Monday, 5/26/25

 Bueno y Sano at Jay and Jodi's courtesy of Jason's parents. Sadly, my order got left out (and I wouldn't have felt right sending Joel back out for it), but between a piece of Jay's quesadilla and some beans and rice, I was fine. Early night, which was good because that was many, many days of socializing. Very fun but a little tiring.

Sunday, 5/25/25

 Mother's Day for me, a couple of weeks late. Carter and I went hiking in the morning, and then he bought me a bubble tea and some potato chips. Then Corrina and I went to Bombay Royale for dinner. I love that baby, but it's a treat to spend time with my girl. We shared a Dosa as big as a toddler's arm, some naan and an order of samosas, only to find that we were too full to eat much dinner (paneer Tikka for me, chicken tikka masala for Deem) but that meant plenty of leftovers. We walked around town a little and got some mochi doughnuts for dessert...they have a fun, bouncy texture. 

Saturday, 5/24/25

 Dinner with Jen and John...a Blue Apron with farro and chicken, some roasted asparagus, plus salmon with a makeshift fruit salsa (I just used whatever was around: a slightly sad mango, red bell pepper, tangerine, lime and shallots). I was a little scared of cooking that giant piece of fish (I rarely cook salmon) but it turned out fine. Jason made bread (per usual), and I made a banana cake (from Food 52 but I used a chocolate frosting recipe from Sally's Baking Addiction that made in the food processor to make it less fluffy and more fudge-like). The Blue Apron was great as always, and I was pleasantly surprised by the fish.

As an aside, for this month's pizza destination we tried Village Pizza up in Greenfield and we agreed that it was one of our best choices yet. It was as good as Frontier; my only tiny quibble was that they cut the pie into squares and I really prefer triangles. But if I was up that way I would absolutely get pizza there again.

Friday, 5/23/25

 Dinner at Jay and Jodi's....we all made a stir-fry with cabbage and some chicken on the side, Jason made bread and I made cinnamon popcorn from the NYT. It was nice to have Carter there....we even played a little Up and Down the River which I of course lost.

Thursday, 5/22/25

 We went to David's for snacks and drinks (Jennie was out of town). Jason made a loaf of bread, and we ate enough cheese, hummus, nuts and olives to constitute dinner.

Wednesday, 5/21/25

 A cabbage and cucumber salad from the NYT that I augmented with leftover grilled chicken to boost it up a bit (an excellent choice if I do say so myself). We also had some leftover pita with a spicy tahini sauce that I had leftover from a weekday lunch project (warm carrot and barley salad from the NTY: make it again! Use more carrots!). The salad was pretty much a slaw with Vietnamese flavors but I am not complaining.

Tuesday, 5/20/25

 Dinner with Liz and Papa (pizza from Sibie's that Jason and I privately agreed was much better than we expected0 and I made a very simple salad from the freshest of mixed lettuces. Nice to catch up.

Monday, 5/19/25

 Over the weekend I made borani-yeh-esfenaj, spinach and yogurt dip. it's really flavorful (don't skimp on browning the onions!) and delicious. Served with some pita bread that Jason made and some pickled cauliflower (a recipe that I found at Serious Eats that I don't love enough to repeat). Great recipe for all the influx of farm spinach!

Sunday, 5/18/25

 Variation of chopped salad, very loosely adapted from SK. Subtracted salami, added grilled chicken; skipped onions, added roasted red peppers. We had a superfluous loaf of bread that we toasted to round things out for a quick dinner. Hooray for farm lettuce!

Saturday. 5/17/25

 A new recipe from the NYT for crispy coconut rice with tofu. The preparation wasn't what I expected: you mix cold cooked rice with coconut flakes, Thai curry paste (I used red but would have liked green), scallions and soy sauce, then cook the whole shebang. I cut back on the coconut since I only had sweetened and didn't want it overly sweet, and I ought to have been more patient with the cooking to achieve true crispiness, but overall we liked it. Topped with jalapeno slices, herbs and some cashews.

Friday, 5/16/25

 Dinner at Laurie's with Jen and John. It was a beautiful spring evening, so we sat on her porch and had pita (Jason), hummus, grilled chicken and meatballs and some other little snacks. I made another rhubarb spoon cake (tis the season) against Jason's wishes, but it got eaten all up. Don't worry, little Jason. We can always make more.

