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Thursday night I went out to dinner with Brenda and Joy to Franny’s. I’ve been wanting to check this place out since it made Time Out NY’s top 10 pizza places a couple of years ago. It did not disappoint! I ordered their homemade grape soda and it was very good! I’m not a big soda person and it was perfect in that it was overly sweet. For appetizers, we ordered this proscuitto special and the pork sausage. Delicious! We ordered 2 types of pizzas to share, the Buffalo Mozzarella, Garlic and Extra Virgin Olive Oil  (no tomato sauce) and Tomato, Anchovies, Chilies and Parmigiano Reggiano. So good! Thin crust and we had to cut it ourselves (which was entertaining!). We also ordered 2 desserts to share: the Cannolo (which is singular whereas the plural is cannoli) and the Chocolate Sorbetto. YUM! Needless to say, we were all stuffed! Again the pictures aren’t the greatetst because I don’t have much patience!

(already cut into! the roasted scallions were a great! What a surprise!)

(with Brenda’s finger)

Looked much nicer before I cut into it!

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I went to see Girl Talk at Terminal 5 last night with Pete and Joy. Talk about feeling super old! More on that in a bit. We ended up having dinner at Ariana Afghan Kebab Restaurant upon Pete’s suggestion.  Not only was the food excellent but the service was super and friendly! We ordered the fried pumpkin and chicken wings for appetizers (the wings were a late addition via Joy and I can’t find it on the menu) and for entrees to share, we got homemade noodles (Aushe Burida), okra with lamb (Barniya Chalow) and Kebab CombinationII (lamp chop, kofta, chicken and lamb tikka). ALL delicious!! And of course the bread was so good!

Photo by Joy

We got to the venue a little before 9. Right away we all felt like old farts! I swear I’m pretty sure there were only a handful of people there that were probably the same age as us. The majority of them were probably born when I graduated high school. HA! I guess it’s only to be expected since GT is a guy born in 1981! We made it for the end of the 2nd opener, Grand Buffet. They made us laugh because they were so bizarre, corny and terrible. It was entertaining. Girl Talk came out right at 9:30. It was cool that he was mashing live but his set in the beginning bored me a little bit. I was trying to get into it. It got really good 45 minutes into it and I really was starting to rock it out. LOL. That’s around the time Joy took some funny pictures of me. He sampled Kelly Clarkson’s Since You’ve Been Gone and I went wild on that song for Yves. LOL. The crowd had been slowing pushing us back the whole time until we finally all went into the corner. It sounded like his set was ending soon so made our way closer to the front door by 10:45. We left shortly after that and got a taxi to the subway (hey, it was cold and windy!) And no joke, when we walked out of the venue, it looked like there were cars with parents waiting inside to pick up their kid! Oy!

As usual, it was fun going with Pete and Joy. Even if I got teased for trying to coordinate a specific time to leave beforehand! And for not having enough money on me. And for packing them individual slices of pumpkin bread I baked. And for rocking out to Kelly Clarkson.

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We finally headed over to Brooklyn Bridge Park so I can check out the waterfalls art exhibit. There has been some controversy surrounding it. It seems the salt water splashing up from the ocean is killing all the greenery and turning it brown. I still wanted to check it out before they shut it down. What can I say, I have a thing for waterfalls. Well, it wasn’t on! I was a little bummed as I just wanted to see it even though Yves thinks it’s a farce. Oh well. We headed over to the playground! We don’t come down this way too often as it is a little bit of a trek but I do love this area. The Brooklyn Bridge is my favorite bridge so any shot with it in the background, I love! Like this one!

And to be fair, here’s a shot with the Manhattan Bridge in the background. I think Sienna liked the sounds of the train as she kept looking up and pointing to it whenever the trains came by and saying some semblance of the word ‘train’.

We decided to go to Bubby’s for lunch. The good thing about having lunch at around 11ish, there isn’t a wait! By the time we came out, there was a little bit of a wait for a table. I give it a A+ for the super kid friendly atmosphere (they even gave Sienna water in a plastic cup with a lid and a straw! This was given with our water for the table!) and the fact that the men’s room also had a diaper changing station! And they get another A+ for great food! I got a turkey blt and Yves got a grilled ham and cheese. My turkey blt was awesome! Yves’ was good but a little bit on the salty side (from the mustard and the pickles, not from the ham!) But the fries were fabulous! Needs no ketchup fabulous! And for Sienna we got a side of french toast and apple cider. She ate more than I thought she would!

