La Casa de las Sirenas

There are still a few leftovers from the trip to Mexico . . . one of which was our dinner at La Casa de las Sirenas, which was the swankiest place we ate while in the capital. There had been plans to go to Puyol, considered one of the top spots in Mexico City but the size and madness of the city bested us and we could not get ourselves back to that part of town without a bit more of a Herculean effort than I wanted to put into having a meal. La Casa de las Sirenas is in the central historical district just off the main square behind the cathedral, which was all very close to where we were staying and so quite convenient. The food was also great.

You have to hike up quite a few rounds of stairs because while there is a bar on the ground floor, the restaurant seating is three stories up with most of the tables on a gorgeous patio overlooking the whole scene of central Mexico City below you.

It serves traditional Mexican food but also new twists on the old classics. My first dish was the very rich La Cazuelita de Tuétanos - basically marrow in a sauce with green chiles and served with fresh onions, fresh chiles, limes, and homemade tortillas. I ordered it in large part because I wanted some food served in the little clay cazuelita. Enjoyed it a great deal but this is a bit of a once in a lifetime dish it is so rich.

J ordered the Chilitos de la Casa, essentially stuffed chipotle peppers served with a creamy walnut sauce.

My main course of three different crepes stuffed with squash blossoms, meat, and chicken and smothered in some lovely creamy cheesy sauce does not make for a good photo but it did make for some good eats. Again, not the lightest of meals and it's a good thing we walked around for many hours this day.


The steak J ordered was absolutely fantastic - tender, flavourful - and served with fresh tortillas, grilled cheese wedges, the fantastic grilled whole small onions that were everywhere, cactus, and of course a homemade fiery chile salsa. Seemingly a safe choice but incredibly tasty.

It was all finished off with a shared piece of cheesecake that was made from a local cheese that I cannot recall offhand. Lovely blackberries and another fantastic Mexican meal in the belly!!

Cruisin....

I am back from vacation! I relaxed. I walked around New Orleans. I ran and lifted weights. I ate. I ate. And then I probably ate some more! The cruise was fantastic, New Orleans was interesting, and we really had an overall nice time. (And work didn't seem to implode in my absence, so that was good, too.)

We started our trip with a few days of sight-seeing in New Orleans. Crazy schedules and G being sick before we left meant that we had zero plan when we got to New Orleans. But all was well and we walked around, ate beignets, drank coffee, listened to jazz, and drank. We then met up with our Norwegian cruise and headed off to W. Caribbean. Wow. Mexico, Belize, and Guatemala. Fantastic! The cruise was very strange, but I really enjoyed our room with the giant window, the restaurants, the pool, the deluxe gym, the outdoor running track, and the incredibly friendly staff.

I have lots of photos but thought I might share a few early on with you folks...

Wait... what? You want more shots of me? *Blush* Of course!

Here I am, rocking my now baggy size 8 jeans and medium shirt. We're about to embark on a day of touring, and....

Hurricane drinking! Oh yeah, you have to do it, right? That was almost nothing but alcohol. The first few drinks (before the ice melted a bit) tasted like cough syrup.

And the best thing I ate while in New Orleans? This beautiful plate of red beans and rice with andouille sausage and blackened chicken... (bad photo...)

Gracious me, but that was delicious.

So what can I say.... New Orleans was pretty, the cruise was great, and the skies were mostly blue...

And yeah, I gained a few pounds on the cruise. The fitness trainer on board said that on average people gain between 7 and 14 pounds on a week-long cruise!!!!!! I believe it, and managed to come in under seven pounds of weight gain -- so go me, go me, go me.

I was not ever particularly motion sick on board the ship (surprisingly) but was crazy motion sick all day yesterday when back on dry land and in my office. I was so dizzy, I felt really out of sorts. It's all gone today, thank heavens. So back to the exercise grind tomorrow, and I've been counting WW points since I returned.

And now for the next vacation... Greece and Turkey anyone????

Macaroon.

In the bottom of NBC Studios (next to the entrance to the NBC Store) there's a little chocolate shop. We stopped in because they had my favorite sweet in all the world... macaroons. Not the nasty coconut abominations, but the real French macaroon deal.

Not cheap, oh no, and they were really only okay, not jaw-droppingly-stop-in-the-street-with-tears-in-your-eyes-because-you-only-want-to-eat-this-one-thing-for-the-rest-of-what-you-thought-would-be-miserable-but-now-is-exquisite-life good. No not at all. The winner of that title is Laduree in France.

But this was okay...


Chocolate innards? No thanks. Too much. I want vanilla. Pure delicious vanilla. Mucking it all up with chocolate is so American. (tee hee, I can say that being American, you see...)

