or, as others have said, sacrilicious! My pig roast class write-up, Facing Our Food Fears, is up on Gothamist Food. Enjoy, but be warned — the photo gallery is not for the faint-of-heart.
Category: Food and Drink
-
Vacation, All I Ever Wanted . . .*
Today is my first official day of a two-week vacation. "Where are you going?" you might ask. "Nowhere," I’ll reply. It’s two weeks in NYC — time to do all those things I threaten to do all the time but never quite get around to as much as I’d like: go to museums, movies, possibly the Botanical Garden; and catch up on other things, like seeing friends, holiday shopping, home improvement projects, uploading photos, reading, and writing. I started off the vacation sleeping until 11:00 AM — staying out past 4 AM two nights this weekend apparently sapped some of my energy.
Friday started with Slice on Ice — this month’s Slice pizza club trip to Angelo’s on 57th Street, followed by ice skating at Wollman rink. Tien was fiddling with my camera settings, so many of my pictures are a little, uh, artsy, but I like the festive quality of this one:
Adam raffled off a few prizes, and although I didn’t win, I got my very own Slice button, which I love (Thanks, Adam!).
Due to some unfortunate Zamboni timing, I ended up opting out of skating, and heading to my friend Luke’s party. It was one of those parties where I didn’t know anyone except for the host, but he did a great job of introducing me around, and I met some very nice people and talked at length about some of my favorite topics: food, travel, and the bizzare nature of dating in NYC. Speaking of which — did everyone see the article in the NYT magazine about sex and blogging, Your Blog or Mine? More on that later, but it featured Deb from Smitten, one of my favorite reads. After the party (and this was about 2:30 AM), I got a Dodgeball message from my friend Scott. Last time I saw him, for his birthday pig roast, I had the beginning of the plague part 1, and we didn’t really get to catch up. So off I went to meet him.
Saturday, after sleeping quite late, I spent some time with my mom, and then went off to my cooking class at the Institute for Culinary Education. There will be much more on that later, as I’m writing up the experience for Gothamist Food. Let’s just say that it was a pork-filled blast. Then, on to Emily’s holiday party, where we stayed until she kicked us out at about 3:00 AM. Needless to say, yesterday was a bit of a wash, but I met my friend Eric and his family for a beautiful holiday concert at Riverside Church. I have to admit that I’ve always loved Christmas carols. (Pork and Christmas carols? Bad Jew! Oy.)
And now, vacation. Ahhhh. Well, it’s lovely except for the fact that NPR just told me that it feels like 1 degree out. Maybe I’ll stick with the home improvement projects today . . .
* A tribute to the Go-Go’s. Yes, I’m perpetually stuck in the eighties.
-
Back in the Game
The plague seems to have passed once again, hopefully for good this time. Made it to work yesterday, and even to our work holiday dinner. One more day and then I’m off for two weeks for a vacation right here in sunny NYC. But tonight, it’s Slice on Ice — the Slice Pizza Club trip to Angelo’s and then on to Wollman Rink, with the likes of Adam, Tien, Janelle, Youngna, and a few other folks I don’t know yet. Looking forward to it! -
It’s 4:30 pm — Time to Get off the Couch
I’m actually wrapping up this weekend before the weekend’s over, for a change. After a somewhat draining week at work, I stayed in Friday night, stopping briefly at Von Singh’s for dinner on the way home, then flopping on the couch watching The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring and knitting presents for my brother and my mom. Exciting, huh? Actually, it was perfect.
