Day #4- Saturday

After our past two late nights, we had reservations for a 12:00 brunch at Mercer Kitchen, a Jean George restaurant, located in SOHO. Living up to his world renowned reputation for exquisite food, Jean George did not disappoint:

This was my roasted lamb sandwich with red peppers, arugula, and garlic aioli. It was phenomenal.

Holly and Jon split this appetizer- heirloom tomato salad with mozzarella and basil. Yum!

Scott and Jon both ordered the raw tuna and wasabi pizzza. This was absolutely amazing- the wood-fired dough was chewy, not too thick, and the "sauce" was a spread of wasabi and ricotta. Unbelievably good!

Scott and I shared this roasted beet salad with goat cheese and balsamic for our appetizer. This dish really showcased the versatility of beets- some were roasted with a sweet, caramelized texture, and some were pickled, for a tangy, vinegar flavor. With that creamy, fluffy goat cheese and the peppery salad that accompanied it- this was amazing! SO good!

Holly had an omelette with goat cheese. She said it was the best omelette she'd ever had in her life- look at that texture! How do you make an omelette with that type of velvety texture? I guess that's why we are eating at these restaurants- we could never make food that good ourselves!

To top off our fabulous brunch, we had to have some delicious drinks as well. Holly had a ginger margarita (on left) and Jon and I each had a pineapple mojito. Mmm! These were fruity and delicious, the perfect addition to our meal.

After our wonderful start of our day, we needed to walk off some of that food. So, we walked to several record stores that Holly and Jon had on their "things to do" list. I wandered around outside of the store while the 3 of them looked at old records, and stopped in front of a Gelato store. For those of you who don't know, gelato is a type of Italian ice cream. It's like ice cream, only richer, thicker, and creamier. As I was looking at the menu of various flavors, a man in a white shirt caught my eye. I looked at him a little closer, and realized that it was Jose Garcias, the newest Iron Chef on Food Network! My first celebrity sighting on this trip! While he's not as famous as Bobby Flay or Mario Batali, I was completely thrilled to have seen this newest Iron Chef! I had to sneak a picture of him, of course!

After that little thrill of excitement, I decided to celebrate with a cup of gelato. No, I wasn't hungry, but you can't buy gelato in Louisville, so I got a small cup with 4 spoons so we could all trysome. I got a cup of pistachio gelato, and it was delish!

After that, we spent most of the afternoon walking around. We wanted to see the restaurant that Jerry, George, Elaine, and Kramer always eat at in Seinfeld episodes, so went to see it. They never actually ate inside here, but used this building as the restaurant setting:

Walking around in the neighborhood, we came upon St John the Divine Cathedral. It was really beautiful, so we went inside and walked around and admired it.

This table was an art exhibit inside the Cathedral. The sign out front invited you to come, sit, eat, and drink at the table. We all went and sat around the table, which had place settings for 12. As you looked at the table, it was as if you were actually eating and drinking because there were hands that appeared right in front of you... picking up silverware, drinking from the wine glass, cutting up food on your plate- there was a projector above the table that played this "movie" of the action at a dinner table. It was kind of weird, but kind of cool as well. You could just sit there and watch as the dishes on the table were changed to different types of food, bowls were moved around, and food was cut up on the plates. Neat concept!

After spending some time admiring all the beautiful stained glass windows, marveling at the intricately carved stone figures, and just being immersed in the complete grandiose of the Cathedral, we walked down the street to Central Park. From all that standing and walking for the past few hours, we decided that we should stop somewhere and get a glass of wine and take a load off. There was a tapas restaurant called Boqueria that Holly had read about and wanted to try. So we hopped on the subway and went to check it out.

As it was already 6:00, we decided to have a little snack to go along with our wine. Being a tapas restaurant (this means small plates), we wanted to try a few different things. We started off with a delicious goat cheese that came with some olives, raisin bread, and Quince jelly. Then we each picked one dish to order that we could all share. Holly chose the lamb meatballs, Jon chose blistered peppers with sea salt, Scott chose potatoes, and I chose salt cod fritters. Of course, I completely forgot to take pictures of most of this, but remembered half way through. Here are the meatballs, which were delicious:

That is the only picture I got, as the other dishes were so delicious that we just ate them right up.

