Chicken Pot Pie

So far Zack hasn't found a job yet. Not surprising, since law firms are just starting their hiring season, and he still won't know his bar results for 2 months, but a little annoying, since living well on one income in NYC takes some creativity.

Our absolute favorite restaurant - Baker Street Pub - makes a chicken pot pie we both constantly dream about, but we don't have the money to go out and eat it every night. If we did, we would, believe me, especially on these nice fall-ish days.

Ina Garten, also known as the Barefoot Contessa, was at our office on Thursday. I watch her show whenever I can, both of her recipe books that I own are my go-tos whenever I'm needing some inspiration in the kitchen. I love how homey, delicious, and decadent her recipes are, and often they're healthy too! Unfortunately she wasn't there very long, and I didn't get to meet her, but I did start flipping through the dog-eared pages of my cookbooks when I got home, and found her signature chicken pot-pie recipe. I had most of a leftover roasted chicken in my fridge, waiting to be cooked into something. It was destiny.

I'm making it right now. I made a couple substitutions; non-fat milk instead of heavy cream, and my own shortening-free pie crust to make it healthier, and took out the peas, because GROSS! I tossed my leftover chicken pieces in olive oil, salt, and pepper on medium heat for 2 minutes, which worked amazingly. I also wasn't able to make enough chicken stock, so I used extra bouillon with water. It tastes phenomenal, but I love my chicken stock (made with a little white wine, carrots, sea salt, and chicken pieces), so I'll make sure I have more on hand next time.

Below is my method, but here's the link to the original version.  I pretty much went over it with my edits.

Ingredients

• 4-6 cups cubed chicken, cooked
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• Kosher salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 2 cups chicken stock, preferably homemade
• 2 cups water
• 4 chicken bouillon cubes
• 12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter
• 2 cups yellow onions, chopped (2 onions)
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup non fat milk
• 2 cups medium-diced carrots, blanched for 2 minutes
• 1/2 cup minced fresh parsley leaves

For the pastry:

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon raw sugar
• 3/4 cup cold unsalted butter, diced
• 1/2 to 2/3 cup ice water
• 1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon water, for egg wash
• Flaked sea salt and cracked black pepper

Directions

Toss this chicken in the olive oil, salt and pepper for 2 minutes on medium heat until thoroughly seasoned.

In a small saucepan, heat the chicken stock and water and dissolve the bouillon cubes in the stock. In a large pot or Dutch oven, melt the butter and saute the onions over medium-low heat for 10 to 15 minutes, until translucent. Add the flour and cook over low heat, stirring constantly, for 2 minutes. Add the hot chicken stock to the sauce. Simmer over low heat for 1 more minute, stirring, until thick. Add 2 teaspoons salt, 1/2 teaspoon pepper, and milk. Add the cubed chicken, carrots, onions and parsley. Mix well.

For the pastry, mix the flour, salt, sugar, and baking soda in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a metal blade. Add the shortening and butter and mix quickly with your fingers until each piece is coated with flour. Pulse 10 times, or until the fat is the size of peas. With the motor running, add the ice water; process only enough to moisten the dough and have it just come together. Dump the dough out onto a floured board and knead quickly into a ball. Wrap the dough in plastic and allow it to rest in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Divide the filling equally among 4 ovenproof bowls. Divide the dough into quarters and roll each piece into an 8-inch circle. Brush the outside edges of each bowl with the egg wash, then place the dough on top. Trim the circle to 1/2-inch larger than the top of the bowl. Crimp the dough to fold over the side, pressing it to make it stick. Brush the dough with egg wash and make 3 slits in the top. Sprinkle with sea salt and cracked pepper. Place on a baking sheet and bake for 1 hour, or until the top is golden brown and the filling is bubbling hot.

TGIF-AFTTC

Thank God It's Friday - And For Things That Change

Zack's final weekend before the bar is about to begin. In just a few days, he'll be done, and we can begin exploring the city together! I can't wait to start checking out filmings (so many shows and movies are filmed here in NYC), and sampling more of this amazing place we're calling home.

