The Ride to Montauk

A 'century' in cycling terms means a 100 mile bike ride. It's also code for something I never thought I could do. You couldn't have bet me on my first day out in clipless pedals that I'd ever grow confident enough to ride the way I do now. Though my interest in the sport over the past three years has been great, I had a huge fear of riding on my own. I got my very first road bike in 2009, a beautiful gift from a friend, and I put a bit of extra money into it myself, as well. I'd decided to go ahead and switch out the pedals so I'd learn right off the bat how to clip in and out which is the best decision I could've made. I'll never forget falling right over in the first five minutes I was on it and I kept thinking I'll never ever get the hang of this. Well, fast forward to the present, and I'm a radically different person on the bike. I have to giggle even at times when I think about what a process it can be to overcome fear. I think the greatest lesson is learning to not take yourself or things so seriously and to simply try. Just remember how to breathe, take things one step at a time and see what happens. More often than not, you'll be pleasantly surprised at the outcome.

On that happy note, back to the cycling. Since I've been riding so much, especially lately, a couple of cycling buddies threw out the idea of doing Ride to Montauk together. There are various mileage options you can pedal but we decided on the 100 mile route since most of us had never done a century before. We all signed up and, on June 18th, we hit the road for what would be one of the greatest, most adventurous, hilarious, bonding and memorable days for all of us.

I have to briefly mention the day prior to riding where me, Cristina, Ginna and An volunteered in order to get our ride entry free. It was seriously the most ghetto operation in history. Not only that, it was literally hard work. We loaded trucks for six hours and, if not for the hilarity that always ensues when we're together, we might have lost it. Numerous times. I love our naive smiles before the day begins:

I mean, ghet-to:

Enough of that. Soon enough, ride day got here and we were all excited! We met at An's apartment building just before 4am (this would most certainly be the start of our adventure) and off through Times Square we went on our way to Penn Station. I have to say...it was uniquely cool to be riding at that hour and to realize that we truly do live in the city that never sleeps:

We met the rest of our group at Penn, got our bikes loaded on the truck and jumped on the train to Babylon which is where our official 100 mile start would begin. It was an absolutely beautiful morning, too. We saw the sun come up on the train which was really neat and we were hanging out having coffee while we waited on our bikes to arrive, all before 7am:

By 7:30am, we hit the road! We were all in amazing spirits and each of us was ready to kill it. It truly was awesome riding along such a beautiful route as the sun was just getting a little higher in the sky:

Our first rest stop was really soon into the route at 25 miles and none of us really needed to stop. However, it was right at the beach so we had to check out how neat that was:

We got back on the road and wouldn't you know that Blue Point Brewery was just two short miles away. Wouldn't you also know that, even at 9:00am, they were up and running full swing offering free beers to cyclists. Um, that's only a little up my alley...! So, we had another lovely pit stop tasting delicious beers and cracking each other up, as usual:

We had to make ourselves be responsible and get back on the bike before our full century stayed at a quarter century. We proceeded to ride one of the most beautiful routes alongside the water, past flowers and stunning homes, and we had smiles on our face the whole way:

Around mile 75, we finally approached the rest stop that had the infamous homemade pie we'd kept hearing about. An and I had just come down from catching onto the wheel of some speed demons so I'm hugely disappointed to say that I was in no mood for pie when we stopped. I was solely concerned with gatorade and breathing but I made myself try at least a bite because I'd looked forward to that the most the entire time. It was delicious:

As we got back in the saddle to finish those last miles, An and I ran into that same speedy group again. We looked over at each other with that "let's do this" smirk and we caught their wheel a second time. We powered through the next 12 miles at a solid 25 miles an hour and, at that late point in our ride, we were both SO proud of ourselves. We came around to a final tough climb at the end (arrrrgh!) and we both rolled into the finish together feeling pretty darn amazing. By the way, it was 106 miles and not 100. Liars!

Sadly, our high quickly came down when we learned that a) the crap organization ran out of BEER (what?!?!) and most of the food and b) our girl, Cristina, flatted out with just four miles left to the finish. Luckily, the rest of our awesome crew was there with her to help get her back up and running. Those girls kick some serious ass:

When we finally regrouped, we had to break the news to the girls that there were no celebratory beers which was seriously heartbreaking. Yeah, you think I'm kidding. I'm not. However, we all stopped then and there to recognize the awesome day we'd had and it totally didn't break our spirits. That's about the time that An walks up out of nowhere with mysterious ice cold Coronas and it was like angels were singing:

Yod-An, our savior. She'd walked around and found a little place selling beers and took care of us all. I don't even like Corona but it was the best beer I'd ever had, ha. We still had to wait on the train back and all of us were truly exhausted at that point. You can certainly tell:

It was also pretty trippy to watch the sunset from the train since we'd seen the sunrise together, too:

We got back to Penn Station around 11pm and I wish I could say the night ended on a positive note. Unfortunately, due to very poor organization, we had to wait another 45 minutes for our bikes to arrive and our fatigue was getting the best of us. I'm extremely proud to say that none of us lost it, though. We kept up the positivity for as long as we could but it wasn't easy. It was after midnight when we all finally got our bikes and parted ways. After starting our day at 3:30am, I can tell you that I was dead to the world. So, when I got a terrible flat riding home on Park Avenue, that was just the last straw. I had a good cry as I walked my bike the rest of the way home because, at that point, I think I just needed to vent and that was my way of doing so.

