Dinners of Champions

Starting on Saturday, Seth and I have had friends in town from Texas (hi Berries) and London (hi LoBalbos). Naturally, when friends fly in, we eat. A lot. When picking the restaurant for Saturday night (Berry night) and last night (LoBalbo night), we thought carefully about what our friends like and what they may miss eating in this area since both couples have spent time living in either New York, New Jersey or D.C. For the Texans, we chose seafood (with a side dish of bagels); for the Londoners, meat. (Frankly, knowing Brian, I am not sure there was any other choice). This morning, as I sat on the train bemoaning my hangover and early start time at work, I reflected upon what was consumed this weekend. Behold.

Saturday night - Aquagrill (split amongst 6 people - hi McGowans):

Peppered Tuna Carpaccio (two orders - the second order came at the end of the night when Austin decided he wanted it for dessert)
Maine Lobster Salad
Crispy octopus appetizer
Seafood plateau royale
Chilean Sea Bass
One Pumpkin Souffle
One Chocolate Souffle
Lots of bottles of wine

Monday night - Minetta Tavern (split amongst 4 people):

Lobster Bisque
Pate
Black Label Burger
Cote de Boeuf for two
Bone Marrow
Side Salads
Jacque Torres Chocolates and Coffees (strong enough to make anyone grow hair down there)
Countless bottles of wine (the LoBalbos know how to drink!)

During the meal at Minetta, we split all of the dishes. The waiter was incredibly nice and managed to form that mess of an order into a four course meal and made it easy enough for us to share. We apparently sounded like such food nerds, he asked us if we were "in the business." We replied that our only business was the nerd business and after that he stopped coming to our table. We didn't get home until close to 1:00am from this meal and this morning, the alarm felt like 1000 screaming voices in my left ear.

As a side note, I would like to tell a little story. Our apartment faces a very busy avenue in NYC. Because of that, we run our air conditioner at night to drown out the extraordinary noises that can creep through our windows. We run the air conditioner for two other reasons. (1) Our apartment is about 85 degrees in the winter given the extreme tactics that building management takes to heat it. (2) Seth sweats. Last night, Seth's metabolism was apparently working so hard to digest all that food, that the air conditioning wasn't enough. So, in his wine induced stupor, Seth believed that the only solution to this problem would be to open the window. I spent half the night wondering why the trucks were so loud and worrying that our guests wouldn't be able to sleep. When I finally realized the window was open and asked Seth about this interesting fact, Seth replied "Oops." Correct me if I am wrong, but I believe making your wife believe that a truck was actually driving through her bedroom is a very good reason to buy said wife a present.

But, I digress. Despite my extreme discomfort this morning, I wish that both meals could have lasted for days. Three hours with such good friends is never enough time, especially when such great people live so far away.

But what I have decided is that, while it is always sad when your best friends move to far off locations, it is a testament to those friendships how little the distance matters. In the wise words of Mary Ann, "we may have a few less shopping trips, but that's what the internet is for." Cheers to that, a few thousand miles can't keep us apart! We miss you Berries and LoBalbos but that only makes our friendship stronger.

Happy Trails to North Carolina

A few weeks back, Seth and I took a long weekend trip to Durham, North Carolina to visit some of Seth's college friends. (Incidentally I now claim them as my friends - sorry Seth but they are just that fun). We had the pleasure of staying with Shane and Jen and my new boyfriend, their son Gage. Gage is the type of child who makes you want to have children (no one is permitted to show this to my family, they are not allowed to get any ideas). He is smart, funny and literally soaks in EVERY SINGLE THING you say and do. You should have heard the number of times we said "Crap, not around Gage!" I wish I could still learn as fast as Gage does.

Exhibit 1: Aunt Jamie's Contribution - We taught Gage to put on his sunglasses and say "I'm cool!" The next time someone put on sunglasses he ran over, put his on and said "I'm cool too!" Trust me, that did not get old.

Exhibit 2: After a weekend of meat, we thought it best to have sushi on our last night there. (Sorry to the Rogers family for the aftermath of Seth eating that much meat). Gage just picked up some chopsticks and went to town. I think he uses better them better than I do.

Exhibit 3: This picture does not involve Gage, although I do recommend that Jen and Shane show this to Gage to teach him what not to do. Seth ate this entire plate of meatloaf for dinner on Saturday night. I still have no idea where it all goes. And I try not to think about it.

Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow

This weekend we drank in the holidays at some lovely parties, went to Target in a snowstorm, and were delighted (horrified) by an impromptu fake knife attack during brunch. I couldn't make this stuff up if I tried.

Laughing in the face of ominous warnings by the weather reporters that the snow apocalypse was coming, Seth and I made our way to Helen and Sean's annual holiday party with visions of enough food for 200 people dancing in our heads. The snow was not keeping us from Helen's stromboli. When we left our apartment, the snow wasn't really sticking, so naturally we detoured to Target to get our fix. (Don't judge, you don't even know how much you miss Target until you can't go on a regular basis - there is something very comforting about those aisles and endless items you don't really need to buy). You might think that going to Target the Saturday before Christmas is crazy talk. You would be right. The snow scared off most, but the real crazy people didn't seem to be deterred. But I needed hot chocolate and Seth needed, well, nothing as it turns out. The entire Target trip seemed to revolve around my snacks and beauty supplies. It ain't easy looking this pretty.

By the time we left Target, the snow was in full force. We made it to Helen and Sean's in one piece thanks to our trusty Zipcar. Drinking commenced. The snow scared off most guests, but the group that made it out was badass. We saw some old friends and met some very fun new ones (who might just be our doppelgangers). Seth had plenty of bud lights, I had wine and we ate enough food to feed a small army. What else can you ask for?

Always the pinnacles of good judgment, we slept over and found ourselves snowed in this morning. At that point, what else can you do but walk to brunch? Normally, brunch is fairly uneventful (well, the amount Seth can eat is an event but we usually fly under the radar). This morning, the gods had other things in mind for us. The normally quiet town of Montclair saw quite the controversy when a man (and by man I mean a dude easily in his 40s) pretended that his friend sitting next to him stabbed him in the side and he was dying at the table. He stood up, screamed at the top of his lungs, clutched his side and fell to the ground. I thought he was having a heart attack. The entire restaurant came to a screeching halt, while everyone stared horrified at the table. (Of course this fool was sitting right next to us). A woman cried (yes, cried), someone shouted to call 911. And then ... wait for it ... the genius stood up laughing and expecting applause. I don't think I have ever seen more disgusted looks during brunch. All of this on a Sunday in New Jersey. The spectacle made us miss New York, so we bid our farewells and headed back home to see what awaited us.

At last count, eleven inches of snow fell in NYC (eleven inches that are rapidly turning into black sludge wreaking havoc on my shoe collection.) Sadly, we didn't really get to see that beautiful moment when it snows and shuts down the city, making it look peaceful and quiet. Instead, we came back this afternoon to witness some of the worst plowing and enormous piles of snow obstructing sidewalks and crosswalks. Makes me proud to pay all those New York City taxes. To cap off the weekend, we decided to avoid contact with all other people, make chili and watch movies (Jamie) and football (Seth). The chili turned out quite delicious, if I do say so myself. Now if only all of my shopping was done...

The Austin Chronicles Part 2 - aka Jamie for Heisman!

With another food fueled trip on the way this weekend (Durham, here I come!) I realized I never finished writing about the great Texas adventure of 2009. Given the amount packed into the remainder of the trip, I felt it was best demonstrated through pictures. Behold.

Saturday morning. Hangover. Migas. First funny sign of the day, click for a closer look (don't forget the hilarious vegetarian sign from the bbq crawl). We love you too Magnolia Cafe and your delicious salsa.

Notice the tiny car next to Austin's huge truck. We had bets about whether we could fit the smart car into the truck's bed. The hippies owning the smart car glared at us silently.

After some rest and recovery (i.e. the boys slept and the girls shopped) we headed out to tailgates. I have never seen a more intense tailgate of my life. This school bus stopped us in our tracks, then made us jealous because of the amount of beer and food being consumed.

Look closely - the geniuses behind the school bus rigged a device so that no one had to walk anywhere to throw out their beer cans. Beer is priority here. Although professional bbq served at tailgates came in a close second. At tailgates. Made by regular people (well, football fans anway). Seriously.

Texans respect their women by designating pink porto potties. They were quite clean, I might add. Thank you UT for making it easier for me to drink more beer.

Hilarious sign #2. Seth tried to order a mai tai and got kicked out. For some reason, Sean and his imaginary friend were permitted to stay.

This chili was as hot as it looks. I regret standing within 10 feet of Seth for the 24 hours after he consumed this entire dish.

