we flew in early friday morning and made it to the apartment by 10am.  our gracious friends allowed us to stay at their apartment while they were away in sweden for a couple weeks.

we dropped off our bags, got some coffee and headed straight to central park.

we walked past the met and did a lap around the jackie onassis reservoir.

we left the park at west 93rd and walked over to the new(er) whole foods at 97th and columbus for lunch.  we wandered down broadway, window shopped, and stopped at grom gelato (at 76th) for dessert (pistachio and coconut chocolate).  we walked down to 72nd and back through the park to the apartment for a late afternoon nap.

we woke up thirsty and wandered into brasserie 360 at 60th and 3rd for drinks.  we walked over to bloomingdale’s and shopped around for a bit (who says shopping while buzzed isn’t fun?  well, it kinda isn’t…) before heading to dos caminos midtown for dinner.  we shared plantain and black bean empanadas,  hutch had the asada tacos (supposedly the spiciest thing on the menu) while i had the dos enchiladas’ (one topped with mole sauce, the other topped with poblano pepper sauce).

dinner ended after 10 so we decided to drag our jet-lagged asses home to bed.

on saturday, we decided to head to brooklyn for the day.  we took the subway down to city hall and got off at the base of the brooklyn bridge.

we got to the bridge around 10am and it was already pretty packed.

when we got to brooklyn, we spent some time wandering around the waterfront/dumbo area.

we took the subway over to park slope (please  note: our visit to park slope completely changed my attitude about brooklyn.  it was awesome.).  we wandered around 5th avenue, stopping at the chip shop for lunch.  we shared a salad and the cod and chips.  we had the deep fried snickers bar for dessert.  wow.

after lunch we walked and walked and walked.  when we finished on 5th, we headed over to 7th and did some more window shopping and exploring.  i picked up the new lucky peach magazine to read in our downtime.  around 5, we decided to take the train back to the apartment and let our feet get some rest.

we headed back out around 7pm.  we walked down lex to 59th and over to columbus circle.  we walked up broadway over to columbus and decided we were getting hungry for dinner.  we finally ended up at Patsy’s Pizzeria on 74th and columbus and had the pizza bianca for dinner.  when we left the restaurant, we walked a couple blocks and it started raining.  we ducked under the awning at a bodega to wait out the heavy rain but, yea, it didn’t stop.  after 20 minutes or so, we grabbed a cab and headed home (actually hutch stood in the in street getting sprayed while i laughed from under the awning).

sunday, we started the day at frankie 17 for brunch.  we ordered the egg and cheese breakfast biscuit (added sausage) and then the french toast.  the food was incredible.  frankie’s serves stumptown coffee which was also good.


from brunch, we headed back to brooklyn to check out the williamsburg flea.  we took the train to 7th and beford and walked up to the park on the river where the flea is hosted.  we walked around and shopped and sweated.  it was so hot, i felt like my sandals were melting.  right, and as you can tell from the picture above, i wore jeans (jeans?  in august?  uh, what was i thinking?!?).

we figured a stop at people’s pops for some shave ice was only appropriate, considering we were on the verge of heat exhaustion.  the daily flavors were red plum and rhubarb, we got one of each and shared.  we sat by the water for quite awhile, people watching, taking in the view, and sweating.

we walked to grand street to check out sprout and moon river chattel.  we stopped at marlow and daughters on broadway and ended up running into a girl hutch grew up with working behind the counter.  we stopped at s&b restaurant on bedford for lunch where we had decent food (salads and wraps) but really terrible service.  we sat at the counter and were neglected even there.  although, it was a little endearing as it appeared to be owned by a polish family and several different groups came in and spoke with the waitstaff in polish.

although we hadn’t done as much walking as we normally would (note previous mentions of sweating), the weather was so hot we decided to head back to manhattan for a break.  we did stop at artists and fleas on 7th before heading back to the park to catch the east river ferry.  we were dropped off at 34th street and hopped on the subway and headed back to the apartment.

after a short rest, we walked over to the upper west side to fatty crab for dinner.  wow.  it was one of the most memorable meals we’ve shared for sure.  we sat out front and started with cocktails.  i had the upper west side with gin, cucumber, lemon, thai basil, and ginger beer.  hutch had a rogue fatty crab red ale.  both were great.  we started with the roasted corn cob with peach butter and chili sugar salt.  we moved onto the fatty dog- sausage made up of pork, shrimp and scallops (i think it was scallops), pickled chili, pickled radish, cucumber, aioli.

our next course was the roti- malay-style flatbread served with curry lamb shoulder and potatoes.  we scooped our meat and potatoes onto the bread.  oh, man.  our final course was the nasi lemak- chicken curry, coconut rice, otak otak, slow poached egg.  when we split the egg yolk open and let it run all over the rest of the food, it was magic.

we ended the night by taking a late night walk back around the park to the apartment.

jodi and fabian were scheduled to arrive around noon on monday and we wanted to make sure we were gone for the afternoon so they could settle from their long journey.

there was a heat advisory on monday so we were looking to do something that didn’t require a lot of walking or being in the sun. we decided to head to the american museum of natural history for a few hours.  we walked through the park and stopped at chipotle where we split a burrito before heading to the museum.  we walked past levain bakery and couldn’t not stop for a chocolate peanut butter cookie (one of two repeats of the week as we’d gone there twice the last time we were visiting).

