Hump Day Thoughts...

So my boyfriend was sick last week and, you guessed it, I'm now sick with the exact same symptoms. I've been attacking it with a healthy dose of medicine every four hours, lots of hot tea, and chloraseptic drops. I just need to stay slightly alive tomorrow for work (big stuff going on) and then I can hopefully crash this weekend...although it will be difficult since my weekend is filled with plans. I'm one of those people who like to complain that I have too many plans, but I probably should look at it as a blessing that I have so many friends and family to spend time with...

.....

B went to the alley besides our building to throw out a box and he saw an amusing sign posted up that is spelled "Close the Dam Gate". Our building is super anal about closing that gate and they won't tolerate when lazy people won't shut it tight. But the sign also is perfectly misspelled, which cracks me up. It's one of those things that bugs me, like when people don't know the difference between WHETHER or WEATHER. When I read mistakes like that, it screams ignorance to me.

.....

Tonight B and I made steaks (to test out our new cast iron skillet, our usual mushrooms in red wine sauce, and sweet potato fries. We used our friend M's family wine, which is the perfect dry red wine to cook with.

.....

I am so excited to be planning my ten year high school reunion. I know a lot of people dread this, but I'm really looking forward to seeing a lot of people that I've lost touch with...and get to hang out with the people I don't see enough. S prepared me that it will be slightly awkward the first hour, but afterwards it ends up being a blast. Being on the planning committee makes me feel like I'm right back in high school with Student Council committees.

.....

Life is going really well and hopefully there will be more good news after tomorrow's big day at work...Top Chef New York finale tonight....Oh, and absolutely loving seeing who is looking at my blog these days....some things never change.

xoxo

This week is already starting out better than the last...

After another crazy day at work, I took off early to get some gym-time in and to de-stress. I managed to get a great workout and felt like I was in a great mood. I headed home and B and I got to cook dinner together. We made yummy panko-crusted chicken with a frozen waffle and a side of brussells sprouts cooked with bacon, onions, and garlic. We also used some of our friend S' family maple syrup and B also made a spicy honey syrup as well. It was delish.

Tomorrow is going to be an early work day for me, so I'm zoning out with lots of TV. I DVRed "Taking Chance" on HBO last night (http://www.hbo.com/films/takingchance/) and I'm watching it now while I unwind. The movie is so sad and it really moves me. The casualties of war are often mere statistics but this movie makes me realize how grateful we must continue to be for those who serve our country.

On a lighter note, I saw a preview for the Hills (http://perezhilton.com/2009-02-23-watch-it-3) and I can't wait for this "reality" show to come back on. Thankfully this is the only drama in my life these days...

xoxo

Whoever knew...

...that Sunday would be the new Saturday?

My friend S, being a native South Shore-ian, is always raving about how wonderful Providence is.  I've got to be honest that my Providence experiences have been limited to Providence Place and the under-age "clubs" that I may or may not have gone to while in college.  At my birthday pre-party last month, S and I got to talking and decided that we're going to have a nice dinner in Providence and she would prove me wrong.  A, who lives in central Massachusetts, said the drive was good for her so a plan was hatched for a Sunday dinner in Providence.  

After relaxing Sunday morning, I met my girl T at Park Street and headed to Quincy Adams.  It was great to catch up with T and S picked us up in her shiny beamer and we headed back to S' place.  S knows that I'm a malbec fan and she picked up a bottle of malbec that we jumped into.  The ever gracious hostess, we munched on pita chips and Sabra hummus (my fave) and this delicious baked brie with mushrooms (yum).  I brought a bottle of one my favorite malbecs (Tilia) and eventually we cracked into that one as well.  After catching up over work and grad school talk, we headed down to Providence.  S assures me that its only a twenty minute drive, but we drove slower last night since the roads were so slick.

