Felling The Great Red Maple

As the first rays of the sun shone on the great red maple, I said my goodbyes. I thanked it for its shade, I thanked it for its beauty and its strength, for filtering the air for me to breath, for holding the soil from eroding with it's roots.

Today we would take the great maple down. The tree that stood by my window everyday since I've lived here and everyday for decades when I didn't live here, was going to be no more.

Anthony Battinelli tying the limbs to the crane.

 

The crane lifts the top of the maple

The red maple is brought to the ground for cutting.

 

I felt a great sadness that this old giant would be no more. We consulted many experts. The tree had a hole in the top and it's root system was exposed. It leaned in the direction of the house. Set so close to the house, we were afraid that it would fall over our roof. We didn't have a choice. It was a hard decision that filled me with sadness.

Goodbye great tree!

Thank you to Heather Caldwell for the photos. Good job!

Mushrooms!

About a month ago we got a new vendor at our local Farmers' Market: www.RingwoodFarmersMarket.org

Wiltbank Farm is the name but I like to call him "The Mushroom Guy." Visiting the mushroom farm was a revelation on how mushrooms are grown in blocks of spore seeded "medium", suspended from the ceiling of the farmhouse. Yellow, pink, and taupe mushrooms swirled around the place, the ruffled ears making beautiful dancers. Other mushrooms were growing in trays on counters. The best part were the mushrooms we got to take home. I cooked them in omelets, lightly sauteed  as a side,and as a pizza topping.

Lunch today is going to be fresh farm eggs in a shalshuka sauce(what else?), with a side of sauteed Wiltbank Farm oyster mushrooms. Here's to the shroom guy!

one cup of shakshuka sauce or any other chunky tomato based sauce you like
2-3 fresh farm eggs
4 ounces of roughly chopped oyster mushrooms or any other fresh mushrooms you have on hand
1 tablespoon olive oil

In a medium saucepan heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the chopped mushrooms and saute for about a minute or two stirring often. Once the mushrooms are cooked, put them on a plate and set them aside.

Add the sauce to the saucepan and heat under medium heat. When you see small gentle bubbles and steam coming up, make two (three)indentations in it and gently crack in your eggs. Cook the eggs in the sauce until they're cooked to your liking and serve.

 Yum!

 Yum!

Yum!

Alongside, cut some fresh baked multi grain bread to sop up the yolk and sauce. Serve with a Greek salad.

Enjoy!

Maria

Greek Music- Opa!

There's nothing like Greek music to get a Greek going! We feel it in our hearts, we feel it in our bones, we feel it in our psyche. It's something I can't quite fully explain. When that bouzouki starts to play we just want to move!!

Last night I attended a Greek Music Concert at the Rutgers Nicholas Music Hall in New Brunswick,  Manolis Mitsias, a longtime wonderful singer was headlining a fundraising concert for  non profit philanthropic organizations to assist people in Greece and Cyprus. Money raised is going for aid to needy children.

Mitsias was magnificent, we enjoyed the full timber of his voice in many classic Greek songs. Aphrodite Daniels, a local Greek American vocalist was amazing. Her voice filled the room and her fluid long dress and beautiful stature reminded me of a Greek goddess. All the other musicians played together beautifully making it a great musical evening. The house was packed and people sang along, clapped and swayed to the music.

Thank you to the organizers and a shout out to my friend Despina Axiotaki, instrumental in the organization of this event.

Maria

Author Ian McEwen at Hunter College

Last night I drove into the City(that's Manhattan) to see author Ian McEwen at Hunter College. Peter Carey, the Exec Director of  the Masters in Fine Arts program and a twice-over Man Booker Prize -winner, and he, were having a talk. Of course, Ian McEwen is the Man Booker Prize-winner author of Atonement, a best selling novel that was made into a blockbuster movie.

An hour after I left home I pulled into a parking garage on 67th and Lex.
I haven't been back to my Alma Mater in years and it was strange navigating the campus security(new), the buildings(new) and all the young faces(were we ever so young?) Up in the 8th-floor faculty room, the 200 hundred strong crowd teemed with excitement. The NYC skyline with the Chrysler building's distinct silhouette, greeted me through the bank of large windows. Esme, the young writer I sat next to, was eager to hear him speak. She writes short essays and her goal is to submit, submit, submit. You go Esme!

The gold nugget that I came away with from McEwen's interesting talk:

"Fondle the details." Love it!