Thursday, 5/15/25

 Pizza night! Farm spinach, garlic, feta and mozzarella. Jason and I both thought this was great, even though we didn't like the last spinach pie that we made. I think it was the cream sauce last time, so that's good to remember

Wednesday, 5/14/25

 Another day, another salad (greens are in at the farm). This time with some frozen mozzarella sticks in the air-fryer with some of that spicy Rao's. 

Tuesday, 5/13/25

 It was weird coming back to work anyway, but only being open for two more days made it extra jarring. Luckily, dinner was quick and easy: a salad and ravioli with Rao's sauce (my mother's day request). I didn't realize we had bought arrabiata sauce, so it was spicier than expected., but tasty nevertheless.

Monday, 5/12/25

 Woke up with the "last day of vacation" gloom. I rallied by going out for more pastries from Daily Provisions (the crullers! Better than a donut any day). Jessica enjoyed her egg sandwich on an everything croissant although she said the cream cheese made it a bit messy. We stayed in the fancy apartment until the last minute, stowed our luggage and headed out to Union Square to walk around and have lunch. We finally got around to sushi at a place called Sugarfish (apparently it's a small chain and Jessica had been to the one in LA). While I can't say that the service or atmosphere blew me away, the sushi was impeccable. We each had:

The Nozawa Trust Me

Edamame

Tuna Sashimi – ponzu and chives

Albacore Sushi – ponzu and chives, 2-pc

Salmon Sushi – toasted sesame, 2-pc

Toro Hand Roll

Japanese Yellowtail* Sushi – lemon, 2-pc

Chutoro Sushi, 2-pc

Sea Bass Sushi – yuzu ponzu, 1-pc

New Zealand Sea Bream* Sushi – citrus salt, 1-pc

Blue & Dungeness Crab Hand Roll

Plus we shared a special appetizer of three kinds of fatty tuna (amazing). The only thing I didn't love was the final crab roll but overall it was a terrific last meal.  We stopped at a little fancy Italian place for chocolates to bring home and gelato for me. Also stopped at a Danish bakery for some cardamom buns for the train/plane. We then headed to MoMA and did I mention we got into all the museums free because of Jessica's job? What a cool perk! It was my favorite museum and I wish we had had more time/energy but I enjoyed what we did see. 

By now Jessica needed to head to the airport so I decided to take off too. We both bravely used the subway which was....challenging, what with our heavy bags (which I had to carry up and down several flights of stairs). I nearly got on the wrong subway and had to dash away, making for a very abrupt goodbye. But in the end we all made it home. 

Takeaways: paying more for a nicer place is worth it, I should bring my running clothes (and 5 fewer shirts and one less pair of shoes), and maybe every meal doesn't need to be quite so fancy? By the end of the week I felt a little gross. I was glad we ate in at least one night. Overall we did a lot of fun things and ate a lot of good food.

just a block from the apartment had great views of the Chrysler Building

Sunday, 5/11/25

Last full day in the city! For some reason, we decided to walk over to Sarabeth's, an immensely popular brunch spot. Sure, why not go there on Mother's Day. Jessica had eggs, bacon and toast, and even though there was avocado toast on the menu, I had a quinoa bowl (with smoked salmon, cherry tomatoes, avocado and pickled onions) and a side of homefries.   I honestly wasn't expecting much since the place seems so touristy, but I was pleasantly surprised. Even the coffee was really good. We were there early enough to beat most of the crowds, at least.

Lunch in the East Village at Momofuku Noodle Bar. We split a yuzu tuna hand roll that was incredibly delicious; I had ginger scallion noodles and Jessica had a pork belly bun. I asked for no pickled shiitakes and think the acid was therefore lacking. We then waited in a line (!) at Veneiro's for some pastries and scooted back uptown. My little fruit tart was good as I remember, thankfully. Then dashed back downtown for a tour at the Tenement Museum that concluded with pickles. I stuck around and bought a few more. God knows why.

For dinner we decided to stay local and give Stretch Pizza another shot, with mixed results. The warm cauliflower salad with hazelnut romesco was great, the meatball sliders were fine (although I swear I could make a meatball that was just as good) and while I enjoyed our NY style pizza, I thought it was overcooked and too crunchy on the edges. A week in New York and a pizza tour to boot and I honestly didn't have a truly great pizza (although  the one at Table 87 was pretty close).  Came home and ate some more pastries and watched some TV. My tiramisu was very nice but Jessica's lemon cake was better.