Texans love their flag - it extends 30 yards into the field. There was even a choreographed danced with the flag that I can't begin to describe.

The band played Bon Jovi in recognition of our attendance.

Conclusions:

(1) We are super cute.

(2) Texans love funny signs.

(3) Texans love their flag even more than funny signs.

(4) Bevo is my new mascot.

(5) MJ and Austin sure know how to plan an amazing weekend.

The Austin Chronicles, Part 1 - aka the great BBQ showdown

This weekend, New Jersey descended upon Austin, Texas in the form of Helen, Sean, Seth and me. Given the amount of eating, drinking and football packed into one weekend, it is only logical that the chronicles of this weekend be broken up into more than one post. We get shit done around here.

After an uneventful flight where Seth and Sean slept and Helen and I wished we could, we finally landed in Austin and were greeted by the best bear hug a girl could ask for from MJ. After lots of screaming, jumping around and tummy touches, the boys dragged us apart and managed to get us to the car. Naturally, we started the trip off on the right foot by heading directly to Lockhart, Texas for some serious BBQ eats. This crew was hungry and there would be no wussy activities like checking into the hotel prior to consuming massive amounts of meat.

We set off, aided by MJ's impeccable planning, the British man on the Garmin GPS telling us which way to turn and Austin's incredibly enormous truck (quit being dirty, he really has a truck). In a poetic turn of events, MJ programmed the GPS system so that our car appeared as a chipotle burrito on the screen.

On our way there, we discussed strategy. There were some impassioned speeches, pounding on dashboards and drooling. I think Sean actually threatened to get out of the car if we didn't order ribs at some point. Finally, we came to a consensus and decided to order sausage, brisket and one wild card item at each stop. We also decided to order beans and any other side dishes that looked appetizing. We would rate each place using MJ's handy rating card (printed in color and on card stock, no less) and after eating at all three places, determine the winner.

All in all, we made three stops, Kreuz Market, Smitty's and Black's. Words can't really do these BBQ joints justice, so behold, some pictures of where we were and what we ate.


BBQ Place #1, Kreuz Market: Note the clever use of signs and the disparaging remarks against vegetarians and forks.

Kreuz Market - before and after. Travel makes us hungry. We ate sausage, brisket, beans and our wild card was a pork chop. As you can see, there are only knives and spoons in these pictures. The signs don't lie.

Question: Have you ever seen Seth look so happy?
Answer: Not even on our wedding day.

BBQ Place #2, Black's BBQ: We were actually still a little hungry by the time we arrived at Black's (which, as a side note, is right next door to Kreuz) but delirium was starting to set in. Same order here, but our wild card was ribs (yes, we agreed to Sean's demands). We also tried a few sides other than beans including sweet potatoes (Jamie's favorite), jalapeno cornbread (Helen's favorite) and creamed corn (no one's favorite).

At Black's, we were treated to the Texas version of a salad. Delicious. Austin threw a fit that lettuce was involved in our meal at all but we sedated him with another sausage (quit being dirty, it really was a sausage).

BBQ Place #3, Smitty's: This is what happens when MJ, Jamie and Helen contract what is known in the medical profession as "meat induced insanity." At this point, we were full with a capital F. It wasn't pretty. Again, we encountered a no forks rule (what do Texans have against forks?) so we decided to build a house for the sausage. It needed shelter.

And finally, the BBQ scorecards. After eating for two straight hours at three different places, we tallied the scores. The end result: a tie between Kreuz and Black's.

Since I am writing this post, Kreuz wins!

Stay tuned for the next installment of the Austin Chronicles. It just gets better.

Meat Hangover

Last night, Seth, as he is prone to do, surprised me with dinner to celebrate six months of marital bliss. Over the years I have learned a few things about Seth's surprises: (1) he will NEVER tell me where we are going and no amount of cajoling or bribery will make him budge; (2) I will never be able to guess the location, no matter how hard I try; and (3) it is always spectacular.

This dining excursion was no exception. Seth somehow managed to score an 8:00 reservation at Minetta Tavern, a place with more hype surrounding it than a visit by the President. Generally, when mortals (i.e. non-famous people) call, they are told only a 5:00 or an 11:00 reservation is available. At best, you can walk in and stalk the people sitting at the bar hoping someone will get up so you can eat there.

