Today was a much better day

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child, postaday2016, Restaurant

   
   
Today was mother and son day, much in the way it has been mother and daughter day these past few weeks, after radiation and a weekly trip to oncology, we had a few hours to spare before seeing the psychiatrist, so we decided to have lunch at Noodles on Main Street in Northampton, as you can tell from the pictures, it’s Asian in character and it really hit the spot. It had started snowing right about now, so big hot bowls of noodle soup were perfect.

We still had some time to spare so my son took me to the Roost for cafe lattes and a game of chess. He is an excellent chess player and by that time, my mind was pain reliever addled, so I mimed writing a letter to my pawns and my officers being sacrificed left and right due to my poor medicated choices lol. My son had a good laugh at that.

As Scarlett O’Hara said “after all, tomorrow is another day”

A pause from reality

Tags

New York, postaday2016, Restaurant

   
   
My husband gave me the best gift, five days in New York City, to do nothing else, but be with him, walk around taking pictures, visiting with my family and sampling new restaurants in our never ending quest for wonderful cuisine. It felt as if we were in a worry free bubble, suspended from the grim reality of what I will be facing later on this month with my cancer treatment. It was such a wonderful five days. We found a new French Brasserie called La Gamelle on the Bowery just south of Houston. We ate there New Year’s Eve, we were the only ones in the dining room at 5:45 and it was fantastic, we had a lovely romantic dinner just the two of us. We both ordered the foie gras to start and I followed that with roasted Artic Char on a bed of leeks in a sauce prepared with a hint of caviar, I practically licked the plate clean. My husband had lamb and he couldn’t stop raving over its tenderness, its delicate yet flavorful herbal crust, we were both so enchanted with our meal at this point, we couldn’t imagine anything could top what we had just eaten and then the souffles came, we both had the passion fruit soufflé, what a taste of heavenly goodness, light as clouds with just the right amount of sweetness. We are going back without a doubt and it will be soon.

   
   
So between the wonderful French Brasserie, a well prepared eggs Benedict on 57th St and 7th avenue, a spectacular quinoa and cauliflower salad alongside a tasty green beans tempura at the restaurant The Red Cat on the 10th avenue and 23rd Street, our taste buds were extremely well served.

New York City’s hustle and bustle gives one excellent opportunities to distract oneself, precisely what the doctor ordered.  

Charles Street Jail/ Liberty Hotel

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hotel, postaday2015, Restaurant

   
 
   
 
   
 
  
My husband and I have been itching to stay at the Liberty Hotel for quite a few years. I forget how we first learned of it, but the hotel as a long history in Boston, as the title suggest it was orginally a jail located at the start of Charles Street just next to Massachusett General Hospital. I believe it was built and opened in 1851 through the vision of Gridley Bryant, architect  and major proponent of the distinctive Granite Style  that we can still find in Boston.

What surprised me was its longevity as a prison, it was still in operation until 1990, even though in the mid 1970’s  the United States District Court ruled that the conditions in the Charles Street jail violated  the consitutional rights of those incarcerated  at the site. The ruling was handed down, but the city council took its time to rectify the situation. It was on Memorial Day 1990, at long last, that the last of the prisoners were transferred to the new SSuffolk County Jail  on Nashua Street near Leverett Circle.

The company that bought the property has transformed this prison into something more than just a simple hotel, it is a luxury hotel with all of the desired amenities,  but with the added selling point of a   unique backdrop to add some mystique to your hotel experience.

I would definitely come back here to stay, the room is very comfortable, wifi is free and the service is  exemplary, everyone is attentive and  quite friendly. I ate at the Clink  restaurant in the lobby,  I sat at the bar, others were seated all around the lobby, on comfortable couches and chaize lounge chairs, eating hors d’oeuvres  and sipping sparkling wine, I ordered myself a roasted squash soup  with a ricotta flan  and then I had roasted veal with tonnatto tapenade  and fried sweetbreads, it was all very tasty.

This is fun.

The South End of Boston

Tags

Boston, postaday2015, Restaurant

  

I had a wonderful lunch at the restaurant B & G Oysters, I started with guess what? Oysters! I tried three varieties and my favorite was the local variety from Wellfleet MA, they were small in size and briny, that is how I love my oysters, when I can almost taste the ocean as I am slurping them down.

The main course was a delicious and light Halibut ceviche with a chorizo vinaigrette, picked cherry tomatoes and sliced radishes. Ceviche means fish cooked in an acid, the vinaigette was the acid and I adore seafood and chorizo sausage together, the spiceness and saltiness pair incredibly well with both seafood and shellfish. I barely spoke a word during lunch, I listened to the conversation around me, while I ate and ate until everything was cleaned off my plate.

I am glad I thought to take pictures of the South End area of Boston, it is so lovely and different from the usual neighborhood we stay at which is near the North End. I love the beautiful, old world brownstones highlighted by beautiful plants, vines and gardens, I can almost imagine being in London when I walk around the South End. Trees, gardens and plants make gorgeous companions to brownstones. Isn’t it so lovely?

