July, 2007:

Aside from our next door neighbor (who grows huge amounts of lettuce and collard greens) we don’t do any growing (although said neighbor and a friend of ours who is without the use of his good hand temporarily) have always implored us to grow stuff. Maybe next year.

But perhaps we should have temporarily titled our blog Vegetabled.

Here’s a list of Farmer’s markets in the area, courtesy of Lohud.
(I’ve highlighted the ones that are in Yonkers, or right next door.)

Thursday
Nyack: 8 a.m.-2 p.m. Municipal Parking Lot, Main Street. 845-353-2221.
Yonkers: 9 a.m.-4 p.m. beginning July 5. St. John’s Church Courtyard, Getty Square, 1 Hudson St. 914-963-3033.

Friday
New Rochelle: 8 a.m.-3 p.m. Division Street and LeRoy Place. 914-654-2186.
Pocantico Hills: 1-5 p.m. Stone Barns Center for Food & Agriculture, 630 Bedford Road. 914-366-6200.

Saturday
Brewster: 9 a.m.-2 p.m. Brewster Parking lot at Village Offices, 208 E. Main St. 914-671-6262.
Bronxville: 8:30 a.m.-1 p.m. Stone Place. 914-479-2246.
Cold Spring: 8:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. Route 9D south of Route 301. 845-265-3611.
Cross River: 8:30 a.m.-2 p.m. John Jay High School, 60 North Salem Road. 914-923-4837.
Hartsdale: 9 a.m.-2 p.m. Metro-North Station, East Hartsdale Avenue. 914-993-1507.
Hastings-on-Hudson: 8:30 a.m.-2 p.m. Maple Avenue behind Municipal Building. 914-923-4837.
Larchmont: 8:30 a.m.-2 p.m. Metro-North upper lot 3 off Chatsworth Avenue. 914-923-4837.
Ossining: 8:30 a.m.-2 p.m. Main and Spring streets. 914-923-4837.
Peekskill: 8 a.m.-2 p.m. Bank Street between Main and Park streets. 914-737-2780.
Pleasantville: 8:30 a.m.-1 p.m. Memorial Plaza. 914-923-4837.
Suffern: 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Municipal lot, Orange Avenue at Lafayette and Wayne streets. 845-647-6911.
Tarrytown: 8:30 a.m.-2 p.m. Patriots Park, Route 9. 914-923-4837.

Sunday
Haverstraw: 9 a.m.-2 p.m. West Broad Street and Maple Avenue. 845-429-5731.
Piermont: 9:30 a.m.-3 p.m. M&T Bank parking lot, Ash and Piermont avenues. 914-923-4837.
Pocantico Hills: 1-5 p.m. Stone Barns Center for Food & Agriculture, 630 Bedford Road. 914-366-6200.
Rye: 8:30 a.m.-2 p.m. Parking lot 2 on Theodore Fremd Avenue. 914-923-4837.
Tuckahoe: 10 a.m.-4:30 p.m. beginning July 1. Depot Square, 25 Main St. 914-231-0221.

Wednesday
Brewster: 9 a.m.-2 p.m. Parking lot at Village Offices, 208 E. Main St. 914-671-6262.
Pocantico Hills: 1-5 p.m. Stone Barns Center for Food & Agriculture, 630 Bedford Road. 914-366-6200.
Putnam Valley: 3 p.m. except July 4. Historic Tompkins Corners United Methodist Church, 729 Peekskill Hollow Road. 845-528-7280.
Spring Valley: 8:30 a.m.-3 p.m. Parking lot on Route 45 and North Church Street. 914-923-4837.
White Plains: 8 a.m.-4 p.m. 255 Main St. 914-422-1411.

This isn’t quite a Yonkers thing, but with our recent influx of vegetables from our coop, I thought I’d share this.

Here are some other rationalizations….

• Scarsdale is nearly Yonkers…
• The Greenburgh Nature Center is a place I’ve been meaning to check out.
• We need posts!

Anyway, here you go!
======================================

Vegetarian Cooking With Local Organic Produce

Where: Greenburgh Nature Center
99 Dromore Road
Scarsdale, NY 10583
When: Wed. August 8 at 7:30 p.m.
How Much: FREE

The Greenburgh Nature Center and the Sierra Club are presenting a program entitled “Vegetarian Cooking With Local Organic Produce” on Wednesday, August 8th at 7:30 p.m. the program will be held at the Center’s Manor House Museum. Admission is free and handicapped parking is available.

