[My] Week(end) in Pictures

Last Friday, David curated an awesome repertoire of new music pieces for Brooklyn Heights' Music at First series. He truly rocked Chris Marianetti's "I Think It Would Be Beating A Dead Dog If We Do Anything But Present This Statement."

Fancy hand-work!

After the concert, the lot of us walked over to Henry Street Ale House for post-show libations and grub. It seemed most of us were in the mood for fried food because the order at my end of the table consisted of: a large basket of fries, the nacho platter, jalapeño poppers and Elvis' fried pickles.

Elvis' Fried Pickles at Henry Street Ale House

I have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed the fried pickle spears and will definitely return to enjoy them again...

Saturday was my eight year anniversary with David and we celebrated with a wonderful dinner at New Leaf restaurant, on the grounds of The Met Museum's cloisters. But first, David made 'champagne cocktail' apéritifs with cinzano-soaked tangerines and cinzano floaters.

cava cocktails with cinzano tangerines

Later, a short walk up through Fort Tryon Park found us at our destination, New Leaf restaurant and bar. It was the first (to my knowledge) Michelin recommended restaurant that I'd been to and I was very excited. The dining room, within the restored 1930s cobblestone NYC Parks Department building, was quite lovely, with a view spanning upper Manhattan.

the view from position two

David and I both began with a glass of sparkling blanc de blanc while we examined our menus. I decided to start with the soup du jour: butternut squash soup.

Chef Scott Q. Campbell's butternut squash soup

For my main course, I chose bacon banded pork tenderloin with Tokyo turnips, chanterelles, chestnuts, blackberries, pomegranate seeds and figs.

bacon banded pork tenderloin with blackberry sauce

It was the most elegant dish I'd ever encountered with some of the most delicious vegetables as well. For dessert, David and I decided to share the warm chocolate cake with vanilla-rum ice cream.

warm chocolate cake and vanilla-rum ice cream

The dessert was not as impressive as my main, however, it was a 'suitable' chocolate cake.

Sunday night was Oscar night and I decided to not spend it glued in front of a TV set, with the rest of the masses, but instead met Karen and Cynthia for dinner at Blue Ribbon.

Mr. Crab says hello... or, more appropriately, good-bye!

It was Cynthia's birthday and the three of us settled down for some of our classic favorite dishes: beef marrow & oxtail marmalade, salt and pepper shrimp, Malpeque oysters and a smoked trout salad, for some greens. (also was, escargot, compliments of the house) We all enjoyed avinyó, brut, NV cava, to start, but cleaned out the last two bottles which left me with the task of selecting our follow up wine; I chose a bottle of pinot gris, Willamette Valley and was rather pleased with my selection. David joined us as well and he and I shared the ever-tasty roasted duck club, with sweet potato chips. Our evening ended with chocolate bruno, topped with a candle, and warm birthday wishes for Cynthia. It was a good weekend indeed!