First Class!! ohhhhweeeee!!

...flying first class!!! so, this past weekend i flew to buffalo out of jfk airport and as my boarding pass was swiped, the ticket agent let me know i had been upgraded from 7A to 4A. i asked her what that meant, she said that my seat was moved up. then i said, what if i don't want to sit there...she just shrugged...as i boarded the plane, i counted the rows and realized i DID want to see in seat 4A!!!! i was sitting in first class!!!!!!! there was a bottle of water waiting for me at my seat, along with a pillow and a blanket. when i sat down, there was plenty of room for my feet, hahaha!! (if you know me, you know how much of a joke this is!!) even before the plane took off, the flight attendant asked me if i wanted something to drink and when i was given something to drink it was in a glass!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! it was un-be-lieve-able!!!!!!! ok it was hard to keep my composure, i've been flying for years and this has never happened to me. this was the best 58 mins flight of my life!!!!!! i wish i was rich enough to fly first class all the time but 'til i'm upgraded again i will savor this experience!!!!

Wheel Throwing Pottery

...taking a pottery class. i think almost every women that has seen the movie 'ghost' has wanted to try wheel pottery. thanks to living social i was able to take an introduction class for either a handbuilding or wheel throwing class at la mano pottery. it went to the class thinking that i would come home with all sorts of creative goodies, however this class was an introduction and we were just getting a feel for the clay on the wheel and learning the basics. it actually takes a while before pottery is complete and we wouldn't finish in the 2.5 hour class.  first we learned about wedging. this is the process of kneading the clay to make it homogenous or getting rid of the air bubbles that are in the clay. when were were given a ball of clay and before you can make exciting creations you have to center the clay of the wheel. it took me the entire class to finally get the hang of centering the clay on the wheel. once i was able to pass that step, i thoroughly enjoyed myself and the time flew by. i wish i had money to spare, i would definitely take the 8 week course. this is something that i got the hang of quickly and i don't want to toot my own horn but i think i was pretty good. with a little more direction, i think i would be really, really good so i think i'm going to try to nurture my craft!!!

Zico Passionfruit Coconut Water

...drinking zico passionfruit coconut water. so. nasty. never the twain should have met. that's it, sooorryyyyy!!!!

xo

Yankees vs. Rockies

...going to a yankee game, well acutally i went this past saturday with some friends. we had great seats in the sun sitting on the first level!! this is closet i've ever been to a basball field. the new stadium is niiiiice (not that i went to the old stadium to compare it to)!!! the seats are cushioned, i felt like i could sit there forever. i don't watch sport on tv because i feel like the commericals drag out the whole thing, however without the commericals, it didn't seem as long! i even got to do the wave for the first time!!! it was sooo cool. of course, the yankees won the game (vs. colorado rockies 8-3). i thoroughly enjoyed myself and would love to go to another baseball game... maybe i'll hit citifield, let's see if the mets are as exciting as the yankees....

 

xo

Apartment Hunting

...going to an open house for an apartment. so i'm getting ready for my upcoming move and though i have a couple months before i really need to start looking seriously i saw an ad today that i was interesting. i called the number on the ad and when i finally spoke to lady from the ad, she told me that they were having a open house and though i wasn't ready to move i should stop and take a look. wellllll..... it----was-----interesting. i must say it was on a beautiful block in the bedford-stuyvesant area of brooklyn (i love love love that area). it's really weird saying this but at the age of 30, i've never picked any place that i've lived, never had a say, so this is a huge first for me and i have a list (it's not that long) of things that i want and so not want.  immediately walking into the apartment, i didn't like it. at the front door, on my left was the bathroom (literally), behind that was the kitchen with absolutely no counter space. my first thought was how will i cook or bake cookies with no counter space????!!!! the rest of the apartment was ok, i did like the exposed brick (the only plus of this apartment) but i was in a weird spot. i definitely knew this one wasn't the apartment for me but i have a few months to find exactly what i'm looking for!!!! I'M SOOO EXCITED!!!!!!!!!!!!

