travel

Palm Springs: the World’s Best Jetlag Cure

February 11, 2015 by Eva Louise Leave a Comment

Those lemons…

The Jet Lag Cure: soft scrambled eggs with cilantro, avocado and radish salad with the sweetest grapefruit/pomelo…at 4am.

It’s so icy, cold and miserable here in New York. I’m doing anything to distract myself from my frostbitten misery so to help ease the pain of this arctic tundra, I’d like to ~~drink heavily~~ go back to two weeks ago when I was in the desert. After a long business trip to Europe, I met the family in Palm Springs for Sissy’s 30th birthday. Mom and Dad rented a big, beautiful house with a totally tricked out kitchen and BBQ. Keep in mind, the only thing I care about after these long, cooking-less business trips is making the most luscious, proper breakfast (because I wake up at 3am and have nothing to do. Thank you 9-hour jet lag!) and being in the kitchen as much as possible, so this was heaven.

The homeowners had a lemon and grapefruit (maybe a pomelo?) tree in the backyard that I was completely obsessed with…that’s basically the punch line of this whole story. Nothing else mattered really. Oh, except Sissy turning 30, our amazing adventure to Joshua Tree National Park, and Palm Canyon, and the fact that it rained in the desert. Those were pretty amazing too. But the real highlight for me was putting all that citrus to use, serving up seriously decadent and zesty meals like an al fresco lunch of grilled leg of lamb and a lemony red bulgar salad, and for dinner, herb and lemon marinated Mahi Mahi with a simple salad drizzled with lemon vinaigrette and cocktails made with vodka and fresh squeezed lemonade. Let’s just say, my family does not have scurvy.

Thank you, Palm Springs and your bountiful citrus trees! You definitely proved to be the world’s best jet lag cure! Can we go back now?!

Check out some pics from the trip, but first, the cutest pic of Sissy and me! Can’t believe she’s so…OLD! Jk…love you Kippy.

Can you even process the cuteness?

Together again after both being on business trips for most of January!

The view from Joshua Tree National Park

The great furry palms of Palm Canyon

Sharpening My Dad Skills

August 22, 2013 by Eva Louise 3 Comments

Let’s get started

Omelettes, baking (of any sort), pivot tables, PowerPoint presentations, refraining from opening other peoples’ mail, picking up my dry cleaning when it’s actually ready, controlling my hanger (that special type of rage you get when you’re starving), cheese-making, sushi rolling, running…

These are all things I’m not particularly good at; the most devastating addition to this list is fish filleting. It’s kind of pathetic given my family’s fishfolk status but my dad spoils me and presents me with perfectly filleted kitchen-ready salmon all the time…So, hey! What’s my motivation to figure out how to cut these damn things myself?! In efforts to be more self-sufficient, I finally tried my hand at filleting a whole Coho, under Dad’s direction of course.

I don’t know about you, but trying to learn stuff from Dad is the most frustrating and painful process. Ever. Yes, I love him and yes, he has tons of knowledge to impart but man, that guy has NO PATIENCE (cut to tear-laden movie montage of me learning to walk, ride a bike, drive a car…). And as articulate and commanding as he must have been on Wall Street back in the day, when he’s trying to teach me something he makes NO SENSE WHATSOEVER.

So there we were with a Coho, 2 sharp knives and my lovely sister to document the whole thing…

I started off strong….

Wouldn't be lesson learned without "too many cooks in the kitchen"!

When I’m struggling, it really helps when two people start giving me competing advice. Please, please provide me with competing advice. It calms me.

I just went haywire here with my hands criss-crossed. Under no circumstance does this look safe!

Filleting towards your own fingers…also not a good idea…

Got my groove…kind of

….I could strangle him right now! Eyyy…but I did it! Daddy’s so proud!

Israel Homecoming

August 12, 2013 by Eva Louise 1 Comment

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I’m back from the motherland – the beautiful, complex country of Israel! I was there this past week for 10 days on a Taglit Birthright Trip getting my Jew on. I was carted around the Jersey-sized country, to Tel Aviv, to Jerusalem, to the Golan Heights and to the Negev Desert in a big ol’ tour bus with 39 other Jews. I don’t doubt we barely scratched the surface of Israeli exploration, but I really felt like I experienced a lot of the country…And most importantly, I can say I ate my weight in hummus and shwarma on this trip.

