Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Before Zucotti Park was a home for the disenfranchised.



 I had no idea what this was, but everyone else was taking pictures of it so I snapped one too before I even read it.
 The day after I took this photo, someone covered this sculpture in a giant granny square afghan. I am so mad I didn't get a photo of it.
Harem pants are one trend I will not get behind. Unless it's to take a picture to mock it.

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

NYC Honey Festival!

 Celebrating the first year of legal beekeeping in NYC! Does that surprise you? It sure surprised me.
 I love how this looks like an ant farm. A delicious, sting-y ant farm.
 These are really nice. My Mom raises bees and her boxes are not this fancy.
 This was the first year for this event, and as events in their infancy go, there wasn't much to see. We distracted ourselves with tacos.
 This sign made me laugh until I cried.
 Rockaway beach (yes, from the song) is waaaaay classier than Coney.
 It was cold, but there were a few brave souls.
 One lonely surfer.
A lot of glass on this beach, too. That's what you get when people sell beer from popsicle carts.

Monday, November 21, 2011

2nd best

Hmm, I'm craving a square doughnut, filled with seedless blackberry jam and then dunked in a peanut butter glaze. Where can I get that? www.doughtnutplant.com
 Everyone knows that Peter Pan is the best doughnut shop in NYC, but everyone else needs a little time in the limelight. Doughtnut Plant has 2 Manhattan locations, and I hit the one up on the Lower East Side!

Sunday, November 20, 2011

Lobster Joint

 http://lobsterjoint.com/
 There is no shortage of deliciousness in Greenpoint. One of my favorites is Lobster Joint, which is exactly what it sounds like. The salad above was greens, avocado, radishes, about 1/2 a lobster and a peppery lemon dressing. SOOOOO delicious!
And under this massive side salad is a lobster roll, it's just hiding!. This is our new favorite place to take out of town guests! Won't you come visit so that I have an excuse to go back???

Saturday, November 19, 2011

I'm so sorry, Joe

This is one of our BFFs, Joe, and this photo has been on my camera since May. Taken at Taste of Cincinnati.

Friday, November 18, 2011

Happy Birthday to me, Love, Monica

 This being the first time in a decade that I haven't spent my birthday in Cincinnati, my sister, Monica, sent me a Sprinkles gift card so that I could buy myself some cupcakes!

 Here we have salty caramel, vanilla, vegan red velvet and dark chocolate.
 And outside of Sprinkles on the way home, I found out that Jesus is coming to town for my birthday. He can have a cupcake, too.
 Do not eat those decorations on top. They taste like chalk.

 I always get Sprinkles every Friday after my Weight Watchers meetings. I'm attempting to try every flavor. The salty caramel (seasonal 2x per year) and chai latte are my faves so far.
This Friday, Orange Cranberry flavor comes out. I'm really excited about that one because I always loved the orange cranberry bagels from bagel stores in Cincinnati. I'll have to wait until December for the eggnog ones and peppermint ones.
 I shared them.
Katie, who flew in for the Quidditch World Cup, got the vegan red velvet, which I bought for her knowing that she is a vegan. What I did not know was that it was also her birthday. How awesome!

Thursday, November 17, 2011

Burger Challenge # 3

 Tons of fun neon outside. Terry's Turf Club in the East End.
 Tons of fun neon inside!
 At this time, Ryan was busy in NYC and I was still livin' lonely in Porkopolis, so Karlen, my burger loving friend, came to the rescue. Ryan and I have been to Terry's before, so he wouldn't be missing out.
 Bottled beers are stored in bottle shaped refrigerators called Bevadors.
 I kinda want to trade in our little beer fridge from Best Buy for one of these.
 No shortage of good beer.
 Don't fill up on peanuts.
 Ahh! Here we go. This is a burger for each of us and a shared order of fries. Yes, 1 order is enough for 2. Don't make this rookie mistake.
 Karlen's. I can't remember what Karlen's burger was exactly, but you can see the organized ticket below for mine.
 My order ticket. She spelled my name wrong, but since I ordered a sauce made with white Zinfandel called a rose sauce, I thought it was funny to see that combination written out. Rose was my middle name before I got married.
My monstrosity. Posting this makes me really miss our burger adventures. We'll have to go through all of George Motz's New York City ones and start a new feature!

This is the seventeenth trip of our burger challenge; to eat at all 40 places on Cincinnati Magazine's list of the best burgers in town and Terry's was number 3 on the list, hence the title of this post.

Here is what we've had so far:
# 7 Oakley Pub and Grill
#9 Keystone Bar and Grill
#14 Lavomatic
#17 Arthur's
#19 Cafe de Wheels
#22 Habit's
#24 Zola
#25 Chalk Food + Wine
#26 Five Guys
#27 Maribelle's Tavern
#28 Doris and Sonny's Homelike Restaurant
#30 Quarter Bistro
#31 Quatman Cafe
#35 Gordo's Cafe
#36 By Golly's
#37 Fatburger

To see the photos from our hamburger Ohio trip, where we checked out the 6 best burgers in the state, according to George Motz, click here.

To see the photos of our Hamburger Honeymoon, click here

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Weight Watchers Pumpkin Oat Bread 4 Points Plus

 I was really amazed that these only came out to 4 points plus with all the rich ingredients it included.
 in the bowl.
 The only difference I made was to put the batter in muffin tins instead of a baking pan. This way, Ryan will be able to take some to work tomorrow to share with his co-workers.
 I only cooked them for 20 minutes instead od the 40 in the recipe. Turned halfway through baking.
A great snack. Very generously sized! This recipe was from the weekly, and I can't find it on weightwatchers.com, so I apologize that I don't link to it. If you got it in your weekly, or if you can find it on the website, let me know if you tried it!

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Quidditch World Cup 2011 94 teams! Randall's Island, NYC

Well, I bet that I did something you didn't do last weekend. A gal I worked with at the Cincinnati Library flew up for it and asked if she could crash with us and if we'd go with her. Of course.


 The line to get in. Luckily, this was the line for peeps who already had tickets, so it moved really fast.
 A flying Ford Anglia.
 It totally flew, we just didn't want to take a picture of it because...you know.
 Life's a pitch. Nine of them.
 Muggles, unfortunately, have to play Quidditch on the ground. Here, we have Yale v. Middlebury.

 The snitch is an actual person, with a tennis ball in a sock attached to their shorts.
 Grabbing the ball off the snitch means that Yale has won.

 huddle
 There were Wizard Wrock bands entertaining the crowd throughout the day.
 This was Swish and Flick, an electronic rap group that also had team Malfoy cheerleaders. They sang a really fun song to the tune of On a Boat.


 Some concerned folks put together a list of things you should have at the ready, in case there is another natural disaster in NYC, which really is a big concern.


 About 80% of the teams were representing colleges. Another 10% were community teams and the last 10% were high school teams.
 The butterbeer they were selling was disappointly not alcoholic, or even carbonated, but warm and good for holding in your hand.
 Killing time between games, there was a massive around of USA v. Canada Wizard rules Dodge Ball.
 Everyone has to close their eyes while the snitch is released so that they don't see where it runs off to.
 Harry and the Potters.
I was really amazed at how athletic they all were. This was the 5th year of the event, and it was incredibly well organized.
 Keep calm and call the doctor.
 I got 99 problems but a snitch aint one.
 The crowd at Icahn stadium to see the semifinals and the finals.

 Ussain Bolt set the world record here.
 All the balls lined up at the start, including the snitch.
 It's really brutal.
 The final match is Florida and Middlebury.
 Here are some videos so you can see it played!