How do you buy your food?

Have you watched "Food Inc"? 

This documentary serves as a huge eye opener. It exposes the American food industry which seems to be more focused on profit then consumer health. 

In the spirit of being a little more conscious of how we buy our food, we headed to our local farmer's market on the weekend.

One of our purchases was an organic, grass-fed T-bone Steak from a nearby farm a little bit upstate. 

It was a little bit pricey, but worth the splurge for a Sunday lunch. 

I wanted to keep it simple, so I seasoned it with a little bit of garlic&onion rub and a sprinkle of aromat. 

I then seared it on both sides and put it in a 350F oven to finish cooking.

I served it up with some Salt and Vinegar roasted potatoes (recipe) which turned out delicious! 

YUMO!

Oh! And what else did I get up to on the weekend?

On Friday I diagnosed myself with 'UTI' (thanks google!) and thought id be smart and treat myself by just drinking about 2 gallons of cranberry juice. Well, apparently I'm not much of a doctor because I ended up in the ER the next morning with the most severe back pain I have ever known. 

(Is this what labour feels like?) 

The infection had started to spread to my kidneys. Great!

After picking up some prescription pain killers and anti-biotics I am feeling 99.9% better! 

Yay for modern medicine.

This picture kinda cracks me up! 

Storm chasers

I LOVE thunderstorms! So much so in fact that sometimes I fall asleep listening to them on YouTube. (am I the only one?) It is so fun to sit inside when there is a torrential downpour happening outside your window and cuddle up in your comforter while watching the lightning streak across the sky. What's more fun then that? Well... what we did of course!

When I got home from work last night, I told my husband (who had been stuck in an xbox-induced coma  in the house for most of the afternoon) to look out the window. He had not realized how dark and ominous it had begun to get outside (killing zombies takes up a lot of concentration). We then came up with a brilliant idea. We ordered a pizza for pick up and headed down to Manor Park which is right on the Long Island Sound. We sheltered under the Gazebo while the sun set, the rain poured down and the clouds filled with grey.  

I was really hoping to capture an awesome lightning shot and sat with my finger on the trigger of my point and shoot camera for about 15mins. I concluded that being a lightning photographer requires mad skills (and probably more then a point and shoot camera) and you have to be, well... lightning fast. I would be focused on one side when all of a sudden there would be a bright flash in the corner of my eye coming from all the way over on the other side.I missed it! Again. Oh well... lets just pretend like this happened:

What a fun and spontaneous Thursday night! I love my husband for embracing a little crazy streak every now and again, eating dinner in the rain and for holding the pizza box over my head in a thunderstorm. 

BBQ vs. Braai

The weather is scorching and its officially BBQ season. We celebrated with our first BBQ of the year a couple weeks ago, but why do I love 'em so much? Because that's just what South Africans do.

BRAAI is an Afrikaans word meaning barbecue or grill. Growing up, there were always braai's going on every weekend (sometimes even in the rain). With a rugby game happening in the background, my mom would be baking 'mielie' bread and apple pie while I was in charge of making the salad and my sister (who was never too fond of the kitchen) would stir some mayonnaise into a can of baked beans and slice up some banana for the bean salad. While this was all going on, my dad would be outside grilling up a meat storm, including boerewors (a traditional South African farmers sausage), lamb chops, steak and sosaties (kebabs). PLEASE NOTE: No hamburgers or Hot dogs America! He would always cook the meat perfectly while sipping on an ice cold 'savanna dry' with a lemon wedge in the spout.

For the longest time (before the days of Weber) my dad would cook on this 3 legged (with one leg missing and a bunch of bricks propping it up) contraption and that is where he taught me to start the braai by lighting the firelighters and moving the coals between the flames with my bare hands. South Africans always cook with charcoal or wood, never gas.

With friends, I enjoyed many "bring-and-braais" which would mean you bring your own meat and drinks and maybe a packet of chips (Chutney knick-knacks were always my staple) and all come together to cook, chat, laugh and have a great time.

Last Summer when I had just started dating my (now)husband he would always look at me and my South African friends a little strange when we pulled out the chicken and steak when it was time to do the bbqing. After a while I had to explain to him what a traditional South African braai was. He is still a hot dog and hamburger type of guy.

