The Garden is Open For Business!

April 29, 2009
The Garden is Open For Business! The boyfriend cutting up the homemade pizza!
The Garden is Open For Business! Homemade pizza with mushrooms and spring onions!
The Garden is Open For Business! Greek Salad with my favorite canned stuffed grape leaves!
Did I ever tell you I hate hot weather? I think I am allergic to it honestly. I know so many people pine for the hot weather: the bathing suits, the beach, the sandals. I do not. I burn, I am a very bad swimmer, and if I were ever to lie on a beach I would have to sit under an umbrella with 45 sun block on. Everyone has been talking about how great the weather was the past few days, and yet I am starting to dread summer already, but there is one thing that can not be beat in the summer in NYC—the evenings. There is nothing like eating outside with the noises of the city around you, whether it is at a bistro in the west village, a beer garden in Astoria or your own outdoor space. I just love the evenings of a NYC summer! It was too hot to eat inside, so we ate dinner for the first time in the garden. On the menu? Hot weather food, a lovely Greek salad accompanied by canned stuffed grape leaves and a home made pizza with mushrooms and sliced spring onions. If you are looking for a great homemade pizza recipe check out Cinnamon and Spice and Everything Nice‘s which looks fantastic!
The Garden is Open For Business! Greek Salad

My Greek Salad

Ingredients:

  • two hearts of romaine(had a bit of baby spinach that I added)
  • feta cheese
  • black olives
  • sliced onions(I like to marinate them in the dressing)
  • fresh tomatoes, cut up

For the dressing:

  • 3- teaspoons red wine vinegar
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • a handful of fresh herbs like parsley, thyme or dill. minced
  • a clove of garlic, minced

Preparation: mix dressing, add sliced onions to dressing, assemble salad and add dressing, serve!

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April 29, 2009 | Post a comment or leave a trackback: Trackback URL. Posted in: Summer

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  • doggybloggy

    very nice! I have to do the rooftop version around here….

  • Rose

    Looks great! This is my favorite part about summer :) Outdoor dining on a balmy night. The garden patio looks quite nice (and so does that food, yum!)

  • Ulla

    doggybloggy: i love creative outdoor spaces in nyc:) rooftops are the best!:)

  • Bob del Grosso

    A lovely urban idyll. The pizza looked great too!

  • Jeff

    What type of stuffed grape leaves are those? I love trying new stuff.

    Looks amazing and I wish I had a rooftop to go relax on. Instead I have the tailgate of my truck.

    Everything looks amazing!

  • Ulla

    Bob: thank you! I was pretty proud of the crust:)

  • Marta

    Ulla, thanks for visiting my blog! I’m glad you commented because it led me to discover your wonderful blog! I love it! Such beautiful photos, you’re very talented.
    It’s still sub-zero where I am. I’m not saying I like frigid temperatures all year long, but I don’t enjoy the summer either. I hate it when ti’s hot, I just feel like I can’t breathe. I don’t like sweating and I absolutely hate the sun! So I drench myself in sticky-pasty 75 SPF every day! I ratehr the winter, to be honest! But then there’s the summer produce, which I love… as you see, very troubled relationship between me and the seasons :)
    Thanks for sharing your gorgeous images with us :)

  • Erin

    great blog and beautiful photography. Your passion clearly shows. And you just made me green with envy for that rooftop picnic.

  • teresa

    I love the pictures, how pretty, and the food looks wonderful too!

  • Dawn

    I love those nights on the terrace like that. And in NYC, even better. I love the hot weather, but I cannot take the humidity. Makes me feel awful.

  • Reeni♥

    What a lovely, romantic setting! What a delicious salad, just what I needed to go with my pizza the other night. Thanks for the mention, your so sweet!

  • Ingrid

    What beautiful setting for dinner! Both the salad and pizza look good. (I’m going to try making homemade pizza on Friday)

    I don’t like the heat either (I live in FL, go figure). I much prefer the cooler/colder weather. I always say you can only take so much off before you’re arrested but you can layer up all you want. :)
    ~ingrid

  • the ungourmet

    It looks so peaceful out on your rooftop! What a beautiful dinner also!

    Thanks for finding my blog today and for the comment my recipe!

    Happy Wednesday!

  • Juliana

    Everything look so good…what a treat! Nice patio…

  • Tessa

    Wow that looks like it was a beautiful evening. I’m jealous!

  • Janice

    The pictures of dinner in your garden and your Greek salad look so beautiful, it does make me pine for summer. I am like you though, I burn at the mere thought of sitting in the sun, but I do love to entertain outside. I can’t wait for summer entertaining.

  • Esi

    I agree. I hate hot weather too, but being able to sit and eat outside in the evening is very lovely.

  • burpandslurp

    wow…I love the way you guys set up dinner! the al fresco dining looks so romantic and pleasurable and cooling!

  • Laura [What I Like]

    I am totally with you on the weather thing. I too have virtually translucent skin so the beach and I are not friends unless a massive umbrella is involved. But the evenings are fabulous, and it looks like you’re making the best of them! By the way, from his forearms alone your boyfriend looks very cute!

  • stephchows

    Absolutely beautiful!! Everything, the food, the setting, it all looks so inviting and peaceful :)

  • Ulla

    Marta, thank you so much for your kind words!
    I am jealous of your temperatures, do you live in Alaska?
    I want to move to a cold place with my man:)

  • Ulla

    Erin: thank you so much for your compliments, i have a lot of passion and i love it when people see it!:)
    thank you from the bottom of my heart!:)

  • Ulla

    Dawn: I know what you mean! But on the east coast we only have hot humid yucky weather: boo hoo!:)
    thank you for stopping by!:)

  • Ulla

    Reeni, you are so sweet:)
    thanks for the cookbook I LOVE IT!:)

  • Ulla

    Juliana: thank you!

  • Ulla

    Janice! there are others who are allergic to the sun! let the moonlight in the summer be our time:)
    thanks for the compliments and stopping by:)

  • Ulla

    Ingrid: I hope you live by the water, any weather is made better by the ocean:)
    Never been to Florida but oddly I was conceived there!

  • Ulla

    burpandslurp: thank you! i am glad everyone likes how it looks it is my first time taking a picture of the whole table!

  • Ulla

    Laura, thank you!
    My boyfriend is too cute he makes me week in the knees!
    and he likes to eat because he is so big and strong:)
    which work out well:)

  • Ulla

    stephchows: thank you are too sweet:)

  • Rowland

    Ugh my god I hate the heat too, but the humidity is the worst. When I tell people I know that Im trying to be a farmer, they are all like “I thought you hate sweating?”

    So back up a minute … canned stuffed grapeleaves? I understand what those words individually mean, but all together, it just buzzing. canned … stuffed … grapeleaves? can you elaborate on all aspects of this thing of which you speak?

  • Joanne

    This pizza looks great! I love homemade, it’s the best kind. Thanks for stopping by my blog. It’s really cool that your family owns a grass-fed farm. I’m in the middle of reading Omnivore’s Dilemma and it’s really making me see how important it is to go grass-fed. All of your recipes look awesome, I will definitely be checking out your blog more often! And yay for being a felle New Yorker.

  • megan (brooklyn farmhouse)

    Aren’t you a lucky duck with a rooftop garden! Lovely!

  • Ulla

    Rowland: the heat is hard to beat in the summer. It is nice to escape to the mountains!

  • Ulla

    Joanne, thanks for the kinds words. That book is great it really has introduced how we grow food to millions. Grass-fed is a great way of trying to take the system back!

  • Paulie

    Those pictures are stunning. Particularly the pizza shots.