Little Piggy Pic of the Week!

My wonderful colleague sent me this adorable picture this morning!  Oink oink!

This Little Piggy made a Multi-Cheese Quesadilla

After hosting a supper club mixer at my apartment on Saturday, I was left with the remnants of various cheeses that had been left unfinished.  Not wanting them to go to waste, I decided I would throw all the smaller pieces together and make a quesadilla.  I have absolutely no clue what they were, though they varied from a soft cow's milk to a harder pecorino type cheese.  I used about 4-5 of them and it turned out to be incredible.  All the white cheeses blended together deliciously and I was so pleased.  So... when you have smaller pieces of cheese and you're not quite sure what to do with them (besides obviously eating them whole), I highly recommend making a quesadilla.  Oink oink!

This Little Piggy had a Burger

About the chain of events above:  Last Friday I found out via the wonderful people at @winedanddined about an insane deal they were doing at Flip in Bloomingdale's.  All you had to do was text #89800 and put "FLIP2" in the body, and BINGO, you received a text back giving you a coupon for a free burger.  If you're not familiar with Flip, their burgers aren't cheap.  They pretty much range from $16-$23, which if you ask me, is a lot for a burger.  Anyways, I'm not a huge burger person to begin with, but I felt it was my blogging duty to take advantage of this opportunity.  My friend and I went during lunch and both ordered the Benedict Burger ( american-bred wagyu beef with canadian bacon, ultra-melted american cheese sauce and a fried egg grilled pattie-style on organic ny rye bread) for $23, which also came with steak fries.  The burger was alright, although a little dry, but you couldn't beat the price.  2 Burgers + 2 drinks = $6.50 (see receipt).  Pretty incredible.  Oink oink!

ps.  While I didn't love the burger, I am now obsessed with their mayo that I asked for to go with my fries.

This Little Piggy Has a New Favorite Spot

I decided I would start the week off with a bang.  I met up with a good friend so we could swing by the friends and family opening of Cienfuegos, a "secret rum bar in the EV" (posted on Urban Daddy yesterday).  Upon entering Carteles, the small sandwich shop at the front, we were led up a staircase in the back and entered a medium sized dining room.  While food does not seem to be of much concern here, the cocktail list is quite extensive.  All of the drinks are "punches" and can be ordered by the glass or in various sizes of bowls.  We enjoyed the the $30 punch bowl of some concoction with the word "Mischief" in it (as opposed to the $60 and $100 options).  It was alright, probably not as good as some of the punch bowls I've had at their sister cocktail dens, Death & Co. and Bourgeois Pig, but still light and refreshing.  In the next couple of months I bet this places will become extremely popular, especially for Friday/Saturday night birthday parties, bachelorette parties, and groups of loud girls who want a night out.

But... all in all, I just wasn't as impressed as I thought I would be.  I mean, I thought the space was great.  The decor was nice, especially the tiles that adorn the ceiling above the upstairs bar.  Unfortunately, however, I think they will likely be so focused on the drinks that the food will probably always take a back seat.  But, hey! I didn't try the food so I may be entirely wrong. 

It's worth the trip though, and I am sure I will go back in the near future to try the food and another punch bowl.  At the end of the day, I am fairly certain the place will be a huge hit, at least at the beginning, and people will probably call me crazy, but oh well!

That was not the bang of the night, however.  We then headed down to Chinatown for additional cocktails and some live jazz.  This is where I truly thank my friend for such a wonderful evening.  He brought me to Apotheke, which I had heard of but never visited.  This is by far my new favorite spot in NYC, and even better, it is located near my apartment.  I was told the weekends tend to be different there than the weekdays, so I will probably stick to Monday and Tuesday nights when they have live jazz.

Also of great importance were their cocktails.  They were unbelievable.  I told the barkeep that I liked everything except tequila, and he threw some things together creating an insanely delicious spicy, salty beverage.  Did I say how amazing it was?!  Ok, just checking, but really, it was that good.  Anyways, it was a fabulous way to end the evening and an even better way to start the week.  Great music, excellent cocktails and a wonderful friend!  What more can you ask for?!  Oink oink!

This Little Piggy likes Pacific Northwest Wines

During a vacation to the Pacific Northwest last October, I had the opportunity to go wine tasting at some excellent vineyards in the Willamette Valley in Oregon.  I had never had a Pinot Blanc before, and the one I tried at Four Graces was incredible.  I quickly fell in love with the amazing wines the region was producing.