xo

Miso Soup

...drinking/eating (which one is it?) and hating miso soup. when i ordered sushi for lunch today and it was part of my lunch special so i decided to try it. soooo let me ask you something...have you ever had shoes that got so wet that it got to your toes, you took them off poured water back into the shoes and then drank it...nasty huh?! well that's what this miso soup tasted like!!! no joke!! i'm not a huge fan of soups in general but there are a few that i kind of like but this was the worst soup ever!!! this was my first miso soup, so i'm hoping that this was just a bad batch of dirty water and that not all miso soup taste like this, so i'll try it one more time....dun dun dun.....

xo

Wine Class #3- Pairings

...taking a wine class. this evening i took a wine class at brooklyn oenology in williamsburg, brooklyn (of course!). it was soooo much fun and interesting. one thing that i loved about boe is that everything that is sold: wine (all the grapes are grown in ny and the labels on the bottles feature brooklyn artists (sooo cool)), cheese, meat, or other snacks are made in new york, quite a bit of them even made in brooklyn (i'm totally down for supporting the n.y. economy!!) the owner of the boe was the one to lead the wine class which was on pairing wine, cheese and cured meat. she put together 5 pairings for us.

wine: 2009 boe friend riesling (seneca lake, finger lakes)

meat: finochietta, salumeria biellese (pork salami, seasoned with fennel seed and fennel pollen)

cheese: kunik (triple cream, white mold ripened from goats milk and jersey cow cream)
**best pairing**

wine: 2007 boe chardonnay (cutchogue, north fork of long island)
meat: cacciatorini, salumeria biellese (coarse ground, air cured pork sausage, seasoned with red wine and garlic)
cheese: barat, sprout creek farm (raw cow's milk--dense and dry)

wine: 2009 boe cabernet franc rose (seneca lake, finger lake)
meat: salami toscana, salumeria biellese (coarsely ground berkshire pork shoulder, seasoned with traditional tuscan spices)
cheese: frere fumant, 3 corner field farm (raw sheep's milk)

wine: 2006 boe merlot (cutchgue/ southold, north fork of long island)
meat: ciacciatorini al diavolo, salumeria biellese (seasoned with mediterranean spices)--quite spicy
cheese: eden, sprout creek farm (raw cow's milk)--stinky

**bonus**
wine: 2009 bouke perlant (mattituck/cutchogue/southold, north fork of long island)
sweet: better brittle west-african style peanut brittle-- the bomb diggity!!!!!!!! best peanut brittle ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

so of course i tried everything, and it was crazy how the wines complimented the meats and cheeses they were paired with. though i would probably never eat cheese made from sheep's milk on my own, with this cabernet franc it was so delicious!! that one was definitly a surprise.  the first pairing was the best of the four. the wine was tasty, i liked the creaminess of the cheese (tasted almost like soft cream cheese) and the meat was a great compliment. i even learned a few things: 1. spicy foods go great with sweet wines. 2. rose= red wine + white wine. 3. rose wines are made from bleeding the skins of red grapes. bleeding the skins for a small amount of time= rose. bleeding the skins for a long period of time= red. 4. dry wine= no sugar is added to the wine. there are a couple that i would definitely buy in the future but i didn't buy any wines this time. however, i did buy some treats made in new york/brooklyn ... peanut brittle, bourbon-coffee caramel corn with candied bacon popcorn, and sweet potato chips (i am salivating just telling you about them! i can't wait til tomorrow so i can eat them!!). the owner was interesting and informative causing me to thoroughly enjoy myself during this experience. this is totally something i would like to do again!

xo

Irie Man! Jamaican Jerk and more...

