Happy Birthday, DJ!!!

The month of August is filled with birthdays!  After a lovely weekend of celebrating with Lia, Haile, and Almaz, we had a quiet week leading up to DJ's BIG DAY!

It was the first time we were in town on his actual birthday in a couple of years, so most of his day was spent at work.  lol  But afterward, he came home to a party for two!

Balloons

Sushi and Tiramisu 

(the mini tiramisu, in honor of our first date, was from Corrado Bread & Pastry -
super yummy and just the right size!)

Presents!  

(BBQ boxers and a photo book of all our travels since we met)

And of course, DJ being a Leo and all, the celebrating couldn't stop at just one day!  :)

The next afternoon, Toots and Toto stopped by to wish the birthday boy well.

And afterward, we headed to our new favorite Mexican place - El Paso - for a few drinks and snacks with Victoria and Andreas.  Yum!




Vic got this really cool drink concoction - a mix of a Bloody Mary and beer with oysters and shrimp at the bottom!   We may have to try it next time.

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ALL HAIL THE BIRTHDAY KING!  :)

BBQ Reunion with Deep and Gigi!

Both Deep AND Gigi were in town at the same time, so clearly we needed to have a proper dinner reunion.  And where better to do so than the ultimate BBQ joint we scouted with Deep last time he was here:  Mighty Quinn's!

It was shameless gluttony.  Between all of us, we pretty much tried nearly everything on the menu.  And we agreed - this place has seriously upped their game since last we visited.  All the meat was so tender, and the burnt ends were AMAZING and saucy.  Glad we gave them a second go-round for sure!

And hooray for getting to see two of our favorite people in the same place once again.  Love it!

 

Happy Birthday, Toots!

The month of Leos is upon us, which means lots of celebrating!  DJ had a Summer Friday off on the weekend of Toots's birthday, so we got to party twice!

First was a Pokeno Party Extraordinaire out on Long Island.  Toots and Toto pulled out all the stops decorating the kitchen like a casino, 

 

and we settled in for some friendly competition with the Pokeno cards.

Now, we couldn't play Pokeno all day without some yummy sustenance.  So we headed up the road to Applebee's to enjoy some lunch.

(clockwise from top left)  Napa Chicken and Portobellos, Cowboy Burger, Bacon Cheddar Cheeseburger, and Signature Sirloin with Garlic Herb Shrimp 

Afterward, we treated ourselves to some mini cupcakes from Baked By Melissa.  

Toots really enjoyed the size of the cupcakes; since they're each only one bite, you can indulge in trying a few flavors.  Perfect for someone with a sweet tooth!  :)

Then on Toots's actual birthday, we met up with Dave and Elim for a Restaurant Week lunch at DBGB Kitchen and Bar.  Mel and DJ had been here before and really enjoyed it, so we had a feeling it would be a crowd-pleaser.

For appetizers, we wound up tasting a variety of dishes: 

chilled zucchini and basil soup with goat cheese breadstick

tomato salad with olive tapenade

steak tartare

For our main courses, we all wound up getting burgers or fried cod sandwiches - all delicious!

And for dessert? 

key lime sundae

peach tart

chocolate hazelnut cake

The food was all great, but perhaps our favorite part was that we wound up getting a super cozy and private booth rather than having to sit in the open area of the restaurant.  Since Toots has always said how much she loves booths, this was definitely a bit of luck for her birthday celebration!  :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, TOOTSALA!!

El Paso,... East Harlem?

Yes, there is indeed an El Paso, Harlem!  El Paso Mexican Restaurant, that is.  :)  DJ came across it when searching for the "best tacos in NYC" so it was an obvious choice for a lazy Saturday lunch.

This place is AWESOME!!  As soon as we sat down, we started thinking of all the people who would enjoy it based on the decor alone.  It's actually a lot bigger than it seems from the outside, stretching all the way to a patio in the back.  And the walls are adorned with items reflective of Mexican culture:  Frida Kahlo portraits, Dio de Los Muertos skeletons, colorful flags.  They really went all out without going over the top.  Sitting in the space definitely gets you in the mood for some tasty food.

And, oh the food!  We got guac to start and it now ranks as #1 in our books.  Perfect spicing with fresh herbs and chunks of avocado.  

