonara waiting to be made.

For a simple lunch for one, start by cooking a third of a pasta box (spaghetti is traditional here) to al dente in a pot while 1 inch of diced guanciale renders (guanciale, made from jowls, has a subtler flavor than bacon) with a little olive oil in another pan, and whisk a single egg in a small bowl with a tablespoon of Pecorino Romano (or Parmesan) and a little more olive oil.

Drain the pasta, toss in pan with the rendered fat (remove guanciale to separate plate), and quickly pour the egg/cheese mixture on top, stir with tongs to coat. Plate and sprinkle with guanciale, season.

If you feel so inclined (I always do), nestle a crowning yolk on top of the glistening tangle.

One of the simplest pastas, I find carbonara deeply satisfying—an honest recipe for the middle, or beginning, or end of any week…

This morning my spoon sails in and out of chocolate bread pudding from Formaggio Kitchen,

the gourmet shop in Cambridge where Charcutier (what a beautiful title) Leah Mojer crafts housemade rillettes, pâté, and a guanciale I could not resist when I visited on Friday.

I was in town for my last event with Knight Foundation, a gathering of the Knight News Challenge winners at MIT:

where I managed to convince some two hundred in attendance to wear Knight Pulse sweatbands and unveiled new pieces of the Pulse site—much more on that in a later post, where I’ll share what I learned this past year starting a niche online community space.

Some of my favorite people (including new friend Catherine) were in that number at MIT, and on Thursday night, I had dinner with them (Ethan, David, Catherine, Kevin) at Asmara.

Ethan explains the wonderful Eritrean food we ordered (I should say we actually let Ethan order and, like everything Ethan does, the order was thoughtful and nicely done):

My favorite was the lamb with jute plant (we ordered another), and like the spongy injera bread that serves as utensil in this cuisine, I felt my mind expanding as we talked of global politics, poison (not the band), and functional flows of local brain power. With this table of frequent flyers, it was so nice to land in this comfy restaurant and hear travel adventures narrated and future schemes plotted…

Being Cambridge, my mind also tried to bend around understanding why the buildings are numbered as well as named and around Erik Demaine’s work with computational origami (he’ll tell you simply that he likes algorithms). Erik is an extraordinary person (kind and the youngest professor in MIT history) and he folds balloons into octahedrons:

Driving out of the Cambridge rain, past the Charles River, and toward the smell of the Atlantic Ocean, I made sure these petit noirs from Formaggio Kitchen were tucked away,

delivering them to Matt and Maia’s kitchen in Newport, RI (fanciful chocolate for a lovely, artistic couple) on the way back to Brooklyn, where we’ll make charcuterie and chocolates and inflate balloons (a caveat that octahedrons are beyond me) now that the boxes are unpacked and neighborhood explorations begin in earnest…

High noon on Thursday, I began the Northward drive from Miami. Passing power lines, cows, and little else, I fell asleep that night listening to crickets by the lake behind my parents’ house in Atlanta.

The next morning, my beautiful sister Kassandra woke early to breakfeast with me the Flying Biscuit—where the grits really are dreamy and an order of eggs and love cakes (black bean cakes with tomatillo salsa, feta, and sour cream) will lift you on the way back to the road.

I also admired my mother’s tomatoes,

lavender,

calla lilies,

Kassandra’s eyes,

and the gardenias that my mother has coaxed into a significant mass—a few traveled with me, perfuming the car as I drove on to Carrboro, North Carolina,

the wonderful town within Chapel Hill, where I sat on the lawn with local peach ice cream and the Weaver Street Market circular detailing local farm produce being featured this week at the co-op.

That night, I laughed with Ben, Jeremy, Seve, and Kyle and their friends at Enoteca in Charlottesville, waking with the sun to wander the farmers’ market that begins here at 7 a.m. on Saturdays, filled with tempting pie cherries this time of year.

My favorite market vendors hugged me and advised I take 81 for a more scenic drive (good advice that I took),

and this is their beautiful jewelry—when at the Charlottesville Market, do stop by and tell them I’ve sent you,

I miss the lettuce from Radical Roots with edible flowers on top of the lettuces and bought some for the road,

stopping by the Goat Cheese Man’s stand with its radishes,

and cheese donations, buying green garlic,

noting these baby carrots as I strode toward the car, keys at the ready for the final stretch to Brooklyn,

into this new apartment, a new job, and a new chapter…

I’m moving to New York for an incredible new job with PopTech, a network of social innovators I am excited to join as their Digital Content and Community Manager in Brooklyn, NY starting at the end of June.