Anyway, you'd think I'd have taken some notes while in NY so these entries would be more than 'there's this place over there with some food" but hey, you can't teach this old dog new tricks.

Pasta Perfection.

While in NYC for G's birthday, we went to see "Waiting for Godot" at the Studio 54 theater. It was fantastic! Nathan Lane, John Goodman, and Bill Irwin (and some other guy who's name I can't remember!), all giving it their best for an amazing performance. I really enjoyed it. We had found a website where you order directly from the theater but enter a code and you get 50% off the ticket price, so the price was right on the money and our seats were spectacular. I had never seen "Waiting for Godot" live and really enjoyed how engaging the show was.

One of the usher's recommended an Italian restaurant around the corner from the theater. I totally can't remember the name, but it's been there for sometime and I doubt it will be there much longer. It was totally old school. Old Italian men in white shirt and ties as the server, lots of options, fresh pasta and a totally old NY vibe. And it was pretty empty save for the table in the corner with some college kid who had apparently gone all Republican in college much to the dismay of his not-Republican parent.

But the food was really interesting. I started with a polenta with sauteed mushrooms...


The mushrooms were in this amazing sauce from being lightly cooked with large pieces of grilled off polenta. Really phenomenal.

G had a carpaccio starter, but the photo didn't happen. She said it was good.

For her main, G had ravioli...


...which you probably can't see under all that CHEESE! It was homemade and very simple and traditional and 100% delicious. It was such a basic cheese ravioli but so superbly made, I wished I had ordered the same thing!

I ordered one of the specials, lasagna.


Not what I expected. The sauce on the outside was like a rose sauce, which was lovely. I suspect that the meat inside was veal, and it has an almost boiled like consistency which while not unpleasant, didn't really rock my world either. The pasta tasted handmade and was really perfect, the cheese was gooey and oozey, just like it should be, but the meat really kept if from being a total winner for me.

The waiter was not overly friendly, but my glass of house chianti made up for it. Big and bold, it really hit the spot on a rainy post-surreal theater night.

I wish I could send you there for dinner. Go to Studio 54, if you have your back to the theater, go to the right. Go down the street, cross at the light, and it's right there... until it's not.

'WichCraft Gets Ya Every Time.

It's really not the rhythm that's going to get you, it's Tom Colicchio.

Yes, that's right. Evil Tom Colicchio. We're harmlessly, wheatlessly walking through the streets of Manhattan and G spots the 'WichCraft logo and of course we have to stop. And never mind that it's all crazy expensive, I can't afford the steak house so it's a 'wich for me.

I look at the menu and settle immediately on the no-brainer, meatloaf sandwich. AND OH MY GOODNESS WAS IT FANTASTICALLY COSMICALLY DELICIOUS! Meatloaf with gooey cheese... no really, look...


With very crisp bacon and my all-time fave condiment, tomato relish. Be still my rapidly beating heart. It was so amazing. The sandwich was warm but not crazy hot, the bread was a bit too thick, but the meatloaf was amazingly tender but firm, holding up well to the sloppiness of the relish and cheese. The bacon was very crisp and salty, really ideal bacon.

It was great, though honestly, this sandwich could have fed two people. It was my morning snack! (You can see why I gained ten pounds while I was gone. Thank heavens for the Wii EA Active for getting me out of bed and pumping some sort of iron.)

The Carbs Won Big.

So yeah, the Shake Shack killed me. It forced wheat down my throat and made me totally crave even more wheat. And once it's out the window, the window gets slammed shut with my will-power looking in like a whiner. So forgive this next meal...

We met up with our friend C (so nice to see him and his Buffy/Edward shirt... my peeps!), and went on a walking tour of the Lower East Side. My stomach was GRUMBLING and I was starving. My good g-free intentions were no match for C's restaurant choice. It had, he said, an amazing mac n cheese. So yes, I had to have it. With a side of fries. My arteries are still clogged....


Wow. My heart was racing and I was already feeling guilty about the stomach upset to come...but then the innards called out, and I was hooked...


Goodbye guilt!!!

Oh, and those fries???


YES! They were so crispy and well done. I absolutely loved them. Yum!!! Go C! Thanks for a great day!!! You rule!

Eating by the Water.

After heading out to the South Seaport in New York City, we had no idea what we were going to eat but knew we needed to grab some lunch. We wer starving!!

I have this weird issue with restaurants. I don't want to eat at chains as a general rule, but I am always leary of places I haven't heard of. It's an issue. So at the Seaport, we were walking around looking at the shops and the restaurants and decided to go to this Latin restaurant that had decent (read: cheap!) lunch specials.

We walked in and were seated straight-away on the patio overlooking the water. It was quite windy which made it slightly cold, but it was really a beautiful sunny day so I didn't mind at all.