I had high expectations for the food there, and save for a few janky Kibbutz meals, I was seriously impressed. My three highlights were Shakshuka, Ahi Tuna Fish ‘n’ Chips, and of course, ze Shwarma. Seriously, I freaking love shwarma. While there is no way I’d ever attempt making it, I can’t wait to attempt the Shakshuka and Tuna Fish ‘n’ Chips!

Photo credit shout out to my amazing new friend Justin Drazin, author of the Pillow Monster Series. (He took the pretty pictures, I took the food pictures.)

Shakshuska

Eggs baked in a scrumptious tomato, onion, pepper, herb mixture served with side salads and crusty bread.

Kosher Ahi Tuna Fish ‘n’ Chips with Curry Mayo

Only the most brilliant riff on fish ‘n’ chips ever in the history of man.

Shwarma

Just…yea. Mmmm. Mmm. Mm!

Some other amazing images from our adventures:

Inside a water cistern at Masada

The Kotel at Dusk

Syrian farmland, view from Golan Heights

I want them all

Grapes almost ready for harvest

Shalom, Tel Aviv!

No Jew trip would be complete with a Jew nose pic

In case there was any doubt…I’m definitely a Jew!!

Heaven is a South African Kitchen

July 11, 2013 by Eva Louise 4 Comments

***This is the third and final post from my trip to South Africa. The previous posts are here and here***

Heaven on a plate

On our final morning at the whimsical Miner’s compound, something amazing happened – I met the Miner’s wife, Jackie, who had been in the city during our drunken escapades the day before. We bumped into her at the back door of her kitchen in our efforts to say goodbye to our host and friends. She was directing a platoon of housemaids, with a voice so sensational it was like the Cheshire Cat or an Afrikaans Miranda Priestly were yelling orders from behind a buzzing fan. She had fiery red hair in a coif that Marge Simpson’s sisters might request at the hair salon and gorgeous bright eyes that will keep her looking youthful even when she turns 100. Just amazing.

“Come, come, come. You must have something to eat!” She said in same breath as her introduction.

Instead of staging our departure, Stingray and I let Jackie take us hostage (rather willingly) onto the back porch to enjoy a decadent breakfast of fruit salad, fresh yogurt, charcuterie and her homemade preserves (umm…is this real?!). We ended up staying so late that it was already time to enjoy lunch which we did, at the very same table.

I was gorged, spoiled and feeling rather useless so Jackie was gracious enough to let me cook with her in her amazing kitchen. She and I whipped up a Tuscan-style tuna salad with cannellini beans, fried eggplant with cilantro, a simple salad with a vino cotto vinaigrette, and a caprese salad with olive oil so rich it looked like gasoline.

As I chopped, (she and I in matching aprons) she told me the story of her gorgeous Chinese linens, her fruit trees, herbs and spices from her travels to the Middle East, and the painting class she’ll take in France later in the Summer. So intimated by her amazingness, I interrupted her a few times to ask, “How do you want this chopped? What else should I add to this? Am I doing this right?” “Dahling, everything you’re doing is just perfect, simply perfect. Add whatever you’d like!” My only thought was: Eva, burn your passport so you can live with Jackie forever!…Do it, burn it now!

Once I finished shaking up my vinaigrette and the meal was almost ready, I started to chop a littler slower in attempts savor this moment with her. When I go to Heaven, I know that the cafeteria will look just like Jackie’s gorgeous kitchen.

Tuscan-style Tuna Salad

Ingredients

1 can of good albacore
1 can of canellini beans, rinsed and drained
1/2 shallot or small red onion, diced
1-2 garlic cloves, grated
juice of 1 lemon
1 cup chopped cilantro
Olive oil
S and P to taste

Toss all ingredients together, in a beautiful bowl, except for tuna. Add tuna and incorporate gently to try to keep it from breaking up too much. Taste, adjust flavors accordingly.

Fried Eggplant with Cilantro

1 large eggplant
1 cup chopped cilantro
1-2 garlic cloves
juice of 2 lemons
Pepper to taste
maldon salt

Chop eggplant into 2 inch “pegs” and fry in olive oil until crispy and tender. In the meantime, mix the lemon juice, grated garlic and pepper in a large bowl. Once the eggplant is done, put directly in bowl with lemon juice mixture. The olive oil absorbed in the eggplant will naturally balance out the acid. Sprinkle maldon salt or another large-grained salt right before serving.

Caprese salad (everybody knows this one, right?)

