I have my dad's eyes for sure

After Jannette took this pic of me at Maroons Thursday night, I looked at it and thought it reminded me of another one:






As I get older I think I look more like my mother... Argh. LOL

Oooooooooooooh, Maroons

Last night, Jannette and Joe took me to a Jamaican/southern restaurant I'd heard about, Maroons (no apostrophe), for my birthday dinner. I first heard about Maroons from Curtis, who had been there a few times and raved. This is what Zagat has to say:

Hyperbolic habitues of this "lively" Chelsea Jamaican-Southern declare its "flavorful", "rib-sticking", low-budget fare the best this side of the "mighty Mississippi" and "north of the Mason-Dixon line"; no wonder they take the "Caribbean-speed" service and "cramped" setup in stride.

http://maroonsnyc.com

Hey, I was there to have some real food, dammit, and I did. :o) We started things off with some Fried Green Tomatoes. The slightly spicy dipping sauce made them very yummy. I had the Louisiana's Grilled Garlic Shrimp with rice and peas and collard greens (excellent), while Jannette had Grandma's Crispy Fried Chicken with mac and cheese and collard greens, and Joe had Herb Marinade Grilled Salmon with rice and peas and mashed potatoes (it comes with spinach, but Joe swapped it out for the rice). He also had the soup of the day, crab corn chowder, and Jannette and I split a side of grits, which were amazing... cheesy. Whew! Jannette and I also had the cocktail of the day, some sort of spiced rum pina colada. It was excellent... so tropical and fresh, we felt like we were at the beach. ;o)

The cornbread they give ya is to DIE FOR. I've never had cornbread like that. It literally melts in your mouth.

I ended things with a Chocolate Cup Cake, which was literally molten, melty chocolate cake served in a cup. It was orgasmic, and they served it with a lit candle and sang to me. :o)

Fat n' happy at Maroons:

Damn that J-Ho!

I don't want to give my money to Jennifer Lopez, but somehow it happens. LOL

I bought a bottle of the bitch's Miami Glow perfume for Jannette a while back, since it seems to be a limited thing, and Jannette loves it. It really does smell delicious on her.

And admittedly I like the smell of Glow (just plain "Glow"), because it reminds me of a scent I already own called China Rain from a place called Common Scents in Port Jefferson, NY. I bought an adorable hat a few years ago in Macy's which had the JLo brand. Sigh. It was too cute to pass up.

I was browsing in a beauty store called Ulta yesterday out of boredom, and smelled Glow After Dark by JLo, and dammit...


I fucking like it.


The small bottle is 45 bucks though, and it pains me to think about giving her any of my money! LOL I put it on my birthday registry list just in case... ;o)

She wore an itsy bitsy, teeny weenie... blue striped bikini

I am so thankful for Weight Watchers, and even more thankful that I have been able to maintain my "ideal" weight for 8 months now.

I have done something I never thought I'd do and it's the first time too: I bought a bikini. In size XS... I almost fainted. And it looks good! Never, never, never thought that would happen. What could be better? The bikini was only $30. Thank you, Old Navy! :o)





Hopefully this summer I'll have an opportunity to wear it...

Tourguide and Nursemaid... and pizza love

Friday night into Saturday, Jonathan's sniffly-sore throat thing turned into a full-on cold, so it was a bit of a downer all around. I had hugged him at the airport, and realized that I probably already had the bug. But I tried to think positively as I inflated the Aero mattress for him in my living room (soooo glad I bought that thing a few years ago!). If a woman's going to get sick, it's most likely just before her period. Guess where I am in my cycle. Sigh. Jonathan was VERY down about it. I blame a lot of that on the fact that he has a Cancer Moon, honestly. Cancers are mopes. LOL And they don't "let go" of things very well.

Saturday was a bust. Jonathan was sick, and didn't have the energy to go sightseeing. I was bummed too. It was a gorgeous day, and we had made a lot of plans regarding what we were gonna see in NYC. My motherly instincts kicked in and I spent the afternoon tending to him and making chicken noodle soup (yep, from scratch). At least when I cook, I focus my mind on it fully, and this intensive recipe kept me busy all afternoon. And it was gooooooood. If I say so myself.

Sunday, he was feeling a little more up for sightseeing, so we headed to the Cloisters museum in Ft. Tryon Park in uptown Manhattan, where I've never been. Yeah, I've lived in NY/NYC area my whole life, but there are things I still haven't seen. People Jonathan spoke to back home told him to see the Cloisters. Some of it was very nice, but since it's all Medieval art, by the time I had see my tenth "Madonna and Child" interpretation, I was bored. LOL This part of Manhattan is very lovely, near the Inwood section. It's green and hilly, if you can believe... and there was a gorgeous Hudson River/Jersey view from the Cloisters.

When we got back to midtown Manhattan, we took a chance on a pizza place, but it was atrocious. I was trying to get Jonathan some real pizza (not the slop he's accustomed to), and instead we got some kinda gross stuff with a doughy crust, too saucy and tasteless. It's insane that there are more crappy rather than good pizza places in Manhattan. I knew we'd have to go to Brooklyn for the real stuff. I showed Jonathan Rockefeller Center, St. Patrick's Cathedral and of course Times Square.

