Helloooooooooo, and happy glorious long Memorial Day weekend!!

I have had quite the eventful week … of not working. I had to have a magnificently unpleasant medical procedure on Tuesday, so, in preparation for that, my Monday looked like this:

Following the magnificently unpleasant medical procedure (from which everything checked out quite healthily), I ate many many salads to reintroduce my body to solid food. I don’t have any pictures because they were on my old computer, and I wasn’t excited enough about them to transfer them to my new computer.

That’s right, my new computer!!

I have been working with the same ibook G4 since 2004 when my four “parents” got it for me as a college graduation present. It has served me loyally, but six years is a long time in laptop world. The poor thing lost the ability to hold a charge (or even be charged), not to mention that nearly everything stopped functioning because the operating system was too old to handle application upgrades. The G4 conveniently saw me right through to the end of grad school, when the four “parents” came through once again with a brand new MacBook as a graduation present 😀

Speaking of which, I officially graduated from Bank Street with my Master of Education degree on Thursday! I had a dazzling cheering section with mom and John:

And Erik:

Next Thursday is the Social Work graduation, and then I will be free!!! Except for a summer full of studying for the social work licensing exam … FUUUUUN.

In the meantime, I got inspired by Gena’s post about tomato tahini dressing. I had conveniently just made my own tahini a few days earlier by whirring home-toasted sesame seeds, olive oil, and coarse sea salt in my Nut & Spice grinder. After reading Gena’s post, I trotted over to Union Market and picked up a few sun-dried tomatoes in olive oil:

I threw the tahini and the tomatoes back in the grinder with a bit of white wine vinegar and came out with this beautiful (to me) paste:

I’ve been crumbling it on my arugula salads and spending a big chunk of time in salad heaven ever since 😀

In my second bout with food fun at home, Erik had exhausted his lunch supply mid-week, and I realized we had peanut butter and jelly … but no bread! Never fear! I dusted the ice off the rest of my pack of Pepperidge Farm Puff Pastry (the first half of the back went to calzones) and uncovered this guava jam that arrived months and months ago (or perhaps even a year ago) for review:

I rolled the dough out into a bunch of funkily-shaped squares and slathered on the goods:

Sealed with a fork:

Baked for 20 minutes at 375 until crispy and oozy:

I sampled a baby one:

OoooooooooooooMmmmmmmmmmmmGggggggggggg delicious!

Melty peanut butter, be still my heart.

So, now I am going to go back to planning my staycation itinerary for the rest of the weekend. I think it will be brilliant. If I am so inspired, I might even take pictures!

Enjoy the sun!

A little bit too early on Saturday morning, we piled into our little rental and made our way down to Athens for the graduation at UGA.

We just happened to bump into Wife and Ted and the whole Wife and Ted crew on our walk from the parking lot to the big auditorium. After six years in school (and here I am complaining about three all the time!) working toward Ph.D.s in Social Psychology, the two seemed appropriately enthusiastic to be graduating!



Once seated inside, we sat through many hours of official proceedings. I was very excited to spot my Wife (and her Ted) in the processional:



Post-ceremony, we headed back to Wife’s house. The girls chatted; the boys cheered their beers:



Clearly, no one is trying to combat any gender stereotypes here!

I happened to open the fridge, and my heart did 5 thousand jumping jacks at the sight inside:



Chocolate-covered strawberries, hand-picked and dipped only the day before! Yummmmmmmmm. It took a lot of willpower to wait for their official unveiling to start sampling.

We “kids” spent some time catching up until I spotted this scene down in the parking lot:



It was Wife’s family arriving with lunch!

Hummus and bread:



Sandwich selection:



I made a colorful plate of salad, loads of hummus with some bread, and an open-faced turkey sandwich:



The turkey sandwich had a layer of mango chutney. Very exciting, especially since I assumed it was mustard on initial inspection!



When we were stuffed from lunch, desserts arrived!



I obviously had a number of chocolate-covered strawberries. Alongside them, however, I had at least half of every single kind of authentic Italian cookie that Wife’s mom brought all the way down to GA from Providence!



That one on the bottom right with pistachios and dried berries — amazing!!!

