We just finished up a sensible dinner of grilled chicken, peas & a mushroom risotto (a recent random find at Trader Joe's - yum). Meat + vegetable + starch. It felt good to get back to something basic.
See, the last 24 hours have been uncharacteristically busy. With food. And well, this week has been busy in general, but in a good way because it's been filled with friends (& friends + food often go hand in hand) - & friends make me happy. I met Ruth & Caitlin (visiting her NYC friends from her home in SLC) for breakfast yesterday morning at Le Pain Quotidien. I had mint lemonade & a fresh brioche. Corinne, Kelsey, Kidia & I met for a late lunch (brunch?) at Clinton Street Baking Company in the Lower East Side later in the day. Blueberry pancakes, of course - & those generally allow me to forgo food for the rest of the day quite happily. But then dinner? A small gathering of friends at La Esquina to celebrate Caitlin being in town, in the basement. See, La Esquina actually has three restaurants on the corner of Lispenard & Kenmare. First, the taqueria upstairs that we frequent often. Cheap tacos, elote & soda. You eat at the counter if you can find a spot, but it's always tight. Casual. Quick. Cheap. Then, there's the cafe just around the corner. Same menu, but there are servers & you get to sit at an actual table if you want something a little less casual.
But downstairs? The brasserie. It's a totally difference scene (not one that I frequent often). It's celebrity-happy (John Mayer was there behaving badly the other night). It's almost impossible to get a reasonable reservation. And the access? It's actually funny. You get there by going into the taco stand, & then after getting approval from a bouncer + his walkie, you're allowed to go through a door (that says "employees only" - looks like a bathroom door) down a set of stairs into the basement. Next - you walk through the kitchen. And then into the restaurant. The first time I went there was in 2005. I was working at McKinsey at the time & asked one of my colleagues for a recommendation for a restaurant to take my dad to during his upcoming visit. He recommended La Esquina, saying it was his favorite spot in the city & that we just had to go. He was in his early 30's & single & living a very different lifestyle that mine - I should have taken that into consideration. But I made a reservation (for 11pm! It's a tough place to get into), & we went - totally naive as to what we were getting into. The food (tapas) was amazing, but the atmosphere was not quite what we were expecting. It looked a bit like a brothel. Dark, moody, & at 11pm - the music was blasting, the floor was jammed with sweaty bodies & it had the feeling of a club more than a restaurant. Suffice it to say, we were yelling at each other throughout dinner, & my dad was probably the oldest person in the restaurant by 20 years. We thought the whole thing was hilarious, but I remember feeling so totally intimidated (& young). Wesley Snipes - in his pre-felon days - was sitting at the table next to us, surrounded by a half dozen very drunk & almost naked women. It was quite the spectacle. But this time was a nice change of pace. The food was equally good, but our early reservation allowed for a more mellow atmosphere & a lovely dinner catching up with friends.
Anyway. I digress.
The point is, food. I've been doing a lot of food.
And then this morning! I met friend Amy for cinnamon rolls at Two Little Red Hens. Because they're that good, & I don't see Amy nearly often enough (she's a full time graduate student - can't wait until she graduates in May & can play!).
Oh. And I may have had lunch with Jill at Whole Foods. Sushi. Yum. That's reasonably sensible, right?
So tonight - A nap, & then dinner at home. It felt good to cook, & to utilize what was in my fridge / freezer / cupboards. Next, we're watching This is It. Maybe I'll learn how to moonwalk next Wednesday.