All day yesterday I was excited for our date. We met at home and set off to the restaurant (still a mystery to me). We exit the subway at West 4th Street and start walking toward Minetta Street. Since I had recently abandoned any hope of eating at Minetta Tavern during normal dining hours it did not even occur to me that we were heading there. Then, suddenly, with the neon sign glowing in front of me, it dawned on me. The conversation went as follows:

Me: "We are NOT going to Minetta Tavern."
Seth: "I don't know, maybe we are."
Me: "Shut up, we are NOT going to Minetta Tavern."
Seth: "Ok, fine, we are going here" (gesturing to a lovely but not even close to as exciting Italian restaurant)
Me: "STOP. Are we going to Minetta Tavern? We cannot be going there. How did you get a reservation. Are you messing with me?"
Seth: "Go inside and stop acting like a fool."

Completely stunned, I step inside and it's glorious. Old school charm, incredibly nice staff and the FOOD. Oh, the food. I cannot begin to do it justice. Frank Bruni's review for the NY Times (link below) says it with far more poetry than I ever could.

http://events.nytimes.com/2009/05/20/dining/reviews/20rest.html

And the crowd... it must be mentioned. A mixture of people like us (nerdy new yorkers), models, celebrities (last night we dined next to Randy Jackson, Isaac Mizrahi and Steve Croft) and star f*ckers stood milling around eating and drinking. Keith McNally was there greeting people. It was surreal and hilarious and I couldn't stop people watching. Until the food arrived. And then, it was just me and the beef.

We ate the stuffed squid to start and naturally split the Cote de Boeuf. The beef was perfectly cooked with just the right amount of char. This morning, I am battling a vicious meat hangover (I am sure the bottle of wine is adding to my pain), but it is worth it. A fantastic meal with a fantastic guy to celebrate six glorious months. The cramp in my side isn't even bothering me all that much.

Oh, and as we walked out, what happened? The hostess gave us the private reservation number. I still don't think the number is real, but I am gonna try it. I think they put crack in that food because I am desperate to go back already.

yikes two whole months!

new job? new commute? really busy?

lame.

the real reason. lazy. totally lazy.

but i am back. fully of adventure and intrigue. halloween is this weekend so who knows what will happen.

stay tuned...

Lobster, lobster and more lobster

After getting stranded in NYC, we made it to Maine the following morning without losing much time. Our first impression of Maine consisted of Jamie being flipped off by a fellow driver when leaving the airport. We immediately felt right at home.

Our weekend in Maine entailed eating, laying on the beach, reading and more eating. Exactly the things one should do on a long weekend. We ate our weight in lobster rolls and got to experience some of the craziest waves Maine has seen in a long time. The people in Maine were incredibly friendly and hospitable, especially the owners of 16 Beach Street, the bed and breakfast where we stayed.

After much discussion and an anonymous vote, we decided that the two best meals we ate were the lemon blueberry pancakes made by Linda, one of our hosts and the lobster roll at Bob's Clam Hut in Kittery. Our most fun night spontaneously occurred at Hurricane's in Kennebunkport. We stopped there on Sunday night for a drink and ended up staying the night and watching the Yankee game (amongst a room full of Red Sox fans). The bartender treated us like we were Norm and we ate some delicious oysters. The Yankees winning was just an added bonus.

Hello Kennebunkport!

Thank you Bob's for your most delicious lobster roll of the trip.

And thank you Linda for your amazing breakfasts, especially these pancakes!

The waves in Ogonquit due to the Hurricane.

Don't fall into the Ocean!

Marginal Way in Ogonquit.

16 Beach Street B & B

damn you hurricane bill

i am supposed to be flying right now. to maine. for my vacation before my new job.

but usairways had different plans for me and decided to cancel all flights out of laguardia because of "lightening" or something crazy like that. $80 in round trip cab rides later, i sat on my couch and sulked until seth forced me out of funk.

what can bring me out of such a funk?

behold:

daisy may's bbq on 46th and 11th. i think the picture speaks for itself. fred flintstone sized ribs, sweet potatoes with brown sugar and baked beans and burnt ends. not lobster in maine but at a pretty close second. i feel bad for the person sitting next to seth on the plane tomorrow after such a meal.

wait, that's me.

happy birthday seth

The picture isn't great (damn the lighting in DGBG) but this burger is called The Piggy. Rightfully so. It is a 6 oz beef patty topped with daisy mays bbq pulled pork, jalapeno mayonnaise & boston lettuce on a cheddar-cornbread bun with mustard-vinegar slaw. And don't forget the fries - even better than McDonald's. Happy Birthday to Seth!