The adults soon left to prepare for the night, leaving us kids to splash around in the pool for a couple hours until we worked up an appetite for dinner. Wife and Ted’s parents joined forces to put on a lovely graduation party/dinner at La Dolce Vita in downtown Athens:



I actually felt like I was in Italy (well, I have never been to Italy, but I imagine it would feel similar to this restaurant) with all of these warm colors, strategically run-down patches of exposed brick, and bottle upon bottle of wine:



I got going with the delicious red while contemplating the constantly refilling appetizer platters with arugula-tomato bruschetta and antipasti:



I kept grabbing all the arugula I could find — it was soooooooo tasty and peppery:



The crowd mingled:



While the other diners tried to pretend they were not inadvertently crashing a graduation party:



Chris and Wife’s brother Matthew wondered when the main course was going to arrive:



We killed some time by posing with our wine:



In all honesty, though, we did not really need to kill any time because we were having such a blast! Finally, Wife and Ted calmed the masses so they could give their speech:



Holding court:



Post-speech, the family style food started rolling in! We began with a super-dressed (though quite delicious) Caesar salad:





Paired with mixed greens:



And then the main pasta courses arrived!

We had rigatoni (?) in meat sauce:



With spinach ravioli in a brown butter and sage sauce (omggggggggggg, I wanted to take a bath in this sauce!):





Plus a caprese-esque pasta dish:



And gnocchi in that same brown-butter sage sauce:



We did not like anything:



Just when we thought nothing else could fit, we were offered a choice of two graduation cakes that Wife and Ted had picked out! I chose the lemon custard:



Erik picked the tiramisu:



We shared bites, but I was overall quite pleased with my lemon 😀

I cleansed my palate with a lovely cappuccino:



Meanwhile, night had fallen in Italy:



We made a quick pit stop outside with the Georgia Bulldog:



(I promise I am pregnant with food and not with a baby in that picture!)

And then headed across the street to dance it all off in the club until the wee hours:



Overall, it was a perfect whirlwind of a trip with scrumptious food and amazing friends and almost too much fun! Wife and Ted should be making one more appearance when they come out to NYC in June for one last hurrah before they move to Bilbao, Spain for a two-year post-doc, AHHHHHHHH!! So jealous. Anyway, stay posted for more adventures to come 🙂

When you graduated from college, did you ever imagine that you’d be going through a whole new round of graduations years later? I was sure college was the end of the road for me and my education!

A couple weeks ago, Gina, Chris, Erik, and I took a group field trip down to Atlanta for Wife and Ted’s graduation. Since we arrived Friday morning and graduation festivities did not start until Saturday, we spent the rest of our first day covering a whirlwind of Atlantan highlights. We began in the illustrious airport rental car lot with Chris behind the wheel:



We pulled out into the sunshine and soon saw the city waiting to greet us:



We beelined directly for the Atlanta Botanical Gardens and, more directly, to the cafe there because we were ravenous:



While waiting for our lunch to arrive, Gina demonstrated appropriate sun protection strategy:



And then, the food came! I ordered this beautiful salad with artichokes, goat cheese, and walnuts:



Delicious!

Sufficiently fueled, we headed out into the children’s garden, the best part of any botanical garden …





… except for maybe the Orchid House!



After the gardens, we drove over to Virginia Highland, a little neighborhood with a bunch of shops and restaurants. Look at what we found!!



Cacao was not even a planned stop on our itinerary. What fate!



Inside, we found a beautiful selection of handcrafted dark dark dark chocolate truffles:



We made our selections and went to have a sit in the little garden area outside with our treats:

Erik and I shared the Lotus Sutra (ginger with candied ginger in belly) and the caramel sea salt truffle:

Gina and Chris shared the Tartufo Classico (dark chocolate ganache), the Harmonize (clover honey, organic crunchy peanut butter, dark chocolate ganache), Coconut Love (Brazilian Catauba Coconut), the Italian Cowboy (Illy Espresso & Woodford Reserve Bourbon):

Luck was clearly not in short supply, as we came across a mulberry tree moments later:



$3.50 artisan truffles or free just-picked mulberry? It’s hard to choose a winner!



After wandering around a bit, we stopped into Neighbor’s for a snack and some drinks.