I was really excited to hear that the Down Town Association would be hosting a wine tasting focused on the Pacific Northwest.  It was a great event and while I didn't try all eight of the featured wines, I tried some I really enjoyed and others I cared less for.  I found the Adelsheim Pinot Gris (2007) to be a very refreshing white.  It had a medium dryness with a higher degree of acidity.  It smelled of fruits, mainly citrus, rather than berry, and was medium bodied. 

I was slightly less impressed with the L'Ecole No. 41 Chenin Blanc (2009) from Washington, though I believe they may have been serving it too cold and this may have affected its flavor.  Lastly, I was not nearly as impressed with the WillaKenzie Pinot Noir (2007), also from Oregon.  The region is known for producing excellent Pinots and I thought this probably would have stood out to me, but alas, it didn't.  I did, however, enjoy the Mission Hill Winery Oculus (2004) from British Columbia.  I am looking forward to trying more wines from Washington and Oregon and will report back accordingly.

Featured Wines

Whites

- Adelsheim Pinot Gris 2007, Oregon
- L'Ecole No. 41 Chenin Blanc 2009 (Columbia Valley), Washington
- Mission Hill Winery Chardonnay 2006, B.C.
- Snoqualmie Vineyards Riesling Naked 2008, Washington




Reds

- WillaKenzie Estate Pinot Noir 2007 (Willamette Valley), Oregon
- Ex Libris Cabernet Sauvignon 2007, Washington
- Chataeu Ste. Michelle Cabernet Sauvignon, Washington
- Mission Hill Winery Oculus 2005, B.C.

Having your cake & eating it too!

So they say you can't have your cake and eat it too, and usually that is true.  Except, when there is a birthday here at work and someone grabs a cake at Junior's in Grand Central.  I'm not a huge sweets person, and unless it is Red Velvet Cake, I usually opt out of the sugar experience.  But, for the sake of the post, I felt it was my duty to try the Carrot Cake that was brought in yesterday.  Though it wasn't bad, I'm not sure it was worth the calories.  Others seemed to enjoy it, though, so maybe it's just me not having a sweet tooth.  Who knows, but I found it a little dry and the frosting a little too sweet.  I thought maybe it was cream cheese frosting, which I love, but Felicia claims the pictures look more like butter cream, so maybe that was the case.  Either way, I definitely didn't need two pieces.  Maybe it was a blessing in disguise...

Salty Pistachio Caramel soft serve with a little side of fluff

My apologies for the fluff, i.e., this beautiful picture of the tulips on Park Avenue, but they were just too lovely to pass up, so I figured, what the heck, I'd include them for your viewing pleasure.  I mean, they did give me the urge to get out of the office and make my way over to Milk Bar Midtown for a little soft serve.  Clearly, you can see how that could have happened by the similarity in the pictures. They currently have two flavors, Salty Pistachio Caramel and Cereal Milk.  I went with the Pistachio and was pleasantly surprised with its delicious salty and sweet flavor, but as has been the case with all the soft serves I've tried, I was only able to make it through half of the cup before I was sort of over it.  What's the deal with that?  The perfect way to describe it is with a Spanish word, "enpalagada", which more or less means too much flavor.  I typically use it to describe sweet things that you've just had enough of, like a chocolate brownie sunday, or in this case, the Milk Bar soft serve.  They're perfect for sharing though!

Heads Up: The flavors are changing at the EV location tomorrow, April 21st. Adiós Red Velvet and Cream Cheese Frosting swirl, which didn't taste like Red Velvet at all.

The night I made MExican food (Mexican just for Me!)

Sunday night I decided I would try to make something for dinner.  Initially, I was just going to heat up some soup, but a friend told me that was sad.  Truth be told, I wasn't in a very pleasant mood, so I decided I'd try to cheer myself up by cooking, if for no other reason so I'd have something to post about.  I threw some things together (specifically goya black beans, cheese, sour cream, homemade pico de gallo, sliced avocado and a tortilla) and bingo, I had  MExican dinner.  Que bueno, it was delicious!

Lesson learned: the beans in the can are already cooked, putting them in the saucepan is done only to heat them.  Who knew?!  What would I do without Felicia?!