I'm having surgery tomorrow, they'll be taking out most or all of my stomach and I won't be able to eat normal food for a while. Colicchio and Sons is one of my favorite places to go for lunch so I went today. They have a good deal for $25, I had pate, porgy with asparagus and a raspberry tart with buttermilk ice cream.
Congratulations New York Senate for approving gay marriage in our state. I live right near Stonewall, I can hear people cheering and dancing in the street, it's exciting.
I'm very happy about my new bedspread. It's a Welsh tapestry style spread from Trefriw Woolen Mills, in Wales. It's reversible.
A group of friends all met in Big Sur to see Bill Callahan play at the Henry Miller Library. For breakfast we went to the Big Sur Bakery. I had Sand Dabs and breakfast pizza.
I had heard about Duarte's Tavern on Diner's, Drive-Ins and Dives (a show I'm embarrassed to admit I watch). It's about an hour outside of San Francisco on US 1 so Mindy, Ruby and I stopped there for lunch. I had cioppino with crab, prawns and clams. Homemade strawberry-rhubarb pie was dessert.
We only had one night in San Francisco on our way to Big Sur. Mindy and I went early and were able to get a seat at the bar of Cotogna. This was the best meal I've had in a long time. We started with the cuttlefish with snap peas, mint and chiles.
Chef Michael Tusk is known for his pastas: We tried two, a daily special of pappardelle with lamb ragu and raviolis with borage and spring garlic.
We also had homemade sausage with peppers, onions and potatoes with a side of oven-roasted carrots.
For dessert we had milk chocolate budino with almond milk and scoops of homemade gelato and sorbet (grapefruit, plum and vanilla). After dinner the chef came around and we introduced ourselves. He took us to his adjoining restaurant, Quince, showed us his photography collection and brought us back to the kitchen. I loved seeing the behind the scenes.
Yesterday I had pre-operation screening: a few more scans and X-Rays for the surgeon. Afterwards, Phil and I met Jan at the newly opened northern section of the High Line. In a parking lot on 30th Street and 10th Avenue there are a number of food trucks and picnic tables set up for visitors. I've been wanting to try the ice cream sandwiches from Coolhaus. You choose your cookie type and ice cream flavor and then they make it for you. I had vanilla with chocolate cookies.
So far this week I've ordered in from Otto twice, mainly for the gelato. My favorite is Milk Chocolate Chip, it's $12 a pint.
I've completed my first three cycles of chemotherapy. Last week I had a PET scan and an endoscopy to see how the tumor was doing after the treatment. It worked remarkably well, the tumor and some of the surrounding lymph nodes have shrunk considerably. This means that I'm ready for surgery.
It's heating up in New York. There were a lot of people lined up for Imperial Woodpecker Sno-Balls yesterday. I joined the crowd and tried coconut cream and tiger blood flavors. Having worked one summer shaving ice in Hawaii, I know how hard it is to keep the consistency of the ice nice and fluffy. The workers here did a great job.
It's just beginning to be strawberry season in New York. Mindy made this strawberry shortcake.
Kelly, Andrea and I went to Smorgasburg in Williamsburg. Every Saturday a bunch of food vendors set up tents near the East River. You can try different dishes (pastrami, anchovies, sesame noodles) and buy pre-made things to take home (jam, jerky, kombucha). Even though we had sampled some good stuff we made sure to leave room for lunch at Marlow and Sons. We had oysters and their famous brick chicken, a salad and a perfect tortilla de Espana. Dessert was rhubarb yogurt cake with vanilla and Earl Gray ice cream. A great lunch.
Their signature dish (which is not always available) is the Maialino which is a suckling pig with crispy skin covering moist meat. This was one of the best things I have ever eaten.
We finished with a rhubard tart. Everyone that worked here was very nice to us.
Just from the looks of it, and what I've read about it, I was ready to hate The Dutch. It's all done up perfectly to appeal to guys like me... dark wood, great paint, an awning.... that turns me off. The bar area is gorgeous, there's an "oyster room" and every detail is perfect. Andrea, Tabitha and I met here for early lunch to avoid the inevitable crowds and to confirm my suspicions. Everything was OK but not worth feeling like such a trend follower. There are much better places for fried chicken. We also had asparagus and "white boy" ribs which were dry and flavorless.
