Baker’s Urge/Splurge: $44.53 Spanakopita

The image above is worth a million bucks in my book. That magic happens when you combine phyllo dough, melted butter and toasty oven heat. Photo from the blog Alexandra’s Kitchen.

What’s a lifelong dessert baker to do when she swears off butter/flour/sugar combinations?

I send roses, roses to my long-time writer friend and fellow blogger, Kim, who wrote about the Alexandra’s Kitchen blog, which I love. I’m also holding myself back from ordering Alexandra’s cookbook, called Bread Toast Crumbs. It looks so good. Might succumb one day. (Breads generally don’t contain sugar!)

I made the large spanakopita below, not the individual strudels. (Keep scrolling way down, past the strudels.)

https://alexandracooks.com/2012/03/23/spanakopita-strudels/

I was thinking Punch and I would be in all day and night and I would have her make it. Pandemic cooking lesson #9? (Pot roast twice, chicken pot pies once, skillet chicken ratatouille twice, raspberry buttercream chocolate cake for Christmas, Baker’s Famous One-Bowl Brownies twice.) 

She would be very good at the layering of paper-thin phyllo dough, the spooning of spinach/cheese filling, the brushing of melted butter. I know she would.

BUT: Dan was driving down to South Jersey to get his first vaccine at Rowan University, then driving into NYC to meet his lifelong friend, Dan, for dinner at an outdoor cafe. So he took Punch with him. I got a whole Saturday afternoon and evening off. I plan to take a bath while this baby bakes. It is in the oven now. 

I made two important switches because the recipe was very rich:

1. Reduced melted butter from 3 sticks (!!!!!!) to 1.5 sticks.
2. Reduce feta cheese from 1.5 lbs. to 1 lb. 
3. Reduce number of beaten eggs from 10 (!!!) to 7. After all, I was reducing the cheese, so it made sense to decrease the eggs in the filling.
4. Had to reduce the baby spinach. Recipe called for 20 oz. total (hence, all that filling, I guess) and I asked for two 11-oz. bags, but my shopper brought me two 6-oz bags. Dan has our car, and I didn’t feel like walking to Kings in freezing cold or spending more money. So be it.

Here is the receipt:

• Dozen eggs in cardboard carton (I sidestep single-use plastic when possible), $1.99.
• 2 half-pound feta blocks at $6.99 each (sounds like a lot $), $13.98.
• 2 six-ounce bags baby spinach at $5.99 each, $11.98.
• Friendship Cottage Cheese, 16 oz., $3.79.
• Athens Phyllo Dough, twin pack, 16 oz. total, $6.79.

I already had the butter on hand.

Grocery total: $38.53.

Tip: I had done $3.85 (10 percent), but bc Chaquanda had chatted with me about replacements, etc., I increased it to $5 after giving her a 5-star rating.

Service fee: $1.00.

I got Express Member free delivery but that is because I pay $9.99 per month for my Instacart membership so that I can get groceries and other items delivered from many different stores. Dan and I are looking at our grocery budget with a sharp eye, so I might cancel this membership. I’m not sure what delivery fees would be otherwise. But until now, this monthly investment has been pandemic wise, that’s for sure.

This big 9 by 13 pan is supposed to be 12 servings, so I figure if my family went out to a diner for spanakopita, it might not be as fresh and good as this and also, we would pay close to $10 each with tax and tip, and that’s not counting extras, like beverages. Maybe it would come with a salad, though.

12 diner servings x $10=$120.

Thus, $44.53 for the whole heavy panful is a bargain.

I roasted cauliflower with walnut oil. So I plan to have one serving and round out my plate with vegs.

I plan to watch the 1966 movie "Georgy Girl," set in "Swinging London," which I have never seen.

Good night to you.

Hope to Catch up Soon

I was spoiled on my birthday and am thankful. 

Need to read and rest a bit tonight.

Signing off early. Good night.

My Gift to Myself: May the Future Be Rosy

Tomorrow is my big birthday and I got this for myself from Draper James--Reese Witherspoon’s style site. I’ve eyed a lot of things there, but this is my first order.

