I love music and I love food

If you carrot all:

yabba dabba do it

hanna-barbera

I love bones.

Bones add flavor and are mineral-rich with chondroitin and glucosamine for joint health, plus the collagen benefits our skin.

The gelatin is a natural sauce thickener and they are just so primordially wonderful.

So let’s braise a batch of short ribs 

before the weather snows us in.

Fry some bacon, lift it out and fit the short ribs on edge into the very hot fat.

Nice.

Brown them on both sides in batches, then set them aside with the bacon.

While they are browning, prep shallots and carrot and celery.

You are going to need beef stock and red wine, too.

After the ribs are browned and crispy, soften the vegetables a little in the remaining fat.

Add some chopped tomato.

Now add stock and redwine to cover the vegetables, then... 

...prepare herbs and mushrooms. I’m using parsley, thyme, rosemary, garlic and bayleaf.

Return the ribs and bacon.

Pile everything on top.

Now bubble it until it cooks down, about an hour or so. 

Keep adding stock so everything is covered.

A braise like this improves in the fridge, so if you have the time put it in to chill overnight. 

This accomplishes two things.

First, the flavors marry. 

And second, the fat congeals 

on the top where you can take it off with a spoon.

Helps keep me and ol’ Fred (sorta) slim and healthy.

hanna-barbera

Now bubble it a second time until the meat falls off the bone.

That’s it. 

You know what to serve with it, right?

Yabba dabba doo it!

hanna-barbera

nothing fishy

about a good grillpan.

http://clocktowertenants.com/2014/11/my-new-grillfriend.html

the good things never change

Except when they do.

I could just barely make out the Riverside Church from my last apartment, in a slot between two tall buildings.

So I was delighted to realize I had a wide, unobstructed view from the ClockTower. 

It’s the tallest church in America and it seems fairly old (1930) until you consider someone like Greek philosopher Heraclitus. He lived 2500 years ago.

We remember him for wise observances.

Harlem developed. 

That church is back in a slot again.

Now comes news that the days of our views, are numbered.

There once was a railroad turntable right across Bruckner. 

Now it’s a low, one story warehouse.

http://clocktowertenants.com/2011/11/listen-thats-history-passing-by.html

But the developers who purchased this property have been given the go-ahead to put 800,000 square feet on a 133,000 square foot lot.

By any measure, that’s 8 stories.

Did you also enjoy our view of the bridge?

rat race

Way back in 1976 the Empire State Building began changing colors at night, to honor events or organizations.

This was a bonanza for NYC electricians. 

Hours of labor was required each time to remove hundreds of florescent tube lights and swap-out their plastic sleeves.

That all changed in 2012 when ownership installed a new computer controlled LED lighting system.

Now 16 million colors are on tap at the flip of a dial, instantaneously, and on six different building levels.

http://www.esbnyc.com/

The Empire State Re-Building program, 

an energy efficient retrofit of the entire building, 

has exceeded expectations.

It has saved almost $8 million dollars in electrical costs in just the first three years of operation.

last night from 23rd Street

To say nothing of all that union labor.

http://clocktowertenants.com/2012/06/pump-it-up.html

12 top hits of 2014 in 152 seconds

"All Of Me" - John Legend
"Shake It Off" - Taylor Swift
"A Sky Full of Stars" - Coldplay
"Am I Wrong" - Nico & Vinz
"Chandelier" - Sia
"Break Free" - Ariana Grande
"All About That Bass" - Meghan Trainor
"Happy" - Pharrell Williams
"Maps" - Maroon 5
"Rude" - Magic!
"Problem" - Ariana Grande
"Rather Be" - Clean Bandit ft. Jesse Glynne

keep your words soft and sweet because

...one day you may have to eat them.

Yesterday the United States took another small step towards our more socialized, European cousins.

Our notion of unfettered freedom of speech almost codifies “anything goes” in the First Amendment, and is unlike anything else in the world.

But yesterday a court in Los Angeles notched its first conviction under California’s new “revenge porn law.”

ibnlive.in.com

36 year old Noe Iniguez was sentenced to a year in jail and 3 more on probation after he posted nude photos of an ex-girlfriend on her employer’s FaceBook page.

kron4.com

He called her a “drunk and a slut.”

She got a restraining order. 

montereylaw.edu

So he responded with a barrage of harassing text messages which the court found were “intending emotional harm.”

theprayingwoman.com

“This conviction sends a strong message that this type of malicious behavior will not be tolerated,” 

said a Los Angeles city attorney.

sodahead.com

“Nonsense”, sniffed first amendment scholars.

“It sends a message that those in power will engage in malicious behavior to suppress speech they do not like.” 

christopherscottdesigner.com