Showing posts with label Fried. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Fried. Show all posts

Monday, October 22, 2012

tacos and fried chicken







saturday after the hunt, friends from ohio came to visit.  we welcomed them to jersey city by taking them to some of the best tacos around, at taqueria!  double corn tortillas is the key to great tacos, and they serve double corn tortillas, indeed!

followed by zeppelin hall beer garden, followed by hollywood fried chicken (because really, people, sketchy ghetto fried chicken blows KFC outta the water).



it's a good thing we had an impromptu dance party until 2am after we got back to work off all those extra calories (or that's what i tell myself).  my neighbor insured me she wasn't home, so we cranked up the tunes, turned down the lights, stood on the furniture, and shaked our groove thangs.  i rocked the "strobe light" by spinning my mini maglight by the nylon handle, and charlotte showed some youtube DJ mixing skills i didn't even know were possible.

(i found out today how loud the music was when i wanted to turn on some quiet dinnertime music.  sorry to the rest of the neighbors who had to endure our obnoxious dance party, because our windows were WIDE open...)

tonight's the last night with our friends from ohio, and we are completely exhausted.... visit deemed a success!

cheers!

Friday, May 25, 2012

feeling posh

as much as i love to watch shows like sex and the city and think how cool it would be to live a posh life in NYC like them, whenever i go to a "posh" swanky place like they always go to, i realize it's TOTALLY not me.

so, when my friend jo wanted us to go to the chandelier room at the W hotel in hoboken, i was really not up for it (but trying to be social, i agreed). 

first, though, i made a pit stop at the historic downtown special improvement district (HDSID) farmers' market on grove street (it's AT the PATH station, so i couldn't avoid it!!) and snagged some whoopie pies from the sassy sweet treats table before heading to hoboken.


yummers.

well... i was certainly PLEASANTLY SURPRISED at how fun i had at the chandelier room!!  well, we were there for happy hour, so it might have been a different scene than the typical saturday night crowd, but it was still cool, with all the fancy brightly colored, velvety furniture, crazy huge modern artwork hanging from the ceiling, and amazing views of NYC just across the hudson river.


i was also expecting crazy expensive drinks (to reflect the crazy expensive hotel room prices!!), but they had a happy hour special where most drinks and all appetizers are just $3!! can't beat it!  so thanks, jo, for making me go to your fancy shmancy posh lounge :D

but, eating apps is not enough for dinner, so we decided to head over to the new location for biggie's clam bar!  we tickled our tastebuds with thai chili calamari, mussels in white sauce, clam po' boys, oysters, and burgers (total fatties last night).  we even snagged a guinness glass to boot! (not stolen, they GAVE it to us since we told them i broke 2 of mr p's glasses at home... p.s. THEN they told us they get them for FREE from the vendors! so, don't feel bad about "borrowing" beer glasses anymore!! haha)


mr p is about to eat his raw oysters on the half-shell!

we couldn't even eat half of our meals after eating so much before the real food came out!!  (fatties for 2 days i guess since we're eating so many leftovers!)

so, besides the mega MONSOON i experienced on the walk to the W (in my new favorite super flat sandals, mind you) last night was a blast :D  ...and i totally recommend BOTH the chandelier room AND biggie's clam bar if you are ever in hoboken (and they are relatively close to the PATH train if you are coming from NYC!)

cheers.
have a happy (and safe!) memorial day weekend :D

Friday, May 18, 2012

insta-weeknight fun

who doesn't love a good happy hour?
especially when it's a benefit event?
makes you feel good about throwing down some good drinks ;)
perfect, sunny-and-70 weather for groove on grove at the PATH station :D


however, i was NOT a fan of getting lost outside of the world trade center PATH train, only to find my station i needed under construction, taking another train at another station, then switching to the train i needed in the first place, then going 3 wrong directions outside of grand central before going in the right direction (the only other direction) to get to Public House. (gotta love NYC)

WTC site.





but, when i walked in the doors, i got a warm welcome from my friends, and i was happy again :D
(too bad i was too busy seeing friends and making new friends i didn't take any pics... blogger fail )

but, i CAN tell you that we went there because our friend is raising money for Avon Walk for Breast Cancer

via

good luck, roquel!
(if you want to donate to her cause, click here )

after happy hour we went to bareburger , one of our favorite (and cheapest) sit-down places in the city.


