Cheap Eats in the City

This past weekend, I was once again in New York.  We were there to see Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and also to do a few other things.  Charlie was not as fabulous as I had hoped, but I still haven't decided what I didn't like about it, so I won't be writing about it quite yet.  And the fleet week fun we had planned to have down at Pier 86 also didn't exactly work out as planned. So I won't be writing about that either.

What I will say is that we had the cheapest, and one of the best meals I've ever had in the city, thanks to one tiny discovery.  I'm not sure why I never realized this, but on 46th street between 8th and 9th Avenues, lies Restaurant Row.  The block is chock full of all types of restaurants. There's even a big light-up sign that says Restaurant Row, so I've decided I've been fairly blind this whole time.

Anyway, after ruling out Italian - thought I'll be back for Becco soon, we decided to have Dim Sum.  Now I love the idea of Dim Sum, but I've never found a place near me that had it. After chatting with the waitress, we ordered everything she told us too.  Honestly, I'm still not sure what we ate, but every last piece - other than the thing that may or may not have been tofu - was positively delicious!  The only embarassing part was that I needed to use a fork unlike my friends who were capable of using chopsticks.  Once I got razzed about that, I enjoyed the rest of the meal fully.

On top of this amazing meal, when we received the check, we were told that it was happy hour, which meant everything we ordered, including the beer one friend drank, was half price.  For 3 of us to stuff ourselves on dumplings was a grand total of $33! How great is that!?  The moral of the story is branching out of the comfort zone can be delicious and opening your eyes a little more can be quite helpful!

Life, Lately

Focusing on: Writing a lot.  I've been working to create a portfolio of work on clippings.me which is a cool little site.  I'm not sure I totally get the technology yet, but I've been playing around quite a bit with it, and tweaking things here and there.  So far, so good.  Now if I could make myself not get too bogged down with the details - like I have for the last hour or so...

Crafting: I'm still going strong on Project Life.  Up until this point, my motto has been "get it done." But now that I have a process, I'm starting to focus on quality of pages not so much quantity of photos.  I'm still really enjoying it.  I definitely like some pages more than others, but it's a pretty accurate representation of 2017 right now.  For the record, there's a pretty good amount of griping about Donald Trump - so I'm pretty sure that's what makes it accurate in regards to 2017...

Reading: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory in preparation for seeing it next month in New York.  So far, I'm a much bigger fan of this book than I was of Matilda.  But then again, I'm only 20 pages in.

Listening: I'm hooked on Dear Evan Hansen, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Newsies and Come From Away right now.  I know what you're thinking.  A psychiatrist could probably gain a lot of insight from that particular collection of music. But the music is just so good!

Buying: BroadwayCon tickets - woohoo!  I'd say I can't wait, but BroadwayCon 2018 is in January, so I'm not really all about wishing my summer, fall and Christmas away.  Train ticket to NYC for a change in my mode of transportation.  I keep putting it off because the $100 price tag seems like a lot when compared to the cheap-o tickets from Megabus.

Eating: Chocolate Marshmallow and Chocolate Buttercream eggs from the Amish Market that are so darn delicious they should be illegal.  And leftover Lasagna from Easter made by Chef Dad which was pretty much the best food I've ever eaten!  So yummy!

Formulating: I have so many ideas and plans in my head for the future that it's often difficult to focus on the present.  Also, it's hard to pick the best ones to focus on.  But I'm trying. Because - and I'm not just saying this because they're mine - some of these ideas are really good.  I just need to figure out a way to execute them. And I need to be able to sucker some friends that get excited about these things too, to come along with me.

Discovering in the City

When I was in NYC last weekend, I wandered around the city.  It may not have been the best idea seeing as it was 23 degrees outside, but when I'm by myself, I take advantage of the opportunity to wander.  Because when I'm with other people, my wandering annoys them.  In my wandering, I made 2 fabulous discoveries.  Ok, maybe these discoveries weren't technically happened upon - I knew where they were, and they were both on the list, but they weren't in the plans for that particular day, so I'm calling them products of my wandering, so there.

