Dinners for the week of July 18

Inspiration from working in the garden this morning...

Zucchini Coins and Crumbled Feta with Herb-crusted Chicken and Lime-infused rice
- basically thinly sliced zucchini with garlic in a oil cooked on low for 20-30 mins, toss with herbs (basil and oregano freshly picked in our case) and some crumbled feta; I think I'll bake the chicken after a quick batter and crust

Indian Potato Salad with seared Tilapia and Brown-buttered Spinach
- cumin seeds, garam masala and cayenne form the base for the potato salad along with cilantro... the tilapia is self-explanatory and spinach just longs for butter...

Pork Tenderloin with Rosemary and Mustard with a Cucumber and Tomato Salad (garden fresh) and Baguette
- just have to remember to do this the night before: rosemary and mustard with pepper on the pork - then it's easy: put tenderloins on top of a bed of rosemary if you have them and bake at 375 for 10-12 minutes a side

Roasted Cauliflower with Fennel and Honey-Glazed Collard Greens with Naan
- lots o' meat in the others, so this night we're goin green! The naan is just for variety...


Harlem churches:
There is a strange tide of French and Italian speaking tourists that comes into Harlem every Sunday morning and ebbs out by the evening... not long after living here I found out that it was for the churches. If you look in a guide book from France on NYC, one of the top attractions is Harlem Sunday Church - glory hallelujah! There are many things that are almost voyeuristic about tourism in general, but somehow visiting a church is worse. It's funny to see the big buses pull up to a small homey looking church filled with gospel music and have people pour out, peep about nervously before hustling inside. If it were all about the prayer or the building itself, I think I might be more ok with it. However, I the big attraction is the people themselves - the more outlandish, the more yelling and thumpin' the better. Is this any different than watching French kids play soccer in the park or Italians sauntering around the piazza? I suppose not, but it does seem weird still for some reason - and, no matter how much I try to rationalize it, part of the weirdness is purely racial in my mind - mostly rich European folk coming to watch poorer black Americans sing their hearts out... and then go eat Sunday brunch at Sylvia's Soul Food.