And yes we ate more...

Grossly enough we went out for dinner after the B&B fest...nice pasta place where Sandy and I split a rigatoncini carbonara and a tagliatelle and then a rhubarb dessert. The food was all good, but I felt disgusting trying to eat more that soon after I ate my weight in pork...and the food baby was not looking for a twin that night.

Can't say much more about this. After dinner waited for awhile downstairs for a drink at Drink - yummy pomegranate super strong mixed drink and lots of funny convos as I pretended to be a 1st year med student at Mt. Sinai and totally fooled the super serious Harvard boy =)

BACON AND BEER FESTIVAL

Yeah.

I can't say much about this. It was 3 hour of glory as we ate like, 4 baby pigs each and drank a solid amount of beer. First thing I ate was this awesome bacon chocolate cupcake thing (and full disclosure ate like, 3 more of these throughout the day) and a slab of pork belly on cheesy polenta with awesome pickles and a beer and some bacon bread. And that pretty much set the stage for everything else.

 Some of this was like pork ear? And there was bacon cotton candy and bacon quiche and chili and milkshakes and turnovers and sandwiches and just lots of deliciousness.

Definite food baby at the end of this...but also like, the best $35 I've ever spent on food. And I think I could definitely be best friends with every person who chose to spend 3 hours of their Saturday at this thing. Also best beer sign:

All my coupons start to expire...

I've been buying up groupons and living social things like crazy and now they're all set to expire...so Christine and I hit up Radicchio for a super long lunch (and a ridiculous amount of food). Started off with this delicious bread and super sea salty butter and some yummy minestrone (though it's got nothing on my fav Leona's)

Then on to our massive entrees...Christine got this black linguine with seafood

And I got a fantastic but super rich porcini risotto topped with gruyere cheese or something. Regardless, all the food was yummy but super heavy and like, triple my normal lunch amount, and I definitely food coma-d at work for like 3 hours afterward.

Terrible flight disasters on the way to Chicago...rain and tornadoes all over the south meant I sat in the airport for 3 hours, on the tarmac for 2 hours, and then the flight in. Got to the hotel sooo late and was starving - scarfed down a burger loaded with cheese and passed out for the night.

Next morning loads of interviews and stuff, but more importantly, the interview lunch at a sushi place. Split the tuna/avocado poke which is a new favorite dish esp with all that sesame.

Then mistakenly ordered two rolls of sushi assuming it'd be like....6 pieces. Turned out to be 12 pieces each. Loads of sriracha and crunchy bits haha.

I think eating 95% of that helped impress the interviewer even more, but I probably could have gone without that second roll. But sushi, always delicious.

Ethnic Food Love

One of those days at work, but luckily had fun dinner plans for after. Met up with Celina at Xi'an Famous Foods, ordered awesome noodles (got the Mt. Qi), and had some jasmine tea courtesy of the owner of the place who turns out to be a high school friend of hers. Awesome. I'd LOVE to own a Chinese noodle shop =)

Delicious delicious, I love this stuff. Had a work complaint talk over dinner, then moved to a cute bubble tea place on St. Mark's for the post-complaint inspiring talk and decided I want to run a business and felt a lot better about all the vagueness. Also love bubble tea. And want to own a noodle shop!! After like three hours decided it was time to head home and pack up etc. for my trip to Chicago. But great dinner! Very nice to get past the complaint part to the positive thinking part =) Definitely a love New York night.

Happy Easter!

Woke up this morning, headed to church with the family (reminded of how super prep our town is...seriously ridic), then we all split up for the day. Parents went to family friend's and the siblings stayed home and feasted: ham, spinach quiche, potatoes, shrimp & onions, yum yum. No pictures.

Watched some TV and hung outside in the GORGEOUS weather on the deck (love the suburbs) and hit up Rita's as we taught Lissy how to drive (scary) for an obligatory mango ice. After everyone got back home, more family hanging before the train/car rides home, and magical food making for me to take back. More importantly, magical food making for me to pig out on right there...lamb chops. So frickin good.

Like so soft and so fantastic - baby animals are the best =)

NJTransit

Woke up early, did some cleaning and some packing, headed out for an intense zumba workout (haha) and then rushed off to Penn Station. Suddenly realized I was famished and the first thing I found was this pizza covered in awesome spicy sausage stuff. Perfect train ride post gym meal =)

Got home, hung with the family and then had best dinner ever...the parents made hot pot! How amazing that my parents can make a legitimate hot pot dinner. Like, boiling sauces and raw meats and veggies and everything...delicious pig out meal.

