Sweet Blog o' Mine

Just Ducky

the Mother Duckers

Had another fantastic time competing in the annual D'Artagnan Duckathlon. No jambon this year, but we managed to win the olive-oil tasting event, which landed us some olive oil from Fig & Olive, black truffle oil, white truffle oil, and the jackpot -- a log of black truffle butter. Woo hoo! Thanks again to Emila, John and Frank for being excellent teammates and to D'Artagnan for including the Gothamist team for our fourth year in a row. The rest of the photos are here.

Weekend Wrapup

Let's see, where to start.  Friday night I went to a concert put on by middle school students from a set of city charter schools.  We provide pro bono legal services to the parents of one of the schools, and I've got to say, it was so wonderful to see these kids play in the orchestra knowing that some of their families are dealing with a whole host of legal issues that could potentially have an impact on their education.  It feels great to know that our lawyers are helping out.  After the show, I hit the couch hard, and as a result I was up very early Saturday morning.  I took advantage of this odd occurrence and read the paper, then went for a swim.  Afterwards, it was on to a haircut (looks good if I don't say so myself), then Mom, Stephen, and the Lovely Miss Katie came over for some snacks, prosecco, and some home improvement.  Thanks to Stephen, I now have a new light fixture in the bathroom, a shelf and a towel bar -- they look fantastic (thanks again, Stephen!).  Afterwards I met up with Rob Y. for a movie, My Blueberry Nights, which, despite having some great Jude Law eye candy, was sort of mediocre.  Cute, but mediocre. 

Sunday brought a last minute brunch with Matt and his harem, then off to Whole Foods to shop for Sunday night's dinner -- an Asian-inspired feast.  I started off with Japanese rice snacks, edamame and roasted nori to snack on, then a spicy Thai eggplant salad, followed by sesame soba noodles.  The main course was a fish with black bean and garlic sauce and sides of sesame asparagus and steamed rice.  For dessert, I made a ginger ice cream with crystallized ginger.   The recipes that weren't from Epicurious were all from the Moosewood Cookbook (a.k.a. "the cult," per Gabe).  Major thanks to Jimmy for being a fabulous sous chef and co-conspirator.

So, on the Cure front, I'm a little behind.  Only cooked a few times this week (but Sunday should count for more than one meal, I think), and didn't do so much on my list.  Although I sold my TV cabinet, the TV hasn't yet found a home -- I should probably wait a little while before I buy the new one anyway.  Maybe this weekend I can carve out some time for purging some clothing and files and begin the long process of getting all of my CD's onto iTunes. 

In case you missed it, Chip forwarded along a great article from Slate entitled "How economics and game theory explain the shortage of available, appealing men," in response to my Mapquest post.   An interesting theory . . .

Good News/Bad News

The good news: I got a much-coveted reservation at Ko for next week.

The bad news: My apartment is going to be a half-painted, tarp filled, barely inhabitable disaster over the weekend (but not really that bad -- I've got offers for places to stay -- will be taking you all up on them!  And also -- will have a fantastic, freshly-painted apartment early next week.  Will celebrate by dining at Ko).

For the Record

I was in Barnes & Noble this morning and, in fact, the cafe is co-branded with Starbucks -- something like "serving Starbucks beverages," and the Starbucks logo.  So perhaps I'm not losing it after all.  At least not in this particular instance.

Things That Made Me Giggle More Than They Should

1) The thought of naming a daschund "uni panini" (after the sandwich at El Quinto Pino, which I have yet to try).

2) The similarity between Match.com profile headlines and the descriptions of the sakes at Decibel:  "round & superbly balanced," "elegant & smooth," "extremely dry with mellowness and richness."

And We're Off . . .

to D.C. for the annual pro bono extravaganza and some socializing -- mostly work related, but I'm sure I'll manage to squeak in some non-work fun as well between the conference, the business dinners, and the Justice Ginsburg reception.  On a side note, after seeing Jim White tonight courtesy of Ryan (thanks, Ryan!), I met up with Jimmy for a drink at Gottino.  We really enjoyed the surroundings, the wine, and the menu -- I'll definitely be back!  And to help you enjoy the week, a little fun from our friends at the Onion: 60% of the Federal Budget is Wasted on Eating Out (at least I'm not the only one).

Hamming it Up

Am finally unveiling and diving into the Jambon de Bayonne I won at the Duckathlon -- will let you know how it is (once I come out of my pork-induced coma).  Am thrilled to have my fridge space back.

Sunday Dinners

As I might have mentioned, I have been hosting small dinners on Sunday nights every so often.  I must say, tonight's recipes turned out pretty well and they were very simple, so I'll share:

Roast Pork Loin with Garlic and Rosemary
Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Mushrooms and Shallots

I thought I might have leftover pork for a sandwich tomorrow but someone (cough, Ben, cough) seemed to like it quite a bit.  No leftovers to be found.  I was trying to keep it on the healthy side, so no cheese, and baked apples for dessert.  I'll be posting other Sunday dinner recipes here and possibly on Gothamist in the not too distant future.  Speaking of healthy, I finally made it to the pool today -- swam for a half-hour and it felt great.  More to come.

Yum

I've had quite a tasty weekend.  I forgot how much I adore Frankie's Sputino -- Jenn D. and I had a delicious dinner there on Friday night.  And if you're boroughphobic, you can go to the one on Clinton Street.  Today I brought popcorn sprinkled with Old Bay as a treat for me and David at the movies -- if you haven't tried it, I highly recommend it.  Finally, dinner tonight is a lamb stew with white beans from Marcella Hazan followed by some homemade mocha chip ice cream.  I haven't yet tasted the finished stew, but the little tastes along the way have been very promising, and the ice cream is pretty damn outrageous, if I don't say so myself.  The rest of the weekend was sort of lazy -- I didn't swim today as planned -- but I did spent some quality time at the gym yesterday at least.  And tomorrow, it's back to year end reporting.  Woo hoo!

Thank You, Peter Meehan

For articulating in print what I thought about Bacaro when I went there -- great room, not great food.  I'll take Peasant any day.