Father's Day 2025

Tom requested his favorite cheesecake...a deluxe model with a topping incorporating 1 1/2 pints of fresh raspberries. It was beyond delicious!

                                            I love Mexico City, February 2025

                                            Museo de Arte Moderno  (above)

Great place to visit. The people are so incredibly warm and hospitable and the food is fabulous.  We visited many museums, had fun at the Luche Libre Wrestling event at the Arena Mexico but the highlight was a visit to Coyoacan where Frida Kahlo lived and worked. 

                                        Frida's house...The Blue House.

                                    Some of Frida's dresses

Luche Libre was so much fun! All kinds of people attend: girls on their girl nights, families with small children, guys on their beer nights...all there to have a blast.

It was great traveling with Andy and Nadia. Here, Andy decides which dessert to enjoy at Contramar on our last night in Mexico City.

                  Front of The Nima House, the beautifully restored home/hotel where we                    stayed with Andy and Nadia in Roma Norte.   

Tom and I on our last day in Mexico City 

Great trip. I'd go back to Mexico City any time!

 

Back on the North Fork!

 June 2021

Back on the North Fork after a year of Covid restrictions!  It's a bit more crowded here but still beautiful.

It's great to have the pool again!

Weather as been a bit chilly but I swim every day.

Pandemic masks with a little style

The first few months of March were all about masks.  Production was pretty brisk for several weeks til all the orders were filled. I got to use up some cool fabric and made my friends and neighbors very happy...and safe.

Low Carb Cheesecake

This was an experiment in baking for me as I always use sugar and was leery about artificial sweeteners. I wasn't sure it would work at all BUT it was a huge success. I served it at a dinner party for Tom's bike friends (now mine also) and they all loved it so it's a keeper. Shout out to George Stella, The Low Carb Chef, who authored this recipe. He and I met on the train platform in Hastings one morning about 15 yrs ago and he ended up with his own tv show!

            Back home in Chapel Hill with Nell and Max. It's finally Fall in mid October!

Summer's amost over

                                                                      Kayaking

                                                                    Chocolate Cake

Cocktails on the roof

Pool

Not a bad summer at all.

The hydrangeas are beautiful this year

One of the many beaches in Orient

Goldsmith Inlet
picture by Tom Simon

Kate's Cheese Shop in Greenport

This is a fab find right on Front Street near Main and serves up delicious sandwiches,
salads and fondue!  Kate also has a great wine list to go with.
Jay, Sam and I had a wonderful lunch there on Saturday.

Back on the North Fork!

The weather is great and the pool is just perfect.  Come visit!

Max had some stiff competition Thursday night when Larry and Lisa brought their real poodle for a visit. Max was not amused.

I've been making a lot of Gazpacho this year, especially with watermelon which has been outstanding this summer.  What's better than a ripe watermelon on a hot day?  And you make soup with the leftovers!

Tom took this picture of the causeway between East Marion and Orient.  So Pretty.

My favorite banana bread recipe is from Bill Yosses who was the pastry chef at the White House during the Obama years. Ah, remember them?  Anyway, a tribute to those years and that banana bread.

So baking here in Orient is a bit harder than Chapel Hill.  Some ingredients are not available anywhere especially vegan stuff for Nell. Couldn't find vegan sour cream anywhere but Tofutti cream cheese was finally procured at a King Kullen many miles away.  

Making a Banana Monkey Tail cake takes me to my happy place.  It's a towering plate of pleasure that delights everyone who tries it.  It won a prize at Cooking Channel when I worked there in 2012.

It's very tall cake and a bit messy to ice but the nutella and whipped cream cheese frosting kind of makes up  for in flavor what it lacks in neatness.  Neatness doesn't always count.  Taste does.

Tom has been kayaking and I've been goat spotting. These kids took one look at Max and ran behind their Daddy or Mommy (I really don't know).  I think they belong to Go Fresh so go figure.

Made a wonderful pasta dish last week with goat cheese, asparagus, thyme and lemon. Thank you, goats!

I want to try these on the grill very soon!

Flowers from our garden in Orient

We're settling in this week and there's lots to do but we did have time for a bike ride today at the easternmost tip of the North Fork in the Orient Beach State Park. Osprey parents were spotted in their huge nests but turtles crossings were pretty quiet.

Max is finding it pretty comfortable here despite the early morning fog horns from the ferry dock. All is well in this little slice of heaven...except for the ticks.  Nothing is perfect.

So, we are building a new kitchen in Orient, NY where we plan on making and serving many wonderful meals for many wonderful friends.  Oh, forgot to say we bought a little house there for the summers where we will see our Nell and her Raul and many NY friends...also our newish NC friends will be visiting!  Stay tuned.

Back on the North Fork

So back to Greenport/Orient for July, 2017

It's quite a schlep to the North Fork but worth it.  We stopped for an overnight at a 

Holiday Inn in a odd little town in NJ called Carney's Point in which Tom found

 an expensive Italian restaurant in the middle of nowhere.  The huge portions of food 

were pretty good and we wished we could take the salads home but couldn't.  We sat

outside because Max was with us.  He's with me on the other side of the table.

We arrived at Pam and David's in Orient just in time for cocktails and some Max time.

We rented a house with a pool so the kids could come visit.

And we took Nell to our favorite beach.

Tom enjoyed the soft shell crabs at Salamander in Greenport.  

He says they were they best he's ever had!

But most nights we cooked at home.

Apple Pie Oatmeal

One of my favorite breakfasts is this delicious oatmeal. Slice an apple, sauté in a tsp of butter til soft.  Add a tbs of brown sugar and a dash of cinnamon then dump on prepared instant oatmeal.  Voila!

If you like apple pie, you'll love this.