Divinity at Tribeca Grill

Mmm, I just came back from a delicious dinner at the Tribeca Grill. The restaurant is a former warehouse, and it really shows: it's very open, with exposed brick wall and huge ceilings. I told my parents that should it suddenly become a loft built for one with my name on it, I wouldn't complain. Righto!

What's dinner out without bread?


We ordered a delicious bottle of Sandy Cove, a Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand.


I started with Roasted Pumpkin Soup with Cinnamon Crème Fraiche. This. Was. Heaven. I'm pretty sure that without the crème fraiche, it would have been completely vegan. (The drizzle on top is molasses.)


My dad and I split two entrées, since I couldn't decide which one I wanted and Daddy-O is always very accommodating. This is the pan roasted brook trout with chestnut purée, haricots vert & celery root in brown butter. I ate about 1/3 of a filet... the soup really filled me up. The green beans were my favorite part of this dish.


This was the star of the evening: Spinach and sheep's milk ricotta ravioli with rainbow chard & picholine olives. By the first bite I was completely full, but I could not let the poor ravioli sit all by their lonesome. You know how it goes.


Bring on the desserts! Here we have chocolate truffle cheesecake with morello cherries:


Pumpkin, oatmeal & pecan torte with vanilla ice cream:


And a strawberry semifreddo with a meringue "baton":


We split all the treats in three, but my parents were having trouble finishing their cheesecake. Lilveggiepatch to the rescue! You'd think the pumpkin would have been my favorite, but I didn't even finish my portion in favor of extra cheesecake!

I'm pleasantly and happily- (almost) always happily- full. It's going to be an easy movie night tonight.... We have The Science of Sleep (which I've already seen 1.5 times before) and American Teen. Should be fun! Have a lovely evening.

Good afternoon, bloggies! I'm so sorry I couldn't get it together to blog yesterday... I got off work at midnight and my brain was just not in a technological mindset by the time I got home.

So, back to two nights ago: the later I stay up, the more likely it is that I will need more food. Simple math, eh? I ended up finishing my Josie's salad the same night!


I tossed it with some Annie's Lite Gingerly Vinaigrette, and it really complemented the salad nicely.


I woke up pretty late yesterday, so all I did was get dressed, hop a subway into the City, and meet my mom for lunch at Seven's Turkish Grill. We ordered exactly the same thing as last time, with the exception that I had a couple cups of Turkish tea.


This lentil soup with lemon is so delicious. I'm going to try to track down the recipe. Extra lemon squirts are key!


The "bomb-diggity" bread... still bomb.


These spreads were just as good as we remembered, with the exception that they were really cold, like they'd been stuck in the fridge overnight and hadn't had a proper chance to thaw out. That didn't stop us, though... we munched along merrily.


Mama D and I spent a lovely day shopping around, and ended with a nice manicure. I got my nails painted with Damsel In A Dress... cute, huh?

I had a banana and an Apricot Clif Bar right before I went to work, around 4:45.

Sadly, those snacks didn't hold me over through my 7.5 hour shift, and I started looking at the clock and reading the menu at 8:30. I had some restaurant nibbles: a couple nachos, a clementine, a lot of club soda with lime...

When I finally got to eat (in the car, at 12:15) I pretty much inhaled my dinner. Because it was my second to last night, I wanted to have the first meal I had there (I'm sentimental like that): steamed shrimp dumplings (sorry about the photo, it was taken in transit):


... and goat cheese salad. This really comes with a full bed of lettuce with cabbage and tomato, and two other goat cheese crostinis, but I was so hungry that I was almost finished before I remembered to take a photo.


My dad dropped me off at the diner (what a nice daddy) where I had a little wine with Ari. I came home and had a mint Skinny Dipper (finally, Sarah!). Yes, it's a little too green, but it is mighty tasty.


Last night I made overnight oats to have for breakfast this morning. It has been a while, OO, and I'm glad to have you back!


1/2 cup steel-cut oats
1/2 cup water
1 small container 0% Fage
1 banana
cinnamon
1 T maple syrup

I'm off now to organize my day. Enjoy the rest of your weekends!

Meet & Greet

Good evening, all! I just had a very exciting night. It was a first for me: a blogger meet-up! Caroline, Erica, Nicole and I met (how many ways can I conjugate that verb?) at Josie's for dinner. This was the first time I've broken the "blog-wall," so to speak; I was a little nervous, I have to admit! The girls were all really nice, and it was so fun to dish (pun intended!) with other people who also snap photos about 435 times a day.

So... what do you get when you put four food bloggers at a table together? Strobe-like, seizure-inducing camera flashes, foodie news and gossip, indoor photography woes... I could go on and on, but if you're reading this you probably know what I'm talking about, anyway!