Another item on Holly and Jon's "to do" list was to see Shakespeare in the Park. This is a traveling play, meaning that the cast moves around the park (Battery Park) for each scene, and the audience follows along. It's a neat idea... Scott and I saw King Lear last summer. The play was Much Ado about Nothing, and the cast's costumes were set to the 1940's fashion style. One scene was set as a masquerade, so they handed out masks for the audience to wear:

The play was great, and we all really enjoyed it!

After Shakespeare, we took the subway back to our end of town so we could change for our 10:30 dinner reservation. We went to Esca, a Mario Batali restaurant, and it was FABULOUS!

Here are a couple pictures from our dinner:

Holly: Peach Bellini

Jenn: Watermelon Cosmo

Holly and Jon had an appetizer of paper thin ahi tuna

Scott and I had pink snapper crudo (which means raw) for an appetizer.

Holly and I both had the gnocchi with roasted eggplant and parmesan. It was AMAZING!

Jon had squid ink spaghetti. I was skeptical of this dish until I took a bite of it, but it was SO GOOD! I have seen this dish made on Iron Chef before, so I'm glad he ordered it so we could all try it!

Scott had Artic Char fish. It was rich and delicious. What else could you expect though from a Mario Batali restaurant.

We had an awesome dinner, a great end to another awesome day in NYC!

Day #3- Friday

The first thing we did for Day 3 was to walk to the High Line, which is an old railway system that quit running trains in 1980. Last year, the abandoned train tracks were turned into an elevated public park. Scott and I visited it on its opening weekend last summer, but wanted to take Holly and Jon to see it. Here are some pictures:

It was neat to see how something that had been discarded as a rusty old rail road junkyard could be transformed into an artsy setting, brimming with life with natural grasses and flowers strategically planted and growing vibrantly throughout the 10 block span. It was like living art.

Next, we walked cross town to Madison Square Park, to indulge ourselves in our all time favorite burger joint in NYC- the Shake Shack.

If you haven't heard of this place, you are missing out! Danny Meyer, the famous NYC restraunteer with several upscale restaurants in his portfolio, opened this burger joint in the middle of the park a few years ago. It has since been an instant NYC classic, with it's simple but gourmet cheeseburgers (Shack Burgers), cheese fries, and concretes. The line to the Shake Shack at any time, on any day of the week, from open to close is always around an hour long wait.

We waited in line an hour and 40 minutes, and by the time we got our food, the line was twice as long as it had been when we arrived. And, we got there at 1:20, so it wasn't exactly the "lunchtime rush" crowd. But we knew, along with all those other hungry New Yorkers who waited in that exceedingly long line, that the payoff would be worth it:

Totally worth the wait. I'm sure we will do it at least a few more times during our 30 day stay :-)

After our highly enjoyable lunch, we walked to the Green Market, which is an outdoor farmers market set up in Union Square. We bought some heirloom cherry tomatoes, some fresh goat cheese (from Ardith Mae, a nearby goat farm in Pennsylvania), a couple of whole wheat sourdough rolls, and a loaf of freshly baked herb focaccia bread. We are going to go on a picnic in Central Park tomorrow, so we thought these would be perfect for our lunch. After that, we walked back home to put up the groceries and get changed for our evening out.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art (MOMA) is free on Friday nights from 4-8, so Scott, Holly, and Jon wanted to go. Scott and I have been once before last year, so I had my fill of it then. I'm just not that into art. But we went, and it wasn't that bad, mainly because we got there at 7:15 and they closed at 8. That was the perfect amount of time for me! We spent most of our time looking at works by Picasso, Van Gough, Cezanne, and Matisse. Here is Scott next to a painting of Salvador Dali:

Here are some other shots from the MOMA:

After the museum, we went to Cafe Boulud for dinner. The pictures didn't turn out well because I didn't want to turn the flash on my camera on in this fancy schmancy restaurant, but let me just sum it up in one word: Gourmet.

