Saturday afternoon, we got good news. And celebrated accordingly.
Post-mimosas, I headed over to John Sahag Workshop for some catching-up, cappuccino, magazine-reading, and balayage (my new favorite way to color my hair; it’s amazing; more info here).
(Oh, sidenote annoying-thing-about-bangs: in addition to requiring you go to the salon for trims every six weeks or so, they also mean you have to get your color touched up a bit more often, because while an inch or so of growth on long hair can look good if done right, if you have bangs an inch of growth just looks like your bangs are one color, while the rest of your hair is another. I don’t regret getting them because they’ve cut down so much on the amount of time I spend dealing with my hair on a daily basis, but it’s something to think about if you’re considering it yourself.)
On Saturday night, the whole family went out to celebrate my Dad’s birthday at Nobu, where I had my first Matsuhisa (cucumber-sake) martini in about a year and a half (joy), and one of the dishes that has a permanent spot on my Death Row Menu (you know, what you’d eat for your last meal if you were on Death Row): yellowtail sashimi topped with jalapeno and ponzu. I’d say get thee to Nobu immediately to try it…but a lot of sushi restaurants have actually co-opted the dish, and so long as the fish is fresh it’s always a good one. No need to head down to Hudson Street.
Sunday morning, I woke up wanting a chocolate-chip muffin so badly that I actually contemplated springing out of bed and heading straight for my mixing bowls…but I didn’t want to spoil my appetite, because we were headed over to Stephen and Dave’s for brunch. Once we arrived, a fabulous thing happened: I discovered that one of their friends had brought over Banana-Chocolate Chip muffins, which are even better.
Easy serving-brunch-to-the-masses trick: Pour Greek yogurt, good-quality granola, and mixed berries into separate bowls, set out the prettiest plastic glasses you can find, and let your guests DIY their own breakfast parfaits.
If you’ve never been to Pickles and Olives (over on First Ave), you have to go. It’s a tiny little place packed with huge barrels full of all different kinds of…pickles and olives. It’s clearly the best place ever.
And if you’d like to try DIY-ing your own pickles, this is an easy and fun recipe.
At brunch, I walked in and immediately heard, “…Jordan?” Which would ordinarily send me into a panic, as what that usually means is that I’m about to embarrass myself by having forgotten someone’s name (my brain is a sewer drain for names; it’s a terrible, horrible quality), but as it turned out, it was someone whom I’d never met in person before but have been wanting to meet for many months now: Phoebe of Big Girls Small Kitchen. I’ve written about Phoebe and her partner, Cara, many times before, and Phoebe is a friend of Stephen and Dave’s, so we finally got a face-to-face.
Theirs is a lovely site, and a lovely book, and if you’ve never tried their Egg Pasta with Saffron, Shrimp and Peas, this is a problem that must be fixed. It’s so good.
