Sweet Blog O'Mine

Category: Food and Drink

  • Wicked Huge Lobstah!

    Larger than Life Lobster

    I figured since I’ve been so lame about blogging lately, the least I could do was give you a good picture.  I was up in Maine this weekend with the family, and after my irritating trip up (which I’ll expound upon some other time), I had a relaxing weekend, and enjoyed an amazing lobster roll at Scales in the Portland Public Market — butter, lemon, lobster.  End of story.  Chip was winding down his fall foliage tour and met me in Portland, so we drove back to NYC together.  After talking up Rein’s Deli, as we hungrily turned into Vernon, CT, we discovered that the power had gone out in the town, so Rein’s was closed.  Still hungry, we almost ended up at a Taco Bell (it would have only been my second exposure to a Taco Bell), but at the last minute, spotted Little Mark’s BBQ.  Ribs, sweet potato fries, pickles, cole slaw, and birch beer weren’t the best I’d ever had, but infinitely better than anything we could’ve gotten at Taco Bell, that’s for damn sure.  Chip was also kind enough to get me Julie & Julia, which I recently wrote about on Gothamist.  Very psyched about that — thanks, Chip!

    More on tonight’s activities, featuring a vodka tour with the author of The Vodka Cookbook, later this week on Gothamist.

  • From the Ashes of Chickenbone Cafe

    FattycrabI only went to Chickenbone Cafe once before it met its early demise, but thoroughly enjoyed it.  My only other exposure ot the genius of Zak Pelaccio has been tastings at various food events — I haven’t yet made it to 5 Ninth.  But here’s my advice to you:  Go to the Fatty Crab, and bring friends.  Do not pass go, do not collect $200.  Head straight for the slow roasted pork ribs, the chili crab, the Lo Si Fun noodles with chinese sausage and mushrooms, and the sweet roti for dessert.  You’ll be glad you did, I promise. 

  • Not So Hot

    Hot Stuff

    The pattern continues:  run myself ragged, catch the plague, rinse, and repeat.  I started to feel a little crummy on Thursday night, but went to bed early.  After a successful inagural pro bono breakfast for the new associates bright and early Friday morning, I made it until mid-afternoon, when the nose-blowing became too disgusting for the office, and the chills began.  I picked up key provisions on the way home (Chinese noodle soup, Puffs with lotion, Airborne, and three DVD’s worth of Six Feet Under), and took to the couch.  Thankfully, I still had Jenn’s copy of the new Harry Potter to keep me company as well.  I made it out briefly Saturday for my first Pilates session, and wandered through the farmers market (where I took the picture above), but retreated back to the couch and dozed on and off for the rest of the day.  I did manage to make it out to dinner at ‘inoteca with Matt, Romy, and the Lovely Miss Katie, followed by a drink at Otto with Rob, Luke and Nic.  Sunday was a bit better, but I’m definitely not up to full speed yet. 

  • Real Men Do Yoga

    I don’t ordinarily blog about work — it could have negative repercussions.  But today, I’m making an exception.  A portion of the floor on which I work at the new job is under construction, and I am fortunate enough to have the construction less than 50 yards away from my office.  The gaping hole that will eventually become the hallway leading to a shiny new section of offices is currently blocked off by a plastic tarp and some duct tape, which means that not only can I hear pounding, drilling, sawing and hammering, but every single conversation the construction workers have.  Now, I’ve never seen these guys, but I imagine them to be fairly large, muscular or somewhat hearty guys, and many of them have fairly thick New York accents.  So the other day, they were talking about their workout routines.  "Yeah.  You should lose some weight"  "Well, I already dropped 45 pounds"  "Yeah, but you should lose some more."  "Well, I go to the gym.  My wife’s got me going to a kickboxing class."  "That’s good, but you should do yoga."  "Yoga?"  "Yeah — I been doin’ it for a year now.  Check out how flexible I am."  Pause. "Wow — that’s from yoga?"  "Yeah, yeah.  It’s good stuff.  You need to be all flexible."  "Yeah."   The images in my head were hysterical.

