Three Things
Easy vegetarian dinners, a welcome-to-the-neighborhood gift, a playlist on repeat
Greetings eaters and readers! Hope you had a nice weekend. Not gonna lie, we ate well — Friday was Gabrielle Hamilton’s Cider-Braised Chicken with polenta, and Saturday was a delicate snapper with coconut-curry sauce from Eric Ripert’s Seafood Simple that I would’ve had zero problem paying big bucks for in a restaurant. In other news, I joined New York in mourning Flaco, the rare Eurasian Eagle-Owl who had been released from zoo captivity under mysterious circumstances over a year ago and then, much to the delight of his cosmopolitan neighbors, made quite a life for himself in Central Park and the Upper West Side. Small communities sprung up near his favorite roosts, birders and wildlife photographers chronicled his every move, zoo workers tried to lure him into traps but he was too smart for them. The city was captivated. “Flaco became a symbol of hope for many of the people who followed his story and recognized parts of themselves in him” wrote Carl Safina in this b…