Giveway

Lauren Nicole Gifts Giveaway - LillyPulitzer Cosmetic Bag. ends midnight on Thursday July 23, 2009. Lauren Nicole Gifts

I'm still here!

A pretty spot in Central Park

It's been a lazy July here at the Wisk. I've been cooking some of the same favorites I've blogged about earlier in the summer: grilled chicken, pasta with veggies, grilled salmon, grilled corn on the cob. Woa a lot of grilling! All with low stress planning & cooking - always a huge plus in the summer.

Tomorrow I'm leaving for a looooong stay in Florida to see my parents & sisters. While I am super excited to see them for what has become a yearly summer visit, I'm sad to leave husby who has to stay here in NYC and work - boo! I remember being little and my mom shleping us thru Islip Airport, down to Florida while my dad stayed home and worked so I guess this is fact of life in some ways: husbands work, wives get to play! At least those of us who are teachers with great vacation time! Anyway, my mom would always plan a few meals for my dad ahead of time, freeze them, and leave simple instructions on the tupperware. How awesome is she? I'm not going that far (I know he'll do take out a few nights) but I wouldn't want to leave him with an empty kitchen so I sent in a Peapod order today. I got some salmon so I'll cook that tomorrow before I leave. Also his favorites - Amy's burritos! And a bunch of other healthy little snacks that he loves: walnuts, dried apricots, etc.

I don't suspect I'll do a lot of blogging while I'm away but we'll see. So excited for some of mom's home cooking (she loves to grill!) and to cook a little for my family as well.

Happy rest of the summer to you!

xo,

Michelle

Food To Go

I'm browsing the online version of the NYTimes and this article made me giggle. Earlier in the week I was near Lincoln Center running to a massage appointment (a nice treat for the end of school) and was hungry. I didn't want to sit down and eat or get fast food so I got a dirty water dog. That's a hot dog from a push cart to those non-New Yorkers. Usually they are delicious despite the not so appealing name. Sadly - the one I had was not. Stale bun. Tasteless dog. So disappointing. Not even the spicy mustard could help this poor dog out.

Today in the Times there's an article about Street Vendors & the problems they have been facing lately - everything from a fake permit scandal to parking woes. I googled street vendors to find out a little more info about them and came up with a few good links & blogs

Food Vendor Watch - by a fellow Bronx Blogger

Street Vendor Project - a project from the Urban Justice System to help education and fight for the rights of street vendor workers

Cartograhy - by NYMagazine. Everything you'd like to know about cart food. Includes a top 20 list of food carts (don't look for my dirty water dog guy here, thank goodness!)

Happy Fourth!

As the fireworks come to an end, hopefully it is after midnight here, I hope you have had a wonderful Fourth of July! This post is going to take a little turn toward France but it will make sense. You've probably heard by now that the crown of the Statue of Liberty has reopened for visitors. The whole island was closed following 9-11 only to reopen partially in 2004. So glad it has reopened! The Statue was a gift from the French to the US in 1886.

We are having a stay-cation this weekend, staying close to home & enjoying the stress-free time together. Friday we went for sushi and brought home some wine & champagne from Mitchell's, Saturday we did errands and went to Dinosaur BBQ for ribs. Today we took the LIRR to Long Beach and had an awesome day - complete with slices from Gino's.

I mentioned we got wine & champs Friday. What to do with the empty bottles? Uncommongoods has a fun answer - CORK CANDLES! Looks like they just pop (haha, cork humor!) into the empty bottle, you light the wick and voila - instant candle ambiance. I love that the pic uses a bottle of my favorite - Veuve Clicquot. If you like bubbly you need to try VC and if you like it you should read her biography - it's a great informative & interesting read by Tilar J. Mazzeo. We visited Reims while we were in France in December - it's a beautiful city, so rich in history!! Let's toast to Lady Liberty!

More grilling...

A few nights ago we had an indoor bbq. Between all the rain & the lack of private outdoor space, it's the best we could do. Lotsa people bbq in the park by us, but we aren't ready for that quite yet. And anyway, sometimes on a cool rainy night it's nice to be home, dry & chowing down on good eats!

hot dogs & corn grilling

I sprinkle red pepper on the corn as it grills, gives it a good kick!

Please Note: If you're grilling raw meat, don't risk cross contaminating: cook everything separate. Since they are pre-cooked and just need warming up, we're ok with the hot dogs.

The spread! YUM

In addition to the dogs, corn and stop & shop mac. salad there's the other must have: beans.

Now, I'm not about to make homemade baked beans for 2. So I use the canned stuff and warm them up. Additionally, thanks to a tip from a friend in my share house, I add some crushed pineapple. I know it sounds really weird but the pineapple gives the beans a light kinda sweet flavor and I love it.

Some great grilling recipes from Healthy Eats Blog and lots of tips from FoodNetwork Really great salads and slaws from SmittenKitchen

Something is fishy...

Bored of chicken & beef I've been buying salmon steaks lately. It's super healthy, easy to cook and so refreshing in the hot weather.

Very simply, I use our grill pan with a little olive oil.

On the salmon I sprinkle some lemon juice, salt & pepper. When I have it, I add rosemary.

Here's a dinner I made recently - grilled corn (took forever, ugh) salmon & brown rice. YUMS

Some more info about salmon WHFoods recipes WebCam from dock in Alaska FoodNetwork

Happy July!

School ended last Friday, planning on doing some updates this week. We'll see how that goes, vacation is so nice & relaxing :)

In the meantime...head over to The Misadventures of a Newlywed for a great giveaway of wine related items from Barefoot wine!