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