Monday I took him to South Street Seaport, and we had lunch/dinner at Heartland Brewery, where he was able to get some local beer. Jonathan likes to sample local beer when he travels. From there we visited the World Trade Center site, and neighboring St. Paul's church, which has become a bit of a museum/memorial even though it's still a functioning church with services. It's very moving to be there, no matter what faith you practice, or even if you don't practice anything at all. From there, we walked across the Brooklyn Bridge, which I haven't done since I was a child, so I enjoyed it.







As you can see, we had some fabulous weather. :o)

We walked across the bridge twice, and got some Mister Softee ice cream near City Hall.

On Tuesday, we rode the Staten Island Ferry, another thing I haven't done since I was a very small child, so it was a bit of a treat for me too.





I chatted with one of the crew men on the ferry while Jonathan snapped those pictures. The crew guy (from the Bronx) and I (from Brooklyn) had a chuckle about me doing all these touristy things. But it was nice. I won't say I take these sights for granted, but it's good to show them to someone who's never seen them.

Jonathan and I rode the ferry back to Manhattan from Staten Island (nothing to see there LOL) and hopped on the subway headed to Brooklyn. My dad's been enjoying pizza at DiFara on Avenue J and 15th Street in Midwood, Brooklyn since before I was born. When my family and I lived in Midwood for a time, we were all spoiled to have DiFara in our backyard. I was a kid then, so admittedly I didn't really appreciate the work of art that is a pie from Dominic De Marco, who's been crafting pizza for more than 40 years. But I sure do now. I haven't been there since I was about 16, so it was an event. DiFara has gotten "best pizza in the city" awards for several years now, and more recently, Time Out New York and Zagat have deemed it the BEST in NYC, period.




Here's Zagat's 2007 review:

"Maestro" Dominic De Marco "works magic" at this circa-1963 Midwood pizzeria offering "handcrafted", "epiphany"-producing pies made with "totally fresh ingredients"; despite "seedy" decor, "painfully long" waits and a "middle-of-nowhere" address, it's got "da best pizza in Noo Yawk."

Oh yeah, Zagat rates the food 26 out of 30.

Zagat prints the DiFara name in all caps, which is a prestigious distinction they give restaurants. They aren't kidding about "painfully long" waits at DiFara. Dominic makes every pie himself, no matter how busy the place gets. And he's an old man now, so he may be moving slower... who knows. But every pie is "crafted" with love, that's for sure. Dominic makes his own sauce on premises, and all of his ingredients are fresh. he stands over the pie, hand-shaving slices of fresh Mozzarella onto the thin crust, stained with just the perfect amount of sauce. The pie also gets a sprinkling of extra virgin olive oil and Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese. Once it comes out of the oven, it gets another dusting of Parmigiano-Reggiano, a drizzle of olive oil and a sprinkling of fresh snipped basil leaves, which Dominic cuts with a scissor over the pizza.

You stand there (with a crowd, since the place is always packed now) staring at Dominic as he works, 'cause it takes about a half hour (or longer, if you're behind a lot of people) from start to finish, but when it's all done... boy, oh boy. If you're very hungry, this can be such torture! I had the sense to quickly ask for two slices as a pie came out of the oven, while Jonathan had gotten a single pepperoni slice. But he realized after he took his first bite that he'd be waiting another half hour to get a second slice. ;o) He waited, and he was blessed with a sicilian (square) slice the second time.



My dad tells me that Totonno's in Coney Island is great too. I'll have to get over there one of these days...

After that extraordinary experience, I picked up some bagels (I HAD to... Jersey is a sorry place for bagels too), and we headed back to Manhattan for a quick stroll into Central Park.





It was a short walk into the park, since we were tired, and didn't want to be there once the sun set. ;o) Jonathan got the gist of this spectacular place in the center of Manhattan. We got back to Jersey and decided to have a drink at the Italian restaurant by my house, GP's (I love that place). The place was of course a bit dead -- it was Tuesday night after all, but we chatted with Charlie the bartender (from the Bronx!) and two of my neighbors. Steven is a Frenchman now living in Guttenberg, and he had brought a jar of pate to share with the bartender, but Charlie declined. I tasted it, and it was odd. It was pork pate. Jonathan and Steven happily slathered it onto pieces of bread and gobbled it down, while I got quite the buzz off my Ketel One and cranberry beverages. ;o) I knocked one of my drinks all over the bar... I'm such a damn lightweight idiot! LOL Charlie graciously kept our drinks flowing (at least one or two were on the house), while I nibbled on the meatball appetizer special of the night. It was a good time. I chatted with another one of my neighbors, Camilo, who gave me the name of a temp agency in case I needed it.

I dropped Jonathan off at LaGuardia on Wednesday afternoon, and I visited my brother for a little bit (he lives right near the airport... just a short bus ride away).

I slept late today... and now I feel that familiar tickle in my throat... I'm getting sick. Sigh. I will fight it hard.

Mmmmm... Dave... Larger Than Life

Yesterday Ozzie and I were walking through Times Square, when I saw my beloved Foo Fighters, larger than life, on the front window of the Billabong store. Looks like they've licensed the Foo name for merchandise. Sigh. Just the sight of Dave makes my heart skip a beat... still.

I asked Ozzie to snap a picture of me in front of the window with my camera phone.

"Don't you have enough pictures WITH Dave?" he asked. Maybe. But the odds of me ever being in his presence again are slim... LOL I take what I can get.