spotted on the 7 train

a woman running through the train, banging on the conductor's door and shouting that if the train didn't move she would pee in the train. remarkably, the train actually started moving but not before everyone close to her moved quickly to the other side of the train.

a walk on the highline

still figuring out the SLR and a walk on the new highline is the perfect place to do it.

the way the old railroad tracks are integrated is quite cool.

the view from the highline onto washington.

the design of the seats is cool too.

mmmm beef

mmmm gelato. seth got me the mint chocolate chip.

lots of pretty and interesting flowers. if you ask a park employee, they can tell you the names of each one.

the entrance/exit on 20th street

view from the 20th street entrance.

pic of the day

Looks way better that the four white walls of my office! Ahhhh Santorini...

Spotted on 10th Avenue

Playing the theme to Super Mario Brothers. How do you not give him money?

i need a vacation

for a second i almost felt guilty writing that (and anyone who knows me knows that a guilty feeling hits me on an almost daily basis) because i just had three weeks off from work just two months ago. fortunately, that guilty feeling quickly subsided when i decided that i really do need a vacation. i am currently on a mental vacation (which has been going on since sometime in april and is way more exhausting than one might imagine) and at the end of the month i am going to have a real one. to kick it off, seth and i are heading to maine for a long weekend. when we get back, i have a few day trips planned (although i refuse to use the term staycation). lucky for me, i managed to convince one of my favorite people in the world to take a day off with me and i am going to visit one of my other favorite people in the world and finally see his new (which really isn't so new anymore, just new to me) office. not a bad week off to mentally prep for my new adventure starting on august 31st. stay tuned. in the meantime, i am revisiting my honeymoon pics and posting one each day until i get some new pictures. new york right now is so hot and humid, it is not habitable, let alone picture worthy. so, until then, sunset at poseidon's temple will just have to do.

braving the sea

Last night I went sailing for the first time. And the last time. In my most dramatic fashion, I was basically paralyzed by the movement of the boat. Not paralyzed out of fear of drowning, but rather my very real fear that I would toss my cookies in front of my co-workers. To cope, I sat completely motionless, muttering prayers under my breath that I would make it to shore without embarrassing myself too much. My lovely friends would take turns coming over to me (those with normal constitutions for water travel) and attempt to distract me from noticing as my face turned greener and greener. I fixed my gaze on the horizon and made as few movements as possible. Almost 24 hours later and I am still slightly dizzy. And the punchline is that this all happened in the Hudson River.

It made me reflect on a few things. First, my friend Shannon, who Seth and I were lucky to meet in Greece, is a complete rock star to have been in the Navy for so long. I can't even make a trip to the Statute of Liberty on a boat and I just got an email from her about the many countries she has visited on her ship in what seems like to me, a short amount of time. I definitely live vicariously through her adventures. And second, thank G-D Seth and I did not take a sailboat ride in Santorini when we were there. I could never enjoy that beautiful scene posted above because I would have turned into something more like the picture below.

overhead in my office

i work for a pretty stuffy and proper company. let me clarify. it gives the illusion of being stuffy and proper but when you really listen it is pretty amazing what you can hear.

for example, i sit next to an older gentleman who is in his late 60s. he speaks with the most perfect new york jewish accent (totally reminds me of my grandpa) and when you meet him, he comes off as this kindly older gentleman. he asks me at least once a week how married life is and why i am still working (as if marriage should instantly make my career null and void). he generally makes me laugh but he has really turned it up a notch this week. there has been a ton of yelling coming from his office, lots of phone calls ending in receivers being slammed down and colorful curses. i have had the privilege of overhearing phrases like "big tits and tight dress" and "ugly old hag." he even informed someone that seeing them naked would "scare the terrorists and the jews." he has a way of bridging gaps, doesn't he?

but the best part of all? after one particularly heated phone conversation where he called someone a "moron" and "stupid" and shouted "you can take that back to nationals," he came into to my office to apologize for how loud he has been. he then went on to explain that he is frustrated about something going on with a charity that he chairs. a charity! made my whole afternoon.

a little late but...

the best part of fourth of july weekend?

that's right. we MADE that. we are so patriotic (drunk) it hurts.

oh, these weren't bad either.

ah, the jersey shore. nothing like it. we had gorgeous sunny days and dueling fireworks at night. all from the comfort of a two block radius. thanks helen and sean!