S made reservations for Mediterraneo Caffe(http://www.mediterraneocaffe.com/Fhome.htm), located in Federal Hill (which I'm told is the equivalent to our North End).  A was waiting at the bar with a glass of wine and I was surprised at how packed it was for a Sunday night.  In celebration of an improptu ladies' dinner, we treated ourselves to some bubbly.  They had a great prix fixe dinner option, which we all opted for.  I started out with a Caesar salad, and the canneloni al forno.  Baked pasta is a favorite of mine and this was no exception.  The portions were huge and I'm looking forward to diving into the second half tonight.  We finished the night with tirimisu and a shot of limoncello to hit the road.  The food was exceptional and the restaurant is even a member of the James Beard Foundation.  The only downfall was that the service of the food was noticeably slow and there was a small mix-up on sauce on S' dish (but it was quickly fixed).  However, with great company on a rainy night, I couldn't complain.  I would like to check out this restaurant again in the summer as there are great open air cafe windows and there were definitely items on the menu I'd like to try again.  

Give me any night with good food, good wine, and good company (not necessarily in that order)...

xoxo

Sundays are so sad...

...when you have amazing weekends.

Friday was a hellish at work. I had a few important client calls and meetings, along with a big deadline for an upcoming mediation. On top of which, I had a standing lunch date with A that I just couldn't reschedule. Between our busy schedules, we have rescheduled this lunch many, many times. I worked pretty late on Friday night and I couldn't muster the motivation to get to the gym. So I came home and jumped on the Wii Fit and got my aggression out with some boxing. B and I ordered Billy Tse's and snuggled up to a movie.

On Saturday morning, our cleaning lady came over so we ran some errands in the neighborhood to get ready for E's 30th birthday celebration. E came over with her friend L and we had a small champagne toast before we headed to her birthday dinner party. E reserved a private room at Sel de la Terre by the Aquarium (http://www.seldelaterre.com/). There was nineteen of us all together and we had an absolute blast. I completely forgot how much fun dinner parties can be. E handpicked the prix fixed menu (which was even printed with "Happy 30th Birthday Emily").
I started out with a champagne and peach nectar cocktail and loved my appetizer of crab cakes. They were perfectly cooked (not greasy as crab cakes can sometimes be) but pretty unremarkable and lacked a lot of fresh crab. The pesto sauce was pretty amazing though. I moved onto a glass of chenin bland and the seared scallops with braised veggies (snow peas, carrots, endives). The scallops were perfectly cooked and the foodie table (all Top Chef and Food Network fans) talked about how hard it is to get a perfect sear on a scallop. This was perfectly seared and each side was caramelized. I found the dish to be a little endive heavy, but the other veggies were fresh and the snow peas were crisp. For dessert I had vanilla creme brulee accompanied with fruit and their homemade cookies (chocolate chip and ginger snap). Delish.

It was a great meal and the private dining room was perfect for this birthday dinner.

Afterwards we headed to the Living Room to end the night with a drink but B was pretty worn out since he had been sick all week so we headed home. Then we did something that we haven't done in a really long time - we stayed up for hours talking about different things. We used to do this all the time when we were just friends and when I was hiding out from my boy-crazy then-roomie. And staying up talking, I realized that while I love our relationship, I love the friendship underneath it all. Its great that B is not only my boyfriend but a great friend and it makes me fall a little more in love with him when I realize that.

I woke up this morning and worked off those calories from last night's dinner. I'm heading to a girl's dinner tonight, which is the perfect way to end the weekend.

Hope everyone is having a great of a weekend as I am...

xoxo

Twenty (or five) questions...

Okay, so my friend KK answered these interview questions on her blog (http://tetaequalsbooby.blogspot.com/) and sent me these to answer on my own....

Interview Questions:

1. what is your favorite childhood memory? is it wearing cute little korean outfits?

Hmm...my favorite childhood memory has got to be somewhere between riding bikes with the neighborhood kids...playing with my kick-ass She-Ra collection...or according to my mom, watching TV in my car seat (I don't remember this but apparently I was obsessed with my car seat).