Tomatoes, mozzarella and basil with high quality olive oil (lemon juice or balsamic were not added to the version pictured)

Green Salad with Vino Cotto Vinaigrette

1/2 cup walnut oil
1 pinch sugar
1-2 T vino cotto (Italian sweet wine syrup)
1 heaping T dijon mustard
1/2 clove garlic, pressed or grated (optional)
S and P to taste

Shake all ingredients in a jar. Too sweet add more dijon, too thick add more oil. I served this with arugula and butter lettuce, some red onion left over from the other salads, a ripe avocado and some paprika for color.

Spiced, Wine-Poached Pears with Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream

In case I wasn’t already in food ecstasy at the end of our lunch, Jackie brought out some of her spiced, wine-poached pears and homemade vanilla ice cream and served it drizzled with grappa. It’s a miracle I didn’t implode into stardust after that.

Spiced, wine-poached pears with homemade ice cream

A diptych of her lemon tree…why not?

8 things to do before Mom stays in your sh*thole New York apartment

June 6, 2013 by Eva Louise 22 Comments

***I interrupt our regular posting schedule because Mommy is in town! Final South Africa chapter forthcoming***

Mom is coming into town this weekend to celebrate her birthday with me and Sissy. (Learn more about my amazing mother here) I can’t wait! Normally she stays at Sissy’s and yet despite droning on and on about how much of a nasty, vile, rat’s nest of an apartment I have, she’s decided she’d like to stay with me. Um, OK… I’m ready for the challenge. I’m going to blow her mind with just how luxurious my rat’s nest is. I’m going to pull out all the stops and blow Sissy’s washer/dryer-gorgeous-bathroom-faux-fireplace-special-order-linen-couch-two-bedroom-Upper-West-Side brownstone straight out of the water! Just kidding. Mostly.

And don’t get me wrong, my mom is not snooty, she’s just a normal, concerned mom, as in, nothing is ever good enough for her precious angel. But Moms of our generation forget we’ve moved on from the womb, have gotten jobs, new lives and “different” living situations than the familiar luxuries of suburbia. That aside, she’s a guest, the most important guest you’ll have in your home and she should be treated with the utmost thought and care. She’s Mom, she deserves this.

So here are the eight things I’ve decided will make my (and perhaps your) reception of Mommy Dearest go smoothly.

1) Get the apartment professionally cleaned. It doesn’t matter how clean you can get it with your platoon of Duane Reade cleaning supplies. She will walk in and either let out a really dramatic sneeze and say “Oh my…Evie, it’s awfully dusty in here…” Or later, you’ll see her standing precariously on the kitchen table trying to wash the ceiling with one of your gym t-shirts, then when she realizes you’re standing there, look at you sheepishly like “Oops…hi… I saw a cobweb up there….”

2) Bring in fresh flowers. You can’t change the fact that your floor is painted a crayola brown or that your bathroom looks like the set of one of the Saw movies. Fresh flowers are a great way to divert Mom’s attention from these horrifying details.

3) Get all the ingredients for her favorite cocktail.

Whether she’s a plane or bus ride away, even if she herself has lived in the Big Apple before, she’ll be all flustered and overwhelmed by the hustle and bustle when she arrives. It’s also likely that in addition to her huge suitcase (“What? I didn’t know what pack…OK, Eva?!”), she’s brought you a bag of homemade goodies (in my case it’s always salmon, fresh herbs, homemade preserves and a kitchen tool of sorts) that makes maneuvering through the city to your apartment more cumbersome. Diffuse this situation quickly by making her favorite drink* immediately upon getting her settled in the apartment.

*We all know Mom doesn’t actually drink, but loves the novelty of it, so just shake something up for her. In my mom’s case it’s a Tequila Sunrise that she’ll take one sip of and forget about.

4) Strategically place family photos throughout the apartment.

You are Mom’s greatest achievement in life (duh); you need to play strategically on this. If she starts to associate your garbage apartment with such amazing greatness, she’ll start enjoying your garbage apartment. In my case, I went for the gusto and placed photos by her side of the bed. Make sure the photo of you specifically is prominent and precious (remember, we’re creating seemingly impossible, positive associations here).

5) Leave her favorite candy on the coffee table.

To my earlier point, we’re trying to trick her into enjoying herself in a space she’s decided is wretched. Candy is tasty and fun. If she eats the fun candy in your apartment, science states that she is having fun in your apartment!

**********************************************************************

Now we’ve set the stage for Mom’s amazing visit and have taken steps to intercept her comfortably. Here a few other things you can do ensure that ~~you get the vacation home in the will~~ your apartment firmly becomes the favorite apartment throughout her stay:

6) Leave an eye mask and earplugs on the bedside table.