Saturday, 5/10/25

 I popped out early to get us some bagels from a nearby place (Bagels and Schmear. Good, if not as chewy as I like) and some coffee from a cute little spot called 787 Coffee. My coquito coffee was interesting. Glad I went for half sweet and I was left wondering what gave it an odd texture, but the place was so cute and earnest that I forgive them. Lunch was our Brooklyn Pizza tour. I was initially a bit disappointed that the guide wasn't Scott, but Amy was actually great. The first place, Dellarocco's, served Neapolitan. It's one of my favorite styles, but I only give this iteration a B. The second place, Table 87, was sort of a hybrid coal fired situation. I really liked the pizza, especially with the pickled hot peppers that were served on the side. Finally, we walked over to Carroll Gardens to an old school place called Famous Pizza and Calzone. We tried both a granny slice and a Sicilian. Honestly, both were way too hard and crunchy for me but I was hungry and polished them both off. What I have learned from these tours is that it is more about seeing different styles and learning than it is getting the best slices of your life. I would go back to that Table 87 in an instant, though.

For dinner I picked up take-out from a local dosa place. I don't know if it was because it was sitting in a carry out box, but they were so soggy. These flavors were good but honestly it was a little underwhelming. I wish I had come to the Madras Dosa Company instead. For dessert we finished up the delicious giant cake from The View. It was nice to hang out and have an early night.

Friday, 5/9/25

 The morning started off on a not great note, walking down to Daily Provisions in the pouring rain, only to find that it is a teeny weeny place and there were no tables to be had. Since they had packed our food to go anyway, we just brought it home which was honestly pretty nice. Shockingly, I had avocado toast (my only tiny criticism is I would have enjoyed more of the pickled peppers) and Jessica had a breakfast sandwich. Today was our Met day....we were dismayed to arrive there (again in the pouring rain) to find it so crowded that we had to wait in a long line to even get inside! You could hardly even move around the more popular galleries, let alone see anything. At least we got to see the Sargent show. It's a good thing that Jessica's job got us in for free, because we bailed pretty quickly. I am sad to report that lunch was stupid expensive and not great. We should have known, but the little Parisienne bakery made everything look so pretty! My pasta salad was fine, but Jessica's Caesar was not good. And our macarons had a nice texture but weirdly lacked flavor. So altogether not a great outing.

Honestly, all afternoon a part of me wanted to cancel tonight's dinner at The View, the latest (rotating!) Danny Meyers restaurant on the 48th floor of a Marriott in Times Square (sorry, Jessica). After some harrowing moments walking through Times Square and shooting up the very fast elevator, we were seated right by the window which was very cool. Times Square is much better appreciated from there. A highlight was the seeded cheese straws they brought out with the drinks (why I got a raspberry vodka cocktail I don't know. Nice enough but sweeeeet). Jessica won this meal: her iceberg wedge salad with lardons and Bleu cheese was much tastier than I would have expected; my hearts of palm with citrus was almost too light and refreshing, somehow? We also shared some oysters which had a lovely, puncht mignonette. My bass with green and white asparagus and lemon beurre blanc was nicely cooked, but the sauce was curiously flavorless. Jessica's swordfish was a little dry, but the sauce (a salsa verde) was really, really good. My butterscotch pudding with graham cracker crumbs was wicked sweet, but I didn't care because the flavors were great. And Jessica got a piece of chocolate cake that was so bit it was literally three pieces of cake. We brought most of it home which will make a great snack later. I almost forgot that a highlight was the seeded cheese straws they brought out with the drinks (why I got a raspberry vodka cocktail I don't know. Nice enough but sweeeeet). This place hasn't been open long so I feel like it still needs some polish, but the food was still way better than you would expect, given the setting. I would love to go back sometime but can't do that to poor Jessica.