First up was Penelope; a fabulous Brunch place on Lexington Ave.  I sort of assumed, based on the website that it would be a lovely and large place full of tables.  I also assumed that because there was snow on the ground and New Yorkers tend to sleep in, I'd be one of only a handful of people there.  Not the case at all.  When I arrived at 10:00 the line was about 10 people deep in the teeny tiny place of about 20 tables.

Luckily, being a party of one comes with advantages - snagging the one lonely seat in the corner at the bar, immediately upon walking in.  Slightly cramped, but fabulous nonetheless. From there I enjoyed a pot of NY Breakfast tea that was out of this world, and a Penny Egg Sandwich - scrambled eggs, bacon, mozzarella and pesto on a croissant.  So delicious! Everyone around me were ordering giant plates of crazy french toast and pancakes, but this sandwich was so much better!  I definitely planning on going back again with friends and family, but maybe when it's a bit warmer outside.  If it's more than just me, I assume we'll be waiting for a table for a long time.

After brunch, the goal was to go down to the Library to see a theatre exhibit I've been dying to see.  Of course, I missed the fact that it was Sunday, and the library opens at 1:00 on Sundays.  At this point, it was about 10:30 - great.  So that's when plans changed to The Strand aka Heaven on Earth.  The Strand in Union Square is a GIANT bookstore that houses "18 blocks" of books.  That's their claim to fame.  And they certainly live up to that slogan.

The place is enormous and stuffed to the gills with every book you can imagine - used and new.  On top of all the books, there are bookish prints, and bags, and toys.  They even have a craft supply section.  See what I mean? The place is a National Treasure.  It was by far the best hour I've spent in a very long time!

So the next time you're in NYC, I strongly recommend wandering and changing up your plans every now and then.  You never know what you might find!

Absolutely Amazing Arancini

Arancini the size of eggs - so what do they use for packaging?  Egg cartons - Genius!

I just may have a new favorite food in New York City.  Aside from the theatre, the best part of going to Manhattan is trying all sorts of new and wonderful restaurants that serve all sorts of yummy food.  I have this thing for finding a new restaurant or snack shop - it's like finding buried treasure.  It's just as exciting and so much more rewarding, since you can eat what you find.  New food is much more delicious than eating gold coins...

Anyway, last month I found myself in Bryant Park on opening weekend.  They always have some great snack choices. Up until this year, my favorites were the dumplings (that are sadly no longer there), Woops! macarons and La Sonrisa Empanadas.  However, after discovering Arancini Bros, my heart now belongs to the gentleman that make these delicious pieces of magic.  

An Arancini is an Italian snack.  It's basically a ball of rice, stuffed with meat or veggies, then breaded and deep fried.  Super healthy, right?  Just avoid that part and focus on the deliciousness.  Anyway, they're often huge, heavy and just not that great.  However, Arancini Bros have taken them to a new level.  First off, theirs are smaller - about the size of an egg. They're not super heavy - the coating they use is super light and very crunchy.  

And lastly, they put all sorts of wonderful things inside.  None of that plain jane meat and veggies for these dudes.  Some are filled with fresh mozzarella and basil.  Others are filled with pesto sauce or a Turkey and stuffing dinner.  They even had a dessert Arancini filled with nutella and dredged in cinnamon sugar.  They have an ever changing selection, so on any given day you could try something completely different.

I tried the Mozzarella and basil, the pesto, the Nutella and one filled with mac and cheese instead of rice.  I'm not sure which one was my favorite because every ball was more delicious than the last.  I am currently craving them terribly.  I only wish I didn't have to wait until next month to be back up there.  This is a time when living in NYC would really help matters.

Anyway, if you find yourself in Bryant Park before Christmas, I highly recommend trying Arancini Bros in the food section.  And make sure you order some of their tomato sauce for dipping.  That stuff makes a good snack, even more heavenly.  I promise you won't be sorry!

Friday Five

1. At this point, even I know I sound like a broken record, but I can't say it enough - Come From Away is life-changing in all the best ways!  I mean honestly, how can you not love a show and a cast that travels to the place they've been singing about for the last year, to give the residents a special concert version of the show? Just amazing!