2. have you/do you sleep with stuffed animals? if so, list them. and if you have any imaginary friends, please list those too.
Um, yes.  I sleep with my stuffed puppy Henry that my ex-roomie Scott got for me...and have several other stuffed animals named Jonah, Sammy, and Tin-Tin.  Oh, and I sleep with my Bret-tastic stuffed animal but only when I don't kick him out for snoring.

3. what was your worst experience with your "foodie" roommate and her nasty cat?

Yikes, this is too easy to be really mean.  First off, I actually had no major issues with the cat except for the ex-roomie who refused to clean and thus cat hair piled up.  

I'd have to say it was... 

the revolving door of men that she met on Match and would stay over....listening to her smack talk all of her friends and blab all of their secrets (wonder if her co-worker friend knows that she told people about the affair she had in the office and how everyone knows about it now at work)....always putting guys before her friends...her crazy mother who she talks to 24/7....the maniac laugh and loud voice she has around guys and how she pretends to love their interests....her crazy online stalking of all of her ex-es for no reason (hello online forums about cars)....her love of cooking that was demonstrated by rotting vegetables in the fridge, a stove and table that was never cleaned, and eating frozen pizzas once a week from CVS at 2 AM....the poop stains she would leave in the toilet and never clean...her self absorbed attitude that made her think that every drama and every relationship was about her ("I feel offended and betrayed by your relationship.")...her insane jealousy of people...her imaginative take on the potential of relationships ("We ahared an umbrella together...")...

Scratch all of that.  I slowly learned that I couldn't respect or trust her and I couldn't live with someone who I couldn't respect or trust. 

4. if you had to rescue one thing from your apartment, what would it be? excluding bret?

I'm shallow, I'll say it - all of my nice jewelry.

5. after you poop, when you wipe, do you face the toilet or face away?

Hahaha, this may sound like a strange question but once KK and I were watching a movie where this question was asked in a scene.  I totally assumed everyone does it the same way I do (facing away from the toilet) but apparently found out this isn't necessarily true!  To this day, B won't answer this question!!!

To play along:
1. Leave me a comment saying, "Interview me."
2. I will respond by giving you five questions. (I get to pick the questions.)
3. You will update your blog with the answers to the questions.
4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview others in the same post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions. 

The Valentine's Day recap

After I finished blogging yesterday, B came home with some gorgeous flowers...

I knew that Valentine's Day was going to be even more romantic going forward. We got ready for an early dinner at No. 9 Park (http://www.no9park.com/) but decided to start at the apartment with some of our favorite wine - dry Chateau de St. Michelle reisling. I was running behind getting ready, per usual, and B had our songs playing - "Wonderful Tonight" by Eric Clapton and "Stars are Blind" by Paris Hilton (don't ask). We exchanged gifts. I got B a bathrobe that he wanted and he surprised me with this purse I've been coveting from Kate Spade. It was out of stock online though so I totally didn't think I would ever get it but B contacted K, my super duper friend who works for Kate Spade. A few secret emails, texts, calls, and Facebook messages later, K tracked my purse down in PA and got it shipped. Amazing. B also got me a really cute long sleeved jacket I've been looking at on the Victoria Secret website.

After a few slow dances, smooches and glasses of wine, we headed to No. 9 Park. We had an amazing table overlooking the common and started the night with a bottle of prosecco. We chose our meal from the Valentine's Day prix-fixe menu. I started out with the prune gnocchi and B tried the foie gras terrine. Both are really raved about by everyone who has gone to No. 9 Park and it was easy to see why. The prune gnocchi came in a very healthy portion but the size seemed more like a ravioli or dumpling. The seared fois gras with the gnocchi was amazing. This is probably one of the best appetizers I've had in a long time (second only to the seared foie gras from L'Espalier). B's foie gras was smooth, buttery, and the Myer's lemon added the perfect acidic touch.

For our entrees, I really debated between the pork belly and the poached lobster. Our server gave great overviews on both, but since we had a long night ahead of us, I chose the lighter of the two. The poached lobster was cooked really well - and it was butter poached (i.e. decadent yummyness). Again, it was a healthy portion and B overhead the server telling another patron that its about 1.5 pounds of lobster. The soy beans added a great texture and the blood orange again added great acid. B had the shortrib which was cooked so tender and he definitely let me steal a few bites.

