I made a cake this weekend! Specifically, this kind. Specifically for this guy:

It was his birthday this last Thursday. And he needed a cake.

I am proud of myself for baking a cake from scratch and not from a box. It wasn’t as good as when my friend Laura made it, but it was still pretty good. The birthday boy liked it, which was most important. And cake for lunch can never be bad anyway.

This past week was terrible, hence the no posts. This weekend was fantastic. Friday night – worked late and then went to the UWS for dinner with my cousin, her boyfriend, and her dad (my uncle). Family time always a good time.

Saturday – gym time and grocery store time and then I baked an awesome cake! After the cake came out (btw the batter was amazing), I went back to my cousin’s for her housewarming party. Talked to lots of people, ate lots of cheese.

And then today – walked the Brooklyn Bridge, hung out at Brooklyn Bridge Park and then walked the Brooklyn Heights Promenade (lots of Brooklyn!) followed by actually eating some cake and then later on drinks and dinner at The Clover Club.

Have I mentioned lately that I love Brooklyn? And chocolate cake. And other things, too.

Here’s to a better week!

Happy birthday, Jordan! This girl was a little upset I hadn’t blogged about her birthday dinner the other week yet so here it is. And more of this girl on City Mitten coming up.

For her birthday, some of us girlies took Jordan out to Buttermilk Channel. Excellent choice and now Brooklyn favorite.

Above is Jordan with her birthday “cake” – chocolate chunk bread pudding with salted chocolate butterscotch. It was very nice. And now I will guide you through half of the menu.

Hush puppies:

I made Jordan hold the glass to show you A) her pretty nail polish and B) the size of the hush puppies. Just so you know. They were teeny tiny. And now, a beverage:

The Chelanga: Milagro tequila, honey, grapefruit, and jalapeño with a lime salt rim. And pretty! I love pretty cocktails. I had a Shenandoah Fizz myself, because I’m pretty down with aperol cocktails with sparkling wine and orange bitters. Oh, and Dolin Vermouth Blanc, too.

Back to foods. Duck meatloaf:

Why yes, that is a giant onion ring on top.

Caputo’s fresh linguini with sweet peas, spring onion, green garlic toasted bread crumbs, chile oil and pecorino:

I tried a bit of it, delicious.

And now what half of the table ordered: chicken and waffles!

Oh, chicken and waffles (with bonus of my fizz cocktail on the upper left). I never heard of chicken and waffles until I moved to New York. And I never tried it until I had brunch at the Stanton Social when my friend (now roommate)’s parents came to town and took us all out to a fancy tapas brunch. They were delicious then and they were delicious now. You can barely even see the waffles in this picture as there’s half a chicken on top of it, but I assure you they are there. This dish also makes your table smell quite nice. Very good. And since there’s half a chicken on your plate, you can almost guarantee they’ll be some left over to take home. Bonus next day lunch!

Also, I have heard many a time that Buttermilk Channel also has kick-ass brunch. So now you’ve heard it, too. And I need to check it out.

Hello, gorgeous. I’ve introduced you to this corn before, back when the Germans came to town. That was Cafe Habana in Soho. this is Habana Outpost in Fort Greene, Brooklyn. This spot is a bit more happenin’ – since they have outdoor seating and you order inside before picking up your food outside at a truck. When we got there a little after 7 on Wednesday night, the line was out the door. But we had reasons to stay as you can see above. Also, it was Tracee’s birthday.

Here are two of the Savan sisters. They had guacamole and queso sandwiches which HELLO, why didn’t I order that? Next time I will know.

We had to wait quite some time at the truck. I think since it’s been raining so much this may have been their first day being really busy because it was a little insane. They had to stop taking orders at one point so the kitchen could catch up. Also – patience is not rewarded here. If it’s busy and you want your food, you have to make yourself known.

And of course, once you get your food it all is worth it. Cubano sandwich at left and of course some more of that glorious corn.

And now we come to the section in which we were asked nicely to leave. As I said already, it was Tracee’s birthday. So Tracee’s roommate Leigh Anna made her some glorious strawberry cupcakes with vanilla frosting. We even sang her a song:

Well, it didn’t go over well. As soon as we were done singing, the lady in charge at Habana was standing there and in one breath said “Happy birthday” to Tracee and “I need to talk to you” to Leigh Anna at the same time. Basically, there’s a $20 charge to bring outside food in. Which I mean, I get. But cupcakes? Birthday cupcakes? They don’t even have dessert! Like I said, I get it, rules are rules – but you’d think after we all came and had food and drinks, it wouldn’t really be a big deal if we took three seconds to all eat a birthday cupcake. So as we did not pay the $20, we had to leave.