2. I'm not sure if I've been living in the dark ages or not, but I just found eater.com this week and it's fabulous, really.  It reminds me a lot of seriouseats, but with even more food-centric content.  They have a bit more foodie news and issues too, which I really like.  For instance, this stranger than strange story on America's Test Kitchen, that seemingly gets weirder by the day!

3. This news right here, brightened my Tuesday and ruined my Wednesday.  On Tuesday when it broke that David Tennant would be appearing on the West End next year, I was more than a little excited.  I plan to be there in the summer, and seeing that tickets to The Cursed Child are non-existent, I was in the market for something to see.  Also - DAVID TENNANT!  Of course, on Wednesday morning when it was announced that the show would start in March and only run until June 10 - I was crushed!  My plan is to definitely be there after June 10.  Ugh!

4.  I finally schedule a workshop at the Pyramid Arts center and I cannot wait!  I've been dying to try one since I learned about their book-centric philosophy but the dates have been a bit of pain.  But finally, everything worked out and I'll be attending the class soon.  It's not the book binding workshop yet, but it's something equally as cool!  Hopefully I'll have my fun projects to share soon!

5. Is anyone, other than the Indians fans of course, upset that the Cubs won the World Series? I mean, their draught was so long, that I think even non-baseball fans were just hoping they'd pull out the W.  I always root for the underdog, so I was pretty happy to see it as well.  It was super fun to see the city and life-long fans celebrate their tails off!

City Life

There's just something about New York - and now I sound like a broken record.  But it's so darn true.  The energy of the city is enough to make anyone love it.  And this weekend was no different.  One day trips are fine, but 2 day trips are just so much better!

This month's 2 day trip was sort of planned and sort of not, so we had a chance to try some new things.  For the most part, all of the food was planned.  First up was Carnegie Deli, since they'll be closing at the end of the year.  It was as good as usual, but bittersweet seeing as it would probably be the last time we ate there.  I have no idea why they're closing - the food was still the same and the lines were still out the door.  I'm still hoping they change their mind at the last minute, but I'm glad we had the chance to go just in case.

For dinner on Saturday it was a German place in Midtown.  All of the Yelp reviews were lovely yet none of the food actually was.  We should have known when we entered and the entire restaurant was cheering on a sausage eating contest.  Definitely not a great dinner.  Sunday was so much better.

Breakfast was at Sullivan Street Bakery - once again, so darn delicious!  I only wish I could figure out how to make their eggs because I'd make them every week!  And then dinner was at Carmines on 44th.  In my opinion, they are by far the best Italian restaurant in New York. All of the food is served family style so the portions are enormous.  And the food is all homemade and to die for.  We had the penne ala vodka and the chicken parmesan.  And if I hadn't have eaten so much already, I would have eaten every last bite.  Let's just say, I'm a big fan!

When we weren't eating, we were discovering.  Thankfully, this past weekend was the very first day of the Bryant Park shops being open.  These little glass shops in the park selling all sorts of homemade wares are a favorite of mine every year.  Add the shopping to an ice rink, a cafe, some awesome snack shops and a Christmas tree (not yet, but it'll be there) and you have the perfect place to spend a few hours - in our case it was a few hours on Saturday and a few hours on Sunday.  Also, this year there's a Strand pop-up shop so you know I couldn't resist that.

On Sunday, we tried a new area of town, which never really works out well.  I desperately need to research things ahead of time to save me from getting incredibly lost.  But this was spur of the moment, and I definitely got lost - big surprise.  However, SoHo really is lovely.  The 85 degree weather made getting lost a little more bearable than had it been 20 degrees, but not really my cup of tea either way.  Some of the reasoning behind going down there was to see Dominique Ansel, Blick Art Supplies, Jack's Wife Frieda, and Magnolia Bakery - none of which we ever actually found. I did find La Duree though and had a yummy cannel so I suppose there's that.  

As you can see, it was once again a fabulous time. Even after 10 trips this year, I'm still not tired of it.  In fact I can't wait to start my once a month track record again next year thanks to awesome trips like this past weekend.  New York just keeps fueling my fire. And I'm super happy about it!