In the meantime, I am delighted to announce I’ll be part of the Knight Foundation gathering of News Challenge winners at MIT next week premiering the second phase of Knight Pulse (just wait until you see the visualization piece!) as my last hurrah before transitioning to wonderful new things in Brooklyn. More soon here about this wild Miami year, but for now,

I’ll be updating Twitter as I roadtrip in the next few days from Miami to Brooklyn. Here’s what I’m listening to as I drive… (and would love to hear from you in the comments; truly, the music sounds better with you)—

 

 these vagabond shoes: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

New York, New York - Cat Power
Fresh Blood - The Eels
Paper (Hot Sax version) - Explode Into Colors
Six to Midnight - Stray and Grass
Lasso - Phoenix
In Context - Field Music
People - Silver Jews
The Next Time Around - Little Joy
The Reeling (Sammy Bananas’s Big Choon Mix) - Passion Pit
Music Sounds Better with You - Stardust
The Universe is Going to Catch You - The Antlers
Oh I Can - Rock Plaza Central

Will you come visit me in Brooklyn? Say you will…

Happy National Doughnut Day 2009! Last April I fried doughnuts in my mother’s kitchen because Krispy Kreme original glazed become even more beautiful then.

I’ll stand by what I wrote when I originally posted this (great comments on that post), explaining the recipe:

Why fry a doughnut that has already been fried? A turn in a hot pan caramelizes the outside of the doughnut to a crispy shell and returns the inside to a pillowy, soft state.

I hope you celebrate in style and to make these with all of you in all of your kitchens by next year this time (I’ll bring the lard)—

Last week’s New York adventures began with drizzling rain and delicious cupcakes at Royale—chocolate with sea salt icing is worth a trip to the neighborhood.

And clear orb-like containers protect the small cakes as you bring them with you into whatever weather outside (here, Alice and Jess smile at the cupcake box that did almost glow as we carried it back to the Games for Change conference).

When the drizzle disappeared, the sun shone on produce at the Union Square and Prospect Park farmers’ markets Saturday morning,

on foraged ramps,

the ends of rhubarb,

tulips, dahlias, hydrangeas,

and edible purple in garlic chive flowers (my favorite) and radishes,

while bundled asparagus stood near a merry band of musicians,

where my friend Eric met me, and then we walked Park Slope, finding another festival called Local Produce that included a rather tall individual and hula hoops,

before heading over to Red Hook for a pickle party.

I met my new friend Colin (he’s lovely), who keeps chickens in his backyard near the lettuces of his garden,

a choice I think Eric should imitate when he moves to Philadelphia (and, ultimately, the Philadelphia suburbs).

Partnering with Eric’s friend Zed (yes, that’s his real name), we created a traditional Chicago dog base to showcase the homemade pickles,

as Korean barbecue production began outside—I thought the marinade was perfect, though it is, apparently, still being tweaked:

Much later, squid caught by a late arrival to the party cooked in a cumin marinade and was scissored, all of us pulling it apart in the light of a headlamp (as though spelunking new grilling territory),

and then Eric and Zed directed our path toward Williamsburg, where we discovered the Green Balloon Experiment,

and less cryptically, equally artistically, the next morning, I discovered the incredible detail work at beautiful old houses in Prospect Lefferts Gardens (PLG), a historic area of Brooklyn, on their neighborhood tour with proud owners describing restoration processes and their pride in these streets of brownstones, and limestones,

and so many roses…

More images from the trip in the Flickr set.

Long weekends call for new music, a little dancing as everyone relaxes, and blue, blue skies—

 

 memorable weekend: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Full playlist below image. Apologies for the beginning pop—pretend it’s a beverage opening, please. More music in the kthread spins section.

You, Me, & the Bourgeoisie - The Submarines

Little Secrets - Passion Pit

Technologic (Daft Punk cover) - Peaches

Down the Line - José González

Rhythm - Major Lance

Sunlight - Harlem Shakes

Mr. Blue Sky (ELO cover) - The Delgados

Jackson Station - Orchards & Ponds

Tallymarks (feat. Thao Nyugen) - Portland Cello Project

Moonson - Delorean

Confusion Girl (Don Diablo loves to slowdance remix) - Frankmusik

We Will Become Silhouettes (Mexicans with Guns remix) - The Postal Service

No Home - M Shanghai String Band

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