Weekend Wrap-Up (May 27-31)

 Asparagus, Portabella Mushroom and Spring Garlic Pizza

This weekend was our anniversary (May 27th- 3 yrs already!), and Memorial Day weekend. Tom didn't cook much because we were out and about as much as possible. We also had plans to visit family out of town, but some bad brakes on the car kept us home. We probably should have been doing more productive things than eating, drinking and riding bikes, but the weather was awesome, and it was a holiday weekend. And we needed some fun!

Here is what Tom made this weekend:

- Anniversary Breakfast: Steak, Eggs, Home Fries,  English Muffins and Champagne Cocktails
- Skordalia
- Steak Salad with Chickpeas and harissa vinegrette
- Fried Eggs over Cheddar Grits with Breakfast Sausage, Spring Garlic and Tomato Jam
- Pappardelle w/Italian Sausage, Asparagus, Red Peppers with Broccoli Rabe
- Mushroom and Spring Garlic Mousse with Pernod/Cognac Gelee
- Mushroom Pate 'Banh Mi' Sandwich
- Asparagus, Portabella Mushroom and Spring Garlic Pizza with Pale Ale Crust

Mushroom Mousse, Skordalia, and Sugar Snap/Parsley Pesto

Nothing too crazy, right? Everything was good. The pasta Tom made was good, but if I had any complaints, it would be that Tom gave me way too much, so he ended up eating about half of it. Its only the third time he's made homemade pasta, and he's getting better. The Italian sausage went with the peppers and asparagus really well, and I liked the dish.

The other noteworthy things Tom made were the pizza and the veggie banh mi. I used to hate mushrooms, but now I'm ok with them. I enjoyed the aparagus/mushroom/spring garlic pizza, and the crust was good. Tom's version of the banh mi was all veggies, including the mushroom mousse, radishes and beets, and I actually ate it! I guess I'm learning that vegetables aren't all bad.

That's about all I have to say about Tom's cooking for the weekend. Sorry if you were expecting something crazy! Tom might have more to say in his weekend evaluation.

Here are the restaurants/bars/bakeries where we ate/drank this weekend:

- Bar Pleaides
- Sandwiched
- Colicchio & Sons
- Standard Beer Garden
- Ward III
- Corton (anniversary dinner)
- Baked
- Bohemian Hall Beer Garden
- Studio Square
- Spuyten Duyvil
- Motorino
- Sunswick
- D.B.A.
- Brooklyn Brewery
- Miranda
- Berry Park
- Timmy O's
- Lemon Ice King of Corona
- Sammy's Halal Cart
- Red Ribbon Bakery
- Lucky Dog
- Brouwerij Lane
- McDonald's

I know you're thinking, holy crap, you went to all those places in 5 days and ate/drank all that? I should tell you we went to all those places by bike (in addition to riding through the many parks of Queens and Brooklyn). We biked about 85 miles this weekend, so I'm pretty sure we broke even with the calorie intake/calories expended.

Also, we weren't complete gluttons. At each bar, we only got a beer or two, or split one beer. And with the exception of Corton, Motorino, and Miranda, where we ate meals, at the other restaurants, we only got one or two things that we split.

If you live in New York City and are reading this, I would recommend most things on the list.

Corton was awesome, its up there on the list of amazing restaurants like Blue Hill, Momofuku Ko, and Jean Georges. If you met me a few years ago, you might have a hard time believing that I actually ordered foie gras for an appetizer. I've learned one thing from eating out at the better restaurants- they're the place to try new things because you know they're going to make it really well. I would never eat rabbit unless I had tried it at SHO. I would never even eat chicken thighs unless it was at Jean Georges (when Tom makes chicken legs or thighs, he has to disguise it for me). There are a lot of things I would refuse to eat, but if a fancy restaurant puts it in front of me, I'll eat it, and often like it. What can I say? Plus I liked seeing Tom enjoy his dinner so much. He is pretty picky, so if he's smiling when he's eating, and saying 'this is so good', that makes me happy.

Baked is really good place for sweets, we've been there once before, so this was our second time. We got a piece of cake, cupcakes and breakfast. My only complaint was that I could have used more cinnamon in my Red Hook Red-Hot cake frosting. The sweet and salty cupcakes are amazing- if you go, you have to get one. I also wish it was closer to where we live, although that could be dangerous for the wallet and my waistline.

After the cake at Baked, I wanted more cake. I decided I don't eat enough cake in my life, and it shouldn't be reserved for birthdays or other special occasions. Life is too short, I need more cake. Since it was a holiday weekend, a lot of places were closed, so on Monday we ended up at the Filipino chain restaurant Red Ribbon Bakery. It was ok, I was looking for cake and they had cake, but it was weird (and one was green).  And it only mildly satisfied my desire for cake.

As for the rest of the food we ate, it was all pretty good. I even enjoyed the street meat from the Halal cart!

Of the three beer gardens we went to, the Standard Beer Garden was probably my favorite of the weekend. The beer selection is very limited, but its a cool space- you sit under the High Line- so it gets points for that. Bohemian Hall is the classic beer garden. It's celebrating its 100th birthday, so it's been around forever and is pretty good. They have lots of good beers (a lot of them Czech) and the beer garden is nice. Plus its not too far from us. The only problem is you have to go early or its ridiculously crowded. Also, don't get the country-style terrine or you'll find yourself staring at a slice of aspic with ham floating in it, topped with raw white onions. At least Tom ate it when I refused to.

Berry Park is a pretty decent bar in Greenpoint. The two things it has going for it are 1. they have Palm (one of my favorite beers) and 2. a roof bar that overlooks Manhattan. This time I decided to try something different, and got this weird strawberry beer called Früli. I used to only drink sweet beers like Lindeman's lambics, but not so much anymore, so the sweetness of the Fruli was kind of shocking.

I recently discovered that Spuyten Duyvil has a backyard, so that just went up a notch in my book (even though they serve most of their overpriced beers in wine glasses).

The best beer I had this weekend was at Sunswick, our typical Friday after-work stop. I had the Brasserie Dieu du Ciel "Aphrodite", which is a stout brewed with cocoa and vanilla beans. It wasn't too sweet or heavy. It was really good!

Bar Pleiades was really cool, the space was very Art Deco. The cocktail I had was tequila, horchata and smoked mezcal creme (unfortunately I don't remember the name of the drink). If you know me, you know tequila is my favorite liquor. If a drink has tequila or cinnamon in it, I'm there.

I feel like I have to explain the McDonald's entry on the above list. Tom is obsessed with their $1 ice cream cones. He told me over the weekend that he could live off beer and $1 cones. I don't remember the last time I had McDonald's, so we stopped to get one. It was pretty good but I'm not as crazy about them as Tom (I know he's going to give me crap for not loving it!).

That's a quick wrap-up of some of the highlights of the weekend. If you have any questions or want my opinion on something specific on the list, let me know and I'd be happy to give you my thoughts!