Friday Five

1. The Hamilton Documentary that I just watched was probably one of the best 1.5 hours of television I've ever seen!  I may be a bit biased since it was about Hamilton, but honestly it was just so very good.  The writers and actors and even some officials spoke about the show but they also spoke about Hamilton's life and his contributions to the current world.  It was fascinating and pretty much the perfect way to spend a Friday night!

2. In a word - AMAZING! 
          
3. What better way to learn about the delicious food in Baltimore restaurants than from the Orioles and the Ravens.  I just love the way these guys talk about the food and what's good to them.  My favorite is Brandon Williams' PB&J.  He's a guy that takes his sandwich seriously it would seem!

4. In just over a month, we'll finally be treated to the new Gilmore Girls season on Netflix. How is anyone staying calm?  I personally cannot wait and these posters are doing just feeding the excitement!  I love the Year in the Life concept and the 4 seasons theme for the posters is just adorable!

5. And in fairly shallow news this week, I've decided that after watching Matt Bomer guest host Live with Kelly, I totally miss seeing his adorable self every week on my television. Seriously, how dreamy is he?

            

Friday Five

1. This one is just a personal preference.  I'm SUPER DUPER HAPPY that YouTube and EarBuds exist.  Because of these two genius inventions, I was able to disappear blissfully into the world of Broadway while ignoring 2 co-workers have a terribly ignorant fight over who's worse Clinton or Obama.  (Just putting my 2 cents in here - TRUMP IS!!!!)  Anyway, not having to listen 2 these 2 stubborn people go at it for 20 minutes is the highlight of my week : )

2. I'm not entirely sure how I've been to London 3 times now and missed hearing about this library, but I feel it's a travesty that no one has told me about it.  I mean, come on!  It's the largest library in the world.  And look how beautiful it is!  It's just calling out to me to be placed on my itinerary for next year.

3. Speaking of lovely things in London, check out these shots of the city taken at night.  The colors are just gorgeous!  I'm super intrigued by how the photographer took them.  I'm thinking it would be fun to get shots this beautiful, if only to have the chance to visit the city via a helicopter!

4. In a few short weeks, I have tickets to see Falsettos and I'm ridiculously excited about it.  I'm usually not in favor of the sad musicals - cut to me crying very hard during RENT. However, the cast is stellar and too good to pass up.  This meeting between the 2 original leads and the 2 current leads is quite lovely.  And the below video, is one that got me through the terrible political argument mentioned above.  Such intricate and beautiful music!  I can't wait to hear the songs fully!    
              
5. I'm adding this article to my favorites of the week if only to brag about my taste in donuts.  I've been eating Maryland's favorite donut shop - The Donut Shack - for basically my entire life.  The Boston Creme donut is basically perfect, and I've never felt the need to branch out. Though everyone else says everything else is equally delicious.  Now, to just try the other 49 states...Though I do disagree with Dough in Manhattan - not my favorite donut at all.  I can't believe they didn't go with Doughnut Plant!

Maryland Eats - Hickory Ridge Grill

If you're ever in the area of Columbia Maryland, you really must try Hickory Ridge Grill.  A few months ago we happened upon it thanks to Yelp, and today we traveled back to celebrate someone's birthday.  And again it was super delicious!  

What makes this restaurant great, aside from the fabulous food, is the atmosphere and the service.  The owner is always around to chat with diners or answer any questions.  He seems like a super nice guy, and he's got a great sense of style - always in peppered chef's pants. : ) The wait staff are really sweet too and always ready to help.  

And there's the food - Delicious!  Their menu includes Italian, Greek, Burgers and Sandwiches - at least 10 or so of each.  The first time I went I had a yummy Chicken sandwich with lettuce, tomatoes and garlic aioli with shoestring french fries.  I'm a sucker for shoe string fries so I was pretty happy with my decision.  This time around, I chose the same because I was craving shoestring fries.  My only complaint is that sometime between the last time I was there and this time, they changed out their fries.  No more shoestring - booo!  But the ones I did get were pretty good too, so I can't complain.

They also have an amazing dessert menu - most of which are HUGE slices of cake.  This week's special was Red Velvet which I couldn't pass up.  Enormous, chocolatey, and delicious!  All in all, Hickory Ridge Grill is the whole package.  A great restaurant with fantastic food, lovely people and laid-back atmosphere.  I highly recommend it!

