Almost Halfway!

I can hardly believe it's been almost 500 days since I started this list! And sad that I haven't been the best at updating my blog (hello! that's number 54!!!), but happy to say that even though I haven't been writing about it, I sure have been doing it!

So let's recap my progress, shall we?

#2: Read 1 new book every 2 months

One of the biggest changes in my life since I've started this list had been getting back into reading. Even though so far it's mostly been chick lit and fantasy that Justin has given me to read, I feel confident now that I will continue to make good use of the library branch down the street and always have a book to read before bed! My last few books were: Something Blue and Love the One You're With by Emily Giffin, Little Lady, Big Apple and The Little Lady Agency and the Prince by Hester Brown, and Ship of Magic and Mad Ship by Robin Hobb.

#7: Go to at least 3 Mets games each summer

This summer I've only made it to 2 Mets games (tho I went to a whopping 4 last year, so I'm still on track!) - one winner (yay!) in DC at Nationals Park and another disaster for my Dad's birthday in July. Across the two games, I think there were 3 David Wright home runs (yay!) but that wasn't enough to pull out the win in game #2. 

#8: Go to 10 concert

Back in July we had a big concert weekend - Weezer on Friday night at Williamsburg Waterfront in Brooklyn and DMB at Citi Field on Saturday! Both were amazing...the best Weezer concert I've ever been to no doubt and possibly the best DMB set. Still have a couple more concerts left this year too.

#11: Try a new restaurant every month

#12: Go to a restaurant for Restaurant Week once per year

#14: Go to brunch once every 2 months (not just at the diner)

Will write about all three of these together since they're related! J and I have spent the summer trying new brunch places (I'll add our reviews in another post) and we went to two new restaurants for RW this summer, One if by Land, Two if by Sea and Mesa Grill - both were fab! What did I eat? Why, of course I'll tell you!
At One if by Land, I had:

App: Haricot Vert Salad: grape heirloom tomatoes, goat cheese, slithered almonds, basil, sherry vinaigrette (AMAAZZZZZING)
Entree: Grilled Bavette Steak: roasted radishes, fingerling potatoes, braised red cabbage, beef jus
Dessert: Gianduja Mousse: caramel bananas, banana bread ice cream

At Mesa Grill, I had:

App: Roasted Corn Soup (INSANELY DELICIOUS)
Entree: Cornmeal Crusted Chile Relleno filled with Roasted Eggplant, Manchego Cheese with Sweet Red Pepper Sauce + Balsamic Vinegar (UMM I CAN'T WAIT TO GO BACK)
Dessert: Chocolate Strawberry Shortcake with Chocolate Chip Marscapone Whipped Cream

#23 Visit Lawrence in DC

Another fun travel 101thing down!! We finally visited our friend Lawrence in DC and the timing couldn't have been better, we went on July 4th weekend! We had amazing food (Zaytinya, Co Co. Sala), we were pro tourers and got to see a lot of monuments and some museums (and got to play with my new awesome camera), we went to a Mets-Nationals game (and the Mets won!), we watched amazing fireworks over the Washington Monuments, AND I even got a little bit of a tan! Totally awesome trip!

#41: Try a new recipe at least twice a month 

Sadly, I'm also very behind on my recipe blog...I'll do better, promise!

#63: Get a Massage once a year 

I see that I didn't mention our Valentine's Day couples massage for some reason! I got a second massage to celebrate the next 101thing I achieved.......

#64: Get a raise

I got a new job! Yup, I accomplished one of my best 101things - getting a raise - almost exactly on the 1 year anniversary of creating this list too! :)

Pass the Mimosa...

#11: Try a new restaurant every month
#14 Go to brunch once every 2 months

The past couple months, I've really been into Brunches - they're more special than our regular weekend diner trips and can even include drinks! What's not to love? So far I've tried 4 brunch locations.

Essex

This place was awesome, the benchmark of all future brunch places perhaps. The place not only looks awesome, but has a delicious selection and free drinks (they say 3 drinks included, but they keep refilling your glass over and over so you can really get more if you so choose.) I had the eggs benedict over spinach, so good. Here's their brunch menu.

Craftbar

I was very excited to try out my first Tom Colicchio restaurant, but unfortunately I don't know if brunch was the correct time to go - though honestly, I think I just ordered the wrong thing for me. Drinks were not included, but I decided to drop $11 on a delicious mimosa anyway. Then I ordered the Frittata, but wasn't a fan of it sans ketchup (how I generally eat my omelettes/scrambled eggs) or salt and pepper, none of which were supplied at the table. That being said, I would definitely go back to try their lunch or dinner. Here's their brunch menu.

Dos Caminos

The new reigning brunch titlest? Possibly! Our Dos Caminos brunch was just as good if not better than our Essex brunch!! The menu had a dozen things I wanted to try, all very unique and inventive PLUS you got a free drink, which included a Prickly Pear Margarita, which is the drink I always get at Dos anyway and packs enough of a punch to count as 3 weaker drinks. All in all, this brunch made me a happy camper. I had the Smoked Salmon Eggs Benedict with Avocados served on Cornbread with a Chipotle Hollandaise - AMAZING. Here is the full brunch menu.

Normas

This was a special brunch for my sister-in-laws birthday with the whole fam. Biggest negative to this place? No booze. Otherwise, the menu is full of interesting possibilities and it was a very hard decision! I ended up trying the Waz-Za, which is a waffle with lots of fruit and brulee berry topping. It was really good, but my general issue with such sweet breakfasts is that after about half, I don't want anymore (even if I'm not full, I just am more of a savory girl I guess.) There were many other dishes I would love to try should I go back though! Here is the full menu.

