springtime halloween

this is the warmest halloween i can remember.  while i’m not normally a proponent of warm weather past october 15th, it’s nice to have a warm halloween so kids can show off their costumes and not have to cover them up with puffy winter coats.  that was always a huge disappointment for me as a kid.  you get all dressed up and then no one can see what you actually are because you’ve got this giant coat over your costume!  costumed kids were out in in full force in park slope.  walking gracie was actually difficult because there were so many kids blocking the sidewalk.  we saw a lot of superheros and a lot of princesses.  we also stumbled upon a big parade on 7th ave.   i had no idea this was going to happen, but it was cool to witness.  it seemed like almost a mardi gras style marching band with a lot of in synch whooping.  lots of cute costumed kids in strollers (this is park slope, a neighborhood with so many strollers it actually prompted one bartender to write a stroller manifesto) too.  gracie wasn’t a big fan, and had a mini-freak out and we had to walk quickly through the crowd to get to a quieter spot.

the warm weather also made my dinner idea seem very fitting.  this past weekend tp returned the favor and visited me and we trekked around the city visiting some of the nyc’s finest food purveyors.  russ and daughters was one of them and we purchased one too many smoked chubs (i know, who doesn’t buy too many smoked chubs when the opportunity presents itself?).  so tonight i devised a recipe for pasta with smoked fish (sounds better than saying smoked chubs), grape tomatoes, peas, and crispy leeks.  we had roasted golden and candy cane beets from the farmer’s market on the side.  the pasta wasn’t bad–i sauteed/crisped the leeks, then added some sherry and the grape tomatoes.  eventually i added chicken broth, milk, and a dollop of creme fraiche, some pasta water and the peas and fish, and we were done!  i think parmesan or an extra dollop of creme fraiche at the end would have made the dish, but this way we weren’t as hard on our waistlines.   

 

notice the color in the beets in the first photo?  significant difference after being cooked, huh?  aren’t you glad i thought ahead to take a picture pre-cooking?  and isn’t it amazing that the beets just grow that way?