New York City
Day One: arrive in good time, Tim goes on a falafel-pedition, Roch and I hang out in her house. Food arrives with Tim, who eats while we play a game of Scrabble. We venture out to Dumpling Man and to Jenny's and bring back Bubble tea and gyoza for further snacking and Scrabble. Wore the new boots to try to break them in, and they hurt. A lot.
Day Two: Lazy morning, more Scrabble. Out around 11:30, went to Union Square greenmarket where Rochelle picked up bok choy, milk, cheese, smoked trout and other goodness. Snacked at Havana, a cuban place on 18th-ish. Had great chorizo, sweet potato fries, and guava juice smoothie thing. Left Tim to his own devices and headed to Tribeca to pick up chocolates (Tim's v-day giftie), and then to Rice to Riches for super-tasty rice pudding (I had half Coconut, half French toast). By the time we made it back to Rochelle's, we'd walked at least a good 2 1/2 miles or so. It felt good to be out in the turning-to-Spring weather, in a big city. Met back up with Tim, and then got ready to head out for our night of celebration.
The trip itself was centered around my birthday and valentine's day giftie, which was dinner at a fancy restaurant, and then La Boheme at the Metropolitan Opera. It was a fabulous evening. The expereince at Nougatine was definitely special occasion dining. The room itself is on the first floor of the Trump Tower, overlooking Central Park. We were seated near a window, so we looked out at the installation of orange flags that now adorn the park. The flatware was good and heavy, and the water glasses were nicer than most of our wine glasses. We shared a bottle of Chenas Beaujolais (I don't remember the year), which was relatively light for a red, and very silky. Yum. First course for Tim was a butternut squash soup with black trumpet mushrooms, and I had a Bibb lettuce salad with sesame seeds and lemon-licorice vinaigrette. Both were very good for what they were. Tim's soup tasted, basically, like pure cream with squash essence. It was amazing. The salad tasted perfectly fresh, and was just what I was hoping for -- the soup would've been way too rich and filled me up too much for the rest of the meal. For the main course, I had slow-cooked salmon with roasted sweet potato and a celery-apple slaw with truffle oil. I don't think I've ever had salmon that fresh, and the crunch of the slaw was a great complement. Tim decided that roasted veggies weren't a worthy choice at a fancy restaurant, and broke his 7-year stint of vegetarianism to have veal cheeks with some variety of mashed potatoes, and a topping of sprouts that tasted like cilantro (I'm not sure what they were). I don't think I've ever had veal cheeks before -- they tasted very strong and definitely meaty -- he seemed to like them, and somehow, his stomach has no problem with meat, even after having not digested any since 1998. So, fancy restaurant carnivore meals are now a possibility, but he still won't be having hamburger in his tacos, or even sampling my steak as he cooks it for me.
Dessert was probably my favorite part, as it often is. Tim had a chocolate-stout vacherin, which was great, but paled in comparison to my chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream. How can something that sounds so simple be so transcendant? The recipe is online, but I'm sure it isn't the same without the ambiance and the preceding dinner. Mmm....
the Opera? Well, the parts that I saw were fabulous. We were in the first row of the Dress Circle, one aisle off of the middle section in the first two seats, so our placement was about perfect. I can't stay awake at classical music events to save my soul, but I enjoyed the parts I saw, as well as the parts that I heard in my semi-sleep state. Tim thought it was amazing, and that more than makes up for the few songs that I may have missed. Arrived back at Roch's for one more game of Scrabble and general unwinding.
Day Three: up earlyish, out for apples from Farmer's Market, and crepes from a local cafe, which we brought back and shared with our sleepy hostess. We left around 11:30, and made good time back to Maryland. All in all, a successful journey, minus the skin that my boots rubbed off of my toes and ankle bones.
Day Two: Lazy morning, more Scrabble. Out around 11:30, went to Union Square greenmarket where Rochelle picked up bok choy, milk, cheese, smoked trout and other goodness. Snacked at Havana, a cuban place on 18th-ish. Had great chorizo, sweet potato fries, and guava juice smoothie thing. Left Tim to his own devices and headed to Tribeca to pick up chocolates (Tim's v-day giftie), and then to Rice to Riches for super-tasty rice pudding (I had half Coconut, half French toast). By the time we made it back to Rochelle's, we'd walked at least a good 2 1/2 miles or so. It felt good to be out in the turning-to-Spring weather, in a big city. Met back up with Tim, and then got ready to head out for our night of celebration.
The trip itself was centered around my birthday and valentine's day giftie, which was dinner at a fancy restaurant, and then La Boheme at the Metropolitan Opera. It was a fabulous evening. The expereince at Nougatine was definitely special occasion dining. The room itself is on the first floor of the Trump Tower, overlooking Central Park. We were seated near a window, so we looked out at the installation of orange flags that now adorn the park. The flatware was good and heavy, and the water glasses were nicer than most of our wine glasses. We shared a bottle of Chenas Beaujolais (I don't remember the year), which was relatively light for a red, and very silky. Yum. First course for Tim was a butternut squash soup with black trumpet mushrooms, and I had a Bibb lettuce salad with sesame seeds and lemon-licorice vinaigrette. Both were very good for what they were. Tim's soup tasted, basically, like pure cream with squash essence. It was amazing. The salad tasted perfectly fresh, and was just what I was hoping for -- the soup would've been way too rich and filled me up too much for the rest of the meal. For the main course, I had slow-cooked salmon with roasted sweet potato and a celery-apple slaw with truffle oil. I don't think I've ever had salmon that fresh, and the crunch of the slaw was a great complement. Tim decided that roasted veggies weren't a worthy choice at a fancy restaurant, and broke his 7-year stint of vegetarianism to have veal cheeks with some variety of mashed potatoes, and a topping of sprouts that tasted like cilantro (I'm not sure what they were). I don't think I've ever had veal cheeks before -- they tasted very strong and definitely meaty -- he seemed to like them, and somehow, his stomach has no problem with meat, even after having not digested any since 1998. So, fancy restaurant carnivore meals are now a possibility, but he still won't be having hamburger in his tacos, or even sampling my steak as he cooks it for me.
Dessert was probably my favorite part, as it often is. Tim had a chocolate-stout vacherin, which was great, but paled in comparison to my chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream. How can something that sounds so simple be so transcendant? The recipe is online, but I'm sure it isn't the same without the ambiance and the preceding dinner. Mmm....
the Opera? Well, the parts that I saw were fabulous. We were in the first row of the Dress Circle, one aisle off of the middle section in the first two seats, so our placement was about perfect. I can't stay awake at classical music events to save my soul, but I enjoyed the parts I saw, as well as the parts that I heard in my semi-sleep state. Tim thought it was amazing, and that more than makes up for the few songs that I may have missed. Arrived back at Roch's for one more game of Scrabble and general unwinding.
Day Three: up earlyish, out for apples from Farmer's Market, and crepes from a local cafe, which we brought back and shared with our sleepy hostess. We left around 11:30, and made good time back to Maryland. All in all, a successful journey, minus the skin that my boots rubbed off of my toes and ankle bones.