Restaurant Week @ Fig & Olive!

#11: Try a new restaurant every month
#12: Go to a restaurant for Restaurant Week once per year

Last night was our first Restaurant Week dinner of the year (and of my 101 Things!). We went to Fig & Olive on 52nd between 5th and Madison with Lawrence, Rachel, and Dave.


We sat at that table on the right!

Here is the Restaurant Week Menu.

For appetizer, I had the Tuna Tartar - which was absolutely fabulous, super flavorful and refreshing. For my entree, I had the Lamb Skewers with Couscous which had this delicious honey yogurt sauce that was just so different. Justin got a Filet off the seasonal menu, which had a Herbs de Provence butter atop it. Everything was cooked perfectly and very tasty. For dessert, I switched my Strawberries and Gelato (which I only picked because Justin asked me to) with Rachel's Chocolate Pot de Creme, which was heavenly. Justin got a warm apple tart, which was also tasty, and quite pretty, but not the best apple tart we've had. We also drank a bottle of Robalino, a Spanish white wine, which was sweet and delicious!

All in all - we all very much enjoyed the restaurant. The atmosphere was lovely, the service was good, the food was excellent. Great success!

Tomorrow is Another Day!

#4: Watch all of AFI's 100 best movies of all time

Justin and I partook in another classic on Sunday night - Gone with the Wind!



This is one classic I've been really excited to re-watch. I've seen it a few times before and loved it - I even own the DVD. Re-watching these movies now that I'm older (and have to listen to Justin's gripes) has been an interesting experience. When I was younger and super into old movies, they could do no wrong, I just loved them all so much. Now, I still adore these old movies, but can allow myself to see some flaws here and there or have some complaints. Knowing that Justin has a different mindset when watching these movies, maybe just since he hasn't seen as many as I have, he can't help but compare them to movies nowadays, which you really can't. I think he enjoys making jokes about old movies more than actually watching them!

Anyway, I was a little worried that on a Sunday night, I might not want to watch the full epic that is Gone with the Wind (which is a 2 disc set totalling 4 hours) - but I was still riveted! I love the music, the colors (love when they show a dark Scarlet standing in front of a breathtaking sunset or sunrise), the characters, the drama. I do realize that the second half of the movie is much slower/less interesting than the first and could have easily been shortened.

Oh well...I think that in the future, whenever Justin opens his mouth to complain, I'm just going channel Scarlett and say one thing to him: Fiddle-dee-dee!

Reviews:
FilmSite.org
ReelViews
Roger Ebert

New Apartment and New Comforter!

#99: Buy a nice comforter
#100: Move into a 1-bedroom apartment with Justin

So, big news this week for these 2 101Things! Justin and I are MOVING!!! Ok, so it's not a one-bedroom...but I'm going to count it anyway!!! Mainly cause we're going to sign a 2 year lease, so we won't be moving into a 1-bedroom until after that at the earliest. Plus, this apartment is BIGGER! A larger studio with...wait for it...a HUMONGOUS TERRACE! Oh yea, that's right. We're gonna get a grill and patio furniture and everything. Hurrah! Pictures to come after we officially move in mid-August, but for now you can take a look at our brand new comforter from Target:

Eating Out on the UES

#11: Try a new restaurant every month

Last Tuesday we tried out a new restaurant while visiting Justin's sister on the Upper East side, called Blue Moon. It was a Mexican place, but it looked more like a bar, and had some tables outside so we could enjoy the lovely summer weather. The food was DELISH - I had a roasted veggie burrito that was super flavorful. It might have been one of my top burritos ever, I'd love to have that more often. They also had a lovely drink special with $4 margaritas after 7:30 (for 50 extra cents, they have a multitude of fruity flavors). Two thumbs up!

Keep Your Friends Close, But Your Enemies Closer

#4: Watch all of AFI's 100 best movies of all time
After seeing The Godfather recently, we decided to skip around the Top 100 list and go straight to The Godfather 2!



Although many call this the best movie sequel ever and some like it even better than the first...overall, I'd have to say that we enjoyed the original a lot more than #2. #2 was much longer (two discs for a total of 3 hours and 20 minutes!) and skipped around between the Vito Corleone's young life up until he became 'The Godfather' and Michael Corleone's present life, which itself spanned many years, and seeing him turn into someone he never thought he would. This made the film feel a little disjointed since the two storylines had no clear relation. I actually was more interested in watching Vito's storyline than Michael's, but that was just a small part of the film. Michael's storyline was harder to keep track of and it was confusing to follow who is his real "enemy" and who isn't.

The film also felt a bit darker/gloomier than the first, which is funny to say since both are gloomy and violent movies. But the first one had a lot more excitement and a better climax. #2 didn't hold our excitement in the same way, and while you rooted for Mike in the original to follow in his father's footsteps and get revenge on those who wronged the family, in #2, he seems to be over the edge with his revenge and it leaves you feeling sad as opposed to empowered.

Here are some reviews:
http://www.filmsite.org/godf2.html
http://www.reelviews.net/php_review_template.php?identifier=263
http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19740101/REVIEWS/401010314/1023

Me, a Gym Rat?? Plus a 2nd 101 Completion and more!