Saturday I made up for it, frantically cleaning up my apartment in time for brunch with the lovely ladies who blog. Now, I generally have a latke party every year, but this year I didn’t plan one, so I took brunch as an opportunity to make latkes, and to use the platter my friend Deb thoughtfully gave me last year (thanks to Nichelle for the photo). I was so much fun just catching up, eating, and gossiping, and we certainly missed the ladies who weren’t in attendance this time around.Next, on to a haircut, then off to dinner with my brother and stepmom at Angon on the Sixth, where I’ve wanted to go for a while, given all the raves on Chowhound. Unfortunately, I was so full from brunch I could barely eat, and the service was dreadful for some reason. I’d like to go back and give it another chance. After dinner, my brother came along with me to my friend Sara’s holiday party out in Fort Greene. We walked a route from the subway that was new to me, and I have to say that I really liked the neighborhood out there. The party was lovely, and we bonded with some very friendly folks over the varied and plentiful cheese selection. I impressed one party-goer, not to mention myself, by pulling out the name of a cheese that was there — an ubriaco. I had tried one in the past, and enjoyed it so much that I remembered it, and was able to identify it immediately. We talked food and cheese for a while, then headed back to Manhattan so I could get to my next stop, which was Jake‘s Chanukah party. Since it was a bit late, I ran into a few people I knew on their way out as I was on my way in, but stayed chatting with my friend Ethan for a while. Finally, we headed out, and I stopped in for a nightcap at Otto, knowing full well that someone I knew would be there. And, of course, Nic and Luke were at the bar.
Today is a pajama day — I had leftover latkes for brunch, and have been lazing around, reading the paper, chatting on the phone, and am going to head uptown in a bit with my friend Roopa for dinner at our friend David’s. He’s been threatening to have us over to his new place for a while, and I’m glad we finally managed to pull it together, so we can catch up and taste these chicken tacos he’s been telling us about all this time.
This week is my last full week of work before a much needed two week vacation. I can’t wait. But, have to make it through the week first. Wish me luck. Okay — I’m off hit the shower and get out of my pajamas. At 4:30 in the afternoon — nice job, lazy girl.
-
Thanks for the Link-Love
Just a shout-out to my boy Slice, who added me to his link list recently — want to make sure visitors from New York’s best pizza blog to feel at home, so I bring you two gorgeous specimens: the marinara and the bianca pizza’s from Una Pizza Napoletana, which I hit for the second time last night with Rob, Nic, David, and Mike. 
Una Pizza only serves one thing, classic, Neapolitan-style pizza, cooked in a wood-fired brick oven, and they offer four varieties, two of which I tasted on my first visit. Now that I’ve had them all, I have to say that my favorite is still the filetti (cherry tomatoes, buffalo mozzarella, garlic, olive oil, basil, and sea salt), followed by the marinara (San Marzano tomatoes, olive oil, oregano, garlic, basil, and sea salt), the bianca (buffalo mozzarella, olive oil, garlic, basil, sea salt), and then the margherita (San Marzano tomatoes, buffalo mozzarella, olive oil, basil, sea salt). Each of us ranked them slightly differently, which just illustrates the variety in palates that are floating around out there. If you haven’t been to Una Pizza (or to Slice, for that matter), you should go as soon as humanly possible.And on a non-pizza-related note, thanks to Hugh at Gaping Void for the recent link-love as well. NOTE: If you’ve come here looking for a picture of my tits, you’re not going to find one. Sorry.
-
ABC’s of my Weekend: Art, Burgers, and Crudo
I love how I’ve gotten into this ridiculous habit of "catching up" on my weekend activities sometime mid-week. I’ll throw in some of this week too, just as an extra added bonus.
After recovering from my cold among other things, I was ready for a fairly mellow weekend, so I started off with a visit to the new MoMa with Bill, Sarah, Katie, Romy, Carrie, and John. It’s free on Fridays — $20 is a tad pricy for a museum, even a newly-renovated one here in NYC — and although it was a little crowded, it’s a great way to unwind on a Friday night. We only got to see a fraction of the art, but the new building itself was worth the trip. But since I’m rarely in midtown, I was originally at a bit of a loss as to where to go for dinner afterwards, until it hit me — the Burger Joint in the Parker Meridien hotel. Made for a perfect high culture/low culture evening, and great for the budget.
