Sweet November
While most New Yorkers are basking in the surprisingly warm season, I can’t help but wish for the classic cold weather to finally come around. I’m anxious to finally get a feel for the east coast climate change while I’m sure the novelty will wear off as soon as it dips below 15 degrees. For now, I’ll silently do my ritual dance to the snow storm gods.
The leaves on the tree outside our bedroom window is finally beginning to change colors and day by day, leaf by leaf, winter is slowly approaching. Of course, our tree is a bit of a late-bloomer and all the other trees around the city have already made this transition.
It’s so refreshing to witness the seasons change right before our eyes. And what a magical feeling each time a cold gust of wind blows a flurry of yellow and orange leaves around me as I fight my way through the concrete jungle.
The Green Farmers Market in Union Square is another indicator of season’s changing. Gourds, turnips, sprouts and apples mark the fall harvest as they sprawl out on tables and wooden crates. At least twice a week, I take a lovely afternoon stroll through the maze of booths and tents just to peruse the local products.
I’ve learned more about produce now that I live in the Big Apple than I ever did in Los Angeles. I’m amazed to see how brussel sprouts look before they’re packaged into vacuum sealed containers and the countless varieties of tomatoes, radishes and potatoes. I was even amused to see a bushel of Peruvian potatoes, our arch nemesis from our South American adventure.
And lastly, our autumn in NY is heavily saturated with mornings, afternoons and late night sessions in front of our computer working diligently to develop Culinary Musings. The fruits of our labor has been acknowledged with not one, but THREE featured “Daily Top 9″ on Foodbuzz.com!
Salt-Crusted Striped Bass
Blackened Tilapia w/ Corn Salsa
Mini Pumpkin Cheescake w/ Ginger Snap Crust
In addition, I am now officially a “Featured Publisher” for Foodbuzz.com which monetizes Culinary Musings for each visit. Show your tremendous support and come by as often as you can! And we are also building a fan base, slowly but surely. With so many wonderful food blogs, writers and talented photographers it’s sometimes a bit daunting to compare our progress. We have to keep reminding ourselves that it’s been less than a month that we’ve gotten our feet wet. Rome wasn’t built in a day… petit a petit, l’oiseau fait son nid.
Lastly, we just celebrated a wonderful Thanksgiving with family in Colonia, NJ. Many of us contributed to the extravagant feast from Maggie’s cranberry chutney and turkey to Cathy’s creamed pearl onions. Pierre and I prepared our share in Maggie’s kitchen with our little kitchen helper, Robbie. We made truffled potato puree, pancetta stuffing, and candied yams from us two. There were plenty of desserts to go around which I almost had little room in my tummy for the pumpkin cheesecake, tiramisu, lemon meringue, pumpkin pie, and cupcakes.
It was really great to sit around the dinner table and acknowledge all that we are thankful for.
Of course no one was thankful that Dan Medium aka Dan, my sister’s husband, came down with bronchitis that day. See what happens when you party too hard in Atlantic City the night before Thanksgiving 
???? By the end of dinner everyone was pretty much incapacitated. Dan, because of his bronchitis and everyone else from the tryptophan. Pierre, the human garbage disposal, couldn’t bring himself to eat another bite of tiramisu and anchored himself down onto the recliner in defeat. On the train back home into the city, I congratulated him on surviving his first all-American Thanksgiving.