The Mom-approved bedside table: fresh flowers, carafe of water, eyemask, earplugs and lotion, family photos

The Mom-approved bedside table: fresh flowers, carafe of water, eye mask, earplugs, lotion, family photos

She’s not going to be used to sirens, garbage trucks and drunks screaming in the night. In my case, we come from a pretty rural area, so given my noise machine isn’t furnished with a “fishercat eating screaming bunny” setting, I’ll attempt to go for full silence.

7) Prepare some breakfast foods and a tea/coffee station.

This is important, especially if Mom arrives on a work day and needs to be left unattended. Make sure to have some fresh eggs, cream, fruit and yogurt placed prominently in the center of the fridge in case she’d like to take her breakfast at home. Because she won’t know where everything is, set a tray of morning tea on the counter so all she has to do is boil water. At this point, you can confidently assume that you are definitely the favorite child.

8) Make Mom a city survival kit.

It’s likely Mom has grand plans for her trip to New York so it’s important to get her prepared to maximize her time. I put together a little “city survival kit” to make sure she’s as comfortable as possible:

An umbrella: there’s nothing worse than being a tourist trapped in the rain, soaking wet and not quite sure where to go next. This is especially true in the summer months when the storms can hit unexpectedly.
A water bottle: Mom is always heckling you to drink more water, make sure she does the same. This also helps her avoid the bodega and street vendor racket of $5.00 water bottles.
A tour book and map: this will allow her to discover some things she didn’t plan on doing. Make sure to provide a map that includes subway and bus routes if the guide book doesn’t already have it.
A fare card: provide her with a pre-loaded fare card to really make her feel like a New Yorker. She’ll likely take cabs everywhere (yessssss!) but it gives her the option.
Trail mix: With all that museum-ing and shopping, ~~you are~~ Mom is going to need a little snacky. Avoid ~~your~~ the low-blood sugar induced tantrums and pack something delicious to keep the day going in a positive direction. For my mom, I made a mix from almonds, dried apricots and cranberries, chocolate covered pretzels.
A tote bag: Everybody’s all about going green these days, so make sure to give her a cute, sustainable tote to carry all this stuff.

Mom, happy birthday. I love you so much; I’m really looking forward to a great weekend with you!

Lunch and Precious Metals in the Riebeek Valley

June 4, 2013 by Eva Louise 2 Comments

***This is the second of three posts featuring my recent trip to South Africa. Read the first one, “Love and Penguins on the Cape of Goof Hope” here ***

When my co-worker invited me for an overnight in South African wine country, hosted by an eccentric and generous precious metals miner (we’ll call him “Miner”), I couldn’t tell whether it was going to be the start of a cheesy porn or a bad horror film. But when he mentioned 200 oysters were brought in for the occasion, I didn’t care how precarious the scenario sounded, I needed to GET THERE.

Stingray, my friends and I arrived in a fleet of rental cars at a quaint little compound in the Riebeek Valley north of Cape Town. As if it were the most natural of things, we were led up a set of garden stairs to a beautifully set table decorated with pitchers of lemon-mint water, trays of oysters, fresh salads, a wine station, decadent french-style cheeses, and homemade bread (which I later found out Miner made from wheat from his own farm!). So there we sat, with our new miner friend, passing bottles of wine, sucking down oysters, only taking breaks to play with his dogs and dip our feet in his stone-lined pool.

After gorging ourselves, Miner had us activate our rental car fleet once more to check out his farm several kilometers away. The air was perfect and cloudless. The sun had only just started to pack up for the day, kindly offering another hour of light before heading West. Eager to work off our lunch bellies, we walked like a lazy herd of buffalo along the farm’s single dirt road. We kicked rocks and snapped photos together in desperate attempts to capture the magic of the day, one I don’t ever want to forget.

So to our new, mysterious miner friend: thank you for reminding us that there is so much beauty our earth has to offer, and for showing us how quickly a stranger can become a friend.

