Restaurant Week

It’s restaurant week in New York City and my girlfriend Kristina organized a dinner at Charlie Palmer’s Aureole. I had only been there once for lunch and was looking forward to this posh dinner at a discount with friends. I walked one mile from my office near 10th avenue (Reader, I think I still have to share with you all the details!) to Time Square.

9th avenue near 35th Street

Market Cafe on 9th avenue, near 38th Street

I got such nice responses from friends when I Instagramed this image! Mrs. Robinson even complimented me and said it was her favorite photo of mine to date. "Very Stephen Shore like." What I like about social media is that it opens your eyes to other things and opinions that you may not have realized before. I enjoyed exploring Shore's work.

 42nd Street and Broadway

My destination!

Kristina's chicken - gorgeous plating, huh? 

My three delicious courses: Cavatelli Pasta with Rock Shrimp, English Peas, Chili Flakes; Skate with Fregola, Summer corn, Tomato, Basil & for dessert: Hazelnut Chocolate Cake with Sour Cherry Sorbet

My old Conde Nast colleagues: Matthew, Natalie (now at HBO) and Kristina ♥

You draw?

I've known Pearlie for 21 years. She and I met at County College of Morris in an English class and we have stayed friends ever since. It was challenging, to say the least, because she was in Jersey for one year and then went back to the Philippines. It didn't help that she wasn't into letter writing! Anyway, she has been in West Orange for the past 10 years.

This past February, Pearlie became inspired to pick up a pencil and start to draw her favorite Japanese animation characters. She has never been creative, so this was earth shattering! Tonight, at Raymond's, she shared with me her 2 sketch books. In her first book, labeled "#101," she showed me how she was intimidated to draw hands on the characters and simply omitted them! As you page further along in her sketch book, one notices her improvements including the inclusion of hands!

This was also a birthday dinner for Pearlie (July 24) and cousin Caroline (July 18)

 

 Caroline and me

Isn't Pearlie good? :-)

Next stop...Gelato Giuliana  (also on Church Street)

 

Top left: La Giuliana, Stracciatella and American kiss -- which had small pieces of candy bars in it! ♥

An afternoon in Red Bank

Scott Babe had NO interest in accompanying me to Red Bank, NJ to see Theresa Caputo at the Count Basie Theatre. I brought along less of a skeptic, girlfriend Geraldine aka GG. And who is Theresa you are asking? Well, she's also known at The Long Island Medium and has a hit show on TLC. I have been intrigued by her ever since I've been watching the show. She talks to dead people and passes their messages onto loved ones.

I arrived early in Red Bank to get a parking spot, check out the town and have lunch with GG before the show.

 Marine Park

Lunch at Temple (too hot to eat outside)

Anytime you see healthy food on one side of the table and unhealthy food on the other side, the latter is always mine! LOL

3 o'clock - It's show time!

The interior reminded me of our Wellmont Theatre in Montclair, also from the 1920s.

After Theresa's introduction, she spent the next 2 and a half hours in the audience of three thousand people of which 95% were women. Maybe Scott was right to stay home?! A few times, she was just a few feet from GG and me. The readings were fascinating yet draining at the same time. I loved experiencing this in person.

And if you haven't caught Theresa in the new Priceline commercial, check it out here!

After the show, GG and I went to the Dublin House!

♥

BBQ with Bruce

A week ago, Scott Babe had a sad face on as he was paging through the latest issues of Food & Wine and Bon Appetit. Because we live in a condo, we can't grill. The closest we come is with our grill pan and make-shift exhaust system blowing out onto our fire escape. I want to keep my man happy so I shot Colleen an email the next morning:

Me: Are you home on 4th of July? And u have a grill, right ?!
Colleen: Umm yeah hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha :)
Me: Great.
I had new issues of food & wine and BA on table and they all have grill food covers - Scott got sad that we can't grill. Can we come over and grill for us and u and Olga?!
Colleen:  &*@! YES

Our 4th of July in Jersey City:

 Colleen & Olga named their stray cat, "Bruce" before learning that it was a she and carrying babies. (She got fixed after giving birth)

Mommy Bruce and Skinny Boy -- sister Chubs was too shy for a Kodak moment

(Skinny Boy is a girl)

 No! Scott Babe isn't a true chef -- he just likes to keep his clothes clean! But I must say, if you tasted those ribs, you'd think he was trained :-)

Colleen holding the cover recipe. Click here if you want to try this at home! Scott used Bobby Flay's BBQ sauce. Believe it or not, the recipe is slightly different in his book than the recipe on his website.

 Scott, Colleen, Wendy, Olga and Ben

Colleen said, "These are the best ribs I've ever had"

We played Loaded Questions into the night. :-)

The Frying Pan

My girlfriend, Katie, knows some special places to enjoy a cocktail in the city. She organized drinks at The Frying Pan the day before July 4th because most of us got to leave work early. I only had my iPhone with me to catch these Kodak moments, but I think I did alright. This was my first time here. The Frying Pan is on a boat!!! I loved it! Please keep in mind that it was 90-something degrees! (I think I should start to carry sunblock in my purse!)

The Frying Pan is located on 26th Street at Pier 66 along the Hudson River.

 

Views from our table at the tip of the boat:

I loved Katie's nautical themed outfit! Pictured above: Katie with Miranda; David; me and Jemal

June 26th -- I organized a happy hour at The Tippler. Thanks to Katie once again -- if she hadn't celebrated her 30th birthday here back in March, I wouldn't have known about this cool venue. 

The Tippler is a hidden gem below Chelsea Market

David & Tarissa traveled all the way from northwest Jersey to party! ♥

Colleen & Olga; Jemal & Merrideth

Lauren & Matt; Darbe

Top row: Marie, Heidi, Rachel 

Bottom row: Kristina, Russell and Deana

Cheers to a fun evening!