Happy Birthday to Me!

Last Monday was my 27th birthday, so I have officially entered the my late 20's...yikes!  So, although this birthday was a hard pill to swallow, I fully believe in celebrating my birthday to the fullest!

The celebration began on Sunday night with a family dinner at Beauty and Essex.  This food was seriously delicious (and they serve champagne in the bathroom...amazing!).  It is all small plates, so we got to try a bunch of different things...  Pan Con Tomate with fresh burata (burata is one of my favorite things in the world btw), Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup Dumplings, Lobster Mac and Cheese (which was one of that night's specials), Braised Chicken Meatballs, Heritage Baby Back Ribs, Tandoori Salmon, Calamari Payaya (which is the one thing I did not like!) and the Beauty and Essex Burger...YUM!  Somehow we found room for dessert and ordered Macarons and Box of Doughnuts (pictured above).

I will start off by simply stating that I do not believe in working on my birthday, so Monday (my actual birthday) began with a delicious breakfast consisting of a pain au chocolat and a bowl of cappuccino from Balthazar.  Breakfast was followed by an amazing massage and facial at Bliss - Soho.  After the pampering was complete and a significant amount of window shopping was done, we stopped for SPICY FROZEN HOT CHOCOLATE at MarieBelle, this adorable, delicious chocolate shop (ps - the food there is not too shabby either).

My lovely birthday was complete with take out from Five Napkin Burger and a single, delicious chocolate covered strawberry from Cafe Lalo (complete with a candle and birthday wish!).

I'm back...

I am back in blogger world!  Over the past 8 months I have started a new job, moved apartments and generally have been running all over the place...  Now that I am settled in most aspects of my life (for now), I am back!

triple chocolate pecan cookies

These cookies can only be described as chocolate chip cookies on steroids.  They are so good, so pretty and very easy!

Triple Chocolate Pecan Cookies
recipe adapted from Great Cookies by Carole Walters

recipe after the jump

all scones are not created equal

This morning I was craving a vanilla soy latte from Starbucks and the chilly weather deterred me from walking the extra 10 or so blocks to Amy's Bread, so I opted for a blueberry scone from Starbucks.  But let me tell you, all scones are not created equal!  Not that the scone from Starbucks was bad, but a scone from Amy's Bread is like heaven on a plate...oh well, there is always next Saturday!

welcome weekend...

Things I've got lined up this weekend:  cocktail party at a friend's apartment; baking triple chocolate pecan cookies; dinner at Alta with some girl friends; part two of my knitting class at Lion Brand Yarn ...and I'll throw some running in there somewhere!

Any exciting plans for the weekend?

dinner party to ring in 2011

To ring in 2011 I hosted my first dinner party for some friends at my apartment.  For those of you who follow my blog, you may notice the menu looks a little familiar!  To decorate my little kitchen table I bought a scarf that I could use as a tablecloth and arranged a bouquet of new years horns to add a festive touch.

hors d'oeuvres:
holiday goat cheese log w rosemary flatbreads
gruyere puffs
mexican dip (brought by my friend Meredith)

main course:
chive popovers
roast beef tenderloin with merlot and shallots
spinach gratin (brought by the lovely Christina)

dessert:
caramel topped semolina cake (from Around My French Table, which I got for Christmas from my sister!)
assorted christmas cookies

**please excuse my dessert picture.  By the time dessert rolled around I had had one too many glasses of champagne and taking pictures of the table slipped my mind (gasp!).  Above is a picture I'd taken earlier on my phone!

As always, I've linked all the recipes I could find online, but if you'd like a recipe that I haven't posted just ask!

aureole

Last week I went to Charlie Palmer's restaurant, Aureole, for dinner.  This restaurant is seriously amazing and I would say one of the better meals I've had.  Surprisingly it is located right in the heart of times square, although unlike it's neighbors Aureole's clientele is not made up of hoards of tourists!  If you sit by 6 pm (yes, I know how early that is), there is a pre-theater 3 course menu....which is precisely what we did.

To start we all ordered the Spicy Crab Soup, served with tuscan kale, slow roasted cherry tomatoes, pickled jalapenos and pearl pasta.

For my main course, I had Flank Steak served with creamed spinach (which was by far the best I have ever had), maitake mushrooms, cauliflower and sauce robert.

One of my dining companions ordered the Organic Scottish Salmon served with horseradish potato gnocchi (so interesting and tasty), mustard greens, gala apples and red beets.

Finally, for dessert we had Coconut Panna Cotta with lime, rum scented pineapple and macadamia....think a deconstructed pina colada!

Warm Chocolate Gingerbread with spiced cranberry chutney and clotted cream.

And as if that weren't enough deliciousness for one evening, we were given an extra special treat of three churros with chocolate sauce for dipping to finish off this wonderful meal!