Dinner Under the Stars

As we all know, one of my favorite places to go in the summer is Annapolis.  And it's mostly because they decide to do fun things like shut down an entire street so all the restaurants can have open-air seating in the evening.  That's what Dinner Under the Stars is and that's why Annapolis is awesome!

Each Wednesday for the next two months, a block of West Street in downtown Annapolis will be closed to cars so that people can come sit outside and enjoy their meals in the beautiful late summer weather.  There's a band playing and people are dancing.  There are fairy lights strewn all over the place, and tons of people laughing and eating and drinking.  

After attending this evening, I've decided it's now my goal to try every restaurant on the street before this program ends.  Tonight's dinner - our first and definitely not our last - for my friend and I was from Luna Blu - an Italian restaurant with a huge selection of yumminess.  They were offering a 4 course menu for $38 which was a great deal when you think about how much food we had - Antipasti (Burata Crostini with tomatoes and speck), Salad (Caesar), Pasta (Penne Vesuviana), and Dessert (Chocolate Mousse.)  On top of all that, we could have purchased half-price bottles of wine too, but we chose to go with iced tea.  

All in all, I had a fantastic time and I can't wait to go back again!

Friday Five

1. Do you think I could get a dog and teach him to be a foodie too?  Adorable!

2. Roadtrip!  Though I'd like to lodge a formal complaint - Maryland has much more than 1 good food truck and the one they chose is most definitely NOT the best in Maryland!

3. To be honest, the bestie suggested that we try this museum out next week when we're in the city and I've been judging her ever since.  However, since reading this article this morning, I'm definitely warming to the idea.  It looks like so much fun and any place that celebrates ice cream can't be all bad! Also, now that I know the pool of sprinkles is not really filled with sprinkles and is actually filled with beads - I'm feeling much better about the sanitary implications...

4.Scrapbook Love!  Between In a Creative Bubble's Book Journal Cards and her Spellbound journal cards, I'm going to seriously need to start re-reading HP just so I can scrap the ordeal.  Such cute designs!  Based on the number of times I talk about how wonderful her products are, I really should become her marketing manager.

5. Is it November 25th yet??!!
            

Foodie vs. Food-Lover

A few weeks ago, I read an article about the decline of the word "foodie."  Since everyone and their brother were now foodies, did that word really mean anything these days?  Couldn't people just say they loved food?  I thought it was fairly ridiculous at the time.  I mean, I got what they were saying, but just let people call themselves what they want to be called.

Cut to this weekend.  I was eating dinner with my friends at a new restaurant, and doing my food-happy dance - as you do - and I said at the time that there were about 7 things in the world that made me truly happy.  Food being one of them.  But it was more than that, it was yummy food.  Not something bizarre just for the heck of it.  Not something so crazy, that I just had to try it.  It's really good food full of delicious ingredients that makes me the happiest.

That's when I figured it out.  Maybe I'm not a foodie - though I strive to be one since being brave is on the list of to-dos - but I'm most definitely a food-lover.  And I'm 100% ok with that.  Some people just don't get excited about new restaurants or new menu items to try.  But I do!  I probably won't be guest hosting for Anthony Bourdain or judging on Top Chef any time soon.  But what I'm going to do is eat delicious food, try new places and new things, and keep reading about food and the food industry.  That is what makes me happiest. (Though I do wish - only sometimes - that exercise and dieting made me happiest... : )

A Restaurant Comedy of Errors

I really, really like finding and trying out new restaurants.  I'd much rather play Restaurant Go than Pokemon Go.  If there were points for that, I'd be all over that game.  So when I read about Cooper's Hawk Winery in Annapolis, I was very, very happy.  Annapolis is easy peasy to get to - also, it's one of my favorite places in Maryland - and the review mentioned Banofee Pie, which you usually don't find outside of the UK.  Add to it, it was a Friday night and there would be a band playing and CHW had an outdoor patio from which to listen to it.  All the trappings of a great evening...Right?  Wrong.

