Windswept wedding.

We've had some wild weather in the northeast as of late - tornado warnings every other week or so, which are, simply put, not normal for this part of the world. A couple of Saturdays ago, a tornado touched down in Queens, and I headed out of the city for a seaside wedding in my hometown, Old Greenwich, Connecticut.

Most of the (spectacular) rain fell before things got underway, but the evening remained damp and breezy throughout. The views were gorgeous and moody - plus, I had a sparkly clutch (my prized, vintage Whiting & Davis, which I bought on eBay for a song about 8 years ago) and a well attended to glass of bubbly to brighten things up.

Sadly, I didn't smooch anyone on the dock. But I sure hope someone did, because it was awfully pretty.

Queenie's Treasury

Happy weekend, my lovelies! It's a gorgeous day here in New York, and I'm about to head out to the Greenmarket, where I'll be shopping for supplies for a dinner party to be held tonight chez moi! In the meantime, here are some fun tidbits to see you through the day.
I love a good gift basket. The sad thing, though, is that most of the time, they arrive littered with bits and pieces you'd never buy separately, and don't care for when assembled. However. The baskets from Fortnum & Mason, the venerable London department store, are a different breed altogether. Chelsea at Frolic! loves the Picadilly Hamper, with its strawberries and cream, but I'm partial to the robin's egg blue Champagne and Chocolates, myself. Yum.

Have you heard of Outstanding in the Field? It's so freaking cool. Basically, it's a traveling outdoor restaurant. The owners started the business in 1999 as a way of promoting local, sustainable food by setting dinners in the fields from whence they spring. I am currently obsessed with the notion of a fabulous City Harvest benefit, with these folks hosting it in the middle of Central Park. Yes indeedy. You heard it here first.

My native state of Connecticut is just over the border from New York City, and I grew up making the 50-minute trip into the city pretty frequently. We Nutmeggers are well-known for our poise, grace, beauty and - perhaps more notably - our love of the tipple. Which is why I was thrilled to see that, out of 80 new train cars being purchased for the Metro-North New Haven line (the one that brings Connecticut folks into Manhattan), seven are slated to become bar cars. Seems only fitting, no?

Cocktails, ahoy!

On Saturday night, Cristin and I picked Ellie up from the library and headed down to the water for a cocktail. We ended up at Belle Haven, the yacht club Ellie's parents belong to. It's not the most exciting destination for an evening out, but we were after the breeze and the view, not the raucous partying.

And what a view! Greenwich is right on Long Island Sound, and that faint stripe of green you see in the distance is Long Island itself. On a clear day, it's a crisp view, and you can even see - just barely - the Manhattan skyline.

And what's that on the cocktail napkin? That's right: the club's coordinates. How very nautical, no?

Memory lane, it beckons.

Last weekend, I went out to Connecticut to keep my friend Ellie company. She was home alone at her parents' house, studying for her medical boards. We grew up in the same town, but my mother moved away when I was a senior in college, which makes homecomings (despite their requiring little more than a fifty-minute train ride from Grand Central) hard to come by.

My friend Cristin came out on Saturday afternoon, but before she arrived, I dropped Ellie off at the library and headed down to the water and to my old stomping grounds. I grew up near the beach; only a block from the water, as a matter of fact. My friend Caroline and I used to ride our bikes all over the place, sneaking onto secret little beaches and into tiny little coves. So, I parked the car and took a little walk.

And promptly discovered that trespassing, while cute in the 1980s and at 8 years old, is just plain creepy at 30 in 2010. Yeah. I only made it to two or three little spots before deciding it was time to admit that I am now too old to sneak onto people's property and stopping the madness in exchange for an iced coffee.

Of course, I had to make one last stop, at our home itself, a beautiful old (built in 1898) shingle-style house. A good number of the houses in the neighborhood were built in the late 19th century as summer homes for New Yorkers, our house among them. It was a decidedly summery place, even in the coldest, snowiest of winters.

Sigh. I do miss it.

A celebration.

Growing up, Caroline and I spent pretty much every afternoon together. We rode our bikes all over our little town, clambering down hidden paths and through marshland to get to the tiny coves and tidal pools ringing the shoreline. We took my dog, Buster (cutest dog ever) for long walks and introduced him to shellfish and seaweed at the beach. We ate whole packages of Chips Ahoy at her house, and baked endless batches of Tollhouse cookies at mine. We made gingerbread houses every Christmas, and Caroline was one of the few people who kept in touch with me when I went off to boarding school in 9th grade.


So when our friend Ellie suggested that the two of us throw Caroline a shower (and volunteered her parents' lovely home as a venue), how could I disagree? We started off by talking about some of Caroline's favorite things: birds (she's had at least one bird as a pet at all times since we were little), the color blue and candy. Lots and lots of candy.