...taking a cooking class at mopac (meet other people and cook) in williamsburg, brooklyn! you might be saying to yourself, c'mon aimee you don't know how to cook at your age?? i don't want to toot my own horn, buut...i'm gonna :), yyyeeaahhh i can cook and i cook pretty well!! i really took this class to see what a cooking class was like. overall it was a pretty good experience. the class started at 6:30 and as usual i was early so i got first dibs on where i wanted to sit and i kinda set the tone for the class. as people came in, they sat in my general area.  i thought that was cool because usually people tend to spread out to giving themselves some space, making it hard to get acquainted.  as an icebreaker, we were given a sheet of paper with questions and we had to ask 4 of them to someone in the room we didn't know (that was easy for me because i didn't know anyone!). they were questions like: lake or ocean? chinese or thai? facebook or twitter? what do you know about west indian food? beer or wine? subway or driving?--those were the popular ones...what was nice was that in the beginning the 10 of us started off in pairs and like 5 minutes into the icebreaker we ended up in a big circle talking together. the actual cooking session started around 7. first we made escovitch fish (a fried piece of tilapia sauteed in a vinegar/onion/carrots/peppers concoction), fried plantains and jerk chicken (really, it was chicken with jerk seasoning...totally different). because i'm used to seasoning my meat/fish before i cook it,  it was so weird for me to throw (place gently in the oil) a fresh piece of meat on the stove. for a 2 hour class the food tasted the best it could taste and i would try the recipes again at home when i have time to season my meat and soak it in a marinade. the best part of the class was meeting the people, they were very cool. we all talked through the entire class getting to know one another, i even exchanged info with a few people to catch up at a later date. this is definitely a great class to introduce you to west indian food if you're not familiar with it. since i have an idea of what these dishes taste like authentically, when i get the recipes, i think i might have to do some tweaking. nonetheless i've already signed up for another class--fun time, great experience!! can't wait to do it again!!

escovitch fish

xo

jerk chicken with fried plantains

DiGiorno Pizza

...eating a digiorno pizza. you might think this is a whack first but i wanted to share it with you-- you may need digiorno in your life!!!!! it is without a doubt the best frozen pizza in the world (yes, that's what i said)!!!! i am not even joking! we've all seen the commercials and we know their slogan, 'it's not delivery, it's digiorno' -- well as far as i'm concerned they don't need to be delivery because it tasted better than any delivery pizza i've ever tasted...or maybe they should deliver and put the others out of business (haha, that was mean)!!! what i liked most about this pizza was that the crust wasn't hard at all after baking (a serious problem that i've had with all the other frozen pizzas, cutting the inside of my mouth because the crust was so hard... i felt like i was chewing on tiny knives, hahaha -- that may sound a little extreme but that's how it felt!). yes, the crust was soft all the way through, the sauce was delicious (you could taste the seasoning) the cheese was good, and it evenly covered the pizza. i decided to try digiorno on a whim as i walked through the frozen food section of target and what a wonderful spontaneous purchase! i think this is a great dinner for 2 on a rainy night with a bottle of wine (or juice, if that's your preference) and a movie!! until there is another pizza that can compete, i will never buy another!!!!

xo

Redmond Ranch Zinfandel

...drinking redmond ranch zinfandel 2007. i bought this wine a couple of weeks ago from wineinsiders.com for the great price of $9.99. i actually tried it on wednesday night and didn't like it, however when i read about it, it recomended that you drink it at room temperature. i tried it again tonight and i really enjoyed it! who would have thought that the temperature would make such a difference...not me! it was really much more tasty and full of flavor at room temperature. this is a red california wine that contains the fruit flavors of berries and cherries with a slight taste of grittiness and spice. when i starting drinking it, i suddenly started craving lasagna or a piece of steak. though i prefer white wines, this is another wine i would definitely try again with some sort of beef dish on the side.

xo

Almond Milk

...drinking almond milk. i wanted to try it for a long time, however, i didn't want to waste the money buying a half gallon just in case i didn't like it. while visiting a friend's house, i peeped in their fridge (i asked permission to peep, i promise!!) and got excited when i saw the almond milk (this one was from whole foods) because now i could finally try it. almond milk is sooo delicious and creamy. it tasted like melted ice cream...it was a delightful surprise. i really enjoyed it. this is a great alternative if you can't drink regular cow's milk. i will definitely head to the supermarket to get me some almond milk and you should too!!

