30 Things: I Want a Damn Grill Already!

Outside, Where We Belong

August I feel like I never had the chance to get to know you. And just like that, you were gone. How is it September next week? I demand a recount. Mike and I are both trying to gracefully accept the inevitable melding of summer into fall, but we all know what comes after fall, don't we? (Closes eyes, takes a deep breath, and chants: Live in the moment, live in the moment, live in the moment). Good thing I love fall with all it's leafy, football-y, butternut squashi-ness. And really, we've had a good run in the weather and summer fun department. Such a good run in fact that I don't think I've sat down in three weeks. No really, my feet are killing me. It may be time for an edition of 30 Things because this feels like a day for bullet points and abstraction. Without further ado, here are 30 things that we've done in our most recent 30 days in New York. (We're up to 485 days here in case you lost count...seriously I feel like I'm living in fast forward mode).

1. More concerts in the park. Metric at Prospect Park in Brooklyn with some fun couples. We picnicked and drank wine, and approved of our friends new-ish boyfriend. So much so that they are coming over for dinner and board games tomorrow night...which will probably ruin our friendship. If you've ever played games with me, you are nodding knowingly. (Flips Risk board over scattering armies into every nook and cranny of the room. Months later, continues to find said armies in things like vases and serving dishes. Cringe).

2. We had a friend in town from LA a few weeks back and we decided to take him to Washington Square to listen to some of the musicians. He wanted to take his glass of wine which I transferred to a plastic cup with a stern warning to be discreet. We are not in New Orleans and cops regularly wander through the park. We're sitting listening to a drum circle and Matty is sipping out of his pink plastic cup when he spots a cop. Let's just say his reaction was the exact opposite of smooth or cool. He sees the cop, makes eye contact, yanks his cup from view, leans over and whispers loudly "DUDE, THERE'S A COP!" as the cop watches with amusement.

The cop of course walks over and says "Whydya move ya cup like dat? Got booze in deh?".

Matty, attempting to be casual: "Oh, you know, just a little wine". (Shrugging like the actual volume will make it less against the law).

Cop: "Do me a favor and dump it out, wouldya?" (Walks away).

US: (Pointing and laughing at Matty).

The rest of the weekend was spent asking each other if we "Got booze in deh?"

3. Wow, I'm only on the third thing and I've already written a screenplay. I may have to tone down the 30 things to a more manageable number. Or be more succinct. Let's continue and see how this plays out.

4. I hit some Long Island wineries with our friends Susan and Tommy to help them pick out some wine for their upcoming wedding. Mike stayed at their place in LI and studied poolside for his PA re-certification exam that he has to take every 6 years. We came home after and grilled up steaks and other deliciousness with some of our purchases and talked for 3 days after about how much we miss having outdoor space and a grill.

5. Mike passed his boards! Not that I was concerned, but still it's nice to have another 6 years before he has to study like that again.

6. We went to the Poconos with A la Grecque, which is where her lovely parents, Bill and Lizzy live. They were having a big family party and apparently we are now adopted Greek cousins. Seriously, the Big Fat movie is no joke. Neither is her Yia-Yia Mary, who has awesome spiky white hair and wears leopard print tops and purple toenail polish. It was a great weekend of food and family, even if it wasn't ours. And we spent the next 3 days talking about how much we miss having outdoor space and a grill.

7. I got an invite to a wine dinner at SD-26, an updated version of the New York Italian staple, San Domenico, through Food & Wine mag and brought Mike along. We tasted wines from the small Italian island of Pantelleria, which were paired with things like a chilled San Marzano tomato soup with Burrata cheese, the most delicately sweet, fresh Gamberi di Mazzara shrimp with cannellini beans and rosemary oil, beef cheek ravioli, oxtail with grilled radicchio, and something chocolaty. The wines were fantastic, the food was delicious, and our dining companions were a lot of fun. Hopefully this free dinner thing is a trend.


The Best Shrimp Ever at SD-26

8. One of my favorite cousins, Erica, moved to New York this month to attend grad school at Columbia for a curatorial art program. She has stayed with us for a few days here and there until her housing opens up and she is such an easy roommate. If you've been to our place, you know how small it is, and if you add another person and 4 of the biggest duffel bags you've ever seen, it could be considered crowded. She's lovely to have around though. And not just because she picks up fruit tarts at Italian bakeries and my favorite goat cheese and aged chorizo for snacks, it's just nice to have her here.

9. We spent a good part of the last week in San Diego, a trip we made for our good friends, Nate & Melissa's wedding, which was beautiful. Melissa may have been the most beautiful bride I've ever seen. The wedding was outside in Pt. Loma right on the bay and the weather was perfect.


All of my pics of Melissa came out blurry, so you'll have to settle for these dapper young men

10. I miss San Diego. We spent quite a bit of time at various friends houses sitting in their yard, chatting, sipping on wine, and grilling. As you can imagine, we spent the next several days talking about how much we miss having outdoor space and a grill.

