COOL MY DESIRE

I know, I know. Another beet-related post. But! A heart-shaped beet! Heartbeats. Heartbeet. Beet still, my heart.

Another easy lunch, minimal time in kitchen so as to maximize time spent lolling in grass outside: seared asparagus bullets doused in lemon and black pepper, piled on top of a warmed baguette half smeared with creamy chevre. The other half, the same but different: leftover lentils (from the random spinach salad I have pictured up there) heaped high, served alongside spicy baby arugula lightly dressed in vinegar and oil. I tried pressing both sides together for a sandwich: sandwich fail. Open-faced only, this one is.

I have dear friends from New York are visiting tomorrow! I’ve been keeping a running a list of vegetarian dishes I liked for my veggie pals. The top picks: the pickled asparagus and mushrooms at Saraveza (super crazy bottled beer selection too); the tiny red radishes smeared with French butter and sprinkled with salt at Navarre (thanks, Jennifer — you were right, the place is outrageously good); cardamom-scented French pressed Extracto coffee at the Wolf & Bear’s cart outside of my house; roasted cauliflower and green onion sandwich at Bunk (slowly eating my way through the entire menu there); sweet peppers and onion pizza at Apizza Scholls (recommended by just about everyone on the planet, but first by my dear pizza-loving pals at Flipped Out Records); the beet salad at Sub Rosa; the baked grapefruit at Broder (MMM); smoked trout and capers at Savoy (okay, not vegetarian). And that’s just the vegetarian stuff that I absolutely, bottom-line loved.

Would be remiss not to mention the one non-veggie thing I indulged in this past week: a medium-rare hamburger with sharp cheddar and pickled onions on brioche at Clyde Common, located in the Ace Hotel downtown.