happy birthday to mini-me

Thanks to Debs i got an opportunity to go to another of the Glenlivet City Links for free scotch and indoor golfing. i was so impressed w/myself for drinking scotch, which i haven't really done before. i felt so adult and "007" of it all. the event was fun, and i like going w/Egg b/c i can convince him to chase down hors'doerves for me. YEA!

afterwards, Gohm and i went to dinner in Brooklyn at Cubana Cafe, since he was craving cuban/peruvian food. Overall i thought the food was good, the appetizers were really good (Gohm got shrimp i believe and he had ordered me corn on the cob smothered w/melted cheese and butter. so good but so bad for me). the only teeny tiny complaint i have is that the space is so small. otherwise, loved it and it's very affordable. o, but 1 suggestion is to stay away from the sangria. i wasn't a big fan.

so on the 11th i went home for my little sister's birthday. she turned the big 1-4 so i decided to take her to her first mani-pedi. it was so cute and we had fun, having a little heart to heart while we had our feet done. for dinner, we went to Minado, her favorite japanese buffet. i love going there every once in a while, but after i go i always feel very bad. i guess that's what you get w/buffets.

my cousin patty seemed to be suffering the most. you could see it on her face when she started on the desserts. somehow she just couldn't stop herself and she ate the last piece of green tea cake on her plate but it just pushed her over the edge and she ended up getting sick right after. we all went home and got out cake, w/no intention of eating it since we were so stuffed-just to take pictures, but then patty just couldn't stop looking at it and asked for a piece! i was just about rolling on the floor from the irony of it all.

double Valentine's Day

now that the LWR brief assignment is over, i can finally breathe a sigh of relief and remove myself from the void that my apartment's become. of course, to top off this momentous day, i just slipped on some ice (while wearing my Tims!) outside of BLS. o well...

prior to the 5-day hole up in my apartment, was Valentine's Day. Egg and i decided to do plan something for our significant others so we booked dinner at Saul's about 3 weeks prior (tho had to call in a favor to get the reservation b/c it was all booked up. who knew Brooklyn was so hot?!). before dinner, Egg and i got the brilliant idea to make chocolate chip cookies for them. unfortunately, there were no heart-shaped cookies at the store, so we had to do it ourselves. if anyone thinks of a better way to do it than we did, pls advise. Egg and i would shape the cookies into hearts prior to baking and then, while they were still soft from being pulled from the oven, we would do "damage control" and use teaspoons to nudge the cookie into a better shape. not all of them were successes, but i think the effort shown through.

we all dressed up a little for dinner, which was fun, but the roads were still slushy and icy since it had only snowed the day before. Chen and i did not have fun trying to walk the 4 blocks to Saul's in our high-heeled black boots. after arriving safely, we started our 5-course dinner ($85/per person). we all started w/foie gras, which was so rich and creamy. sigh, if only they gave out more. it was followed by a sweat pea soup w/bacon and goat cheese dumplings. the color was adorable and startling at the same and the soup itself was very rich and creamy. Chen and i got the poached egg w/salmon grits while Egg and Gohm got the smoked mackeral. i actually really enjoyed the egg (poached eggs are my favorite) but the mackeral was definitely the winner of the 2 dishes. it just felt meatier and the taste was much stronger. Chen and i got a grilled yellowtail entree while Egg and Gohm opted for the strip steak (men-meat mentality). this time it was Chen and i that lucked out b/c the yellowtail was cooked perfectly and came w/an amazing sauce (hard to describe now, probably b/c my brain is fried from writing my brief). the boys' steak was good, but nothing special.

for dessert, Egg and i opted for a passion fruit parfait-ish dish. this was absolutely amazing. even tho it was freezing outside, eating this dessert is like being in the tropics. it was a layered dish w/pureed mango on the bottom, coconut milk cream/custard layer above, topped w/pureed passion fruit. on top of it all was a scoop of rum ice cream which definitely did not mask the rum flavor w/any cream. Gohm and Chen opted for the warm chocolate cake (talked about during Egg's and my last trip to Saul's). to end our nice double-date Valentine's day, we all went home and played DVD Scene-it. Egg and Chen make a formidable foe and i may have met my match, but i refuse to believe they actually won 1 w/their sneaky Psycho pull.

bring it on.

the revival of Pal!

why do the Bobsey Twins keep stealing chairs from the kitchen? i mean, what if i need them, or worse, Wifey/i have guests over?!

aside from that, about 2 wks ago i finally saw Pal again. ever since school started and Gohm and everything else got involved, i haven't really seen her/the Hoboken/Pressler crowd. granted, she's also been pretty busy, moving in w/Jared, work and all that fun stuff. regardless, we finally made a dinner date during Restaurant Week to meet up. we went to Thalassa, a Greek restaurant right across the street from Tribeca Grill. they were doing a Restaurant Week wine list too, which was very economical so we got a bottle of Syrah for $27. yea!!

we got identical menus, which is usually a faux pas but, since it's Pal, i let it slide. we both started w/crabcakes which were very crab-a-plentiful and since i seem to eat much faster than Pal, nibbled on the bread and olives they left on the table. i'm not usually an olive fan but these were deelish, pit and all. we had baby lamb chops as entrees which were good, but nothing really special. i thought the lamb chops were just slightly dry. as dessert we got a Greek dessert which i can't recall the name of but was sort of spongey vanilla cake w/layers of raspberry jam. while i wasn't completely bowled over by the whole thing, the experience was very nice, the restaurant feels comfortable and trendy all at once. the sort of purple lighting in the pic-yep, it's there all the time and very ethereal when you're there at night. once i start making some serious moolah, i'll def be dining there at least once/twice.