The program will be led by famous chef Shelly Boris of Garrison, NY. Ms. Boris is the owner and operator of the Fresh Company catering service. The program will consist of a cooking demonstration and tasting, followed by informal discussion of what people are doing in the lower Hudson region to support sustainable agricultural products.

Shelley Boris began her food career with Dean & Deluca to make ends meet. Soon enough she was manager of the cheese department and swept into the mesmeric food world of early-1980s New York, which tipped its hat to the qualities of traditional cooking while experimenting with novel approaches. She went on to become the chef at Exile, then at Peter Dent Catering, both in Tribeca. Shelley opened the first Dean & DeLuca Espresso Bar at the Paramount in Midtown, then began working as a private caterer in the city.

Ms. Boris has published recipes in various journals and books, including the New York Times and Food & Wine Magazine, Recipes From America’s Small Farms, and co-wrote The International Mail Order Gourmet, a food guide, with friend Jamie Harrison.

Self-taught, Shelley followed her instincts and passions into the cookery of France and Italy, Northern Africa, and the Far East. Shelley has a love of fine ingredients and an intuitive grasp of their possibilities. From 2000 – 2003 Shelley was Executive Chef at The Garrison, running three kitchens, including Bill Brown’s Restaurant, a top-end establishment on the property, and two large banquet facilities.

Since forming Fresh Company Shelley has cooked for such personalities as the Dalai Lama and Mikhail Gorbachev. She is a founding member of the Cold Spring Farmer’s Market and works in the Hudson Valley region to promote local foodmakers and farmers.

For further information, phone (914) 723-3470 or visit their web site at greenburghnaturecenter.org.
The Center is located on Dromore Road off Central Avenue just south of the Hartsdale Post Office.

I didn’t mean to do it, honest.

My plan was to lay low, wait for the library recording of the masterful Jim Dale reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, rip it to Itunes, and then listen listen listen– 18 hours of a master reader practicing his craft.

Somehow though, I was enchanted, bewitched, conf’unded– whatever you like. I drank the Kool-Aid.

On Friday night, Stephanie had other stuff going on with a friend, so I decided just for fun to visit Barnes & Noble to see what the fuss was about. I ended up at 3 bookstores (B & N Yonkers, Borders Eastchester, & Good Yarns in Hastings), cheered along with everybody else at 12 midnight, and then waited patiently until the next morning for our Amazon order to arrive.

And it did– in a smart and beautiful package. (and apparently by owl!)

It was one of Stephanies Birthday gifts (one I got for her) and I let her start reading it. But when she put it down, I picked it up, and started reading.

I ended up inhaling the book, stopping only to make a run to Ikea and a late night Korean barbecue for one of Stephanie’s colleagues (along with a failed blueberry hunt on Long Island (stupid suburban stores eating up all of the blueberry patches!)

Oh yes, Brunch with a pregnant rabbi and her Africa-returning sister (and the rabbi’s equally conf’unded rabbi husband) I finished it Sunday around 4.

I won’t spoil the fun for those of you who haven’t yet read the book (or listened to the audio cd) But it’s an easy read, mostly fast paced, very well told, and although there are some awkward expositional moments, it wraps up most of the HP Universe in a nice little bow.

I highly recommend it.

My only caution is– stock up on blueberries– you are going to need them!

There’s big new fun in our household these days – the laser pointer. I’ve heard for years, and read tons online, about how laser pointers are great cat toys. But I’ve always thought that it wouldn’t work for us, that it would be either boring or just too easy for my smart boy Joey to enjoy. Boy was I wrong.

We can now spend hours, literally hours, pointing the thing on the floor, or up the wall, and watching him go crazy for it. Adam’s favorite trick is to make Joe chase it across the floor and then suddenly turn it off, so he’s sitting there wondering where it went. A few minutes ago I managed to make him chase it so hard he ran into the garbage can because he wasn’t paying attention. And the best of all? We can do this from our sofa, chair or bed! No more racing up and down the stairs with him with the toy on the string, or getting up to find the mousie toy under the sofa. (Yeah, we’re lazy like that. Sad, I know.)

Most of you may know that, as far as I’m concerned, Joey is a perfect cat but for one small flaw: he wakes up, and wakes us up, every morning between 5:30 and 6:30 am. He meows for about 30 minutes and then goes back to sleep, right next to me. I’ve done a bunch of research on how to cure this, and most of the blogs and forums I’ve read suggest to tire him out before bed, so he’ll sleep longer. So we’ve been using the laser pointer for his nightly exercise – now Joey goes to bed most nights completely exhausted and we’ve had a good laugh at his expense. But we’re still up at 5:30 am! Damn.