Haven’t heard of Girl Party? You’re missing out, Greenpoint.
The Greenpoint-based group throws parties, dinners and events in Brooklyn, like this alternative Valentine’s Day dinner and the in-vogue yoga parties of our generation (in case you didn’t know from trips to neighborhood spots like New Love City and Maha Rose, yoga isn’t yoga these days unless it’s accompanied by things like tarot card readings, sage smudging, crystals, reiki, aromatherapy, past-life regression or witchy spells).
Together with Cooking With Claire, a local chef pop-up by Claire Phelan, and Power Plants Herbals, an herbalist company founded by Ray Edwards, Girl Party is throwing a dinner and discussion called “Eat Your Grief” as part of its Second Servings series.
Hearty beef & Guinness stew with carrots and mushrooms, over mashed potatoes
My mother is born-and-raised solid country stock from County Westmeath, Ireland. She remembers St. Patrick’s Day celebrations as chiefly religious, with the country going to mass with freshly-picked clovers pinned to buttonholes to honor their patron saint. Then there would be a shared family meal with special-occasion ingredients like beef or lamb, usually presented in roasts or stews.
Regardless of how you choose to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day (or whether you want to avoid all related shenanigans entirely), this traditional Irish dish is straight-forward, nourishing, rich, and perfect for spooning out among any group of friends and family (though with all due respect to my grandmother and her preferred method of just dumping everything in a big pot and leaving it, I’ve added and tweaked some steps to improve texture and flavor).
Finished carrot salad plated at one of my recent pop-up dinners!
Is anyone else getting to the point with their winter CSA where they’re drowning in carrots? To keep dinner fun (instead of “again??”), I’ve been dipping into other cuisines for inspiration.
Spanish tortilla with cubed potatoes, onions, garlic and winter greens!
The McGoldrick Park Winter Market started at the end of last month! Its now-indoor location is Lutheran Church of the Messiah, at 129 Russell Street. The market will also be open from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm on February 21st and March 20th.
Its produce-focused vendors are D&J Farm, Garden of Eve Farm and Jersey Farm Produce. I definitely recommend checking out the Down to Earth Markets website if you wanna see what’s fresh and likely available from these farms ahead of time! Or else just feel safe knowing this is a totally delicious recipe that is totally adaptable to pretty much whatever fresh veg you find.Continue reading →
This salad features some seasonal, seedless citrus: blood oranges and Cara Cara oranges. Both types of oranges are usually expensive, and so can be substituted as needed with grapefruits, clementines or similarly juicy citrus of your choice.
This past week (and hopefully in the weeks to come), Mr. Berry at 872 Manhattan Avenue has been selling Cara Cara oranges for a dollar each, and blood oranges for 79 cents. Pomegranates can be found at a number of neighborhood groceries, including C-Town and The Garden, though they are always cheaper when spotted at the smaller fruit and veg shops.
Claire Phelan was working a job in fashion, but she knew all along that she was more Julia Child than Coco Chanel. So eight months ago, she started giving in-home cooking lessons.
Soon, Claire was hosting pop-up dinner after dinner, and she also began catering events. The response was overwhelming, and Phelan recently hosted two events in one week. Continue reading →