BBQing reminds me of home and I guess that is why I love them so much. There is nothing like being outdoors, surrounded with great company.

Got skates. Will roll.

From the luminous green ones I got for Christmas when I was about 8 years old to the thrift store rainbow ones I used to skate up and down my apartment hallway when I lived in London 4 years ago, Ive always thought roller skates were cool! 

A few weeks ago I went to a roller derby. It was possibly one of the most awesome things I have ever seen. 

Those ladies are crazy on their skates! I have no idea how they manage to stay upright with all that pushing and shoving going on? These girls skate around the track so fast that all my could capture on my camera (even on speedy mode) was a blur. I want those skills!

For a whole week I watched videos online, looked at skate shop websites and dreamed of owning a new pair of roller skates. A few days later my friend said she had mentioned my new found love to her host mom who happened to have a BRAND NEW pair of skechers 4 wheelers hanging around. 

She let me have them for just 10 bucks! Score. 

Now all I need is some wrist guards, helmet, bubble wrap, a very fluffy pillow and an extremely smooth surface so I can start practising. 

Banana Blueberry Muffins

For a couple of weeks now the last 2 bananas in my fruit bowl have been gearing up for this occasion, turning browner and browner and in turn, sweeter and sweeter. Until finally it was time for some baking in the Alvarez household. 

Ingredients

2 large bananas, extremely ripe

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1 cup all purpose flour

2 Tbsp milk

1/4 cup agave nectar 

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp baking soda

1 large egg

1 tsp salt

3/4 cup blueberries

• Preheat oven to 350F and spray muffin pan. (I got 8 muffins out of the batter) 
• Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl and set aside
• In another bowl mash the bananas until they are a liquid consistency. Add milk, vanilla & agave nectar.
• Add liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients. Add blueberries and mix. You may need to add more milk or whole wheat flour depending on the consistency. 

• Fill your muffin tins 3/4 of the way full and bake for 25-35 mins.

• Drizzle with honey and enjoy!

*A special day in a special city*

Saturday 4th June 2011 marked the 182nd day 6 month half year wedding anniversary for me and Mike.

Some people don't celebrate these days but I feel like its our first little milestone and it deserves some recognition.

On my Summer Bucket List I mentioned celebrating this special day in the exact spot that we were married 6 months ago, (Ladies Pavilion, Central Park, NYC) so we piled in the car (its cheaper then the train right now), zoomed across the bridge and headed to Central Park.

This was our first time back since we were married and its crazy to see the change. We held our ceremony at the beginning of winter (yeah, outdoor wedding in New York winter!!) and now that it is the beginning of Summer it is cool to see all the greenery, the birds and of course everyone has come out of winter hibernation. I am VERY glad that we didn't get married in Summer because there were just too many people down there. (although we did get a whole tour bus of people taking photos of us like we were celebrities.)

When we arrived at the 'Ladies Pavilion' there was actually a tiny wedding going on in the pavilion and a wedding photo shoot happening right next to it. So we hung out by the 'The Lake' with our Mr Softee milkshakes until they were done. We spotted 2 turtles swimming in lake and a really odd homeless man who seemed to have jumped onto the tourist craze of renting a rowboat.

When the wedding was over, we had our special spot all to ourselves and we reminisced as we snuck in an illegal glass (or red cup) of champagne to celebrate.

After the park we headed to the West Village to take a stroll around and stumbled upon a flea market (I didn't buy anything) and found a little Peruvian restaurant where we dinned on ceviche and lomo saltado (muy delicioso!)

What a special day and a perfect way to celebrate our marriage.

Mike, I vowed to you I would love you more and more each day and you have definitely made it easy to do!

Happy doughnut day!

Its friday!

And what better way to celebrate the arrival of the weekend then with a free donut?

Its national donut day. This day was created to honor the women who served donuts to soldiers during World War 1. I'll honor that! In fact, I already have (twice...shhhh!) by taking a walk down to my local Dunkin Donuts where you get a free donut with any beverage.

God Bless America!

HAPPY WEEKEND!

What's your favorite donut?

My new favorite is french cruller. I also like just plain glazed.