My incredibly talented friend Miya created some gorgeous invitations for us, and we were off and running. Next came menu planning (ladies who lunch with a Southern twist, plus a ton of candy), decorations (Can you say tissue paper arts and crafts?) and games.

I headed out to Connecticut on Friday morning to spend the day cooking and crafting with Ellie and her incredibly gracious mom (known to one and all as Mrs. Maletta). We chopped and baked and boiled and mixed for hours; the menu we'd chosen was simple, but preparing food for 25 when you're used to cooking for - at most - six is a completely different proposition.

By Friday evening we settled in to make decorations for the dining area. Inspired by the profusion of pom-poms and poofs I'd seen on event planning and wedding blogs, I'd decided to make a bunch of them in different sizes and hang them over our tables. We also hung a wall of streamers near the front door, the better to make a little spot for photo ops.


And, of course, we had candy. Jelly beans, Reese's Pieces Easter eggs (Twice the peanut buttery goodness!) and M&Ms. A little chocolate, a little gummy, a little peanut butter: most of the major candy food groups covered.

We started with two hors d'ouevres: my trusty homemade gravlax, and my Aunt Cathi's ridiculously delicious endive leaves with goat cheese, walnuts, oranges, chives and a bit of balsamic. They are even easier than the gravlax, and will definitely be a recurring feature in my repetoire. In fact, they were so popular with the assembled ladies that I only managed to snap a photo of the last one on offer.

Next, we moved into the dining room and onto lunch. We feasted on a green salad with cucumbers and artichoke hearts, green beans with butter and herbs, curried chicken salad, beet salad with oranges and Thomas Keller's buttermilk biscuits. I chose the menu items based on a couple of criteria: things Caroline loves, things that are easy to serve in a buffet and things that will be hearty enough for a vegetarian or someone who gave up meat for Lent.

A little present opening (during which the bride-to-be was presented by yours truly with Peeps) and a Schramsberg toast later, and things were winding down. We sent everyone home with orange sugar cookies shaped like birds and sent the bride and groom home with a trunkful of goodies. And Mrs. Maletta? She liked the pom-poms so much that we left those with her.

Endive with Walnuts, Goat Cheese and Oranges
Adapted from Cooking Light

2 heads Belgian endive
1/4 cup goat cheese
1 blood or Cara Cara orange, peeled and sliced into 1/2-inch segments
1/3 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped
2 tbs. chives, finely chopped
A few tablespoons very good balsamic vinegar (It needs to be thick and sweet!)
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Separate the leaves from the endive head and place them on a platter. Crumble a bit of goat cheese into each leaf, then add one orange piece to each. Add the walnuts, diving them evenly amongst the leaves. Top with the chives.

Sprinkle each endive with a few drops of the vinegar, and top with a bit of salt and pepper.

Serve, and watch your guests swoon.

Serves 6 as an hors d'ouevre.

Curried Chicken Salad
Adapted from The Barefoot Contessa

3 whole (6 split) chicken breasts, bone-in, skin-on
Olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 1/2 cups good mayonnaise
1/3 cup dry white wine
1/4 cup Major Grey's chutney
3 tablespoons curry powder
2 large stalks celery, cut into a quarter-inch dice
2 thinly sliced scallions, white and green parts
1/4 cup raisins
1 cup whole roasted, salted cashews

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Place the chicken breasts on a sheet pan and rub the skin with olive oil. Sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper. Roast for 35 to 40 minutes, until the chicken is just cooked. Set aside until cool enough to handle. Remove the meat from the bones, discard the skin, and dice the chicken into large bite-size pieces.

In the meantime, make the dressing. Combine the mayonnaise, wine, chutney, curry powder, and 1 1/2 teaspoons salt in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the steel blade. Process until smooth. (You can also do this with an immersion blender - or a normal blender as well!)

Combine the chicken with enough dressing to moisten well. Add the celery, scallions, and raisins, and mix well. Refrigerate for a few hours (or overnight) to allow the flavors to blend. Add the cashews and serve at room temperature.

Serves 6-8.

Road trip!

This past Saturday, I drove up to Rhode Island to visit my aunt and uncle in Bristol. They were hosting a 30th birthday party for my cousin Kate, who's been one of my closest friends pretty much since time began. (See the photo below for evidence.) We had a fantastic time - my Aunt Cathi cooked up a storm, including some of the most delicious chicken Marsala of all time (the secret is roasting the mushrooms and onions separately and with lots of balsamic vinegar).

Yesterday, on the way back to the city, my cousin Jason, his wife Abby and I stopped at a McDonald's in northern Connecticut for a road trip fix. I only indulge in Mickey D's a couple of times a year, and always when traveling. It's my airport and highway rest stop food of choice, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Chicken nuggets, fries and Sweet & Sour sauce: pure, salty perfection. Yum.