Local Gourmand: Out and About

• 2010-05-03

• 2010-04-28

  Pics from the Ode to Ramps: A Dinner Party.
  
  The menu: spaghetti with ramps and bacon, homemade bread with sautéed maitake mushrooms, smoked ramps with monk fish, salad of ramps and sprouts and spinach, honeycomb ice cream. 

  Sam made pasta, Autumn baked bread and made cheese, Tal chopped the greens while Nate read Strega Nona to Finn, Sarah lost her keys, I brought the ramps and tried to teach the baby how to twirl pasta on a fork, but he quickly reminded me that most of the time it’s just more fun to eat with your hands. It’s always more fun to eat with your friends.

• 2010-04-26

  

  Hardcore at the end of the day in a rainy Union Square. Have you ever seen the city so green? Spring still shocks me every year.

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  Thanks to Evolutionary Organics for the plants— chervil, lemon balm, a poppy (couldn’t help myself), and sweet peas. And thanks to the lady bug who literally flew home with me, clinging to the chervil in the bike basket allll the way down Vanderbilt and back up to the roof.

• 2010-04-25

  Walking west I became obsessed with the sun catching the tips of the red tulips.

• 2010-04-22

  

  Tart like spring: first rhubarb and it’s still April! Partied with the Greenmarket crew last night and June roasted asparagus in olive oil and salt— just ate some leftover stalks for lunch in the park. Happy Earth Day, all.

• 2010-04-21

  Made a pilgrimage to Union Square on my lunch break to find compost for my rooftop garden. At 72nd St. Caesar Casella, chef and owner of Salumeria Rosi, walked into my subway car with his signature sprig of rosemary peaking out of his shirt pocket. I was too bashful to say hello, but I watched him rub the herb between his fingers, deep in thought, until I got out at Times Square. Made me smile.

  Union Square was bustling, and it seemed like every table was overflowing with ramps. Indeed, the season is upon us!

  I found my compost, then made a quick turn around back to the office. The black gold is now hidden beneath my desk, waiting for 5 o’clock.