I also want to document something that happened last Friday, the 12th.  Something I call the ‘poop incident.’  Normally Yves does the bathing duties during the week but he was working late that night (as well as Wednesday and on Saturday!) So I’m bathing Sienna, everything is going as it usually does when I smell a foul odor. Sienna farts. No biggie, not the first time. I joked with her that I didn’t see any bubbles! Then next thing I know, I hear a plop. Then another plop and Sienna is standing there looking back toward her butt. She’s taking a poop in the bath!! I was so dumbfounded I just did not know what to do! This has never happened before nor have I even read about something like this in all the motherhood stuff that I read! I was frozen in shock. I didn’t know whether to laugh or freak out (I did both!) I went with my first instinct and got some toilet tissue and scooped it up. Yes, I know, not a very smart move as the tissue fell apart once it hit the water. Oh well. I just proceeded to pick it all up with the tissue anyway and threw it in the toilet. Thankfully it wasn’t a mushy poop! I drained all the water out and basically re-bathed her. What a memory!

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Today is Yves’ birthday! Happy Birthday sweetheart! We’ve already started celebrating! On Sunday my parents took us out for dim sum in the neighborhood and we came back and had carrot cake. That is one of Yves’ favorite cakes. It was good but way too much cream cheese icing. They layered the cake with cream cheese icing in the middle, we never had it that way before. I guess they made it special for birthday cakes.

On Monday, Yves took off work (since he had to work on Saturday) so I took him out to lunch to the Mill Basin Kosher Deli. The reviews were good and they said it’s Brooklyn’s best kept secret. It was good, I wouldn’t say it was great. Yves got pastrami on rye and I got stuffed cabbage and pierogies. We also shared a side of french fries as they looked interesting when the waitress brought them out for another table. I wanted to try their pierogies to see if there was a more local place I can get my fix. They don’t have anything on Raymund’s!

Yves’ classic look of ‘what the hell is that? And why did you order it at a Kosher Deli?’

Not exactly what we would call overstuffed. Guess we’re just pigs!

I liked the fried onions with it but I could have used sour cream!

These must have been some big potatoes!

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I don’t want to forgot about writing about the lunch me and Sienna had with Joy a few Fridays ago (the 22nd actually). After me and Sienna were at the playground, we met Joy at Lioni’s Italian Heroes. She has heard that their sandwiches were awesome and had told me about the place at the beginning of summer.

Their menu of sandwiches is four pages long!! They are all named after Italians and Italian Americans. I finally decided on #65 the Danny Aiello (grilled chicken, broccoli rabe, fresh mozzarella, olive oil, salt & pepper) and Joy got #122 the Frank Capra (prosciutto di Parma, fresh ricotta, fresh mozzarella and sauteed peppers.) The heroes were huge and I only ate half of it. The condiment whore in me would have liked more olive oil or some mayonnaise (I put some mayo on when I ate the other half of the sandwich the next day-YUM!) It was pretty good! The broccoli rabe was nice and garlicy and the mozz was amazing! Sienna’s favorite part was the bread (of course) but she also liked the cheese.

Danny Aiello

Frank Capra

I also don’t want to forget about writing about the old man we encountered that day. When I told Joy and Pete this story at Five Guys, there was constant teasing and joking about it for the rest of the evening (and I’m sure in the future as well!)

Me and Sienna were walking Joy to the nail salon that I had told her about. On the way over, there was this old Italian man waving to us from his balcony on the 2nd floor.  How cute. The neighborhood old Italian guy. At the time, Joy was holding Sienna and was showing her how to throw kisses to the old man. Actually, she was making her throw kisses to the old man. Harmless fun. After leaving Joy at the nail salon, me and Sienna walked down the same block. This time the old man was on the street and stopped and said hello. He had a really thick Italian accent, he was very tan and was wearing a wife-beater. At first I couldn’t understand what he was asking but figured out that he was asking if my husband works and if I work. I told him, yes, he does and that I stay home and watch the baby. He asked if I lived around there. I said no, Sheepshead Bay. Bay Ridge? he says. Yeah, yeah I say. I didn’t feel like correcting him. Then he asked if he could have my phone number!!! HA! I didn’t expect that! Of course I said No and he was like Ok and put his hands on my face as he went in to give me a kiss on the cheek. I didn’t mind that, a harmless old man, I’d let him kiss me on the cheek. But then as he was sliding his hand away, it started going across my chest and seemed to be getting a little too low. So I lifted my hand to guide his hand up and away from my chest area! Unbelievable!! I can’t believe I got hit on by an old man AND he tried to cop a feel! Joy couldn’t believe that I didn’t call her right away to tell her this story. I told her it was all her fault as the guy probably got us confused since she was holding Sienna and making her blow kisses to him! HA!