We couldn't decide on our desserts because they all sounded really delicious. Again we relied on our amazing server for his two top picks - the apple creme brulee and the warm chocolate biscuit. While we waited, we received complimentary glasses of dessert wine - a muscat sparkling wine, along with bites of salted fudge. The fudge alone was way too salty but with the dessert wine, it was amazing. The apple creme brulee was delicious, and was accompanied by an apple chip, caramel sauce, caramel ice cream and flambee apple slices. The plate had a breathtaking presentation. B loved the warm chocolate biscuit although I was too busy inhaling my dessert to take notice. As B settled the bill, we received another bite of biscuit and a mango gelee.

The service was amazing - from the proper table service...the great recommendations...and the valet service. In addition, we got a complimentary ceramic tea pot with their blend of rooibos tea. It was a great meal. It was pricey (close to L'Espalier prices) but that is what you get on Valentine's Day. But the ambience was worthy of it all.

Afterwards, we headed to the BSO for James Levine's Mozart series. As someone who is classically trained in piano for over ten years, I love classical music. However, I've never been to the BSO. I was excited for a Mozart program as he is my second-favorite composer (next to Chopin). James Levine specifically chose Mozart's lesser known/heard symphonies for this BSO series. Last night, we heard Symphony Nos. 19-21, and 25. I was thrilled as I have played the Andante in Symphony No. 21 in A and since Symphone No. 25 in G minor is pretty well known, it was a great ending. Our seats are great, although if you've been the hall you know that there is really no such thing as a bad seat there. However, we were surrounded by some interesting characters - the couple fighting in front of us, the guy behind us who fell asleep and the stereotypical Asian guy taking unauthorized photos. But that made it even more fun.

Afterwards, we headed home and finished our night with candlelight and chocolate covered strawberries.

Valentine's Day was amazing and I was happy to celebrate it with the one I love.

I'm heading home today for my dad's birthday dinner. It will be good time and I'm glad there's even more weekend to come!

xoxo

Happy Friday the 13th!

Its so nice waking up on a Saturday morning knowing that there are two more days of weekend to follow!

Last night, I left work and worked out on the Wii Fit. B went to get his haircut and came back with lots of goodies - naughty and nice cookies (along with homemade Oreos) from Flour, Godiva chocolates for me as a pre-Valentine's Day gift, and chocolate covered strawberries for tonight.

Because I was so exhausted from the past week, we decided to stay in and lay low. We ordered a small cheese pizza and a garden salad with chicken from Upper Crust. And we caught up on our Netflix - Lady and the Tramp (I've never seen it entirely!) and Eagle Eye (I wanted to see it - um, it was so-so). Afterwards we had the above described cookies with some vanilla honey ice cream - yum.

It was nice to lay low and get to sleep at a decent hour. Unfortunately, we were woken up at 2 AM by some drunken BHPer ringing our doorbell. It was annoying but I'd rather have the occassional drunken incident over getting woken up every weekend by the so-called "foodie" ex-roomie who would come home drunkenly and make disgusting frozen pizza from CVS and eat pints of ice cream. Besides, it was Friday the 13th...you expect these things to happen.

Regardless, I slept in this morning, worked out and am ready to slowly start the day.

I'm hoping everyone is having a great start to their long weekend....and ofcourse a Happy Valentine's Day!

xoxo

Sleep....sweet sleep....

So I haven't been sleeping well lately.  Between last weekend's drink-fest, bad dreams (I had a terrifying one about getting burglarized), B's sometime snoring, and just being stressed out about work, I haven't slept more than a few hours each night since last Thursday.  I was starting to crack from the sleep deprivation.  Yesterday, I could barely stay awake at work, had the cold/hot flashes, and started to feel sick.  So I went home early yesterday and ate Kraft mac and cheese and slept for twelve hours.  Seriously.  I woke up this morning with the sunshine streaming in and could practically see the cartoon birds flying around my heard...okay maybe not birds, but the cartoon puppies waking me up.  It was great.