But, for now, he is the bar exam's, not mine. So I'll focus on what is mine; thoughts about how we've changed in order to adapt to our new surroundings.

1 - I've learned to love umbrellas. I never liked umbrellas, they always look so gangly and awkward next to their graceful and feminine - albeit less practical - cousin, the parasol. But now, I love them. I even know how to use them. No, it's not as simple as it looks. Umbrellas have a mind of their own, with very perverse and stubborn personalities. They require delicate coaxing in order to open, constant supervision of their environment while open, and then they refuse to close when you are finally inside. My particular umbrella has a bad habit of just opening. Just because it felt like it. And I have an even worse habit of not fastening the snap that keeps it from exploding in office lobbies. No, that never happened to me, why would you ask that?

2 - I no longer respect cars. Not because they guzzle gas or take up space, no, nothing like that. I'm talking about the healthy fear of cars. Anyone who drives a car knows better than to get up close to one while it's zooming by on a thoroughfare. Well, I no longer drive, so I've forgotten all about this. It's normal now to walk halfway across the street, wait for a van to speed past just inches from me, and then continue on my merry - but soaked - way across the street.

3 - I've finally decided I don't like rain. I've always been a little torn on this subject in the past. Rain is fun to play in, and the dreary coziness it brings is so pleasant and calming. On the other hand, rain is very, very wet. Wet is not fun or cozy when you're walking in it on your way to work. It's just dreary.

It's raining today, can you tell?

Control and Self Control

Life has been overflowing lately, hence no posts for two weeks, so enjoy a little tidbit of the recent crazy.

I've always known that SoHo's shopping is 9 blocks too close to my office, so this week, I decided to see how close those 9 blocks were. Way too close. I can easily make the 5 minute walk to the good shopping and have 45 minutes to spend browsing the good stores. My Columbus-proportioned moment of discovery has the potential to be my most disastrous. I'm trying to forget about the temptation of Alice + Olivia dresses by exploring the nearby Parks; Washington and Union Squares are also just a short walk, and a little greenery in the middle of the day does wonders for my soul. I love the summer here, street musicians on the sidewalks, and sipping my Vitamin Water under the leaf shadows.

Zack and I have started making sure we walk through the city, at least in part, every now and again. I love how you can feel the energy of the city, it reverberates off the sidewalks and lighted nights and then gets inside you. Zack says it's just the subway, but we both know it's more than that. We're slowly discovering more and more of the city, with every week that goes by, but most of our exploring is on hold for now until the bar is over. Only 11 more days.

With our limited time, Zack and I invented our own conversational game; who saw the weirdest thing on the subway today. I usually win if I commute to work at rush hour, picking up loud-mouthed Jersey-ites at Grand Central and hipsters at Union Square, but if I go in early then his midtown tourists almost always take the cake. Our winners of late:

• An elderly woman who sang her own mashup of worship choruses, loudly and off key, before walking up and down the car saying "blessa my sistah, blessa my brothuh". 
• The man who opened the back door of the car to dump a bottle of prescription pills. Suspicious much?
• All of the people who walk into the train car and stand in front of the door, blocking the entrance for everyone else. I get that you like to lean on the door when you ride, but I also like getting home. Move out of my way. 
• The tourists who get annoyed whenever anyone brushes or bumps them. It's a crowded subway, what did you expect? Take a taxi if you're going to complain. 
• A man selling airplanes, discussing his commissions of $500,000 and $700,000, respectively, as well as his 10% stake in another 7.2 million dollar jet. I'm clearly in the wrong line of work. 
• Two men having an extremely sexist and inappropriate recap of their female interviewees for a position in their company. If I'd known where they worked I would have reported them. Disgusting.  
• A couple arguing over the best way to get where they're going, and then the wife makes a ridiculously inappropriate comment and they both crack up. Oh wait, that's us. And no, I'm not posting the comment on here. 

