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!

Russell's Mussels from Brussels

I can't believe I've lived 36 years without typing that phrase: Russell's Mussels from Brussels. There are, as far as I know, two words that rhyme with Russell, and that's the first time I've ever used them together. But I guess I haven't had an excuse; as Carly was quick to point out, I'd never really had mussels before. To me, this is what the word meant:

(I look just like that, by the way.) 

But life is too short to spend without a meal of mussels, at least once. (Right?) Besides, if they were gross, I could easily make a meal of fries and mayo alone. But an open minds create new opportunities for positive experiences, and this culinary adventure didn't disappoint.

Not only were the four pounds of mussels we ordered not gross they were downright delicious. I may have overpowered one of them with lemons (to Carly's chagrin), but I'm a fan of the citrus. And as I learned from Gilligan's Island (Jesus, Russ, you're old), it helps stave off scurvy. An overlooked hazard of Manhattan living.

One thing about eating an entire meal of shellfish is that I feel a bit barbaric. No pasta to dress it up. Just a bunch of naked sea creatures dredged up from the ocean floor. It tasted amazing, to be sure, but part of me still felt like Madison in Splash:

But let's get back to the fries for a moment. A friend told me in 1999 that his first guideline to a fulfilling life is: a potato a day keeps the good times rolling. Weird that that was at the top of his list, right? Hard to argue, though. It wouldn't have been the complete culinary adventure, but I could easily have eaten BXL's fries all night. As it were, I finished my "dipping sauce," the sweet mayoriffic complement to the fries, and then used some of Carly's. I felt so European.

Glad I saved myself for dessert this time 'round. Melted chocolate, nuts, and berries is a heckuva way to cap a lovely day. Other highlights from the day leading up to the meal (in rough chronological order): The satisfaction of successfully moving furniture across boroughs, the classic RK/CH omelet/French toast split, a TriBeCa games and magic shop, Van Gogh's brushstrokes, a portrait of McSorley's circa 1912, the most valuable coin in the universe, not getting a parking ticket, a quick kiss in the cold before the sun's setting, dead poet's cozy table overlooking the bar, Phish and Floyd on the radio, an Ommegang dark, chess on the building wall, memorable footprints off 3rd Avenue...

Vocabulary for the day: Mussels can be classified as nacreous, which means "containing nacre." It's also a great word to play for a Scrabble 50-point bingo. Yes, my mind works this way.

B is for Belgian - BXL East

This past weekend, we continued our culinary adventure with the letter "B."  Part of how we decided to start exploring different foods together is a few weeks ago, I was telling Russ how much I loved mussels.  He told me he had never really had mussels as a meal before and from that point, I knew that once we hit B, we had to do mussels!  We actually had a ridiculous Japanese meal at Megu the night before with my family and then spent Saturday with Russ's family having brunch and then going to an art show at the New York Historical Society and finished off with a few beers at The Dead Poet on the west side before even heading over to BXL East for our Belgian meal.

Above:  Photo credit BXL

BXL definitely has a bar vibe with wooden tables and chairs alongside the bar in the front as well as a room with tables and chairs in the back.  The menu is full of Belgian treats but the mussels are definitely the reason to come.  There is also a huge beer menu with a rotating list of about 8-10 beers on tap and numerous bottles, mainly from Belgium but all over the world.

 Above:  Menu Cover

Above:  Beers

I'm a fan of Belgian Wheat beers so I went for the Duvel Green draft which was delicious and Russ enjoys a darker beer so he started with the Ommegang Abbey which came in a bottle.  We decided to forgo the appetizer this time because we wanted to be sure to have a delicious dessert so we just dove right into the mussels.  

 Above:  Moules Marinieres 

Above:  Moules Provencale

Above:  Fries and dipping sauce

We decided to split 2 kinds of mussels, each comes with 2 lbs of mussels and a plate of fries.  First we had the classic Marinieres which is mussels in a broth of white wine and shallots.  These were delicious, perfectly cooked, just the right touch of shallots to not be overpowering but give the mussels lots of flavor.  The second was the mussels Provencale which was in a tomato, garlic and basil.  I'm not usually one for mussels in a red sauce but this was incredibly fresh and flavorful.  I love how much garlic they used and the tomato and basil were great additions to the mussels!

Above:  Moelleux au Chocolat

This was delicious!  Molten chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream, berries and crumbled nuts.  It was insanely good, so rich and decadent.  The trick to eating this is half a spoonful of ice cream, a bite of chocolate and some nuts (Russ ate all the berries because I'm allergic.)

All in all, a fantastic meal!  Russ discovered he liked mussels and I solidified my love of mussels and Belgian beers!  To finish up, a few pictures of the beautiful sunset that night and us before dinner!

~Carly

A is for Afghan - Bamiyan Restaurant

Last night we had our first foray into this culinary adventure with an Afghan restaurant!  Russ had told me he has walked by this place a thousand times in NYC and never thought to go in so we made it our first stop along the way.  The restaurant is Bamiyan at 358 Third Avenue in Manhattan (on the corner of 26th Street.)   A large wooden door with a tree carved on it greets you and the restaurant is very warmly lit.  On the right when you walk in are a number of small tables on the floor where you can sit around on pillows and then it opens up into a full bar and large dining room.

Above:  The main dining room and bar

There was a really extensive menu with several appetizers, vegetarian options, kebabs, entrees and desserts.  There was also a wine list and a cocktail list with a full bar.  You can check out the whole menu by clicking HERE.

Above:  The menu

We each picked an appetizer that we both shared and an entree along as sharing a bottle of wine.  I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised at how much I liked the food!  I had no idea what to expect but it was hearty, flavorful and interesting.

 Above:  Afghan Bread - thick, toasted on the outside, soft and warm on the inside, completely delicious 

 Above:   Hummus - super creamy with paprika on top.

Above:  Saland-e Sib - Warm fresh apples simmered in split peas and cinnamon, very sweet, delicious on the bread, tasted more like a dessert than an appetizer.

Above:  Basmati Rice - flavorful, well cooked, came with both entrees

Above:  Fesenjen - Sweet and Sour tender pieces of boneless chicken (mainly shredded) simmered with walnuts and pomegranate juice.  The sauce was thick and on the sweeter side, reminded me of a Mole sauce in terms of texture, very filling.

Above:  Sabzee Chalow - sauteeed spinich in herbs, fairly potent with a hint of onions, really good over the rice!

Above:  La Linda 2010 malbec - medium tannin, bright, juicy wine that complimented the food well.

All in all, I have to say I enjoyed my first try at Afghan food!  Everything was rich with a lot of spices, mostly on the sweet side but very filling and delicious.  My favorites were probably the bread and the apples, I probably could have made an entire meal out of just that but it was all delicious!  Can't wait to see what happens when we get to "B!"  To finish up, a few pictures of us at the restaurant!

 Above:  Russ photographing me photographing our food

Above:  Us outside of the restaurant after a great meal!

~Carly