solo comfort food

Sundays are usually solo meals for me since Valincy works in the evenings. I've gotten spoiled over the past two years by Valincy's cooking. She can make the most delicious food out of practically nothing. I open the refrigerator and see empty shelves. She opens it and manages to make a feast. When left to my own devices, I usually make do with a bowl of cereal. But lately I've felt inspired more than anything by Valincy. I'm trying to be more like her in the kitchen.

We just returned from our holiday travels this afternoon and believe me when I say the pickings were slim in the fridge. But I was determined to make a meal without having to go to the store. Armed with my new cookbook, How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman, (thank you Secret Santa), I managed to find a recipe that I had all the ingredients for:

Lentils and Rice with Caramelized Onions

And so I ate like a queen! Of course, like any top-rate chef I added my own finishing touch, sauteed broccoli rabe.
Thank you Valincy and thank you Mark Bittman!!

yuletide cheer

This time of year can empty the wallet. But we feel thoughtfulness is key and not so much price tag. We did all our holiday shopping this year at Ikea and Pearl River Mart. Unique gifts at great prices was our theme. Happy holidays from 'cessions.

Gift wrap and ribbons from Ikea.

with love

Valincy is an amazing cook. She says she loves cooking for me with love. Tonight she made spinach lasagna. And it was all love. Perfect for a cold wintry night. 'cessions has had a long hiatus. But we are back! Instead of trying to make each post perfect and meticulous we are throwing caution to the wind and anticipating 2010 with simple and easy. The true spirit of 'cessions. We hope you enjoy!


Spinach lasagna with fresh mozzarella, ricotta and tomato sauce. Cucumber salad. Madeleines for dessert. Thank you Maryam for the vintage Pyrex. They helped cook the lasagna to a perfect bubbly crisp!

Reinvest in Relationships

We read an article recently that was dispensing advice on how to reinvest in this time of economic crisis. One of the suggestions was to reinvest in relationships. So that is exactly what we did.

We haven't seen Hiroko since her birthday celebration last September! The last hurrah before summer disappeared, and the endless recession-fueled winter began. So we were long overdue...

We decided to have an early supper since it was Sunday night. Hiroko trekked all the way to Ft. Greene from Astoria which is no easy feat on the weekend with all the weekend subway construction nonsense.

We reinvested all evening over fish tacos and cold Modelos. We bought a beautifully fresh piece of cod from the Ft. Greene Farmer's Market along with a few basics from our local deli, Fresh Garden. Dinner began with some good old-fashioned quesadillas topped with habenero sour cream and avocado slices followed by a chilled cucumber salad. For the piece de resistance, super simple and absolutely delicious cod fish tacos dressed with avocado, cabbage relish, and Monterey jack cheese. Goodness all rolled up into warm corn tortillas. They were perfectly light with just the right touch of richness.

Close-up of the spread:

Sara and Hiroko about to dig in:

But it didn't stop there. The meal ended with a small indulgence courtesy of Hiroko. Melt in your mouth cupcakes from Dean & Deluca. Hands down the best cupcakes any of us had ever tasted.

The perfect way to say good bye to winter and welcome spring.

Next time we get together, we plan to visit Hiroko at her home in Queens for home-cooked Japanese cuisine!

the 'cessions strategy

To support our philosophy, we have developed a 'cessions-specific shopping strategy:

STAY LOCAL
We try to shop locally as much as possible. We make weekly pilgrimages to our local farmers market held every Saturday here in Ft. Greene, Brooklyn. Sometimes we double up on the farmers market and supplement our produce with a pass through the Union Square market which is more frequent, plentiful and competitively priced. However, it also means a trip into the city (which is not horrible but when you are Brooklyn-based it's hard to journey into the fray).

STAPLES AT A LOW COST
Enter Trader Joe's! We discovered the ah-mazingness in late 2008. To put it mildly, it revolutionized our world. They call themselves a neighborhood store with good cause. Talk about unbeatable prices especially for the staples: rice, pasta, milk, eggs, bread, butter, etc. Their frozen section is sublime (where else can you buy frozen restaurant-quality Thai Prig Khing green beans for $2.29?), and many of their products are organic (see ya later whole paycheck!). By shopping at Trader Joe's, we are able to cut back on our costs even further while still getting quality products. We now do our weekly shopping at Trader Heaven.

