Pasta with Sausage and Peas

So two weeks ago, I was in China, then, last week, I spent 8 days in New Orleans. It looks like  I am done traveling for at least the next three weeks. Then, it is on to Atlanta and Chicago but, for these next few weeks, I am going to enjoy them.

I have one wedding to cater in two weekends from now so, I kind of have an easy schedule coming up. Hey, I am not complaining.

But, I arrived home late Saturday Night. Yesterday, I spent the day gardening, doing laundry, took a trip to the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens, checked out this food truck ralley which was pretty lame, watched Portugal beat up on the Dutch and made a little pasta.

I enjoy eating out but, moreso, I enjoy cooking in my home. Out of the last 30 days, I have spent 22 of them on the road.  Which meals, 3 meals a day out in and around.

Over the last day I managed to eat every meal at home. The cost of these meals? $3.99. I went out and bought some strawberries. Besides that, all of the meals either came from my garden or my freezer.

Yesterday, I started with pancakes with strawberries and homemade whipped cream. Then it was a simple grilled cheese for lunch, followed by homemade tagliatelle for dinner.

If you read my blog, I am sure you are tired of my plates of pasta photos. I am sure they all look the same. I have pasta dough down to brain autopilot. A certain amount of flour, a couple of eggs, roll around for a bit and it’s done. Then sheet it out, then run it through the cutter. Obviously, I do other things but, this is my tagliatelle routine.

Dinner @ Home: Spaghetti w/ Lamb Meatballs

We had a fairly large party the night before. I wish I had taken photos. i made agnolotti with veal and pancetta, in a butter and sage sauce for 9 people.  In addition, we started with a smoked salmon fritatta with creme fraiche, herbs and caviar.  We finished off dinner with pork ragu over polenta.  A  delicious meal.

The Garden: Let’s See What is Going On Outback

We live in Brooklyn. The Borough of Brooklyn has 2.5 million people. It is the 5th largest city in the United States.  We are very fortunate to have this little plot of land.  The space is approximately 20 feet wide and 45 feet deep.  When we first moved in, the space was a mess out here. Completely overgrown, full of bugs and garbage. It was gross.

We completely gutted the backyard and replanted everything with the exception of that huge tree in the corner. But everything down to the hundreds of pounds of rocks I carried in 50 pound bags, has been brought in by us. It has been a labor of love and a lot of fun.  It’s so strange to be in your backyard planting flowers, digging up dirt one minute, walk out your front door and be in the middle of an urban scene moments later.

Breakfast Juice:

I am keeping with my breakfast juicing routine.  Thinking I was purchasing Kale, I grabbed mustard greens instead.  This definitely added a spice to the mix.  This morning I had a beet, apple, cucumber,carrot, celery, ginger and mustard green mixture.  It was pretty bad to taste but, i jugged it down fairly quickly.

Regardless of the taste, it made me feel pretty wonderful.  That ginger coursing through my veins, it feels like I injected pepper juice into my bloodstream.

Unfortunately, I am not all that healthy. In addition to juicing, I also had some eggplant parm for breakfast.  I made it last night for my wife.  She is going to our friends house tonight for dinner so, she will bring a tray over. I had to taste it to make sure it was ok.

I on the other hand will be having some pretty amazing sushi with my cousin.  I will let you know how that goes.

Breakfast: The Juice is Loose

So the wife is on an 8 day juice cleanse. Apparently, there is some service that delivers various juices to your house daily.  In the bag comes 7 or 8 different containers of liquids.  There is an order and a time when you are to drink the juices.  She will not eat any solid food for the next week.  She found it on groupon and instead of costing something like 900 dollars for the pleasure of torturing herself, she is going to pay 200 bucks.

Spring is Springing

So my mother gave me this pot of lettuce yesterday. It’s really beautiful. This weekend we are getting back in the garden. Will show you photos of what we are doing.