Beach Birthday Bash- Day 2

Here's a little peek into the center of the cakes.

Thanks to my lovely friends, came dessert there were two beautiful cakes (and many layers) to go around. One was a a vanilla cake with chocolate icing (accompanied by rainbow macaroons) that JoJo and Sam designed and picked up at Magnolia, the other was a six-layer rainbow vanilla cake with vanilla icing make by Miss Alex Citrin.

And a salad tossed up by Miss Preefer: romaine, walnuts, goat cheese, scallions, and Italian dressing.

Here's a grilled sausage on a bun.

Okay, so I know the before pictures are kinda gross but it was hard to get the after pictures with the dinner rush. Here's a batch of sausages we picked up for dinner. I marinated them and Dan and Lee grilled them up.

In the afternoon, a few of us took a trip to the Crab Shack for some oysters on the half shell.

Luna also fried up 3 dozen eggs for the masses.

Obviously I toasted up a strange combo: pumpernickel bagel, one half scallion cream cheese, one half veggie cream cheese and sirracha.

Saturday, April 9th was the actual day of my birth 24 years ago, and the festivities and feasting continued. We started our morning off with a batch of fresh bagels (courtesy of dear Dustin).

Beach Birthday Bash- Day 1

And Shannon surprised me with another scrumptious batch of baked goods at midnight: vanilla cupcakes with icing dyed my favorite colors, green and purple.

...and pasta with pesto (a batch of my mom's made from the garden last summer) and parmesan.

I cooked up a mass dinner of spiced green beans with almond slices...

Shannon made two batches of awesome brownies, half with truffles, half with chips (Momofuku style).

For my birthday, a bunch of my wonderful friends drove out to the beach for a weekend celebration. Here is some of the feasting that went on.

Ethiopian Eats

Okay, so super back track to the end of March. Before I continue with this post, I'd like to announce that I am officially changing the name of my blog from "mostly food" to "getting fat with nat" (a name that arose from the dinner in this post). Anyway, the day before I left for Colorado with my mom, I went out for a nice hearty meal with Steph, Shannon, and Haley. The restaurant was Haley's suggestion- a delicious Ethiopian place in the east village. It was actually my first experience with Ethiopian food, and it was a great one- both food and company wise. As I found out, going out for Ethiopian food is as much about the act of eating as it is the food (and I am a fan of both the methods and the tastes). We ordered honey-wine to go along with our meal, which was a large platter filled with various dishes: spicy chicken, beef, vegetables... Additionally, each person receives a plate of these savory crepe-like rolls which are then used to lift the various food items off the platter. Essentially, the crepes are your utensils, along with your fingers. The meal was excellent and several hours later, I rolled into bed still feeling like a pigeon on pop rocks. Of course, we weren't too stuffed afterwards to make a quick pit stop at Momofuku for some chip-infused cookies and ice cream. I think a revisit to both is in order.

5 Leaves with Kate

Moroccan Meal.

Chorizo, sauteed mushrooms, and scrambled eggs.

Iced coffee.

Miss Dibbly Deibler and I had a little week day lunch date a few weeks ago at 5 Leaves in Greenpoint. Here's what we ate.

Mantoloking Meal

And of course, we can't forget dessert! Hilary made some scrumptious chocolate chip cookies using the Tate's recipe and Kathryn brought strawberries and creme fresh.

I also made this side dish of spicy chicken and zucchini.

The above wine was my favorite.

Mary held a wine tasting.

Another shot of the risotto cooking.

I made a salad: mixed baby greens, pomegranite-soaked craisins, goat cheese, and avocados in a lemon dressing.

The Alexs and Kathryn took care of the bread and cheese.

A few weeks ago, I got together with some of my lovely Manto mermaids for a nice home-cooked meal. Hilary took care of the main dish: risotto with sausage and spinach.

Korean Food with Will

Oh, and the cups bore Will's surname.

Mae un dak chicken.

Will's Bibimbap.

Some kimchi and miso soup to start.

Curly's with Noodle

I had the jerked platter: fried plantains, brown rice, grilled tofu, tomatoes, and baked beans (of course with some hot sauce as well).

Took Nina out for a belated birthday dinner in mid-March at Curly's. There she is with her salad!

Home-cooked meal: Steak au Poivre, Zucchini Diavolo, and a Salad

A Naturally Historical Day Date with Hailey

Vegetable fajitas.

My side order of yellow rice and refried beans.

Hailey and her empanadas.

My frozen mangorita.

Guacamoooole.

Our Mexican dinner: the lovely Hailey with our chips and salsa.
Hailey and her breakfast bagel.
Greek salad with chicken cutlet.
Lunch in Central Park.
Oh man. I am so far behind on my bloggage, plus I have been super disorganized about my pictures. Just gonna start from the end of March, when Hailey and I had a Central Park picnic followed by a 3-hour visit to the AMNH followed by a geriatrics' Mexican dinner (seriously, when we left, a 7-month-old baby came in).