Thanksgiving 2012 - Another Turkey Victory!

Happy Thanksgiving to all!!

Manny and Hirut were kind enough to host all of us at their new home for a lovely feast and Lia's First Thanksgiving.  She wore the cutest lace dress for the occasion.

DJ was quite pumped to take on the turkey yet again.  He tried a new brine recipe this year, so he was very focused on making sure everything was just right.  As you can see from the following series of photos, he has become a turkey expert!  His colleagues at Bon Appetit would be proud.  :)

 the naked bird

 a creative glaze of berbere mixed with melted butter and other spices

 

 basting away

 the work of art - juicy perfection!

 the family approves!  including Uncle Lakew, visiting from California  :)

 the carved bird with the proud chef

The rest of the meal came together nicely with a bit of teamwork from the rest of us.  DJ's masterpiece was paired with delicious stuffing, string bean casserole, corn casserole, macaroni and cheese, and yams.  HAPPY DANCE!!

 And of course, it isn't Thanksgiving without the gluttony of leftovers.  Check out DJ's breakfast the following morning:

So much to be thankful for, but most importantly family and friends.  

Hooray for the holiday season!

our apartment, ready for Christmas
 (tree on right with lights swooping across wall & window and vining down lamp)

Josh and Tara's Wedding

It was a lovely weekend in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania as we celebrated the marriage of Tara and Josh!

It was non-stop fun with family and friends, and non-stop delicious food from the scrumptious buffet at the rehearsal dinner,

to the lovely formal meal at the wedding reception.  We also learned about a nice wedding tradition: the cookie table!  Guests bring their favorite home-made cookies to offer to the bride and groom on their special day, and the cookies are nicely arranged on a table for everyone to snack on between dances.  We thought that was pretty cool!  Especially because the sugar boost helped us keep our energy up for dancing all night.  

So glad we could be there to honor such a wonderful couple.  

Congratulations Mr. and Mrs. Josh & Tara Steck!

Broadway Birthday!

This entry strays a bit from our usual commentary about food for the plate.  

This one is about food for the soul.

For Mel's birthday, DJ treated her to tickets to Annie on Broadway.


The moment the opening chords were played, Mel had tears in her eyes as childhood memories of singing along to the soundtrack came flooding back.  

While we clearly love our edible delights, sometimes the sentimentality of music can make you feel full of happy dancing in a different way.  Cheers to Annie and all the happiness it brings!

Raisin' the Roof at the Roost

If you can believe it, it had been almost a YEAR since we'd seen Rob and Emily!!  And a very important year at that - they're expecting a baby!  So we finally made a plan to catch up over brunch at Red Rooster.

We were pleasantly surprised to discover that if you get there before the noon hour, it's actually quite easy to get a seat.  As always, the service was great and the meal was delightful!

Emily tried the French toast...

Rob went for a traditional egg plate...

DJ got the jerk bacon (which came with eggs and beans and was pretty wicked awesome)...

and Mel went for the bagel and lox.

It was so nice to catch up with the deLeon's and hear all about their latest adventures.  And lo and behold, just a few days after we saw them their little bundle of joy decided to come into the world a few weeks before his due date!  Maybe the French toast was so good he wanted to come out and get some on his own?  :)

Welcome Leonardo deLeon!!  Can't wait to meet you!

Scorpio Celebration at DBGB Kitchen and Bar

'Tis the season to celebrate Scorpios!  In honor of the fact that Sherwyn, Jennine, and Mel share a zodiac sign, we all went out for a yummy dinner and catching-up session at DBGB Kitchen and Bar - a downtown Daniel Boulud restaurant.

The first thing one notices upon entering DBGB is the decor: deep, dark wood accentuated by mirrors with artfully scripted menu items.  We sat in the front bar room which provides a nice view of the foot traffic on Bowery.  The back room is cool as well, with cozy banquettes and a view into the kitchen.