xo

PopChips and Baked by Melissa

...eating popchips and cupcakes baked by melissa. i've seen popchips in the store for years and for the life of me i don't know why i never tried them. popchips are supposedly healthy because they are neither baked or fried but they tasted fried to me. supposedly they add a little heat and pressure and pop goes the chip! i don't know if you remember munchos potato chips from back in the day (they may still be around), well the orignal popchips tasted exactly like that minus the truck load of salt that munchos had or may still on them. i could take or leave popchips, i think target or lays baked chips taste better...while i was visiting midtown this evening i passed baked by melissa on e.42nd street, right off of lexington ave (next door to grand central station). i was drawn into baked my melissa for a couple of reasons: 1. the decor was completely white and the cupcakes drew me with all their vibrant colors!  2. midtown is very monotone, all the buildings are the same color but baked by melissa was such a bright spot on the block--i was drawn right in!! the cupcakes are the size of quarters (bite size) --i was slightly disappointed by this but i guess that's melissa's thing, so i won't knock it. i wondered how many i would have to eat to get the full taste of the cupcake. i bought 6 for $5.50, 2 red velvet (of course), 1 cookies n cream, 1 cinnamon, 1 cookie dough, 1 tie dye. of course, i tried the red velvet first. not badddd...not the best red velvet i've ever tasted, but delicious and light enough that i would definitely eat more and more and more. it's a great place to stop in for a quick tiny treat in midtown!!

xo

Tasting Brooklyn, ohh so good!

...tasting so many delightful delectables made in brooklyn. this evening i went to a event called the first annual brooklyn exposed: tasting brooklyn. it was about 25 brooklyn restaurants and businesses that brought samples of their food, wine and drinks... it was soo a-mazing!! most of the restaurants are located in park slope, williamsburg, red hook, prospect heights and cobble hill. restaurants like: mojito, bati, cheryl's global soul, boe, barrio, fornino, the chocolate room, palo santo, stone park cafe--just to name a few... the slogan for the event was eat, drink, be merry-- exactly what i did!! when i was originally told about this event, i wasn't all that eager about the ticket price--$35, however as i read the details i upgraded to the vip ticket -$60, which included a gift bag worth $110 and entry into the event and hour early.... and boy was it worth it!!!!!  i was able to enjoy and savor everything before most of the public came in to touch and spit all over it, haha!! i was able to talk to the owners of businesses and/or those that work for them about the passion of food or how their businesses got started. it was quite interesting!! the menu consisted of things like:  lamb sliders, they were soo juicy, succulent-- cappuccino chocolate cheesecake, it was pretty good even though i'm not a lover of anything with a coffee flavor-- rabbit tosadas (yup you read that right!) that were actually pretty tasty--crab cakes that were totally and utterly a-mazzziiinnggg!!! seriously they were the best crab cakes i've ever tasted, you could taste and actually see the crab. i've never shopped at fairway supermarket but i seriously need and want to take a trip to red hook to stock up on crab cakes-- the duck and orka jumbo was very good. it was full of flavor and spice with a kick-- chicken and pork adobo in purple yam pan de sal with philippine heirloom rice, it was interesting. the rice was just ok because even though it looked good, it really had no taste. the chicken and pork adobo was actually pretty good. the braised short rib ravioli was also ok the meat was wayy better than the pasta part so i ate out the inside and threw away the outside. there was also stuffed mushroom crostini, jerk wings, german sausage, shrimp rolls, herbal water, ham croquettes, spinach croquettes, breuckelen cupcakes--seriously, overall everything was good, along with my gift bag, i totally got my $60 worth!!! i was so glad i upgraded to be vip! as i passed those waiting in line to get in, i said, "suckas, i bet you wish you were vip like me!!!!!!!! hahahahahahahaha! since this event is annual, i will definitely be there next year, life be spared!! if you missed this you definitely missed something awesome!!! you better catch it next year!!!!

