I’m off to Seattle for the long weekend to visit Teddi. Will also get to see Geek, and we’re definitely hitting up Salumi and Union (and, of course, Pike Place Market). If you have any other suggestions, send them along!
Author: Laren
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Follow Up
In case you were interested to hear about how my cleanse went (and how the Gothamist commenters reacted to it all), the post is now up.
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The List
Yesterday I was at a birthday brunch for my friend Sara. She and Rob had been to Masa on Friday night; she did exactly what I did when I went — she wrote down every course they had as each one arrived. So we did what any two food lovers would do in that situation — we compared notes. It was clear that, although there were many similarities, the chef had adjusted the menu based on the availability of seasonal ingredients and, perhaps, just for fun. Here’s what I ate:
(first, the warmup)
1. a finely shredded snow crab and cucumber salad
2. toro tartare with caviar and toasts
3. bonito, microgreens, seaweed
4. sizzling baby eels with black olives
5. sea urchin and black truffle risotto
6. ocean trout sashimi
7. cherry trout shabu shabu
8. the shabu shabu broth
(next, the sushi, served by hand, one piece at a time)
9. toro (tuna)
10. shimaaji (striped jack fish)
11. hirame (fluke)
12. tai (sea bream)
13. kinme (Japanese snapper)
14. ika (squid) with sea salt and yuzu dust
15. amaebi (sweet shrimp)
16. hotate (scallop)
17. mirugai (giant clam)
18. torinai (clam)
19. aoyagi (orange clam)
20. grilled toro with scallion
21. kohada (herring)
22. aji (horse mackerel) with ginger
23. saba (mackerel)
24. saori (needlefish) with shiso
25. hamai shrimp
26. shitake mushroom
27. toro (octopus)
28. uni (sea urchin) hand roll
29. anago (ocean eel, cooked)
30. unagi (freshwater eel) wrapped in cucumber
31. black truffle
32. toro scallion hand roll
(then, dessert)
33. shiso with plum paste and sesame seed
34. shisoka melon
and, of course, there was sake — served in a variety of gorgeous cups, including one fashioned from a bamboo stalk. Sigh — now I’m craving sushi. -
Men Suck
Let me start by pointing out that this is a direct quote from my friend Luke, who happens to be married. The other night, he felt the need to communicate this fact to me and my friend Roopa repeatedly. And although I definitely have moments when I agree with him wholeheartedly, I don’t think that all men do, in fact, suck. My friend John B., who runs the beach house, has expressed the same sentiments. He sent me and the Lovely Miss Katie an email recently with "Men Suck" as the subject line. He discussed his frustrations with recruiting guys for the house and how it has made him much more empathetic to our experiences in the dating pool in which we are wading. He complained that so many of the guys he encountered during the recruiting process were uncommunicative and unwilling to commit. This, of course, was not news to us. And as he said — it’s really just a matter of sifting through all those guys to find the good ones out there — and there are good ones out there. I heartily agree with him on that point, but I know what it’s like to feel that they’re somewhat rare, if not verging on extinct. And, as the New York Times pointed out in this article that Vivian sent me, they’re not out taking classes, so I won’t find them there. The article mentions the Jackrabbit classes (I’m taking the Jackrabbit swimming class) — I have to say that our class is probably around a 50/50 split. But then again, many of the people in the class are married. Plus, I think my chances of meeting a date there is severely impeded by the whole swim cap and goggles situation — not a flattering look for anyone, male or female, I’m afraid.
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Clues
It’s pretty easy to tell when I get busy — the blog dies down significantly. Then again, Gothamist posts are still going . . . I have a bunch of pictures to upload from the weekend, but for now here’s the brief recap: dinner at Resto with Ali, training session, run, dim sum at Chinatown Brasserie with Ellen, errands, crawfish boil with Joe, karaoke courtesy of Jenn R., Mother’s Day brunch at the new Landmarc TWC, errands, nap, extremely sweaty hip-hop dance class, dinner with Gary at Bar Veloce, collapse.