11. We spent a day in IB (Imperial Beach for those not from the greater San Diego area) with our friends and old roomies, Emmy & Curtis. We did what we used to do with them: bike around town, get tacos, hit a dive bar, make a fantastic meal, play beer pong, make fun of each other, and sit in the jacuzzi. I wanted to have that day on repeat for like a week. Except for the part where Emmy ate almost the entire topping off my peach cobbler before anyone had a chance to eat it. (Love you Em!)


Sunset in IB

12. I got to see two of my best girlfriends and it was so bittersweet. I love them so much and I miss them so much and it's so much fun to be around them. We have big plans to have a Golden Girls style house someday that we can retreat to together and wear tunics and rayon dresses with shoulder pads whenever we need to get away from life. I've already called dibs on having the peach chiffon bedroom, although I may try to trade with Donna (who can't decide if she wants to be Rose or Sophia) for the one with the Bird of Paradise wallpaper and rattan bedroom set. Jill (aka Dorothy)is going dusty rose, which I think is the same as mauve, but she disagrees. I am Blanche because I want to be the saucy one.


Dorothy & Blanche

13. We also got to spend time with some of our oldest friends, the Mora-Steinland-Gravers, who have apparently been at it like rabbits since we moved. There are 5 tots between the three couples now and we had a lovely meal (in the backyard of course, hmph) with the whole gang. The kids are all adorable and the babies are so squishy and cute. It was especially fun to tell them that Uncle Mike would give them horsey rides...because how can you not crawl around on the ground for a two year old with ringlets?

14. Work has been going great and is super busy. I love the balance of cooking, which can be physically demanding, and being at the Food & Wine offices immersed in wine. At Etsy, the staff is so friendly and appreciative of the meals we are making, and we started putting out snacks like granola, fresh squeezed lemonade, and warm zucchini cake. It's pretty cool, and rare I think, to get an instant reward for your work and have people stopping by your work station to say thank you for a job well done. My feet are usually killing me by the end of the day and I typically have all manner of minor nicks and cuts on my fingers, along with blueberry stains under my finger nails, but it's definitely worth it.

15. Well, it looks like I made it halfway through my 30 things, which seems like a satisfactory accomplishment for a Saturday morning. Now if I can only figure out how to be bicoastal so we can have our friends, our yard, and a grill in San Diego, and the jobs, friends, and life I love in New York. This may just be the year of cake and eating it.

Smiling Through the Stench

I just got the new issue of Time Out New York magazine (TONY for short) and the cover in bold typeface screams:

THE COOLEST JOBS (AND HOW TO GET THEM)

I tossed it, along with my knife kit, on the kitchen counter, locked our old, heavy door behind me and opened the fridge. I found a half full bottle (ahhh...optimism) of Sauvignon Blanc that I brought home from work and dumped its entire contents into a very large glass and kicked off my flip flops. I took a swig, set the glass on the bathroom sink and turned on the shower. I peeled of my sweaty, smudgy, flour dusted clothes and stepped in. It was only then, with the cool water raining on my face, washing away the days work, did I realize that I had been smiling the whole time.

Before I terrorize you anymore with images of me alone and grinning creepily in the shower, let me explain. Or at least wax poetic. Standing here, looking back at the past 9 years in which I searched and struggled and talked myself into jobs or career paths that I hoped would work out, trying to make square pegs fit in round holes, wishing I had that certainty that I was doing the right thing, it all makes sense now. I can identify those defining moments that led me to this point. I can see all of the choices, that at the time seemed like an exercise in futility, as key experiences that I needed to arrive at this moment. It's funny because some of the worst of the lot ended up yielding the biggest opportunities in the end.

I'll stop romanticizing now and just say I feel like a lucky girl who is getting what I want. And it only took me 9 years of looking to find it. I can use that TONY issue to line the proverbial bird cage because I'm finally working a full-time schedule for the first time in (cringe) three years. I'll be working 2 - 3 days each week at Food & Wine and 2 -3 days each week cooking a market driven, seasonal menu for the staff of Etsy. (If you aren't familiar with Etsy, you have to check out the website). For a better idea of the job, check out this article in the Wall Street Journal about the really cool chick (and chef) that I am working for. So, in short, I get to immerse myself in wine a few days each week and then I get to cook great food on the other days. Even better, I get to work week days and have a normal schedule and free evenings and weekends to spend with Mike.

Okay, I'm now convinced that a piano is going to fall on me as I walk down the street whistling happily. Or I've made everyone ill with my gushy bliss. Don't worry, I'm sure I'll be back to cursing out strangers and complaining about bad smells on the subway any second now. Oh seriously, speaking of, yesterday was like a game of "What the hell IS that?" - picture me looking like someone just farted in my face, which I do think was one round of the game on the C train. Other rounds included "I haven't brushed my teeth ever and you're stuck next to me on the F train", "Standing water that may be raw sewage", and "This actually burns". See? Back to my old self.

