Friday, April 27, 2012

the day job

it's days like this that i love my job.

if you haven't heard already, the space shuttle enterprise landed at JFK airport today, to be lifted onto the intrepid aircraft carrier museum in manhattan in about a month or so.  there were a couple thousand people invited to attend the special event today at JFK, and my boss and i were allowed to come!

not VIP, but still fun.

here it comes!

...and there it goes

i "think" it "might" have been live on TV today

piggy-back

cheesy "i'm standing in front of a space shuttle" kodak moment

yep! that's mr spock from star trek!  leonard nimoy!
fun fact of the day:
they named the space shuttle "enterprise" only after the star trek cast and crew BEGGED the government to change it from the original name of "constitution"

what a day... can't wait to see when it gets lifted onto the intrepid!!

happy weekend :D

toodles.


Thursday, April 26, 2012

playing tourist

it doesn't matter where you are, or where you are from, sometimes it's just FUN to play tourist for the day.

what better time to play tourist than when you have visitors!?!?

as i mentioned here, my mom came to visit last weekend!  and we played tourist all weekend... but a FUN kind of tourist.  we did the cheesy kind of tourist LAST time she was here (statue of liberty, times square, radio city, etc... cheesy but necessary for newcomers!!)

THURSDAY:
mr p picks up mom from laguardia
eat vietnamese food in jersey city



FRIDAY :
explore historic downtown, waterfront, and van vorst park areas of jersey city 
eat AMAZING food at made with love bakery
eat homemade tortellini for dinner when mr p comes home

made with love: mac 'n cheese



sophie sophia: choco cupcake with buttercream frosting


jersey city public library: very old, very beautiful, looks VERY much like the old library in van wert!

jersey city public library: original marble stairs, worn thin at the inside rails

pita, cukes, and hummus... perfect snack after a long day!

cucumber vodka and club soda... refreshing summery cocktail (with a cute bottle to boot!)

homemade tortellini with watercress and tomatos (see recipe here), except this time we made it creamy by simply adding a splash of heavy cream!


SATURDAY :
explore brooklyn by going to the brooklyn flea, brooklyn botanic garden, and the transit museum
catch an early dinner at nook in hell's kitchen

started off the morning with a bit of relaxing :D

mom picked up some letters from an old letterpress at the brooklyn flea
(whatever she does with them, it will be SO cool!!)

prefect weather for perusing the flea.

kumquat cakery, so yummy.

bacon.. on top of cream cheese frosting.. on top of cupcake? too hard to resist!

tacos double-wrapped in corn tortillas.  the ONLY way to go!

mr p was too fascinated by the MOBILE wood-fired pizza oven, he had to buy one.

random building with pretty random art on the pretty walk from the flea to the botanic garden



brooklyn botanic garden: cherry blossoms!

brooklyn botanic garden: cherry blossoms!


sometimes he's just so cute... even when we drag him around all day

deep purple lilacs, smells SO pretty!



transit museum: one of the first subway cars!

random brooklyn building, with random fun art, on the way to the train

nook, quite possibly my favorite restaurant in NYC... in close competition with enoteca maria in staten island

nook: mushroom cigars and tuna tartar

nook: filet mignon

nook: steak fritesm with rosemary fries

nook: thai-marinated grilled rack of lamb

SUNDAY :
weather decides to monsoon, so mom and i (naturally) go shopping
(target had all beach essentials on sale, so i couldn't pass up getting two beach chairs and a floppy beach hat!! saturday beach days, here we come!!)
mr p makes homemade sammich bread and herbed chicken and we eat delicious herbed chicken sammiches
i make ice cream, and we layer in homemade granola to the ice cream (ahhh so good!! kudos to mr p for the wonderful idea!)

mr p started our morning by making egg, miracle whip and tomato sammiches!

mr p's herbed chicken sammiches on homemade bread

homemade ice cream with homemade granola layers (thanks to jeni britton and her manhattan williams sonoma ice cream tutorial and book-signing, otherwise we would be blind to this delicacy!!)


MONDAY :
i decide i NEED a swimsuit from old navy (tried on earlier) for the summer, and for a atlantic city trip a few weekends from now, so mom and i drive hours through crazy traffic to find a mis-tagged suit in union city for $20 (paid only $16 after a 20% off coupon!! yaya! originally priced for $45)
eat at bareburger in manhattan before dropping mom off at laguardia.


bareburger: fries with THREE dipping sauces!


bareburger: mr p's original beef burger, medium, on brioche with fried egg and bacon.  he came late, and i knew EXACTLY how he wanted his burger :D  (brownie points for me???)

bareburger: we really wanted the fried pickles, so i ordered "assorted pickles" not realizing that the "assorted" ones we NOT fried (super sad face)

we walked A LOT , ate A LOT , shopped A LOT , and got to spend LOTS of quality mom and daughter time!!
a rather successful weekend if i do say so myself :D

can't wait for the next time she comes to visit!!

toodles.