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I Think I Have a Little Addiction Problem
Yesterday I noticed that my cell phone was off, which was weird, because I didn’t remember turning it off. I turned it back on and it immediately went off again. I had just charged it before work, so there was no reason for it to run out that quickly, I thought. Until I thought about it some more — that phone is over two years old and I understand that, after some point, rechargeable batteries lose their ability to hold a charge (like my antique iPod). Sigh — guess it’s time for a phone upgrade. I’ve got Verizon — any recommendations?
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Is It Really Only Wednesday?!
Somehow I’m exhausted — it feels like it should be Friday. I can’t even express how much I’m looking forward to tomorrow night — just a trip to the gym and then I get to flop on the couch. In case you want a peek at a little of what I’ve done this week, check out Gothamist food and my flickr pics.
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Jamon It
Sometimes I look back at a weekend and wonder how the hell I managed to squeeze so much activity into it. Friday night I had a lovely dinner at Barbuto with Matt, Alexia, and their friend Nicholas, then planned to go home, but somehow wound up at Otto for a bit. I still managed to get to bed early enough to get up to meet Katie for a bike ride. Our progress was somewhat impeded by a charity walk/run in Central Park, but we re-routed ourselves a bit and had a good ride anyway. After biking, I met up with the ladies for an extra-special brunch at Florencia 13, perfect for Cinco de Mayo, Greta’s birthday, and a visit from Teddi, who had flown in from Seattle. After a few hours, I excused myself to go home and prepare for my 10-year law school reunion, which was later that night. It was much more fun than I imagined — I got to see tons of people I don’t see very often and even more whom I hadn’t seen since law school. And best of all, some of us ended up at karaoke.
Sunday was the D’Artagnan Duckathlon — a food-related competition of sorts where teams of four, most of which are from restaurants, participate in a bunch of mini-events — everything from racing around Hogs & Heifers in flippers to guessing the weight of a suckling pig. We certainly weren’t the most experienced or competitive team in the running, but, shockingly, we won the ham-identifying event. Our prize? Each of us got an enormous Jamon de Bayonne and a bottle of white bordeaux. Anyone out there have a deli slicer? Thanks again to John B., Emilia, and Joe for being such good sports.
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Signs of a Good Day?
I’m still keeping my fingers crossed, but it seems like a good start when the A.M. NY guy outside the West 4th Street subway station (from whom I’ve never taken a paper) tells me I look fantastic today. Plus, this morning brought my first iced coffee of the season. Hey – it’s the little things in life that keep you going.
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Down on the Farm
Had a great weekend, but for some reason I’m feeling like I could use one more day off. John B. came over on Friday night and was supposed to help me devour some lobsters, but alas, we had some "crustacean frustration" (a term coined by John) — the lobsters, which were supposed to be sent to me for a Gothamist gig, never arrived. Fortunately, Matt let us crash his Spanish dinner party. We brought over some wine and the ingredients for Tia Pol’s fried chickpeas and we were good to go. Saturday I hit the greenmarket and got my first ramps of the season, then whipped up a super-farm-friendly brunch for Christopher, who was visiting from London. The eggs, purple potatoes, creme fraiche, and milk for the coffee were all from my CSA, and the ramps, chives, and Canadian bacon from Flying Pigs Farm were from the greenmarket. Spent the afternoon strolling and catching up with Eric, who I hadn’t seen since my birthday (pathetic, but true), then went off to the wilds of East Williamsburg to see my friend Catherine’s play, which was up on a rooftop overlooking the Manhattan skyline. Afterwards, we had dinner, including some fantastic mac and cheese, at Northern Kingdom, which I recommend if you’re ever way out in Williamsburg. I’m not talking about the Bedford Stop — this is more like the Montrose stop. I don’t think I’d ever made it out that far before. Today I went for a run and then took a trip up to Blue Hill at Stone Barns with Rob, Sara and Jimmy today and had an amazing lunch and stroll around the farm. Thanks to Dad and Joan for subsidizing a good chunk of the meal (a gift certificate for Chanukah), to Jimmy for driving, and to Rob and Sara (and Jimmy) for being such great company, as always! You can find the rest of the pictures here.
