Scallops. That's what I purchased this Valentine's Day and all for me! I'm not a current proponent of this holiday, but I'm also not the cliche "woe is me," bitter, single girl who despises an innocent Saturday. I decided to treat February 14th, 2009 as a special day indeed, but minus the red and pink (I wear those colors enough on a daily basis). I wanted to do some exploring - to really try out my "beyond the recipe" adventure. I wanted to go where the wind took me and really just get lost in my city... well, as lost as a New Yorker can get when there are fourteen subway trains with weekend service advisories. I mean, you have to plan a little bit, right?
I ended up at a few of my old favorite (and new favorite) places. I made an important purchase at Pearl River Mart... my first sushi mat. I've been playing with the idea of making my own rolls, but since I have yet to try anything besides a roll bearing the name of a US city or state, I'm guessing I should expand my palate a bit more. I got a new card case for all my printed recipes at Pearl Paint and then made my way to Chelsea Market on 15th and 9th. I can't say exactly what I thought I would find, but somehow it wasn't quite that. I liked the variety and quality of the shops and the atmosphere is definitely worth taking visitors to, but for someone who normally shops from the Pathmark circular, the Market is a bit pricey.
Still, I managed to set aside my hesitations and put some of the fresh paper in my wallet to good use. After receiving my free chocolate sample (see, it's not such a bad day), I found the Manhattan Fruit Exchange. I picked up some tomatoes, a cucumber and an unripened avocado. I realized when I got home that I don't know if an avocado should be in the fridge. It's not, thank you Google.
I then found a few items in Buon Italia, including my first orb of mozzarella di bufala. Should go nicely with the tomatoes from MFE and a little basil and olive oil (which I'll probably be buying at Pathmark on Monday... on sale). I also got a fantastic mini loaf of rosemary bread at Amy's Bread, which is definitely a place to go back to.
Finally, I made my way to the Lobster Place. I took my time looking at all the fresh fish, lobster, and incredibly expensive crab meat. I also noticed some chefs and cooks passing through, clearly picking up their "Catch of the Day" for tonight's dinner crowd. It was almost like what you see on the Food Network... which is upstairs at Chelsea Market by the way. No luck seeing any famous faces yet. I picked up five large dry scallops and a small container of fresh lobster bisque for lunch.
My own "special day" dinner was pretty great and actually came about without a recipe for once. I went into the kitchen at about 6:00 with some pasta and some scallops and ended up wanting to finish the leftovers except that I want to save it for another meal! I figured I would wait to give the scallops my undivided attention since I have never really cooked with seafood before, so on with the pasta. I boiled some linguine and made a packet of Knorr garlic and herb sauce (seriously, if you live in a city and understand the difficulty of carrying groceries eleven stops on the train, then two blocks to your apartment, these $1.00 packets of dry sauce mix beat the hell out of glass jars of Ragu). After that, I sauteed those little buggers in what was probably a bit too much butter (Paula Deen would disagree) and served myself a nice plate complete with a slice of rosemary bread. All in all, I'm pretty proud of my special day travels and treasures.
And I only rolled my eyes at a couple on the street once!
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