Check out my dear Jessica’s rundown of piquant libations on Brooklyn Based 

today!

This weekend I made it down to the lovely Jenny’s new oceanside La Strada Pizzeria at Matunuck Beach in Rhode Island. After working up an appetite walking up and down the gorgeous beach, we sat down to two amazingly delicious wood fired pizzas from the cool looking outdoor oven: one was the special Carpenter’s Pizza, named after the nearby farm where the spinach and sausage were sourced; the other was the Bunky, named after Jenny’s spunky pup, and it was a lemony peppery delight topped with Italian proscuitto. [Check out the whole menu here] I literally want to move to RI tomorrow and just eat pizza and swim in the ocean every single day for the rest of the summer. 

My brother from another mother Adam’s Clinton Hill taqueria Cochinita is opening soon — check it out in all its glory on Grub Street!

Last night, the lovely Jessica came over and gave me my very own private yoga session before dinner. After working up an appetite with a series of micro-adjusted standing poses — having your own instructor means no slacking whatsoever — we headed to the kitchen to whip up an Ayurveda-inspired recipe of Brazilian Peanut Stew, using tomatoes, peanut butter, beans and peas, plus lots of warming spices. I know nothing about Ayurvedic diets at this point. All I know is that you take a quiz to discover your dosha, or constitution, answering questions like do you run hot or cold; are you relaxed or hyper; are you naturally thin or not so much, you get a result — vatta (wind/air), pitta (bile/fire) and kapha (phlegm/water) — that leads you to the foods you should and shouldn’t be eating to balance your body out. From what I can tell, I’m double dosha pitta-kapha: a delicious blend of bile and phlegm! I’m still trying to make sense of it all, but color me intrigued by this age-old Ayurvedic Diet bizness.

Had my darling Daniel over for dinner last week, where he took this pic before we ate. We had Ham & Cheese Stuffed Chicken, Fennel-Apple Slaw, and couscous with raisins, and as always plenty of white wine (spritzers) and conversation.  

I recently had the great pleasure of eating my friend Mark’s family recipe for pulled pork. He cooked it 10 hours in a low oven in an oven bag until it was falling off the bone and then drizzled it with a mixture of lemon juice, grapefruit juice, oregano, garlic and adobo (Mark, tell me if I missed anything). Served with rice, it was so magically delicious. I think everyone had seconds or thirds, I know I did. Can’t wait to try this one myself. Yum!

I think I did alright feeding my #vegan dinner guest. I modified this sweet spicy marinated tempeh recipe using my refrigerator contents: Japanese sweet potatoes (a/k/a satsumaimo) in place of butternut squash, carrot instead of parsnip, vidalia instead of red onion—and it was all good. Very good in fact. But if you decide to give this recipe a whirl, pay heed to the 1h marinating time and 40m on the stove top. Do yourself a favor and marinate the tempeh the night before, otherwise, dinner won’t make it to the table before 9. Good thing me and the vegan had mango/avocado salad and plenty to talk about while we waited.