Sunshine in a Jar

Lemon curd. Sweet yet tart, creamy and delicious. And so easy to make you'll be wondering why you haven't been doing it for years. Ready?

4 eggs
1 1/2 cups sugar
Juice of 4 lemons (about 6 oz)
Zest of 4 lemons
9 Tbs butter

This yields about 3 cups.

Beat the eggs and sugar until well blended. Add the juice, zest, and butter and cook over simmering water-stirring constantly-until the mixture thickens. Immediately pour it through a strainer then ladle into warm jars and seal. You should allow the jars to cool to room temperature before putting them in the refrigerator. You can also just put it all in one big container. It will keep for about 3 weeks in the refrigerator. If you can get it to last that long.

Cat Toy?

What really annoys me is that I never get to see it happening.

Sunday Morning

My most favorite special breakfast is griddle cakes. And I do not mean Bisquick. My father makes great griddle cakes from his mother's recipe. That is the one I use, with a couple of slight alterations. A word of warning though. Once you have had these, you may never be satisfied with restaurant pancakes again.

Griddle Cakes
Yield: About 14 average sized cakes.

1 cup flour
1 cup fine cornmeal
1 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder (you can also use baking soda if that's all you have)
1 Tbs sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
2 Tbs butter, melted

Mix the dry ingredients together. Mix the egg into the buttermilk. Add this to the dry mixture stirring as you add. Mix until well blended. Add the melted butter.

Heat a cast iron griddle or skillet until it is very hot. Grease with a bit of butter. Pour out your cakes and let them cook until little bubbles start to form and burst on the surface then flip them over. (I like mine very brown so I wait an extra few seconds before flipping.)

Cook for about 2 minutes and watch them rise.

When you've got your stack, pour on the maple syrup or use honey if you like. Some people like to add butter too but I think that's gilding the lily.

Mmmmm...

Freshly made Beet Apple Ginger Juice. The picture doesn't do the color justice. It's a deep magenta, sweet with a little ginger bite.

Out For a Walk

I went for a walk today, mostly through Central Park. The weather was beautiful, sunny with just a hint of mist in the morning light.

I entered the park at 67th street by Tavern on the Green. When you walk a ways up the road you pass by this gentleman.

Daniel Webster

Very serious isn't he? Walk a little further and you come upon this guy:

He's The Falconer, a replica of a statue in England. He's having a bit more fun than Mr. Webster.

The park is full of statues. Almost all of them men. There are only two women. One is winged angel on top of a fountain and strictly speaking she isn't really a woman, she's a concept in female form. (She was designed by a woman, Emma Stebbins.) The other is Alice in Wonderland, a fictional character. We're definitely underrepresented.

Here's Alice.
She suffers many indignities with people crawling all over her. I mean kids sure, I did it myself when I was little, but adults? What do you think Lewis Carroll would say if saw a strange man sitting on her lap?


And here is a little tidbit for all those fabulous Worst. Mamas. Ever.

In case you can't read it, it says: "Speak roughly to your little boy and beat him when he sneezes. He only does it to annoy because he knows it teases." It's a wonder no one's had it removed as politically incorrect. Or tried to sue the parks' department for emotional damage. Thank goodness.

Here's some budding actors at the band shell.

This man is playing a zither, really a zither and he's really good. I dropped some money in his little box and saw that he sells his cd's. I was tempted but part of what made it so wonderful was hearing the music live in the park. I think it would lose some of its magic if I played it in my living room.

At this point I firmly resisted taking a picture of two women park's department officers on horseback. I did get to overhear them chastise a pedi-cab driver and tell him to be a good boy.
Those pedi-cab people are amazing. They must be in some kind of shape to ferry bundled tourists around town while keeping up the guide routine.

Here's a woman amazed by an assortment of dogs. I wish I could have gotten you a better picture but I was a little slow on the draw.

This is my favorite statue in the park. He's perched right above the bike path, ready to pounce. I always wonder how many people actually see him as they go by.


The leaves have been very slow to turn this year. Some trees are still green. These guys still have green tops, like little caps.


I exited the park right by The Museum of Natural History. They've got a couple friends standing outside looking festive. I think they give the Library Lions a run for their money.


I wish I could make this picture scratch and sniff.

Further down 81st Street I passed Planterium Travel. I think it may be my favorite travel agency. I mean, look at this store front. I just love the little camel and the ship in the snow globe.


For my last picture I give you the First Baptist Church of New York. I love that tall tower, like something out of a fairy tale. But doesn't that lower tower on the left look oddly two dimensional, like it's been drawn onto the building in the back? Very strange.

All in all, a very nice day in the city.