A Very Chilly Day in Fire Island,...

Fire Island is a sort of magical place to me when I think back on Russ and myself.  I remember talking about him going there when we were on our first date.  Last summer, I coincidentally went with some friends to Fire Island and was staying about 3 minutes away from Russ's house there and ended up meeting his parents for the first time (as well as sharing a really wonderful weekend together and kind of solidifying our falling in love.)  Then over Labor Day, I was lucky enough to go out again with him and his whole family and get to meet them all.  I know he's been missing it so when this past week, freezing as it was, he asked if I wanted to take an adventure there with him to go see the light house, the answer was of course yes!  Here are some pics of our snowy, cold adventure to Fire Island on President's Day!

The beach covered in snow

So cold!

Almost looks like summer,...

Russ enjoying the beach

Eskimo on the Beach

Snow on sand

The Fire Island Lighthouse

Selfies with Light Houses

View from Avoce

Snowy Fire Island

No longer a nude beach = sad face

We are leaving for Miami on Friday so that will probably be a slightly warmer beach!  So looking forward to many Fire Island adventures this summer!

C is for Cuban - Agozar Cuban Bistro

It took us awhile but we eventually made it to C!  Last week we finally made it to a Cuban restaurant to continue our culinary trip around the world.

Above:  Photograph courtesy of Agozar Cuban Bistro

Walking into Agozar Cuban Bistro, it's brightly colored, loud, crowded, and feels like you just stepped into Little Havana.  Everyone seemed to be having a great time drinking at the narrow bar and we were led into the back room that was more spacious and definitely more quiet.  We decided to share a bunch of small plates (and a LOT of sangria, which R was kind enough to get for me since he beat me to the restaurant) to get a taste of Cuban cuisine!

Above:  Russ enjoying his Sangria

 Above:  Alambre

Alambre was a grilled shrimp in a mole poblano sauce.  This was a pretty solid dish, a tad bit spicy but a lot of flavor!

 Above:  Camarones Agri-Dulce

Since the restaurant was out of Mahi-Mahi which they used in all their fish dishes, we had 2 shrimp dishes.  This was a sweet and sour shrimp tempura with a pineapple slaw.  This was probably my favorite dish we had, very flavorful and perfectly prepared.

 Above:  Mariquitas

Sorry for the insanely blurry picture, guess I had more sangria than I thought!  The Mariquitas is plantain chips with black bean hummus and guacamole.  Now I've just learned to like guacamole in the last year (I have issues with the consistency of avocados) but I Thought this was really yummy!  The black bean hummus in particular was really interesting.

 Above:  Milanesa

Milanesa is crispy eggplant with goat cheese and a tomato sofrito to dip in.  I liked the combo of the crispy eggplant but it wasn't that flavorful and the coat cheese was a little too crumbly since it was baked.  I thought this would be a favorite but it was disappointing.

Above: Quesedilla de Pollo

The Quesedilla de Pollo was a yummy chicken quesedilla with grilled chicken, goat cheese and a spicy sauce on the top.  It definitely had a big kick to it!


All in all, it was a pretty good meal.  I don't think I would go running back but if you want a fun atmosphere, very reasonable pricing and a bunch of small plates, it's a decent choice.  I'd be interested to try some of their entrees and some of their fish dishes, since it was a bit odd that at 7:30 on a Friday night, they had run out of fish for the night!  As always, here's the obligatory slightly tipsy pic of us after the meal!

C is for,... Curling?

I realize this post might seem a bit misleading as it's not a food adventure but since we actually went Curling yesterday, I kinda think it deserves to be written about.  A C food is coming, I promise!  But really, who goes curling?  Most people don't even realize it's an Olympic sport (since 1998 in Nagano as we learned from Dan, our instructor.)  We went to the Learn to Curl Clinic at Ardsley Curling Club yesterday to try our hand at this weird, ridiculous sport:

First we got to see the set up in the "ice house:

To start, they tape up your shoe on your "sliding foot" so you can slide on the ice in a really uncomfortable deep lunge when you are the "shooter" with the "stone."  Yes, this looks just as silly as it sounds.  Here's an example:

Russ did a great job with this!  Stayed upright, let his stone go at the right time, had a lot of power behind it.  On the other hand, I fell on my butt every time:

Now there is also the "sweeping" part, where you rub a brush back and forth really fast on the ice to create friction and water to basically make the "stone" hydroplane in case  you throw the stone too lightly.  

It's just as silly and funny as it looks.  

Now, I actually got one shot in play and I was super excited because I thought it was in "the house" which would have meant a point for our team!

Look how happy I am!  Alas, it was just out of the scoring zone:

But all in all, it was a great day and a great experience!

2018 Olympics in South Korea,... we're coming for you!