Locomotion

This week has been both a quick and a slow one.  Up to Boston on Monday, back home on Tuesday, down to New York yesterday…and here I am.  J’s having an incredibly busy week at work though, so I have free range of his room.

I guess I have some catching up to do.  As I no longer recall the exact happenings of prior weekends, random photos will have to suffice.

Although our Groupon and Groupon-esque purchases have decreased to nearly non-existent of late, J and I still have a few that we need to use up.  Including one for 16 Handles that was to expire two weekends ago.

This is what $10 worth of frozen yogurt + toppings looks like.

And one for Dominique Ansel, where we picked up three [decidely not French portion size] croissants – one plain, a ham and cheese, and a pain au chocolat.  What beats sitting on a bench outside a pastry shop munching on flakey, buttery goodness while people-watching on a warm spring day?  (Isn’t it amazing how many prepositions populate the previous sentence?)

Pain au chocolat

Ham and cheese croissant

Oh!  And I have a funny story from my time in Boston awhile ago.  While there, I drank a gazillion bottles of bottled water.  One day, I noticed a bottle deposit machine in a Stop and Shop.  Thinking I’d do the earth some good and get some pocket change in the process, I collected a paper bag full of bottles [Exhibit 1].

Exhibit 1

Turns out, none of the plastic bottles count.  The picky machine decided that only the big brown glass bottle merited paying up a few cents.  Five, to be exact [Exhibit 2].

Exhibit 2

And lastly, some pictures I thought my camera ate, but turned out to be taken with Jason’s phone camera.

“Studying” at Voltage Coffee and Art.

Cappuccino

Pastry-hunting at Clear Flour Bread.

Croissant

Cannele

Orange you glad you’re not a pommelo?

Lately I’ve been spending the first hour or so of my day at Willoughby’s studying for the CFA.  It’s slightly more productive than trying to read in the evening (albeit slightly more expensive, as well).  The studying goes by a little more quickly when accompanied by intermittent sips of coffee and warm sunlight streaming through the windows.  I’ve been splurging on Willoughby’s Serious Select coffees lately – this morning’s selection was the Arianna Farms Ono Kona.

One way to start every morning...

Even though today was only my third time there in two weeks, I’ve already begun to notice the morning regulars – a guy who takes his coffee black and appears to be writing/studying for something or other and a middle-aged couple reading the newspaper and having a leisurely start to the day, among others.  Meanwhile, a flurry of people are in and out after grabbing their cuppa morning joe.  (I bet you’re wondering how much studying I’m getting done while observing the comings and goings of Willoughby’s customer base at 8am…right?)

And then it’s off to work.

I was amused by the size of the orange that I had as a snack in the afternoon.

I'm an orange. Hear me roar.

I emailed the picture above to J, who responded a few hours later with this:

This is a pommelo. It doesn't count.

My orange still wins the size competition, but I was hugely amused nonetheless.

Chilly morning

Man, it’s cold here today!

 

 

Spring!

Flowers are beginning to bloom everywhere.  Although the mornings have been quite foggy, the sun still manages to shine brightly by the afternoon.  I do love spring.

25

Oh no – I’m old!  But at least I got to celebrate turning 25 twice.

Celebration #1:

On the Wednesday of my last week in Boston, I took E out for dinner at Oleana, where we enjoyed a parade of yummy dishes: several mezes to start - Spiced Carrot Purée & Dukkah, Spinach Falafel, Octopus and Crispy Brussels Sprouts, Sultan’s Delight; an entree of lamb; and dessert of Baked Alaska.  After dinner, we headed back to E’s apartment, where I thought E would simply drop me off.  We knocked on the door, which J comes and unlocks…but does not bother opening for us.  Meanwhile, E is taking out her camera…  At this point, I still do not suspect anything out of the ordinary – silly me!  I push open the door, getting ready to chastise J for his rudeness in not actually opening the door for us.  All of a sudden, I hear camera shutters going off, see colorful balloons covering the floor, and notice a beautiful cake on the kitchen table.  Surprise!  Pretty sure I had a goofy smile the rest of the night – especially when J broke out star-shaped glasses lit up by mini glow sticks.  (Apparently E wanted to get a pinata, but J stopped her.)  After a beautiful rendition of “Happy Birthday,” I made a wish and cut the cake – a beautiful and delicious passionfruit creation from the Danish Pastry House.

Star candles! With glitter!

Thanks E and J!

Celebration #2:

My birthday fell on a Friday this year, and Fridays mean a journey on Metro-North from New Haven to New York.  J had asked me a few days prior whether I would prefer a birthday meal on Friday or Saturday.  I specified Saturday, as two hours on the train are not exactly an optimal appetizer.

So instead, J made a simple and tasty dish of noodles for me.  Linguine with Parmesan and TJ’s seafood mix (shrimp, scallops, and squid).  Maybe not exactly what comes to mind when one thinks of Chinese noodles, but noodles nonetheless.

While I was washing dishes, J came up from behind and slipped this on me.

The next day, J made me leave the apartment for the afternoon while he cooked.  I met with a friend for tea and, around 7 pm, came back huuungry!  However, even all the stomach room I had saved wasn’t enough for the amount of food that J was preparing to serve.  We ended up saving the second and third courses for Sunday evening.  I wish I had taken a picture of the menu that J had drafted on an 8×11 piece of paper.  Twas quite complicated.

Amuse - fried shrimp heads with sauteed shrimp

Uni on buttered bread

Roasted cauliflower and root vegetables

Crispy halibut (poached in shrimp stock) in a shrimp sauce

Sunday, we had birthday dinner part 2.  Well, at this point, it was more just a normal dinner.

Mushrooms galore.

Mushroom soup!

Braised short ribs

And now I’m 25.  Getting old, getting old.