Sweet Blog O'Mine

Category: Fun

  • Whew

    It’s been another too-busy week, so tonight is my designated night in.  Of course, I have no food in the house, and am trying to save up some money for my vacation, so I get to play pantry chef — what do I have in the pantry that I can toss together and eat?  Looks like it’s going to be a variation of pasta all’ amatricana — tomatoes, bacon, onions, some crushed red pepper.  Not bad, if I do say so myself.

    The weekend was a bit of a whirlwind — starting with a Thursday night visit to Otto with folks from the beach house, the late arrival of my weekend visitor, a fantastic dinner Friday night at Strip House, a beautifully plated, delicious brunch cooked just for me, the Romare Bearden exhibit at the Whitney, a (sadly) rather mediocre dinner at John’s Pizza, a party in a spectacular duplex, brunch in Brooklyn with my Dad, stepmom, brother and sister, several naps, and rounded out with another visit to Otto to celebrate Augie & Lauren’s return from their honeymoon.

    124_2418_r1With no rest, I started the work week with dinner with Dad at Union Square Cafe on Monday, led my self-defense class graduation/open house on Tuesday, and just returned today from a day-long meeting in Albany. 

    One of the many highlights of the weekend was our dinner at Strip House, where Rene and his staff gave us the royal treatment.  I had never been before, and was very impressed — my filet was perfect, and I swooned over the goose fat potatoes with their crisy, flavorful crust.  How can you go wrong with goose fat, really?  And I had more foie gras that night than I have had in the past two years combined: the seared foie gras with peaches and green tomatoes followed by the foie gras meatball.  Rene rounded out the evening by sending out a piece of chocolate cake the size of my head — we had some difficulty determining whether it was twelve or fourteen layers, but regardless, it was decadent.  Plus, we had leftovers to take home!  Thanks to all for a great weekend, and after some rest tonight, I’ll be ready for the rest of the week.

  • Ah . . . Fall

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    So last weekend was our 8th annual OJ, and like others before it, this one was filled with friends, food, wine, and junior high potty humor.  Unlike past years, however, we were in a super-duper-kickass house in Vermont, thanks to the hard work of our man Sco.  We all plan to chip in so that we can ultimately buy it. 

    Highlights included:

  • Leg of lamb stuffed with wild mushrooms and greens and "OJ Potatoes" by John (and his assistants, for when he was, um, indisposed)
  • Delicious desserts by Doug, including deep dish apple pie with a cheddar crumb crust, strawberry struessel cake, and pumpkin spice cake shaped like a pumpkin123_2391_r1
  • Squash risotto adapted from this dreamy fall recipe (in veggie and decidedly non-veggie, i.e., with bacon, versions) by yours truly (thanks to Katie from the beach house for this one)
  • bacon with just about every meal
  • wine, wine, and more wine
  • soup, soup, and more soup
  • beautiful foliage
  • punkins!
  • "look at the pretty!"
  • "Lever 2000 Fuckface – ask for it by name"
    and, of course,
    "P.S. — doody." 

    You can find the pictures here.


  • And We’re Off!

    Off to the woods for our 8th (?) annual OJ — the October soJourn, this year to VT. I’m sure I’ll return with scads of pictures, several tasty recipes, and tons of nauseatingly-gushy-sweet things to say about how amazing my friends are. For a preview, read last year’s entry.

  • Welcome to the Working Week*

    123_2371_r1Back from a completely relaxing weekend in Kismet. Not as many pictures, or as many people as last time, but once again, I am so happy that I got a chance to escape a bit this weekend. I even got in a beach day — yes, the weather cooperated enough for us to have a beach day in October. Fantastic. I met a new batch of people, who were all interesting, smart, fun, and had a shared passion for food. We had several amazing feasts, including a squash, chestnut, bacon and sage risotto that was perfect for fall, and a leg of lamb, infused with garlic, thyme, and rosemary, done on the rotisserie (damn, I need one of those), and talked everything from politics to our first music purchases (for the record, my first two 45’s were “I Will Survive” and “We Are Family“). Strangely enough, the five of us had a number of “NYC small world” coincidences, including sharing former employers, knowing various people in common, and being kick-ass Scrabble players. Oh wait, that wasn’t me. Argh. Note to self — must improve vocabulary before next Scrabble tournament.

