Ricotta Flatcakes with Maple Butter

One of my guilty pleasures are the Ricotta Flatcakes at The Landing. This weekend I wanted to make this delicious breakfast myself for good friends and the husband. And with the help of a Nigella Lawson recipe for Ricotta Hotcakes I succeeded.
Ms. Lawson suggests serving the pan or flat or hotcakes with apricots in honey(which sounds yummy), but I decided to serve it Landing style with maple butter and bananas -- and I also added raspberries and strawberries in agave and Belizean coconut rum --giving it a Caribbean touch ;).
I also made the pancakes a bit richer than Ms. Lawson's suggestion, using whole milk ricotta and some extra milk. I also substituted all purpose flower with brown rice flower, because that is what I had handy.
It turned out delicious however I felt guilty about the use of all that dairy (which at least was organic from grass fed pasture kept cows). So next weekend I will attempt a vegan and perhaps more eco-friendly version.
I will let you know how it turns out.


The Inspiration © Nina Corvallo

Vegan Experiment

Talking about food: Oprah has embarked on a 21 Day cleanse during which she will follow a strict vegan diet. Go Oprah!
I appreciate the gesture greatly, even though most likely she will return to eating other things post cleanse.
Being a vegetarian or vegan is not easy and one catches a lot of flack for it. Why? I have no idea.
Many people feel the need to ridicule, mock and discredit vegetarians. Of course there are also some wackos on this side of the fence, however main stream western society is only starting to be kinder towards those of us who abstain from eating meat and thus I thank Oprah for bringing attention to the issue. And I thank friends, family and everyone else who has (or will) accommodate(d) my food preference. But most of all I thank my father-in-law (a brilliant chef) who cooked the most beautiful & tasty (vegan!) wedding buffet imaginable when we tied the knot.

La Tennis Bensimon

I love comfortable and practical shoes. Long only available in France, Bensimon's comfortable kicks will soon at last be available on this side of the big pond. In the mean time take a look here: www.bensimon.com. I love the classic high tops but would love some of the limited editions for the summer too. Read some more about these canvas (ergo vegetarian) shoes here. Nylon says iconic Jane Birkin and La Bardot both are fans, as is the always stylish Kate Moss.

Fritz Haeg

The next Whitney Biennial opens March 6th, 2008. I don't always care enough to go, but this year I do, because I want to see the work of Fritz Haeg.
I did not know about Fritz Haeg until today's New York Times article "Art and Life, Steeping in a Teapot" (by David Colman) caught my attention. The article was in the arts section and the title mentioned tea - I love tea - so I read it and now I can't wait to see the work of this person who wants to rekindle our relationship with nature, who is a trained architect, who values crafts and whose most important possession is a teapot.
Fritz, where have you been all my life?!
All kidding aside I am really excited to see this progressive approach to art. It made my day and made me a lot less grumpy. I was vexed because of the continuous need of many omnivores to ridicule the herbivores. (Maybe Schoppenhauer's idea about the three stages of truth has something to do with it.)
Sometimes it is just too much.
In any case, I don't know if Mr. Haeg is a vegetarian, but I feel confident to assume that he is not threatened by people who choose to mostly eat vegetables. And his embrace of life is uplifting and thus reading about him made my day.
Mr. Haeg's work for the Biennale is called "Animal Estates", which follows "Edible Estates" --the Times also reported about that project in 2006 in an article by Patricia Leigh Brown, titled "Redefining American Beauty, by the Yard".
If after reading more about Mr. Haeg you are curious to see the Dome House, you can currently see it here: www.realestatearchitect.com/index.php/ladomehouse/index/
I love the jungle garden.

Happy Year of The Rat !

Happy Chinese New Year! This is the 'Year of The Rat'. May it be a peaceful one. Yesterday when I was looking at the work of Polly Morgan, I came across her works "Champagne Rat" and "Study for Rest a Little on the Lap of Life". In the biography published on Polly Morgan's website it is stated that she "encourages us to look a them (animals) as if for the first time; a rat sheds its association with horror and disease and be rightly viewed as a beautiful animal". I thought this simple, yet so profound. A commentary about how much bias we carry with us and how important objectivity or the strive for it is.
My husband likes to reference Robert Sullivan's book "Rats", when I squeamishly run by urban rats, which says that there are no confirmed rat attacks on humans on record in the city of New York. Yes, they carry disease, but he is probably very right that they are unlikely to attack me and even less likely to attack me in a concerted group effort.
At Karni Mata Temple in Northern India people have a more harmonious relationship with rats, as the rats are believed to carry the souls of followers of the Hindu Godess Durga. In Hindu religion it is believed that a god can take the form of any animal, which probably adds to the popularity of vegetaranism with Hindus.
"Rat" is an anagram of "Art" as someone pointed out to Bansky (he talks about this in his excellent book "Wall & Piece" ), and indeed that is a really clever observation. So I leave you with this image from the free Banksy shop:


"Greetings from London" by Banksy

Ryan Green Designs

Ryan Green is a Brooklyn based designer creating bags, tees, accessories and home goods. Her contemporary designs are animal and eco friendly --and mostly manufactured in Brooklyn. One of her newest designs is a yoga mat bag. I particularly love the one with the "Wildflowers" pattern.

L'asso - Pizza & Beer

L'asso at 41 Kenmare (@ Mott Street) has delicious brick-oven-thin-crust-pizza for $1 a slice and $3 a draft beer during Happy Hour (Monday through Friday 5-7 pm currently).
L'asso's Happy Hour is a great deal, however this is a good place to get a solid slice and/or a nice salad anytime. The staff is polite and accommodating. L'asso delivers and is vegetarian & vegan friendly.

Vegetarian Cuisine in San Francisco

The NY Times Travel Section this week has an detailed review of the vegetarian culinary landscape in San Francisco by Gregory Dicum titled "Expanding the Frontiers of the Vegetarian Plate", which is well worth reading.
Note: while my name is Nina, I am married and adhere to a vegetarian diet, I am however not the woman mentioned in the article :)

Teany Cafe

Moby's Teany Cafe, is a neat little place that I don't frequent often enough. I had not been in months, so we decided to eat dinner there tonight.
Moby and his friend Kelly own/run this tiny all vegetarian restaurant/tea house on New York's LES (hence the name).
The current staff is friendly & helpful and the quality of the food
is very consistent.
Much vegetarian cuisine in New York is Asian influenced and Teany provides a counter balance to those fine restaurants with a vegetarian menu that recreates many American staple foods (sans meat). Teany is also a brand of delicious not-too-sweet ice tea and while many excellent restaurants in New York offer incredible & vast wine lists, Teany offers an extensive & exquisite tea list (hot & cold). In addition to that Teany offered hot cider with a shot of port tonight, which was the perfect beverage after a 20 minute walk in the cold.
Another treat is that the entire menu is offered whenever Teany
is open. Thus you can have a breakfast style bagel for dinner
- like I just did :)
Too bad Teany is not open 24/7 .

Quebec

We recently visited Montreal & Quebec City (or Ville de Quebec).
If you ever find yourself in beautiful Quebec City, we can recommend the Auberge Saint-Antoine for lodging. Very centrally located and a good value for the price. Saint-Antoine is particularly attractive if you are visiting during the cold season like we did. There are three fire places and a bar in the inviting and cozy but stylish common area of the hotel. Service was outstanding. Dinning out in Quebec seemed expensive to us, and ordering room service at Saint-Antoine might actually be a financially sound decision that allows you to take advantage of
the hotel's acclaimed restaurant, while enjoying your spacious
and very clean and comfortable room.


Auberge Saint-Antoine © Nina Buesing

We did stumble on Le Commensal while in Quebec City, a franchise of vegetarian buffet style restaurants and frozen foods. This family style eatery of course delighted our vegetarian hearts; it is just so exciting to see more and more options for the vegetarian eater. You pay by the weight for your food at this restaurant--which we liked because it allows you to control your spending better . Compared to equivalent food in New York or Los Angles or Berlin we felt it was a bit expensive, however this also has to do with the value of our currency and perhaps our appetites ;) . We ate at
Le Commensal in Quebec City and in Montreal (Saint Denis location) and both establishments were welcoming --no one minds if you take your time and linger.
It is also BYOB.
I read that many people say that Montreal is the Paris of North America, however I felt if one was in search for a European experience and confined to North America, La Ville de Quebec
(or parts of Mexico) might offer a better peek at European culture/tradition than Montreal. That said I think comparison is maybe not the way to go anyway, I think that the Province of Quebec/Canada very much had its own identity and was very much worth the visit.