Wait - there's more birthWEEK?!
Well... uh, yeah!
Marc and I decided to head to New York to continue the celebrations of the birthWEEK. It was a fun, if not tiring, few days where we were able to catch up with Holly and Mark at Arturo's Pizzeria on Tuesday, and then catch a late drink with Sally and Dustin at Aix (Dustin is the sous chef there). It should be noted that Mark is a huge Mets fan, so he is plenty excited about their prospects in October.
On Wednesday, we went down memory lane and had lunch with my first boss at Morgan Stanley. In addition to seeing Mare, I was able to see some former colleagues from back in the early 90s. Crazy how things have changed over the years and then not so much - we went back to a place in Brooklyn Heights where we used to have lunch regularly and of course - picked the dishes that we used to eat back then. Then Marc and I met up with Sally for an early dinner at the Artisanal before heading out to the US Open to watch some tennis. The 1st match of the evening was great - Maria Sharapova vs. Tatiana Golovin. Golovin fought until the last point and even though it only lasted 2 sets, the length of the match was over 2 hours. The 2nd match of the evening - Lleyton Hewitt vs. Andy Roddick - we were definitely psyched about, but were disappointed. Roddick showed up and played some excellent tennis, but Hewitt clearly was not playing his best and was not doing his normal routine of yelling, screaming and pumping himself up. Over in 3 sets and under 2 hours.... kind of just a flat match.
For the big birthday, we had the pleasure of having lunch with Aunt Joyce at Bobby Flay’s Mesa Grill. Spending time with her inspires you to do more with your life. She travels extensively, still does some work at Cosmo (worked there for many years), and does some opera singing... amongst other pursuits. We had a lot of laughs, for sure. Marc wanted some New York microbrew, so we used that opportunity to meet Chris W. at Heartland Brewery for a beverage. That night, another group I used to work with at Morgan Stanley (when it rains, it pours I guess) was having one of their reunion dinners, so Marc and I joined in the fun at L'Impero. This was the group that probably started my food and wine education, so it was great seeing everyone to catch up - including Ming, MaryBeth, John, Bill, Diane, Mark, Tomas and David. Marc was such a good sport listening to us reminisce about the good old days that we decided to hit ESPNZone after so he could catch the end of the Steelers - Dolphins game (NFL kickoff has arrived).
The highlight of the week was meeting our little nephew - Harrison Reese - on Friday. Took the train to Gwen and Glenn's, and spent a few hours there. Harrison looks very handsome in his new Yankee attire, if I may say so myself. Gwen's doing well and we gave her some photo sharing tips, as is Glenn. Marc and I then tried a new restaurant - Cafe D'Alsace - with Jeanne, Jeanne's Mom, Sally and Dustin. Excellent food and great wine list. Nice catching up with Jeanne and her mom, and then Dustin was called in for a work emergency at his restaurant. We decided to offer moral support by drinking at the bar while he solved whatever problem presented itself, and then Dustin joined us for more wine.... we stopped by their place and they gave me a couple of their favorite cookbooks as gifts, plus some homework to read up on. :-) It was an exhausting but fun day and evening.
Finally on Saturday, we met up with Siu Yun and saw her new apartment, which is very cute, and then had brunch at Five Points. She was telling us all about her trip to South America, which sounded like a ton of fun. We then rushed up to midtown to see the Tony award winning play – “The History Boys". It was pretty enjoyable and my Mom scored us some great tickets, per usual. Then it was off to see Lisa, JB, Harv and Yvette for dinner at Babbo. Great food and lots of laughs. Unfortunately Lisa is still battling some morning sickness, so she probably could not enjoy the food as much. Then we got on the plane this morning to head back to Seattle so Marc could watch NFL from the couch. You tired, yet?
I know I am! And we didn’t even get to see everyone we wanted to see!
Marc and I decided to head to New York to continue the celebrations of the birthWEEK. It was a fun, if not tiring, few days where we were able to catch up with Holly and Mark at Arturo's Pizzeria on Tuesday, and then catch a late drink with Sally and Dustin at Aix (Dustin is the sous chef there). It should be noted that Mark is a huge Mets fan, so he is plenty excited about their prospects in October.
On Wednesday, we went down memory lane and had lunch with my first boss at Morgan Stanley. In addition to seeing Mare, I was able to see some former colleagues from back in the early 90s. Crazy how things have changed over the years and then not so much - we went back to a place in Brooklyn Heights where we used to have lunch regularly and of course - picked the dishes that we used to eat back then. Then Marc and I met up with Sally for an early dinner at the Artisanal before heading out to the US Open to watch some tennis. The 1st match of the evening was great - Maria Sharapova vs. Tatiana Golovin. Golovin fought until the last point and even though it only lasted 2 sets, the length of the match was over 2 hours. The 2nd match of the evening - Lleyton Hewitt vs. Andy Roddick - we were definitely psyched about, but were disappointed. Roddick showed up and played some excellent tennis, but Hewitt clearly was not playing his best and was not doing his normal routine of yelling, screaming and pumping himself up. Over in 3 sets and under 2 hours.... kind of just a flat match.
For the big birthday, we had the pleasure of having lunch with Aunt Joyce at Bobby Flay’s Mesa Grill. Spending time with her inspires you to do more with your life. She travels extensively, still does some work at Cosmo (worked there for many years), and does some opera singing... amongst other pursuits. We had a lot of laughs, for sure. Marc wanted some New York microbrew, so we used that opportunity to meet Chris W. at Heartland Brewery for a beverage. That night, another group I used to work with at Morgan Stanley (when it rains, it pours I guess) was having one of their reunion dinners, so Marc and I joined in the fun at L'Impero. This was the group that probably started my food and wine education, so it was great seeing everyone to catch up - including Ming, MaryBeth, John, Bill, Diane, Mark, Tomas and David. Marc was such a good sport listening to us reminisce about the good old days that we decided to hit ESPNZone after so he could catch the end of the Steelers - Dolphins game (NFL kickoff has arrived).
The highlight of the week was meeting our little nephew - Harrison Reese - on Friday. Took the train to Gwen and Glenn's, and spent a few hours there. Harrison looks very handsome in his new Yankee attire, if I may say so myself. Gwen's doing well and we gave her some photo sharing tips, as is Glenn. Marc and I then tried a new restaurant - Cafe D'Alsace - with Jeanne, Jeanne's Mom, Sally and Dustin. Excellent food and great wine list. Nice catching up with Jeanne and her mom, and then Dustin was called in for a work emergency at his restaurant. We decided to offer moral support by drinking at the bar while he solved whatever problem presented itself, and then Dustin joined us for more wine.... we stopped by their place and they gave me a couple of their favorite cookbooks as gifts, plus some homework to read up on. :-) It was an exhausting but fun day and evening.
Finally on Saturday, we met up with Siu Yun and saw her new apartment, which is very cute, and then had brunch at Five Points. She was telling us all about her trip to South America, which sounded like a ton of fun. We then rushed up to midtown to see the Tony award winning play – “The History Boys". It was pretty enjoyable and my Mom scored us some great tickets, per usual. Then it was off to see Lisa, JB, Harv and Yvette for dinner at Babbo. Great food and lots of laughs. Unfortunately Lisa is still battling some morning sickness, so she probably could not enjoy the food as much. Then we got on the plane this morning to head back to Seattle so Marc could watch NFL from the couch. You tired, yet?
I know I am! And we didn’t even get to see everyone we wanted to see!