First up, drinks for a vacationy Friday by the water!

G had a pina colada...


And I ordered a mojito...


My mojito was nothing but alcohol so I would take a sip and then let the ice melt for a bit, then take a sip. Sad to say, not being a big boozer, I did not get through even half of this delicious drink!

The specials were basically a soup or salad starter and a large plate of meat with rice and beans. Sounds good to me!

First up, we both had the gazpacho.


This was crazy garlicky. I am not a huge fan of gazpacho as a general rule. 1) it's cold and I don't particularly care for cold food. 2) It often tastes like a bowl of salsa, and really, I don't need to eat a bowl of salsa with a spoon. Give me chips or give me death, or something. But this was actually pretty refreshing. It was very fresh tasting and was a nice way to start the meal.

Following this, our mains came. G had ordered the chimichurri beef with no beans (she can't eat legumes of any sort any more) and when they sait it down, the smell was amazing.


The beef was pretty thin and very savory with an amazing sauce that G mixed in with everything. The onions were slightly pickled and really delicious.

I ordered the slightly less glamorous but very delicious chicken.


It was pretty plain, a grilled chicken breast or two with a slightly smokey chili sauce and a pyramid of rice. I also got beans, but wanted the pinto beans over the black beans. I mean, really, pinto beans slowly cooked with chorizo and onion over regular old black beans for the EXACT SAME PRICE. Don't waste my time with the black beans!!!


Yum!!

The chicken was a bit dry (which I quite like sometimes) and the beans added a nice smokey flavour. Really delicious.

We were quite full after this delightful meal and were well prepared for our continued walk around the city! I highly recommend this place for a cheap delicious lunch, it's on the top floor of the seaport shopping centre. I don't remember what it was called...

Standing in Line for Hamburgers

As has been mentioned once or twice on this blog, I love hamburgers. I haven't been eating them that often these days, and I when I do, it tends to be on g-free buns when there's a bun at all, but I couldn't let the opportunity pass me by to eat at the world-famous Shake Shack. We went there at about 3pm, not thinking that the line would be overly long.


We were wrong. The line was out of control. From beginning to end, it took about an hour. G didn't want to stay in line the entire time (and she had to save a table as they were a scarce commodity) so I watched Top Chef Masters on my phone and kept waiting.

The line moved slowly.


I was ready to order, having looked at the signs (and read the menu online), I was prepared for what was to come, and was excited at ordering food and sitting down and chowing on the hamburger!


Crinkle fries!!! YUMMY! And nicely wrapped hamburgers. I had a double burger (which I couldn't eat both burgers on the hamburger, it was too thick!), fries and a coke. G had the hamburger, fries and chocolate malt. The malt was thick and delicious, the fries were crispy on the outside and soft on the inside, and the hamburgers themselves...


Look at that! Juicy seasoned meat, slightly moist but not so much that it soaks the bun, melty cheese, sauce, ketchup, tomato. Delicious. Absolutely fantastic.

Now, I don't know that I would say this is the best hamburger I have ever had, but it's certainly one of the best I have eaten. It was worth the upset stomach!

(I don't know anyone else who is wheat intolerant, and there doesn't seem to be a lot of information about that in the world, but I find that when I eat wheat despite it upsetting my stomach so completely, it makes me crave more and more wheat. You'll see from the rest of the posts from NY that wheat was on the menu more than once after this fateful dive into the burgerverse.)

Mesa Grill.

G and I celebrated her birthday with dinner at the Mesa Grill. Straight away, let me say that I am not a fan of Bobby Flay. I think he's really smarmy and not in any way my favorite chef on the tv food network. But when planning our trip to NY, we had to agree that despite our great non-love for Mr. Flay, we have both always been impressed by the food he cooks, so we made the reservation and showed up on time for dinner.

We had a few rough patches initially. There was a table that was right in the doorway, and neither of us really wanted to sit in the doorway, so when we were being seated at this table (of course), we asked to be moved. The doorperson said that it may be a few minutes before we could have another table, which I said was fine. He seemed really put out that I asked. Almost immediately, he came back over and said there was a table upstairs for us. We head up and we are now being seated in the dishwashing section. No. That's not going to work either. This isn't a cheap restaurant nor were we dressed inappropriately, so I asked to be moved. We asked the server to move us, he said he understood and would personally move us to a table that is actually in the restaurant. We ended up at a great table, and taking a few deep breaths we vowed to not let this sour the experience.

And I am glad we did.

We instantly ordered a great bottle of wine and settled back in our chairs with the menu.

First up. Creamy Wild Mushroom Grits with Poached Egg, Charred Serrano Sauce, Cotija Cheese + Blue Corn Tortilla Crisps. OMG.


