mum

happy birthday!!!!!!


two of my most favorite people turned one year wiser and one year awesomer yesterday...


sarah shu
my half chinese brother.
that i (tap) danced with in high school.
and shared a prom group with.
and who faithfully visits me in nyc every year
so that we can try on expensive dresses at bergdorf's,
and watch spring awakening 7 times.

yay, salah!

and

mum!!!
happy 29th birthday, mum.
i love our adventures together
and i can't wait for you to visit again!!
everybody send mum good thoughts because she was sick on her birthday :-(



happy birthday!
i love you both!


xoxo

yeh




wallsé, holy s***

{mum's visit continued}




ladies and gentlemen,
i'd like you all to recall my schnitzel rant.
(ok, i know it wasn't a rant. it was more or less a praise for the famed and illustrious schnitzel truck... but let's all agree that you'd be slightly sour too if one of your all time fave foods had to come out of a truck that you could only chase down via twitter.)

well, mum really overdid herself this time on the schnitzel radar.
she surprised me with a little restaurant in the west village by the name of wallsé.
now, to be honest, until this weekend, i really had not had a meal that quite compared to that one drop dead delicious feast at enoteca vespaio in austin years back.
but (to reiterate the title of this post)

wallsé, holy shit.

kurt gutenbrunner is the chef,
and wallsé is the name of his hometown in austria.
so, being austrian, he's naturally going to know a good schnitzel.

...but a fantastically mouth-gasmic,
size of your head,
crisped to perfection (with little folds of extra fried crispy-ness),
out of this world wienerschnitzel?

this man is not just a native austrian,
he's a fucking super hero.


it was almost shocking how good this meal was.


...so this schnitzel, it had a few friends:

lemons (extra lemons, of course)
lingonberries
spätzle with quark cheese (hold the rabbit bits for me, please)
potato and cucumber salad (never have i ever before liked potater salad, but this was delicious)

and

an elderberry gimlet
the bartender in this joint also happens to be a super hero of sorts
however at one point during the evening i had an error in judgement and ordered a pepper vodka drink with tomato something. (i guess i was intrigued by the pepper vodka?)
it made me want to puke my brains out.
but good thing herr waiter was nice and instead brought me some light riesling.


...all of schnitzel's friends worked so well together! the sweetness of the lingonberries + the sour lemons + the crispy hot schnitzel and the cool refreshing potaters... and i mean, the spätzle, ohhhh the spätzle.
it was like mac and cheese's stylish high society older sister.


we couldn't believe how fast we ate.
it was like a kuhn's date on steroids.

and might i also mention that the decor and ambiance were perfect as well. so relaxing! and our corner table was perfect for people watching and.. chilling...


oh.. and... ummm...


we somehow had room for dessert.


dessert was a homemade mozart kugeln on a light crispy carmel-y (?) cookie
with pistachios and gold to top it off.
i think that speaks for itself, no?



oy vay, i can't think of enough nice things to say about this place!

i'm most definitely coming back here:
a) every time that mum visits, and
b) whenever i want



i love you, wallsé.




xoxo


yeh




mum's visit: pizza night at veloce

mum arrived in the city with just enough time to sample some cheese at dean and deluca before our dinner reservations...

we tasted an appenzeller swiss and a cave aged gruyere.
(both were tasty, but neither compare to the goat gouda that i bought today at the fairway...)
i'm still amused that a gruyere is sitting in a cave somewhere, just aging. chillen. and aging.

...and then of course we raided the mustard section
and decided upon a chili dijon and a mesquite/stout ale mustard.


after soho...
it was off to veloce pizzeria in the east village
...which is apparently a favorite of frank bruni

and now a favorite of mum and me!


all of their pizza is sicilian (which, to be honest, i was a little bit nervous about).
it was totally delicious though! the crust was so buttery!

we got our old fallback, margherita...


i'm into this place. worth a trip way downtown.


xoxo

yeh

mum is visiting! mum is visiting!

t minus two days!!! yay yipee yay yipee!!

now, im pretty sure the only things that could top mum's last visit are near impossible. ideas being:

a)  somehow tracking down every single food truck that has ever won a vendy award. 
b) somehow scoring front row tickets to billy elliot.
c) somehow acquiring a three day unlimited pass to the new york food and wine festival.
d) somehow developing the metabolism equivalent to a 13 year old boy so that we can go on a cupcake tour of all five boroughs. (actually maybe not the bronx, no offense.)

however, i think seeing cloudy with a chance of meatballs, attending a super exclusive party at bendel's (you're jealous), and eating brunch at balthazar will come close. 

ok things to do before mum gets in (roomie, take note):

hide the weed. (kidding).
get rid of all of the peanut butter! 
wash everything that has touched peanut butter within the last 48 hours.
clean the toilet. (like i said, roomie, take note).
erase all of the profanities from chalkboard wall.


YAY MUM!



xoxo


yeh