Astoria: my childhood neighborhood

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Astoria, postday2014, Restaurant

I don’t know why it hit me today, as opposed to every other time that I have walked around Astoria, but Astoria is changing and it is nice. Astoria has always been a nice neighborhood when I was growing up, very ethnic; Greek, Italian, German and French and nowadays it is a lot more cosmopolitan. The other day when we got off at Ditmars Blvd, I noticed quite a few aspiring models getting off the subway as well and today I passed three young, rail thin very pretty girls walking towards the subway station clutching their portfolios.

When it comes to restaurants, Astoria is experiencing a renaissance. I walked three blocks and saw three new restaurants advertising for help and ready to open within the next few weeks. Just a few blocks either way from my mother’s house, we now have choices of Japanese, Thailand, French, Asian Fusion and vegetarian. That is world’s away from the choices we had when I was little so it is exciting to see Astoria getting to be a big boy neighborhood if you will. We don’t have to venture to the city to have something different, we can walk a few blocks and patronize the local establishments right here and we feel good about it. We like supporting our local restaurants and giving back to the community.

Meeting new people

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conversation, postaday2014, Restaurant, sunflowers

Sunflowers are one of my favorite flowers and have always been. I had fallen in love with the sunflower during one of our many, many road trips from Paris down to Bordeaux when I was little. The scenery from the car window was meadow upon meadow of sunflowers for as far as the eye could see and I have always associated the sunflower with the feeling of anticipation of seeing my family in Bordeaux after a long year of separation.

During the summer trip that our daughter and I took in 2012, we were driven down to Bordeaux from Rouen with our cousins Francoise and Nicolas and I was so excited to show our daughter the magnificent fields of sunflowers. She was as impressed as I had been when I first saw them all those years ago. The pictures that I had taken from the back of Nicolas’s car doesn’t do the flower the justice it deserves, so I found some other images to show how cheerful, beautiful and uplifting these flowers truly are.

The reason why I am writing about sunflowers is because last night my husband and I went out to a restaurant with a very lovely colleague that my husband has just started working with on a new project. The restaurant that was chosen for our dinner is called the Sunflower Vegetarian restaurant close by in Vienna Virginia.

I always get nervous upon meeting new people; I don’t know why, it isn’t as if I have ever had a bad experience before, but I get the butterflies in my stomach and I worry if I am going to talk too much or not enough or I won’t have anything to contribute to the conversation. Well last night I had nothing to worry about because Abby, that is her name, was so easy to talk to, very open and so very interesting. The conversation never fell into a lull, I had a really good time. So much so that I didn’t even pay attention to what we were eating; the conversation was that lively and interesting. My husband took care of the ordering and I took a little bit of this and a little bit of that, it all tasted good and I was satiated at the end. I was having too much fun with the table conversation.

I can never take really warm, welcoming and friendly people for granted. Anytime that I have the chance to spend time and converse with them is a plus in my life. We truly are social creatures.

The Temptations Live at the Wilbur theater

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music, postaday2014, Restaurant, Temptations

Last night my husband and I were invited by a delightful couple, Andrew and Renee, out to a wonderful restaurant, Row 34, in downtown Boston and then to a performance by The Temptations at The Wilbur Theater . Both were wonderful experiences, the food at Row 34 was delicious; all seafood, fresh from the ocean; oysters and littleneck clams on the half shell and well prepared fish of different stripes, each deliciously presented in its own way.

The real highlight was seeing the Temptations live. When they took a break, they mentioned that they had just returned from a European tour and that is what I found on Youtube, their performance at La Cigale in Paris.

I was enchanted by their stage presence, their happiness while performing and especially their stamina; they didn’t flag once and they aren’t spring chickens. Otis, the only original member has been performing for 54 years, that is an incredible accomplishment and I loved his easy-going manner when he regaled us with a little bit of his stories and the twinkle in his eye when he spoke of the past. The venue was perfect for their performance, it was relatively small and intimate, there wasn’t a bad seat in the house. I was tickled to see older persons in wheelchairs and with their walkers and oxygen tanks, swaying to the music and tapping their feet. Over to my left there were several college students getting down with the Temptations and front and center there was quite the crowd of fifty year olds making eye contact with their own personal favorite Temptation, asking for autographs and shaking hands.

It was a great evening; excellent company, great seafood and fantastic music.

A lovely dinner at the North End of Boston

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Boston, North End, postaday2014, Restaurant

My husband and I went out to dinner with one of our favorite couples Sean and Kelly in the North End of Boston at a restaurant called Assiago. Sean worked with my husband at my husband’s old firm and they stayed in touch because they value their friendship and Kelly and I get along so well. I always look forward to our nights out at restaurants, Kelly and Sean have excellent taste in restaurants and we haven’t left disappointed ever.