We've adjusted quite well to public transportation and not having a car. We love not worrying about car insurance, repairs, and gas, and enjoying the commute time that can be put towards things other than just getting somewhere. I love to read the paper on my train, Zack usually has a book on his iPad. It has it's moments though, like last weekend, when the conductor suddenly announced we were taking another route, which would have worked out well if he hadn't changed back to the original route once we got uptown, without announcing it. Whoops. We walked home from Columbus Circle that day. It's the feeling of not having control that irks you in that moment, more than walking in the heat and humidity, or the time lost. But it's the feeling of letting go, just enjoying the sun and the sidewalk, that makes you happy to be here.  

Bubbles

Today Zack and I went for a run in Central Park. At noon. On one of the hottest, most humid days so far. Yup, bad idea. We walked back, which meant we got to observe the street performers. I adore street performers, and I try to make sure there's always a dollar or a few quarters on me if I see something cool. I was running, so no dollars, unfortunately for the performers. But I digress. We noticed two guys blowing those huge bubbles, you know, the ones between two sticks, with a piece of rope? [Here's a cool video if you don't.] I started to take a picture, and one of the guys noticed me and asked if I wanted to take one inside the bubble. Psshhh, of course! It took a couple tries, but he eventually got the bubble to form around me. It was one of the neatest things, to see the world through a floating, soapy film. Everything looked so pretty, full of rainbows and sparkles and wonder. After the bubble popped, the world went back to being normal and un-Disney looking. But I still remember the sparkles. Sometimes we need to see the world through a bubble.

Taking Chances

This week has been filled with discoveries for me and much-needed encouragement for Zack.

I'll start with Zack. Last week was frustrating for him. He didn't do as well as he was hoping to on quizzes, and got behind on essays for bar prep. He also didn't sleep through the night at all, and got stressed and worn out like I've never seen before. Yours truly finally got fed up with the tossing and turning all night, and the cranky husband all day, had a few un-Proverbs 31 woman moments, and then went out and bought him Melatonin for this week. He has successfully slept through the night, and done better than needed on his checkpoints this week. I'm pretty sure he's awesome and that he's going to ace this thing, he's not so sure, but after some small victories this week he's coming around to my way of thinking.

My week started out just as poorly as Zack's. Monday morning my beloved iPhone fell. I picked it up without looking at it. It wasn't until I left for work that I saw the chunk of glass missing from the screen.  This presented a dilemma, since we were planning on letting our contract with AT&T expire in 2 months so we could switch to Sprint (unlimited fast data) and get the iPhone 5, due out in September. Well, now I had to find a phone, and renew a contract for 2 years, which meant paying the cancellation fee in 2 months (we can't stay with AT&T, no service in our apartment). Oh, and all on one tiny income in one of the most expensive places to live. I was feeling understandably down until I found out what a broken, used iPhone was worth. Within seconds of posting an ad on Craigslist, my phone blew up and it still hasn't calmed down. I sold my broken phone for enough to pay for an upgrade, and I had people offering me $50 more than that. I wouldn't have promised it to the first guy who met my asking price if I'd known what a hot commodity I held. After my relative success, I decided to do the same thing for Zack since we've already had to extend our contract, he gets his new phone tomorrow. My phone is still going off constantly. I finally just shut it off. It's amazing how crazy people on Craigslist are! I had someone offer me $60 less than what I was asking for Zack's phone, and when I texted back to say I had offers for my price, he upped his offer by $10. Really, dude?

Back to my original predicament, I ran to J. Crew (I don't just work there, I pretty much love everything there) after work today and picked up a gorgeous little iPhone case. No more taking chances! Well, with my phone. Because me walking anywhere in Manhattan in taking a big chance. I proved that by walking out of the J. Crew store and going the wrong way, and then not realizing my mistake until I was two avenues over from where I needed to be. Whoops. I realized my mistake next to an F train station. I've never taken the F train anywhere, even though it's the closest one to our apartment. I'm always a little nervous and excited about taking a new route on the Subway, fortunately this one worked out to my advantage. There are some areas and routes that are not frequented by tourists, and you know where these are because you'll inevitably see that one crazy kid walking between cars while they're moving. I was on one such route. I get beggars and performers going between the moving cars, but not those people who move from one car to another, just to sit down, heave a sigh, and open their paper. What sense does it make? Some New Yorkers are plain crazy and weird, as opposed to the midwestern-transplant New Yorkers, who are awesome.

