Sweet Blog O'Mine

Category: Food and Drink

  • Crawfish!



    Gotta love it when you smell a crawfish boil halfway down the block and stumble upon this in the doorway of Royal Grocery in the French Quarter.  I didn’t eat any this time around because we had just come from lunch at Acme Oyster House (finally! oysters on the half shell + soft shell crab po’ boy = yumilicious!), but even though we spent less than 24 hours in New Orleans, we ate well.  In addition to eating at Herbsaint, I also finally made it to Mother’s for breakfast — "debris" on a biscuit.  I couldn’t resist.  Debris, for those who don’t know (I didn’t until about two days ago), is the pieces of roast beef that fall off into the gravy while cooking.  Breakfast of champions.

    Ana’s wedding was lovely, although it made me realize how we don’t spend nearly enough time together back here in New York.  We’re going to work on remedying that.

    Getting ready for the next trip — Philly on Wednesday.

  • Dreaming of Truffles and a Clean Apartment

    I didn’t take any pictures at the Gothamist/Slice pizza party at Fornino last night because I was too busy enjoying the outstanding truffle pizza — a white pie with mozzarella and fontina cheeses, generously topped with shaved black truffles and garlicky truffle oil. Thinking about it still makes me drool.  Check out Flickr for others’ pictures.  This morning I left my apartment in the capable hands of Brenda from Zen Home Cleaning — I can’t wait to see the results when I get home tonight after Chinatown dinner with the siblings — probabaly Vietnamese at Nha Trang.

    UPDATE: seem to have caught the plague so stayed home and had a hot date with a bowl of soup, puffs with lotion and Airborne.  But — all the better to enjoy my super-clean apartment!!!

  • Whirlwind

    Sorry for the dead air around here — I’ve just been very busy.  Will fill in the details later, but highlights include:

    And now, a few days of vegetarian detox are in order.

  • Apparently It’s Time . . .

    for me to move to Brooklyn.  Why?  Because in one evening between the hours of 7 and 10:30, I not only got to see the folks I came out there to see — Jonathan, Jen and a sleeping Oscar and Doug and Leora, but I ran into not one but two people I know.  First Rich, who I bumped into as he was coming out of a store on 5th Avenue, and then Todd, when he and his girlfriend were seated next to us at Franny’s (which was quite tasty, for the record).

    Well, I’m not making any major life decisions today and my lease doesn’t run out until October or thereabouts, so for now, at least, I’m staying put.

    Except that I’m off to DC until Saturday night for my annual pro bono pilgrimage, although this is the first year that I am actually staying at the hotel that the conference is in rather than with my friend Christopher (who I’ll be seeing in NY on Sunday when he’s visiting, so it’s okay).

  • Catching Up Yet Again

    Things I have not yet written about that I did last week (among other things that I did but may likely not write about because they are too boring) with extremely brief commentary:

    • ate at Little Giant (scrumptious, get the brussels sprouts, as they’re merely an excuse to eat spoonsful of butter and maple syrup disguised as vegetables) with Rob, Lauren, and Elisabeth, a co-worker who is set on eating at 52 new restaurants in 6 months.  I am hoping to tag along.
    • saw Barefoot in the Park with Mark (eh — cute, but not great)
    • took a kickboxing class (loved it — excellent for stress relief and cardio)
    • ate at Del Posto with Elisabeth (two new ones in a week!) and Maura (Mario at an ultra-luxurious level; excellent pasta and a space so big you can hardly believe it’s in New York)
    • got a haircut to cure the mid-winter blahs
    • saw The Pajama Game with Mom (go see it — it’s a classic, old-school style musical.  I will now have "Hernando’s Hideaway" stuck in my head for a week. Ole!)

  • Catching Up Again

    Time to catch up, but first of all, if you haven’t said hello yet, please do — I’m truly enjoying everyone’s comments!

