So, last you heard, I was having a pleasant Saturday of Peep recovery.
Recovery progressed smoothly until Rachel arrived.
Rachel is my cousin. She may be small, but she can move a 2500-pound metal cube with no sweat and she can make me stay out until 2 a.m. dancing in heels and spending my own money on alcohol. (If you know me, you know that heels, dancing, and alcohol are very hard sells where I am concerned.)
Rachel and her boyfriend Jaime arrived at my apartment on Saturday evening after driving down from MA for a quick one-night-stay at Hotel Sarah. We started the night at Cafe Orlin, one of favorite restaurants from the NYU days. Rachel put me in a headlock until I agreed to buy myself a drink. OK, maybe it wasn’t that hard for her to convince me once I saw this on the menu:
It was a vodka drink with fresh strawberry and fresh kiwi … and it was very strong but very tasty. I am really never ever tempted to buy a drink unless it has fresh fruit in it. This one fit the bill!
For dinner, I went with one of my Orlin stand-bys: the falafel and hummus plate.
I don’t know how authentic the Orlin falafel is (it’s definitely no Mamoun’s), but sometimes a glammed up version of street food can really hit the spot!
For dessert, we all split the carrot cake.
This was my first experience with the Orlin carrot cake, believe it or not. I usually end up having dinner there with die-hard chocolate lovers (ahem, Gina) who insist on the flourless chocolate lava cake. I was disappointed at first when I saw that this carrot cake did not have cream cheese frosting, but I needn’t have worried! The cake was served warm, and it had a thin and crunchy sprinkle of brown sugar on top. What really put the cake over the edge, however, were the candied pecans in fresh whipped cream on the side.
With a successful dinner behind us, we heeled up and headed to Central Bar, another NYU favorite and the only place I consider taking people when dancing is on the agenda because there is no cover to get in and there is usually an Irish man of some sort working the bar. Gina arrived a little bit later, I bought myself another drink (Rachel was staring me down!), and we all stayed dancing for hours until Gina’s husband was able to pick us up after his hockey games and chauffeur us back to the Slope (Thanks, Chris!).
Five hours after getting to bed, we were up again for an early brunch before Rachel and Jaime had to hit the road! So yes, recovery was derailed by more drinks and less sleep. But it was fun, and it was worth it 😀
Have you experienced any derailments lately?
Tales of Expansion: Baby Butternut Edition 
man, you’ve had a fun-packed weekend!
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Have you ever tried the falafel at Taim, at Waverly Place? It’s so good!
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That carrot cake looks Phenomenal. OhMyGOD. What a supa fun night!
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Carrot Cake w/o cream cheese frosting??? I’m skeptical… but will take your word for it. 😀
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Deconstructed carrot cake!! It’s kinda genius.
There will be some constructed choc/peanut butter cake in your future, courtesy of me by way of Kate. Special delivery coming your way!!
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You always have to prepare for derailments and welcome them with open arms. Life is about enjoying it and living it up every once in a while. Slipping up is necessary to live a full enjoyable life. I’ve been derailing all over the place since summer started, but I’ve been really having a great time. It’s all worth it!
That carrot cake looks delish!!!! I’m such a cream cheese freak though.
Have a great Monday!!!
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Yum, I love falafel! That sounds so good. Aw well, you can recover later. It sounds like you had a great time!
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Money-wise, Saturday was worth it after all our free loot on Friday! Well, I also managed a free dinner Saturday so I can’t complain! Thanks for sharing in the fun part of my weekend since Sunday was all work, no play!
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I haven’t had carrot cake in so long!
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What a fun dinner, and sounds like you had great company! That drink sounds fantastic.
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You definitely had a busy weekend. Nice to have friends/family to go out with.
I love that picture of your cousin!
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Yum, falafel! I love falafel, I haven’t had it lately but that picture makes me want it NOW! As for derailments, yes, I’ve had plenty. Since I’ve been on summer break and my adviser has been out of town I have found myself making excuses to go out more and be lazy. My goals for the summer were the opposite “don’t spend as much money, start working out more”….ugghhh. This week starts the summer challenge, I swear!
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Ah, glad I’m not the only one who had a weekend of drinks and lack of sleep! But catching up with old friends makes it soo worth it 🙂
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have i ever!! just when you have all your wedding planning things in some sort of pathetic order, and you’ve made it through the endless sea of family/friend commitments on weekends, your car gets smacked on the jersey turnpike and your whole little world gets thrown upside down! haha… just catching up on the blog.
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