so many sauces!

fried EVERYTHING.

fried pickles that we accidentally DIDN'T get when my mom came to visit

ok ok, i didn't ACTUALLY get a burger this time. 
chicken for me, since we had so much fried food (or at least that's what i tell myself to make myself feel better about eating onion rings, fries, AND fried pickles)

(thanks again for dinner, guys!!)
so sad to see our friends move in a few weeks... but it's ok because they will be back in a few years :D

cheers to a great weekend ahead.
(with more plans to eat a lot and drink a lot.. wtf is wrong with us?? at least was have "intentions" of going to kickboxing each morning... we'll see how that goes :P)

Saturday, April 7, 2012

happy quarter-century to me

(so... you turned 25?)

that is correct!

to celebrate mr p and i decided to use up one of our livingsocial.com deals and try out a tapas place called Euzkadi in the lower east side of manhattan.

intentionally making reservations a bit later, we anticipated grabbing a drink at eataly's new rooftop beer garden, birreria.  i assume it has a great view of the city and union square park, though we didn't make it in, because there was a waiting list even for just the BAR! i guess it's a popular place :(  guess we'll have to make reservations next time! yes, reservations for a bar? just for a drink!? (only in NYC)

we ended up finding another cozy bar that had a guinness chalkboard sign out front (ideal curb appeal of our ideal bar) bartender was super nice, great ambiance, music not blaring, not TOO crowded (and only after a bit of google maps investigating did i conclude this place was called the globe).  we enjoyed ourselves a nice brooklyn lager and guinness and headed over to euzkadi.



(how can you NOT love him, when he looks THIS good?)

when i walked into this place, i knew we picked a good place!  it was PACKED!  good thing we made a reservation!  it was a cozy, low-lit, inviting restaurant with friendly wait staff who treated us like friends instead of the stiff properness of snooty restaurants (sticking tongue out with finger going in mouth like a 5-year-old child showing how icky mushrooms taste)



the FOOD though... so good. we ordered 4 tapas, i chose a vegetarian dish and meat dish, while mr p ordered a seafood dish and meat dish:

Bomba de Queso de Cabra
Goat cheese and honey croquettes

Albondigas de Pato
Roasted duck meatballs in a sofrito duck demi-glace sauce

Vieras a la Navarrica
Searedscallops in sofrito and Serrano ham

Cordero a la Plancha
Roasted lamb in a mushroom raisin demi-glace

(respectively)

i win the award for best choice of food!!!
(for once! mr p almost ALWAYS wins!)

(duck meatballs and scallops... meatballs SO good , scallops good, but nothing special)

(grilled lamb and goat cheese balls... lamb good, but those goat cheese balls totally took the grand prize)

the goat cheese though... yum ... it belonged on the dessert list. it was goat cheese balls in a light layer of bread crumbs, deep-fried, then dunked in honey (with some extra honey at the bottom of the bowl for extra indulgence). 

mr p dared me to eat a spoonful of honey, to which i quickly replied "you're DARING me to do that?" as i picked up the spoon and dove it into the layer of honey "i don't need to be DARED ." 

"babe, don't do that... we really don't need the extra sugar, those things probably have 500 calories a piece anyways" 

...thanks, mr p, for ruining the dish! (ha, not really, i'm totally ordering them again!).

the dishes were pretty small though, just enough to feel satisfied, but not over-stuffed.
(i.e. just full enough for dessert at pinkberry before heading home!)


(i love me some delicious original tart froyo!)

after mr p had me convinced he didn't get me anything for my birthday because i didn't TELL him anything that i wanted (in time anyways), he surprised me at home with jimmy choo perfume, and a dress, and 2 belts (and an $8 hat from one of those cheesy sidewalk stores in the LES) :D  and he picked it ALL out himself!  (good job babe :D)





thanks to all of you for the birthday wishes!

cheers to a great weekend ahead :D

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

epic weekend.

wow, i've been around mr p too much.  sounds like something that would come out of his mouth or from somewhere deep in that crazy brain of his...

...but... it WAS a pretty good time, i must say!  mr p and i began the weekend on THURSDAY so we could head to the annual st patty's day in chicago trip with his friends from school....