A MARKET LIKE NO OTHER
Every month or two we indulge in an excursion to Fairway in Red Hook where the the choices are endless all at a great value. Especially for high quality meat, fish, coffee, and cheese. Fairway has everything from basics to rare imported delicacies and everything in between. Also it is a pure adventure. It's right on the water. If the weather is lovely, we ride our bikes there. You can witness a beautiful sunset if you time it right!

Sara enjoying the sunset & a shopping snack at Fariway's waterside promenade.


Valincy enjoying the view:


EVERYDAY SHOPPING
Every couple of days, we grab basic filler items from local neighborhood joints: Provisions, Fresh Garden, and Pathmark. We are lucky to have so many options right around the corner. It just means we have to carefully weigh where we shop based on the best value.

Provisions has an undeniable selection of gourmet, organic freshness: bread, cheese, fish and meat counters to die for. But the specialty price tag makes it a one-item buy usually for a little indulgence: a nice cut of meat or a fine cheese. Not to mention fantastic customer service.

Fresh Garden is a 24-hour gourmet organic paradise packed into the space of a bodega. It carries almost everything you could imagine from arugula and udon noodles to neti pots and suntan lotion. (They even have a mini juice bar station!) However, the convenience and variety comes at a high price. Occasionally, though, they will have sales or randomly sell certain items at lower prices than even at behemoth supermarket chain, Pathmark.

The big "P" is a real supermarket which in this part of Brooklyn is a rare breed. As a result, people come from far and wide to shop by the cartful. This means it's always (!) crowded - even at 3am - and the 5 open registers (out of 20) invariably have snail lines that make you want to punch somebody. When all you need is a carton of milk, a visit to Pathmark can be especially daunting. We've found ourselves adapting a recipe to avoid a Pathmark rendezvous. Low prices can also come with a price! But sometimes you just have to submit.

Shopping the 'cessions way takes careful planning but with an open mind towards the unexpected. These days deals are appearing in the most unlikely places. Sometimes a 'cessions meal will be inspired by a single item we stumble upon and buy because it looked incredibly fresh or the price was right. Or both!

We hope this blog will evoke a sense of what it feels like to sit down at our table and a taste of what goes on behind the scenes to make living well and spending less an everyday reality.

introducing the 'cessions philosophy

'cessions was inspired by the current economic state (recession/depression, depending on who's talking) and how it personally impacted our day-to-day. As freelancers, we were both affected by the economic downturn long before the widespread panic went mainstream. Over the past eight months, we have evolved and refined a style of living that we feel is worth sharing:

We believe that it is possible to live well
(in some cases even better)
by spending less.

We wanted to put a positive spin on the word, re-cession, by using it to define our new outlook and way of life whether in good times or bad. Thus, 'cessions came to be after much brainstorming and weigh-ins from our friends (shout out alert: thank you Leah Hamilton!) We have been documenting our philosophy for months now in anticipation of launching this blog. Alas, the quest for group consensus on our "look and feel" alludes us. So we finally decided enough is enough. Time to launch! The styling will come later. Here is a sneak peak at our visual brainstorms so far:

'cessions also represents a coming together of friends over food and drink but in a back-to-basics way. The focus of our social calendar was primarily going out with friends over dinner or drinks. When money was more plentiful, we simply accepted this as a New York City reality: socializing happens out and about. As the purse strings gradually began to tighten, we were forced to re-evaluate what was most important. We could not live like hermits and turn down every social invitation, but at the same time it became financially unrealistic to live the way we were accustomed. Instead, we began converting many of those proposed get-togethers into social events at home or at our friends' places. What we discovered was that it is a lot more fun and satisfying to have home-grown, home-cooked gatherings. We haven't sworn off good times at restaurants and bars all together. (this is new york city!). Now, we save those outings for special occasions and as treats rather than the status quo. Along the way, we will also share our favorite restaurants/bars based on the 'cessions stilo.

'cessions transcends survival and for us has become a way of life. A way of life that was born of hard times but we hope will prove to be recession-proof. We plan to continue living 'cessions style all the way into prosperity. We hope you enjoy and find inspiration in our experience.

Valincy + Sara