Wine Tasting Tonight

False!  There is, in fact, no wine tasting tonight.  But, when I was walking home tonight I saw a sign stapled to a tree next to the curb and I read it as "Wine Tasting Tonight" but it actually just said "No Parking Tuesday."  Now, I don't want to jump to conclusions here, but I just googled "free alcohol dyslexia" and nothing came up.  So, I may have just discovered a new and free-wheeling form of dyslexia. I'm going to continue to monitor my condition, and I will keep you posted.

Anywhoo, after a freakishly cold summer, it is now freakishly balmy outside so I've decided to take refuge in my breezy apartment, make some dinner, and attend to my blogging duties.   And, what is dinner? I know you gourmet foodie readers out there are DYING to know.  What will Mayor Meeks be feasting on tonight in Slagletown, USA?  Well, I'll tell you:  Corn.

Yes, that's right, corn.  Corn is one of my all-time favorite foods, right up there with pinto beans.  Mmm! My mouth is watering just thinking about it.  I don't believe Meeks is a big a fan of corn as I am, or a fan of corn at all.  But that's okay, because he's a good sport, and he will eat anything if he's hungry enough.

Today's corn comes fresh from my grocers' freezer.   Rather, it came fresh from my grocer's freezer about 6 months ago and has been slowly petrifying in my freezer since then.  I've taken it out of the deep freeze to eat for dinner tonight, along with some other random fridge finds.

Slagletown Supper Corn

Ingredients

• 1 bag of frozen corn - mine was originally 2lbs, but I had already opened it and used it in random dishes over the past few months, so it was probably down to a little more than a pound
• Some limes - Mike has been on a tequila kick lately, so we have an abundance of limes just hanging out in the fridge, waiting for an assignment
• Sriracha sauce - we always have a big bottle of sriracha in the fridge.  Its just this orange chili sauce stuff in a squeeze bottle.  It tastes good on everything.
• Cotijo cheese - dude, I don't even know when I bought this.  I was cleaning out the fridge last night and the cheese drawer was full of all kinds of moldy monstrosities and then there was this perfectly pristine wedge of cotijo just sitting back there, innocently twiddling its thumbs.  It was already opened, so I must have used it at some point.   Anyways, I smelled it and it kind of smells like feet.  But, I think its supposed to smell like that.

Directions

Plop the corn in a pan with a little bit of tap water and melt it down until its the consistency of unfrozen cooked corn.   Stir it around until its hot, then remove it from heat.  Spoon some corn into a plate, bowl, or other food receptacle.  Squeeze a generous amount of lime juice on top.  Squirt some sriracha on it.  Then, sprinkle the whole mess with some cotijo cheese.  I like to run mine through the microplane to get it nice a fluffy.  Mix it all up and voila! Slagletown supper corn. 

Also on the menu tonight is black beans.  I don't have a clever name for the beans.  They're just black beans.  A few months ago Mike made friends with a guy on a plane whose high score at Brickbreaker was something like 40,000 (no joke).  They had some beers, one thing led to another...and next thing you know the mailman is showing up at my door with 15 lbs of beans!  Yeah, turns out the Brickbreaker master works for some a seed company out in Wyoming and so he sent us 5lbs of black beans, 5lbs of pintos, and 5lbs of yellow beans.  Nice guy!

I also don't have an interesting recipe for the beans.  Just the usual - I take 2 and a half cups of beans, sift em for stones, wash em, soak em for 8 hours, and then throw them in the crock pot overnight with a clove of garlic.  Once they're nice and done, I add some salt.  Not very interesting, but magically delicious.

Meeks, in the middle of one of his trademark home runs

Two rainbows above McCarren park

Simon & Alice forge their wedding shackles

So, Mike's friends Simon and Alice recently got married. Mike used to work with Simon, but I only met them for the first time on the day of the wedding. The wedding itself was gorgeous, and that's really the reason for me posting these photos. For the benefit of mankind - so that those who are currently planning weddings may see these photos, and steal from them.

You can thank me later.

The wedding took place at the Staten Island botanical garden. Some sort of "asian" theme going on here. The wedding guests sat in a little pagoda across a pond full of koi. I thought that was a nice touch.

Post-ceremony, frolicking in the bamboo garden.

Isn't my dress just fabulous? I had the sleeves removed because Mike told me that I looked like a beer wench. And, my tailor agreed.

What a great idea - paper lanterns and floating candles with single orchids.

That's Mike with a guy whose name I can't remember. He was really nice though, and gave us a ride home.

Late night shot of the cake, with Denise on the right.

It's been a long time, baby.

Whooooaaaa.

Its been a while since I've blogged anything on Slagletown.   Why? Well, because we've been busy round these parts.  There's been a lot going on around here.  Too much to put into words, really.  But, they say a picture is worth a thousand words...so I've decided to do a photo montage instead, to explain where we have been these few months.  You know.  Just to get y'all caught up.  

And then I promise PROMISE I won't slack off again.  Not much, anyways.

So, here is what we've been doing, in reverse chronological order, backwards through time.  Fasten your seatbelts!

Going to Yankees games (and finding Keith Oberman, Jason Bateman, and David Alan Cross sitting together in kitty-corner across from us)

...and Tommy!