....except this time we have family living there too!
....and the weather was perfect all weekend. in the 70s, maybe the 80s too.
....and it's only 4 hours from home.
....and i love the city anyways.
....which means it totally made me want to move there all weekend.
....and
....and
....and

(sigh)

we'll settle for jersey city for now i suppose.

 so, to recap the weekend:

(updated blog post... can't believe i forgot this photo!!)

thursday:  we got into town LATE, but still wanted tacos, so we went to CVS so danny could grab a redbull and join us.  little did we know he was going to DOWN two 20-oz redbulls, eat some nachos, then fall asleep and start snoring i think AS i was just shutting my eyes, and we went to bed at the same time.  (epic weekend begins)




friday:  started off with a 5-mile run along the bike path that runs along lakeshore drive.  mr p's brother lives just ONE BLOCK from lakeshore in lakeview.  it's.  just.  so.  awesome.


then, we cleaned up and took our things to the hotel (where we could stay with the regular annual-trip crew) before grabbing some much-needed coffee from argo tea and some chicago hot dogs.





....and then some brews at fado.



....and then mr p and zack got some big macs at the shmanciest mcd's ever.



...and then we had more drinks in lakeview with my cousin and crew at will's.

....and then we had vietnamese food at tank noodle.





....and then we had more drinks at jake melnick's corner tap and (again) fado (yes, same day)

...and then the boys had more mcd's (yes, again, same day, silly boys :P)


saturday:  (wait... that was ALL friday??)  we got 4 hours of sleep before we woke up to head over to bongo room for breakfast.  pretzel pancakes... i have no idea what that topping was but it was just. so. good.


...and zack's bacon and banana pancakes were pretty darn tasty too.


...my omelet things was just blah, so i'm not going to bore you with blah food.

...then we walked back to the hotel for a quick nap (and shower... i went to breakfast without showering... gross... after THAT friday that we had? gross.) and crossed the GREEEEEEN river on the way (walking off all those pancakes... wait... who am i kidding... we went to mcd's TWICE yesterday!! ....sigh....)


...and then we headed to pilsen for some nuevo leon!  and stop at the delicious bakery on the way back to the train...







...and then (you guessed it) the booze started!  but... at least it was classy booze.  we went to the publican!  the decor alone is enough reason to come see this place.  it helps that they have house-cured meats and a pretty extensive beer menu.



...and then we were all in a slightly buzzed, but mostly food coma state of mind, and we all took a 2-hour nap.

...and then we went to revolution brewing co. where we tried a few of their house-brewed beer (i think it's house-brewed anyways? whatever, it's their own beer, and it was delicious!) and their bacon fat popcorn, topped with shaved parmesan and fried sage (soo... you say you're gonna drive to chicago just for the popcorn? that's not extreme at all.. i mean.. yeah... it was good)





....and then the night started to get a little blurry...


...and we headed to wrigleyville for st patty's day MADNESS .  utter... MADNESS!!!



...but... zack was super excited he found a large spot for us all at the bar (too bad i found another smaller spot that had SEATS!  and then we snagged a table)


....and then we took a bunch of shots and drank lots of beer and took lots of pictures that i'm not going to show to you.

....and then we ate ian's (so sad it's not ACTUALLY ian's anymore, but the pizza was still as tasty as it can get at 3am and drunk)  and ate GREEN mac-n-cheese pizza, tortellini pizza, rigatoni alfredo pizza, and bbq pork pizza with french fries on it (clearly getting classier as the night goes on)



sunday:  ...and then it was morning (GOD it came so FAST!!!) and we met up with my cousin (and more of mr p's besties from home) again for brunch in lakeview at frasca.  TERRIBLE service.   TERRIBLE .  but, the food was decent and the coffee totally hit the spot.  my eggs florentine (pretty much eggs benedict except brioche and turkey) and mr p's breakfast pizza with prosciutto and sunny-side-up eggs were pretty tasty.




...and then we said our goodbyes, and flew back to NYC.


many thanks and hugs to everyone we saw.  we had a GREAT weekend, and certainly don't get to see ANY of you nearly enough :(  ...but can one of you please send me back my voice?  i'm not sure how much longer i can go without it... or how much more teasing i can handle from my boss thinking i partied a bit too hard over the weekend ("ah no, mr boss man, we just had our hotel AC up super high because it was so hot last weekend and it made me a little sick")

too bad chicago isn't a $20 bus ticket like it is to DC, boston, or philly, we would totally be there more often.

welp, back to reality!

toodles.
j&h