Regardless, we had the most terrific day together. It's amazing when you laugh so hard while riding that you really almost crash. These girls have become dear to me and I couldn't have imagined a better crew to spend nearly 24 hours with. We all bring something so different to the table and it makes for a truly special, unique, rare group and I treasure it. We've been riding hard together since and have no plans of slowing down. I'm a very lucky gal to have these women in my life and I'm excited for what I know will be continued shenanigans to come.  

A Belated James Beard Birthday

Not much in life makes me smile as big as sharing an amazing meal with a deeply special person. The only thing that makes it better is if that special person is a dear friend. Though it's way past my birthday, I got to celebrate it a couple of weeks ago with my close friend, Kristine. As my birthday came around in March, Kristine completely surprised me saying she wanted to take me to have my first James Beard dinner. I'd heard of this fabulous dining experience through her a couple of years ago when she treated Allison for her birthday and I've wanted to go ever since. Kristine is one of the most generous people I know when it comes to her friends and she does not disappoint in the area of making one feel special. She even indulged my request of waiting on this dinner until after lent since I'd given up bread and pasta. Let's face it, having something to look forward to after your actual birthday is awesome anyway.

The James Beard Foundation is an organization where people can really get involved with all things foodie. There are events happening all month long, from lectures to cooking classes, conferences to readings, workshops to dinners. It's a really educational organization and allows people, professional or not, to tap in to their inner culinary creativity. The dinners showcase chefs from all over the world and you're able to go on the JBF site to view menus, bios and information on up and coming dining experiences. I had the toughest time narrowing down what to choose but I finally picked the 'Five Diamond Luxury Dinner with Kristin Butterworth' of Lautrec at Nemacolin Resort. My oh my, was I in for a treat.

We met at 7:00pm and the way it works is you walk through the kitchen to get to the outside garden where cocktails and hors d'oeuvres are being served. This was the first thing I saw and I was automatically giddy:

All those beautiful soup bowls...! I wanted to jump right in. That's actually Chef Kristin putting final pepper touches on the dish, too. We kept walking and I spotted another lovely platter:

I'd learn in about two more seconds that I was about to indulge in that fabulous peekytoe crab maison (meaning 'made on premises') on brioche. It was delectable. Without skipping too far ahead though, we exited the kitchen and walked out into a lovely small garden area. They were serving crisp, clean champagne that paired perfectly with the deviled quail egg, the above-pictured peekytoe crab and a lovely truffle scone with house cured ham and cream cheese. I felt like I'd escaped the concrete jungle and walked into a fancy Southern cocktail party. Sign me up, people.

After an hour or so, we were shown to our table. The James Beard House seats only 74 people and, should your party size be smaller than enough to fill a table, you will be seated communal style. That was more than fine with me as the other guests at our table were the perfect mix of private and social. I enjoyed not feeling pressured to talk to people yet being involved at the same time:

The server came around to begin pouring wine and, soon enough, the first plate was served; a chilled heirloom tomato soup with local goat feta, olive oil powder and basil:

It was divine. It was cool, silky, pungent and clean. I am not a tomato soup fan but this was quite unique and it won me over.

I'm so mad because I forgot to get a photo of the second plate. It was a fabulous papardelle with black truffle, confit farm egg and parmigiano. I loved it's texture with the contrast of perfectly cooked pasta to earthy truffles to creamy farm egg.

The third plate was chilean sea bass with potato butter, lobster sausage and caviar butter:

This was hands down my favorite. It was absolutely perfect in ten different ways. The butter, the sausage, the perfectly prepared fish, the caviar...it was divine and melted together harmoniously with every bite. I seriously did not want this to end.

The fourth plate was Elysian Fields lamb with summer squash, vidalia onion risotto and honey mustard jam:

This was my least favorite dish but only because I am not a fan of lamb. It was certainly prepared in a lovely way but I don't like lamb's distinct gamey flavor. How can you not like vidalia onion risotto or summer squash, though?

The fifth plate was the cheese course and I just loved that they chose epoisses. They served it with local honeycomb, blackberry preserves, brown butter pecans and sea salt:

This might sound silly but I died over those pecans. They were delicious! I'm so glad there were only three on the plate because I would've made myself sick on them. Taking a bite with a little of everything was just the right blend of sweet and savory. Epoisses is a delicious cheese that almost has both a brie and blue quality. Excellent!

