Our Weekends....Lately

Pin It now! Driving under gorgeous skies to NJ to celebrate Pete's 40th birthday. His sister added a few signs on his lawn to make sure everyone knew it was his birthday.

The dumpling eating contest was in our hood this year.  The men's winner ate 74 and the women's 46.  Gross!

Bellydancing with neighbors.  Neighbors opening a new Italian cafe with coffee and delicious pastries.  It was a soft opening this weekend and the official opening day is coming really soon.

Spending a beautiful afternoon brunching and shopping with my sister.

Our Weekends....Lately

Pin It now! Driving under gorgeous skies to NJ to celebrate Pete's 40th birthday. His sister added a few signs on his lawn to make sure everyone knew it was his birthday.

The dumpling eating contest was in our hood this year.  The men's winner ate 74 and the women's 46.  Gross!

Bellydancing with neighbors.  Neighbors opening a new Italian cafe with coffee and delicious pastries.  It was a soft opening this weekend and the official opening day is coming really soon.

Spending a beautiful afternoon brunching and shopping with my sister.

Last Weekend of August

Pin It now! As we wait for Isaac to become a full blown hurricane in a day or two, all everyone talked about this weekend was about Hurricane Irene and how fast the last year passed by.  I still can't believe it's a full year ago that we filled our bathtubs, refused to evacuate Zone A, and watched how the storm hit our area during a homemade brunch at our friend's apartment the next morning.  Ok, fast forward to a year later... our last weekend of August.  One of Michael's friends came to visit.  His girlfriend, who is the perfect Southern gal, didn't make it with him this weekend, but he's trying to convince her to move up to NYC.  She should have been up this weekend and would have had a much better experience than her last time in NYC during New Year's.  No drunk people puking in the streets, just lots of good food, drinking, friendly neighbors, a baseball game and great bbq. 



Our first stop was happy hour at Mole and then the Wythe Hotel rooftop where we listened to a (free!) Cypress Hill and Sublime concert (and watched all the other suckers who paid $75 to get into the concert venue).  The view and music didn't disappoint.  You could see all of Brooklyn and the Manhattan skyline (with a gorgeous sunset) and since the hotel roof looks over the Williamsburg Waterfront venue, we heard the concert perfectly.  The guys couldn't get the lyrics "I Ain't Goin Out Like That" out of their heads and sang it all night long.  Does anyone believe that song was from 1995?!  Feeling a bit old...

On Saturday, we headed to our annual La Mela dinner to celebrate all of our friends' August birthdays.  Seven courses of Italian food and unlimited drinks and somehow we ended our dinner conversation talking about 50 Shades of Grey (no I haven't read it!).  We planned on going for karaoke after dinner but our food coma sent us straight home.

And two random notes...Michael found this bug repellent last week and it's been a lifesaveer.  The two of us are notorious for getting bit wherever we go and for some reason the mosquito bites this year have left scars on my leg which look like bruises (ok, fine I can't resist scratching, I even wake myself up at night scratching those darn bites).  The spray is odor free and deet free, both of which I love.  It's heaven.

Second random...Do you have friends that you don't see for awhile and when you finally get together, it's still comfortable  and discussion flows freely, most about nothing and everything?  I hope you do, those are the best ones.

The Weekend

Pin It now! Last weekend of June...Mr. M and I tried the new restaurant Two Door Tavern on Friday and took advantage of their great happy hour.  $5 drinks, a HUGE bowl of mussels that fed four people and Maine Lobster Mac & Cheese as their Friday night dinner special.  I also had, for the second time last week, fried pickles.  I've never had so many fried pickles since I moved to Brooklyn - it's like water here.  Plus, I have to repeat that the Friday night dinner special was fabulous.  There were huge chunks of lobster in the mac & cheese - I'm definitely headed back next Friday for another helping.

On Saturday, we celebrated my brother's birthday with dinner at Social Eatz, birthday cupcakes from Crumbs, and drinking and dancing at Volstead.  Dinner at Social Eatz was ridiculous - bulgogi burgers, bibimbop burgers, finger-licking good ribs (seriously, one of the most delicious), and lots and lots of fries.  We had a few issues with the manager at Volstead who wasn't as accommodating as he should have been, but after a few drinks, we were happy and partied the rest of the night.  It was nice to see my brother having fun - he deserves it!  Happy Birthday bro!

A Weekend for My Dad

Pin It now! Since my Dad's birthday is a day before my brother's, we've always celebrated both birthdays together.  This year, my Dad had his very own birthday celebration and we threw a little Father's Day into the mix.  He's simply happy if all his kids and son-in-law are home and just hanging out - it really doesn't take a lot and he never asks for much.

We went for dinner at Outback Steakhouse.  I know, we really know how to treat our dad to a classy meal!  It was delicious by the way.  We ended with a strawberry shortcake (from Wegman's) for birthday cake.  (Have you had their shortcake - ridiculously delicious!)

Love you Dad!