I love pink sweatshirts, but the truth is, they don’t always love me back, not with a big belly. 

I’ve been losing weight, and this pattern was so sweet and irresistible and also, there are masks to match, but I didn’t get those. Reese, tho petite, also offers big sizes!

Here is link to the Natalie sweatshirt.

I feel much younger than my age.....and BTW, this is the first time I paid with Afterpay, which many websites offer. It is interest-free; you pay one-fourth of your balance (I used my debit card) upon ordering and the next three payments are spread out.

An ode to sweatshirts I’ve loved:

• Lavender hand-me-down? from Sis in Dumont. I was in high school, and wanted to be a professional writer. I wore it to write sometimes, emulating Oscar Madison, the sweatshirt-wearing sportswriter character on “The Odd Couple” TV show. I wore it until it was holy around the neckline.
• White with pink and gray flowers when I lived in my own apartment by the sea. I don’t remember where I bought it (probably at a mall), and IDK what happened to it. For all I know, it’s up in our attic somewhere.
• Strawberry-ice-cream-pink with white coffee logo from the Hot Chocolate Sparrow on Cape Cod. Punch traded it for Converse sneakers from her friend Kiki, who moved to Montclair from the U.K. a few years ago. I had let Punch wear it (see belly reference, above) but--then it vanished. I didn’t have the heart to ask for it back.
• Strawberry-ice-cream-pink with small North Eastham (Cape Cod) logo. I bought it at the tiny Welcome Center you pass when driving Route 6 East toward Ptown. I again didn’t like how the crew neck looked on me, and mostly, Punchy wears it, rotating it with a navy blue one; a B & W Nike logo one Mimi got her; and one the color of Nantucket Reds. I knew she would like to share the soft pink one to keep warm on breezy Cape Cod evenings.

It’s been a busy day. Good night, sweet dreams.

TCOY

1. Watched the Inauguration, with a capital I. It was everything and more. Amanda Gorman poem and her beauty, poise and delivery! Just everything....everything....new hope. I generally don’t like that P is remote schooling because it is such a struggle for her, but I did today, when we could all watch this together on TV in the living room.
2. Played board game with Figgy, Punch and Miss Desi, who was here for weekly appointment.
3. Made roast chicken ratatouille.

My Grandfather’s World War I Draft Registration Card

My cousin Lin may have seen this.....

I just signed up for 14-day trial on ancestry.com because I wanted to learn more about my maternal grandfather, Jim Mahon, born in County Galway, Ireland.

But as I filled out the family tree, I found my paternal grandfather’s draft registration card....place of birth, Genoa, Italy. Occupation says stenographer--though our family history knows him as a piano tuner--maybe something was lost in translation?

It says “single,” as he had not yet married my grandmother. Birth date: November 15, 1888.

To see his signature, Charles E.? Garbarini, was moving. I never met him. I wish I had. A signature is a very real connection to a person. He held that pen, he signed that card.

To see the census records for my Italian grandparents, one where Aldo Hugo Garbarini (Lin’s Dad) is listed under children, one where my Dad is.....you can just picture that those were the sons who filled it out that year....or maybe someone came to the door, as they did this year if you didn’t fill it out and mail it in....and those were the sons who answered it....my grandparents didn’t speak much English back then...?

Wow, this should be fun....

Good night.

A Walk in the Park

I met Mimi and Punch about 30 minutes down the Garden State Parkway at 2:30....they had a nice visit this weekend, and we had a nice rest.

We drove straight to Edgemont Park in Montclair, where we met P’s friends and their mom. They hung out in the fresh, brisk air and their mom/my friend and I walked four loops. In the pandemic, it’s hard for kids to get together; socializing outdoors is paramount. P brought the longboard Figgy got her for Christmas.

Now I’m tired and ready to rest.

Back to (remote) school for Punch tomorrow. The latest word is that our middle schools and high school will open on a hybrid model on Monday, February 8. But nothing around this matter is etched in stone.