It was hard to get good pictures through the window

Thursday, 5/8/25

 Breakfast was just coffee in the apartment and the lemon poppyseed cake we got as a parting gift at Gramercy. They were lovely so so damn buttery. Maybe even two buttery and I don't say that lightly. We had a 1:45 appointment with an architectural boat tour, so we had an early lunch at a nearby pizza place called Stretch. It's kind of a funny story: we were watching Top Chef and Wylie Dufresne was a guest judge; I got to wondering was he was up to now only to discover that he had a pizza place only about a block from the apartment. We had walked by several times and had no idea. Overall it was really good, but I think we could have made better choices. My mozzarella sticks were nice and crunchy, although the pesto flavor wasn't necessary; Jessica's salad with carrot, sunflower seeds and tomato dressing was sort of dull at best. The pizza was really good, especially the crust, but I didn't love our topping choice (shallots, three way: too sweet). BUT no notes on the maple soft serve with a pretzel dip and salted caramel. Also, Wylie Dufresne was actually there!

Then over to Chelsea Piers for the tour: you completely circumnavigate the island in a reproduction of a 1920's yacht. It was nice because you could sit inside in comfort and still get great views. It was incredibly cool seeing the whole island from that perspective and I would absolutely do it again.  Didn't get any good pictures, of course

For dinner we made a bit of a last minute choice to try Empellon Midtown. We had loved the downtown location both times we tried it (hot dog taco notwithstanding but that's our own fault), and we had been planning to go there years ago on our canceled trip. It got a lot of buzz all those years ago, and we had a couple of good dishes, but overall I didn't love it. The service was only OK, it was crazy loud, and while a couple of dishes wowed us (the cabbage salad with toasted fava bean dressing was impossible to stop eating, the guacamole with  7 salsas is still fun) a couple (Jessica's gloppy overly sweet milk chocolate tres leches cake, hit or miss shishito peppers) were meh. Did try the famous "Avocado, Lime Raspado, Eucalyptus Yogurt" which looks so much like an avocado that it's a bit jarring (it's really a kind of lime  mousse and quite refreshing and delicious). I think I would stick to one of the more casual downtown locations. Or maybe it was just an off night.

One time Instagram darling

Wednesday, 5/7/25

 For breakfast we walked to a cute little cafe nearby, Black Star Coffee: I (inexplicably) ordered a chai latte and it was a bit too sweet. Jessica had breakfast sandwich and I went with the avocado toast (be prepared to see these decisions again). The toast was good but too avocado-y and a bit messy.  We had planned a trip to the Met but they are closed on Wednesdays, which I didn't discover until we had gotten off the subway. So we pivoted to a walk across the park and a stop at the New York Historical Society that had an exhibit I wanted to see.  Then we headed over to the Whitney and took a lunch break there. Jessica had a salad with green goddess and avocado; I went with a  chicken salad with cabbage and farro. It was not bad, but waaay too much chicken and not enough farro or cabbage. The desserts looked nice but we were seated thisclose to an annoying couple so we just went back in for more art. Then we walked along the High Line for a bit, as it was a truly gorgeous day.

Dinner was the Big Event,  the tasting menu at the Gramercy Tavern.

We started with ta couple of exceptional cocktails (Aviation for Jessica and a Corpse Reviver #2 for me) and the optional cheese and crackers (Tete de moine and something whose name I didn't catch but it was vaguely goat cheese-like); loved the little pickles and the American ham (as good as prosciutto)

I had citrus cured char with broccolini, Meyer lemon and radish and Jessica had roasted white sweet potato with yogurt, sesame and honey (the winner).

Then we both had:

Sweet pea agnoletti with snap peas, black pepper and spring onions

Roasted asparagus with nettles, potatoes and Jura wine sauce (the best dish of the evening; I could have eaten three of these)

Roasted sirloin with cauliflower, radicchio and pickled shallot (I was just excited to be eating a steak)

Dessert was a caramelized banana custard tart with butterscotch and the crunchiest, tastiest candied walnuts. Plus a tasty little lemon truffle. Beautiful room, great service. AND only a few blocks from the apartment. I feel like the last time we were there we had a lot more courses, plus I had the wine pairing which I am glad I didn't do again. Too much wine! 

