It's a new month! I liked August.

I wasn't even really ready for August to end.  For me August could be a double month.  I've had one major project to accomplish today and it is to clean off our antique blue bench which holds our mail.  Right now it is holding a large basket of unread magazines, a stack of books THREE stacks of books, and a mass of mail.  Mostly the mail we don't open.

I easily went through the mail basket and filled up the paper recycling bin.  Going through the magazine basket was a lot harder.  Old Martha Stewart's called my name, last year's Bon Appetit''s beckoned me to the pages within, and a couple of catalogs caught my eye as well.  It takes much longer to get things into the recycling bin when you page through everything.  It takes even longer when you decide to stop and write about some of what you find.

In an article about Russ and Daughters, a longstanding deli in New York City's Lower East Side, a few recipes were shared.  It doesn't matter that the MSL is circa Sept. 2012.  I'm sure the deli is still there (it is) and these recipes will still be fabulous. Now I need to get myself back to NYC so I can give Russ and Daughters a try.

In the meantime I will satisfy my craving with these two recipes:

{From MSL}

Bagel Pudding with prunes and raisins
serves 6-8

3 large eggs
1 large egg yolk
1 cup sugar
1 T. vanilla
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
2 cups half-and-half
1 cup whole milk
4 or 5-day-old bagels, crusts removed and cut into 1/2-in cubes (8 cups)
unsalted butter, for baking dish
3/4 cups halved pitted prunes
3.4 cup seedless raisins
vanilla ice cream, for serving

1. Whisk together eggs, egg yolk, sugar, vanilla, and cinnamon in a large bowl until smooth.  Whisk in half-and-half and milk.  Add bagel cubes, and toss to coat.  Let mixture sit, stirring occasionally, until bread absorbs some of the liquid, about 1 hour.

2. Preheat the oven to 325*. Butter an 8-inch square baking dish (2 inches deep). Stir prunes and raisins into bagel mixture, and transfer to baking dish.  Bake until top is golden brown and a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, about 1 hour (if top browns too quickly, tent with foil).  Let cool completely on a wire rack.  Cut into squares, and serve with ice cream.

and then this fantastic beet recipe:

Beet-and-Lemon-Shrub
makes 6 1/2 cups

5 cups water, divided
2 T. white vinegar
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup fresh beet juice (from 1 1/2 lbs of beets) (use a juicer)
1 cup fresh lemon juice (5-6 lemons)

1. Whisk together 3/4 cup water, the vinegar, and sugar until sugar dissolves.
2. Combine remaining water, the beet juice, and lemon juice, and mix well.  Stir in vinegar mixture.  Refrigerate 48 hours before using.

Use that mix in this:

{From MSL}

Beet-and-Lemon-Shrub Cocktail

6 1/2 cups Beet-and-Lemon Shrub recipe
12 ounces of vodka
ice
24 ounces of seltzer water
12 wedges of pickled green tomato, for garnish

1. Mix together shrub and vodka.
2. Fill 12 8-ozs glasses with ice; add shrub mixture.  Top off with seltzer, and garnish with pickled green tomatoes.  (I might think to garnish with lemon wedges as an alternative)

What I'm reading other than this pile of magazines is River of Ghosts by Robert F. Gish (father of the ever lovely and talented Annabeth) for my Sept. book club.  I'm going to finish it even though he is
w-o-r-d-y.

I'm going to link this to Beth Fish Reads Weekend Cooking meme even though technically the beautifully long weekend is over. Candace has a peach galette on her site.  I'd trade her a piece of my bagel pudding for a sliver of peach galette-we could have a cup of cappuccino and share.