The egg was BRILLIANT, the cheesey grits were sensational, the crispy chips were a nice contrast to the texture of the creamy grits and cheese. It was so amazing. Honestly, between us, it was one of the most delicious things I have ever eaten in my entire life. I could eat that every day just for the sake of eating.

G ordered an amazing starter of Crispy Squash Blossoms with Ricotta, Corn, Sweet + Hot Yellow Pepper Sauce.


It's weird because in the picture, the squash blossoms don't look so crispy, but they totally are. They were wonderful. Really flavourful and crispy.

For our main, we both ordered the same thing: Sixteen Spice Duck Breast with Carrot-Habanero Sauce + Chorizo-Goat Cheese Tamale with Thyme Butter.


It was unbelievably good. The duck was meaty and pleasantly spiced and the chorizo tamale was outrageously fantastic. The cornmeal was really moist and soft and the innards were spicy but not too hot. The sauces add a really nice element.

We shared an almost unbelievable side dish of roasted corn. I could have eaten ten of them, they were so fantastic!!!


It seems silly to say that this corn was sensational because it was just a big thing of corn with some cheese and lime, but MAN ALIVE, it was lick the plate delicious.

We were totally stuffed but had to order dessert anyway.

I was drawn to the churros. It was my bad forray into wheat, but really totally worth it (again, yeah for not being celiac and only wheat intolerant!!!)!!!


G ordered the delicious shortcake. It was so good, G was in heaven!


So, our hats off to Mr. Flay. We didn't want to love it, but we totally did!!! It was amazing food and we had a great time at the restaurant. It was such a special dinner and we were happy to spend G's big birthday together. (Awww.)

The Intrepid and a Good Bowl of Chili.

G and I got to NYC pretty early in the morning, went straight to our hotel, got to check in early, and then headed out into the city. On the agenda, cupcakes (naturally) and a visit to the USS Intrepid.

Let me jump in now to say that I have a great pride in the military. My father spent most of his life in the military and I am in absolute awe of people who give so much of themselves to protect the rest of us lazy goons. But I don't enjoy military *things* like movies, museums, books. That being said, G really wanted to go to the Intrepid, and who am I to say no?

But first, LUNCH!

Our hotel was right by Grand Central Station, so on our way to the Intrepid, we stopped into the Food Court. It was a nice little luncheon area, and I was immediately drawn to the chili store. I had the Real McCoy with a mini corn muffin and a big glass of fresh brewed iced tea.


You also go two sides, so I picked sour cream and cheese. It was a non-bean chili, just absolutely wonderful bowl of chili with crumbled up corn muffins in there. So lovely.

Off to the Intrepid!

The Intrepid was quite cool. It had a totally fantastic mess hall that was restored to its former glory.


It looked like any regular regular kitchen, really. Lots of silver, huge bowls, huge utensils, all geared up to make a meal for a large group!

After you leave there, you go on to seeing the fantastic dining area...


Neat!

And after all that excitement, I had to take a nap on the bunk beds...


Okay, I didn't really sleep, but the bunk beds were a total crack-up and I just had to lay down on it. G took a picture... We also monkeyed around in the lander...


I didn't know this little girl was, but she was in the lander with me...

G hung out on the canoe...


The big blue mat was for making it rock around!

Good times were had by all!!!

So we looked at a million different planes, a submarine, a Concorde, the flight deck of the intrepid, and crawled through a bunch of little tunnels... and we watched a movie about the Intrepid's place in history, and we both got a little weepy... it was good times.

Breakfast is Delicious.

And so it went... another morning, another extremely filling breakfast!

Our third morning there, breakfast had an unusual element. It was an almost Manwich tasting ground beef! I asked Geoff what it was and he said, "I don't know exactly, and it looks weird, but it's terribly addictive." So of course, I had to try a big spoonsful...

The plate as it was at the moment I sat down to eat:


I didn't take pictures of everything, because as you can see, some things were repeats such as the eggs, bacon and beans. But, on this morning, there were some lovely grilled tomatoes...


And the aforementioned meat...


Which was addictive.

I also thought I would add a picture of the fire pit area of the lodge for you to see. It was so beautiful, we had such a lovely time.


I highly recommend Lalibela for anyone thinking of going on a safari close to Cape Town. It was so lovely, and they make you feel very special when you are there. The rooms are quite deluxe and the scenery is unbelievable. The animals just do their thing, and you just do your thing, and it all works around you. Really nice.

This is our room from the walkway...


And the inside... it was absolutely gigantic and the bathroom was right behind the bedroom so you can't see it...


Wow. It is such an amazing place. I highly recommend it.