Yeahhh awesome, I love the eating at home =)

Lovely dinner with Kat at Danji. Unfortunately the place has stupid lighting so all my pictures are terrible...but whatever.

It's the new trendy Korean place so there was obv a wait, but luckily we found $4 awesome vodka drinks and spent the time super quickly. Got to Danji, ordered tons of food and got free wings cuz Kat has got the hook up with the entire kitchen staff...awesome.

 Pork belly sliders - yum

 Miso soup w beef - so good. I could drink huge things of this for sure.

 And like amazingly melty meat! Like. Really really good short rib.

 Jap-chae, my fav

And paella with kimchi and bacon. Yeah. Kimchi and bacon. Unfortunately we were stuffed at this point and couldn't finish it...which was so upsetting. Because it was paella...with kimchi and bacon.

Baoguette

And then for dinner, I needed something delicious. Something cheap. Something awesome. Something Asian. Went on my first (and definitely not last) Baoguette trip!

Got the standard with lots of pork and Sriracha and it was so yummy! I could definitely live on banh mi style sandwiches...namely this and the Ma Peche one and the Num Pang one. Yum food =) Also loved that this place is right next door to Subway...who the hell goes to Subway when this is the other option??

Free Korean

So sick after Chicago! Ugh...

However, was welcomed back to NYC with a week of free Korean snacks from Danji!!! Met up with Mona on a gorgeous Thursday and picked up this delicious beef brisket with kimchi and pickle slider - so tiny but so delicious. Seriously. Awesome.

  

Definitely didn't want to go back to work. Also, loved that the outside of Credit Suisse was lined with European bankers smoking sooo many cigs.

Real Boy Day

Made challah French toast this morning (yum yum) and ate with some great NBC shows. Pretty lazy around the apartment...baked some thank you cookies and then headed off to Buffalo Wild Wings because I've been dreaming about wings for so long and needed some bad.

Hot wings and jerk wings and mango habanero and parmesan garlic! So much spiciness! So much awesomeness. After wing fest, headed off to WhirlyBall for a great game with a great group of people =) Still a ridiculous but super fun game. Ended up killing an hour downtown waiting on Hyde Parkers to make it to dinner at Silver Spoon, where we wolfed down a ton of Thai food, I got sick, and went home for loads of sleep. And work tomorrow =(

And a couple more...

My stomach definitely brought it.

Woke up way earlier than I meant to, putzed around, made breakfast: toasted bread with some awesome cheese and fried eggs.

Went grocery shopping for future baking and then headed out for lunch at xoco (Bayless part 2!)...fantastic sandwiches. Oh my gosh. One stuffed with short ribs, one with suckling pigs, and a churro to top it all off. Oh SO GOOD.

Headed to Art Institute to get my culture fix on, and then headed back home to chill. Eventually it was dinner time (does it sound like I did a single active thing to warrant meal 3??)...which is when we headed out for a great slow meal at The Publican.

Started off with beers and pork rinds. Let me say - I have no idea what a pork rind is (and I suspect I don't really want to know what they are, either) but these were amazing. Like. Spicy and airy and I could sit and watch movies and eat these all day.

 Had an awesome crudo with oranges and avocado. Melt in the mouth deliciousness.

 Also frites with fried egg (not as good as expected) and a platter of three hams (very yummy)

Lamb sausage with veggies and a minty yogurt - very Mediterranean and very delicious (though probs too heavy to end on)

 

Now...I was definitely stuffed and there was definitely no space for dessert. But I had to (and so glad I did because this was awesome!) - coconut pie topped with a rich chocolate mousse thing and a whipped cream layer on top and salty pecans on top of that! Yes, wonderful. Yes, my stomach was about to burst. Oh but so good.

Went out at night to Barleycorn in Wrigleyville...super packed with lots of gross people, but lots of dancing, lots of good times with the kids, a fight, and a late late night run to the Mexican place on the South Side that Zain's been telling me about for ages for the most amazing horchata ever. Like, I didn't know what an horchata was...because everything I had before was gross. But this was heaven. Mmm so good. Got home at 4:30am =)

And then I gained 5 pounds...

