mangoes avocado and lime

 

It is nearing the end of our first full day in Tulum and we haven't really done much at all. The turquoise water and blinding white sand has created a quite lull amongst us. Waves of tiredness wash over me. Could this possibly be relaxation?

Today was a great day. Emily and I were up first and while Marty made coffee we spent the first quiet hour cutting up the sweetest little avocados and mounds of yellow mangoes and lime. It was the perfect beach breakfast.

We spent a little while in the sun and then walked down the beach to Coqui Coqui where we spent a good hour smelling their amazing perfumes and oils, before deciding on orange blossom and tobacco. I picked up a great straw hat and one of their silk rope necklaces.

Tulum has many things to do and see, like the Biosphere, the Ruins, or the many shops in town, but our little group is perfectly happy, at least for today, to just sit here and eat mangoes and to stare out at the brilliant blue sea.

 Copyright © 2011 Andrea Gentl all rights reserved

owl goes to tulum

 

 Copyright © 2011 Andrea Gentl all rights reserved

As the last vestiges of Winter dusted the city this morning, We headed out to a sunnier place...Tulum!

I was really happy to discover that the Jet Blue terminal at JFK has both a Muji outpost and Balthazaar Croissants! I think I am really into Jet Blue!

So it was, with the usual flurry of early morning confusion, airport security and seat appropriation...We were finally off.

The smallest of us in years is Odette, and she is turning out to be a great traveler. I brought a little owl cupie doll that she is obsessed with. A new toy never before seen is an essential item when traveling, for just those moments when there might be a small meltdown.

After what seemed like the shortest flight possible, Odette's tiny voice said "we are landing..." and next thing we knew she and owl were skipping happily towards the ocean.

airsteam

Copyright © 2011 Andrea Gentl all rights reserved

Last night, while it threatened to snow on the second evening of Spring, I had a cozy dinner with a group of friends and photographers in a tiny airstream tucked away behind Diner and Marlow in Williamsburg.  I had heard tell of this little gem but never had the occasion to eat there. The airstream can accommodate  about 22 people, can only be booked for a private dinner and is super cute. It is fashioned with a wood stove took that the chill out of the early spring evening. Time  flew by too quickly, while the plates of food kept coming seamlessly towards us. From the moment I stepped into that little trailer, a glowing sliver pod  against the night sky, I felt transported. The wafts of woodsmoke amidst the din of conversation whirling about, made me feel like I was Upstate. After too much food and drink i made my way back across the bridge and plopped into my cozy bed. A perfect evening.

 To book the airstream just call them up. do it now!. The airstream is seasonal and is only available in the colder months of the year.

notes from the road.

Photographer Mary Rozzi on her meal at Da Nino in Rome...

" I loved the puntarelle, my new favorite dish!

We had fried baccala and artichokes, braised veal and puntarelle. Nothing tops the Italians, I could eat myself to death!" Da Nino is a beautiful old ristorante da 1934 right off the Spanish steps.

 

Ristorante Da Nino 

Via Merulana, 74, 00185 Roma, Italy+39 06 7045 3458 ‎

spring cleaning.

   All Photographs Copyright © 2011 Andrea Gentl all rights reserved

Spring is here and I have the urge to spring clean like crazy! Looking around the loft this morning… I am  driven to paint the walls and sand the floors and change all the furniture! I know this a dangerous place for me to be so I have decided to get outside and get some fresh air and to let the dust settle so to speak.  I am hoping a trip to the Greenmarket at Union Square will calm the need to restructure everything in my life all at once. 

Well, I didn’t exactly follow my own advice. I just couldn’t let the urge to rearrange go…

Before heading to the market. I changed the position of the living room and and the dining room but while concentrating on that I managed to completely overflow the tub! Disaster!

Luckily, Lula and Sam came to my rescue. So, once it was cleaned up I decided to really get out of here. I went up to Union Square  and just roamed with no particular idea of what I would buy. My first purchase were some gorgeous aracana eggs, a nod the blues and greens of spring. Then, I bought some pea shoots from Windfall Farms. The fresh ricotta from Tonjes Dairy was gone, so being that it was a beautiful day I headed north To Eatly in search of ricotta. Now, it is impossible to go to Eatly and pick up just one thing. I bought some  fresh ricotta from the ladies of Salvatore in Brooklyn and some 36 month aged parmigiano. I also picked up some prosciutto and black kale.

The idea of  a pea shoot and ricotta ravioli was well under way when I entered the wine shop. I chose a earthy mineraly white to go with the ravioli and headed back downtown.

My plan for the ravioli filling is to lightly chop the pea shoots and to mix them with the ricotta and and egg and some salt and a little parmigiano and some black pepper… I plan to finish them off with a brown butter sauce and a little crumbled fried prosciutto and a shaving of parmigiano.

The kale? I am thinking a raw kale salad rubbed with olive oil and sale di cervia.

Then, barring any unforeseen decorating , we are going to sit down in this newly arranged loft and enjoy this meal!