The more I live here the more I am inspired to be more than just creative, to be artistic.  Walking through the West Village tonight and seeing all of the artists reminded me that I found my sketchbook and pencils while moving, and left them out intending to use them. Writing has helped me channel some of my renewed creative energy, but I'm excited to try other expressions. I really want to get back into painting again. Watch out, I'll be sporting a beret and dreads yet.

A Month and Then Some

It's been a month and then some since we've moved to New York, and it's crazy to think that much time has passed. In all honesty, living in the greatest city in the world has become mundane. It isn't that the awe-inspiring man-made canyons of glass and concrete have become less stunning, or that the rich histories are no longer meaningful. It's that you forget they're there.

On Friday, we went to become official New Yorkers, on paper. My drivers license from Virginia is being revoked since I'm not longer a resident, so there was some urgency. On Thursday, I worked late into the night (not really, after pulling late second and the occasional third shift in Virginia, 9pm is nothing to complain about) and earned myself a three day weekend. Friday morning I cleaned the apartment, which badly needed attention since both of us had been feeling under the weather, and then met Zack in Herald's Square. I don't go to the touristy areas of Mid-Town often, or ever if I can help it. I'm usually only in the Upper East Side where we live, or the East Village where I work. I've hit SoHo every now and again to shop, and the FiDi once or twice to run errands, but that's about it. Zack's bar prep class meets right across the street from Penn Station, only a couple blocks from the Empire State Building, and just a few more to Times Square. This was actually my first time in Herald's Square, a small islet of green in the middle of a thoroughfare, where you can dodge the crowds but not the noise. After enjoying our lunch in said small haven, we walked to the Manhattan Mall and stood in brief awe of the shrine that consumerism created. Zack had been to the DMV before when we sold our car, but I was working then, and he didn't really remember where it was. He knew it was on the 8th floor, so we checked out the elevators in the Mall. It's in our best interests to note here that our iPhones were both unusable. The first elevator wasn't working, we pushed the button, the door closed and it would shake, but not actually move. After three of these efforts I'm rather glad it didn't move. The next one would only go to the second floor, fat lot of good that did us. We circled the mall a few times before finding an information desk. The sweet lady at the information desk kindly told us we had the right floor but the wrong building, it was the building next to the Manhattan Mall. When we finally arrived, there were easily 150 people in line in front of us. We waited in line for almost two hours, before finding out that my paperwork was incomplete and I have to come back another day, oh joy, and then proceeded to wait another hour and half to get Zack's license after they took his picture. Three and a half hours were utterly wasted. We called it a "Kingdom of the crystal Skull day", as in, it never happened.

If Friday was a fourth-Indiana-Jones-movie-that we refuse-to-acknowledge kind of day, then Saturday was a Raiders of the Lost Ark day. We woke up early, made it out to beach at a decent time and we've discovered a much faster way to get to our favorite beach on the subway, it actually cut half an hour out of the travel time. We love the Rockaways, especially since it's a free beach, and on our unlimited subway cards, it doesn't cost us anything extra to go. It's a surfing beach with decent waves, so we always get to watch surfers do their thing, but this weekend was a big surfing festival. The beach is long enough that it's never crowded, but this weekend the surfing-only sections were packed. It's amazing to watch people on their boards stand up and ride a wave in. Zack and I now have a life goal to learn to surf, we're looking into lessons here to get started. It just looks cool! The beach was the best it's ever been, and our burned skin unfortunately tells us we enjoyed it a little too much. Or a lot too much, as my poor shoulders are saying. totally worth it though. The section we were on has a deep tide at the beginning of the water, but as you walk in there is a huge sandbar, and a long stretch of waist-deep water and perfectly sized waves. The ocean was just cool enough to be refreshing, just what we needed after this awful northeastern heat wave.