Oh, my, goodness, was it gourmet. For one thing, it is a Daniel Boulud restaurant, so that right there puts it in an elitist ranking on it's own. This is one of those restaurants that just made you feel like you belong in the Riff-Raff Section if they had one because it was so swanky.

I'll try to describe our meal, but without good pictures, it's not the same. For starters, we all split a delicious foie gras (yes, we really do love this stuff!), and Scott had a roasted tomato and eggplant soup. Then, Scott and Holly both ordered a lamb dish- it had 3 or 4 differently prepared lamb entrees- chops, shank, and some types of pinwheels. Jon had the ravioli, and I had a fish entree. Here is a picture of the lamb dish, but it looks dark because of no flash:

All our meals were absolutely phenomenal, so we definitely rated the meal and the whole experience a 10 out of 10.

After dinner, we wanted to hear some music and have a glass of wine, so we went to this little jazz bar a block from our apartment. I like jazz ok, like to go hear it, but overall wouldn't say it's my favorite. However, this jazz bar was awesome. There were 2 guys playing, and let's just say, they made me a big fan of jazz. It was really good! After a few songs, we called it a night. Just another fabulous night in NYC!

Day #2

New York City!

Ok, one last time I had to get that out in Pace Picante style. Now I can tell you about our fabulous day #2!

The first half of the day wasn't that fabulous, actually. Scott and I both worked most of the afternoon from our "home" office here in the apartment. He went to get us some coffee and a light breakfast, which consisted of a spinach and feta quiche and an egg and swiss croissant sandwich from the delicious locally owned coffee shop on the block. We stayed in and worked until almost 2:00, at which point we had put out enough fires for the work day. By then we were absolutely starving, so we walked to Cafe Cluny, (the place where we got ice cream the day before) which is 2 doors down from our building. Ah, convenience! Our lunch was SO good. I got a pasta dish, which was ribbons of egg noodles with vegetables in a parmasean broth. YUM!

Look at that creamy, decadent deliciousness! This was full of vegetables- zucchini, carrots, green beans, radishes, peas, celery, lima beans, parsley, and slivers of garlic.... MMM!

Scott got fried zucchini blossoms stuffed with ricotta cheese:

His was very lightly fried, and that ricotta was fluffy and creamy. We'd rate this meal a 10/10.

Besides the decadent food, here is another thing that I loved about this restaurant; the view from the window:

It wasn't that there was anything spectacular to see, but look really closely... the yellow building across the street is another little restaurant. The green building across from that is another one. About 150 yards down the street is another one called Corner Bistro. And right in front of the window covered up by the tarp is the ice cream cart that was going to be opened for the afternoon passers by. In this short distance, there were 4 locally owned, unique restaurants.... that is what we absolutely LOVE about this city! As we walked around our neighborhood, Greenwich Village, I started counting- there are anywhere between 5 and 8 restaurants/cafes on each short block. The food options here are absolutely endless! And, being the Foodies that we are, is just our idea of Heaven on Earth!

After lunch, we walked around for a couple hours, taking in all the interesting people, and just general looking and wandering around. Eventually we ended up at this wine bar called Lelabar. They have 150 bottles of wine, and they are all sold by the glass! So we decided to partake in a glass each, and have a little snack of cheese and olives. Here are our snacks:

I love artisanal cheeses and olives. Look how different those olives each look! And that cheese- the white one on the left was a Buchron, which is a goats milk cheese from France. The smaller one on the right is Scharfe Maxx, which is a cows milk cheese from Switzerland. Both completely different, but totally wonderful.

After that, Scott decided that he was still hungry, so we walked to another place he had read about, called the Highlands Bar, which was a Scottish owned pub. We each had a pint of interesting craft beers. He also ordered a chicken liver terrine, which is basically like a chicken mousse. I know that sounds weird, but it was so good. I just had a couple bites of it, but he scarfed it down, so quickly in fact that I didn't even get a picture of it.

