A bit of only in New York and Food Friday

 Yesterday as I drank my morning coffee I noticed that our dark green linoleum floor in the hallway was glowing orange. I knew that I needed to take my camera in hand.

The orange glow of the sun rising had hit the back wall of 800 West End Avenue and that reflected sunrise was glowing onto my shiny dark linoleum floor.

This morning as I went to start my workout I saw a glorious New York City sight taking place on the roof of the first building I lived in when I moved here.

 The water tower at 808 West End was being rebuilt.

The iconic New York water tower is essentially a giant stave and metal barrel that could have been constructed in the Middle Ages.  These humble towers ensure that even when there is a power outage, we have water.  A water tower gets replaced once every several decades. 

I can see that my old building has not one but two water towers--you can see the larger one just below the one that is being worked on.

As of this writing, the roof of the water tower is not yet installed.  In a few years the bright yellow wood will mellow to silver.

I feel as excited watching this work as I did as a pre schooler watching my street get repaved.

When my sister was here after Simchat Torah we went to Kaloustian's the excellent spice store on 28th and Lex. I had been hoping to take my sister there for years. We both did a serious amount of shopping. One of the spice mixes I bought was...

Although I wasn't cooking camel as the label suggested, I was cooking chicken.  The flavor profile looks similar to hawaj but with the addition of sour dried lime powder.  I  have been using lots of the Iranian her mixture of  Kuku Szabi which is a mix of dried leeks, fenugreek, parsley and cilantro. They seem to use leeks a whole lot as flavoring in the corner of the world. Yes, I totally understand that Saudi Arabia is not the same as Iran --however I have eaten enough food that hails from India and Iraq and various corners of the Middle East and central Asia to know that there has been a long culinary conversation going on in all of the corners of that world for thousands of years.

So the ageing leek in my fridge seemed to be the perfect addition to  my Kasbah spiced chicken.  I haven't sneaked any tastes of the chicken but I will tell you that the apartment smelled like heaven as the chicken cooked.

The starch portion of our meal has been supplied by a sweet potato about the size of the head of a six month old baby and a batata both cut into batons and air fried with cinnamon, ginger, olive oil vinegar and the juice of a fresh lemon. Why those particular flavors?  It seemed to make sense at the moment. I have snitched a few. They are delicious.

This was a challah baking week.

These are all two stranded braids with a dusting of poppy seeds. There is no filling this time.

I still have to make a green salad.

Shabbat Shalom!