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I met up with Joy and Pete for dinner Tuesday night. I don’t want to call it a band meeting since Tammy could not join us as they are on their first family vacation to Cape Cod. After throwing around some ideas about what to eat, we settled on Five Guys Burger & Fries. Was told it was similiar to In & Out/Fatburger although I was disappointed there wasn’t any onion ring offerings. I guess they can’t call it Five Guys Burger and Fries and Onion Rings? Well, I was quite pleased with my greasy burger and satisfied with my fries (I say satisfied because I did not eat them all and if they were fantastic, they would all be gone, no matter how big the portion was!)

(Pete prepares his area so neatly compared to me and Joy!)
We picked the Five Guys location on Bleeker and 7th because it was close to Grom, a gelato place from Italy that is supposedly fantastic. I was so excited to try it as I have never had any standout gelato since coming back from Italy in 2003. We sampled several different flavors including the mint, pistachio, Torrontino (italian nougat) and Stracciatella. We were all not impressed. I did enjoy the mint but not enough to spend almost $5 for a cup. Very disappointed! We were having a mini conference on what to do when Joy mentioned Otto‘s, on 8th Street and 5th Avenue. At first I did not recall the place but as we were walking over, I remembered! One of Mario Batali’s places and did remember reading that their gelato was really good. Excitement!

It seemed pretty crowded when we got there but noticed a sort of bar area with tables to stand up at. Pete asked the host if we could just get dessert and he said we can get served pretty fast at the bar area. Excitement! They had some insteresting gelato flavors and Joy heard the Olive Oil was pretty good. Can you imagine she was just going to get the one flavor? We convinced her to get at least another flavor and she let me pick the Balsamic Strawberry (it just seemed to be the right match.) I got the Peppermint Chocolate Chip, Pistachio and Dark Chocolate and Pete got the OLIVE OIL COPPETTA (OLIVE OIL GELATO, PASSIONFRUIT GRANITA, STRAWBERRIES, BASIL SYRUP, MALDON SEA SALT). It was delicious! Still not as good as I remembered in Italy but that can also be due to the fact that, hey, I was in freaking Italy! Joy and Pete got coffee as well and man, did it smell good! As much as I wanted to get a cup after smelling theirs, I was good! I had to sleep that night!

My three flavors!

Joy’s 2 flavors

Pete’s dolci
It’s funny how the dessert ending up costing the same amount as my dinner! Totally worth it! It’s times like these that will make me miss New York if we do decide to leave. But I’ll have to try their pizza before leaving!

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Wednesday me and Sienna had dim sum with my parents, my grandmother, my 2 aunts and uncle. They came into Brooklyn and we went to the same place we had gone to on my birthday. I think the name is East River? Or something like that, I forgot to take notice. I remember it because it’s in the old Saturn dealership building. Sienna had been cranky earlier in the week with not wanting to go down for naps and her molars coming in. She was her usual self at dim sum. The food tasted a little better than when we first went and seemed to be more variety. The place was totally packed, which is so surprising for a Wednesday!

Dim Sum with Grandma from Lisa on Vimeo.

I think it is totally cool that Sienna gets to meet her great grandmother! She was acting her usual shy self when Great Grandma came up to her. It’s a shame that I am not as close to my grandma and aunts as we could be. When I was younger, I want to say around 11 or 12 although I could be wrong on the age, my mother stopped associating with her parents and brother and sisters. The reason is still unknown to me to this day. No one would tell me why all ties were cut off. They did not start speaking again until maybe around 2000? It was right before me and Yves got married (as my aunts invited themselves to our Vegas wedding.) Our first dinner back into the family was held in Queens and pretty awkward. Some hellos and idle chit chat with my aunts and I’m not even sure I got hellos from my cousins. But whatever. I figured as more get togethers were held, the awkwardness would go away, I mean I’m not surprised. It had been years! They don’t know me and I don’t know them. I confess that I envisioned being able to finally have aunts to go shopping with or just to grab some food or just to bitch to about my mother. That never happened. And the awkwardness never went away. For the most part, dinners consisted of idle chit chat and then they would just converse amongst themselves. After awhile it seemed pointless to even attend these functions. We started turning them down more and more and accept just once in awhile to show ourselves. Which is such a shame really. I realize that my family is very private and that’s fine, it’s just too bad I’m not part of the family.

