Well rounded bagel with
Cream cheese and sable
Green capers and onions (red)
No fish tale nor withered nasturtium bud
Considers this swallow their bed.
Hanatsubomi, hanayu? Yuzu you are, till eaten.
As farro! O farro!
Creeps into lasagna
(Ancient as Zeus’ old bolt)
Kakigori clouds delicately
Fall freezing
And the soft bun’d hot dogs onion-ly emote.
There was a river!
It was the Hudson
But I saw my friend’s face before it
Biting bright Bowery pickles
Always quite crunchy and
The fat strudel of poppyseed can hardly be
Grumpy.
Let not my food love be called idolatry!
Since all edible, these bites and baubles be.
Three themes in one
My love is
I bid you
Each
A bite,
A swallow,
A ruminative
Chew.
………………………………………………………………….
There you are, Sonia, per your request – my love letter to the happy New York foods! 🙂
I knew you could do it!
Ode to Murray and his Bagel
Oh Murray, how I love your bagels!
Sesame, smeared and topped with lox red onions and capers and plenty of black peppers.
And all the men with the gold chains, surely a sign that you pay a living wage.
And when I ask for coffee with milk, it is never enough.
So ask, I must for more with a please and a smile. And with that request, always a black and white cookie appears, with another smile.
A bite, a chew, a swallow.
And happy I go, with sesame seeds in my teeth.
Caffeinated and fueled for a day in the city.
Oh, K, what you inspire me to write!
You know, I was thinking of getting a dog, just so I could call out “Farro! O Farro!” while looking around distractedly. And now after reading your poem I think I should get two and call the other one Murray! 🙂
Farro is a great word. I love farro salad… must make some today.
And yes, Farro and Murray, very very New York dog names, perhaps dachsunds? 🙂
Pugs, I think.
And I probably should also leave a note here for purists that of course I do know (and hope they do too) that my sonnet is not in the Serious Sonnet Club. 😀
Will wonders EVER cease? You are amazing, matey!
(btw, editing of previously posted blog post, is that kosher?)
Culinary parlance is always welcome on a blustery afternoon in July.
I may just have to hit Delancy St. on my way to PA this weekend. I have such a yen for a crunchy dill and a Pastrami sandwich thanks to you and your visitors:)
I had a bagel with the works just yesterday. OMG!!!
BTW, when you get a chance, you may want to check out my Watermelon Month post. There’s a treat there right up your alley:)
Happy the foods that are consumed with such poetic idolization.
Sonia, I’m pretty sure that anyone who had to read the first version was happier to see the revised version! Ha ha ha ha! If one is doing reportage, of course, that would require leaving the original then posting the changes after in a footnote. But one’s own silly poetry (thank god) is but a wisp of flexible wordplay! 🙂
Louise, I hope you got that pickle!!
Bob – Ah no. I insist that it is not idolatry. It is real. 😉
Karen, Lovely!
But one thought if I may A lot of those lovely foods you mentioned are hard to find these days, all the Lower East Side is gone gentrified with whole foods the place to shop for noshing these days. Sure we still have Russ and Daughters,(thank goodness!) Seems like Old NY food is going and almost gone, just an observation of a fading traditional food scene enthusiast and baking blogger!
Cheers
Jeremy, I bet you would enjoy the site savethedeli. 🙂
There’s a link to it at this post on eGullet and if you continue on and read post #2 by Carrot Top you’ll have read my love letter to deli foods.
Karen,
Hello,
I know that site! Was considering having the guy on for an interview on mine as while passing the dwindling Jewish eateries and bakeries I noticed there isn’t an original place left, and not one young turk has picked up where they cards fell!
Seems a lot of Ethnic old world food neighborhoods are gone or going, we are coming into a hybridized and homgonized NY.
Will check out that love letter of yours, this and many other sites will make me a more informed reader!
Many thanks and happy cooking!