On another note, Mike's been taking really cool pictures lately with the Hipstamatic for iPhone app, so I am going to post some every now and then. The two here are of an evening walk across the Brooklyn Bridge. Enjoy!

Champagne Wishes on a Miller High Life Budget

Everyone has wish lists right? It's not just me that makes up outrageous dream scenarios like "If I could have a permanent home anywhere and two vacation properties, I would live in (fill in the blank), have a beach house on (fill in the blank), and a rustic retreat at (fill in the blank)".

I know how the listing for my dream New York City apartment would read: 2 bedroom, exposed brick, private rooftop access, chef's kitchen, high ceilings, hardwood floors...I could go on.

I also have a restaurant wish list of gastronomic temples that I must visit before I leave this earth. There are a disproportionate number on that list that are right here in Manhattan and while I've managed to check a few off that list, I don't exactly have the bank account that will allow me to pop into Per Se, Daniel, or Le Bernardin anytime soon. Those have to be saved for special occasions because in all likelihood, I will never be pulling in the kind of cash that permits Tuesday night dinners that cost more than a car payment. And that's okay because how sacred is a temple if you can get in any time?

For now, I've learned to make other kinds of wish lists. Mike would call it the New York bucket list because it's our list of things to do while we live here since we know we won't live here forever. We did the same thing when we knew we only had a year left in San Diego - made a list of everything we wanted to do but hadn't and everything we had done before and wanted to do again. It was a great little personal guide book for those days when you can't decide on what to do, can't agree on anything, or just can't find the creativity to come up with something. Our New York bucket list is pretty food heavy. So while we may not be able to afford a four course meal cooked by a culinary master, we can still enjoy the roots of this city's vibrant dining scene. I've learned two things in my recent transformation into Stingy MacFrugal. First, it's insanely easy to walk into a bar or restaurant in Manhattan and spend $12 on a drink or $75 on a mediocre meal for two. Second, it's also insanely easy to get ridiculously cheap meals that are exponentially more delicious and interesting than the $75 dinner date. And by cheap I mean, a pocket-full-of-change cheap. Here are some recent finds that have kept our bellies and wallets full.

1. Raffetto's


We are kicking ourselves for not discovering this spot sooner since it is exactly 3 blocks from our apartment, on Houston between Sullivan and MacDougal. It's an Italian specialty shop that makes fresh pasta, cut to order. You can get a pound of plain egg pasta cut into pappardelle or tagliatelle for little more than $2. So for the same price as a box of Barilla, you can have fresh, tender, toothy noodles. The plain is best for more complex sauces, but you can order pasta flavored with things like saffron, rosemary, black pepper, and squid ink that work beautifully tossed with some butter and parm. They also make delicious ravioli and tortellini stuffed with everything from wild mushrooms to pumpkin to lobster for about $5/pound. Everything else you would expect to find in an Italian specialty shop is here: sausage, cured meats, cheeses, housemade sauces, prepared foods, and quality imported oils, tomatoes, grains, and anchovies that are a must for a good Italian pantry.

2. Jackson Heights, Queens
One hour walking around this seriously mulit-culti neighborhood and we had spent about $10 and eaten food from 6 different countries. We followed the $1 Jackson Heights eating walk outlined in Time Out New York magazine (a great weekly guide to what's happening in the Big Apple) and were rewarded with savory Columbian pastries, steamy, spicy tamales, and aromatic veggie samosas. Stepping off the subway onto Roosevelt Ave is somewhat transformative as you realize just how big New York City is and how many different kinds of people call it home. And not just call it home but make it like the home they came from. With each block it was like a new pocket of Latin America, China or India. It kind of feels like the world is at your fingertips and you can just reach out and eat it.

3. Picnicking


While we are certainly not the first to discover the joy of the picnic, we've been packing our meals into a small soft-sided cooler (with a San Diego Chargers logo, of course, courtesy of my sister) and taking lunch or dinner al fresco. Our recent picnic spots have included: Brooklyn Bridge Park, which sits below the bridge on the Brooklyn Side of the East River (pasta salad and spectacular views of the Manhattan skyline), Central Park for free Summerstage concerts (Jimmy Cliff and a bag of summer cherries), Prospect Park in Brooklyn for their Celebrate Brooklyn free summer concert series (Ozomatli and watermelon salad), and Washington Square (street musicians, a drum circle, and sangria).

4. Any bar on MacDougal or Bleecker.
While we typically avoid the madness of MacDougal and Bleecker street bars because they cater to NYU undergrads and tourists, we sometimes get lured in because we live right down the street. Some are less douchey than others but all have drink specials so cheap, I sometimes think I am back in Buffalo. Draft beer for $2, pitchers for $5. You can't even get a beer for $5 in a most places here. So we stop in from time to time with a deck of cards or a set of dominoes and ignore the crappy Top 40 tunes, bartenders who look like Jersey Shore extras, and general lack of character (from the bar and patrons) because a $2 beer is a $2 beer. Best bang for our buck: Off the Wagon and the Fat Black Pussy Cat.