Liz and Marvin's Engagement Party

Last weekend I had the pleasure of officially celebrating the engagement of my sister and her fiancé!

The BBQ was held at my aunt and uncle's house on Long Island, and I was able to head to New York early to help set up and add some special touches.

That last photo is the wedding countdown board I made for them. I went to Michael's and bought a wood plaque, regular paint and chalkboard paint and used Etsy for some inspiration!

The party was a lot of fun and I think Liz and Marvin were thrilled to have their families all meeting and mingling for the first time. It definitely made me excited for the next year of planning as the maid of honor!

Here are some photos from the day:

Me and Laura with our soon to be brother-in-law!

Adorable cake courtesy of my mom.

Little Laura taking her first bridesmaid shot!

The best piece of cake.

Congratulations again to Liz and Marvin!

Snapshots

Lavender.

Gorgeous.

Gorgeous x2.

A healthiness attempt.

Oyster party.

These are a few of my favorite things.

Rooftop sunset.

Feeling pinteresty.

Victory.

Run on the beach.

Sweat is good.

But pizza is better.

Sweet Cheeks.

The master lobster roll.

The first cherry tomatoes to peek through.

A real live pepper!

Reward for a 12 hour moving day.

Peanut Butter Cup Rice Krispie Treats

This is the easiest dessert ever and is a sure crowd pleaser. It only takes about an hour start to finish (including 30 minutes cooling time)!

Peanut Butter Cup Rice Krispie Treats

Ingredients:
- 6 cups Rice Krispies

- 1 (10 oz) package of mini marshmallows
- 3-4 tbs of creamy peanut butter

- 3 tbs butter

- chocolate chips (as many as you want!)

Directions:
1. Melt the butter in a large saucepan on medium heat.

2. Once the butter is melted, lower the heat and add in the marshmallows, stirring constantly.

3. Once the marshmallows have melted, add the peanut butter and stir.

4. Remove from heat, add Rice Krispies, and stir.

5. Add in chocolate chips (they will melt) and stir.

6. Pour the mixture into a greased baking pan (I used a 9 x 13 pan) and press down with your hands to even it out. I also added some extra chocolate chips to the top. Let cool for 30 minutes.

7. Cut into squares and serve!

The Truth

Time to spill.

I have been eating like shit lately. Between my birthday, New York, Philadelphia, my golf tournament, the moving/apartment fiasco, June has flown by, and my healthy eating habits have basically gone amiss.

It's no secret that I'm an emotional eater. When things get stressful, I turn to food, and if you didn't know me and caught me in a stress eating moment, you might think I was starving. It's hard to explain the feeling, but I'm sure other stress eaters can relate. If there is food in front of me, it's like I can't shove it into my mouth quickly enough. Today for example, around lunch time I was feeling overly stressed about a couple of different things. Instead of going out for a normal lunch, or taking a walk, or doing ANYTHING else, I decided to go over to the tray of pastries left over from a morning event and eat a croissant in three seconds. Then I picked up another one and ate it. There is never a time when eating two croissants in 10 seconds is necessary (unless you're visiting Paris).

This has happened a couple of times over the past few weeks. But it's not just when I'm stressed. On the whole, my eating has just been terrible. I haven't been making healthy choices when going out, I've been drinking more casually, and I haven't been food shopping. I just don't really know what's gotten into me.

Not surprisingly, my exercise habits have dwindled as well. I have still been hitting the gym a few times a week, but not anything near what I've been consistently doing since October. I decided last week it was time to kick it up a notch and took an intense spinning class on Thursday. This week I went to my normal total body strength class and was the only one there. I basically got a free personal training session and the instructor decided to concentrate on the moves she knows I struggle with (hello, lunges and pushups). It was insane. But awesome.

Today, I pushed myself to get back on the pavement and went for a 3 mile run. I really tried to challenge myself and incorporated a bunch of hills and even some running on the beach. It was tough, but it felt REALLY good to be running again.

I post these things on here for some accountability. I hope by spilling that I can start tomorrow with a clean slate and stop carrying around whatever baggage has been pushing me toward these unhealthy habits. Everyone goes through busy/tough times and I just need to get through this one. And hopefully not come out of it 10 pounds heavier.

26th Birthday - Part 2! (No.9 Park)

Awesome restaurant experiences (hello, tasting menus!) have become an integral part of me and Tom's birthday gifts to each other. Going to a new restaurant and trying lots of different items is really one of my favorite things to do, and sometimes it is almost embarrassing how much joy it brings me!!