    Thanks to John for being an extraordinarily welcoming host — for giving me a ride and letting me stray in, even as an “outsider,” and he gets extra bonus points for introducing me to my new favorite cocktail, the sidecar, which I believe is long overdue for a comeback. It was wonderful to meet you as well, Jenn, Jay & Katie — hope to meet up with you soon, perhaps at my neighborhood joint.

    You can see the photos here. I particularly like the fact that I was able to capture one of the alien deer that lurk about the island (yes, I know it’s the flash, but humor me, dammit):

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    * A tribute, of course, to my boy Elvis. Costello, that is.

  • Amalga-Love and Smooches

    122_2275As usual, I’m a little too tired to do much else, but I wanted to post the pictures from the Mates’ 20th anniversary gala weekend. The Mates, or Amalgamates, is the Tufts coed a cappella singing group, in which I was not only a member, but president and business manager as well, not to mention president of the AAA — the Amalgamates Alumni Association. Or — as a friend of mine said earlier tonight — I was queen of the dorks. The Mates meant and continue to mean so much to me, as the speech I wrote for the occasion details in full. I can’t imagine you’d really want to read it if you’re not a Mate, but I just wanted to post it for posterity’s sake.

    You can find the pictures here.

  • A Wine Club Society Wedding

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    The founder of our wine club society, Augie and his lovely fiancée Lauren got married last night. In typical wine club society fashion, the food and wine were amazing, the mood was festive, and we had way too much of a good time until the wee hours of the morning. Augie and Lauren are another couple who seem like such a perfect fit for each other, they complement each other wonderfully, and they have made it a point to bring people together to share the things they love. I’m touched and honored to have been part of the celebration and am thankful that we have become so close over the past year. Congratulations!

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    You can see the rest of the pictures here.

  • Gettting So Much Better*

    So after I survived the trials and tribulations of the first portion of the weekend, I had nowhere to go but up. And up it went. I spent Saturday with my friend Jenn. We attempted to meet up with the Run Against Bush event in Union Square, but somehow managed to miss it, as we were running a bit late. We couldn’t quite figure out how we couldn’t seem to find a pack of people wearing identical blue t-shirts who were supposed to be running conspicuously from Union Square to Washington Square Park. After changing, we ended up going shopping and diiscussing men. We were talking about our financial situation, and we concluded that the whole thing is somewhat of a vicious cycle — we spend money on clothes we like so that we feel confident and attract men, but this leaves us broke, and if we don’t spend the money, we don’t attract them. We realized, of course, that this is merely a way to rationalize purchasing any given item. Jenn encouraged me to buy girly-girl clothes (when left to my own devices, I tend to buy lots of black and hang out in jeans, tshirts and hoodies). More on that later.

    That night we went to a dinner party, hosted by our mutual friend Jeff, who was in town from upstate. After fresh pasta with delectable homemade pesto (loved the addition of the sun-dried tomatoes, Jeff), salad with feta cheese, olives, and a healthy dose of red wine, Jeff proceeded to go around the room and compliment each of us. He had brought together his friends from different facets of his life, and took great joy in having us meet each other. Taking the time to go around the room and highlighting what he likes about each of us was pleasantly eye-opening; it made me realize how rarely we take time to let our friends know what we love about them. We should do more of this as a general rule. So to all of my friends out there, you rock! Anyway, after the feel-good-fest, we were off to Winnie’s for some solid dive bar karaoke. And speaking of friends, at Winnie’s I ran into Dan, a friend of my friend Gaby, and through the magic of Dodgeball, my friends Matthew and Manhattan Transfer stopped by too. A good time was had by all, at least until we closed down the place and they kicked us out. Thanks to Jeff (pictured below) for a fine meal, good company, and a solid evening of revelry at Winnie’s.