    Let’s see.  Last week I went to a press party at Xing and it was like food blogger central — Augie came with me and I met Ben from Eater, the guys from NYC Nosh, and schmoozed with two of the guys from Thrillist (not exactly a food blog, and not exactly a blog, but fun guys regardless).  My pictures didn’t come out that well, unfortunately — I put a few on flickr but the rest kind of suck.

    Thursday was a night in and Friday I went to dinner at Lavagna, a cozy Italian restaurant in the East Village, with my stepmom, aunt, cousin, sister and brother.  I think my favorite dishes that evening were the seared scallops agrodolce with pancetta over parsnip puree and the papardelle with rabbit ragu.  Afterwards, I met up with Jen, Carolyn, and ultimately Emilia — we started at Perbacco, but it was so crowded that we ended up at Otto (big shock there).  Of course Jon and David were there, but I exercised a bit of restraint in not joining them as they went to Reservoir for their next stop of the evening.

    Saturday morning I met up with Hallie for spin class and then headed home to receive my Fresh Direct order (love, love, love the convenience) and pack for my "trip."  My V-Day present was a Brooklyn day — a night at B&B on the Park and reservations for dinner at The Grocery (we had the chef’s tasting menu — more on that later).  Although it seems somewhat laughable for two Manhattanites to vacation for a night in Brooklyn, it was really the perfect getaway.

    Sunday I met up with Kim, John B., Matty Z., Chip, April, Monique, Jenn & Scott for ice skating in Prospect Park.  Sadly, I remember being much better at ice skating that I am now — at first I chalked it up to my rental skates, which seemed to have blades duller than a plastic butter knife, but even after swapping skates, I was pretty lame.  Someday I’d like to try on some freshly sharpened skates and see how I do because I swear I used to be able to skate backwards and whatnot without fear of mortal peril.  It seems the ground is much farther away these days.  We ended up back at Kim’s for hot mulled cider and watched the olympics — I think I got my fill of ice dancing for the next decade, thank you very much.  Finally, I headed home to watch last week’s Grey’s Anatomy that Mark had ever-so-kindly taped for me.  I am such a sap that it actually made me cry.  Oy.

    Today’s excitement includes paying bills, doing laundry, cleaning up, and heading in to the office for a few hours just to catch up.  Sounds fun, right?

  • When Pigs Fly

    2006_02_foodtrufflepigs

    I love this picture of the pig animal crackers and truffles from the Applewood Meet the Farmer dinner I went to with Katie last week where we got to meet Mike and Jen from Flying PIgs Farm.

    Also filed under the category of when pigs fly . . . Despite my past history in the V-Day department, I’ve got a date tonight.  With someone who asked me to be his valentine.  I accepted. Yes, you heard me right — you can pick your jaw up off the floor now.

    Happy V-Day everyone, and don’t forget to spread the love.

  • Cheesy Poofs and Billy Joel

    Sometimes I take a moment in the middle of what I’m doing to realize how incredibly lucky I am.  I had several moments like this over the past few days.  First, what was going to be an ordinary night (gym, home, bed) ended up with a lovely dinner with Rob at Bar Carrera (If you haven’t yet made it there, it’s worth a trip).  Comfortable and inviting despite its awkward space with a great 80’s centric soundtrack, Bar Carerra serves up tapas in style — my favorites that night were the shrimp & chorizo followed by the pate with truffled mushrooms.  Yum.  After a bit of Dodgeballing with Kim and some dessert negotiations with Rob, we headed to Otto for gelato where we met up with Nic, David, and ulimately Kim.  We ended up making a pit stop at ‘ino for nutella panini and dessert wine before landing squarely at Mas (farmhouse) for late-night carousing.  Now Mas has a legendary late-night menu, offering everything from oysters & steak tartare to short ribs.  We weren’t particularly hungry, but still made room for their gougeres, a.k.a. cheesy poofs.  Despite being a tad tired the next day, it was well worth it to spend time with good friends over food and wine.  At some point at Mas, I looked around the laughing, smiling faces at the table and took a moment to cherish it all.