 

xo

New World Shiraz

...drinking new world shiraz 2010. ok, so if you've been following my blog you'll know that i'm pretty new to the world of wine...saying all that, this was one of the worst wines i've tasted, seriously...no lie!. i feel bad saying this because i know the company is out there somewhere (south africa) and they put their heart, soul, blood, sweat and tears into stomping these grapes, however, it's just not good enough. oh oh oh i know, have you ever had ink in your mouth after a pen broke from chewing on it (yes, i know it is soooo high school, that's when it happened, of course hahahaha), well that's what this wine tasted like with a splash not a dash of black pepper! i know this may sound strange but i have a very clear palette, :D !!  this south african red wine retails for $12.95, a little pricey for peppered ink in a bottle, if you ask me. the wine is harsh, very dry with a strong bitter after taste (definitely not a good year for the new world, haha). i'm sorry but i really can't recommended this to anyone, not even my enemy (c'mon,  you know i don't have any of those)!!!

xo

Tied Knot Trail

...drinking tied knot trail riesling 2009. i think after this bottle i am officially a groupie for white wine (yes, i'm a groupie because i am more than a fan!)...this bottle  of wine was like a cool breeze on a warm summer day (exactly what i wish for on a day like today...a freezing cold spring day, c'mmooonnnn summer!!). tied knot trail is from the vineyards of california and could be bought for $14.99 from wineinsiders.com (thanks to another great groupon deal!!) now back to the good stuff... as i sipped on my glass of riesling, it was so refreshing, light, crisp with the hidden flavor of lemon, pink grapefruit and peach. i think this a great wine for pasta meal, however, i was eating chips and guacamole, hahaha (what!! don't judge me!!) i really thought this wine was so tasty, i put the chips and guac aside to savor the flavor of the wine...great wine!!! i definitely recommend....ok i think i'm going for another sip. lata!!!!!

xo

Thalassemia

...my parents told me that i probably have thalassemia...yup, it's a disease. i wasn't born yesterday or the day before, why am i only now being told this may be a possibility??!! you're probably wondering how this all came about? welllllll,  it all started in january, with all the tons of snow that we got, one morning on my way to work, i fell down the front steps of my house almost killing myself, or so i thought at the time. i really just broke my tailbone (or i seriously thought i broke it, it hurt sooooooo bad!!) i can laugh about it now, but that fall was no joke!! a week later, i felt a small lump above my breast. i called my doctor with the quickness because i didnt know what cancer might feel like and i needed to be sure...by the time i got an appointment, it was 3 weeks after my fall (still in pain, of course) and 2 weeks after i first felt the lump...i was dying to get in there to tell her all my ailments! during the visit, she sent me for a sonography of the lump and a full blood workup... i had to wait a month to get results, this is crazy!! all i could think about was, if this is cancer how fast could it spread in a month???!!!! of course when you want time to fly that when it says, "forget you, i'm going to take my time," haha! it was one of the longest months of my life!! when i finally went back to hear my results 2 weeks ago, my vitamin d levels were super low...low like it should be 50 and mine was 6!!!! my lack of vitamin d was the reason it took almost 2 months to fully heal from the fall. my iron levels were also low (i wasn't really surprised since i've always been told that i was anemic). she asked me if i was taking iron to which i replied that i was taking it last year but it didnt have any effect so i stopped. she then wrote me a presciption for iron (3 times a day) and vitamin d (3 times a week)--who knew doctors could write a prescription for vitamins? anyway, when i told my parents about what the doctor said all they said was ohhh, thats alot of iron. be careful iron tends to back you up if you don't drink alot of water...omgoodness!!!!! gee thanks! i really wanted to hear that (actually, i knew that already though). yesterday they called me to say that they don't think i'm anemic and that i have thalassemia and that is why the iron didn't work when i took it last year... i thought they were making it up 'til i googled it...thalassemia is a blood disorder passed down through families which  causes the body makes an abnormal form of hemoglobin, the protein in red blood cells that carries oxygen. i have a lot of the symptoms: constant fatigue (i could literally sleep allllll day, growth failure (is this why i'm so short??!!!!!!!!!!), shortness of breath when exercising, and yellow skin (i look almost sickly in the wintertime). well i'm off to find a hematologist (blood doctor), to find out if this is all true. wish me luck!!!!!