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    The next day, after a brief recovery, I met up with my mom, to catch up and do a few errands before we headed off to foodie at a gallery downtown. This foodie was a six-country culinary tour, with stops in Mexico, India, Italy, France, Portugal, and the local tri-state area. I’ve put up the pictures (from both nights), but not sure I have the energy for a write-up right now. All in all, it was a good time, and a special thanks to mom for treating me! My attempts to go home and go to bed after foodie were futile, and we ended up at ‘inoteca for some more wine and snacks. And as an aside, if you haven’t had their chicken liver, you must go have some. Immediately. On my way out, my friend David introduced me to the two women he had been chatting up at the bar. They complimented me on my outfit — lo and behold, it consisted primarily of the girly-girl clothes that Jenn had convinced me to buy the day before. Okay, you were right — that stuff does look good on me, so thanks, Jenn!

    Off to bed now, but I did want to note that tomorrow night I’m going to my first food event where I am using my Gothamist Food press credentials, Harvest in the Square. I get to check in at the press table and everything! Ok, must calm down. I’m sounding like a dork again here . . .

    * A tribute to the Beatles’ Getting Better

  • Recovery

    Yes, it’s Saturday night and I’m home. Alone. Blogging. Granted I had dinner with my brother, but I am happy to have some time to myself on the couch. Last night ended up much later than I had intended, and I have work to do before heading off to DC for work tomorrow afternoon, but I wanted to post some pictures before I left. First, the pictures from Maine. And below, some highlights from last night’s festivities:

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  • Blog-o-riffic!

    Last night was one of those multi-event social evenings, but this one had a blog theme going. First a food blogger gathering at in Vino in the East Village (on a side note — if you haven’t been there yet, go. Friendly, helpful staff, and solid, classic antipasti), organized by the delightful Vittles Vamp. Also in attendance were Jeremy of Frost Street and GirlyNYC (all three are my partners in crime at Gothamist Food), Lockhart Steele, and Matt of Bourrez Votre Visage. It was such a pleasure to eat and drink with other foodie types and to meet the folks I hadn’t yet met in person. Thanks again to the Vamp for putting the evening together.

    Next, GirlyNYC and I moved on to our second stop of the evening — the PlanetGordon party, where I got to hang with the famous groom (and bride) and a portion of my Tufts posse. After a brief bit of mixing and mingling, we moved on to the Magician, with Jake and Rion in tow. The bar was full of so many blog-type-folks that it would be futile even to make an attempt to mention them all. I also ran into a fellow AIDS-rider, who I hadn’t seen in a while, there for an unrelated event. I think there were three separate blog or web-related events going on there all at the same time. Not sure why the Magician has become such a blog-centric hangout, but the bartender (who wasn’t Lulu) was sure happy to have us packing the place.

    And of course, all along the way, we kept checking in to Dodgeball, and I even got a personal thanks from the founder (who was at the Magician with everyone else) for being such a loyal user.

    Tonight is Soundtracks Live: Sixteen Candles (being taped for VH1, apparently), and tomorrow are various and sundry parties, so the Maine pictures may not make it up till the weekend, when I have five minutes to breathe . . .

  • A Bicycle Built for Two

    I just returned from a weekend in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin, at the wedding of my dear friends Doug and Leora. Doug I have known for about a decade at this point, and it was several years ago while training for our second AIDS Ride that we both had the pleasure of meeting Leora. It has always been clear that they were a good fit for each other, particularly when he brought her to OJ for the first time to meet our group of college friends. We’re a little hard to bust into from the outside, and I’ve always known that the right guy for me will be one who would fit in at OJ, our annual fall getaway weekend — if he didn’t like the weekend, or my friends, or if my friends didn’t like him, he would be out. I know Doug felt the same way, so when Leora blended in seamlessly, it was like a seal of approval. Training for another ride the following year, I got to know Leora even better as we chatted away the miles (she and I ride about the same pace; Doug’s somewhat faster), and to develop a friendship with her beyond just as “Doug’s girlfriend.”

    Joining them to celebrate their wedding was a reaffirmation of my initial impressions of their relationship — they fit perfectly together, and it was such a treat to take part in a wedding that truly celebrated this fit, filled with love, laughter, joy, friends, family and tears. Congratulations to both of you — enjoy the next leg of the ride.

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    You can see the rest of the pictures here, and read PlanetGordon for the backstory on the wedding.