so i haven’t cooked at all this week.  last friday a water main break near our house and as a result we have been without gas and hot water for a week; as a result i have been eating out and taking lots of cold showers (at least it is summer!).  i have almost adjusted to the cold showers, but i miss cooking. hopefully we will have our gas back soon.  but i have to be honest, i had been eating out a lot this summer since before the water main break.    

sculpture randomly sitting on the back of a pick up truck on 59th street and 8th avenue.

i love summer in new york; not just new york city - but the whole state.  i went to college in a medium sized town upstate new york and ended up staying for the summer every year. i have not been up there since last summer (although i have an open invite, just need to make the time) so this post only contains adventures in new york city.  

midtown sunset.

the irishman and i have been taking advantage of this great weather and have been having a few more dinner dates and adventures.  we went to fort tryon park a few weeks ago. 

we walked around the park and took in the beautiful scenery. 

new jersey from fort tryon park.

as we walked further into the park we came upon the cloisters.  the cloisters, a branch of the metropolitan museum of art transported to uptown manhattan.  i have been there once during a high school trip but the irishman had never been - and sadly, still hasn’t as we got there about 5 minutes after they closed.  next time… next time. 

after our walk in the park, we walked over to dyckman avenue to mamajuana cafe for a lovely sunset meal. 

the irishman had the domini-cuban sandwich which is a cuban sandwich inside dominican campesino bread: fried green plantains. 

i had the shrimp, garlic and piquillo pepper thin-crust pizza. which i ate by myself.  

which reminds me of a funny story.  this was not the first time i had eaten a whole pizza by myself. once, during college, i ate a whole medium pizza (larger than the one pictured below) by myself while hanging out with my friends chatted.  one day after taping a show (i was a tv production major in college but that is another story) the crew went back to one of the guy’s dorm room to hang out.  it must have been about 8 or 9 of us and we were all starving.  someone, i think andrea, suggested we ordered pizza and wings (there was a student special!).  after about 45 minutes all the food gets to the dorm. i went to help bring everything in.  once inside everyone grabbed the food from our arms, leaving with one last box of pizza (i want to stress that there were multiple boxes of pizza).  we were all hungry and dug in right away, after satisfying the initial hunger pains the conversation started again and i guess i was very quiet because suddenly one of the guys said “hey, where is jos?”. and there i was, in the corner, eating the last slice of pizza in that box. cheese and sauce all over. they all just laughed as i said something like “i offered but no one responded so i kept eating until i was done”. ahhh! a teenager’s appetite and metabolism! 

the delicious shrimp, garlic and piquillo pepper pizza.

the food at mamajuana was delicious, so good actually that i took my parents and brother there for dinner when my parents were visiting two weeks ago!

we started with the ropa vieja tapas which were served over tostones (fried green plantains) and i may replicate for my next dinner party. 

from then we went into our mains. mom had the churrasco and garlic fries. dad had the grilled salmon. my brother had the domini-cuban sandwich. i had the red snapper special with rice with black beans and crabmeat.  everything was DELICIOUS!

continuing with pictures of things i have been eating this summer is my visit to red rooster harlem.  this is the restaurant owned by chef marcus samuelsson (who i met once at a party and is SUPER nice!).  i went with my friend danell, she is so sweet and funny. we had a great time despite the downpour and really long wait for a table (our fault, we didn’t make reservations). 

i tried ‘the savoy’ one of their house specialty cocktails. it has: vodka, agave nectar, muddled grapes and lemon. it is very yummy! i loved the muddled grapes and despite having agave nectar, which can be very sweet, the lemon juice helped balance the sweetness. 

the lovely danell modeling ‘the savoy’

after staring at the menu for a really long time we could not decide what to get to we ended up getting a bunch of appetizers. best. idea. ever. we got to sample way more dishes than if we’d just had a main dish. 

we had the dirty rice and shrimp, cornbread with tomato relish and honey butter, lobster and watercress salad, oysters and ginger mignonette. 

and the crab-cakes!

i loved every dish! my favorites (as if i really could pick - everything was absolutely delicious!) were the crabcakes, cornbread and lobster and watercress salad.

i have to go back again - i am hoping i can go there with irishman on our next date night. maybe marcus samuelsson would be there too, a girl can dream!

last, but not least on my food adventures in the city is a picnic in central park last friday.  my friend luisa and her boyfriend were visiting new york and we met in central park for a good old fashioned picnic.  luisa and i went to elementary school together and we had not seen each other in about 6 years (we are not really sure). i was thrilled when she called to tell me she was in nyc and wanted to meet.  being a new yorker i wanted to show off my city and decided that a picnic in central park was a perfect way to entertain my guests.  we had a beautiful day for the picnic.  these past few days have been plagued with excessive rain or excessive heat and we lucked out having a day with a clear sky and a nice breeze. 

on the menu for the picnic were: pita bread, hummus, cheddar cheese, grapes, potato salad, macaroni salad, dominican crackers, grapes and roasted chicken.  for dessert: mini brownie bites with whipped cream. 

it was a perfect afternoon filled with lively conversation and laughter.  there was even a couple playing a violin and a guitar nearby.  

we met this cute puppy, he was a such ham smiling at the camera!

these are all the food-related adventures so far.  i leave you now with the photo below.  luisa took it at one point in the afternoon; she grabbed the camera out of my hands and i wasn’t paying attention.  i was probably mid-sentence when she snapped it which makes for my funny facial expression. 

please excuse the bags under my eyes

what have YOU been eating this summer? have you had any fun adventures?

thanks for stopping by!