Birthday Girl

Pin It now!
it was my sister's birthday this weekend.  she's the ripe old age of 25.  ahh, the good old days.  being seven years apart, we were always at a different part of our lives.  when i started college she was only in 5th grade.  when she finally was legal to drink, i was moving in with hubby.  we've always had this great sister relationship though and i feel like i can always go to her when i'm having my worst days.  i know it's supposed to be the other way around, but i'm usually the one venting to her for the silliest things.  thank goodness for little sisters.

my parents and brother came in from nj and we had a birthday dinner at bocca di bacco and dessert (macaroons from financier) and ice cream cake at our apartment.

i'm throwing in old photos of us too.  this was rachel's 2nd birthday in our old house on old queens.  don't you love the wallpaper and my gigantic glasses!  i love candid photos...how cute are my brother and sister.  i want to go back and just hug them both.

August Birthdays at La Mela

Pin It now! a lot of our friends have august birthdays and it seems that we're surrounded by leos.  since leos love the spotlight and multiple birthday parties, we did an august birthday dinner for all of them at la mela downtown in little italy.  have you been to la mela?  it's fun, boisterous and has a fabulous pre-fixe family style dinner.  fried clams and calamari (pronounced by my italian husband as fried 'galamad'), hot antipasti, mozzarella & tomatoes, three kinds of pasta, three kinds of meat, and mixed plate of dessert.  the birthday boys and girls got a personalized dessert which isn't appropriate for this blog, but let's just say that there were bananas and tartufo involved.

for some reason, there was a young pope statute in the corner of the room watching us eat.  i couldn't resist snapping a photo since it seemed like he was part of the party.

Birthday Boy

Pin It now! it was hubby's birthday and we went out to nj to his cousin's house for bbq to celebrate.  his cousin's house is the best place for kids - they have everything.  they have a huge trampoline, a batting cage, a huge inflatable water slide with mini pool, water guns...i can go on and on.  after having lots of bbq burgers, hot dogs, chicken and steak, pasta salad, and passionfruit beer, we washed it down a whole lot of desserts, including a pina colada donut (apparently not as good as it sounds).

happy birthday my love!

 

  

Back in Jerz

Pin It now!

i went back to nj for a birthday dinner for my brother.  it was just me, my bro and my parents celebrating tonight.  hubby had a friend dinner and my sister had a lame excuse with work.  anyway, it was nice and chill.  we hung out at the apartment and ordered chinese food from down the street.  i made some sangria and brought crumbs cupcakes for dessert.

here's dad with his cappuccino cupcake (he didn't want a glam shot).  baby bro had his favorite pb&j, and my mom and shared a pistachio one.  delish!

i had to add this picture too...hubby and i went food shopping at whole foods earlier in the morning.  apparently emu eggs are edible.  they look like freakin' dinosaur eggs.  i'm curious on how it tastes, but i'm definitely not daring enough to try.  if you've scrambled up some emu eggs lately, let me know!

Birthday Cake

Pin It now! it's my co-worker's birthday tomorrow. we always have cake for birthdays - usually on the birthday, but since there are a few people out (and we were also celebrating another co-worker's temporary going-away to hong kong), we had cake today. it was a crumbs bake shop blackout cake. have you had a crumbs cake or cupcake. they're delicious and the cutest things. for the sex and the city 2 movie, they have a cosmo cupcake as cupcake of the week. go and get one!!

Karaoke Party!

Pin It now!

i thought i took more pictures, but there were a lot of people, a lot of songs and a lot of drinking so i guess there was only one birthday party photo. it was really fun and i can't wait until our next one (nye baby!)

It's my birthday!

Pin It now! i don't feel 31. i don't look 31 (whatever 31 is supposed to look like). but i'm 31 today. it's a little strange to write since i feel like i'm still in my early 20's, and i don't think that will ever change. maybe when i have kids or when my kids have kids. we'll see...

last night, me, hubby, my parents and my brother and sister went out to dinner for an early birthday celebration. we ate at new big wang in chinatown. ok, that was the old name of the restaurant (it's now called yee li), but new big wang is so much more fun to say. tonight a bunch of us are going to have our big karaoke party at one of the japas restaurants. i love karaoke parties because we have a private room and we can get loud and sing as awful as we want without having anyone else hear. i'll report back with pictures tomorrow!

happy birthday to me!

happy birthday mom!!!

Pin It now!

love you!

Four Karaoke Songs & A Birthday

Pin It now! this past weekend was all about singing and birthdays. on saturday we went to our usual 3 hour, all you can drink, karaoke party at japas 38 for joe's birthday. we've done a lot of these karaoke parties before and they're such a hit. three hours of all-you-can-drink sake and beer and endless trays of sushi and food. this was the first time a couple of our friends did karaoke with us and said they wouldn't sing...yeah right! newbies always end up singing!

sunday we celebrated my sister's birthday at maria pia with yummy italian food and a delicious blackout birthday cake.

Happy Birthday Ray!!

Pin It now! it's my baby sister's birthday today. i can't help it but to call her my baby sister since she's 7 years younger than me, but she's longer a baby. she's a beautiful 24 year old living and working in nyc and parties like a rockstar with her friends. of course i still get the occasional phone call with her complaining about our parents or J. happy birthday my darling!