Tag Archives: restaurant

A Vacation for the Afternoon

Yesterday, my high school buddy Sara convinced me to come out to Brooklyn for lunch. We’ve known each other for 16 years (whoa), so you don’t say no to someone who has plenty of blackmail material.

I’m currently working from home with as a social media consultant (looking for a full-time gig too), so while I have the freedom to do things like this, I rarely do, choosing usually to glue myself to my computer, working, only occasionally sneaking out for a lunchtime workout or lunch or coffee meeting.

But yesterday I just couldn’t say no to a slightly longer lunch out in Brooklyn and went to meet Sara for lunch.

She promised “a vacation for the afternoon,” and delivered.

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Right? We went to Brooklyn Crab in Red Hook, and if I had been kidnapped and blindfolded and dropped off here, I would not have thought I was in Brooklyn, or anywhere near New York City. I posted this one to Instagram with the caption “BK or vacay?”

I wasn’t originally thinking about blogging about lunch, so I didn’t take a picture of what I ate, but I had a crab roll, which was delicious (but still no lobster roll.)

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The restaurant has three levels, and we sat on the top level, since it had the best view.

On the bottom level, they have mini-golf and cornhole!

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We walked down by the pier after lunch, and could see Manhattan, Staten Island, Governor’s Island and the Statute of Liberty all from our vantage point.

I’d never been to Red Hook before (no, we did not go to Ikea), so it was fun to have a quick little afternoon jaunt that was totally different from a typical lunch.

What do you do when you want to take a vacation for the afternoon?

A Surprise Party at Sorella

Next week, one of my good friends is turning 30. We met through our blogs, but became fast friends the first time we met.

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Last night, her friend Kathleen organized a surprise dinner for her at Sorella, an Italian restaurant on the Lower East Side.

I know it looks like we were outside, but it was more like a covered patio.

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I’d seen Emily the night before at wine book club, and was dying when someone else asked what she was doing for her birthday and she said she wasn’t sure. I KNOW WHAT YOU’RE DOING!

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We started with some breadsticks at the bar while waiting for Emily to show up. They were salty, carb-y wonderfulness.

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Just before Emily was due to arrive, we moved to the back room. I wish I’d gotten a picture of her, because the look on her face was priceless, but soon after we moved back, Kathleen went to pretend she was waiting for Emily at the bar, and they were led back to “their table,” where we were all waiting.

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They completely captured my sentiments on the menu.

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We started with some meat and cheese. (I think I was too busy eating the cheese, though, to photograph it.)

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We ate the rest of the meal tapas/family style. Above: broccoli fritto with pickled hot pepper aioli (which had an awesome kick), grana padano and basil. So, totally healthy, because there’s broccoli in there.

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We also ordered all the pastas on the menu for the table. This one was gnocchi with cream sauce, brown butter pears and chives.

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I have no idea which one this one was.

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This one, the agnolotti with beef short rib, parmesan and sage butter was my favorite. Kathleen loved it, too, so we ordered another one for the table.

We also ordered Brussels sprouts with bacon, apple and some sort of sauce. I love Brussels with bacon, but the sauce made this a little too rich.

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And what’s a birthday without cake? Kathleen brought some cake from Billy’s, one of Emily’s favorite bakeries. I love red velvet, so I expected for that one to be my favorite, but I ended up loving a rich chocolate one.

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Happy birthday, friend!!!