Birthday Month: Part 3

We've reached the end of my birthday month, and I have to say
that it went out with a bang.  Our weekend in Charleston
was amazing, so much good food, beautiful places, and
tasty drinks.  We stayed at the Elliot House Inn, which is a cute
little hotel that ended up being right next to Husk-which
is where we went for my birthday dinner!

We used the hotel bikes to see a lot of the city very quickly,
and with that southern humidity it was nice to have a little
bit of a breeze on you.


We had our first drinks at the Gin Joint,
we caught their happy hour and, it was the
perfect start to vacation.



















We had our first meal at the Ordinary,
and we had that magical moment
when the food is just mind-blowing.
No exaggeration. Seriously.
Eat-this-with-your-eyes-closed-savor-
every-bite kind of good.

The two standouts were the fried oysters
with beef tartare.



















and the swordfish schnitzel with zucchini
and chanterelles.  But the buttery-ness
oh the buttery-ness!!! This made me want
to cry it was so good.

The next day we rode our bikes down to the battery
with a Big Dipper sandwich from Groucho's

then made our way to my most favorite place in
the whole city: The Pineapple Fountain.



















I got right in.




















What better place to be on your birthday than
one of your most favorite places of all time?
After our afternoon ride we dressed for dinner
and headed over to Bin 152 for some delicious
champagne and 2 cheeses.  Next was the big birthday
feast at Husk. The food was so delicious but so
rich,I felt like I was going to explode by the end of the meal!



 For an appetizer the husband ordered hand cut pasta
with house pancetta, chanterelles, english peas, poached
egg, buttered with Husk manchego

I ordered the wood fired TN veal marrow bones with
pickled Edisto fig "jam" and chive biscuits.
*Sidenote: 3 pieces of marrow is a lot!

This was our wine, a lovely Cru Beaujolais.
It was exactly what I wanted.

For entrees the husband ordered Cornmeal crusted
NC catfish with fried cabbage "chow chow", lady peas,
peppers, onions, and tomato gravy

I ordered the Tanglewood Farms pheasant with chanterelles
(I really love chanterelles), woodfired peach and eggplant, and
pickled green tomato-peach relish

We also got a "side" of cornbread with Benton's
bacon in it.  So good, but so rich. We barely put a
dent in this.















And finally a candle in the lemon curd/blackberry trifle




















Easily, one of the best birthday's I've ever had.
The next 2 days we continued to ride our bikes all
over town.  We brunched at the Grocery, meandered
through the alleyways and former rum-running areas
of the city.  Ate banana pudding, had more drinks at
Husk's bar, lunched at the Hominy Grill on our last
day and still managed to eat a 1/2 dozen oysters and a
1/2 pound of lowcountry shrimp about an hour before we
left for the airport.

It was great to be down there again, and to create a whole
new set of memories with the husband.  We can't wait to
go back :)

Untitled

"Be not the slave of your own past.  Plunge

into the sublime seas, dive deep, and swim far, so

shall you come back with self-respect, with new 

power, with an advanced experience that shall explain

and overlook the old" -Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1838

I was going to write a long post about my 20's, 

but I think that this quote says it all.  

Birthday Month: part 2

Last Sunday was another great day with the husband.

We went to see Monkey: Journey to the West, which was

amazing.  Music by Damon Albarn, animation by Jamie Hewlett-

it's got a little bit of everything: contortionists, kung-fu, opera, 

plate spinners, electronic music, buddhism-it really is a whirlwind

of a show.  It was also my first time seeing something at 

Lincoln Center, so I was extra excited. 

It's always fun to visit different parts of the city, 

we are almost never on the west side.  That also means

seeing different subway art.  I especially liked

the mosaics at the Lincoln Center 1 stop

After the show we headed down to familiar territory
for a mini crawl, the only rule was that we had to go to
places that we had never been before.

We started at Desnuda, which I had definitely heard
of before but wasn't really sure what the deal was.
It was the perfect first spot, it had a bit of a
cuban vibe-no tables just a long bar with about
16 seats.  They had a fun wine list with only
South American and Spanish producers.
I had a chard-gewurtz blend from Uruguay
and the husband had a glass of Vinho Verde Rose.

We got there just in time for dollar oysters, so the husband
quickly ordered a half dozen.  While he enjoyed them I
scarfed down the fresh popcorn that had been sprayed with
truffle oil



















then came the tiger prawn ceviche, it was perfectly
spicy with tons of flavor. Ceviche is one
of our favs, it's really the ideal summertime food.

After this we wandered over to Porsena.  This is a place
that has been on my radar for so long, and I happened
to see that they were doing taco specials on Sunday-
but by the time we got there we both agreed that pasta
(which is what they are known for) sounded much
better to us.

For drinks I had the Txakolina, which is a slightly fizzy,
refreshing white from the Basque region in Spain, and the
husband had a Ciliegiolo Rose from Liguria-the Italian Riviera.

















We started with crostini topped with
mozzarella and bottarga. I was a little
nervous about the bottarga-which is cured fish
roe- but it ended up just being rich, salty,
and delicious.  Can you really go wrong with
crostini??



















Next was the Pasta al Ragu, which we assumed
would be in a red sauce but were surprised to find
that it was just the most tender and juicy pork
ragu you could imagine, sans tomatoes
















Next stop was the Gin Palace.
Great interior, awesome drinks, we
will definitely be visiting again















Then came the intermission, one drink at ABC Beer Co















We finished off this epic crawl at Alder.  It's Wylie
Dufresne's newest place and the husband actually spotted
him when we were there!



















