sweet curried kidney bean soup with tomatoes and coconut



This was very quick to make:

2 cans of pinto beans (I used whole foods' organic)
sweet curry powder
smoked paprika
crushed tomatoes ( I used enough to fill up a small saucepan, so about 1/3 of a large can)
sweetened shredded coconut
garlic powder
1/2 stick butter
maple syrup, salt and pepper to taste
a dash of soy sauce
2 drops of liquid smoke (optional)

Melt the butter in a saucepan then add the beans.
Mash about 1/3rd of the beans with a potato masher.
Add seasonings, coconut and tomatoes and cook on low for 20 mins or more.

grease and groupons - park slope chipshop



So the wonderful thing about Groupons
is that Groupons are wonderful things....

...unless you get them for a place you don't normally go to in the middle of Brooklyn.

Not only do you not visit this part of Brooklyn regularly, but the Groupon expires in 2 days and you have TWO of them.

So you end up going to this place two days in a row: once for dinner and then for lunch on a gloriously warm and sunny day.

Since I planned to go back on Monday, the Sunday night we went there I decided to try the sausage and chips.

I saw Myers sausage and, for some reason, thought of the delicious Elgin sausage from Texas instead of what arrived on my plate.


It was ok. It was not what I was expecting and the fried batter around it tasted better than the actual meat.

The chips were awesome, as always.

The funny thing about this chip shop is how un-bar-like it is compared to the one on Atlantic Avenue.  It was brightly lit at night.* The tables were decorated the same and there were similar posters on the walls but that's where the similarity ended.

The next day I headed over from the Woolworth Building downtown ard realized that the N only went there on the weekend because of scheduling so I waited for an R.

It was much nicer in the afternoon, though unseasonably hot outside, so I got a ginger beer and salad instead of chips to cool me off.


This is the plaice. I like plaice; it's an unassuming fish. It sounds pleasant. It tastes a bit like flounder's saucier cousin that goes out late on a bender once a week.

Oh, and that thing up top? Twice fried cherry pie. There is nothing quite like getting powdered sugar up your nose when trying to bite into something  repeatedly.

*This is pretty much the worst thing that can happen to a place I like to eat at nighttime, besides the apocalypse or running out of the fish I want.

d bar's drunken haze



So I went out with friends to D Bar and the beginning of the night was sharp in focus (and the drink was sweet-tart with maraschino cherry liqueur.) This is called the Aviation, but they were out of creme de violet. The mixologist, we'll call him since I'm bad with names, added a few other things (grenadine, a splash of sparkling something or other) and I liked it well enough. The cherry liqueur made it a bit too cloying for my liking.

I'm very picky with my drinks. I like them very sweet, but they have to be effervescent at the same time. There needs to be a lightness or a tart counterpoint for me to enjoy them fully.

The popcorn in the background had truffle oil, rosemary and some sort of cheese sprinkle on it. It was addictive for something I'd assumed was them trying too hard before I tasted it.

Anyway, the rest of the night quickly got out of focus like the following pictures. I tried an applejack drink with maple syrup, lemon and orange but it was a bit heavy on the orange and tasted like an glorified screwdriver. I would replace the orange juice with a crisp cider for bubbly goodness, up the applejack and use grade B maple syrup with a maple candy cube as garnish (or bribe, I do love maple candy).


I ordered the a meat and cheese platter. Soppresatta, prosciutto and three cheeses I forgot and forgot to take a picture of.  Did I mention it took a while for our food to arrive? It was partly because we took so long to choose, to be honest.

That's the last picture I can actually show at a relatively large size because my vision and my camera hand were quite unsteady, apparently.


 
I also had the creamy cannelini beans, which I loved.  There was sea urchin pasta that I didn't get a picture of and this delicious roast chicken with potatoes that was huge!