xo

Tajine de Poulet

...eating tajine de poulet with lemon and olives. i met a friend, jh, for dinner at babouche in park slope (i think i'm addicted to all the amazing food in the area). i was undecisive about what i wanted to eat because there were so many things i wanted to try. in the end, i settled on tajine de poulet aka moroccan stew chicken. i didn't know what moroccan stew was but i wanted to taste it and yooooo this joint was soooo a-mazing!!!  first of all it came out in the slow simmering pot it was cooked in...the tajine was piping hot, it steamed through the entire meal, i was blowing my food to the last delicious bit!!! it was soo good. all of seasoning, spices (cinammon, saffron, ginger, paprika, pepper, and turmeric) and flavor. the chicken was so tender, so soft, it melted in my mouth!!! they have tajine de d'agneau (lamb stew), tajine de poisson (fish stew), and tajine de legumes (vegetable stew)... so whatever mood you find yourself in, they have a stew for it!!

xo

Mussels Possilipo

...eating mussels in marinara sauce. lunch today was from mulino (5th ave, brooklyn), my boss's most favorite italian restaurant in brooklyn. i took a chance and ordered mussels as my appetizer. when i opened them, i looked at them with absolutely no clue of where to start, thankfully, my co-worker, rd, was kind enough to show me the proper way to eat mussles.
-use the empty shell to scoop the meat off of the attached shell
-scoop some sauce/gravy into the shell with the meat
-eat/drink/slurp the meat & sauce
-enjoy....or not!

i have never in my life slurped an ex-living thing out of a shell before. this kind of freaked me out but i powered through! it tasted like chicken fat dunked in the ocean!!!! this was the first time that i wanted a lemon to cut the oceany freshness. after eating three, they tasted even more fresh and though i didn't mind the consistency, i couldn't take the fresh taste. i gave the rest to my boss and moved on to my pizza margherita (sooo good!!) with a glass of chateau caffard medoc 2005 (i bought this for tc (my boss) for his birthday). this red wine is from bordeaux, france. it was full of red fruit, pleasant herb and currant tinged flavor...? yeah ok. it was a medium-bodied wine kinda tarty and dry with an aftertaste full of fruity flavor. i thought it was a great choice, thanks to the guy at fine wine of maryland! tc loved it and i enjoyed it as well!! it seems that i might be developing that classy, mature palette that tc was telling me about because i really enjoyed this bordeaux wine. i think i'm getting better at picking good bottles (with a lil help, of course), because, this one was definitely a good one!!!


xo

Red Velvet Pancakes

...making red velvet pancakes. i'm gonna share something with you....red velvet cake is my most favorite-est cake in the whole wide world!!!!! a couple months ago my friend, dc, posted on facebook that she had the recipes for red velvet pancakes so of course i asked her for it and she was nice enough to give it to me. now months later, i finally found the time and all the ingredients i needed (who knew buttermilk and red food coloring were so scarce in brooklyn) and i made my red velvet pancakes with a side of bacon....of course!!! they were unbelievably, deliciously, amazingly, awesome!!!!!!!!!!!! the recipe was perfect!!! the pancakes were the perfect combination of chocolate, cinnamon, butter and sugar!! they were seriously sooooooooooooooooooooooooooo goooooddddd!!!! how could i have gone through life for so long without eating something so good???!!! i wish i could make red velvet pancakes for the entire world!!!! oh and you know the bacon was good too (my first favorite-est food of all time. love bacon- la la la bacon!!!)

xo

Ohyama Sake

...drinking sake. today for lunch, i felt like we took a short tour of asia. house special lo mein (chinese) with sake (japanese). ohyama meimon tobubetsu junmai sake is a rice sake from yamagata, japan. it smelled like apples and pears. when we had first started drinking the sake it was chilled so i thought it tasted pretty ok but as it sat and the sake slowly warmed to room temperature....the taste was less and less appealing. yeah...i won't be running home to have more sake... i really don't think rice wine is for me...though i may not like the drinks of the japanese, i definitely love the food of the japanese!! yum yum!

xo