We shared the sea scallops with hush puppies and
kimchi puree



















and for dessert had the cheesecake stuffed cherries





















Both were so satisfying.
For drinks I had the Red Zepplin:
Gin, Sumac, Strawberry, Tonic.
The husband had a German pinot
noir rose from von Buhl.

After that it was time to head home.
I feel like the luckiest lady in the whole
wide world.  The husband has made this birthday
month so magical, I'm so thankful for him
it's almost hard to put into words.

I should also note that 7 years ago today
the husband and I had our first kiss, and
that was the beginning of us.

Greenmarket Finds

This week is a meal plan week, and for once
I actually kept to my actual shopping list!
There were a few things that I needed that they
didn't have but I was pleased to find
eggplant, plums, and what might be the last
of the cherries.















*whole milk
*greek yogurt
*2 fillets of pollock (not pictured)
*loaf of sourdough
*cherries
*sugar plums
*4 mini eggplants
*beets
*3 ears of corn
*2 tomatoes
*1 shallot
*mint
*3 peaches
*lettuce
*swiss chard
*blueberries

Anticipation

We leave for Charleston in exactly one week.
I was going to write a Latest Obsessions post
today but I really only have one obsession
right now and it's this trip.

I went to the College of Charleston
for 1 year, from the fall of 2004 to
the spring of 2005.  I felt like I was
stuck in a rut living in NJ and I knew
that I needed an immediate change.
So I found the College of Charleston,
applied, was accepted, and moved down
in August.

I immediately was faced with what I had known
all along, that I didn't want to live there-
I wanted to live in New York.  But looking back,
this was a necessary stepping stone on my path
to the big city.  So I spent the year down there,
loving the town but never really feeling a part of it.
At the time I felt extremely lonely and slightly lost.
But in hindsight, I went out more than I thought I did,
I had a small social group, and was having the most
amazing art experience ever. (though I wouldn't realize
that until I started classes at Pratt)
I have nothing but good memories from my time there,
and I think about the city so often because it played such
a big part in the transition period that it one's early 20's.

So now the husband and I will be going down, and it makes
me so emotional just thinking about it.  About being able
to show him a place that is so special to me, and being there
-in the place where I felt my loneliest- with the person who I am
spending the rest of my life with.  It's overwhelmingly exciting.
It will also be interesting to see how the city has changed,
I have been down there twice since I left CofC, but I feel like
the real renaissance is happening right now.  We've got
a reservation at Husk for my actual birthday, and we're
planning on checking out the Ordinary as well.  I'm sure
I'll have a massive post about all of it once we return.

Recipe of the Week

I love this weather.
Everyone complains about it, but I'm
in my element. I like heat, and I can even
tolerate humidity better than the average person.
But it does make me want to eat/make frozen
treats all the time.

So, if you need to cool it now
then I suggest making this mega refreshing
mint chocolate swirl ice cream.

The recipe can be found here
and really the only change that I made
was the amount of sugar, I probably put in a
quarter cup total.  I also scraped a vanilla
bean pod into the custard (as seen below) I think
it gives it a little something extra.

I'm also going to stress getting high quality dairy
for this.  Not ultra pasturized, not homogenized,
full fat and raw if possible. (For all my Jersey/Philly friends
that may read this, you can buy raw dairy at the
Reading Terminal)  Trust me, you want full fat
because it means better flavor.
















It's not going to be electric green-and that's a good thing.
But the mint packs an extremely refreshing punch and
definitely tastes fresher than any mint ice cream I've
ever had.

I don't think that mine looks as beautiful as David's does,
but it was my first batch and as long as it tastes good,
    I'm happy.  The husband and I have been snacking
on it pretty frequently, and it is a great way to beat the heat.

A Weekend Away

Last weekend we celebrated my cousin Rachel's wedding,
had a family birthday dinner at Bistrot la Minette,
partied at Dave and Buster's, hung out by the inflatable pool, grilled out
and had a big family dinner, and then the Chambers children
piled in the van and went to the Custard Shack.
(Which I still love doing after all these years)

The wedding was at Normandy Farms, and we were
lucky enough to get a room with a fireplace!
Thankfully it was chilly and rainy so we took
full advantage




















Joel trying to wink, or as he calls it
"the shady eye"

The gals and I at Dave and Buster's

This pool was great, would it have been nice to float around at
the same time? yes. But you gotta take what you can get
in the summer.

It was the kind of weekend that you wish would never end.

Birthday Month: Part 1

There are certain years when I stretch the festivities
of a single birthday into an entire month.  Since this
year will be my 30th Birthday, the celebration has definitely
been extended.  Thankfully, the husband indulges me in
this and has even planned different surprises throughout
the month.

The first was a sunset beer cruise with our dear friends from
Alphabet City Beer Co.   It was amazing, dreamy, and
romantic.  There is something so calming about being out
on the water and seeing the city from the outside.
We were also down in the Financial District, which
we are almost never in.  It was a reminder of how
big the city actually is, and why tourist areas
should always be avoided in NYC.

This was our sailboat, it was built in the 1920's
and at one time had F. Scott Fitzgerald (and probably
Zelda, too) as a passenger.

 We sailed out near Staten Island and got to see
lightning in the Jersey distance, thankfully it
never came our way.  The sun had set by the time we
got closer to the city and as we pulled back into
the marina, "New York, New York" was blasting
and it was kind of perfect.  Doing things like this
only deepens my love for this city.

I love the husband so much for putting all of this
together and indulging my weird love for celebrating
my birthday. He continues to be the best.