I believe he was para-quoting(is that a word?) Vladimir Nabokov who said: "In reading, one should notice and fondle the details."

I bought his new book, "Sweet Tooth," and went up for an autograph. When I said I was from New Jersey he asked if I had attended Philip Roth's 80th B'day party in Newark.  Alas, I had not received my invitation!

Maria

The husband-made kitchen stool

Did I mention that I have a great husband? Well, he's great and when I need something he fixes it up for me right away. Like when I tore my rotator cuff and had trouble chopping food. What's a cook to do without being able to chop? After chopping a mountain of onions and apples for a stuffed pork loin(recipe to follow some time) I ended back at the massage therapist who'd worked on getting me pain-free. She asked about my counter top. She wondered maybe it was a bit too high. Did I need a kitchen stool?

I came home and told Stelios. I can make you one, he said.  A few hours later, after much banging and clanking noises from his workroom, he presented me with my very own, custom made, wooden stool. I asked for pads under the feet and presto! they appeared.
Thank you "agapi mou"!(that's Greek for "my love").

 

Breakfast is an important part of my day. No breakfast, no energy. Here's one of my favorites!

Greek yogurt, plain with a cornucopia of cut fruit and a sprinkling of walnuts. Try it! It's easy, simple and filling.

 

In yesterday's blog I walked you through the wonderful, versatile Shakshuka sauce. Here's the dinner I made with it! I slipped two tilapia fillets under the sauce, covered my sauce pan and put it in a 400F preheated oven for 15-20 minutes.

Steamed some haricorts verts, drizzled with a bit of olive oil and dinner is on the table. I can also tell you that it was a really delicious, filling, satisfying meal with not very many calories

 



Enjoy!

 

 

Maria

Behold the delicious Shaksuka!

 I had stopped buying cookbooks for years. When my niece, Barbara, and I discussed co writing a Cyprus Cookbook to gather the recipes of our family and our heritage and share them with others, I bought yet one more cookbook. That's because JERUSALEM came along. Beautifully put together, a really exceptional book, from the cushy front cover to the photography, the recipes and the superbly handled sensitive cultural narrative. This was the kind of cookbook I aspired to.

I brought it home and wanted to try every recipe. My favorite so far is the Shakshuka recipe. It's a spicy tomato, red pepper sauce that's all the rage in Jerusalem!
Well, guess what, it's all the rage in New Jersey now too!
I have found new ways to incorporate it in my cooking beyond poaching eggs in it, as in the original recipe. I've used it to poach fillets of delicate fish like flounder, cook succulent chicken thighs, top beer crusted pizzas and just plain top anything that I may be preparing!

Makes enough for 4 servings.
I recommend doubling the recipe and refrigerating or freezing the rest. You won't regret it!

Shakshuka
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp harissa
2 tsp tomato paste
2 large red peppers diced into 1/4 inch
4 cloves of garlic finely chopped
1 tsp ground cumin
5 cups chopped tomatoes
1 tsp salt or to taste
1/2 tspdried  oregano
2 tbsp olive oil




 Heat the oil in a large shallow saucepan over medium heat. Add the harissa, tomato paste, peppers, garlic, cumin and 1/4 tsp salt. Cook over medium heat for about 8 minutes until the peppers become soft.

Add the chopped tomatoes and simmer gently for 10 minutes. Stir in the remaining olive oil and the oregano. Simmer 5 more minutes. You should have a thick, chunky sauce.

Voila! Before you can say Shaksuka, your sauce is done. If you want to poach fish fillets(substitute chicken, shrimp, scallops, eggs) just make indentations in the sauce and gently slip in your food of choice. Cover the saucepan and place in a 350F preheated oven for 15-20 minutes. Check for doneness. Your dinner is ready!

I've added some things to suit my tastes such as extra olive oil and oregano(So Greek!), so if there's something you want to add, by all means feel free.

Enjoy!

Maria

What's cooking good looking

After a few days home from our trip, where one night we ate Corned Beef and Cabbage(the best!!) at our friends' Joanne and Mitch's house, and the other we had lentil soup(Stelios' Greek recipe) the time has come for me to cook a meal.








Since I haven't yet made it to the market I rummaged through the freezer and came up with an organic chicken! She's sitting right on the refrigerator shelf right now getting nice and thawed. I plan to roast that baby in the oven with potatoes just like my grandmother Barbara used to when I visited her in her village of Ayios Epiktitos on the Northern coast of Cyprus.

