~ NEW BLOG ~

Hello my faithful readers,

After a long stint on the Blogger platform, I'm switching over to WordPress, to better integrate my blog with my website. So please continue to visit me at www.virginiamae.com/blog for beautiful photos, food, travel and adventures!

Love,

Virginia

Liberty Belle Spectacular

Vintage 4th of July on the roof of the historic Empire Hotel

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Picnics in July

Now that summer's out in full force, I've been spending my days dreaming of picnics in the park and vacations to the New England lakes and the rocky Maine coastlines of my childhood... but as I am perpetually trapped in the City, I've got to stirring up some picnic eats in my sunny Brooklyn kitchen and inviting friends along for the tasting! My Friday off featured a delicious Tuna & White Bean salad, from my ladies over at Crows in the Kitchen (Holly actually made this recipe for us at a Memorial Day picnic last year). It goes great over greens, wrapped in a pita (or dipped with pita chips?) or stuffed in a crusty baguette... And what picnic would be complete without a mason jar of limeade? Well, it started with limeade because Whole Foods was having a 2-for-$3 special, and then due to the quickly ripening berries in my fridge and fresh iced tea waiting on the counter, I got to mixing. The result was a strawberry Darjeeling tea with a splash of limeade. Refreshing without being too sweet or too fruity. Holly's recipe is below- I added a can of chickpeas and an ear of fresh corn to the mix just for fun. Throw in what you love!



and I got a little distracted with my latest attempt at a window garden...

Tuna and White Bean Salad

Ingredients:
1 15oz can of White Beans (drained and rinsed)
2 6oz cans of Tuna, drained
1 large tomato- seeded and diced
1/4 C finely diced red onion
1 large garlic clove- put through a garlic press
Juice of 2 lemons
2 tsp Dijon Mustard
1/4 C olive oil
Fresh chopped Basil
Salt and Pepper to taste

-Toss beans, tuna, tomatoes and onions in a mixing bowl
-In a measuring cup whisk together lemon juice, mustard, garlic, s&p
-Gradually whisk in the olive oil and pour over the tuna and bean mixture and add freshly chopped basil

and for my beverage, nothing too specific, just mix up some iced tea, mash a couple strawberries in the bottom of each cup and drop in a splash of lime or lemonade to taste ^_^ Happy Picnicking!

Campfire

Winkel & Balktick get together for a warehouse art-party in Brooklyn... let's go to camp!

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Luke's Lobster

a taste of Maine... in the East Village!

Bare Burger

Bare Burger, Astoria, Qns

A Perfect Saturday...

A brunch of avocado toast and citron presse at Cafe Gitane adjacent the Jane Hotel, followed by a stroll through the Union Square Greenmarket. I smelled the flowers, priced the herbs for my window-box-garden-to-be, and sampled every jam and honey from the tri-state area. Finally, a refreshing "Tiger Woods" at Local 138 to end the day. "It's an alcoholic Arnold Palmer!" says bartender Aaron of his summer libation, and it was so good I had him pour me a second!

Choptank

A seaside holiday at Choptank in the West Village: Bucket of Littleneck Clams, Fried Chicken & Collard Greens with Black Pepper Honey, Fried Oyster Po' Boy

DuMont... duMac

Got to try the DuMac & Cheese at DuMont in Brooklyn for Time Out NY today, officially the best comfort food ever! Buried treasure inside- the center's stuffed with thick chunks of bacon... mmm

Lunch at La Papa Astoria

Stuffed & baked at La Papa Astoria- for Time Out NY. Nothing better for a frigid January day...

Holiday Baking

Went to visit my parents in Philly this week and was sent to work in the kitchen, baking a batch of Christmas cookies, since I'm the "only one who can make them," which roughly translates to I'm "the only one with enough patience to spend hours rolling out dough and painstakingly applying sprinkles and icing to the finished cutouts." The tradition started when my sister and I were kids, it was a family affair, with all four of us rolling out batches of sweets to leave for Santa, decorating them in an assortment of colored sugar and cutout shapes worthy of a cookie connoisseur such as St. Nick. But now it's down to just me, alone in the kitchen, blasting the crackling holiday radio station and photographing my way through my favorite sugar cookie recipe.

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