Pal and i had lots of fun chatting and catching up. we've def calmed a lot from our Hoboken days (i think it's part of our domestication now that we're both in serious relationships). hopefully this won't be a rare occurrence. i'll cross my fingers.

perfect chill girl's night out

since it's all about school right now, i'm gonna do quick little catch-up posts for all the stuff that's been happening.


i went to Lure Fishbar for Restaurant Week w/Debs and Bubby. while we all got lost trying to find the place (what is it about Soho that just totally disorients you as soon as you step off the subway?) the food was definitely worth it to brave the freezing cold. btw, when you walk in, you'll realize you're meant to feel as if you're dining in a boat. the windows are all port holes and it's sub-ground level makes you feel like you're looking up from below deck. interesting. we all started w/the raw bar tasting which is such a good deal. it comes w/shrimp cocktail (about 2 nice big pieces), a sort of grilled calamari ceviche, and east and west coast oysters (i don't know which was which, but 1 was the typical kinds and the other were teeny-tiny but still yummy). we all got different entrees and ate some of each other's. Debs got grilled mahi mahi which was a nice flaky fish, Bubs got steamed branzino which i thought was good but i wasn't crazy about tho it came w/rice which i sort of envied (i love that bap!) and i got seared tuna which was good but it was the veggies it was served on top of that was really impressive. it was served on top edamame and some kind of crunchy veg mixed together. the crunchy veg reminded me of diced waterchesnut, which is 1 of my favorite and least used veggie. to finish it off, Debs got ricotta cheesecake (nice and light, but could've done w/o the ginger compote on top), Bubs got chocolate cake (you can never go wrong. it was warm and gooey and delicious) and i got 2 mini ice cream sandwiches (chocolate chip cookies sandwiched around chocolate chip ice cream and shortbread cookies wrapped around strawberry ice cream). deelish. the food was great and the company was greater. Bubs and Debs dished about the boy stuff going on in their lives-boy stuff's always more interesting and dramatic when you're single. when they asked me how things were going the only thing i could really say was "good"-i didn't have any juicy drama to share. we all shared how it was nice to unwind amongst friends.

Ahhhh Voce and those crazy AALSA mentors

for my last meal for Restaurant Week Egg and i went to A Voce, which seems to be the restaurant to go to since it's on everyone's must-eat restaurant list. i was kind of worried b/c they didn't have a menu up and it's a mighty expensive place but fear not b/c they had excellent choices, Egg and i managed to find a favorite for every course. for apps Egg got sardines, which i know i know, sounds gross and weird but was so yummily lemon and citrusy. i got pasta e fagiole and the soup was surprisingly thick and creamy, which i've never had prepared that way but was perfect for the frigidly cold day. plus it had 4 teeny tiny raviolinis in it filled w/goat cheese which were adorable and delicious. for entrees Egg got an amazing scampi ravioli, the ravioli was so good. i had seared scallops which was cooked nice and tenderly, but it was the sauce underneath which was likely a creamy zesty tomatoey nutty sauce. no meal's complete w/o dessert and we opted for a warm chocolate cakish thing served w/banana ice cream and fried banana slices and a tiramisu. Egg's tiramisu was served in a see-through cup so you could see the layers of cream and espresso soaked cake. eh, i think i prefer the cake form w/those lady-fingers and spongy cake. the chocolate cake was (as always) delish, but it was the banana ice cream which really topped it all off. there were actual chunks of banana in it. yum yum. overall the food was definitely worth it, and if i was a rockefeller, i'd eat there more often b/c it's definitely quality and solid taste and the ambience i would think would suit the trendier young crowd but there were plenty of old ladies wearing their pearls out to lunch w/Egg and i so maybe this place transcends age/generation.

Egg and i got back to BLS w/the full intention of doing some work and the gym and all that stuff before heading out to AALSA's mentor-mentee event. that all went to hell when i asked to play a game of Guitar Hero II since Egg owned it but hadn't yet played. By the time Gohm got to BLS Egg and i had managed to change for the gym but were still glued to the game (damn Egg for not having a memory card and unable to find a cheat code on-line to get all the songs!). we did manage to go to the gym and then headed out to Magentic Field to attend the AALSA event. unfortunately most of the food was gone by the time we got there but everyone had a good time (we dominated the dart board, although i am awfully awful at that game as well as photo hunt-i won't mention which kind we played). it ended being a bit more of an epic night than any of us had planned and w/a stop at the falafel place for food at about 2 am i just about collapsed at home.