    A quick recap of the past few days — dinner Saturday night with Chip at Una Pizza Napoletana (which always kicks ass) followed by drinks at Blue Ribbon Bakery to visit Jim at his place of business (I told him he could visit me at my place of business anytime, but it might not be as much fun).  We were met there by the Lovely Miss Katie, Elisa, and others, and we capped off the night at the Stoned Crow — a great neighborhood dive.  Sunday I finally spent some quality time with Erika as we walked through Central Park, talked about life, the universe, and everything, then visited Michelle to see the new arrival.  Sunday night I was almost ready for bed when I received a text message from Augie asking me to join him at Otto for a toast in honor of his and Lauren’s one year wedding anniversary.  How could I say no?  Monday I saw Matty Z in his debut poetry reading (which was great, by the way), and tonight I joined my Mom and Joe at TONY’s Eat Out ’05 (the photos are here — not one of my better batches).  Off to bed before an early morning meeting.  Despite my best intentions to slow things down to 33 1/3, the gerbil wheel keeps on spinning at 45.

  • Nothin’ Gonna Break My Stride*

    Somehow the rest of the week absolutely flew by.  Work has been super-busy, which is great, but my hours are creeping later and later.  Had dinner with some of the beach house ladies at Mercadito Grove Wednesday night, and yesterday was a whirlwind — an offsite meeting for a chunk of the day, running around the firm introducing myself to new associates, a party for Pro Bono Net, honoring our past director and co-founder Michael as he moves on to a new adventure and celebrating the new beginning with Mark at the helm, a brief stop at the Eater launch party at Bungalow 8 (the first, and likely the last time I’ll ever set foot in Bungalow 8), then catching up with Sara over tacos at La Esquina.  In the middle of it all I ran into my friend Andrew from law school — he and Michelle just had a new addition to the family, so please join me in wishing them all the best — mazel tov!  Tonight is dinner family-style as I check out my sister’s new digs uptown.  I’m very ready for the weekend, when hopefully I’ll have a tiny bit of downtime.  Whew.

    * Anyone know the artist for this one?  I didn’t until I looked it up . . .

  • Fall Ahead

    Kismet lighthouse

    I spent my last "official" weekend out in Kismet this past weekend.  I was actually happy that the house was quieter than usual — a perfect pace to wind down and truly enjoy every ray of sun, each grain of sand, and the welcoming waves mellowed by the presence of the full moon.  I couldn’t have asked for a better conclusion to a great summer.  I won’t even get into the food, except to say that the fried turkey and deep fried oreos were even better this time around than they were Memorial Day weekend (having the proper equipment helps).  I didn’t take many pictures, and certainly couldn’t capture the gorgeous red moon that was so huge and perfectly illuminated that it looked like part of a stage set, but a few pictures are up on flickr for your enjoyment.

    I’m now starting to gear up for fall — shopping for warmer clothes, welcoming the incoming class of associates at work, and generally feeling like I should go out and buy school supplies, even though I totally don’t need them.  As I mentioned, I truly want to slow down a bit this fall and take more time for myself, as I feel somewhat overloaded, but this week is already lining up to be a doozy.  My one mandatory staying-in night was just displaced by the Katrina benefit concert, and then I’m booked solid with social engagements for the rest of the week.  I’m looking forward to all of them, but between work, writing, and my social calendar, there is no real down time.  That said, I’m off to read some Harry Potter and go to sleep so I can get an early start in the morning.

    PS — for those of you who haven’t been getting your email updates, I think it’s fixed now.  Bloglet never tells me when there’s a problem . . .

  • Dating Yourself

    Friends often tell tell me I date a lot, which I think is weird and not entirely accurate.  I suppose it depends on your definition of the word "date."  I was at a barbecue this weekend (hosted by Stephen to celebrate Joanna’s birthday) and was comparing my dating history this past year with a friend’s.  She was recalling how, for her, this past spring was a dry spell.  "I dated myself," she said.  She then went on to make jokes about how she always called when she said she would, and that it was all fine and good until she cheated on herself, but I started to think a bit about the times when the dates aren’t there — when there’s nobody in the bullpen™* and the most important person in your life is, well, you.  I started to realize that, so far this year, I have been running myself ragged, and now that the circumstances are what they are, it might not be a bad idea to date myself — to give myself that extra special care that I need, be it in the form of extra sleep, a weekly Pilates class, healthy eating, and/or enough down time to avoid being in a constant state of stress.  So at the moment, I’m dating myself, and damn it — I’m one hot date.

