But first a quick break for brunch at Taco Bamba - grilled guacamole with chips, loads of tacos, and a comforting warm bowl of pozole.
The weeks have been so cold and icy, but the weekends have been so nice. It's been hard for me to sit down and finish up projects knowing the warm weather won't last forever. Today...finally time to sit down and get it done so I can clear the week ahead of me.
But first a quick break for brunch at Taco Bamba - grilled guacamole with chips, loads of tacos, and a comforting warm bowl of pozole.
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Today started off cloudy and chilly. Sly and I had breakfast at our local diner then lounged around the house playing with the kitties until we decided the weather was just too nice to stay indoors. We didn't feel like shopping. We had just stuffed ourselves with breakfast. And we didn't feel like doing anything too active.
So off to the winery we went. Just a 20 minute drive from our house and it was as if we were in another world. The sun was shining, music was playing, horses were galloping..and us? We were boozing it up on local Virginia wine which is probably the most underrated wine in the world. After a wine tasting, we bought a couple glasses of wine and lounged outside on a picnic table, soaking in as much sun as possible, reliving our wedding day (bc the winery sort of reminded us of our wedding location), and maybe getting just a bit tipsy on wine.Nothing like a little sun and wine to feel rejuvenated again. Plus, we figured we better enjoy every last second of it while we could because it's supposed to snow (again!) next week. Nevermind that we still have our Christmas tree up or that we still have a bunch of boxes in our donate pile that require sifting through. We figured that with enough wine and food that these things would be overlooked.
It’s been over a year since we moved into our house and it was time to finally have some friends over for dinner. As usual, Sly did all the prepping and cooking while I offered moral support in the form of “do you need anything to drink?” Once our friends arrived we tapped into the wine, ate tons of cheese + crackers, more wine, and then onto the main course: Sly’s homemade spicy cioppino chock-full of all kinds of fresh seafood. We retired to the living room post-dinner to rest up a bit before tackling the crockpot apple cobbler (known as “apple crisp, even though there’s no crisp) and some dessert liquor. After a whirlwind of eating and drinking I started to feel a bit hot and light-headed (aka drank too much) so I went upstairs and maybe took a little nap while sitting on the cool tile floors of our master bathroom. Then I shook it off, rallied, and returned to the living room for more wine and convo. That's the mark of real friendship: when you act like a weirdo and nobody says a word. Step 1: Get up somewhat early and walk two blocks down to street to Russ and Daughters. Step 2: Stare longingly at all the tasty offerings. Maybe ask to taste a few samples of smoked fish. Step 3: Place order for smoked sable and cream cheese and smoked salmon and tofu scallion (I can eat this by the spoonful) with all the fixin's. Step 4: Get order and walk another block down to Il Laboratorio for blue bottle coffee (told you it was having its moment on the East Coast). Step 5: Walk back to hotel and take the elevator right up to the rooftop deck Step 6: Eat the best breakfast ever with an amazing view Step 7: Get kind of cold and finish sandwich while huddled inside the screened porch area of the rooftop deck. You may be wondering how a bagel with cream cheese can be worthy of an entire post, but it is not just any smoked salmon on bagel, it is a Russ and Daughters smoked salmon on bagel. Eaten with my hubs on a private rooftop deck with a million dollar view of the city and washed down with two cups of delicious hot coffee. Out of all the fancy places we have ever eaten all around the world and I would choose this sandwich, this view, this moment, any day of the week. I don't think it gets better than that. Seriously, the best smoked fish and cream cheese you are ever going to find. it's really more than just a bagel place, it's the experience of walking into this old mainstay, sampling the fish, ogling at all the yummy things behind the glass, changing your mind a hundred times because everything looks so good, and having your sandwich made by legit New Yorkers dressed in white coats. Another place on our "have to visit every time we come to NYC" list. Details// eat //
Russ and Daughters // $10-$15 / On one of our trips to NYC a long time ago we found ourselves walking around the LES on a Sunday with time to kill. We just happened to walk by Russ and Daughters, peered into its windows, saw tons of smoked fish and became really curious. Of course we had ourselves a few sandwiches in addition to more than one tastings, and wow. Amazing. Hands down the best bagel with smoked salmon and cream cheese ever. Like all the other stuff we had eaten prior to Russ and Daughters was just training for the real thing. Since we aren't really guidebook type people we had no idea that this was actually a very well-known place to eat. I'm glad we didn't know that because if we had we probably would never have tried it. Totally worth the hype -- but only if you can get it in NYC, not theday old bagels they were selling out in SF. Embarrassing. Truly embarrassing, SF. *PS: You can order Russ and Daughters online and have it shipped outside of NYC* Il Laboratorio // $5-$10 // the gelato here is good. Really good. But we always come for the coffee, especially the iced coffee made with ice cubes made of frozen coffee. Plus, we just love the stark lab-like interior. Plus, it's across the street from another fave: Katz's Deli. more nyc // Previously documented trips to NYC can be found here. Total rookie move: making morning plans at Gotham West Market with friends/family after a night of drinking so that meeting at 10:30 actually meant our friends met at 10:30 am while we frantically rushed around only to arrive 30 minutes or more later. We were totally those people. To be fair (but not less douchey) we didn’t *plan* on staying out so late, but that’s no excuse. Luckily our friends waited for us and luckily there was blue bottle coffee which is now all the rage on this coast. We heard blue bottle coffee mentioned no fewer than 5 times while in NYC (and even more since then) and I wanted to say “we’ve been drinking that since forever out in SF.” But then I had already fulfilled my dbag quotient for the day so I kept my mouth shut. We ate ramen at Ivan Ramen Slurp Shop and hogged the tables for hours catching up and talking about general Life stuff -- dreams, travels, the immediate future. All good things to contemplate while hunched over a hot bowl of ramen. After saying goodbyes we hurried back to our hotel and took a long nap waking up just in time to catch the sun setting behind the skyline from the rooftop deck. Then we walked to Doughnut Plant and gorged on donuts and pistachio milk before heading over to Uniqlo to shop off all the sugar we consumed. By 10pm we were starting to get a bit hungry again so after more lounging at our hotel, we decided to walk to one of our favorite places to eat and eat even more. It just wouldn’t be a trip to NYC without a meal at Oh! Taisho. details // EAT//
Gotham West Market / $-$$ / Love the idea of this place -- lots of open space, seating, and plenty of casual gourmet selections. They also have blue bottle coffee! It totally reminded me of going to the Ferry building back *home.* We all had ramen from the slurp shop, and it was good even if I still don’t quite understand what ‘mazeman’ is. (We googled it, but what came out was not what google said it would be. Still, tasty.) Doughnut Plant / $ / In all our trips to NYC, how have we never been here before? We started with just two doughnuts but after eating those in like 5 seconds we went back for two more. I could have eaten an entire dozen all by myself, and that is not an exaggeration. Yum x 100. Oh! Taisho / $ / Japanese izakaya food. We cannot leave NYC without eating here at some point during our trip, partly because we have had a ton of good times here. I also cannot leave without ordering/eating the shishito, fries with roe mayo, and chicken skin yakitori. The best part is that it’s open late, although post-drinking it can get really crowded. SHOP// Uniqlo - Another place we always seem to visit while in NYC. I know they have online ordering, but when are they going to open a store in DC? MORE NYC// Previously documented trips to NYC can be found here. |
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