The next day was my good friend Erika’s bridal shower. As she well knows, I am not much of a fan of bridal showers, for about a million reasons, so the fact that I went is a testament to how much her friendship means to me. But you can’t spend any quality time with a friend during a bridal shower, so we made plans to go out to dinner later that evening. She was so proud that she could take me to Bar Tonno — she had gone there before I did, and she knew it would impress her favorite foodie. And she was right. I’ll be reviewing it later tonight for Gothamist Food (I also wrote up the Burger Joint); not only was the crudo (sort of like Italian sushi) fresh and light, which balanced out the huge brunch we had eaten earlier, but we sat right by the sous chef, who had a great Australian accent, a nifty hairdo, and was flirting with me, to boot!Sunday I went with Mom, Rob and David to the 10th foodie — this time, a regional Italian tasting. As usual, a great time was had by all.
Last night I got to see a free advance screening of the Life Aquatic — it was fantastic — funny, heartwarming, quirky. Go see it when it opens this weekend. Tonight’s my designated night in — I was finally able to replace the DVD player that died in the night of the grand tofu-roach-DVD disaster, so I may watch a movie, but first, must eat the turkey pot pie that my dad thoughtfully made after Thanksgiving (it’s been hiding out in my freezer), and I’ve got a review to write, along with some additional posts. Turns out it’s been a shitty work week for some of my columnists (myself included), so I’ve got to do some extra stuff this week, which also explains my sporadic posting here. Sorry gang. And I won’t even go into how behind I am on posting pictures . . . Ack!
-
‘Tis the Season
Well, I made it through the double-header Thanksgiving, and I suddenly feel like the holiday season is upon me with a vengance. Holiday parties and events, shopping, making gifts (of both the knitted and chocolate varieties), putting together all the holiday tips for the doormen, and just my general busy social life — it’s a little overwhelming. This week, for example, I already have plans every single night — a birthday dinner (not mine), dinner plans (seafood, mmm), a restaurant opening, a work event and the first of the holiday parties, then Friday (free) night at the new MoMA. Whew. At the same time, I’m also trying to reorganize my finances and get a decent amount of sleep and exercise. Not sure I’ll succeed on all fronts.
Is anyone else starting to feel the onslaught of the holidays setting in, or is it just me?
-
Giving Thanks
I’m recovering from Thanksgiving, take one, with Mom’s side of the family today, and off for Thanksgiving, take two, with Dad’s side of the family tomorrow. Enjoy the weekend, everyone, and have a happy Thanksgiving!
-
Early to Bed, Early to Rise
That’s tonight’s motto. Although I didn’t overdo it at all this weekend, I’m feeling a cold coming on, and I do not want to be sick for Thanksgiving. That would be so like me — to get sick for my time off. So, I’m taking some preventative measures.
This weekend was great, and very social. I had about a dozen women over on Friday night for a fur-and-feather-themed cocktail party. I was a little concerned about space, so I didn’t invite quite as many people as I wanted to, but I think that I could certainly fit more in the next time, and it was such a success that is definitely going to be a next time! Everyone really enjoyed having a girls-only night, although when the conversation turned to Star Wars at one point, we realized how un-girly we were being. But being the non-girly girl that I am, that’s exactly why I get along so well with them. Saturday I went to a cocktail party at my Mom’s apartment, and got to spend some time with my family (prep for Thanksgiving) and then on to Tien’s party in Greenpoint. Today I made pancakes for brunch with Rob and then headed downtown for wine and cheese at Katie’s. And now — laundry and writing. All this sniffling is somewhat distracting, however, so I think I’m going to end up reading or watching TV with a cup of hot tea and then going to bed early, so I can work out in the morning. Wish me luck — I’m not good at going to bed early, no matter how much I want to. I can always find something to distract me . . .
-
Just for Fun
First, a fun article in the NYT about the perils of dating bloggers,something I have not yet done, courtesy of This Fish Needs A Bicycle (who has been on my Reads o’ Mine for ages). Second, yesterday was a great day, thanks to The Chocolate Show, D’Artagnan’s black truffle butter, some absolutely spectacular catfish tacos and tomatilla salsa that I made, wine club, and post-wine club festivities with fellow wine club folks, Joe, and Matt, among others. A special shout out to Rob, who spent a huge chuck of the day an evening with me, which was extra special because it was his birthday. For an old man (hardly) he certainly managed to stay out until the wee hours. Today? Much needed recovery.
