Category Archives: herb garden

Other Things: Brooklyn Botanical Gardens and Brooklyn Museum of Art

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I know I write predominantly about food and wine, but I do have other interests… I swear! When Mom was here this past weekend, we spent a really hot day in Park Slope exploring the Botanical Gardens and the Brooklyn Museum. It was a bit too hot for the former – a lot of the plants were drooping as a result of our continuous heat wave – except that the “Herb” Garden was in full swing. Check out some of the yummy goodies they’ve got growing (ok, this is food-related, but still cool!):

a beautiful beetroot section

sweet and thai basil

celery stalks

lettuces of all kinds
a single pineapple!

Afterwards, we went to cool off at the Brooklyn Museum of Art, which is a decidedly wonderful museum. Even though my major in college was art history-focused, I find that I do not spend nearly enough time exploring art in this city. Who knew that so many fantastic pieces and shows were tucked away in the heart of Brooklyn?

Currently on display are an Andy Warhol exhibition (the late years), an African art exhibition (which I studied my senior year – I’ve retained much less than I thought), and a display of the the museum’s costume collection. We’d seen the sister fashion-oriented show at the Met the week before, and I’d been underwhelmed. So I was pleasantly surprised to find myself engrossed in this exhibit: the collection is extensive, and because it is predominantly donor-based, the clothing is in exquisite condition. Also by virtue of the donor’s tastes, a few designers are more heavily represented than others, including Elsa Schiaparelli, whose work I love. The layout of the show was not incredibly visitor-friendly (chronology was only a loose organizational mechanism), but the pieces – from dresses to shoes to drawings – more than compensated.

Some favorites:

Halston caftan

Charles James evening gown

Elsa Schiaparelli suit with piano-button details

1940s happy-face swim ensemble

summer dress with beautiful pleating

Celebrations: Mom’s in town!

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So, I’ve been a bit remiss in my posting because my lovely mom has been in town! Here are some highlights of our time together, which of course revolves around lots of food:

A Riesling tasting at Terroir, with Paul Grieco and winemaker Ernie Loosen.
 
Mr. Loosen, who brought over a vertical of his own wines for the tasting from the Erdener Treppchen vineyard, including a 1976 Auslese and a 2006 Auslese Goldkap.
 Our insalata caprese, with basil from my new herb garden!
Yummy succotash with corn, red onion, zucchini, and squash,
baked with lots o’ butta.
Additionally, we discovered a new French bistro, Bistro de la Gare, in the West Village, which provided a deliciously simply meal. Mom’s summer cannelloni were outstanding, with their paper-thin pasta shell overflowing with fresh spinach and the tiniest hint of ricotta. We also visited Fort Greene, hitting up the Flea and the farmer’s market at the Fort Greene park – here, we bought the most delicious cow’s milk cheese from a farm in Connecticut, as well as herbs for my new windowsill garden. 
Then, we had the best meal (Mom’s emphasis) at Bar Boulud after a show, thanks to Josiah’s able skills as a sommelier and the lovely fresh fish we tried. Between Toni, Mom, and me, we tasted almost all of the fish on the menu, which Josiah paired with a beautiful white Burgundy:
coquilles saint-jacques meunière (me)
dayboat scallops, stone ground polenta
purslane, brown butter, hazelnuts

truite arc-en ciel (toni)
local rainbow trout, roasted corn
olive, zucchini, smoked tomato coulis

limande au four (mom)
baked summer flounder, herb salad
glazed market vegetables
lemon buerre blanc

Each of us thought our own dish was the best, polishing our plates. Then we finished the meal with a beautiful apricot tart (the work “tart” vastly under-represents the presentation of the dish – a puff-pastry-like shell surrounded four distinct apricot-halves, served with a tart and refreshing red currant and lemon verbena ice cream), as well as a plate of the macarons and chocolates. Josiah gave us a taste of a Sauternes – not usually a favorite of mine because it can be quite thick and cloyingly sweet; however, this one was tasty with the apricots and rather refreshingly easy on the palette. Bar Boulud is hands down my favorite one of the chef’s restaurants and, in my opinion, one of the best restaurants in town.
And finally, we had an easy, rustic pizza night at Keste, a Neopolitan-style pizzeria on Bleeker Street. The staff is almost entirely Italian; the wine list features wines from the Campagna region; and the pizza is one of the most authentic I’ve had in Manhattan. We ordered the Regina Margherita and the special, a four-cheese white pizza with prosciutto, whose crunchy parmigiano flavor made it my favorite. We washed down not one but two carafes of Falanghina, a medium-bodied white wine I discovered in Rome last year. Following the pizza and wine, we walked around the corner to L’Arte del Gelato for the finishing touches on a great weekend.
And she comes back today!!