Before I get into the bads, I'd like to say the food was very, very good.  I'm super sad there were so many bads, because the food was outstanding - which one could argue is the most important part of any restaurant. 

The evening started out a bit rough with an hour wait for a table - hour and a half if we wanted to wait for a seat on that lovely patio overlooking the concert.  We opted for inside and were able to go shopping while we waited.  So far so good.  The beginnings of the bad was the wait for a waitress to actually take our order.  After finally placing our appetizer order we were left waiting for another 10-15 minutes to place our main order.  Not fun, but not terrible.  Here's where it gets weird.

My food finally came after a bit of a wait, but not my friend's.  After about 5 minutes of still no food for her, we finally found our waitress who's response to "she doesn't have her food yet" was "Oh you don't?"  Could she not see the table was empty in front of her?  After a few more minutes, we were told her pasta was over cooked and was being remade, and would be out in a few more minutes.  Luckily my friend is  a lot better at asking for managers than I am so she called him over and had a chat.  

The Piece de Resistance was dessert.  Remember that Banoffee Pie I was so excited about? Yep, they were out of it.  I'd like the record to reflect, it was the NUMBER ONE reason I wanted to try the darn restaurant in the first place.  After disregarding dessert, we finally got the check, where we learned the manager came through and comped everything but the appetizer.

All in all, it could have been much worse.  But it was a very long evening.  The food, like I said was delicious, and I'd like to go back to try more of the items on the menu - most especially the pie! - but maybe not for a few months.  I think I'll let them get their service kinks out first before I waste yet another gorgeous evening.

Does Everyone Cook?

In the last 3 days I've seen a cooking show hosted by Valerie Bertinelli (with her friend, actress Faith Ford added in for good measure), Neil Patrick Harris and David Burtka on an episode of In the Kitchen with Ina, a cooking show hosted by Trisha Yearwood, a cooking show hosted by Tiffani Amber Thiessen, and a cookbook written by Freddie Prinze Jr. (with a foreword written by his wife, actress Sara Michelle Gellar thrown in for good measure.)  All of that brings me to my question - Does everyone cook?  Why is it when people get famous, the next logical step is to host a cooking show or write a cookbook?

Surely, most of Hollywood uses their hundreds of thousands, or in some case millions of dollars to hire personal chefs so they don't actually have to cook.  I actually like to cook, and I still admit that I would totally do that if I hit the lottery.  Because of this, I feel like most of Hollywood is out of practice.  Therefore, they can't be that stellar in the kitchen to warrant a whole show dedicated to their cuisine.  

Also, there was a time that cooking shows and cook books had themes - Mexican food, Italian food, 15 minute suppers, you get the drift.  Anyway, what is the theme of these cooking shows being hosted by these very famous people? Food cooked by famous people? Where's the theme people!? I'd rather eat yummy food than famous food.

Now that that's off my chest, I'm begging you Hollywood - please leave the cooking, baking, hosting and writing to the professionals and the fabulously talented home cooks that deserve a shot more than you do.  You've made your millions already, leave the cooking millions to those that deserve them, and those that actually cook for themselves on a daily basis.  They know much more about food than you do anyway...

52 Lists: Week 20

Confession time - I had to go back through my posts to determine what week of lists I actually left off on.  Oops! Let's skip over that part, and move on shall we? Anyway, as I was thinking today of what type of list I should write, I got kind of a cool-strange idea for a list.  

I realized I do a lot of things because of books (and articles, blogs, plays, etc.) I read a lot and because of this I get all sorts of crazy ideas in my head.  I'm sure (I hope!) we all do this, but the post started writing itself in my head and thought it would be fun.  So today's list topic is:

I like...... because.....

~ I have this weird obsession with the tiny country of Bhutan because of the book "Radio Shangri-La." I so want to travel there one day and all I basically know about it is what I've read in this book.

~ I plan to see the musical Cats when it opens at the end of this month because I read an article that said every good Broadway fan should see Cats - even though I'm fairly certain I'll hate it.

~ I really wanted to travel to Edinburgh Scotland because I had read the 44 Scotland Street series by Alexander McCall Smith and fell in love with the city.  (For the record, that totally worked in my favor because Edinburgh is just plain beautiful.)

