Sweet Blog o' Mine

Weekend Wrapup

An excellent and fairly well-balanced three day weekend, I'd say!  Friday night started with a quick stop at a birthday celebration for @Lincolnwrites, then on the Red Hook express for dinner at Fort Defiance with @livethelushlife @mysteryaction & @shotsandcuts before heading to Sunny's for Jill DeGroff's art show, where I met several folks in person I had only interacted with via email and got to catch up with a few folks I hadn't seen in a while, which was great.  After that was my first-ever live band karaoke!  Makes me miss being in a band.  Sort of.

Saturday was a relaxing day on the couch before heading out to Bill's for a dumpling-fest with John, Jimmy and Wallace -- we made three varieties of dumplings, all quite delicious, and finished off with Asian-flavor-inspired gelato and sorbettos from Il Laboratorio del Gelato.  The rest of the photos are here.

Sunday included a much-needed trip to the gym before the LUPEC NYC new member brunch, a surprise afternoon at Clover Club with Jordana (and Katie) in front of the fire, and a birthday dinner of squash soup, chicken liver pate, pork shoulder over polenta with roasted veggies, and a green salad with beautiful watermelon radishes at Jeanne's.  A lovely day/night in Brooklyn.

Monday I had lunch with Mom at Pearl Oyster Bar, saw Youth in Revolt with Rob Y., then home for a quiet domestic evening of mac & cheese and laundry before heading to bed at a decent hour in preparation for the busy week ahead.  Ahhh. 

Tidings of Comfort and Joy

I love getting holiday cards.  It's truly wonderful to see my friends families and how big their kids are getting -- it always brings a huge smile to my face.  I even used to send my own cards, although I don't think I've done that since law school, when I had much more time.  Last night, I got a card that made me laugh out loud.  It was a photo card from my friend Nikki, covered with photos from trips she had taken this year. The caption was what threw me over the edge, though: "Vacations I took while you were raising your kids."  That is one of many reasons why I love Nikki so much!

Chanukah Chuckles

(Pseudo alliteration intentional).  This set of Hanukah Stories from the New Yorker gave me a few laughs this morning, so I thought I'd share it as my Chanukah gift to you (I prefer the "Ch" spelling, personally).

The Calm Before the Storm

 
Happily enjoying a bit of space the other night before the crowd got to me.  Having the two drinks came in handy as I couldn't get anywhere near the bar (I had gotten it for a friend who I lost in the crowd).  Photo by the ever-amazing Daniel Krieger (and it looks much better on his site, so go look!).

Wintry Weekend Wrapup

A weekend of friends, meeting new people, family, food, fun, a solid workout, and quality couch time. After the super-busy week, I stayed in on Friday night to recover, then up early on Saturday for a long and much-needed workout.  Saturday was First Saturday brunch with the beach house ladies at DuMont, followed by lingering at Walter Foods for much of the late afternoon/early evening, full of great conversation, hearty laughter, and meeting new people along the way.  Sunday started with Mexican brunch with Mom & Stephen (mmm, chilaquiles!), then a wine tasting at City Winery.  Before dinner, I made some delicious butternut squash soup -- mirepoix with a touch of chili flake, roasted squash, duck/chix stock, pureed and finished with a drop each of heavy cream and sherry (looking forward to it for lunch today!).  Finally, dinner with Rob at Maialino.  And now, facing Monday morning.  Sigh.

Busy Week Ahead

Just thinking about it is already making me tired!  Tonight's my one quiet day (and I plan on spending a significant chunk of time at the gym), but other than that, there's work, work events, social events, workouts, a class and a fundraiser.  Are we sure I can't sleep a few more hours this morning?

If You Can't Take the Heat

No matter how tiny it is, everyone wants to be in the kitchen!  Here's the whole Thanksgiving crew in my Manhattan kitchen (for outside-NYC comparison, it's roughly the size of a large closet).  The menu turned out great (the stuffing was a personal favorite) and the leftovers are delicious.

Weekend Wrapup

- Joe's Pizza with Ryan

- Two workouts

- Greenmarket in the sunshine

- Carbonara with Jenn D.

- Wine tasting with Tamara (thanks Zach!)

- Beer Stew at Katie's with lots of friends

- TV night - Next Iron Chef & Mad Men

- Smiles all around.

Oops

Meant to post this yesterday. Happy belated Halloween and good luck to all the marathoners!!

Catching Up and Slowing Down

As is my typical pattern, after running myself ragged for the past few weeks I'm now paying the price with a hacking cough and a fever.  That said, it was worth it.  I had an amazing weekend at the Mates reunion (more on that to come), and one of the highlights of last week was a visit to the Astor Center by Chicago's Hot Doug's -- Bill and I had pigs in blankets, a perfect Chicago Dog, a Foie Gras and Sauternes Duck Sausage with Truffle Aioli, Foie Gras Mousse and Sel Gris, and duck fat fries.  Delicious. More pictures here.

Unfortunately, I have a stupidly busy week.  Here's to hoping that one day working from home will do the trick to get me back to 100%.