Lots of eating...

Breakfast: biscuits and gravy with poached egg at Harvest Moon with JP and Mike.
Lunch: nibbled on cobb salad at Dean & Deluca with Amelia and co.
"Snack for flight": chicken sandwich from Chick Fil A. What a GREAT call because well, my flight decided to be ground stopped because of rain nonsense in Chicago and waiting around for like, 2 hours made me incredibly hungry (b/c nibbling on a salad is not a meal in any way) and so thank god I had that to eat on the plane...and so delicious.

And the big win of the night - dinner. Andy (5 gajillion points) put our names down at Frontera Grill and with all my delays, I got to get there and eat and not wait at all! Total win. I got an awesome mojito and we pigged out on so much excellent food. Yay Rick Bayless =)

 Started with some fresh guac and mushroom empanadas with this awesome cheesy sauce on top that I literally spooned up.

 Got this swordfish cooked in a peanut chili mole sauce.

And duck breast in a cherry mole sauce.

All excellent, definitely over-ate, definitely had no space for dessert. Ah my stomach. But so delicious! Headed home, changed, and headed out for the night! And had a random run in with interview friend! Ended up at a UChicago bar party, did crazy model photo shoots (good brown poses for sure) and laughed so frickin much all night, good times =)

And my fav...

Started off the day at the gym, then headed to a day of networking and learning nonsense about interviewing and stuff, culminating in a sweet reception with delish beer like Fat Tire and the best snacks ever...sliders and CRAB CAKE sliders and french fries, mmm I love when they cater to the diet of a 21 year old. Fantastic =) Unfortunately had to schmooze so I couldn't stuff my face as much as I wanted to. Fortunately, had the perfect place for dinner...yes, a triumphant return to Cabo Fish Taco was made.

Yesss. Swapped around and got a wasabi tuna taco and a lemon-grass grilled shrimp taco and a fantastic margarita. Yes as delicious as I remembered. Man...nothing anywhere else in the world even comes close to the amazingness of this place. I want to LIVE on fish tacos from Cabo.

Headed to Amelie's to stock up on salted caramel brownies (yes I bought 4, but mostly as gifts! So it's tots ok!), and then headed out for a big night in Charlotte! Yes...irony. And lots of hanging with the New York GRs. Cool stuff =)

Eating Vacation Begins

After a mess of flights and work and other boring nonsense, Seth and I grabbed stand-by seats, sat on the tarmac for awhile (I sat next to a woman who complained even more than me! Like, she said I was optimistic!), FINALLY landed in CLT and got picked up by Amelia and whisked off to Mac's. Mmm hello Charlotte.

Oh love it. A lil pig sandwich and a yummy sonia "salad" (tons of cheese and crunchy bits) and a mystery draft for...$7! WHAT. Wednesday nights late night menu??? LOVE IT. Win one for Charlotte.

Then swung by Heyink's for a sweet little reunion...i.e. darts, mockery of me and JP, and then a 5 minute disgusting scarfing of ice cream and a coconut cake. Oh I miss it...

Healthy Eating (hah)

In preparation for my eating adventures all over the place (CLT and CHI but still)...needed to finish all of my produce and well...not eat terribly since I plan on gaining about 10 pounds over the rest of April. To that end, I've been eating loads and loads of spinach and mushrooms, sauteed with a little olive oil and delicious and healthy, which is always a pleasant surprise =)

!!!

At least the night started classy...

Super Saturday - super gorgeous outside, made an awesome chocolate chip pancake for breakfast, kicked gym ass, read outside for awhile, donned a hot hipster outfit (haha) and headed to midtown for sushi dinner with Ting. Well, first discovered a cute Japanese cafe near my office that I'll definitely be snacking at...

We both got the prix fix dinners - sesame-y salad, a bunch of sushi, and green tea ice cream to wrap it all up.

Wandered around outside until we hit a bar on the west side, drank a Heineken dark, met up w kids on the train to Daniele's Brooklyn party. Drank sangria and had a pickle back shot (delish again, using juice from the grocery store pickle jar haha) and apparently the sangria was so potent (or I have no tolerance at all) and all of a sudden at 2:30 in the am, felt like death...

But sushi remains proof of a classy night =)

Shanghai Reunion!!