~ I have this picture of all British villages being idyllic full of eccentric and lovely people because of every single book by Jenny Colgan.  (I was pretty much in heaven in the Cotswolds but annoyed that I didn't meet a lonely British farmer/bee-keeper/baker/solicitor that fell head over the heels for me as soon as he saw me.  Jenny's books have taught me that happens quite often.)

~ I believe that it's perfectly financially viable to buy a fixer upper in Provence or take 2 years off to sail around the Caribbean because of "A Year in Provence" and "The Spice Necklace."

~ For a while I had visions of living in a boarding house in San Francisco because of "The Tales of the City." I even planned to have a pot-smoking landlord just like Anna Madrigal.

~ I decided to never own a dog because of "Marley & Me." I couldn't stop sobbing at the end of life of a dog I was just reading about.  I'm fairly certain I would require anti-depressants to deal with that with a real dog.

~ My current dream job is cookbook editor and archivist in Manhattan because of "Delicious!"

~ I started trying everything I was offered because of "A Cook's Tour." "A Cook's Tour" is also the reason I want to try Durian and maybe Fugu (if I can get past the possibly deadly part...)

~ I visited Paris because of every book I've ever read having to do with people traveling to Paris.  I now know I could never (NEVER!) live there because of every book I've ever read having to do with people moving to Paris.

~ I'm sort of ok with my awkwardness, since it's not just me because of "Are People Hanging out without Me?"  Mindy Kaling is the much more glamorous version of me if her books are to be believed.  I thought I was the only one that had such random fears : )

~ I've decided that it's not a crime to just be nice and want other people to be nice, and it's possible to be nice and funny at the same time because of "Yes, Please."

  

New Food

I very much like to eat.  It's a thing - let's move on, shall we?  Anyway, because of this, finding new restaurants is one of my most favorite things to do.  This weekend, we found not one but 2 fabulous places to eat - one in Virginia and one in Maryland.

First up was FireWorks Pizza in Leesburg.  It's a brick-fire pizza joint in a super-cute hipster area of Leesburg.  There are about 5 other restaurants in the area that I also want to go back and try too.  Because it's a hipster area of town, everything was organic and very fresh.  We started with garlic cheesy ciabatta and it was delicious.  I decided on a flat-bread with garlic and fresh marinara dipping sauce. Also, quite yummy!  The best part was sitting outside on their deck - it was such a beautiful day! There was supposed to be a bakery around, but we could not find it anywhere.  Other than that, it was the perfect lunch!

Then after a few hours - when lunch had worn off - we had dinner back in Maryland, at Volt's Family Meal.  Now technically this wasn't new for me, since I had eaten at the Family Meal in Baltimore.  However, since it was the first time I had eaten at the one in Frederick, I'm calling it new. This time was better than the time in Baltimore too, because we sat at the counter.  It wasn't my first choice at all, but after getting the chance I've decided it's pretty darn fun.  We were able to chat with the bar-tenders and watch all the hustle and bustle of food and drinks coming out of the kitchen.

And the food, oh my goodness, it was delicious!  For appetizers, we had deviled eggs - not my favorite (because deviled eggs in general are not my favorite) - and Chicken Pot Pie Fritters, which are just as to die for as they sound.  Dinner was fried chicken and a biscuit and catfish.  And dessert were chocolate earl grey donuts - so delish!  Though, I'm pretty excited to get back there again, and try the giant plain donuts that were being made for today's brunch.  

New food days are just so much fun!

Maryland Ice Cream Trail Stop #1: Rocky Point Creamery

I've basically been wanting to do the Maryland Ice Cream Trail, since I discovered there was one - about 5 months ago.  I'm not sure how I have lived in Maryland all my life, and never knew our creameries were so good, there was a trail of them dotted around the state.  But after a few clicks a few months ago, I was hooked on the idea.  The only issue is that most are pretty far away from where I live.  

I had planned to conquer the easy peasy one today in Baltimore County.  But plans changed and I crossed it off the list.  However, the plans changed for the better.  Because it just so happened we were close to another creamery on the list - Rocky Point Creamery.  So off we went!  Let's just say, if the rest of the places on the trail are this good, it's going to be quite the fabulous summer. 