The bread basket came around and we all chose seven-grain bread... sameness was sort of the theme of the night! Josie's makes delicious sweet potato hummus. It's delicious, and seems pretty simple to make (although I've already forgotten the third ingredient besides sweet potato and tahini).


The basket came back... Caroline and I split pieces of cornbread and focaccia.


We all ordered exactly the same thing for dinner: Seared Asian Marinated Organic Tofu Salad with baby arugula roasted vegetables, chickpeas and avocado.


Now, this should have been simple enough, but we all decided we did not want the balsamic vinaigrette the salad came with but rather not one but TWO special dressings... and on the side, please. Ha. Totally worth it, though, because the dressings were amazing: carrot miso and red wine wasabi vinaigrette.


The salad itself was so, so good, and it was nice to be able to dip into two different dressings. It was actually pretty big, so I bagged what I didn't finish and took it home.


We did not, of course, skimp on dessert. They were all vegan and very, very tasty.


Warm pumpkin pie with "soy drizzle" :


Ginger berry pie with oat-y crust and soy vanilla ice cream:


Chocolate pecan pie with graham cracker crust and soy ice cream. This was everyone's favorite!


But, as you can see, we weren't really in the mood for dessert.


That's it for me... I'm brushed and in bed like a good little girl. Hope you've had fabulous Fridays!

Gives you hell...

Sorry, but that song has been in my head all day. Moving on...

Another late morning! I don't know what's up with our sleep schedules, but it is funking me up. I had a lunch date in the early afternoon, so I just grabbed a banana and a coffee on my way out. This was not my finest coffee-making day... it tasted so watery!


I met Kalle for lunch and we went to our usual, Tomo, and had our oh-so-yum bento boxes. I had a bowl of miso soup (which also tasted watery! I poured in some soy sauce...) and a cup of hot tea.


Clockwise from leeft to right: tempura, California roll, brown rice, seaweed/ soybeans, tofu teriyaki.


I had one of my figgy bars on the street:


Kalle and I went back to my house and played with nail polish and watched silly TV, just like the goold ole days.


I rushed down to the gym for a quickie.

20:00 minutes on the stairs
arm machines
ab series

42:32 minutes total
maximum heart rate: 180
average heart rate: 142

I rushed over to dinner at Eatery, where I met my parents and Stewart.


The waiter brought out some kind of sweet and crunchy rice crisps. I forgot my wallet at home tonight, which meant no ID so no vino for me!


We split the shrimp spring rolls with grilled banana, Japanese eggplant and black sesame dipping sauce.


For my entrée, I ordered a salad with black tea crusted salmon, smoked tofu, grilled pineapple, organic mixed greens and avocado-jalepeño vinaigrette on the side.


I had a triangle of whole wheat pita. Bad contrast!


We were going to a play tonight, so I got a cup of coffee as a preventative method... it failed and I snoozed through the entire first act (Pal Joey is a musical, I might add, so sleeping should have been difficult...).


We shared a bar of this dark chocolate four ways.


I snuck two clementines on the way out of the theater.


I have a very exciting day day planned for tomorrow, so I want to get enough shut-eye so I can fully enjoy it to the max. Bonne nuit!

Edited to add: Head on over to Oh She Glows for a chance to win some delicious Honest Foods products!

Shall we dine?

Good evening! This is going to be quite a busy post, and I'm very tired, so if my words start to slur or ZZZZs start appearing, consider yourselves warned.

Although I got up bright and early (which is getting more and more easy to do), I had lunch plans at noon and didn't have time to go to the gym. It's funny, but I can really feel a change in my body when I don't go (and no, I don't just mean "guilt"). It gives me so much energy and, more importantly, it gets me out of the house and starting my day.

I enjoyed a leisurely breakfast all by my lonesome (Ari's record is being presented to their label tomorrow and he is very busy... wish him luck! Not that he needs it...). It's been awhile since I've had cold cereal, so I had a great big bowl of All Bran Flakes and Smart Start with skim milk. I went out early to get breakfast for the boys and picked a coffee up for myself on the way.


I finally got on the Yoga Download train and did Hip Opening #1. It was great! I expected not to be able to follow it so clearly and have to look at the diagrams all the time (and thus interrupt my "flow"), but the audio was really clear and I actually kept my eyes closed for most of it. I'm glad I figured out that I can do this from home!

I went to the Museum Of Modern Art (MOMA) today to see The Hustler with my friend Howard. Now, I've been a Paul Newman fan (sniff sniff) for quite some time, but to be perfectly honest, I don't know if I've ever seen him look so handsome. The movie is great, if you haven't seen it- I think it's the prequel to The Color of Money.