And more Yanks games.  If you look closely, you can see Meeks in the jumbotron.  He's wearing a yellow sweatshirt in the front row.

And MORE Yankees.  This is what happens when you get season tickets.  You spend the WHOLE summer at Yankees games.

Enjoying Tim and Jen

Easter dinner at the Serra household

Springtime on Havemeyer Street

Watching tv in the bathroom at the Four Seasons

Softball season!

Finding blue mermaids on the bathroom floor at Dallas BBQ

Winter X-games on the East River

Snowy day at McCarren Park

Some random football party we had

Fishing an airplane out of the Hudson River

Shock and awe!

Saying good-bye to Beverly on mulch day...

Sara!

On the road to a Wii gold medal

A sunny day in Ely, MN.

Tromping around in Ely after dark.

On the road with Mayor Meeks

A Slagle ballad, at the Flambeau

Slagles and Sobiaks - a match made in heaven!

Ringing in the new year with many a woodland animal at the Flambeau Forest Inn

Sledding on the lake

Checking out Nora's Dad's ice shack.  It was locked.

Making the trek up to Winter, WI

Another night lost to Schmiggs!

Ice fishing on Big Carnie

Trying out the new power auger

A fancy silhouette

Walking to Schmiggs

Bakyarding with mom and pop in Tomball, TX

S'mores done right

A family photo with Beverly, and our first attempt at homemade egg nog

Snow day!!!

I'm not at work!  And this is why:

Snow, in the daytime.

Actually, that's kind of a bad photo.  The truth is, the schools are closed, and since my  office is one of those offices, we closed too.  It's really nice, but I had already lugged on my mukluks and was halfway across the Williamsburg bridge before I got the email.  But now I'm home, and I'm ready to blog.  

Well, not blog-write, so much, but blog-upload-photos.  I had some buddies in town last weekend, and I took many stills to document the event.

Tamales!

Friday, I ended up taking the day off to clean the house (yes, I have officially turned into my mother) and make a potful of tamales to feed everyone (yes, I am my grandmother now as well).  I always forget how long it takes to make them until I embark on the endeavor once again, but in the end the results are always worth it.

Meeker and I, and this was early!

After din-din we headed over to Maracuja for some refreshing beverages.  It was surprisingly crowded, as it has been of late.  Kind of worries me, since that was the beginning of the end for my old neighborhood on the LES, but with this recession business, I'm optimistic.

Hammy, Jordan, and Shi-shi - hydrated!

Tiffa and Ginny, in motion.

Hammy, helping me keep my sweet Quasi-modo tatt properly moisturized.

As usual, we all ended up in bed together.

The next morning we trudged down to Chinatown for some dim sum.  I haven't had dim sum in over two years! Basically since I developed acid reflux disease.  Before that, Tiff and I used to frequent the Nice Restaurant for dim sum pretty regularly.  But then I had a bad experience brought on by many fried taro treasure boxes and bacon-wrapped shrimps...sigh.  And the rest is history.

Needless to say, I was not enthusiastic about dim sum.  But I had never been to this place and I vowed to only eat steamed things and avoid all fried.  I have to say, I was pleasantly delighted! The veggie dumplings and sticky rice were the best I've had, and even the pork dumplings were amazing.  And no acid reflux! I even forgot to take a pepcid ac!!!

Yen and AM, dim summing.

Takako and Ken, with the spareribs I avoided in the foreground.

We spent the rest of the day meandering around Soho and Nolita, hit the Barney's Warehouse Sale (be still my heart!) and then it was off to a quick dinner at Fiore.  Anne-Marie decided to treat us all to the most AMAZING dinner.  It really was epic.

Happily digesting our fettucine with meat ragout

Then it was off to Nubb's and Denise's for Nubbs' 46th birthday party on the UES.   And, you know, I don't really drink in excess for the most part.  But the last few times I have gotten sick a result of alcohol consumption, have been because I have been out with Nubbs and Denise.  And in that respect, Saturday night did not disappoint!

 

The obligatory candle-blowing-out photo.

And...this is where things start to get hazy...

Yup.  The look on my face pretty much says it all.

So, in the end it was a rough night.  However, after emptying the contents of my stomach (SEVERAL times) I proceeded to sleep like a baby.  In the morning, when brunch time rolled around, I was still a little iffy - but I'm happy to report that I ate my cheesy eggs and grits like a champ!

Taki and AM, brunching.

Me, being still a little iffy.

Mayor Meeks, receiving important news from the front.

Takako likes her coffee like she likes her men - strong and black!

So that pretty much wraps up the weekend.  Later on in the week I went meandering around Chelsea with Mike and ended up at Joe, where he happens to have several paintings hanging.  Personally, if I as Joe I would totally buy them ALL, because they happen to look FABULOUS hanging there.  But then, who am I to tell Joe what to do.  You can be the judge.

The funny thing is that Mike has already had several friends contact him and tell him they saw his paintings there, which is really neat.  I almost feel like he's getting more exposure there than he would at a gallery, since the art market has been hit pretty hard with the economic downturn, but lattes still seem to be going strong.  Plus, Joe is notorious for having exceptional coffee and tends to have a celebrity following.

So, that's the news for now!