Finally, it was time for dessert and I couldn't have been happier. It was strawberry-rhubarb consomme with creme fraiche panna cotta and basil tapioca:

The tapioca was so unique and it popped with huge fresh basil flavor. I have no idea how they did it but it was terrific. I wasn't crazy about the consomme. It was a neat idea but far too sweet for me. Who cares though when you have creme fraiche panna cotta to enjoy!

It was truly a remarkable evening and I was so deep in my element. That's what made it even more special because Kristine knows me that well and understands how much a fancy dinner would mean to me. It was a wonderful birthday celebration and I would have waited even months longer to go if I had to. Now, it's a question of when we're going back... :) 

Monica's Baby Shower and Sarah's Garden Party

Coming off the heels of a magnificent evening at Suzanne and Jeff's, I had quite a busy Sunday ahead! I was excited to be a part of my friend, Monica's, baby shower downtown but little did I know how much fun this would be.

I know Monica through Allison so, after church, she and I headed down to Cienfuegos on 6th and Avenue A where the shower was taking place. When we got there, I couldn't believe how neat this little restaurant was! It's so eclectic with its whimsical Victorian chairs and tables yet it had the open-air feel of being on a Cuban beach. It was such a neat contrast and I loved it! As people arrived, I got to meet more of Monica's friends who are absolutely awesome. When she and her fiance, Shaun, finally got there I just felt so extremely happy to be there. It was kind of odd how overwhelming that felt but I truly did have this very happy feeling inside. At any rate, talking to everyone was so very interesting and I had the best conversation with a couple of people about Chicago and San Francisco, two cities I've considered moving to in the distant future. I kept noticing Shaun getting up and getting things for the table which struck me as odd but I thought maybe he was just really friendly with the people there. Well, it turns out that he owns Cienfuegos...and several other places in the city! I had NO idea that he was a restaurateur. I also had no idea that he lived in Italy for several years and speaks fluent Italian. I was totally blown away by his stories and he is an amazing contact to have in the restaurant business. Not only is he totally cool and down to earth but he's so smart and has true, lifelong passion for the industry. He also grew up in Marietta (that I did know) and I probably knew him when I was younger and didn't realize it. This world is so small sometimes...

We enjoyed a fabulous lunch with awesome cocktails, watched Monica open her sweet gifts and ate the most decadent chocolate fudge cake:

It was the most fun baby shower I've ever been to, I can say that hands down!

Afterward, we had to take off and get to another party at Sarah and Xavier's place. Sarah is a friend of ours from running and she's one of the coolest women I know. She's totally granola yet she's married to a popular French mixologist whom Allison and I had yet to meet. They were throwing a party in their apartment garden and let me just tell you...it was beautiful! I can't believe we didn't get a picture, grrr.

As soon as we got there, Xavier greeted us with a special white cosmo he'd made which was freaking delicious (I expected no less, ha!). We met a bunch of their friends, mostly French, and sat outside talking for so long. One of Sarahs's best friends, Abi, had us absolutely cracking up and it was honestly so fun. After a while, we got to talking to Xavier and, as if I haven't been blown away enough by meeting certain people lately, it turns out everyone there was in the industry. Xavier is actually the head bartender at Daniel (where I recently dined for my birthday) and his buddy that was also there is executive chef at Bagatelle. I mean, honestly...it's like these people/events keep falling into my lap and it's incredible! We chatted for a while about the business and, from that conversation to what we discussed with Shaun, it was a pretty awesome afternoon. I guess we'll see where these things continue to lead... ;)

It's Summertime!

After so many weekends being taken up recently, I was super excited to finally enjoy a weekend doing MY own thing. It's funny how that still includes a packed few days but hey, I'm not sweating to death working in the kitchen or traveling all over the place. I'm averaging a couple of weeks being late in my posts but, at the beginning of the month, lovely Suzanne invited us ladies over for drinks to enjoy her beautiful rooftop, hear about her and Jeff's trip to Spain and to kick off summer. I couldn't wait as visiting with Suzanne is always such a special time and so fun!

Earlier in the day, I'd gotten to go to the park and relax in the sun for a couple of hours. I'm getting better at listening to my body and knowing when I need to slow down which, as most of you know, is a big deal for me. It was time to do so, that's for sure. In conjunction with having other plans, I also took the weekend away from Hearth to kind of recharge. It was so nice! Being in the sun was perfect and it was such a beautiful day. I got a delicious margarita with Allison after the park and then it was time to head over to Suzanne's.