I ate so much this evening, my belly is quite large and full, but it was so very, very tasty. We, as a table, shared a plate of hot antipasto and two orders of clams casino; clams baked with bacon, (everything and I mean everything tastes better with bacon) the hot antipasto platter offered fried calamari, arancini, lamb skewers and bruschetta; we devoured the entire platter between the four of us and the clams casino were gobbled up equally quickly. In between bites of food, we talked about children and dogs, but mostly about dogs. Sean and Kelly have a black Newfoundland puppy named Vader, she went to the vet for her weigh-in and she tipped the scales at 131 lbs, She isn’t even close to two years old so she is still growing, my husband and I reminisced over Rex, our 140 German Shepard who as everyone knows passed away, and then we regaled Sean and Kelly with Jack stories.

Our main courses came and I stopped talking, I had in front of me risotto a la pescatore or risotto with seafood, it was delicious; I had small mussels, littleneck clams, shrimp, and calamari with the risotto and it was wonderfully layered in flavors, spices and aromatics and creamy texture to boot. I loved it to the bottom of the plate. I think that everyone else at the table enjoyed theirs, I think.

We left the restaurant well sated and still laughing when my husband suggested we keep walking and see about finding dessert elsewhere. We found a nice gelateria and we indulged our sweet teeth, I had peach and tangerine, Kelly had lemon and chocolate, my husband had coconut and Sean ate his so fast, I don’t have a clue as to what he had.

We said our goodbye’s and promised to go out again in a month or so and I am already looking forward to it. I have such a nice time with them, they are such a nice couple and so funny.

Chez mon ami Gabi

Tags

French bistro, postaday2014, Restaurant

Chez mon ami Gabi is the name of the French Bistro that my hubby took me to have dinner after he was done with work. It’s only 3.5 miles away from our hotel, but the restaurant might as well be located in another universe, because its surroundings are so very different from where we are, next to the Dulles airport.

My hubby has been told by all of his colleagues that he absolutely had to bring me to the Reston Town Center and that is where we went tonight. It is really nice, basically it’s large development with tall office buildings and residential buildings with a huge variety of restaurants, wine bars, cigar bars and high end shops. A very clean, well maintained Town Center I must say with a cute park at the heart of the development.

The French restaurant Chez Mon Ami Gabi was very busy at 6:30, but we still managed to get a table. The ambience was very lively, the wait staff professional, courteous and skilled at their jobs and the decor was more bistro chic than traditional bistro, which was fine, I was reserving judgement until the food arrived. Things were looking good when they put a warm French baguette, butter and a small plate of a very good carrot salad as a tasting bite. As we perused the menu in front of us, I was impressed with the number of classic French dishes, but two items caught my eye: the house made country pate and the Skate a la Grenobloise. When I saw those two, my decision was made. My hubby was going back and forth between a few things, but ultimately he decided on the wild mushroom soup and the caramelized sea scallops with a puree and wild mushrooms.

When our first courses came, we were not disappointed whatsoever, my pate was a wonderful example of what country pates should be and offered with the traditional cornichons, coarse grain mustard and a few olives, I finished the entire plate. My hubby’s soup was delicious, it was creamy and earthy, simply wonderful to savor. We were very, very happy with our choices.

Our main courses kept the bar of excellence way up there. I loved my skate a la Grenobloise, skate is a very traditional dish in French Bistros, skate is a ray and when it is filleted, it is a lovely, flaky piece of fish, perfectly suited to the marriage of the Grenobloise sauce; a simple brown butter, lemon and caper sauce, alongside the skate were three small steamed potatoes in their skin, or as the French like to say in their “robe de chambres” their dressing robes. My hubby’s sea scallops were exquiste, his words, not mine, but after tasting them, I have to agree. Normally I shy away from sea scallops because I have had them incorrectly cooked more often than not, but these were so perfect that they were exactly what my hubby had said, exquisite, sweet, firm and tender, melting in your mouth with a delicateness not often experienced, but when you do it is heaven in your mouth.

When we were done, we couldn’t eat anymore, we got the check and went back to the hotel to digest in comfort while watching our shows; NCIS, NCIS L.A and then Person of Interest.

Room service isn’t picking up

Tags

delivery, food, postaday2013, Restaurant, room service, staff

You know that you’ve had a pretty good day when the worst thing that happens is that room service isn’t answering your call for food. I am going to get up and go downstairs to order our food in person, we were looking forward to eat alone in our room and watch t.v. It’s only a minor inconvenience, what is weird is that I went down before to order in person and no one was manning the dining room. My hubby had a good idea and called the hotel restaurant, so I placed the order and I will deliver it to ourselves in about twenty minutes. I don’t know what is going on with the restaurant this evening, this surely can’t be good for business. This morning when I was having breakfast, they had three people and the service was fine. This evening at 6:15, this doesn’t bode well for tonight’s receipts. Perhaps a waiter called in sick, but still when I was down there before, they only had one table of four occupied. Oh well I can’t worry for them, there isn’t anything that I can do about it. I hope that the kitchen isn’t short staffed because then we will surely be in trouble, I may be supplying the service but they definitely won’t let me in their kitchen to cook our food. Theoretically there isn’t much that you can do to ruin pasta, soup and salad, I hope that I don’t end up eating my words, we haven’t tasted anything yet.

It’s always an adventure. 😀