This year, Tom surprised me with a dinner reservation at No.9 Park, the last of the restaurants in the Barbara Lynch Gruppo for us. Sad! Here are links to some of our other Barbara Lynch experiences:

Stir
B&G Oysters

Sportello
Menton

No. 9 Park is Barbara's flagship restaurant, so it's kind of funny that it's the last one we tried. Located downtown right next to the Boston Common, the restaurant looks and feels much like it did when it opened over 15 years ago. The interior feels a bit like an upscale steak house -- white tablecloths cover the tables like Menton, but it's slightly more casual. We were sat quickly at a corner table in the back room, which held only about seven or eight tables and had a staff of seven or eight solely for the small space. I knew immediately we were in for some great service!

As it's a birthday tradition, we decided to go all out and have the tasting experience. Only way to go in my opinion! :) We started with a few cocktails, some incredible homemade bread, and some obligatory birthday oysters:

After only a few minutes, the courses started rolling out!

First course: Roasted cauliflower with peekytoe crab, caviar and avocado

Second course: Grilled swordfish, tagglasca olives, tomato, bottarga

Third course: Tagliatelle, burgandy escargot, artichoke, pancetta

Fourth course (supplemental, me and Tom shared this): Prune-stuffed gnocchi, foie gras, almond, vin santo

Fifth course (supplemental, me and Tom shared this): Seared foie gras de canard, baklava, pine nut, rhubarb

Sixth course: Bekrshire pork two ways, green tomato, English pea, horseradish

Seventh course: Sirloin of beef, pommes rubochon, spruce, procini

Palette cleanser: cucumber "pimm's cup"

Eighth course: Apricot tarte tatin, ginger, thyme, almond

They even put my name on it!

Final sweet bites with the check: chocolate fudge and pistachio macaroons

As expected, No. 9 Park did not disappoint! From start to finish, the food and service were top of the line and well worth the wait! Like Menton, the No. 9 Park tasting menu should be reserved for more special occasions (for us regular folk at least), but they do have a more affordable price fixe menu and a regular menu that sounded great.

Food wise, I really loved all of the dishes and it was hard to do my usual immediate rankings! My favorites were the first cauliflower course, the foie gras course, the tagliatelle and escargot (surprise, I like escargot!) and the beef course. I also really liked the palette cleanser and the dessert! The pork and the gnocchi were my least favorite -- pork is just not my thing and Tom and I agreed the gnocchi was a little overcooked. Overall, everything was executed and presented so well!

If you have never done a tasting menu, No. 9 Park could be the right one for you. It was the perfect combination of comfort, variety and creativity. 

Thank you TKO for being the best! <3

26th Birthday - Part 1! (Merrill & Co.)

My 26th birthday stretched out for a really long time! Since I was in NY during my actual birthday, I celebrated with friends the weekend after, and with Tom the weekend after that! I'm a pretty lucky duck, eh?

My celebration with friends was on Saturday, June 7. The day was gorgeous, so we started it out with a a few hours at the beach. It was perfect.

Afterwards, we went back to my apartment to relax and get ready for dinner with some fun homemade cocktails. It's pretty obvious that I love cucumbers and watermelon, so I decided to try to make a drink out of them. They came out awesome! All we did was put cucumbers, watermelon, mint, vodka and ice in a blender and mix it until it became a juice consistency. Then we strained it, added a bit more vodka and ice, and put a cute little garnish on top!

For dinner, I picked out a new spot in the South End, Merrill & Co, and Tom made a reservation for our group of 15. I'm always a little nervous about big group dinners but the place ended up being perfect. The restaurant feels like a modern, upscale diner, and the menu consists mostly of small plates. Most of the dishes offered are American comfort favorites with a twist. Our big group had the perfect table looking straight into the kitchen. It was perfect!

The meal started with drinks and a surprise oyster birthday toast -- I wish I had gotten a picture of this! Then, we broke up into small groups and basically ordered everything off the menu. I barely took any photos, but we tried all of these:

DEVILED EGGS bread & butter pickles, smoked paprika
WAFFLE FRIES cheddar powder, old bay aioli
GRILLED CORN uni-miso butter, lime, espelette
CAST IRON MUSSELS red curry, ginger
OCTOPUS kimchi, pimento, burnt onion
BURGERS 3-piece, bacon-onion jam, raclette
MAC & CHEESE parmesan-cheddar, bread crumb
PORK BELLY baby carrots, za’atar, dill yogurt
SUGAR SNAP PEAS meyer lemon, bacon, sweet soy
TIGER SHRIMP xo sauce, black bean
CAULIFLOWER almonds, onion jam, parsley

Octopus (one of my favorite dishes of the night)

Sliders

The whole group!

I was really impressed with all of the food and the service. Highlights food wise for me were the octopus, the pork belly, the shrimp and the waffle fries! After dinner, a few of us went next door to Wink & Nod for some more fun and cocktails.

I love that place. Such a cool vibe and really great drinks!

I had such a fun time and am so thankful to all of my friends for coming together to celebrate with me! 

Birthday part 2, coming soon!