This woman is just amazing and so generous, I tell you. We walked in to a gorgeous spread of ricotta (that Suz made herself that day!) crostini with arugula and radishes and lovely melon-mozzarella-prosciutto skewers all on beautiful Spanish china she'd brought back from her trip. She'd also dressed marcona almonds, which I love, with fresh herbs, olive oil and salt. If that wasn't enough, she'd made watermelon cocktails with fresh watermelon that she'd pureed and strained. I can't re-cap it nearly as well as Colleen's fantastic photos do:

How beautiful is Suzanne:

If you think those are good, please take a moment to visit Colleen's website, Colleen Putman Photography, here. You'll see a tremendous showcase of her phenomenal work. I just had to share a couple of her photos here because they're so vibrant and summery.

We had an amazing time visiting, as usual. I'm so thankful to have met Suzanne and Jeff. My life has really been enhanced by their caring, warm, hospitable nature. They're rare, both as a couple, and as individuals. It's wonderful to spend time with a couple who is truly meant to be for all the right reasons. I so enjoy being with them and I'm a lucky gal to experience what I have with them. Thank you for introducing us all, Colleen! In addition to the lovely spread, Suz had gotten each of us beautiful Spanish bowls and she brought me salt from Mugaritz, ahhhh! I mean, how thoughtful is she? Such a special lady. It was a really great evening together with my very favorite girls!

Happy Summer, everyone! I think it's going to be a memorable one. :)

Memorial Day With Brant, Susanne & Junior

I seriously had the craziest May, ever. Holy crap, I overbooked myself big time but, even with all I had going on, I was totally psyched to have Brant and Susanne finish off the month with a Memorial Day visit. They've come to visit me so many times and I'm totally blessed to have friends who make that kind of effort. This trip was especially meaningful for two reasons: 1) Susanne is just about four months pregnant and 2) it might be their last trip to see me while I still live here (holy moly, I can't even think about that!). As soon as they arrived, I just knew Susanne would look absolutely darling and she surely did. Apparently, she and Brant had joked about naming the baby something ridiculous like 'Junior' but now the name has affectionately stuck...and I love it. :)

Since Brant and Susanne have done mostly all of the touristy things here, this visit was far different than all the others. They decided they really wanted to be locals for a weekend and Upper East Side locals, at that. The only request Susanne had was a little shopping for a cute maternity dress or two. That was the only planned thing on our agenda other than a long bike ride I'd already had on the calendar. They'd actually gone to DC a couple of days before coming to NY so they ended up getting in on a pretty late train on Friday night. Come Saturday morning, I was off on the bike super early and they had a nice, relaxed morning in the 'hood. 65 miles and lots of sweat later, I was more than ready for a cold beer and to finally start our visit.

We had the absolute best weekend together and it was by far my favorite visit of theirs. We laughed, reminisced, talked about everything under the sun and really just relaxed. We took them to so many favorite local spots like Cilantro, Libertador, Gina's, Swig, Vero, Cafe D'Alsace...just all the places we love so much and go to on any given day. They got a real taste for life in the city on an average weekend which was so fun! We also had our fair share of shenanigans and I won't even get into explaining that, hahaha. It was just so nice having them here:

We're all quite excited to meet Junior come October and we're pretty psyched that NY has been the first trip he or she has been on. Mine and Brant's relationship has stood the test of time and a great deal of hardship so being where we all are now is such a joy. The years have been kind to us as a whole and we're all truly like family which is quite special. Junior is going to be welcomed into this world with lots of open arms and love, I can tell you that. Thank you for making the trip up yet again, Brant and Susanne; it means the world to me!

An Evening with Glen Hansard

This city is chock full of the coolest things to do, I swear. As New Yorkers, you often overlook the really amazing events going on right under your nose and I'm thankful that my friend, An, actually enjoys scouring the city for unique and different happenings. A couple of weeks ago, she found out that Glen Hansard was doing a show at The Met and I thought that just sounded so cool. I asked Allison if she'd be interested so the three of us ladies had an exceptional visit to Ireland for a day. ;)

When we got to The Met, it turned out that our ticket got us access to the guitar exhibit as well so we decided to check it out first. Oh my gosh, it was amazing! Some of the craftsmanship on these guitars was outstanding and so beautiful. We browsed around for quite a while in awe of the designs and shapes of some of them. During my two years of guitar lessons, I never got tired of learning about the history of these instruments and just how intricate and detailed they are. It was an awesome exhibit to see.

When we went back upstairs for the show, we had no idea it was taking place in the Temple Room OR that Harpoon was sponsoring the entire thing! It was the freaking coolest setup and all three of us couldn't get over how unexpected it was. We drank delicious Harpoon summer ale and enjoyed such a beautiful concert. His song 'falling slowly' is just so lovely and, when he performed that, it felt really reverent when you combined it with our surroundings:

It was definitely a great experience and right in my neighborhood, no less. Afterward, An and I went for all you can eat sushi at Yuka (seriously the best I've ever had in this city, no joke) and rounded out a really fun evening. :)