Love and Penguins on the Cape of Good Hope

May 30, 2013 by Eva Louise 4 Comments

***This isn’t a food post, but the first of three posts from my recent trip to South Africa. I promise the other two will include food.***

Recently, Stingray and I met up in South Africa for a romantic trip before he tries his luck in the world of African entrepreneurship. I learned that there’s a lot of pressure on these types of trips to have the perfect time, be on your best behavior (as in, not throw a tantrum if you have to choose between seeing the African penguins or going to lunch ) and see absolutely everything so you can report back to your friends just how freaking fabulous your romantic getaway was. This trip represented even more pressure given when it ended, I got on a plane back to our apartment in Manhattan and he, on a plane to a new life in the bustling city of Addis Ababa. DSCN1240

So given all this, our trip definitely wasn’t something out of a Sandal’s Resort commercial (strep throat and food poisoning made sure of this) but after a week of zigzagging through South Africa, we made it to the Cape of Good Hope on a day when the sun couldn’t decide whether to stay or go, with a seascape of air and wind and waves so eerie, I almost expected a 15th century, India-bound ship to sail right by us. We took some photos and kissed at the top of a rock formation and with that, we headed back to Cape Town and the next day, we went our separate ways.

There’s something to be said about driving with the person you love, watching them in an entirely different light, under an unfamiliar constellation of stars, shuffling through maps you can’t read, thinking, “There’s no one I’d rather be with than you.”

Love you, Stingray. Thank you for a memorable adventure.

Those damn penguins that kept me from a delicious lunch….

Moped Dinner Party in Switzerland

May 17, 2013 by Eva Louise Leave a Comment

Sometimes when I’m alone, eating bread rolls with packets of mayo drinking mini-bar wine in my hotel bed watching Russian music videos, I think to myself “business trips kind of suck.” But then I remind myself that most nights my life is fabulous and that I rule. Evidence of this is the incredible dinner party I had with some girlfriends and their beaus recently while on a business trip to Geneva.

Normally working late into the night, I committed to leaving the office in time to hop on my friend, Cristina’s Moped and head to France to do some dinner party grocery shopping. Holding tightly to her waist (apparently NOT necessary which she made very clear to me), with the spring breeze blowing through my 2-piece suit, and our helmets bonking against one another with every windy turn, I knew this was exactly the 2-wheeled escape I needed.

Eva’s Spring salad: rocket, shaved zucchini, cucumbers, chives, mozzarella with a lemon vinaigrette

My European friends are by default better cooks than I (because they are Europeans) , so I gladly took a step back on this meal and just offered to make a simple salad (above) while the girls made seared duck breast with an apricot jam, mustard and soy sauce glaze, sauteed asparagus and roasted potatoes. Thank you, ladies for a truly decadent dinner escape!

Seared duck breast with roasted potatoes and asparagus

I was excited so I made them do a group "haut cinq" with me (fake french for high five)

I was so excited by the success of the meal that I made them do a group “haut cinq” with me (my fake french for “high five”)

Swiss Miss Fondue: Part Deux

February 6, 2013 by Eva Louise 1 Comment

So…fondue…turns out it’s a little harder to make than I thought. Mine was lumpy and separated, looking more like an aerial shot of the sinking city of Venice than a creamy delicious pot of cheese. Aren’t you just supposed to dump cheese and wine into a pot and melt it?!

Regardless, I went over to Sissy’s house early in the morning on Thursday to drop off her new fondue pot and the delectable bounty from Zurich. Since we’re two sister’s with no self-control, we broke open the macarons and ate the whole box…with some cheese eggs… and toast.

Afterwards, on a really expensive sugar-high, I went to her local grocery store to pick up salad materials, bread and some dipping vegetables for the fondue. Later that night when I came back over, everything was all set and ready to assemble. Despite my fondue not fondue-ing properly, it was simply delicious. With foie gras, a crisp salad, good wine (Switzerland has failed me on this front, I’m sorry) and fantastic company, we dipped and dined to our hearts’ desire, making for (what I think was) the perfect belated birthday celebration.

Swiss Miss Fondue: Part One

January 30, 2013 by Eva Louise 5 Comments

Tonight I’m finally back in action in New York City after a long business trip in Geneva, Davos, and Zurich, Switzerland. Unfortunately I missed my sister’s birthday while in the Swiss Alps so to make it up to her, I’m hosting her at her new apartment for a night of proper Swiss fondue, complete with crusty bread, dijon new potatoes and fresh salad (sketch above). Beyond the basics, I have some other delicious surprises waiting for her including fois gras, a luxurious bottle of kirsch, a good bottle of Fendant, chocolate truffles and a dozen decadent macarons made in Zurich less than two days ago.

While I’ve dined on cheese fondue many a time, I’ve never actually made it, so I look forward to reporting back once the birthday party is over. Happy Birthday, Kippy!