Then DJ decided to go for a classic combo: tacos and a margarita.  He got a mixed trio of tacos: one steak, one pork, and one tongue.  All delicious!  (The tongue was especially good, considering it's a tough dish to cook.  It was extremely tender, and could have been mistaken for beef stew meat.)

 

Mel was excited to try the chilaquiles con 4 chiles to see how the dish compared to our favorite chilaquiles in Cancun.  With just one bite, she was transported back to being at the beach!  The tilapia was grilled perfectly and tasted sublime with the tortillas in sauce.  She almost licked the plate!

El Paso, we will be back for sure!!

Pan Grilled Pork Chops

We are constantly on the lookout for the best ways to prepare pork chops without drying them out and making them too tough.  Mel came across this recipe for Pan Grilled Pork Chops and decided to give it a try.

It's a simple concept:  brown the chops for 4 minutes on each side, take off the fire, cover and let sit for 8-10 minutes.  Our chops were an inch thick, so Mel followed the recipe to the letter to be sure they were cooked through.  She then used white cooking wine to deglaze the pot.  The sauce was still a bit salty, but a tablespoon of brown sugar did the trick to balance that out.

End result?  The chops were close to being juicy, but just a tad tough.  We realized that next time we'll have to account for the fact that our Le Creuset pot holds the heat a lot more than a pan, and therefore subtract some minutes from the sitting time.  But overall, the chops were tasty paired with kale and caramelized onions.

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Update:  We made this dish a second time doing everything exactly the same, except we let the chops sit in the covered pan for only 7 minutes instead of 10.  They were delectable!  Next time, we miiiiiight push it to 6 minutes, but overall we were really pleased with the tender, juicy outcome this time around.  And for the sauce, the pan was deglazed with the same beer we marinated the chops in, a bit of salt and sugar were added to cut the bitterness, and a dash of flour helped thicken it up.  Served with farro, it was a delight!

Home Cooking with Hana and Josh

Hana and Josh invited us over for a lovely dinner at their new apartment downtown.  What a treat!  

Hana prepared us a feast of chicken sausage and peppers, tomato/mozzarella/corn salad, and farro with mushrooms.  So delicious!  

 

 

We had never tried farro before, but heard great things about all its health benefits.  It's a super food grain for sure.  So funny coincidence: before we went over for dinner, we had just put farro in our Fresh Direct order for experimenting next week.  Mental telepathy!  We took notes on how Hana prepared it (hint: wine is involved!), and look forward to trying her recipe ourselves.

Hana and Josh, thanks so much for the fun family night!  Can't wait to hang out again soon!

Foodie Feasting: Chelsea Market and Long Island City

For our first Saturday back on this side of the Atlantic, we decided to enjoy the beautiful weather and sample some of the awesome eats our hometown has to offer.  Mel donned her "food dress," DJ grabbed the Tums, and we were off!

First we headed to Chelsea Market to try tacos at Los Tacos #1, a Mexican place DJ's coworker raved about.  Chelsea Market is apparently a foodie haven on the weekends because the place was overflowing with people grabbing food from the various specialty spots.  There wasn't even a place to sit!  So we enjoyed our tacos standing up.  We tried one of each kind: beef, pork, and cactus.  The pork was the best.  The beef was chopped up into such small bits it was practically ground, and the cactus was fun to try (how often do you eat cactus) but didn't have much flavor and had the consistency of okra. 

We decided to wander further and saw tons of people eating whole lobsters.  So we tracked down the source: The Lobster Place - a bustling seafood place selling raw fish, sushi, and lobster.  We got a lobster roll to share and headed out to a nearby park to enjoy open air.  

The lobster roll was super tasty, and they were generous with the lobster.  Definitely worth the price!

After that, we headed over to Long Island City.  We had plans to meet up with Scott, Katie, and Baby Josie later in the night, but we figured we'd make an afternoon of it and explore the area.  We wandered by the LIC Flea (cute flea market in a deserted lot), and then enjoyed some people watching by the waterfront.

 

Pretty soon it was time to head over to John Brown Smokehouse - a BBQ joint that has been getting rave reviews around the city.  Scott, Katie, and Baby Josie had been there before, so they advised us on the best stuff to try.  Between all of us, we wound up sampling a pretty healthy chunk of the menu.  All of it fabulous! 

Favorite meat?  The rib tips.   Favorite sides?  The corn bread and the baked beans. 

And our favorite new foodie?  Baby Josie, of course!  :)