Other than my lack of sleep, this week has been pretty quiet.  I met with my girl M for lunch on Wednesday at Clarke's.  I love that she has such a flexible schedule and is so close to me now that she is in law school.  Over grilled chicken sandwiches, we caught up on each other's lives and the latest gossip.  It was a nice interuption to the day.

Wednesday night was also date night.   We decided to go to Douzo (http://www.douzosushi.com/) but they don't take reservations under five people so our back-up plan was to head to Osushi in Copley Place.  Since it was so gorgeous out, we walked over after work and got there around 6:15.  It was the perfect time because it was fairly empty there but by the time we left, it was packed.  We started out with a Kirin Light for B and a glass of Prosecco for me, and we noshed on edamame and gyoza.  The dumplings were amazing because they were steamed but quickly pan fried on the bottom, creating an interest contrast in texture.  We split the sushi and sashimi dinner, which came out with a ton of standard sushi and sashimi, along with the crunchy roll (cucumber spicy crumb wrapped with tuna and salmon).  I loved everything, including the eel (which I typically don't enjoy) but I stayed away from the surf clam (too rubbery) and the mackeral (too fishy as sashimi).  We walked home and endulged in some honey ice cream.  We bought it once at Whole Foods because it seemed interesting and we are obsessed with it now (http://www.haagendazs.com/products/product.aspx?id=354).

There are lots of weekend plans, which I'll likely update about over the weekend.  I'm kicking off my weekend with a long lunch today at the new Wagamama's location at the Prudential Center.  I go to so many of their openings and events, but can never get enough!  

Happy Friday the 13th....here's a tasty yet white trash thought to leave you on: http://foodfight.tumblr.com/post/69218052/redneck-new-years-eve

xoxo

Another jam-packed weekend...

...comes to an end.

On Friday, B took a half day to meet his friend A at North Station. A is B's best friend from college and we spent a weekend with him and his wife in Boothbay Harbor this summer. A lives in Maine year-round and it was great that he was coming down for the weekend. We started the night drinking (surprise, surprise). I had a few glasses of wine while the guys drank from their glass drinking boots. We then headed to the All Star Sandwich Bar to meet the rest of B's college gang. Unfortunately, B and A were a little more than tipsy so their reuniting consisted of eating lots of food. Somehow I managed to get the two guys home that night.

The next morning I slept in while the guys took off for breakfast. They nursed their hangovers and then we headed to dinner at the Asgaard to start a night of drinking. We did a few rounds of A's golf birthday bar crawl - Middlesex Lounge, Asgaard, the Enormous Room and then headed to S' place for her 30th birthday festivities. We hung out, ate vegan birthday cake, and just had a great time. We finally got home around 2 AM.

The next morning, A headed home to Maine and I got started on my now weekly crockpot meal of the day. I put together a great lentil and sausage soup but spiced it up with loads of dry spices and jalapenos. My sister came over to hang out and she brought me my belated birthday gifts - Season Five of 90210 and the SATC movie. The three of us headed over to my favorite neighborhood fall back - 75 Chestnut. The three of us were craving steak (mostly from watching Phantom Gourmet's steak epsiode) and we all ordered the steak au poivre - with fresh veggies, asparagus and mashed potatoes. There was live jazz playing and a bloody mary bar which I normally would have jumped in on but was kindly giving my liver a break. Afterwards, my sister headed home and B and I spent the rest of the day just relaxing together. We watched SATC, ate a candlelight dinner, and then spent the rest of the night watching TV in bed.

I'm working from home this morning and then have an appointment....Hope everyone else had a great weekend!

xoxo

Pulled pork? Yes please!

