Tres de Mayo!
For the second time in as many days, I found myself at El Vez Saturday afternoon with Ron, Rolo and two of our friends.
Seven hours later I woke up in my bed, went downstairs to find everyone more or less passed out in the living room, cartons of cheese fries everywhere.
It was like college all over again. Except with a longer recovery period.
Labels: peeps
Uno de Mayo!
I totally stole this title from an email my friend
Christy sent me. Tonight, my lady friends and I are heading to
El Vez to have some margaritas, guacamole and
Dine Out for Life. Also, I'm considering it the official kick off to the Summer Cocktail Series, or SCS. Which is good. Being social is good. I feel like I was in hibernation all winter.
Anyway, in addition to Christy and Michelle,
Meg will also be there and I'm mentioning this only to link to her blog, something I didn't even ask if I could do, so it's possible she will be very angry with me. It's peer pressure to try to get her to post. If she continues to post regularly throught this month, I plan on taking her out for a night of heavy drinking as a reward.
Labels: food, peeps, SCS
Kildare's
I know, I know,
Kildare's is something of a chain here in Pennsylvania. I do love me a chain restaurant, though. I've been to the ones in West Chester and Philadelphia before, but on Saturday night, we met with Deidre and Frank at the one in Media. What I find strange about this particular location is that it's located on the tail end of a strip mall. We had to wait about a half hour for a table, which was to be expected on a Saturday night.
Our waitress was s-l-o-w, but she also had a very large party in her section, so I'll cut her a break. We ordered the nachos, which are made with kettle-cooked potato chips instead of torilla chips. I'm not sure if it was because we were starving or if they really just are that good, but we devoured them in minutes. We also ordered a crab dip that was okay, but I was loving the nachos so much, I barely even noticed it.
I'm not exactly sure how "authentic" the food is, but Deidre and I both got chicken and cheese
boxty, Frank got a shrimp one and I very much enjoyed mine. Perhaps this is because I think I might enjoy anything wrapped in a potato pancake. Ron got some sort of sandwich, turkey I think--you can build your own sandwhich, right down to the type of condiments and style of bread. Rolo had organic mushy pears. They were not on the menu.
All in all it was a good experience. Perhaps not the most refined taste, but it's definitely a place right up my alley.
Labels: food, peeps
Beneluxx Tasting Room
Friday night, my lovely friend Meg and I met up at the
Beneluxx Tasting Room for dinner and let me tell you, any dinner that consists of mini-pizzas and cheese fondue is totally okay by me. The Beneluxx website is pretty uninviting, but I found some positive reviews online, so I wasn't sure what to expect.
We got there at about 7:45pm and it wasn't crowded at all, which was surprising because it's also not that big. There's a bar along one wall and tables along the other and the whole place is below sidewalk grade. Which makes it kind of cool, actually. Now, perhaps I should have been wary about a semi-empty restaurant on a Friday night in Old City, but for some reason, I wasn't.
Our waitress was brand-new and not very knowledgable, so Meg and I were on our own as far as deciding which wines and which food. Fortunately, I don't really care what goes with what and choose wines based on what I like, so much on what I'm eating. You can order what is essentially wines by the ounce, so to start Meg and I each tried three different kinds (her, red; me, white). The different wines each come in there own little beakers along with one white glass. There's a funky rinsing device on each table to rinse your glass between tastings. I've never seen anything like it before, but it was neat.
We each ordered a mini-pizza, as well as a Swiss cheese fondue, bread, veggies and fingerling potatoes. The cheese was wonderful and dipping the bread into all that melty goodness was comfort food at its finest. I'd get the veggies again, although I think they need to make the slices of red and green pepper thicker so they can actually hold the cheese. The fingerling potatoes were a huge disappointment though--I thought they tasted like they had freezer-burn.
The mini-pizza however, with gooey mozzeralla cheese, basil and juicy tomato slices totally made up for it. Because we are total gluttons, and I'm not sure how we arrived at this decision, but I'm so glad we did, we ordered a second order of cheese fondue, the chef's special, provolone cheese and Stella Artois (I think, at any rate, it was some sort of beer I enjoy).
At some point, we ordered more wine to taste and then finally, full glasses. Lastly, we sampled white, milk and dark chocolates for dessert. All in all, it was a completely sinful eating experience but I really enjoyed it. And the crowds, by the way, started rolling in about halfway through out visit. I would defintely go back again. I enjoyed the wine, most of the food and generally, the vibe of the place.
Afterward, Meg and I hit
Oceanaire for a nightcap. I love the decor. And I love the "generous pour" the bartenders provided--all of whom seemed to recognize Meg immediately. Interesting...Anyway, I'm not one for seafood, but the barstools are comfy and although the wine is pricey, it's a good place to go for a first or last drink.
All in all it was a great night out and I can't wait to do it again.
Labels: food, peeps
FARMiCia
Last night, Ron and I went to dinner with our friends Deidre and Frank as part of
Restaurant Week. We had decided on
FARMiCia, as they had a pretty extensive menu relative to most other Restaurant Week participants.