Here's how it's going to go:

Greek lemon roasted chicken

Heat the oven to 425F

Ingredients

1 31/2 to 4 lb chicken, preferably organic
sea salt
coarsely grated fresh pepper
the juice of one lemon
1 tsp dried oregano
2-3 tablespoons olive oil
4 potatoes
1/4 cup warm water or broth

Rinse the chicken under cold water, and pat dry with paper towel.


Place the chicken in a roasting pan large enough to fit the bird and a few potatoes around it.
Sprinkle it liberally with salt and pepper. Tie the legs together with kitchen twine and tuck the wings under so they don't burn.

Wash and quarter the potatoes and place around the chicken. Pour the olive oil over the chicken and potatoes and do the same with the lemon juice. Sprinkle more salt and pepper and the oregano over chicken and potatoes.

Place on the middle rack of the preheated oven and baste every 15 minutes for half an hour. Turn the heat down to 400F and roast for another 45 minutes or until the chicken is cooked to 170 degrees as measured with a meat thermometer. One good way to tell if the bird is done is to wiggle the drumstick. If it feels loose around the thigh it's ready and falling off the bone!

I remember my grandmas small hands around the drumstick, her onyx ring on her ring finger, her pinkies turned up as we dug into that chicken! Here's to you grandma, wherever you are!


Enjoy!

Maria

All about Travel

Since we just got back from an amazing trip to Saint Croix I want to showcase some of the wonderful live performances we were lucky to experience.

 

The mocko jumbies, dancers on stilts who represent spirits in the Caribbean are part of many celebrations. They are considered healers and protectors and have been part of Virgin Island history for over 200 years.

 

 

This is one of Norma's pigs, relishing a non alcoholic beer. Norma's is a bar in the Saint Croix rain forest with a great vibe. There are four beer guzzling pigs and they are adorable and hilarious. If you visit, try the MammaWanna, rum, honey and herbs(for yourself). They say it has medicinal purposes!

 

Adrianna singing Latin tunes at Rowdy Joe's Roadhouse bringing down the house with her moves!

 

 

 

Check out Kiki and the Flaming Gypsies performing on the beach at the Buccaneer Hotel. One of the most amazing thing I've seen!

 

 

 

 

 

As a contrast, this is how the lake looks today after 5 inches of snow came down last night.

 

Home is where the lake is

What does a writer do when faced with a blank page? Evade, evade, evade... for the most part. Speaking of evading, on one of those occasions I fled to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It's always been a place of meditation and inspiration for me. Check out the African Wall art made entirely of bottle caps. Takes recycling to a whole other level!

 

 

 

This morning was wonderful at home, oatmeal and berries for breakfast. It's such a simple but delish way to start the day.

Trader Joe's Organic Whole Oats,
one part oats,
2 parts water
bring to boil in a small saucepan.
Turn down heat to gentle simmer, cover and let cook for 5-6 minutes.
Place in bowl and top with sliced banana, strawberries, blueberries, raspberries(love all those colorful berries!) and a spoonful of walnuts or whatever nuts you like.
Add milk and enjoy!

The lake, an ever changing tableau,today is hosting  migratory ducks  on their way up North(too early guys?), their white breasts contrasting with their black feather uppers and giving me a show as they bob and dunk at the lake. Before you know it they've moved along to another part of the lake.

Welcome to my blog! My name is Maria and I live in New Jersey with my husband, in a house by a lake. The sunsets from here can break your heart. In the summer we go to our little apartment by the sea in Saronida, a town outside of Athens, Greece.








Let me introduce you to some of my favorite topics:


Travel: My hubby Stelios(yes, that's Greek to you...)and I just got back from an awesome time in Saint Croix, the biggest of the USVI(that's the Virgins!!) where we had a family reunion. We cooked our Greek foods and then some, swam, ate and listened to lots of great live music. Life don't get better than that!

Writing: I may bitch from time to time about writing and how hard it is to get published. Some days are optimistic and others...not so much.











Cooking: Love to cook! Stelios and I cook lots of Greek recipes, some with our personal twist and since my family's from Cyprus I often cook my traditional family Cypriot recipes. But not all cooking going on in our household is Greek.

 

 

I hope you enjoy the journey!

 

Maria