Travels in the 2nd half

Fresh Homemade Falafels In 1992, Molly O’Neill released the amazing New York Cookbook . This wonderful tome documented the international flavor of New York City food. The book is as much a research project into the history of New York City and its immigrants as it is a collection of recipes. I have always enjoyed cooking and when I saw the movie Julie and Julia I knew that I had mission for when I retired – to cook through this book. I will not make the promise of cooking ALL of the food presented (I can’ eat eels, or tripe) but I will come close and I will share my results and thoughts here, because my growth in the kitchen is part of my personal travels in the 2nd Half. Moshe’s Falafels Anyone who has been to the Middle East, or just to a middle-eastern restaurant has most likely had a falafel. For those who haven’t, a falafel is a ball or patty made of ground chickpeas with spices. While some places use fava beans, the standard in NYC is chickpeas. According to t...

If you have never been to the Catskill Mountains in New York State you are missing one of the real beautiful areas of the Northeastern United States. The Catskills fill the area between the Hudson River to the east and the Delaware River to the west. They stretch from the I 87 corridor in Rockland county to the south up to near Albany NY. You can see a map here . When most people think of the Catskill Mountains two pictures usually come to mind. Most famously is the Woodstock Festival (which did not take place in Woodstock NY, but that is another story). The other picture is of the old bungalow colonies and resorts that were the summer get-away for many NYers. "Woodstock redmond stage" by Derek Redmond and Paul Campbell - Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Woodstock_redmond_stage.JPG#/media/File:Woodstock_redmond_stage.JPG http://media2.fdncms.com/chronogram/imager/the-friendly-acres-bungalow...

New York City is not an old city. Certainly not by European standards. But even by American standards, New York has always been a place where it was deemed okay to tear down the old and replace it with something new. So it is true that we just don't have that many buildings that date back before 1900. However one place where we do have some older buildings is at the southern tip of Manhattan in the financial district. This is also an area that has been built and rebuilt over and over again. As a result you get some striking views of old and new buildings, Here are some of my favorites. S William Street At the center of the view above are the buildings 13-23 S. William Street. S. William Street itself is one of the oldest streets in NYC, showing up on maps from the late 1600's. These old buildings were actually rebuilt in the early 1900's in the old Dutch style. Today they all house restaurants. Behind them is an office building a 43 S. William Street. Coenties...

The Verrazano Narrows Bridge looms over Bay Ridge When most people think of the Bay Ridge neighborhood of Brooklyn they picture John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever . Or maybe Annabella Sciorra and John Tuturro in Jungle Fever . You know the stereotype - Italian, gold chains, leather jackets. Well, 35 years ago Bay Ridge was mostly Italian, with Irish and Norwegian thrown in. Today it is a very diverse community, adding Russians, Lebanese, Chinese and Arabs from the Middle East. This diversity shows up through the wide range of stores and restaurants along 3rd Ave - the main drag of Bay Ridge. One restaurant I can highly recommend is The Tie Dye Pig . This is a wonderful little gastro-pub. It has excellent burgers and the french fries are out of this world. The come with salt, pepper and a dose of truffle oil. Bay Ridge was originally settled in the late 18th century by Dutch settlers. In the late 19th century Norwegian sailors began moving in. In 1916 the subway reached Bay...