I think this picture is hilarious. Tracee is wearing a birthday sash, which is awesome. And nobody else you can really see. We all love Cafe Habana and it’s not like we won’t be back five million times this summer. We just won’t be bringing cupcakes.

Happy birthday, Mom!

Okay, so it’s not my mom’s birthday yet, but it will be in a few weeks and I will be out of town so we decided to have a little surprise birthday party in the D for her this past weekend. Not sure if the *surprise* part ended up working as well as we’d hoped but she still had a blast and so did we. And of course, the best part was the cake. Patisserie Parmentier, which I’ve mentioned before. My mom’s favorite. So I gave John (the cake maker) a call a few weeks ago and asked him to whip up a little chocolate something something with a Phoenix on it. And as you can see, boy did he come through.

Here’s my momma and I think the look on her face explains it all. She is one happy camper. Of course we can see why:

And if case you were wondering what it looked like on the inside (after Michelle took a few bites, of course):

Chocolate cake with chocolate mousse, covered in fondant. Oh man.

Happy birthday (in a little bit), Momma! Hope you come visit me in NYC soon!

I love birthdays. I love birthdays where friend’s tell me what they want to do and where they want me to meet them. I’m always the planner and I know all the places I want to go to, so it’s nice to see some stuff on other people’s radar.

The Jane Hotel. Strange. Eclectic. Old? Really, what a strange place. There are a lot of hotels with interesting decor and you can add The Jane to the list. The bar area is awesome because it’s a huge open area with big open couches which is perfect for large groups. It made me think it’s the hipster/cheap European traveler’s Rose Bar. Yep. It is.

Also in the Jane is Cafe Gitane, which is also interesting. Very interesting menu. One item highly recommended on the interwebs (foursquare tips, what?) is the avocado toast:

It’s kind of the perfect appetizer to split with one other person.

For entrees, I ordered the salmon pot pie:

That’s the salmon pot pie in the front and Lucy’s salad in the back. She’s such a good girl. I on the other hand was craving some gooey pot pie with all this rain lately, but gooey pot pie it wasn’t. Let me tell you what it was: Stick your fork into it and find a giant piece of salmon! It was salmon with a pot pie crust. Very interesting but not exactly what I wanted.

Here is the couscous with chicken that many a Foursquare users recommended:

I mean… I like couscous and everything, and there was chicken involved but I don’t think I would ever order it for a meal. Yes, that couscous tower is impressive, but it’s still couscous. Also, I had some hummus at lunch, so…

Another solid entree was the pasta with prosciutto. It was elbow noodles, which I love and it made me really want some solid mac and cheese.

Moving onto dessert. The chocolate cake was more like a chocolate brownie. Desperately needed some ice cream or a gooey chocolate center:

Also for dessert we got a chocolate bread pudding for the birthday girl. My favorite bread pudding is still at Posto.

Happy Birthday, Susan!

Oh one more comment – one thing I noticed tonight at dinner was that I was surrounded by some high-class women. We had JP Morgan, HP, Dell, American Express, and the NHL in the house. And those are just the ones I remember. Only in New York.

I went home last weekend for about four seconds. Had a flight going out Friday night and sat on the plane for three hours before it was canceled. The earliest flight I could get on the next day departed at 2:40 p.m. So I ended up spending only a good 36 hours in Michigan. But I think it was worth it. It has been my little sister’s 21st birthday basically all month now and I think this was the cumulation: a dinosaur bounce. And my momma even jumped in it:

Then we deflated it and my cousin Danielle tried to ride it and failed:

And we jumped on the trampoline and laughed so hard we almost died. Me, my two sisters, and my mom. Hilarious.

And last but not least, Alexandra’s Alice in Wonderland cake:

If I knew how to spell the bakery it’s from enough to even find it on Google, there would be a link. Maybe somebody will post the name in the comments. :)

Have you ever had Ethopian food? Do you like it? Does it make you want to visit Ethiopia? Does it make you feel one with the earth? I think I’d rather use a fork.

We went to Bati this week for my friend Laura’s birthday. She loves Ethiopian food so 11 of us went to her fave spot in Fort Greene. We chose  meat and vegetarian combination platters. I was kind of stuck in my spot so I had Laura take this picture of the veggie combo for me:

The meat combo looked sort of the same. Different piles of sloppy stuff in all kinds of colors and consistencies. Underneath everything is a strange sort of rubbery bread that you tear off and use to scoop up the veggies or meat. Some things were really spicy. We all drank a lot of water.

