The Best Margaritas in Midtown

I met up with a friend yesterday for  my Cinco de Mayo margarita at Sinigual, a Midtown Mexican restaurant. Unfortunately, the rest of Midtown had the same idea. My oh so heroic friend then stepped in and whisked us away to POD 39. My first thought was - pod - that's a Japanese pod hotel right? Now I love sushi but it's not among the normal 5th of May traditions i'd ever heard of. Turns out they actually have one of the coolest bars in Midtown.

For those of you that work in the area, we all know that saying you found a 'cool bar in Midtown' is sadly ironic and kind of sad in general. For anyone from out of town scratching their head at this statement, Midtown is where most of us come to pretend we're grownups and play at finance, non-profit, etc... It's deserted after business hours and the bars are generally happy hour spots on the way to fun dinners in other parts of town. However, I will amend that statement to say that POD 39 makes a mean margarita and has a wait-list of 60-90 people by 6 pm for the rooftop bar (I highly recommend you check it out).

Only one word of caution - the margs are super strong! Not that i'm one to drink and tell but take it easy you're first go 'round.

Cheers and Happy Cinco de Mayo!

X

Southern Weekend

Last Saturday, I spent far too much time in a large, straw hat, sipping on mint juleps in honor of the Kentucky Derby in NYC! Who would've guessed that some of the best BBQ I'd ever find would be in Brooklyn? Check out Mable's BBQ in Williamsmburg and stop in at the Brooklyn Brewery while you're in the neighborhood. Now it's time for a cool margarita in honor of Cinco de Mayo!

Expat Musings of a Southern Soul

This morning, I awoke to a text from a very good friend, asking me why the last post on this site was from 2 years ago. While I can't believe it's been two years, the answer was simple enough - I stopped because the desire to write and the feeling that my views could be of any value to the outside world vanished.

I left London for NYC by way of Dallas, TX two years ago and left my entire basis for writing - an expat in London - behind. When the dust settled and I finally had the time to re-vamp and re-configure my viewpoint, I found that I didn't have one I felt that strongly about anymore. So instead of filling your notifications with useless gibbering about how wonderful NYC is, I took a hiatus. 

That said, I promise that I haven't come back because I suddenly feel like writing another Sex and The City, NYC hopeful blog - no one needs that crap. Nope. Apparently, this girl, who spent the past 20 something years running from her heritage, has secretly been VERY Southern this whole time and after two years, I am ready to admit and embrace it.

So let the Kate Spade, BBQ, country music, and sweet tea worship begin. My Vera Bradley embossed cards are on the table and I am ready to bring an annoyingly bright and sunshiny piece of the South, mixed in with a jumble of confusing traditions from my other countries, to the rest of you.

Ps.To the friend that called me out and brought me back - Thank You 

Light and Love

Many people have asked why it is that I stopped writing and disappeared from the blogosphere for so many months.  My first answer was that things had ceased to make me happy so I simply had nothing to write about. 

Life has changed drastically, many times over, since last I posted and while this statement was honest, it was too simple.  Rather, I seem to have lost my way and instead of subjecting you to all the gory details, I will instead talk about the international network of family and friends that helped me back to where I now stand.

I don’t think we ever realize how truly blessed we are by these networks of love and light until whatever crisis we are dealing with is so big that we cease to give anything back.  Instead, it becomes a one-way relationship of unending support, met by the same bleak, negative, pit of despair response.  Far from self-pitying, it is simply that hard to see past the darkness sometimes.  But coming out on the other side of it and realizing that it was those who love you most that kept you going, regardless of what you couldn’t give them at the time, is truly humbling and inspiring.

So instead of describing my woes and the harrowing adventures that brought me here, I would like to thank my family and friends for their endless support and say to you, that it is because of your love and belief in me that I can once again begin to stand on my own and believe in myself.

In short, I am back, no, I have arrived at a new beginning; not because of what I experienced but because of the people who helped me through it. 

Thank you.  I cannot think of a better way to kick off the Christmas season than to acknowledge that I would not be the same without you.

Merry Christmas

~ Let your faith be bigger than your fear; faith in yourself, faith in the unknown, and faith in others.

Things I Should Not Have Done

Cooking is for once, among the ill fated categories of things better left alone; specifically cajun cooking.  I can cook a basic étouffée, crab cakes, and the best beignets you've ever had but mention the word cajun and expect 'chargrilled' instead of 'blackened' and 'roof-of-your mouth burning' instead of 'mouth watering.'

What my 'cajun blackened, trout po-boy,' should have looked like...

We all have that one thing we just cannot cook or bake and sadly I attempted mine this past evening.  What started out as an attempt to throw proverbial caution to the wind and master my food nemesis, ended up a, for once not chargrilled, but overly salted and peppered, fried trout mess.  Being my stubborn self, I ate it anyway as it was not completely inedible and jubilantly ran it all off this morning.

What it more closely resembled.

I bring this to light, not as an adventure or inspirational feature but as the comical musings of a sleep deprived grad student, obviously just close enough to the edge of crazy to cook something that I know will end up looking like the charcoal it was supposed to be grilled over.

I think i'll leave the cajun food to the experts and happily wander back to my soups, salads, non-blackened main dishes, and of course, baking : )

The 'Best,' Chocolate Chip Cookie Ever

A recent trend I have noticed is that everyone seems to be posting about their discovery of the absolute best chocolate chip cookie recipe they have ever come across.  Now for those who think that the oven is just another out-of-season, sweater storage device (don't laugh, i've seen it!) this is nothing even remotely earth shattering but for those of us who number among the baking obsessed, it's downright frustrating.

I discovered my ultimate chocolate chip recipe and posted it here, last Autumn.  I have seen two more come up in just the last week here and here.  Fortunately, I have another get-together coming up this weekend so I think i'll give the less complicated one a try and we'll see who's cookie comes out on top (yes, I admit to my laziness but blame it on Summer ; ).

I'm sure there are many more of you out there with 'ultimate chocolate chip cookie recipes,' to share so please post yours as well!

Bacon Chocolate Chip cookies?  This would have never
occurred to me but apparently some people love them!

Happy Wednesday everyone!  It's been a crazy week thus far and we're only half-way there but at least I will have plenty of stories to tell when it's over.

Things I Did Not Do Yesterday

Yesterday I did not do an amazing amount of work on my dissertation so that a magical, fully outlined copy is now resting on the desk in front of me....ahem...

One framboise and one pistache macaron from
Paul's Bakery

Instead, I recovered from my bout of under-the-weatherness with my favorite macarons from Paul (only had one because they are huge!  Perhaps i'll switch to Laduree next time), a breakfast pizza for dinner, and a bottle of wine from my absolute favorite region of France, Burgundy.

Attempt number two at this recipe.  I know some people might
be grossed out by the eggs but don't let the addition fool you.
I had this for the first time in Italy and I thought it was going
to be gross as well but it's absolute heaven when you get it right!

It was a strange sort of combination for a strange sort of day but overall it was heaven with a mix of things I have either been meaning to make again or just plain missed.

I don't normally post about wine
or alcohol but it is so hard to find
a good burgundy outside of France
and I missed it so much that I finally
went looking for one.

I hope everyone is having a good week thus far and looking forward to Friday!