New York City

I had the wonderful opportunity to fly back East this past weekend and mingle with some of my fave gals, visit my old stomping ground, and fill myself with some of the most amazing food ever!

If you're in the city, you must visit... 

CASK, order the white sangria and expect your life to change.

S'MAC, take a peek at the menu, then decide to order the NOSH size of the CAJUN Mac. Amazing.

16 Handles, create your own heaven in a cup, then die happy.

Magnolia Bakery, if you order the Banana Pudding, you'll have one bite and refuse to share.

Mercury Bar, if you're a drinker at all, order a "Dirty Girl Scout." No X-factor here, it's just a mint-cookie flavored shot. 

Wine Night 2010

Wine Night has become an annual affair at the Meyer abode. Good thing, too, because it's a really fantastic time.

Happy (belated) Birthday, Hayley!

Bar golf = ton o' fun!

The Produce Man

(photo via movingtonyc.wordpress.com)

It's been really *neat* (totally decided to bring back the word "neat!") lately to have a regular schedule (sort of) and see the same people during my walks to work. The Produce Man on 9th Ave and 49th Street waves to me every morning. And, I wave back. Perhaps I should introduce myself before I take off next week... I feel like we've developed a little bond!

Jim's Pancakes

Jim, I don't know you, but I like you!

Jim's Pancakes is a website dedicated to the manifestation of creative flapjacks for his daughter Allison! How sweet is that? So sweet! Don't these make you just LOVE breakfast even more?? (If that was possible!)

Chipotle Stories

(photo via ffffound.com)

Have you seen these cups?? They're hilarious and goofy! I wanna share a quirky Chipotle Story. Surely we all have an obsession with food that would be fun to write about... Even if it's something totally ridiculous and silly...

P.S. Starting to notice I've been writing about FOOD a lot lately. Ha. Ha.

This time last year...

(photo via watermelon.org)

Remember last April... When I was complaining about the dreadful heat, and the dreadful cut-off dates for our air-conditioning? Oh yes, my friends, we're back again... As of right now, it's 86 degrees outside with 49% humidity and we are sans air conditioning... And we're still 13 days away from a reprieve. It's one of those days you wish you lived in a freezer, or you felt comfortable in the kitchen, making your own watermelon popsicles... 

Jack Johnson, These Banana Pancakes Are for You!

(photo via yelp.com)

No, there was no pony; at least they nipped that one in the bud right off the bat. But, the brunch at Vintage in Hell's Kitchen was pretty awesome! Alix had the Challah French Toast, and this little lady had the Banana Pancakes. I formally dedicated my heaven on a plate to Jack Johnson immediately upon ordering. :) Ahhh, we dooo love food! 

Whym

Ahh, Whym. I do love you, you and your divine desserts. On Friday, AmyJane and I took a swing by Whym for lunch. We had the fantastic Tortilla Salad, and decided to split the S'more's Dessert. Ahh, Friday was happy, indeed.

POP Burger!

Tonight, AmyJane, Hayley, and I visited POP Burger, a wonderful little burger joint in midtown. It was AWESOME. Take a look at my sliders! The walls are covered in Andy Warhol portraits and the website actually refers to the restaurant as a "sexy hideout!" Haha! (Really.)

I forced Hayley and AmyJane to get in the photo... But I wanted my sliders down in front, too. Turns out, thumbs up was more do-able.

Dance Floor

(photo via ffffound.com) 

I've been dying to bust a move recently. New York is known for sooo many wonderful things. Unfortunately, the presence of decent dance clubs is not one of them. More often than not, you're forced to pay an arm and a leg for cover, then - spend a fortune for a drink, all while fighting your way to the center of the floor. I'm certainly not a frequent club-goer, but I miss the dance floor. A lot.

Mmm

(photo via ffffound.com)

"Did someone say steak?" Haaahaaa.

Ordering-In

(photo via nyc.com) 

We order in our groceries. Shocking news? It's cheaper. I'm serious. Alix heard about freshdirect.com awhile back, and as it turns out - it's really easy, it's a lot cheaper, and they deliver directly to your apartment. For a long time, we would head up the street to Food Emporium. The staff wasn't always so nice and the groceries are ridiculously expensive. I'm not sure where exactly freshdirect delivers, but they deliver to NYC and it's pretty baller.

Brooklyn Fare

Today, I joined my dear friends Rachael and Aaron and Brooklyn for a walk through the Brooklyn Flea. They hadn't been before and are always down for something fun. I could seriously spend all day in that place.

Afterward, we took a walk over to Ceol, a sweet little Irish Pub on Smith Street. Alix was able to join us for a few drinks and some appetizers. And yes, I fell in love with the bartender. He was Irish. :) The more time I spend in Brooklyn, the more I fall in love with it. I could totally see myself moving to Brooklyn after graduating.

Finally, on our way back to Manhattan, Rach suggested we swing into Brooklyn Fare, a sweet little grocer and bakery. We picked up some divine little baked goods and Canadian booze. (Alix and I wanted Canadian beer to keep us company while we watched the Olympics tonight!)

Happy Sunday!

Valentine's Day

Ahh, I love my girlfriends. I especially love when my girlfriends share my "passion" for silly old holidays and smutty old love stories. This Sunday, my dear friend Rachel and I rendezvoused for a night on the town. We decided to see Valentine's Day. I'm such a sucker for a good love story. And, this movie totally did it for me. It reallyyyy got panned by the critics, but, as a hopeless romantic, I was satisfied.

