Happy 1/2 Birthday!

This month my bloggy-blog is celebrating its half birthday!

First of all, I have to thank YOU! (And the academy, of course…) Thank you all for visiting my humble abode and reading about my culinary adventures. I truly appreciate your time and support. It means a lot to me. Wow, hard to believe 6 months already. It’s been a happy, laborious half a year in the kitchen, full of dicing, mincing, simmering and rising.

I thought it would be interesting to write a post about just who this ‘Sasha’ person really is:

My official name is Alexandra but in my native language, Russian, Sasha and Alexandra are one name. (Sort of like the whole ‘Dick’ and ‘Richard’ thing.) I prefer Sasha though. I currently live in Brooklyn, New York and attend Hunter College where I am studying literature.
My future plans are unclear for now. Of course I would love to go to culinary school and open a restaurant someday. However, I don’t know how reasonable that is. If my life doesn’t lead me further into the culinary world, I would like to become a professor of literature and maybe even a published author.

Some of my favorites:

Foods: Croissants, milk chocolate, hazelnut coffee, Café Latte, cheese, burgers, fresh-baked bread…this list could go on forever.

Music: (My taste is very diverse) Incubus, Radiohead, Maroon 5, Edith Piaf. I also enjoy some Russian artists as well as jazz.

TV/Movies: True Blood, The Office, Sex and The City/La Vie En Rose, The Notebook, Breakfast at Tiffany’s and anything with Audrey Hepburn.

Books: The Awakening (K. Chopin,) The Stranger (A. Camus,) A Clockwork Orange (A. Burgess,) Revolutionary Road (R. Yates.) and many others. I also adore David Sedaris.

Blogs: Food- Bread + Butter, For The Love of Cooking, Mango & Tomato. Fashion- With Love…, Fashion Chalet. Eye Candy- Dustjacket Attic.

I look forward to sharing more of my culinary journey with you and exploring the beauty and endless possibilities of food. Thank you all again for being as sweet as you are.

All my love,

Sasha.

[I love this picture. Willy Ronis's "Le Petit Parisiene"]

What's a weekend...

…without cooking something delicious!

This week has been so hectic. I am buried up to my neck in schoolwork and the anxiety is piling up as well. Even though I had no time for the kitchen today, I could not resist it calling my name. I just had to put down the books and get away.

As much as I like the warm weather and sunshine of the summer, fall remains my favorite season. I adore the smell and crispness of the air. I adoooooore (!!!) fall fashion. And I even enjoy the rain sometimes. But this is me talking, so of course what I love most is the food! This is the first of my many posts of autumn-inspired dishes: Tomato Chicken Stew.

(Yield: 4 people)

Ingredients:

1 pound of boneless chicken thighs

2 tbsp olive oil

1 large carrot, diced

1 stalk celery, diced

1 red bell pepper, diced

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 red onion, diced

2 tsp flour

1/3 cup dry red wine (I used Bordeaux)

16 oz tomato sauce

2 bay leaves

Poultry seasoning

Cayenne Pepper, to taste

Salt/Pepper

2 tbsp parsley, chopped

Wash and pat the chicken dry. Cut into desirable size pieces. Heat the oil in a large pot on high heat. Season the chicken with salt, pepper and poultry seasoning, and cook 4-5 minutes on each side, until golden brown. Remove from pot and reduce the heat to medium. Add the vegetables and bay leaves, and season with salt, pepper and cayenne.
Sauté for 6-7 minutes, stirring frequently. Then add the flour, stir and cook for one minute. Then add the wine and cook 6-7 more minutes. Then add the tomato sauce, reduce the heat to low and cover with a lid, leaving a slight crack. Simmer for 20-25 min, stirring occasionally.

Then turn the heat off, taste for seasonings and top with parsley.

I served mine with spinach couscous but feel free to serve it with whatever strikes your fancy : )

Red

Saturday, September 5^th, was my friend Dina’s birthday. She asked me to pick a place to go to dinner and requested Mexican. My first choice was Dos Caminos but all the tables for Saturday were booked. Then I came across Red, a Tex-Mex restaurant in the South Street Seaport, which turned out to be a great choice.
The Seaport is one of my favorite places in New York. Despite it being packed out with enthusiastic tourists, it is still very beautiful and offers some of the best views of NYC. There are many places to eat, drink and shop there.
Anyway, back to the food : ) It was a beautiful day so we were seated outside, but Red also has ample indoor seating. We were served chips and salsa right away.

As a starter we chose the Cornmeal Crusted Calamari, which was served with a chipotle mayo. It was pretty good but slightly greasy. And the mayo did the Calamari no justice.

My friend Karina and I decided to order two Enchilada dishes and split them. The Enchilada al Carbon... And the Enchiladas Verdes...

The Enchiladas were delicious and not too spicy. The portion sizes were just right, too.

Overall, dining at Red was a pleasant experience. The food was good (not extraordinary, I'm not gonna lie) and the service was decent. I think Red is the type of place to go mostly for the location. Most importantly, Dina left happy.

Red Restaurant
19 Fulton Street
New York, NY 10038