All in all, we had a pretty good experience. The wait for the food seemed unreasonably long, given that the restaurant wasn't that full, but other than that everything was enjoyable. Deidre and I started with
p.i.n.k. cocktails (which are disappointingly not pink) and the boys tried out a couple of beers. A choice of white, sourdough or rosemary bread was offered with herb-flavored butter. I chose the rosemary and thought it was delicious (as it should be; FARMiCia is owned by the same folks as
Metropolitan Bakery).
Slowly, I've been dipping into the seafood world by trying out dishes involving crab. So I chose the crabmeat and pear salad, which was delicious, albeit, crabby. I only ate about half the crabmeat, but it was a generous portion. There was a lime dressing that added nice kick and almonds gave a nice texture. I also tried Ron's crab cake and honestly, I really liked it. Should have ordered that, maybe.
As my entree I decided on the ribeye steak, with chive mashed potatoes. I had been torn between the steak and dijon mustard pork chops (with mashed sweet potatoes--yum!). The steak was very flavorful and came with a blue-cheese butter. I'm not a super huge fan of blue cheese, but I found that it works really well with steak and this was no exception. Ron had the St. Peter's fish (tilapia), Frank had the tuna and Deidre had the swordfish. Everyone seemed to like their entrees. I tried the polenta (which I've never had before) that came as a side with the swordfish. It's sort of pleasingly bland.
Finally, for dessert, I had the vanilla bean creme brulee, as did Ron. Ron didn't care much for it. I liked it well enough, but the shortbread cookie that came with it was disappointing. It kind of tasted like a Shoprite sugar cookie that I used to get as a kid. Deidre had the apple puff pastry, which she loved. Frank got the apple and pear crisp and I don't think I asked how he like it--me bad.
After dinner we dropped into
Jager's, a dive bar down the street from FARMiCia. They have an impressive wall of beer on tap and an even more impressive shot menu (who knew there was even such a thing as a shot menu?). Not surprisingly since it was a school night, we opted not to do any shots. By the way, being smoke-free makes dive bars a lot more enticing. I enjoy me a dive bar anyway. And unscheduled stops for after-dinner drinks with good friends is one of my most favorite ways to pass the time.
Labels: food, peeps
Happy New Year!
My big plans involve hors d'oeuvres and Dick Clark's Rockin' New Years Eve. In my pajamas.
I was home from work for the last week and it was delicious. Ron, Rolo and I did a lot of lounging around, sleeping slightly later than normal (sleeping late is virtually impossible with an infant around) and visiting people. Last week we visited our jeweler and I'm getting a new wedding band. Merry Christmas to me! I'm referring to it as the little-known "year and three-quarters anniversary band". Apparently I have a nickel allergy, something commonly found in white gold, which began causing a nasty rash on my finger. We tried to come up with some solutions with our jeweler, but some weren't very feasible (like creating a platinum sleeve around my old band) and I have sentimental attachment to my wedding band, so trading it in wasn't an option. In the end, we decided to take the diamonds out of my old wedding band and plop them into a new platinum band. Since the diamonds, though small, were a majority of my old band and were blessed by the priest who married us, I'm okay with this compromise. I think we go back next week to see and approve the mold of the new band. Happy, shiny things.
I also got to meet my friend Meg for drinks twice last week, which did wonders in allowing me to feel like a normal adult for a bit. Ron being home with Rolo was a beautiful thing.
I can't say I have very specific resolutions for 2008. But what I can say is that 2008 is the year I'm taking my body back. One month from tomorrow, I'll start weaning little Rolo, which is really just me weaning myself off the damn pump. A very small, super competitive part of myself wishes I could continue to breastfeed until Rolo was a year old. But since I'm pumping, it's just not feasible and the rational part of me knows that and cannot wait for the glorious day when I do not have to pack a pump everywhere I go. The game plan is to give Rolo a combination of breastmilk and formula for a couple of weeks until he's solely on formula. Once I'm done with that, I'll have about 2 extra hours in my days and with any luck, I can squeeze some sort of exercise back into my schedule. Also, caffiene, which I have had in only small quantities for more than a year. Most importantly, I can get sloppy drunk again. Ooops. Maybe not so much that last one, lest Rolo wind up with a diaper strapped to his head.
But yes, I know it seem trite to say I'm going to exercise more for the new year. Doesn't everyone say that? But I used to exercise and it will be time to get back in the game. I sort of handed all my time, energy and body over to my kid, and I do so happily, but now I'll be taking back charge of my body. I wish I had loftier plans, but no, that's about it.
What do you want to do this year?
Labels: baby, peeps, Rolo
It Is Only December 4th, Right?
So I stopped home at lunch today, picked up my mail, noticed one envelope had a snowflake sticker on the back and immediately thought "Who is the LUNATIC sending out Christmas cards already???"
I assumed it was from some crazy aunt--we have a few of those. But it turns out, it's from a couple of my best friends, Michelle and
Christy. And it's a beautiful, beautiful handmade card, which they likely started sometime last month. So, maybe they are not lunatics, although they are a TAD early and making me feel like I really need to get jumping on this holiday thing.
Much love, ladies :)
Labels: peeps
Realizing
You know you've found a truly good friend when she offers to do crazy voodoo chants so you get a Bugaboo.
Labels: peeps