The drink menu is extensive, and the food menu has so many amazing choices it took us a while to narrow down our favorites.  Once the food arrived, we pretty much ate family style so we could sample everything.  So feast your eyes on the feast:

 Grilled Escarole 

(AMAZING smokey flavor with a perfect blend of pine nuts and sauce; THIS is the way to make a leafy green!)

West Coast Oysters

Duck Risotto (a special)

(tasty preparation similar to rice balls)

Long Island Duck Duo

(so tender)

Slow Cooked Scottish Salmon

(cooked perfectly)

Lamb (newly added to prix fixe menu)

(amazing curry kick)

Hanger Steak (prix fixe menu)

(spiced and cooked perfectly)

Perhaps the greatest compliment to the chef:  the sauces with every dish were so delectable, DJ requested a basket of bread to soak them all up.  As we chatted, he and Jennine started dipping away from every plate (at one point DJ even put plain ketchup on his bread and declared that it tasted homemade).  Before we knew it, every piece of bread was gone and every plate was wiped clean!  It also became clear that Jennine and DJ make fabulous dining buddies; perhaps we have a future guest blogger in the making.  :)

Then dessert:

 Pumpkin-Yogurt Sundae

'Chocolate Only' Cake

(the layering of mousse and cake along with the crispy garnishes made it a beautifully deconstructed candy bar)

Bourbon-Chocolate Sundae

(emphasis on BOURBON - whew!)

Overall, DBGB Kitchen and Bar provided a wonderful laid-back atmosphere to enjoy some fantastic food.  We would highly recommend it and will definitely return.

Surviving Sandy

Well, it appears that the world has to brace itself for much more severe weather patterns.  Hurricane Sandy ripped through the Northeast with wind gusts like none of us have ever seen.  Our building was swaying so much, we actually felt a bit of motion sickness.  Not going to lie: it was frightening.  

During the fierce night, the garage below our building flooded, circuits shorted, and we were left without power or water.  Here's a picture of the hose slowly pumping water out of the garage.

We were told it could take anywhere from hours to days to get power back, so after waiting for a day we decided to take Ladell up on his kind offer to stay with him in Harlem.  (So grateful to have good friends nearby!)  But as luck would have it, just as we pulled away from our building in a cab (no trains, obviously) we got a text saying our power had come back.  So we decided to at least clean up a bit with hot showers at Ladell's, grab some food, and then head home. 

For those who were not around NYC during Sandy, you might be wondering where on earth we expected to find food in the midst of the aftermath.  Well, if you can believe it - places were PACKED!  A lot of areas of Manhattan were left unscathed by the storm, and so people who either had no power or just had a case of cabin fever were heading out to their local eateries.  We tried going to Red Rooster, but it was too crowded!  So we hopped across the street to the more laid-back Corner Social.  It was also very crowded there, but the host was able to wrangle 3 seats for us so we could have some soothing drinks and snack food.  We were so impressed with how gracious the staff was during a stressful time, and how tasty everything was even though it was a limited menu.  We will definitely return under calmer circumstances.  

Major shout out to Corner Social for being a haven!

Lessons Learned from Sandy:

• take meteorologist warnings seriously; many New Yorkers were a bit flippant about Sandy because no one could fathom a hurricane in our area being that bad; this type of severity may sadly be the new norm
• speaking of unprepared, we had enough water for a while but not nearly enough to have lasted us for multiple days; we will definitely know to stock up seriously should we get warnings again
• speaking of lack of water, we learned that a combination of seltzer, cheap beer, flat soda and perishing fruit juice can also flush a toilet... and make your bathroom smell like a dive bar
• we need to own a battery-powered radio
• our families need to have better emergency contact plans; if cell service and texting had been down too, we would have been woefully out of touch

All that said, we consider ourselves among the lucky ones.  The devastation Sandy caused is sobering.  Even as this entry is being written, some of our relatives are still waiting for power and heat to come back.  But we are grateful that our home and our families' homes are still in one piece and we are all safe.  Our thoughts are with those who face a much harder recovery.