Hmph, well I don’t mean to be debbie downer, I kinda went off on a tangent a bit. Happy fun times will continue in the next post! HA!

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Last week I had a couple of hours of alone time, well, time without Sienna. Monday night was craft night at Etsy Labs and I was interested in going because it was a recipe slam where participants send in their favorite recipes and we make a little booklet out of it AND Sweet Tooth of the Tiger were co-sponsoring it. You know what a sweet tooth I have! I couldn’t resist their mini strawberry cupcake and peanut butter cupcake. Very rich (I was warned), a little too rich for even my sweet tooth. And since I did not have dinner yet, I ended up with a little tummy ache! Danielle taught us how to put the booklet together and I’m pretty sure I did this before but a refresher didn’t hurt. Everyone was nice and into their project and it went so quickly. They had another project afterwards (stenciling onto a tote bag) since it was so quick but my stomach demanded some food! And I knew there was a Golden Krust by the train! Yves was surprised I was home as early as I was and was jealous I had some patties but was glad I brought him some Ting!

Danielle showing us how to make our booklet as well as a live webcam (which of course I end up sitting right in front of so everyone in internet land got to see my pretty face! HA!)

My booklet!

Then Wednesday afternoon my parents watched Sienna while I went to have some lunch and browse Barnes and Noble on Court Street. I ended up having lunch at Layla Jones and got a chicken and goat cheese press sandwich. YUM! It was quite filling! After checking out the magazines and craft books, I decided to check out the newly opened Yogo Monster on Court Street. They had a grand opening special of free toppings! I was good and got fresh fruit with my blueberry and original flavor yogurt. It was good, better than pinkberry, which is a bit too bitter for me.

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I wanted to make sure I wrote about the lunch me and Tammy had with our babies to celebrate our birthdays in July. We met up in Queens (!) at Just Like Mother’s, a Polish place in Flushing on Queens Boulevard. I was certainly glad Tammy had her appetite back because we went all out!

We got a sort of sampler plate with pierogies, stuffed cabbage, bratwurst, boiled potato, sauerkraut/cabbage salad type thing. Then we also got an order of potato pancakes and the meat blintze that I read about here. For dessert we got the small order of apple fritters (although I would like to try the blueberry blintzes next time-that’s right, I said it, I would go back.) The stuffed cabbage and meat blintze were the true standouts. I prefer the pierogies and apple fritters from Raymund’s in Williamsburg but everything was quite tasty considering it is Queens. 🙂 (In case you didn’t know, we have a running joke that everything in Queens is inferior to anything in Brooklyn and recently stated that I don’t mind visiting Queens but I wouldn’t want to live there and that’s no joke. HA!)

Sienna was perfectly happy eating plain bread with her fork and Zack was asleep the whole time! Tammy gave me the Real Simple Meals Made Simple cookbook for my birthday and I already made the super sized meatballs in it! I gave Tammy lavendar and geranium organic soap and hemp lotion as I was thinking about her rash and hives from the pregnancy. Of course I gave it to her 2 weeks later at the BBQ!

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What time is it? It’s BBQ time!

Last Saturday we had another BBQ and what a lovely day for it! (Sunday turned out to be rain and thunderstorms!) It was also Zack’s first social outing and his first time to Brooklyn (I don’t think he wanted to leave!) Baby brain be damned, Tammy and Mark brought over 7 layer Mexican dip (YUM!) and Pete made deviled eggs brought over in the nifty carrier (need I say YUM?) and Nate got delicious lemonade in cool bottles! (Poor Mari had to work!) Joy managed to come by at a decent time and brought delicious donuts from our place and Italian cheesecake from her hood. Since Richard couldn’t make it with his dog Casey, Skippy was on good behavior, as good as he usually is anyway! Joy laughed at me for going all the way to Dyker Heights to pick up stuff for the BBQ. I don’t care, I’ll be going back, especially for their Orange Italian soda! All in all it was a nice relaxing day, filling our tummies and chillin’ with our friends!

(taken by Tammy)

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