Books -- reading and writing.
Home, cooking, the weather.
And whatever connections I can make between these chapters of my life.

Sunday, September 28, 2008

Falls and Food

Falls, as in New York City waterfalls, dominated my weekend. Click here for some great pictures and more info.

OK, fall as in foliage too. As the first maple trees just begin to turn, we know beautiful color isn't far behind in the northeast, and we did see a few nice trees turning. But the 4 waterfalls installed in New York this summer struck my fancy and I mostly wanted to see them. Luckily I have accomodating family members who went along for the fun. Plus, we managed to squeeze in a pretty fabulous dinner at the River Cafe ( listed as prime territory for viewing). On the taxi from Manhattan we could see all 4 waterfalls and the one closest to the restaurant was spectacular lit up (see below for our own picture). Almost missed seeing the lighted falls because the waiter (who was otherwise very accomplished) claimed the lights stayed on until 10. They don't. Seeing them in lights was worth parading through the dining room at 8:50, sneaking outside before we'd finished my chocolate dessert shaped like the Brooklyn Bridge, with Happy Birthday written across it in script icing. Yum.


Also on the menu, a special scallop appetizer with sauteed "sunchokes." Sunchokes AKA Jerusalum Artichokes are one of my absolute all-time favorite foods. One of the best cooks I'll probably ever know, my sister's mother-in-law Christine Carlson, grew these babies in her garden, cleaned them (no easy feat) and turned them into pickles that made my trips to Mississippi worthwhile. Once I saw "sunchokes" (I think that's what they are called in New Jersey?) at my local King's Supermarket and thought about buying a few and attempting Christine's pickles. But the dirt, the peeling, the pickling was way too labor intensive and I put them aside. Wish I'd had the River Cafe's appetizer recipe back then because sliced and sauteed seems well within my culinary skills.


So, a little new fall color, a weekend filled with family and food, and the spectacular man-made out-of-plumbing-pipes-art waterfalls. Can't get much better than that!

Thanks for the great picture, Steve!



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