    Saturday, after helping my sister buy some interview clothes, we met up with our brother, his girlfriend Sarah, our cousin Sara, and Bill’s friend Sebastian for dim sum at Golden Bridge.  Although we got there on the late side, we still managed to taste all kinds of steamed dumplings, some short ribs, and some Chinese broccoli with a drizzle of oyster sauce.  I’m looking forward to going back a little earlier at some point.  After paying the bill ($11 per person — woo hoo!), I realized again how lucky I am to have both my siblings and my cousin living in the same city for the first time in ages, even if we don’t see each other as often as we should.

    Finally, Mark and I went to see Billy Joel last night at Madison Square Garden — a belated and very thoughtful birthday present.  I don’t even recall mentioning to him the fact that I like Billy Joel except for one fairly brief conversation a while back .  Some may scoff at him, but as we sat there last night, I realized how rare it is to sit through a 2+ hour concert and literally know every song.  Sure, some I knew more than others, and some I liked more than others, but to be able to sing All for Leyna at the top of my lungs because the words are seared into my brain from childhood (Glass Houses was one of the first albums I owned) I realized anew what a great gift it was for me.  Thanks again, Mark.

    After the concert we went to ‘inoteca for dinner — a perfect cap to the evening.  We sat in the cozy warmth of the restaurant watching the snow swirl all around outside while we enjoyed our gamberetti with pancetta and truffled egg toast (someone was kind enough to let me dominate the ordering, it being a birthday celebration and all).  As we bundled back up and headed out for a cab, the city was covered in a tranquil blanket of white, (which I find so beautiful and peaceful every time it snows) and as we headed home, I soaked in the beauty of it all and took another moment. 

  • Ode to the Orange

    oranges

    Believe it or not it has been years since I’ve eaten and enjoyed an orange.  Why?  Well, many years ago, my grandpa Jules, who was once in the produce business, introduced me to clementines.  They were sweet, juicy, easy to peel, seedless, and absolutely delicious.  In contrast nine times out of ten, when I tried to eat an orange, I couldn’t peel it all the way, the pith leaving its bitterness behind, there were seeds to mess with, and the flavor just couldn’t compare.  I gave up on them.  Until yesterday.  I bought a navel orange to use the zest in a sour cream, orange, and cilantro garnish, and brought it to work today in a baggie.  It was stripped of its zest, and I really didn’t expect much.  Despite the bits of pith clinging to it, it was absolutely fantastic — tasted like pure, unadulterated summer, and not a seed in sight.  I bought three more on the way home from work today. 

  • Good Thing I Stayed in Friday


    Siberia Signage

    Because Saturday started early  with a gym date — spin and yoga with Kim — and then on to our "first Saturdays" brunch with the girls.  We get together for brunch on the first Saturday of each month (this was our third month), drink bloody marys, catch up, talk about boys, laugh our heads off, then head out for more of the same.  Yesterday we drank umpteen bottles of champagne at the Pink Pony after a delicious brunch at Essex and laughed so hard that a neighboring customer kept coming over to check in on us and see what was so funny. 

    After our 5 1/2 hour brunch, I had to take a nap before meeting Mark for his friend Rob’s birthday pub crawl.  Although we didn’t arrive in time for a drink at the Holland Bar, we were able to spend quality time at Siberia (where I found this awesome sign), Rudy’s, and Smith’s.  It made me look forward to John’s East Village Dive Bar Crawl, which I know is coming up sometime soon. 

    Today I slept late, cleaned house, did some laundry, and made a pot of black &   white chili from American Favorites for the super bowl.  I think I’m heading up to Augie & Lauren’s to watch, and in addition to the chili will be bringing this great-looking jalepeno popcorn my brother gave me as part of a gourmet gift bag.

    All in all, a great weekend.