Stuff & Things

There’s been so much going on this May, that I haven’t been able to tell you about all the things I have wanted to.  So here we go!

First up: Eggplant Soup. Yes. Eggplant. Soup. If you thought squash soup was weird, you’re going to think eggplant soup is bonkers. But you’ll be wrong.  It is delicious.  I first tried it at Destino in Chatham, and then Mexican Radio in Hudson had a version of it, and then it was a special at Destino again.  And though it was different at the two Mexican restaurants, it was delicious at both.  It is silky and yummy and very, very easy to make at home.  Grill or roast a few eggplants, caramelize some onions, add some broth, puree and add creme fraiche, crema or heavy cream to your taste and garnish with a little salsa fresca and a squirt of lime.  Yum!

Next: Sifting. We’ve been doing a lot of this.  First I had to sift the compost pile.  Twice.  And then there was the tomato garden, which we’ve been sifting for weeks now. But it’s almost done, to the point where I was able to make some beds and plant some tomatoes (though I’m not sure they’re going to make it, they were all kind of weenie, and it has been hot Upstate this week). And then there was flour.  I made pancakes from scratch for the first time ever a few weekends ago, after an aerobic spate of dirt sifting.  I don’t know if I was just very hungry ofrif these really are the best pancakes ever, but I’m going with the latter.  Sadly, I left the recipe Upstate (it’s, naturally, from Amy Bess Miller’s The Best of Shaker Cooking) so if anyone has a copy laying around, email me the recipe for Apple Pancakes and I’ll post it here. *

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The Cottage

Early Sunday morning Isaac asked me, “Do you want pancakes for breakfast?”

I honestly hadn’t gotten that far, to the point of deciding what I wanted to eat that morning so I just brushed him off and carried on with my puttering in the garden.  Then he brought it up again, “So, you do want pancakes for breakfast, right?”

I can be epically dense in the morning but I was beginning to take the hint.  “Yes, yes I do want pancakes.  Why don’t we try that place over on the edge of East Chatham, The Cottage,” I suggested.

So we jumped in the car and headed through Old Chatham, past the Sheepherding Farm and turned into a dusty parking lot in front of an old low-slung building with frilly, frothy curtains.  The decor is exactly what you would expect, wood paneled walls, the aforementioned curtains, lots of yellow and bright blue, big plastic soda glasses from the 80s and slightly sticky tabletops–but the food is just a bit more than what it should be.