#26: Workout 3 times a week for a month (2/4)
This would have been one of my guesses for the least likely to complete from my 101 Things, but I've surprised myself (and all those around me) with my recent devotion to the gym! Along with my first Summer Friday a couple weeks ago, came the sudden desire and impetus to visit the gym in my building, a mere 3 floors below me. It was then that I realized, if I was unemployed, I'd workout everyday! 11-11:30am is just the absolute best time to workout in my mind - the gym is empty, it's before lunch (but, should you wake early enough, after breakfast), you can watch The Price Is Right while you workout, and when all is said and done, you've still got the whole day ahead of you! Of course, I (thankfully) am employed and thus cannot workout at 11am, so I've had to workout after work (since before work certainly is still not an option for me - not only do I oversleep as it is, I've found after the past 2 weeks that I sweat PROFUSELY while on the treadmill, so going to the gym in the morning would also require a cold shower afterward, and what about my hair?? Either way, I'm not sure I could handle waking up early enough to get through it all - especially without wanting to get back into bed immediately after my post-workout shower.) But I digress...I'm extremely proud and excited that I've actually had the energy and willfulness to go to the gym after my sweaty 20 minute walk home from work and I'm even more excited that I am now halfway to my goal of going 3 times a week for a month! Wish me luck!!


#41: Try a new recipe at least twice a month
#90: Keep blog updated and always have a picture for recipes
The usual cooking roundup - New recipes on CareBearsKitchen this week:
Taco Salad
Three Berry Pie
Blueberry Crumbcake


#94: Update picture frames in apt
A second completion in the same week!! Amazing!! Last night, I decided to finally look through the last 6 months worth of photos on my computer and pick out some new fun ones to put in my picture frames, especially since some of the pictures I had included people I don't really see that much - afterall, my frame space is a hot commodity: you have to earn it! While I am marking this 101Thing as complete, that does NOT mean I want to spend the next 937 days with the same pictures...so moving forward, I will think of this 101Thing as a semiannual goal.


#96: Buy a new plant and keep it alive for the entire 1,001 days
So, technically I did not bye a new plant, but my parents did bring me a cactus back from their trip to New Mexico! While I definitely hope to keep this cactus alive (cause if I can't do that, I'm pretty hopeless), I still want to try my hand at a regular plant as well. Perhaps I should just try to keep the 3 plants I already have alive (plus my office plant, that hasn't been looking so hot lately...)

Plant Pictures To Come!

My First Official Completion!

#33: Buy a Wreck This Journal

YAY! Thanks to my friend Anna from PositivelyAnna, I have officially completed something from my 101 Things!! As a thank you for designing Anna's new logo (go check it out...isn't it purdy?), Anna surprised me with my very own Wreck This Journal this morning!! I was extremely excited to get my hands on it and had to force myself to actually do work this morning instead of look through all of my fun future asisgnments filling up the book. I did sneak in a break to fill in the first page though...so now everyone will know who this book belongs to! #33 on the list will now represent my filling out the book, so more to come as I continue on!



Page 1!

Progress Report: #13

#13. Taste cupcakes from at least 10 new places

Sunday was a beautiful day for a Cupcake Crawl! And that's exactly what Justin and I did along with our friends Lawrence and Rachel (from CupcakeRankings.com). Rachel took excellent notes so that she could blog each cupcake we sampled from the following 5 cupcakeries:

1. Sugar Sweet Sunshine
Here we split 4 varieties: Chocolate Frosting on Vanilla Cake, Vanilla (tinted green) Frosting on Vanilla Cake, Red Velvet, and Pumpkin Spice. Everyone loved the first cupcake, especially the chocolatey frosting (even though it was milk chocolate, which I don't enjoy). The Vanilla frosting actually appealed to me more, though I was the only one who thought so. The Red Velvet was a big fat flop, agreed to be the worst cupcake (possibly ever) due to its really weird over-whipped, tasteless frosting. And the Pumpkin Spice was the favorite of the four (and remained one of our tops for the whole day).




2. Babycakes
We decided to try this place as well, even with its gluten-free, sugar-free, dairy-free, everything-free options that scared us a little bit. We tried two cupcakes here: Lemon Blueberry and Brownie Cupcake with Mint Frosting. We surprisingly liked both, all things considered! The brownie cupcake was especially yummy, the combination with the mint was pretty delicious and refreshing, another surprise for me, since I generally don't like mint in food.




3. Baked By Melissa
Lawrence, Justin, and I tried Baked By Melissa a few weeks ago, but Rachel couldn't join us that day so we made the venture back. We tried all 7 varieties of her cupcakes. Lawrence and I agreed that the cupcakes weren't as good as the first time we had them. But Chocolate Peanut Butter still was mouth-wateringly yummy (in my opinion!).




4. Sweet Revenge
We tried 3 cupcakes here: Pure (Vanilla on Vanilla), Crimson & Cream (Raspberry Red Velvet), and Birds of Paradise (Lime Cake with Mango Frosting). All were big hits, especially the Birds of Paradise, which got points for uniqueness AND deliciousness!




5. Tonnie's Mini's
We had to take a long break after Sweet Revenge cause we were all pretty cupcaked out, but Rachel wanted to try this one last place on her list. It ended up being a pretty bad decision - we've dubbed this place, the seedy underbelly of the cupcake world. We got 2 cupcakes: the Vanilla on Vanilla and a mix of Vanilla and Red Velvet. One taste of the vanilla and I was out. It was gross, dried out and odd tasting. The "mix" cupcake was no different from the regular one. Ick.

Here's a copy of our crawl map:

Progress Report: #4

#4: Watch all of AFI's 100 best movies of all time
Last night, J and I watched the #3 movie on the AFI list: The Godfather!



Finally, a movie both J and I enjoyed! While the movie is long (2 hours and 57 minutes - Justin was surprised at the 1.5-2 hour mark after a big exciting climactic part that it wasn't the end), it's full of excitement and suspense. An added treat was seeing some great actors when they were young - Al Pacino, Diane Keaton, Robert Duvall, James Caan (I quizzed J at the beginning to see if he could recognize the actors).

Here are some links to Godfather reviews:
http://www.filmsite.org/godf.html
http://www.reelviews.net/php_review_template.php?identifier=262
http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19720101/REVIEWS/201010312/1023