A few weeks ago I found myself with a day off and no plans. I grabbed my camera and hopped on the F train with no real plans. As the train left the station I decided on a whim that I’d visit Sunset Park, a neighborhood I’ve heard a lot about on just about every food blog. I switched to the R train and got off at 45th Street. Not really knowing where anything was, after visiting the park I traveled up and down 5th Avenue, and then headed west to 4th and 5th. When I got home I found out that there’s a lot more stuff to the EAST. Oh well, there’s always a next time. In any case I did get to eat one of the greatest things I’ve ever eaten.

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There’s an entire story of how Steph and I tried to go to Ikea via their free shuttle service, missed the first bus then the second bus was too small to fit everybody and then our failed attempt to catch the B61. Anyways, while sitting down for dinner at home around 10:30pm with Steph, Scott and Mo, I realized things DO happen for a reason. Steph and I decided to just walk down Court St. and back up on Smith St. instead of trying to go to Ikea. AND because of that we went to Lowe’s with Mo in his car THEN saved Scott because his bike rack broke while moving. SO we all ended up in Mo’s car to Ikea and Fairway. Ah….very magical. Mo and I invited Steph and Scott over for dinner and Mo decided to make turkey meatballs with penne pasta. YUM. He said its a Lidia Bastianich recipe. The meatballs came out really good. They were light and flavorful, not tough at all. The tomato sauce he made was quite good also but it was toooo spicy for me. I’m okay with heat but when I can’t taste the flavor, boo. It’s nice to have friends that love to cook! WIN!

What a long, strange, trip it’s been. Above is a mosaic I created with fd’s Flickr Toys to show 12 weeks worth of updates; from birth to death, as it were. It’s hard to believe it’s been almost three full months since I set up the Aerogarden, and I still remember it all: the early nervousness, the optimism of weeks 6-7, and of course the disappointment of the last few weeks.

All said, I still liked having the herbs close at hand. I do plan to get another set of seed, maybe the jalapenos. Any suggestions for what to grow next? I will be keeping you updated on that, when it happens. Thanks for following along these past few months.

Few weekends ago, I followed my friends, M & P, down to Virginia to visit their parents. It’s always nice to get out of the city, too bad I don’t do it enough. M’s mom was super nice enough to make an apple pie just for us! On Saturday night M’s parents took us to Hard Times Cafe for dinner. They specialize in chili, a Texas chili, a Cincinnati chili, a Terlingua Red chili and a vegetarian chili. What’s great about Hard Times Cafe, besides the name, is that for newcomers they offer a little tasting of each chili. My favorite was the Cincinnati chili because it was slightly sweet. I got the Hard Times chili dog with the Cincinnati chili. It was really good and messy to eat. Fork and knife were used. Yum.

- Hard Times Cafe, 4069 Chain Bridge Rd Fairfax VA 22030. They have other locations.

It’s no secret that I’m a big fan of the Madura Farms mushroom stand at the Farmer’s Market. Whenever there’s a new mushroom I just have to bring some home. I was of course excited to see these little pioppini mushrooms (aka shimeji mushrooms) this morning; I’ve only ever seen them in Chinatown. Not sure what I’m going to do with them…

sammich

On a recent weekday my friend Phaedra and I we went into Manhattan to meet up with Donny and Phae’s fiance Matt for lunch. We ended up eating at the West Midtown/East Chelsea branch of Mooncake Foods. The menu is Asian-inspired, but this is no Chinese take-out joint. As I believe I may have mentioned, I have been sort of obsessed with sandwiches lately, so I chose the Garlic Grilled Veggie sandwich you see above.

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