Holly and Jon, Scott's sister and brother in law, were flying in to stay with us for the weekend, so we had some time to kill as we waited for them. We continued to walk around, and did some shopping. We found a designer sample sale, and Scott bought a shirt for $5. When Holly and Jon finally arrived, it was around 9:00, so we met them at their bed and breakfast, which is literally across the street from our apartment! How handy! After some quick hellos, we walked 15 blocks to one of our favorite NYC restaurants, Terrior. It's a wine bar, with amazing food. We each did a small tasting of different wine flights, and ordered some fabulous food to go with it:

On the left is lamb sausage in fried sage leaves, and on the right is fried beet and gorgonzola risotto balls. Y-U-M!

I barely got a picture of this before we all ate it up. This is the best, best, best meatball ever. There were 3 of them, and all big enough to split. That tomato sauce is so rich and just perfect. After eating all this, we decided that we could stuff down a little more, so then ordered the oxtail and cheese (can't remember which) risotto balls, and a chicken liver mousse (we love this stuff)! It was all so good that I didn't even get a picture of any of it.

We had a wonderful time, eating, trying various tastes of wine, and talking. The night lasted until the early hours of the morning, at which point we all went to bed, full and happy.

More to come for Day #3!

New York City!

Whenever you say "New York City" you have to say it like those old Pace Picante commercials, when the cowboys are sitting around the campfire, and some rookie cowboy whips out a bottle of salsa that's not from Texas, but is instead from New York City! Then they run him out of the campsite. Every time I go back to visit New York City, that's what runs through my mind the entire first day or two.. "New York City!" Then I get run out of town by some cowboys.

Ok, not really. But in my mind, it's all "New York City!" nonetheless. So anyway, here I am, in New York City! And it is so fabulous! Scott and I are here for a month to pretend what it would be like to actually live here in the City (yes, I said a month! In New York City!) Ok, it's out of my system... for now :-)

Anyway, for those of you who want to know what we're up to day to day, I vow to be diligent on my blog posts, so you can see what pretend living in New York City! would be like (ok, NOW it is out of my system...until tomorrow)

Scott and I arrived in our 400 sq ft apartment today. We had been nervous to see what 400 sq ft actually felt like when we were in it, but when we arrived we were surprisingly excited! It seems much bigger! Of course, it is decorated in a contemporary style, which always seems larger because the style is more streamlined, with clean lines and no clutter. If you were to add a fake ficus tree, for example, I can imagine that it would definitely make the space seem much smaller. So basically, it's a good thing that I don't permanently live here, because I don't know that I could adapt a "less is more" decorating style. But, with our month long residency, I can learn what it's like to live in a contemporary, modern space.

Here are some pictures of our "spacious" 400 sq ft pad in Greenwich Village:

As you can see, it's plenty big enough for the two of us! I think we will be just fine in this space for the next 30 days :-)

So, after settling in and unpacking, the next thing we did was to go get an early dinner, since we had skipped lunch. We went to this neighborhood place called "Extra Virgin". It was about 1 block from our apartment, so it was very convenient as we were tired from the travel all day.

Here's the great thing about New York... you can go to your average, neighborhood restaurant, and get a meal that is as good or better than all the fancy schmancy places in Lousiville. Scott and I decided to split a dinner of wild mushroom with trufflle oil, goat cheese, and spinach whole wheat ravioli, topped with shaved parmasean. And a side of fries with a gorgonzola cheese fondue. ARE YOU KIDDING ME???? How amazing does that sound?!?! That is only something that would be on the menu at Porchini's or Corbett's in Louisville (which are high dollar), and aren't even as good! This meal was unbelievably decadent.... see for yourself:

Look at that french fry. How good does that look? Let me tell you- IT WAS! All that delicious salty goodness coated all over it, perfectly fried and slightly crunchy (not soggy at all!), and that bowl of delicious Gorgonzola cheese fondue.... Oh, my goodness. I've died and gone to Heaven!

