evening visit

 

driving over the kosciuszko bridge with greg this evening . . on our way to north shore hospital in manhasset to see a dear friend who has been ill.

it's beautifully lit at night . . 

sunday morning poem and an afternoon in queens

 

april's dream

the stream's breath tastes of the wood's perfume,

filled are the woods with foam:

and the sea like a sheet 'neath the summer noon,

with the languorous swerve runs home.

the beat of a pulse the warm sun stirs

in the air, the sea and stream,

beckons the heart-and the soul allures

forth, into april's dream.

by william stanley braithwaite (1878-1962)

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we brought wash's new scratching post from adam out to korrina today (it had been in the back of the car from last sunday) along with a few of her christmas gifts that had been too bulky to take home on the train (a large pasta server bowl and olive oil) . . 

and then went to dawa's for lunch. greg had chana gwaramari (spiced black chick peas, sunny side up eggs, tomato achar and chili oil) and korrina and i shared phaper ko roti (buckwheat roti with garlic timur and green chili yogurt sauce) and baked eggplant with chili yogurt sauce and watercress. all so delicious! also, i had a glass of their homemade kombucha (made with magnolia oolong tea) and korrina had their strawberry lemonade.

it was another beautiful spring day with warm sunshine and a cool breeze.

heading home across the williamsburg bridge. k rode with us and then took the path train to her friends' get together in jersey.

several stuffed creatures hanging out along the bridge parapet.

an afternoon in queens

 
greg and i drove to queens today to have lunch with korrina.

i'm still in the amazement stage that spring is here . . 

the queens' trees are all turning green . . 

and queens' flowers have been planted in all the sidewalk gardens . . 

one of our favorite places . . 

jasmine green tea and coffee . . 

korrina is teaching herself to crochet lace which is not easy as she's left handed and there aren't many left handed crochet tutorials. i remember trying to teach her to knit when she was a child . . she managed to take my instructions and invert them for herself, but i think that was easier with knitting as you're using both hands. 

we began with the citrus salad . . 

my chana gwaramari - spiced black chickpeas, sunnyside up eggs, tomato achar, chili oil.

greg had chicken sekuwa - nepalese style chicken bbq served with bara, pickled radish and tomatillo sauce.

korrina had a whole baked eggplant which i cannot find on the online menu and so cannot supply more detail. it looks like it has a yogurt sauce. it was very good and she had it with a slice of their homemade sour dough toast. they sell loaves of their bread and we bought one and sliced it in half back at her apartment. 

going for a walk around the neighborhood after lunch . . 

oh . . the lilacs!

a photo korrina took during the week of patience and fortitude, nypl's lions, amidst the pale green leaves at the schwarzman research library.

heading home on the bqe . . 

reading house of the seven gables . . 

working on a baby blanket for milly's owner (she's due in may).

zuzu on her special perch . . 

and wash on his.

more about sunday

 
a few weeks ago i signed up for another online cooking class with fabrizia lanza whose mother began a cooking school in sicily in the 1980's. (i made almond thumbprint cookies with them in 2020.) this time she was making ravioli from her new cookbook the food of sicily.

the ravioli flour needed to sit for 30 minutes before rolling out, so they suggested making it ahead of time. 

i understood the class description to be that fabrizia would show us how she rolls out the dough with a rolling pin, which i was looking forward to seeing . . however, she had a pasta machine into which she dipped her dough, as did the other twenty class participants. i was the lone hand roller. she said i was very brave. i was not amused. nevertheless, i persevered and created very nice ravioli, even if they were a bit lopsided and rough around the edges. 

after the class, i had to quickly pack everything away as we drove out to queens for brunch with korrina and josh . . 

chanda joined us (she had been at a friend's place in brooklyn) at one of my favorite eating spots, dawa.

their dishes are all handmade by a local potter and are beautiful to drink and eat from . . (to the left above is their delicious grapefruit salad).

my fried cauliflower with spicy, crisp chickpea batter and purple rice.

korrina had pulled noodles, beef and daikon in a bone marrow broth and chanda had black chickpeas with sunny side up eggs, fried puff dough and tomato achaar. greg had baked eggs with sour dough bread, potatoes and veggies, and josh had tibetan beef patties.

sharing a mochi-like dessert with a red bean stuffing . .

korrina finished knitting her sweater . . 

it's a quince yarn . . maybe sparrow.

chanda's treats from korrina (from the brooklyn yarn crawl).

we stopped at the new zero waste shop where i bought a few ounces of chili flakes, a vegetable brush and delicious chocolate covered cherries. it was a fun afternoon.

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back at home . . i put away my ravioli dough . . 

and the ravioli . . 

i'll roll out the remainder tomorrow.