It was hard to get excited about the Super Bowl.  I rooted for the Cardinals because they are the underdog, and then I rooted for the Steelers because Roethlisberger is hot and because Hines Ward is half-Korean.  Let's be honest.  I'm not one of those girls that is going to pretend to be one of the boys to impress them.  I like New England sports teams, but I'm not a football fanatic.

B and I decided to keep it low key and just make pulled pork from the slow cooker (yes, I know we're slow-cooker obsessed), homemade coleslaw and homemade cornbread.  After being so full from our fabulous dinner at L'Espalier the night before, we forced ourselves to get up and start the pork shoulder at 7:30 AM for ten hours of slow cooked deliciousness.   KK came by after her first run and then took off for her second run.  Mama T came over after I coaxed her over with promises of pulled pork to aid her cheat day.  And eventually S came over too.  The pulled pork was delicious, and we also ate peanut butter cookies, buffalo chicken calzone, and Mexican cheese dip. 

It was a great way to end the weekend with good friends and good food.  And I loved the improptu gathering without having an actual "party".  I realize all the time how lucky I am to surround myself with such good friends...

Now, I've just got to get motivation to get through this week....

xoxo

A girl could get used to living like this...

So last night, B and I officially celebrated our one year anniversary. We started out the night by exchanging gifts. I got him the Vestal watch he really wanted (http://zeta.zappos.com/product/7320076/color/101171) but in the brown/gold/wood grain color. B got me sunglasses to replace the oversized ones I misplaced a few months ago (http://www.bluefly.com/Gucci-brown-plastic-oversized-round-sunglasses/cat20422/214364600/detail.fly). More importantly, he wrote me the sweetest card that literally reduced me to tears.

Afterwards we headed to L'Espalier (http://www.lespalier.com/) for the most amazing, decadent, romantic meal of my life. We get to the restaurant and after they checked our reservation, we took an elevator up to checks our coats in. They knew it was our anniversary so everyone kept wishing us a happy anniversary. The restaurant is sleek and gorgeous. I wished we could have gone to the old one for a comparison since everyone talked about how romantic it was but this was also amazing. We sat in the back room surrounded by the old books and the fireplace.

We started out with some malbec wine. They brought the complimentary appetizer - a tasting of salmon and cream cheese tea sandwich. This was followed by the chef's amuse bouche - a potato croquet with a tomato and mint sauce.

Then we started the course we actually ordered. We started out with a half ounce of North American caviar. B had never had caviar before so this was a perfect introduction as it was less briney. It was accompanied with the traditional toast pointes, butter, and accoutriments of onions, parsley, hard boiled egg yolk, and capers. I think its safe to say that B is now a caviar convert.

For our first courses, B ordered the seared foie gras with falafel and I ordered the veal sweetbreads with whole wheat waffle with pomegranate seeds. I've never had sweetbreads, and this was a perfect introduction - a take on fried chicken and waffle. But the real jewel was the foie gras. Decadent - it melted like butter. I could not eat enough...

For the second course, B had the Colorado rack of lamb with little raviolis. We couldn't figure out what the combination of meat and starch was in the ravioli but it was delicious. I had the roasted venison, with escargot and satsuma (like mandarins). This was my first time trying venison and it was perfectly cooked medium well - tender and gamey and perfectly salty. The escargot was divine.

We ended the meal with two desserts. I had the Thai creme brulee with guava raspberry sorbet and mango, grapefruit and blood orange, and B had the macadamia brownie with chocolate mousse and pistachio ice cream. Because it was our anniversary, B's came with a candle in a bite of cheesecake and mine came with a candle in a chocolate tort. Delicious.

When we thought we were finally done, they came out with three more dessert bites for us - a white powdered nut and fruit cake, an exotic fruit jelly with toasted marshmallow, and a dark chocolate with a chocolate mousse filling. Delicious.

They also gave us additional chocolate macaroons and information about their Wine Mondays and Cheese Tuesdays, which are more affordable ways to try out the restaurant.

L'Espalier was the perfect way to celebrate a year with the most wonderful man I know. Too bad he doesn't know that I want to go to L'Espalier every night from now on!

xoxo