Sweet Blog O'Mine

Category: Food and Drink

  • Meat Coma

    Southsidemeat

    Recovering from today’s Big Apple BBQ Block Party — so much for yesterday’s run!  Had a great weekend in addition to the meatfest — dinner at Pacifico on Friday night with Jenn D., the long run, a trip to the airport to say hello to Jennie, who was on her way from Jamaica to Maine, sneaker shopping with Bill, a nap, and evening festivities with Rob Y. and Joe, including Jodi’s roofdeck soiree and a late night trip to Blue Ribbon for oysters, steak tartare, marrow bones, cava and great company.  If only the weekend were a day or two longer . . .

  • Extra Toasty Pine Nut Action

    Bill_at_the_grill

    Had a great inaugural weekend at the beach, with a gorgeous beach day on Saturday, a delicious lamb dinner, and great company.  Thanks to Rob, Bill and Sam for joining me!  The "extra toasty pine nut action" refers to a conversation we had about the toasted pine nuts that I put in my spinach salad one night; Matt greatly appreciated them, and it’s possible that it might end up as someone’s theoretical online dating profile headline (or so he threatened).  The pictures are here — not that many this time around.

  • Pork Butt Rules!

    Porkbuttrules

    Yes, I’m still recovering from Seattle and everything I ate/drank there.  Didn’t stop me and some other brave souls from heading to Momofuku Ssam Bar for the Bo Ssam and more.  And now starts the detox/serious triathlon training. 

  • 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.

  • 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. 

  • 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.

  • 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.

    Jamon

    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.

  • Down on the Farm

    Bluehillfish

    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.

    Bluehillducks

  • Weekend Wrapup

    Friday was a great day.  Not only was it gorgeous out, but I was back on solid food.  I relished every bite of my first meal of the day — a half of a whole wheat bagel, plain yogurt, blueberries, and some sliced pineapple — certainly not exciting, but man, was it good.  And don’t even get me started on the coffee.  Ahh.  I tried to go easy, sticking to a salad for lunch, but by dinnertime I was ready for more.  I ended up at Mercadito Grove with Matt B., Dave & Lauren and couldn’t have been happier.  In addition to the great company, I thoroughly enjoyed every single thing I ate.  The spices seemed more vibrant and the textures — the crunch of a tortilla chip, the creaminess of guacamole, the viscosity of an oyster — leapt out in every bite. 

    I woke up Saturday and went on an invigorating run — the first long outdoor run of the season.  Afterwards, I headed up to Matt R. and Alexia’s wedding brunch at their gorgeous apartment on the Upper East Side, where I got to catch up with some work folks and congratulate the happy couple on their nupitals.  Following brunch, I headed back to Union Square to hit the farmer’s market (for produce) and Paragon (for triathlon gear).  After much deliberation, I ended up with a sports bra that seems supportive enough to run in and comfortable enough to swim in, and some tri-specific shorts.  I’ve already made peace with the fact that I’m not going to win any fashion awards at this thing, so I might as well be comfortable.  Saturday night I headed out to Brooklyn for a wine dinner featuring selections from the $10 and under table at Smith & Vine (given the weather, I went straight for the rose), where I got to catch up with Jenn, Emilia, Viv, Anj, and Jules. 

    Sunday I slept a bit late, cooked up a tortilla espanola with my potatoes and eggs from the CSA (which will be my breakfast all week), then did a few errands outside before having a picnic lunch from Caracas Arepa Bar.  By the time 6pm rolled around, I really didn’t feel like going inside for my hip-hop class, but I’m glad I did — it was a blast.  Not only did I work up a serious sweat, but I worked out some major tension — how could you be tense when you’re dancing around like an idiot?  Back home for a veggie stir fry and a little tidying up before bed.

  • And Visions of Sugarplums Danced in Their Heads

    Day three.  Still alive.  Fantasizing about sushi, lobster rolls from Pearl, the blue cheese burger and chicken liver toasts I had at the Spotted Pig on Sunday night and prosecco.  Not to mention an enormous cup of coffee.  Reaffirmed my dislike of celery, which is in half of the 6 juices I have been drinking each day (never quite got past that one).  Looking forward to chewing.