I love group dining. We had some hilarious conversation which I will spare you of here. But I don’t know, I don’t really get the food. Everyone was talking about how great it was and how “satisfying” it was but at the end of the meal, all I wanted was a hamburger! I’m glad I tried it and it is fun and I’d happily go again… but only if it’s Laura’s birthday. :)

Do you know what this is? It’s one of those Indian restaurants on First Ave between 5th and 6th street. First of all, sixth street is nothing but Indian restaurants, but the few jam-packed next to each other on the small space on First Ave between 5th and 6th definitely take the cake. A man stands outside each restaurant and tries to convince you to come inside. “How many? How many?” What you can’t see in the picture above is that to the left of this man is another man, standing in front of another Indian restaurant that looks exactly the same and they are both asking the same thing. It’s hysterical.

I’m sure someone has a developed opinion to which of the Indian restaurants in this clump of Indian restaurants is better, but I’m a newbie here. And like many places in NYC, I’ve walked by it a million times. And I’ve often wondered who exactly eats there. I see all the gimmicky lights and think it can’t possibly be any good. In fact, when I agreed to go to Panna II for dinner last Saturday night, I had no idea that that was the place I had agreed to.

But guess what! I LOVED it! I didn’t even know I liked Indian food! But it is soooo goood:

I seriously have no idea what we ordered. Some chicken somethings. Some vegetable somethings. I know we ordered some cheese bread and some coconut bread which was Amazing. It was all amazing. And Panna II is BYOB, which is fun. We also did BYOD (bring your own dessert) cause my friends brought in a chocolate cake for me!

And when the Panna II people found out it was my birthday, they took the cake and five minutes later, this crazy “Happy Birthday” song came over the entire restaurant and the lights were flashing on and off and they brought out my cake with candles on it. It was insane. I cannot explain the birthday song to you, but if you know someone with a birthday coming up, you should take them to Panna II just for that experience. It was hilarious.

Do you see all these lights? It’s a whole other world inside Panna II. And I kind of love it.

I could not have asked for a better birthday. This year went without a hitch. Above is the chocolate mousse we all had at The Mermaid Inn, where I chose to have my fabulous birthday dinner. Of course, mine was the only one with a candle. :)

First the day began with a snow day:

Then I came out of the shower to this on my chalkboard heart:

So from now on, whoever comes and visits me gets the privilege (and duty) of drawing on my chalkboard heart. During the day Kayti and I went to my favorite restaurant in the West Village for lunch and if you don’t know what that is by now, you’ll have to stay tuned for another post. Then we walked all around town, ending up in Soho to do some “shopping” (bought nothing). Then was nap time and preparation for the most fabulous dinner.

First: Look at all the drinks above. They gave us complimentary glasses of Prosecco for the table and then we also had two bottles of wine. And Missy had that beer. Ha!

Second: I love my friends. I had six of my favorite people with me and our time together was just hilarious. How I got to know such awesome people is beyond me. Lucky, lucky.

Third: I absolutely LOVE The Mermaid Inn. It was my first time there and it was beautiful and the food was delicious and the service was flawless. If I were to recommend a nice dinner in the city, Mermaid is now at the top of my list.

And they have their logo on the butter:

And here’s a really awesomely bad photo of all the food on the table (Mike, I’m still working on the white balance!):

Let’s see. We had two lobster sandwiches (one was mine!), one cod, two trouts, one salmon, and one shrimp avocado sandwich. Oh, and for appetizers there was some lobster bisque and New England clam chowder, and I have major love for the latter. I love everything. I love the Mermaid Inn. A lot.

There’s always so much pressure to plan a birthday party and everyone was really pleased with Mermaid and said they wanted to come back and that made me really happy. It was especially important for my birthday to be spot on, being the restaurant girl, and it was. Holler.

Missy and I really impressed with the butter.

Group shot!

Me ladies.

Miss lovely Stephanie.

Chocolate mousse cheers.

P.

And an awkward family photo… Happy Birthday to me!

The rest of the night was spent traipsing around the city: The Bourgeois Pig, CV at The Hotel on Rivington and finally, an endless dance party at Pianos with just the girls. Oh boy, did we have too much fun. :)

Where do you go to lunch when one of your friends from Michigan comes to the city? The Adore of course. It’s one of my favorite little places in the city. It’s a Japanese French bakery of sorts which means it’s French but the chef and everyone who works there is Japanese. They close early (around 4 or so everyday) but if you’re lucky enough to get a banana cupcake (read: the best muffin of your life) or a sandwich before they sell out, it’s really a treat. And it’s my favorite hot chocolate in the city.

It’s a tiny space and you might never know it, but there’s seating space upstairs if you’re staying for lunch. So we did. We each got baguettes (hers grilled eggplant, mine a croque monsieur) and spinach puree soup.

It was very green and very delicious:

It looks a little intimidating, but I assure you it was good.

Besides that, last night Kayti and I had the best night of our lives. We went to a speakeasy of sorts and got the number for another speakeasy of sorts that I thought I probably was never going to be able to go to. So we’ll be going there tonight. I’m having the best birthday ever. :)