One day at a time.

Good night.

TCOY

1. I called my godmother--my Aunt Gloria, almost 93 years old--and we talked for three hours this morning. It was a gift. I had the mental space this morning, while Punch was still with Mimi. We covered a lot of ground. I have always loved her. Today, she shared vivid memories of growing up in the Bronx. About her lame brother, Michael, her beloved playmate, who died at age 7; and about attending Cathedral High School, “across from the Atlas,” that statue on Fifth Avenue near Saint Patrick’s Cathedral. I’ve stopped and stared at that statue many times--and I didn’t know my Aunt Gloria had used it as a compass direction for her high school. She also went to Parsons (where Figgy started out) but when her father died, she had to drop out and help support the remaining family of five. She taught night art classes in Hell’s Kitchen, worked the switchboard in a home for unwed mothers, sewed toy prizes for carnivals, was a movie theater usherette.
2. Healthy breakfast--whipped cottage cheese, everything bagel seasoning, blueberries, walnuts, toasted Ezekiel English muffin with butter.
3. Great salad made by Dan.
4. One-hour park walk.
5. Important afternoon phone call.
6. Starbucks decaf latte.

I Miss New York, I Love New York 💚💚💚💚💕💖💖🗽🗽

Remember getting a pastry (or grilled corn muffin, or bagel) and coffee in a paper cup from a cart or deli on the way to work? Photo from here.

We took it all for granted. Hopping the bus, meeting for lunch, stopping at the New York Public Library, where the lions greet you outside as you climb up the stairs. 

Working hard, living happy.

Museums, skyscrapers, churches big and small. Broadway, Starbucks, pizza places on every corner, the doughy, saucy scent wafting into the air. 

Lattes, flower stands, women and men in fashionable clothing. Pretzel carts with yellow and blue Sabrett hot dog umbrellas. Fruit wagons, the ballet, Post Offices, bars, fast-food places. Swiping a MetroCard, leaning into the turnstile. Hard faces, soft faces but most of all, when push comes to shove, underneath it all, friendly faces.

Overhearing conversations, because you cannot help it--people talking on cell phones on their way to the Port Authority or Grand Central Station. I was once behind a young dad, on his way home to New Jersey, checking in with his child. I used to call home a lot on those walks back to the Port, too.

Tonight I watched “Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” released in 1961, based on the novella by Truman Capote.

It made me long for so much of my city:

• Central Park.
• High fashion.
• Taxicabs.
• Young dreams.
• Colorful parties.
• Newspapers.
• Venerable, old New York Public Library.
• Fire escapes (though I do see some here in Montclair).
• Colors on trend.
• Hustle and bustle.
• Tiffany & Co.
• Its unique spinning base--to hold you as you find your way, and your love, and your friends, and your gifts, in the smartest, brightest metropolis.
• Personal interactions--with cabdrivers, grocers, storeowners.
• Fountains.
• Handbags.
• Fancy stores.
• Landmarks.
• Famous hotels where people meet for drinks.
• Tall, narrow, metal mailboxes that open with small keys--like the one Sis had for years in the vestibule of an apartment building on East 82nd Street.
• The place where I used to get a pedicure, in some upscale salon on Fifth Avenue, where they played this movie on a constant loop.

By the time we can all fully immerse in our beloved city again, things will be different. The things we knew and loved, or just knew, will be gone. Will subway fares be electronic--no more cards? We will wear masks at the majestic library, the Metropolitan Opera. Will we still want hot dogs from a rolling street cart? They were the best hot dogs in the world, nestled in soft buns with mustard and sauerkraut.

Punch went to visit Mimi this weekend. No school tomorrow for MLK Day. I will be leaving here about 2 p.m. to meet them and get Punch back. Dan made a healthy Sunday dinner tonight for the two of us, just like we used to have in my apartment in Ocean Grove. Broiled salmon, mashed potatoes, salad. It was nice. Peaceful and nice. We crave this peace.

Good night to you.