Erik and I shared the chicken nachos, mmmmmmm:



They were tasty, but not the best I’ve ever had. Erik is a messy eater:



After Neighbor’s, we could not help but make a visit to Paolo’s for gelato!



Mounds of creamy brilliance:

I ordered a combo of mint chip and straciatella:

Our final city stop was The Sun Dial since I have a preoccupation with finding the best and highest views in every city:

We timed our visit so that we could get the tail end of the daytime view:

I had planned for us just to go for the observation deck, but we found ourselves in the revolving bar!



Gina ordered a warm she-crab dip, and we all shared and shared and shared:



And then the sun …



… began to go to bed:



We welcomed the night with a crispy cheesy pizza that we all split:



And then we hit the road toward our hotel to rest up for all the graduation festivities awaiting us the next day!



Hasta manana …

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!!

So, post-nap on the Boston roof, Ting and I set about some record-time primping …



… and then traipsed over to the hotel where the rest of the girls were staying and where the festivities were already under way!



I thought I was still stuffed from brunch until I smelled this!



I have never been a fan of Pizza Hut pizza, as experiences with it in the past have left me gagging. However, the Hut seems to have undergone some serious renovations — this was some of the best pizza ever! The crust was garlicky, the cheese was crispy, the sauce was tangy. Has anyone else noticed this?



To accompany this pizza, we sipped champagne like the classy ladies we are:



(Bride)

Ting, as the sole remaining Boston resident, had put together a schedule of activities for the evening. We reviewed our agenda with the other girls:



Scavenger hunt for the bachelorette:



Once the schedule met with approval, we slid into our matching rhinestone bridesmaid tanks (yes, we were those girls) …



… and moved outside for transportation assistance:



The first man we met was the taxi dispatcher in front of the hotel, and Penno immediately consulted her scavenger hunt agenda to see how he could help (aside from hooking us up with a taxi van):



He was too shy to bite a candy from her necklace …



… but our cab driver, Muhammad, was not!



He was a wonderful sport, and we could not thank him enough for getting the ball rolling!



Our first stop was Jaque’s Cabaret, apparently the #1 destination for Bachelorette Parties in Boston:



We took our seats at the bar and waited for the magic to begin:

One of the first items on the list required the bachelorette to obtain the label from a man’s underwear. Lo and behold, a real, live gentleman walked through the drag queen bar and offered up his label! Scissors were procured from the bartender …

… and label retrieval ensued!



This is the, Yay for growing up in North Attleboro! picture:



The ladies performing on stage for the evening were incredible and had us all on our feet:



Penno worked her dollar bills for some lap dance magic:

Once the show ended, we made our way into the street and stopped in a hotel piano bar for a moment to collect our thoughts. This dude made us all cherry pineapple shots and then charged us like a million dollars for them after the fact:

We left that bar and had the dispatcher of that hotel call us another taxi van … which happened to be driven by our favorite driver Muhammad. The girls vogued while we screeched through the city toward our next destination …



The Greatest Bar!

Helloooooooo, Boston! Who knew you were so full of men???!!!

The spot was rife with facilitators for Penno’s scavenger hunt!

More men, men, and men!



The biggest scavenger hunt accomplishment of the night, in my opinion, was convincing this incredibly sober guy that it was a brilliant idea for him to remove his boxers and gift them to the bride-to-be!



And how could we forget the famous piggy-back ride?



All in all, it was a mindblowingly successful night that left Ting and me in a late night pizzeria with styrofoam cups of water …



… and delicious pizza that may have been destined to not stay in our stomachs entirely forever:

The next morning, recovery was in order, so Ting and I went out for brunch to an adorable book store on Newbury Street. Coffee and water:

Juevos rancheros my way: hard-poached eggs, mashed avocado, refried beans, and salsa over tortillas with maduros (fried sweet plantains) on the side:



Perhaps the most delicious meal of my life!

After brunch, we went to a cafe with wi-fi so we could make progress on our various homeworks. The display case had a lemon ginger scone — with real chunks of lemon and ginger — so I got one to split with Ting:



Post-scone, I engaged in some T-action and got myself to the bus station to catch my Bolt back to NYC and some semblance of a healthy lifestyle.

Penno, I’m so happy to be one of your bridesmaids, and I can’t wait until the big day!