I'll be honest, I'm not a big fan of Valentine's Day. I think it's a corny Hallmark holiday. But, I guess I kind of love it, too. It gives me the chance to sent out some snail mail to my dearest friends and hangout with my closest pals. I was going to share some insight on the holiday and what all of the history books say... (Apparently the real deal isn't all roses and cupids...) But, I've decided against it. In reality, I don't think I need a holiday to tell those people I love them... That I love them... But, I do think I should take every opportunity to reflect on why I love those that I love. And, Valentine's Day is an opportunity to do so.

So then, I had some Valentine's Day candy and spent the evening with a a dear childhood friend. And, that's all I need. :) Happy Belated Valentine's Day!

Memory Makers

It's my last semester at John Jay. (Hooray!) I'll be heading back to Phoenix soon after graduation, so I'm trying to make as many memories as possible with the short time I have left. Since returning to New York for spring, I've made several greatttt memories!

(We recently visited Panna II, a wonderful Indian restaurant in the East Village.)

(The decorations were crazy! The entire restaurant was the size of a walk-in closet and there must have been 30-50 people inside.) 

(The food was fantastic!)

(The company was phenom, as usual!)

(After Panna II, we took a swing by Jules Jazz club for a pitcher of Sangria.) 

:)

Ahh, I dooo love this city. 

Good Week? Bad Week?

(photo via ffffound.com) 

It's been a bit of a week! And it's only Tuesday! I wanna wrap up the shenanigans of the last 7 days with a little game of good week/bad week. Hold on, this is kind of a roller coaster.

AmyJane and I got into APA!!! Good week.
I spilled coffee on myself. Bad week.
And my cell phone. Bad week.
And a staff member at my externship. Bad week.
But I got a new phone! Good week.
I started my new externship! Good week.
Buuuut, I'm not getting paid for it! Bad week.
It's gonna look phenom on my resume! Good week.
But I'm actually paying John Jay for the credit. Bad week.
I broke my bed. Bad week.
Twice. Bad week.
I fixed my bed! Good week.
Twice. Good week.
I opened the emergency door at my externship. Bad week.
Everybody laughed at me. Bad week!
I had brunch with a few friends on Sunday. Good week!
We didn't have mimosas. Bad week.
But we did have sexy sangria! Good week!
I slammed the door on my finger. Bad week.
But my uber attractive neighbor heard me yelp and he stepped outside to check on me! Good week.
I start school on Thursday. Bad week.
I start my final semester at John Jay on Thursday. Good week!
I haven't fudged on my austerity program. Good week!
But I'm bummed - Gap is having a sale. Bad week!
I re-heeled my favorite pair of boots! Good week.
One of the new heels fell off. Bad week.
I started reading a new book. Good week!
But I don't really like it. Bad week.
So I finished it real fast. Good week!
And started another new book. Good week.
And I don't like that one either. Bad week.

And so it's Tuesday. Good week.
And tomorrow is Wednesday. Gooooood week! ;)

I love food.

My friend Betsy sent me this silly card a REALLY long time ago... The front said something like... "Why I Work: A Short Essay..." When you opened the card, it said: "I like food."

Haha! Ahh, Betsy is right. Food is good.

Anyhoo, I stumbled across this cute little thing on swiss-miss.com...

The answer is yes, always yes. ;) Haha! I especially love the "Don't eat it" qualifier... "Is it bacon?"

How appropriate is this?

(taken at Chelsea Market)

How appropriate is this sign? It's like CueTheSunshine's mascot, but not really...

Today, Alix and I took a trip down to Chelsea to dominate some fine faire at CookShop. I fell in love with the waiter, just after I knocked over a beautiful garland display. (Please, no applause.) I had the banana pancakes; Alix had the apple french toast. We canoodled over a couple cups of coffee while admiring(ish) the rain from a distance.

After, we took a leap over to the HighLine, a former railroad track converted to an aerial park. It's still under construction, but it's absolutely gorgeous nonetheless...

(photo via highline.org)

Finally, to round out the morning, we galloped through the Chelsea Market. We wandered through several of the holiday shops they have set up... And we forced some poor soul to take our photo in front of the cool Christmas tree display. Chelsea Market is all about the eco-friendly holiday spirit this year, so they were using garbage to decorate the entire place. This Christmas tree was made of recycled compact discs. Amazinggg!

Happy Sunday! :)

Stuffed Bell Peppers

Alix and I have been making serious attempts to eat in more often... It's difficult to spend $10 dollars on a meal at a restaurant, when you can come home and spend zip... and still have something good...

Well, because of our crazyyyy schedules, we haven't been to the grocery store in several days, so we were forced to get creative with what we had...

Hello, Stuffed Bell Peppers...

We sliced the tops of green bell peppers and emptied out all the seeds...

At the same time, we boiled pasta (small shells) and sausage...

We mixed the cooked sausage and pasta together and started stuffing...

We made a layer of pasta and sausage, then a layer of mozzarella cheese...

After we stuffed these peppers to the brim...

We tossed the left over pasta around the border so it could bake as well...

We baked the stuffed peppers for about 20 minutes at 350. We weren't looking to totally toast them... Because bell peppers are normally eaten raw anyway and the pasta and sausage had already been cooked, we really wanted the cheese to melt and give the pasta a little crispiness while heating up the peppers...

Amazinggggg!