Tuesday, 5/6/25

 New York! I forgot to bring bus snacks (and refused to pay for anything at the station out of pure stubbornness) so I was starving by the time we dropped off our bags at the Airbnb (which is incredibly nice, with the fanciest toilet I have ever seen). We walked across the street to a place called Upland which was fancier than I expected but really good. We started with burrata with asparagus and grilled bread; I had pasta al limone which was so lemony and buttery (two of my favorite attributes). I could have eaten twice as much of it. Jessica had a Caesar salad with salmon. I ordered a peanut butter cookie for dessert and there were actually two and they were enormous and filled with peanut butter cream; we couldn't finish them and brought them home (spoiler: they did not survive the day). We walked around a bit near Union Square until we could check in, and then just rested and watched TV for a while. Dinner was at a nearby Italian place called Scarpetta (also fancier than I expected, but no one looked askance at our jeans) and very pretty. I started with a yellowtail crudo, and Jessica had some really nice scallops with maybe an asparagus puree? We both went with pasta (cacio e pepe ravioli with charred leek, brown butter and sage for me; mezzaluna with peas, ricotta, lemon and bottarga for Jessica). Both were excellent and while the portions weren't huge, we were somehow too full for dessert. A nice first day and I am feeling very good about our apartment choice.

Monday, 5/5/25

 One pot broccoli pasta, from I Dream of Dinner. I swear I made this a few months ago, but can't find any record of it. I used some cute pasta shape from Trader Joe's instead of spaghetti, but otherwise pretty much as written.  The anchovy gives it a nice background flavor, but it definitely needed parm at the table. That woman sure isn't afraid of butter!

Sunday, 5/4/25

 Another go at crispy rice salad, from Ali Slagle via the NYT. This time I did have the lime for the dressing, and halloumi, and some nice fresh greens from the farm. I even gave the rice a nice long time to get crunchy. It's a nice salad! It's really hard not to like something with fried halloumi in it. We just served it with some toasted leftover bread.

Saturday, 5/3/25

Pride in the morning (Jason made bread before I could even open my mouth to suggest an idea).  It was a fairly early day, so we were home for dinner, which was just various leftovers.

Friday, 5/2/25

A nice healthy meal of tots with gravy and cheese. For once we were patient enough to let the tots get good and crispy, so they were extra tasty.  I also a made a cucumber salad with chili crisp vinaigrette which was a good counterpart. For dessert I made a rhubarb spoon cake with the first of the farm rhubarb. Even better than I remembered. It was nice to have a homemade dessert again but maybe three pieces was two too many.

Thursday, 5/1/25

 BBQ chicken pizza with smoked Gouda and red onions. Jason was worried that he had made it too cheesy, but it was great. You see this combo out and about; I first tried it in Providence at a place called Bob & Timmy's, but I don't know if that was the original place or not.

Wednesday, 4/30/25

 The good news about the giant zucchini and carrot frying event was that it produced a lot of leftovers that re-heated really well in the air fryer. We also had cheesy pinto beans with green chilis and plantain chips. Tasty and so much quicker.

Tuesday, 4/29/25

 My only dinner plan was loaded oven-roasted potatoes from the NYT (I ignored some of their instructions; I par-cooked the potato wedges, and cooked them on the same sheetpan as the bacon instead of washing that pan and then using oil. Whose big idea was that?) and zucchini in some form. Well, Jason requested tempura style fried zucchini and I felt like I had to say yes. So of course dinner took forever. We did a couple of carrots while we were at it, and I was forced to admit they were really good. I used this recipe for the batter:, and it provided just the right amount of coating:

https://www.food.com/recipe/fried-zucchini-batter-131300

As a special time-consuming surprise, Jason also wanted to make poori, which was only partially started by the time I got home. Sigh. It was a late dinner. The potatoes were good, as you would expect crispy roasted potatoes with bacon, cheese and sour cream to be.

Monday, 4/28/25

 Tostadas with chicken tinga, avocado, queso fresco and jalapenos. I think the recipe for the tinga was kind of from Serious Eats and maybe a little from other sources? In any event, I used a whole chicken and some of the leftover dried chilis from the pozole. Tostadas was a tasty but very messy choice. Easier than making our own tortillas, though. Roasted carrots on the side.

Sunday, 4/27/25

 In a dinner that sounds suspiciously like last nights, we had noodles and tofu, but this time with mushrooms and asparagus. The noodle recipe was from the NYT and featured lots of garlic and hoisin sauce; I added shredded tofu and vegetables to round it out and kind of wish I hadn't. I think the noodles would have been tastier on their own. Next time. They made good leftovers for lunch, though.

Saturday, 4/26/25

 Dinner with Jay and Jodi. They had just gotten back from Minnesota, so it was another on-the-fly pantry dinner. So we ended up with noodles with kale and tofu, plus roasted cabbage. It wasn't bad, although as usual I could have used a lot more kale. Jason also made a loaf of bread.