Reunion dinner tonight!

Not sure why it took this long...but finally emailed all the girls from Shanghai and we set up a dinner at Plein Sud, this restaurant that apparently has a Top Chef DC chef running it or something. Read all the reviews and was feeling kind of iffy on the food, but it was one of those go for the company dinners =) We got a bottle of something American to drink (b/c it turns out we all know SO MUCH about wine eye roll), and I ordered the burger with cheese on the inside because they were sadly out of duck (and I love duck so much sigh sigh sigh)

Burger was ok...not the worst not the best. Fries were super delicious and I ate every single one of them haha =) Then dessert! I think we were all pretty stuffed...and probably shouldn't have ordered four desserts...and it turns out this place makes ridiculously large desserts. That's two orders of a super chocolate mousse cake, and one order of the biggest profiteroles in the world (under a gallon of chocolate sauce, yes), and a tart lemon meringue pie thing.

We maybe got through half of those, but likely less. Huge disaster over the bill (lovely Stern moment haha) and then off to get home! Reunions are always so nice when everyone clicks again so easily! =)

And then even more fabulousness!

So....

4am Friday night at R Bar
5:30am Saturday night at Fat Baby

So yes, I woke up tired and dead and all that. Moving from my bed to the couch was a major accomplishment. Jess woke up around 1:30...then we met up with Maria around 2:30...headed to brunch haha, met up with Jen, and probably got seated at 3pm. Talk about lazy Sunday =)

But got Clinton Street Baking!! And hell yes it was worth the wait. I've totally gotten over brunch but this may have brought me back...best biscuit I've had in a really long time. Filled with eggs and cheese and tomato jam! Mmmm. So good.

And b/c we kept smelling it, we got an order of the French toast with bananas and warm maple butter to share which was fantastic. And it was gorgeous outside again!! Post brunch (4:30pm haha) we wandered around LES and Soho and walked...a lot...and had an awesome time at H&M featuring Jen in hipster rompers and hipster lace pants and other hipster outfits, and lots of laughing hilariously. Also was ridiculously stuffed.

Eventually ended up at Andrew's, where we sipped drinks and watched Meet the Parents (b/c "someone" didn't want to watch a scary movie and suggested a rom com instead...guess who) and continued scaring his roommates. Lovely day =) So busy! But in that awesome way where you do so much that it ends up feeling even longer some how. And I officially miss college.

Fab Saturday

Man, loooooooved this weekend. Got home at 5 in the morning, had a good sleep, woke up late and headed to the gym. Zumba killed me (after dancing for like 4 hours!!!)...headed home, showered, etc. and it was GORGEOUS outside so I sat on the church steps and read Kitchen Confidential while I waited for the girls. After Jess dropped her stuff off, we went wandering through the park (seriously, gorgeous day), strolling/speed walking, eventually ending up at our favorite boy's apartment =) Hung out there while Maria made all sorts of nonsense drinks and I finished all the sweet tea vodka and we probably freaked his roommates out immensely. Eventually ended up on the UWS at Mama Mexico, featuring this awesome table-side guacamole (super overpriced but it was delicious and spicy so whatever)...

Ate guac literally by the forkful, then got some steak tacos and rice and beans and stuff, as well as a shot of pineapple tequila poured down our throats...definitely a party dinner!

After food, went home so Jess could change, met up with Maria, and headed down to Verlaine for some friend of Andrew's birthday or something...got lychee martinis, got Anne, Deepa, etc to come down, and then got in line for Fat Baby (FINALLY!)...which I told everyone I know to meet me at. And which was awesome, minus the power crazy door guy. So much dancing! SO MUCH. And with a random Q! And so many other people. And lots of pity for all the sad sad boys who go out looking for some and don't get it, because they're lame, but also because it seems like things just suck for boys. Oh well. And the Dublin love of my life. Oh well again! Hah. But seriously, got home at 5:30 in the morning, and it was awesome, and I need to go out crazy dancing every night of every weekend forever and ever.

Last Meal of March =(

No more half off meals, so upsetting!

Obv I bought a huge sandwich that would last me two meals...mainly b/c I'm swamped at work and barely have time to eat...but seriously, this thing is like, 4 inches tall. It's ridiculous:

Also...we found out we have to move to the shitty building next door, which sucks. Worst April Fool's Day non-joke ever...