    As for the rest of my weekend, Friday night I finally got to enjoy a meal at Gusto — looking forward to going back soon.  The Lovely Miss Katie, her college roommate and I shared the frito misto de pesce which included small softshell crabs, a grilled focaccia with figs and prociutto, artichoke ravioli in a sinful butter sauce, and polpettini — petite meatballs in a hearty tomato sauce.  Dessert was a light and tart lemon panna cotta and, strangely enough, I can’t remember the second dessert — except that it was good.  How very unlike me.  After Saturday’s barbecue (where Doug and Leora stopped by for a bit), I headed to Jenn & Carolyn’s for a party and enjoyed yet another Brooklyn backyard.  Very jealous of that, I tell ya.  Ended up at ‘inoteca quite late with Roopa and Anj, which made Sunday a bit mellow.  Thanks to the Brooklyners for their hospitality and to all others for the great company.

    *trademarked by the Lovely Miss Katie, who is her own date this week at a yoga retreat.

  • L’Chaim*

    Theboil_1Although it had been planned since the beginning of the summer, if not longer, there was something somewhat bittersweet about having a shrimp boil out at the beach this weekend.  It made me very sad in some ways, as I thought about the loss of the rich culinary culture of the New Orleans but so grateful in others, as I realized that I was surrounded with great people about whom I care a great deal.  I am very, very lucky, and although each one of us gets wrapped up in our own personal problems — the stress of a job search, the trials and tribulations of dating, health issues, death of loved ones — a tragedy like Hurricane Katrina really puts everything into perspective.  I’m happy to be alive and living the life I have.  The rest of the pictures from the weekend are here. 

    * Once again, proving that I’m a bad jew, using a Jewish toast in a post about a boil that included at least two separate and distinct types of traif — shrimp and sausage.

  • A Full Belly

    Well if I don’t have the energy to write a Gothamist column tonight, the least I can do is write something over here.  I’m feeling a little sluggish after the ribs and pulled pork at Blues, BBQ and Fireworks (lunch) and macaroni and cheese (dinner), but at least I went to the gym beforehand.  Thanks to all who joined in the feasting today — Katie, Rob, Augie, Lauren, Alvin, Debbie, Chip, and Jenn. 

    The rest of the weekend involved a few trips to the outer boroughs.  After a terrific dinner at Galanga (my new favorite neighborhood Thai joint) with my aunt, bro & sis, I went off to Park Slope to drink sangria in Kim’s new backyard, which was quite lovely.  We finished up with a glass or two of wine at Total Wine Bar.  Saturday I hit the farmers market in Union Square for the most luscious, ripe and fragrant berries and melon — blueberries, strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, and a cantaloupe — then Whole Foods for my favorite Greek yogurt to go with.  I’m all set for breakfast this week, that’s for sure!  Then I was off to Brooklyn again for dinner at D.O.C. Wine Bar followed by performance art (dance, video, music, and whatnot) at Galapagos, followed by a trip back to Manhattan to Otto, where we wished my friend David all the best before he shipped off to Iraq today.  More on that later, but I think we gave him a perfect send-off.  And now, off to bed with a full belly, and up early to get rid of it at the gym.

    On a totally unrelated side note, Life of Illusion by Joe Walsh and Heat of the Moment by Asia have both been stuck in my head since I heard them in the soundtrack for The 40-Year-Old Virgin last week.  Can’t wait for that sucker to be up on iTunes.

  • Ahh . . .

    I had a perfectly calm and relaxing night last night.  Leftovers from my Wednesday night cooking class (an international street food course, taught by the fine gentleman who taught my pig-roasting class and who will be joining me on the Vendy Awards judging panel), a stack of mail to sort through, a load of laundry, and crappy movies on TV.  Just what the doctor ordered.  And now back to our regularly scheduled craziness.