snow and coconuts

We had a massive snow storm in NY the other day. It was bad. At times I felt like I was back in Wisconsin with hail-snow hitting me in the face. The snow here isn't usually the bad part, it's the aftermath. From everyone walking and the temperature not actually being that cold, the snow starts to melt and turn into a brown, slushy mess. Disgusting. Rain boots are necessary. Although, the fresh white of the snow always does look lovely. This is the tree outside of my apartment building.

The other day was Rick's 25th bday and we went out for an amazing dinner at Rye in Williamsburg. The best part was that I finally got to experience Rick and Andrew's famous coconut cake. So! Good! I didn't realize how a coconut "works." Very strange. I'm intrigued and am now contemplating getting a drill to make some macaroons.

exploding radiator situation

Yesterday, I was getting ready to leave for work, Matt had just sat down to practice, and we heard this horrific, extremely loud hissing sound outside our door. We opened our door to a room full of steam and Sean yelling that his radiator knob flew off. It was quite the spectacular scene. Radiators contain a lot of steam. I knew this but I didn't realize the extent. If you're curious, radiators contain enough steam to fill an entire household, cause you and your roommates to crawl on the floor to see, drench everything to the point of melting, and create rain inside our family room. Oh yes, it's quite the pleasant experience.

I tried to upload a video of the whole experience, but sadly, blogger does not want me to.

Instead, enjoy this photo of Sangria, being adorable.

adventures in Thai cooking

Me: "What do you want for dinner tonight?"

Matt: "How about Pad Thai?"
Me: "...ok"

I decided that I wanted to make "authentic" pad thai, or at least as authentic as I could make it. I got a recipe online which seemed easy enough: Eggs, peanut oil, garlic, fish sauce, tamarind paste, rice noodles, sugar, salt, tofu, bean sprouts, chives, peanuts, and lime. Totally doable. However, on a Sunday evening, finding all of the ingredients is rather challenging. The ingredients to make pad thai seemed fine, but throughout the process of making it I became extremely confused. It didn't seem like I was making the correct dish- tons of runny egg and dark red colored sugary liquid.

Matt: "It smells... interesting... in here..."
Me: "yeah, I don't know if we're going to be able to eat it"

The sauce calls for this fruit called Tamarind. The recipe I used called for 2 Tbs of tamarind paste- a very small amount. Apparently, this is not an item stocked at one's local grocery store. I did however luck out and found a store that carried fresh tamarind which, according to the internet, is fairly hard to procure. This is what tamarind looks like:

Very very odd. Inside it looks like a bunch of dates connected by roots that shoot out from one end and grow down the sides. They are soooooo good though. Of course I only needed 1 for my recipe so now I have an entire box full to try in other recipes and snack on.

After everything was all mixed together it finally started to look and smell like it was supposed to. And, voila!

Pad thai. It was really yummy and even better the next day for leftovers.

Happy 2011!!!

2011 is finally here. I love new year time because I really do see it as a new, fresh start. Plus, I think that people are in an all around better mood because they are also making resolutions to better themselves in some way, shape, or form.

I went out with my favorite boys, Rick and Andrew, to a German beer garden called Loreley. Such good food! I forget how much I love sauerkraut! We had some champagne at midnight and then went to DBGB to meet up with Matt. The restaurant was decorated so prettily with balloons and new years decorations everywhere!

I've resolved to be overall healthier/take better care of myself this year. Living in NY is hard because it's hard to go grocery shopping, let alone find enough time to prepare meals, and there are so many places to buy food it's easy to be lazy and just buy something. I'm making some changes such as ordering groceries online and planning meals out in advance to help with my new goal. Also, I got some super amazing new kitchen items such as a kitchenaid stand mixer, a new garlic zoom, a cast iron skillet, and a bread maker for Xmas so I'm really excited to use them!