We split this meal (thank goodness, because it was plenty!), and then on our 1 block walk home, we walked past another fabulous restaurant called Cafe Cluny. They just so happened to have a cart parked out front of the restaurant on the sidewalek... with homemade ice cream! So, of course we had to get a cone to split. Homemade strawberry icecream, with a homemade waffle cone! The cone was literally still warm from coming off the waffle pan. Here is the ice cream:

Look at those chunks of strawberries! This ice cream tasted like real cream. It was SO good! Scott and I fought each other over it, which says a lot since Scott barely even likes dessert! It was dang good. And, only 2 doors down from our apartment, which is extremely dangerous! As a cone is $4.00, we already set a limit of no more than 3 cones a week. Hopefully we can stick to that budget!

After our phenomenal dinner, we decided to walk to the local grocery store for some basic necessities. That pretty much consisted of 4 cases of water, as we were so stuffed from dinner we couldn't even think of what else to get to stock our apartment. Luckily, the grocery is a half a block from our apartment, so we can just walk on over any time! So convenient!

After our water excursion, we decided to walk 17 blocks to a free comedy show. It was an Improv Show, which was very entertaining! After the show, we decided we could still go for a little snack, so stopped in a carry out pizza place called "Brickyard Pizza Oven". We got a piece of beef, ricotta, and basil pie:

We brought the delicious pie back to our new apartment, and proceeded to devour it. Scott is now fully passed out in a pizza coma, but I wanted to get our first blog entry out! I will do my best to keep up a daily log, for anyone who is interested. Until tomorrow! Goodnight!

All My Children

After months of diligently watering my tomato plants every day, the fruits of my labor have produced these!

Seriously, how cute are these? I just love them!

Here are all my green children:

They smell so good! So rich and herby!

Look at this vibrant, delicious Oregano... Don't you just want to stick your face in there and inhale? Mmm!

Mmm... fresh, woodsy Rosemary. Don't stick your face in here though, it would probably poke your eyes out!

Don't even think about touching your face after you touch one of these babies!These jalapeños are firey hot! They add the perfect touch of heat to any dish.

Soft, delicate Sage. One whiff will instantly transport you to Thanksgiving dinner. Stuffing and Sage, a match made in heaven!

Since I am getting ready to leave for NYC for a month, I figured I had better put some of this fabulous produce to good use. So, what do you do with a whole bunch of tomatoes? Make tomato pie, of course!

This is a very easy recipe, although time consuming. First you have to make a pie crust, which is not difficult, but it has to chill in the fridge for 30 minutes before you use it. So there's 30 minutes of prep time right there. After you make the dough and chill it, you can then start peeling and slicing the tomatoes. This is a very squishy, slippery job. Then you have to grate one cup of cheddar cheese. You can never have too much cheese, in my opinion, so I grated one cup of white cheddar, and one cup of sharp yellow cheddar. I also then cut up slices of fresh mozzarella. (So I'm a cheese freak, ok!) Next, you mix the 2 cups of shredded cheese with a cup of mayo. By the way, if you haven't figured this out yet, this is not a low fat dish. But I don't care because it's freakin delicious. And it's made with tomatoes, which are healthy. Moving on...

I also added one diced jalapeño, just cause I'm crazy like that. Oh, and minced 3 or 4 big garlic cloves. (Did you think you would read a recipe on here that didn't involve garlic? Hello!)

So here's the process after all the slicing/dicing prep work:

1. Roll out pie crust. Lay into a 9 inch pie pan.

2. Bake pie crust for 6-8 minutes, just to give it a good head start.

3. Remove pie crust from oven. Layer tomatoes (I sliced up 5) in the pie.

4. Mix the 2 cups grated cheese with the mayo, jalepeno, and garlic.

5. Spread that mixture on top of the tomatoes.

6. Lay the mozzarella slices on top of all that cheesy-mayo goodness.

7. Bake at 350 for 40 minutes.

Then it looks like this:

Cut up some fresh Basil, sprinkle it all over, and sink your teeth into that cheesy, gooey pie. It was pretty good! Although next time I make it, I will probably add beef. I think it just needed a little more substance to soak up all the juice from the tomatoes. But this dish was definitely a hit in my house. Try it in yours!

And then go walk on the treadmill for at least an hour. You'll have to since you have a whole pie to eat. But it's worth it! Enjoy!