We finally forced our burned bodies to part ways with the beach and headed back to Manhattan. The famous subway series (Yankees vs. Mets) is going on this weekend and we wanted to try to get tickets. We didn't know what scalpers would have, but we also didn't want to spend $65 to get altitude sickness in the nosebleed section, so scalpers it was. When we got to Citi Field, cops were everywhere, probably expecting fights since it's a local rivalry. Unfortunately, having so many smokies around meant scalpers were laying low. If you've scalped enough tickets, you know the profile, and we tracked down everyone who had tickets for sale. All three of them. That's right, literally 3 people were selling tickets. They all had incredible seats; 4th row behind the Yankee dugout, or club seats just below the press box behind home plate. Unbeatable really, but we didn't have the asking price of $200 (1/4 of the actual price) in cash on us, so we finally turned around and went home.

A friend we know from Wisconsin was visiting New York with a group of her fellow interns, and we'd said we would try to meet up in Times Square, so we decided to just head there early and do some shopping. I forgot how incredible Times Square is at night. We got on the big screen, met a guy who told us we were going to have the most beautiful babies, and I got my favorite chicken pita. I'm addicted to those things, but why they cost $3 in the Village and $7 in Times Square I'll never know. It was great to hear a Wisconsin accent for a moment and ever so briefly catch up with someone from the homeland. After saying goodbye, Zack and I decided to walk to the Manhattan Mall instead of taking the subway. It was a gorgeous walk. I forget where we live in my busy life, forget all of the things that make this city so great and so unique, compared to every other place on earth. I forget why we wanted to live here, why we were drawn to this monument of man's accomplishments. Saturday night, walking through Mid-Town, seeing the colored lights on the Empire State Building, I remembered.

Hollywood Debunked

After living in NYC for a month [yes, a month already!] you start to realize just how many different perceptions you have about New York from every movie and TV show. Well, here are a  handful of the silver screen's favorite myths, debunked or verified as the case may be.

1. [As seen in 95% of all action, superhero, thriller, and disaster films] - The Manhattan skyline is routine levelled.

Hollywood really has it out for New York; every imaginable evil, from extraterrestrial demigods to ice hurricanes, and even giant gorillas, has been visited on the city since the dawn of hollywood. I think we can all safely say debunked, since last time I looked I was in a canyon of sturdy skyscrapers, and have yet to see a post-apocalyptic desert. I'm keeping my eyes open though.

2. [As seen in FRIENDS, How I Met Your Mother, Friends with Benefits, Seinfeld, and others] - New York apartments have lovely, open kitchens.

Debunked before you can even say the word, and with some bitterness on my part. Our apartment has a large kitchen for Manhattan, which I will never not find shocking, since it's the size of my closet in Lynchburg. Those kitchens are great for filming, but they're nothing more than a fantasy unless you're just that bourgeoisie, and that's really bourgeoisie.

3. [As seen in Step Up 2, Friends with Benefits and a billion YouTube videos] - Flash Mobs happen.

Step Up 2 was actually set in Baltimore, and YouTube isn't based on Rodeo Drive, but this holds up as a bit of modern-day gritty glamour that Hollywood bestowed on the Big Apple. And it's actually true; we saw our first one this weekend! It was one of the coolest things we've seen so far.

4. [As seen in FRIENDS] - People have nothing to do but sit in coffee shops all day.

More true than not, actually. New Yorkers work hard, but they don't work a whole lot.

5. [As seen in How I Met Your Mother, Hitch, and every chick flick ever set in New York] - New Yorkers take taxis everywhere.

Debunked. Taxis are incredibly expensive, and if you have the money to use one regularly, you'll just have a limo or town car, since it's actually not that much more expensive and it's so much better. Depending on traffic, the subway can actually be faster as well. Taxis are typically filled with tourists, out of town business folk, and New Yorkers who just bought TVs or dropped their life savings at Trader Joe's (easier to do than it sounds, trust me!).