Saturdays, ran or shine, 9am-3pm: Chelsea Farmers Market | Down to Earth Farmers Markets has once again put down roots in Chelsea (on W. 23rd St. near Ninth Ave.). By and large, it’s the same experience as it’s always been (fresh product, friendly people), albeit with a few notable nods to pandemic protocol: If you have not been fully vaccinated, please wear a face mask. There is no food sampling in the market, and all ready-to-eat food and drink must be consumed off site. If you have pre-ordered bring your order summary with you to speed pick up. For more info, click here for our preview of its opening day, May 15. Subscribe to the Down to Earth Farmers Market weekly newsletter by clicking here. In each newsletter, you will find the origin story of a certain product available for purchase (this week, it’s sweet corn), as well as links to recipes involving that product. Immediately following the helpful visual reference, read what they have to say about this week’s featured player:
“Sweet corn, a variety of maize with a high sugar content, is returning to the market as one of our summer staples. Sweet corn is the result of a naturally occurring recessive mutation in the genes, which control conversion of sugar to starch inside the endosperm (the part of a seed which acts as a food store for the developing plant embryo, usually containing starch with protein and other nutrients) of the corn kernel. Picked when immature (milk stage) and prepared and eaten as a vegetable rather than a grain, sweet corn’s sugar turns to starch in time, so it must be eaten fresh, canned, or frozen, before the kernels become tough and starchy. When you pick up a few ears from our market, you need the bare minimum amount of preparation or cooking to enjoy this fresh corn on (or off) the cob. This humble vegetable captures the flavor of the season, which is why it pairs well with so many grilling or fresh recipes. Here are a few of our favorite corn recipes.”
Raw Summer Corn Vegetable Salad
Sun., July 18, 11am: The Return of Free, In-Person, Historic Flatiron Walking Tours | The Flatiron Partnership (the area’s soon-to-expand BID) marks another milestone in NYC’s return to “normalcy” (in a town like this, that word always needs quotes), when their brick and mortar tour of the brick and mortar Flatiron area returns. The tours tells you all about iconic area structures including the Flatiron Building, New York Life Insurance Building, MetLife Clock Tower, and Appellate Courthouse. Having gone online during the pandemic, a rotating trio of historians will return to earth, so to speak, to lead the tours: Miriam Berman, author of Madison Square: The Park and Its Celebrated Landmarks and New York in Words and Images, a book of New York postcards; Mike Kaback, a native New Yorker; and, Fred Cookinham, author of The Age of Rand: Imagining an Objectivist Future World. Beginning July 18, the tours will take place weekly, Sundays at 11am. For info, click here.
Thurs., July 15, 6pm: Empire Station Complex Virtual Town Hall | Representatives from Empire State Development will be on hand to discuss the proposed Empire Station Complex project, which, as proposed, would bring massive demolition, construction, and change to the area surrounding Penn Station. This town hall event is sponsored by Manhattan Community Boards 4 & 5, U.S. Representative Nadler, State Senators Hoylman & Jackson, Assembly Member Gottfried, Manhattan Borough President Brewer and Council Speaker Johnson.
Asked for comment, New York State Assembly Member Richard Gottfried said, “The Empire Station Complex plan is a once in a lifetime project that will define midtown for decades. A project of this scale and impact must have a fully transparent planning process that maximizes opportunities for the local community to seriously weigh in. The recommendations of local residents must play a part in the process and help create a project that meets the needs of the community and the greater region a future Penn Station will serve.”
Community Board 4 Chair Lowell Kern told us, in an email statement, “The State’s proposal has the potential to displace residents and businesses in the district while also the potential to enhance the neighborhood for generations to come. We believe it is important for the community to learn more of the details of this plan now.”
To register and submit questions, click here. To attend via phone, call 646-518-9805 close to the start time. When prompted, enter the ID by dialing 923 4649 1166 and then press the # sign.
Thurs, July 15, 4-7pm at Kelly Park (317 W. 17th St.), it’s NYPD Shea Day of Play | From the 10th Precinct’s Twitter account comes this invite: “Please join us Thurs, 7/15, 4pm-7pm for @NYPDShea Day of Play. All kids and teens are invited (parents/guardians included). Basketball, Hoola Hoop, Hop Scotch & more!” Kelly Park is located at 317 W. 17th St., btw. 8th & 9th Aves.
Thurs., July 15, 5:30-7:00pm, The Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum presents Virtual Astronomy Live | It’s installment #16 for the series, whose topic—Exercise in Space—takes you through the science behind the physical preparation for space, and the importance of living healthily while in zero gravity. Kerbal Space Academy founder John “Das” Galloway is your host. Moderating the event is former NASA astronaut Michael Massimino, a School of Engineering Professor at Columbia University who serves as the Intrepid Museum’s Sr. Advisor, Space Programs. They’re joined by NASA athletic trainer Bruce Nieschwitz and former NASA astronaut Garrett Reisman. In other words, these guys know what they’re talking about when they tell you how to eat right and stay in shape. Available 30 minutes before start time? An interactive demonstration will take place at 5pm. For more info and to register for this free, all-ages, online event, click here. You can also view it live at twitch.tv/intrepidmuseum.
Wed., July 14, 7-8pm | Author Talk: “Limericks of Loss And Regret” | A funny thing happened to former Boston and NYC resident Marty Barrett, when he moved to Los Angeles to seek his fortune; or fame; or at least a more consistently pleasant weather pattern. Barrett brought some of his devil-may-care darkness and hard-won skepticism with him—which acquitted him well, as he moved through the outsider fringes of Los Angeles that the literature-loving, in-bed-by-midnight crowd only reads about in books. Barrett has written such a book: Limericks of Loss And Regret, in which we witness the author strapped in for a rodeo ride with pain, fully prepared to give it its clever comeuppance. Hear it from the horse’s mouth, when our Marty Barrett—our content partner, via his well-regarded, LA-based Verdugo HUUT! performance series—delivers an Author Talk, presented by the Oak Bluffs Public Library. (Yes, it’s located on that other coast.)
As for what you’ll get and why you should tune in, the series curator put it very well—so well that we’ll reprint it verbatim, rather than provide a poorly paraphrased version:
“Containing 50 short stories and 50 limericks (designed to be read one per year for the next century), Marty Barrett’s book makes more than a few references to Martha’s Vineyard—where part of it was written—and cumulatively blindsides the reader with whimsy, sorrow, and choice alternatives to limericks about the hated Nantucket. “Nantucket has had its time,” says Barrett. The author joins us from his home in Los Angeles but will happily reminisce about his Massachusetts childhood and Vineyard memories while rattling off some family-friendly limericks and reading a few short, short stories. He may even talk about the rock opera for which he wrote the book and lyrics, All That Jaws. It will be great fun. But don’t be fooled! Limericks of Loss And Regret sneaks up on you; readers report blithely going off to bed and suddenly waking, thinking, “Is there really Love Boat fan fiction, and am I a candidate to be swarmed by bees?”
For info on the author, visit martybarrett.com. To attend the Author Talk via Zoom, see the below.
https://oakbluffs.zoom.us/j/94638272624?pwd=aWphU1JONlI4NWN1ZFR6TTNWdFNRQT09
Meeting ID: 946 3827 2624 / Passcode: 733926 / One-tap mobile: +16465588656,,94638272624# US (New York)
–Compiled by Scott Stiffler
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