Broadway East

It's taken me a little while to write about Saturday night at Broadway East. It was kind of a whirlwind of flavors and entertainment but in a really good way. We devoured everything vegetarian in all its glory: samosas, a salmon burger, and croquettes in this great metropolisy bar in the back of the restaurant before heading up stairs to see Oh Land. The artist of the exhibition has the most breathtakingly beautiful girlfriend who performed in back of a booth filled room. All of her Swedish minions tagged along and were equally as beautifully. I'm so fascinated with Stockholm and want to find a way to go- who is in?

Boulder or bust

I'm back in Boulder for the week.

Happy Thanksgiving!

TGI- Twilight

That's right folks...I'm 12 for today. I scrambled to buy Twilight tickets for tonight's show and I just wish this day would hurry up and be 10:20 already.

I know it's a busy time of year but the series of 4 books around 600 pages each is totally worth being a winter hermit. Dooooo it.

It's so Lady and the Tramp...but not

There's no spaghetti or meatballs but the single pizzas and lasagna are always to my liking in this little Greenwich village caffe. The best part is, is that you can enjoy the great outdoors by not being outdoors, if you catch my drift... It's great for any occasion and the service is usually exceptional except for the cranky manager who was screaming at the bartender in training right in front of us. This happened a long time ago and I had almost blocked it out of my memory until it percolated into my psyche just this moment! All in all, I like eating there but I don't think I'd ever accept a job with this business.

Miller's Long Island Ale House

We took Lex to Ale House for a belated birthday party after the Liberty Science Center. I'm not a sports bar kinda gal but this is the BEST wing spot I've ever encountered. Even though Ale House resides in Weirdville we had the friendliest most efficient waitress who genuinely liked us...for us. Not an ounce of NYC pretentious. If I had a car I'd go back often with no hesitation and make sure to wear my Elway jersey. The bottomless fountain soda, wings, cheese fries, nachos, and captain jack ice cream cake will keep me happily full for a week.

Liberty Science Center

If you can get your hands on any sort of car and want to transport back to 5th grade go here. We took Lex on a birthday rendez-vous to Ale House (her favorite wing spot ever) and had the most fun filled 3 hours of our lives at the Liberty Science Center. We watched "Prehistoric Sea Monsters" in the IMAX dome (the largest IMAX in the world) and meandered through different interactive exhibits. One employee asked us if we were in Highschool due to my stellar spelling capabilities. Ha! We were having so much fun that Kim felt a little overwhelmed at one point and needed time to regroup.

Homemade Gnocci with brown butter sage sauce

Yesterday was an indoor movie watching don't-go-outside kinda day. I had a wild ambitious hair to make homemade gnocchi. It was much easier than I thought and turned out pretty darn delicious.

Recipe for gnocchi:
2 Ibs. russet potatoes boiled for 45 minutes then peel
1/4 cup beaten egg
3/4 cup flour

knead it all together and roll out into long doughy snakes. Divide into 1 inch pieces and press with a fork. Ready to boil. Once they float to the top they're done unless you take the next step and quickly sear them (I did and worth it).

Sage Sauce:

3 Tablespoons Earth Balance olive oil spread
1 garlic clove chopped up
1/2 onion
as much fresh sage as you desire...I added 10-15 leaves
7 sliced shitake mushrooms
cherry tomatoes sliced in half
saute and simmer 15 minutes

Quote of the day

I'm reading Ernest Hemingway's A Moveable Feast and came across this great quote I'd like to share:
"They say the seeds of what we will do are in all of us, but it always seemed to me that in those who make jokes in life the seeds are covered with better soil and with a higher grade of manure."

Abistro- Supper for Jenn

We swept Jenn off of her feet to Fort Greene for her birthday dinner at Abistro. The wait was long for my grumbling stomach but it did not matter because we were served wine outside to hush our impatience. I have never been anywhere in NYC that allows this, I hope the restaurant does not put an to it if it becomes some sort of moral conundrum because it's FANTASTIC. Because there were seven of us we ordered every single appetizer: the plantain fried gnocchi, araka (fish fritters), macaroni and cheese (better than smack), grilled calamari and coconut plantains in coconut oil with maple syrup. Our waitress B was sweet, sharp, articulate and one of the best waitresses I've ever had. For my main course I had a heaping bowl of spicy sweet potato soup and empanadas. I love Fort Greene and I love Abistro. We laughed, we sang, we stuffed ourselves and made some friends along the way.

Fiore

1) Homemade pasta mmmm.

2) Huge servings easy to share.

3) Cheap! Cheap! Cheap!

4) Friendly and knowledgeable bartender Lilly gave us the perfect recommendation of wine for the meal.

Cons:

1) Waitress kept filling our wine each time it was half empty and our bottle was gone before our meal came (I'm a big girl I can fill my own glass thanks).

2) Waitress kept coming over and interrupting our conversation when we obviously were not ready to order nor had questions.

3) Waitress made us feel rushed.

4) I think Fiore should dump the waitress.

Puppy in the house

I'm a born again American with new hope. On November 5, the day after the election, bitter, jaded New Yorkers walked on clouds clicking their heels and high-fiving throughout the trains.

A new chapter has begun and I feel a huge sense of accomplishment, we all deserve a pat on the back!

I voted!

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/04/us/politics/04guide.html?hp

VOTE!

Lucky #7

In between Bat Mitzvah planing, I took a pit stop at Zabars coffee next to the the infamous Zabars market. It is the quintessential hub for many residents of New York. While peacefully reading my book I could not help but eaves drop on a conversation next to me between two men in their seventies. The volume of their voices kept raising so everybody was obviously eavesdropping. Man #1 was insisting and quite flummoxed that EVERYBODY'S lucky number is 7, duh! The other guy was insisting that he was wrong because his was 89 (he's lived on 89th street for 30 years and "you can always find what you need on 89th street.") The conversation heated up until everybody at the long communal table said their lucky numbers aloud. Mine happens to be 7 and another girls happened to be 7! Man #1 left with a happy content smile on his face. I left with a happy smile on my face and rejuvenated for the second half of my day. Go to Zabars.

A constructive yet not so advantageous day.

Happy Day Light Savings! Today was a delicious Autumn Day and perfect for roaming the streets of New York. Lex and I, bright eyed and bushy tailed, headed up to Central Park to check out the new Chanel monument. Sadly we could not get in because it is sold out FOREVER (no joke). The polite security guard confided that we weren't really missing out on the art on the inside that the building itself is the most intriguing aspect. After traipsing around the monument we wandered over to the finish line of the NYC Marathon. Hooray!
Lex being a designer and all wanted to checkout the Museum of Arts and Design so we eagerly walked over not realizing that we would hit some major foot traffic on the way there. By the time we arrived the stairs were closed and the polite attendant told us people were "angry" because of the lines for the elevator so she did not suggest paying for admission. Thanks I appreciate it and I will definitely be back. I'm no architect so I would love an explanation about the architectural significance of the structure. Of course we had to take a trip through the gift shop and I give it two thumbs up and I left with this orange monster place mat!