Before the movie, we went to Maison for lunch. It's a Belgian bistro that's owned by the French Roast/ L'Express franchise, and like the other two is opened 24 hours. (Poor servers!) I went there the last time I went to MOMA and ordered the moules frites, so I wanted to try something different this time. The menu has a lot of things that are suitable for vegetarians (although vegans may not be so fortunate, sorry guys). I ordered the asparagus/swiss/egg crêpe... it reminded me of the crêpe stands in Paris (and one unfortunate night when I thought a 1-lb mushroom/cheese/egg crêpe was a good idea at 3 AM) and I ate every last bite.


After the movie, I found my beautiful Kalle and we went to Levain Bakery for their delicious chocolate chip walnut cookies. Next time you're in New York, go here. Seriously. These are the most amazing cookies (besides my aunt Mary's, of course) that I've ever had... they're half a pound each! They're worth every bite. The women who founded the bakery are bikers, so they understand the need for a little treat every now and then!

I had a couple bites of Kalle's, but was saving up for my new bar and a trip to Starbucks (I fell asleep again during the first hour of the movie, surprise surprise).


At Starbucks, I tried the Vanilla Rooibos tea latte (and forgot to take a picture! I can't believe it). A tall skim is 150 calories, and it was just the right amount for me. I also tried my first Gnu bar, in the Orange Cranberry Flavor.


Nutrition Facts:
Calories: 130
Fat Cal: 30
Total Fat: 3g
Carbohydrates: 32g
Protein: 3g
Fiber: 12g

Ingredients: Gnu High Fiber Blend (whole rolled oats, organic whole wheat flour, wheat bra, organic kamut, psyllium, flax, millet), chicory root, inulin, fruit juices, rice dextrins, raisins, apples, canola oil, plums, cranberries, rice, natural flavors, wheat protein isolate, baking powder.


Kalle and I had entirely different takes on this bar. As someone who doesn't usually consume copious amounts of nutrition bars- a normal person- (she usually sticks to Clif and Luna), I feel her voice has precedence:
"Too tangy and orangy. Yucky. Too berry and seedy. Too grainy. Too tart."
She didn't even want to finish the piece I gave her... not looking good for you, Gnu. When I tried it, I had an entirely different experience. As soon as I opened the package, a waft of orange fragrance breezed out. I liked the texture of it, and although it was very citrus-y, I appreciated the chunks of fruity-goodness. I would definitely buy these again, although I still have four more of the same flavor (I got a box at Whole Foods of 5/$7... hard to beat) so I'd like to try the other kinds.

On to dinner! I was veeeery spoiled, food-wise, today. My mom's colleagues at work gave her a gift certificate to the Daniel consortium, and we chose to go to Daniel Boulud's newest restaurant in Lincoln Center, Bar Boulud. I've been to his other Manhattan restaurants (Daniel, Café Boulud), and they all have very different feels. Bar Boulud was very low-key, unpretentious, and packed.

Empty glasses...


... magically filled by the wino fairy! My mom and I each got a tasting flight; I got white and she red.

In my flight:

Domaine Mardon, Quincy "Cuvée très vignes" 2007. Loire valley, Sauvignon Blanc.

Olivier LeFlaive, Rully premier cru "Rabource" 2005. Bourgougne, Chardonnay.

Michel & Stephane Ogier, VDP "Viognier de rosine," 2006. Rhone valley, Viognier.


The Sauvignon Blanc and Viognier were my favorites. I thought the Viognier tasted like rose; the sommelier told us the taste was jasmine. I'm going to try to find a bottle of this somewhere.

The amuse bouche was a flaky popover-like bread filled with a light cheese. Very good, and yummy with the wine! I wish I'd known it was coming or I wouldn't have raided the bread basket beforehand...


My mom and I split oysters. Yumyumyum.


You can bet I ate that last one!


Don't they look nice? Good food puts everyone in such a good mood.


If you tilt your head (I swear, when I have a free day I'm going to look at all my blogging options...) you can see my striped bass with chestnuts, butternut squash and sautéed greens. I ate everything except for one little scrap of fish that I let my poor daddy have.


Dessert was so scrumptious that I'm going to taunt you with multiple shots of each (we split them both three ways).

Noisette mousse with toasted hazelnuts, milk chocolate, vanilla and chocolate ice cream:



The dessert special: Meyer lemon tart with finely shaved pistachio croutons, meringue and vanilla ice cream.



I am so happily full right now (hence the drowsiness). I'm just going to fold the laundry and fall into bed... have a lovely evening!