Cars!

I am just back from a visit to Detroit, Michigan. One more state! To be honest I didn't actually see Detroit itself as I was driven from airport to a lovely suburb called Birmingham where I spent the whole weekend visiting a friend. When we were not busy chatting, drinking wine and eating lovely food we walked and admired old cars. Not as old as the ones we used to see at the London to Brighton rally but making up for lack of age with amazing colour and detailing. Even the family cars being displayed were smashing! My favorite was mint green and white with green carpeting.

Overall I liked the Gremlins, the Corvette Stingray and the Chevrolet Bel Air. We chatted to a bunch of people about their cars, other peoples cars, cars passing by and cars they had at home as they were afraid of getting them wet. I know almost nothing about cars. Luckily most of the mainly men we chatted to were happy to do most of the talking while we asked polite questions.

Crockpot yoghurt take 2

I made more yoghurt last night. I have read up a bit more online and decided to add measuring the temperature to the earlier recipe.

I poured 8 cups of whole milk into the crockpot, set to Low. The milk was slowly heated to 180F/82C (about 3 hours) then I unplugged the crockpot and let it sit until the temperature dropped to 115F/46C (about 3 hours). At that point I added 1/2 cup of the yoghurt I made last week (as the starter), wrapped the crockpot in a thick towel and let it rest for 8 hours (well, until I got up this morning.)

It thickened a lot better than last time - keeping an eye on the temperature definitely worked! So now I have 8 cups of beautiful plain yoghurt to enjoy for breakfast this week. So simple and so nice.

Update

Yoghurt had thickened a bit overnight but I like mine thick and creamy so after straining it through a towel I can report it is delicious! Mixed in some frozen blueberries just to make it extra super special. Mmmm.

Rainy!

Love a rainy day! We have had a lot of sunshine this summer so waking up to the sound of cars driving on wet roads made me smile. We had planned to check out Governors Island but that can wait.

Instead I am making yoghurt and have made a lovely summer pasta salad with all the bits and bobs we have at home - mainly local vegetables - in a purple basil garlic mayo (basil is in season! whohoo!). The left over baguette from Fridays balcony picnic made great crutons.

I am re-reading Harry Potter so spending the in-between time on the sofa with my nose in book 5. It's an easy life.

Picnic on the balcony

Friday and no energy to cook or to go out for dinner so I met JD in Grand Central after picking up some cheese, truffle salami and serrano. We got a delivery from our wine club the other day so we had a picnic of American cheese (from Sweet Grass Dairy, delicious), American wine (Blagden Pinot Noir 2007) and some American vegetables. Mmmm I think I can get used to living here.

Slow cooker

The slow cooker made the move and I have just found a recipe to use it for. I am very excited. Sunday I think will be yoghurt making day.

Relax

Aaaah, Friday. Lovely warm but not hot day. I picked up the new balcony sofa and tried it out for dinner. Perfect. Dinner was wonderfully flavorful tomatoes with onions and basil from the farmers market topped with some feta and watermelon.

Game on!

One thing America is absolutely the best at is sports venue food. We went to Citi field and saw a Mets game last night and the selection of food was very good. Deciding between Shake Shack and Blue Smoke was tough but in the end the queue to Shake Shack was just too long and besides I have tried it before. So dinner was pulled pork sandwich, the best one I have ever had.