Christmas miracle

Today, in an office raffle, I won a tub of Ben & Jerry's ice cream (chocolate fudge brownie). I really, really deserved this.

Independence, from played-out holiday traditions

Oooo, it looks like good things are about to happen here!

Last night, I bought a bunch of beef, anticipating the desire to cook up burgers for the Fourth. I ended up making tacos, anticipating having plenty of meat leftover for burgers, and that tacos are delicious. I was right 2 out of 3 fronts. When today (the fourth of july) rolled around, all I could think about were those damn tacos! So yeah, I made more tacos in honor of fireworks day. Hope everyone is having a happy holiday weekend, even if you settled for lame ole burgers.

This is how you know you're a grown-up...

My Easter dinner consisted of a Pauline roll, spring rolls, Diet Dr. Pepper and a Cadbury Egg. Oh, and I got it delivered.

happy birthday!

a veryyyyyy happy birthday to our precipitation-eating spfer, casey!!!!!!!!

happy birthday casey!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

March forth to dinner

I'd like to bring everyone together to celebrate food, friendship, and me! Let's all go to dinner for my birthday! I'm thinking sushi, so everyone chime in with your fave place, and what night is best for you (maybe next friday or saturday?). See ya somewhere, pals!

valentine's day!

hope all SPFers had a great valentines day! mine was spent having dinner at 11pm in great neck... luckily dinner was delicious fondue from simply fondue. i somehow neglected to capture the delicious pepper jack fondue, but here are some pictures of the other courses!





i love fondue!

Night Flight

photo courtesy of erika pal illustration

I hope everyone had a good Valentine's day; I did. We went to Vol de Nuit, a Belgian beer lounge in the west village (on w 4th just east of 6th avenue). During a lovely sunday afternoon spent wandering the streets of lower manhattan, we stumbled upon this gem and decided it warranted a special occassion visit.

You have to walk through a sort of alley/courtyard deal to get to the entrance of Vol de Nuit, which imediately gives it a foreign feel (or at least makes it that much easier to pretend that you aren't in new york for a couple of hours). The first thing I thought upon entering was I want to live here. It is just a realy cool, comfortable space. It's pretty dark, with distressed walls and exposed ceiling beams that have old cobwebby lanterns hanging off of them. There are a few tables when you first walk in, next to the windows that look out onto the small courtyard area; which, if i lived here, would make a nice foyer. Then you walk up a couple of steps into the main space where there are some couches and tall tables before you get to the bar. Across from the bar in the back, there's a nook with a large communal table, where I would put my bed. Here the windows look out onto that basketball court on 6th, so basically on all sides you are insulated from the city somehow.

We sat at one of the front tables, where they served us from a menu with a fine selection of beers on tap. The beer comes in what I'm guessing are appropriate kinds of big, fun glasses which I always enjoy. But we were not there merely to imbibe. Rest assured, SPFers, Vol de Nuit offers a dining experience not soon to be forgotten. Moules et Frites is a traditional Belgian snack, and I wouldn't mind if it turned into my traditional Saturday night dinner. They served the mussels in a large pot, floating in an oniony sea of brine. The fries came in a paper cone, served alongside ketchup (lame), mayo (gross), and our choice of dipping sauce (Aioli garlic). I realize the sauce is probably predominantly mayonnaise, but if we could all just not talk about it, that would be great. While the sauce selection here is smaller than at Pommes Frites, I personally liked the fries better. They were less potatoey: more fried and salty, how I like my fries.

As if all of this weren't perfect enough, there is also a little bonus bar across the courtyard. This feels more like a wine bar, but it seems to have the full selection of food and drink available. Either no one else knows about the annex, or they don't prefer its (aptly dubbed by j) industrial gothic decor, but we practically had the place to ourselves. The small lounge upstairs was totally empty, and the ideal place to have our final drink as we digested. This is the one location that provides an actual view of the city streets, preparing us for the outside world once again.

I really love this place. Oh and if I lived there, I would obviously keep the bar in place. And you guys could all live in baby bar and we could hang out in the courtyard and that would be great.

What I Ate

And we're back! I hope everyone had a lovely holiday and as delicious of a dinner as this ish:
There were 22 people at my Christmas dinner, and I am related to all but 2 of them. The seating arrangement was a complicated matter, and needless to say I sat at the children's table (and was the youngest one there at that).

I did not cook or clean anything.

My Plate:

Christmas in Pictures

This is in no way representative of my holiday food consumption...this is just a little sampler platter, my friends...

Free dessert cups at Brio... Best. Day. Ever.

"Pollo Gorgonzola"

"Casareccia Pasta tossed with Chopped Spinach, Sun-Dried Tomatoes and Pine Nuts in Gorgonzola Cream Sauce topped with Grilled Chicken Breast."

Above description directly from the Marconi's Italian menu at
www.marconisitalian.com

Dad's famous scrambled eggs, finished (above) and in process (below).

Homemade chocolate martinis, complete with roaring fire.

Happy Holidays!!

Abortion Christmas

No, No, No, I don't eat human veal...not even placenta. However, my Christmas this year was a series of aborted plans that was only interrupted by one of the better bagels I've ever had. I wasn't sure whether or not this should just be a comment in the bagel post or put a new one, but I realized the place itself was awesome enough that it deserves it's own post. La Bagel is at 263 1st Ave, just a few blocks about 14th street for all you 'L'ers out there. It's a kosher joint (special kosher sink and all) that has delicious latkes, bagels, herring in cream, etc. The bagel's were a bit pricey (3.00 for cream cheese, 3.5 for most of the flavored cream cheeses, 4.50 for lox spread) but they were made so lovingly who could mind? I had the scallion cream cheese and Z had the lox spread. Both were delicious. The scallions were clearly fresh and there were good sized chunks in it. The Bagel was perfectly toasted to keep the cheese warm but without being too crispy. It was sweet, doughy, heaven.

As they were closing up (it was almost 4:00 PM on christmas) the owner came out and started making hilarious jokes, many at the expense of the patrons of his place who were indecisive about what they wanted to order. I don't want it to seem like he's an ass, though, they were all very caring and good natured (e.g. "look lady, the only challah bread that's better than ours is God's okay?). He more or less immediatly made me want to be a regular. Props to anyone who can make me want to be a regular at their overpriced joint in 5 min. or less. Also, there is a huge banner in the background that says "Pizza made with ". I like signs that I can only read half of and get to make up with the other half says.

Anyway, if you ever want to spend $3+ on a bagel, I wouldn't recommend any other place i've been to more. If you want Challah bread and God is out of town go there, and if you don't want to make latkes (Z made some AMAZING ones the other night holy crap!) buy them here.