For some reason, I had assumed they'd just have a few flavors - pretty much the usual, chocolate, vanilla and strawberry.  But I was very wrong, they had a list of about 20 different flavors, even a no sugar added option.  The 3 of us had 4 different flavors and each was better than the last!  We sampled Banana Pudding (out of this world!), Chocolate Marshmallow, Peach (Delish!) and Caramel Pecan.  All were super yummy!  

Even the spot itself was lovely, full of very happy people (and puppies - they have a puppy sundae too!) all enjoying a gorgeous day, lounging about on some very stylish (ha!) benches. One stop down - 7 more to go! 

 Banana Pudding with Hot Fudge that I was so excited to eat, I forgot to take a picture of it until I was half way done...

 We're Mooing if you can't tell - you know, because of the cow...

52 Lists: Week 14

I've never been a big candy eater.  If I want sweets I go straight for the cookies or the cake or the ice cream or any number of other yummy chocolate things.  And of I do go for the candy, it's NEVER fruit flavored.  I was the kid in the class that was bummed when teachers handed out lollipops or starburst.  Those were definitely not my style.  It's always been chocolate for me. And more specifically Dark Chocolate.  Don't get me wrong, I'll eat milk chocolate if that's all you have, but I definitely prefer me some Dark.

In the candy aisle, my favorites are:

~ Dove - either Sea Salt Caramels or Dark Chocolate squares or Dark Chocolate Truffles
~ Hershey's Dark Chocolate Miniatures - You can't always find them, but when you do, it's like Christmas!
~ Kit Kats - Yummy normally but even better when you can find the bag of White, Dark and Milk.  However, the White Chocolates always go to waste. (What's even the point of white chocolate, anyway!?)
~ M&Ms - Always plain, sometimes peanut in a pinch
~ Vanilla Butter Creams and Marshmallow Creams - In a box of chocolates, those are the ones I eat first.  My absolute favorites of these are found at the Annapolis Farmers Market - their handmade candy eggs are like heaven on earth
~ Mounds - Never Almond Joy: that pesky almond just gets in the way of more coconut and chocolate
~ Reese's Peanut Butter Cups
~ Caramellos
~ Milky Way Darks

While looking at this list, it actually does sound like I'm lying when I say I'm not a big candy eater.  But I promise you all of these come in tiny sizes and those are the ones I eat : )

She Loves NY

Every day in New York is lovely, like I said last night.  But when things work perfectly, the trip is just so much better.  I'd had high hopes that the weather would be lovely seeing as it was a day before the first day of spring. Even though it was a bit chilly, I suppose I can't complain too much since it was sunny and not raining - or snowing like it was doing here in Maryland.  That right there, made the beginnings of the day special.

After hemming and hawing for a few days, we decided it would be a great idea to hit the library since neither of us had ever been there.  Unfortunately the gorgeous reading room that everyone thinks of when they think of the NYPL was closed for renovations, but the good thing is the rest of the building is just as beautiful, so it was a great way to waste a little time.  Onward from there, we walked a few blocks down to a pizza place someone recommended.

I have to say, based on the brown lemons, nasty tea, thumping music, and greasy pizza - oh and the complete lack of another single customer other than us - I have no idea why it was recommended.  It was not really the best place to have lunch but lucky for us right around the corner, Baked by Melissa with their glorious mini cupcakes and macarons were there to save us from the awful food.  So delish!  Then it was off to the Drama Bookshop (so dangerous - I bought 5 books, and that wasn't even everything on my list...) and down to Studio 54 to see She Loves Me with Zac Levi and Laura Benanti.  

While it wasn't my favorite, I have to say it was pretty cute.  The best part was the gorgeous set.  It looked like a doll's house full of beautiful bottles and glass.  I loved every piece of it! The bestie of course wanted to wait by the stage door for Zac, which we did.  She got her picture and I managed to embarrass myself in front of a famous person again.  Needless to say there isn't a picture of me and Zac.  Then off to dinner at Playwright's Tavern; then home.  All together just a great day in NYC - full of fun, not the most wonderful food, and friends.