Since Penno’s bachelorette festivities, a number of things have happened in my world, the most exciting of which was FINISHING THE LAST PAPER OF MY GRADUATE SCHOOL CAREER!!!!!! You may be aware that I have been in grad school forEVER. Having graduation within my grasp is epic, and having a homework stress breather has been brilliant … and just long enough to get me psyched for my social work licensing exam prep course next month (ugh).

Other things have been happening in the world of my food. Recently, Sam left his job at my agency to relocate to San Francisco.

Jose and Sam:

We sent him off with a smashing smattering of nibbles, obviously!

Jessica demonstrates grapes, crudites, cheese, crackers, chips, salsa, guacamole, asparagus spears (!!!!), and more:



The crowd mingled:





Carrot cake was present:



I ate a baby wedge because I obviously can’t resist carrot cake with cream cheese icing:



The crew (partially):



Then, on a non-food note, I joined some of the office for the May Day immigration reform and wall street reform on a crazy sweaty and hot Saturday morning:



Next up … Kate’s birthday! Kate arranged a little last minute group for all-you-can-eat taco night at Mad Dog and Beans in the financial district:



Lucky Kate had her 28th fall on one of the most gorgeous nights of the season (more than I can say for my cloudy dreary frigid May 11 birthday), so we got to eat outside:



Mad Dog and Beans is genius because they have special all-you-can-eat nights every week. Monday is for tacos, Tuesday is for burritos, and Wednesday is for fajitas. Brilliant, right? We were there on Monday, taco night! The deal was unlimited tacos (chicken, mahi mahi, and/or steak) with a frozen margarita for $20.

Sadly, I had already eaten more than my fill at work (surprise surprise), so I decided to take a non-unlimited route. That does not mean I did not taste Kate’s margarita:



Or have a bite of her mahi mahi tacos!!!!!!! (omgdelicious)



If I didn’t get unlimited tacos, what did I get? A side of sweet plantains, of course!!



I also ordered a refreshing mojito to wash my maduros down, but it somehow escaped the wrath of the camera lens?

Here’s the birthday girl:



And here’s the birthday girl’s cosmo cupcake from Crumbs:



I was so excited when Kate cut the cake to share:



Crumbs actually did a decent job making this cupcake cosmo-y. The inside had a strawberry-ish cream, and the frosting on top was lime. Delicious!



Shortly thereafter (on another day), I walked over the Brooklyn Bridge with this stud, one of my all-time favorite activities:



From there we walked to Sahadi’s, quite possibly my favorite store in Brooklyn, as they sell unsweetened chocolate disks and unsweetened and unsulfured dried papaya, dried strawberries, dried pineapple, and dried mango from bulk bins! I have no pictures because I ate it all too fast 😛

So, there it is, a whole bunch of random adventures, inside to outside, East Harlem to Brooklyn Heights. Yayyyyy for spring! Month of May, I am counting on you to be breezy and warm for your remaining 10 days!

P.S. Happy BIG birthday today to my big brother, Mark!!