we decided to pay for the extra museum packages which enabled us to go to the special exhibits.  i’m not sure we would do that again as you had to reserve your times for each of the exhibits when you buy your tickets.  we were not planning on spending the day at the museum, just a  couple of hours and we wanted to check out the rest of the musuem as well.  we did watch the tornado imax video and went to the world’s largest dinosaur exhibit.  we left the museum around 3 but decided it was too early to head to the apartment.

we walked back to columbus and went to the hummus place for lunch.  we split the hummus platter with grape leaves and also got a plate of olives and pickles.  the total for lunch was $13, so worth it.

we walked to the park and spent some time sitting at the mall people watching.  we sat there for over an hour and then decided it was time to move on.

we headed out at 63rd and walked over to madison to window shop.  we got back to the apartment around 6 to find the family sleeping except for anna, who immediately woke everyone up when we walked in. we stayed for a couple hours to visit and catch up before leaving for dinner.

we took the train down to 23rd and over to madison square park for shake shack.  we got there around 830ish and had to wait for about a half hour, not too bad.  we enjoyed a hamburger (me) and a shack burger (hutch), fries and chocolate malts.


from there, we walked up to grand central station.  we walked around briefly as everything was closed (it was after 1030) and then headed home.

tuesday morning we woke up and had the whole day to spend with jodi and fabian.  we went to go burger for lunch and stuffed our faces.  it started raining while we were walking home (where we saw a construction worker singing frank sinatra with a microphone on the side of the road) and proceeded to rain, and rain, and rain all day long.  we stayed inside for the rest of the day,  hung out with the kids, looked at pictures, watched movies, played video games and ordered italian for dinner.

yea, so we should also talk about the fact that i sweated all my make-up off before these pictures were taken.  ouch.

we had dinner at five guys and then headed to the drive-in for the last show of the year.

we saw the hangover 2 and horrible bosses.

there were also raisinettes.  they were delicious.

oh yea, the movies were good too!

the blueberry farm is on my way home from work so i’ll usually stop a few times during the season.  i ran out of time earlier this summer so i decided to take my chances today.

because we had a cold spring this year and all produce seems to be about 2 weeks behind.  i was *hoping* this would work to my advantage and there would still be some ripe fruit for picking.

so, yea.  next time i’ll stick with the old plan of going after work.  there were tons of mosquitoes, i definitely killed one right next to my eye and got blood everywhere.  i was psyched about that.  it was also really sweaty.  i’m sweaty enough as it is, i should not be working in the fields at 2 o’clock on a summer day.  i should mention that in addition to the sweating and the bugs i also got another ridiculous sunburn.  hutch actually started laughing when i got undressed to take a shower.  uh, husband laughing at naked me, not cool.

i stayed for a little over an hour and only picked 2 1/2 pounds!  i did not have my blueberry picking mojo today.  i blame sweaty hands.

i’m going back in a day or so after work.  like i normally would.  my quick and nimble fingers work better when i’m not in direct sunlight.

To say I love peanut butter is a bit of an understatement.  I bought some fresh ground honey roasted peanut butter on Monday and so far, I haven’t eaten any out of the jar with a spoon.  Go, me!  I did use some to make this banana bread with chocolate chips.  Even if you don’t like peanut butter as much as I do, you should make this.  Now.

adapted from Baked

3 very ripe bananas

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar, lightly packed

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted

1/4 cup cream

1 large egg, lightly beaten

1/3 cup peanut butter

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp espresso powder

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1 cup chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350 F.  Spray a loaf pan with nonstick spray.

Mash bananas and add them to a bowl with sugars, butter, cream and egg.  Stir ingredients together and add the peanut butter.  In a seperate bowl, mix together flour, espresso powder, and baking soda.  Make a well in the dry ingredients and add the wet.  Stir until just combined.  Fold in the chocolate chips

Fill loaf pan about half way.  Bake for 50 minutes, turning half way through, until a toothpick comes out clean.

I wanted to spend my day off relaxing, catching up on some reading and spending time in the kitchen.

Surprise, surprise, by 1 o’clock, I decided I was over it.  I went out and spent hours working in the front yard, or as we affectionately call it, the jungle (I also call it whitetrash-ville).  Before I got to work, I enjoyed a delicious lunch on the deck.  Note to Self: when you’re gone more than you’re home during a month, your yard will get out of control.

The day was filled with other surprises when Hutch actually made it home by 530!  We went to Target, stopped for dinner and ice cream.

Sidenote: does anyone else spend the time going through the Kleenex boxes looking for the prettiest ones?  No, just me? Okay.

Strawberry Salad

inspired by Shutterbean

handful of strawberries, hulled and quartered

2 tbs. balsamic vinegar

2 tbs. olive oil

salt and pepper

2 handfuls of mixed greens

handful of pecan pieces, toasted

Hull, rinse and quarter strawberries.  Put the strawberries in a bowl with 1 tbs of balsamic vinegar and let sit.  Toast the pecans.  Add strawberrie, with their juices, and pecans to the mixed greens.  Drizzle with remaining balsamic vinegar, olive oil and salt and pepper.  Toss.

but it’s okay because no one ever sees me when i’m at home.  exceeeept, i left the house in this.  twice.  don’t judge.