Cupcake Crawls Should Not Happen in August

#13 Taste cupcakes from at least 10 new places (with Lawrence and Rachel from CupcakeRankings.com)
#14 Go to brunch once every 2 months

We wanted to squeeze in one last Cupcake Crawl before Lawrence left for DC, so we scheduled one for his last Sunday in NYC. We went down to the Tribeca/Wall Street Area for brunch at Kitchenette (followed by cupcakes there, at Soda Shop, and Tribeca Treats). We then decided to sit in this cute little area with a fountain, benches, and lots of tourists. Unfortunately, it was like a thousand degrees and it definitely did not go along with eating cupcakes. And worse, the cupcakes were pretty dismal anyway.


Rachel and Justin at Kitchenette


Delicious brunch


The cupcake display


Me and Lawrence before testing our first cupcake


Soda Shoppe Cupcakes


Tribeca Treats Cupcakes

Progress Report: #3, #14, #44, #84

#3: Have Justin teach me how to golf
So, while Justin hasn't exactly started to teach me how to golf, we DID go to the Driving Range this weekend when we were in LI, so I figured I'd count that as to have something to share on the blog. He did his best to show me how to bring the club back correctly, how to flick my wrists, how to not jump up when I follow through. So I'm still in the infancy of my golfing education, however, I did hit a few balls relatively well AND even managed to hit the sign that said "Can't Hit This Sign?" a few times! I even have pictures to prove it, which I will add shortly.

#14: Go to brunch once every 2 months (not just at the diner)
Ok, so I'm only going to count this once, since we go here every time we're in LI (sometimes twice): Maureen's Kitchen. We are completely obsessed with this place!! Justin's sister introduced us to it last year and it's become an LI ritual ever since. It's about a 20-30 minute drive from J's parents house but well worth it. It's a small family-run place, super cute and kitchy decor (involving cows and cowprint everywhere) and is only open til 3 during the week and 1:45 on the weekend. They have a good amount daily breakfast and lunch specials every day, which are extremely creative and unique. Justin ALWAYS (a good 98% of the time) will get the Croissant French Toast of the day, which comes with cream cheese in the center (warmed from the french toast, sometimes flavored) and various fruits that change each time we're there. I tend to enjoy the lunch specials more and will more often get those - this weekend I did get an amazing omellete of chicken sausage, roasted peppers, scallions and asiago cheese. On our second go, I got the Cranberry Chicken Salad Sandwich with white cheddar, which was to die for and so large that I was able to take the second half home and eat it for lunch the next day (which is something I almost always try to do on our last day on the island, so I can bring some Maureen's love into work the next day. Countdown to our next Maureen's trip: about 29 days.

#44: Make (or order in) one vegetarian meal per week
Happily, it looks like I eat vegetarian for dinner a good amount! I ate my beloved Eggplant Rollatini from Abitino's on Mon/Wed (the portion is big enough to get two dinners out of it!) and last night I had a make-your-own Pasta Primavera in Pesto Sauce from The Bread Factory. What I need to work on next is eating more vegetarian meals that DON'T include pasta!

#84: Plan a group wine-tasting trip
Justin and I are planning two wine-tasting trips this summer to the North Fork! I finally took the initiative this week to email out dates and get the planning ball rolling. We're keeping the groups small so that we don't have to deal with a limo/van and the added costs there, which also cuts down severely on the stress and planning for me! Woohoo! I wish the summer was longer so that all the weekends didn't book up so quickly!

Progress Report: #14, #40, #41, #44, #72, #90

#14: Go to brunch once every 2 months (not just at the diner) (1/16)

This one was unintentionally easy this month...we went to Brunch for Mother's Day with my family! We went to City Crab on 19th and Park, where I had the Eggs Copenhagen (like Eggs Benedict but with Smoked Salmon instead of the Canadian Ham) and a Pear Cosmo. Mmm!

#40: Make meal plans every week (2/143)
#41: Try a new recipe at least twice a month (4/66+)
#44: Make (or order in) one vegetarian meal per week (2/143)
#90: Keep blog updated and always have a picture for recipes

These 4 pretty much go hand-in-hand (in-hand-in-hand).

While last weeks meal plan was intricate and well thought-out, since I was out of town this past weekend for my 5th Year college reunion and came back late on Sunday night, with a cold to boot, this week's meal plan was much more haphazard. Lunches this week have consisted of sandwiches (which are actually pretty yummers) of salami, pepper jack, lettuce, sweet pickles and mustard. Dinners this week were Italian Order-In (Eggplant Rollatini mmm) which was large enough for two dinners and Cheesesteaks before the concert last night. Tonight will be the only cooking night and the menu is simple steak (marinated in lime juice) and baked sweet plantains, which have become a staple at our place recently.

As for new recipes, over the past 2 weeks I've tried:
Steak Tacos (which also produced follow-up lunch Steak Salad)
Aromatic Noodles With Lime Peanut Sauce
Chicken Parmesan
Falafel Pitas with Cucumber-Yogurt Dressing

And, obviously, have added those to the blog, check to #90! I still have to update the food porn. As for #44, last week I made Falafel Pitas for dinner and this week's big V-card goes to Eggplant Rollatini. All-in-all, my Cooking 101 list is moving along stronger than any other section! (Gee, I wonder why!)

I'll close out this lengthy progress report with:
#72: Visit all 4 boroughs (3/4)

This 101 thing is managing to fly by, though I fully intend to visit boroughs more than once. Now, the Bronx is unfair, my parents live there, afterall. I visited just last week to get my hair done! Queens was also easy peasy, with the Mets Game being located there (and with all the other games I have planned, I will be a repeat Queens visitor for sure! Brooklyn was a new one for me for a nighttime locale, but I was able to check this one off thanks to my friend Sheryl's birthday earlier this month, located at the very fun Radegast Hall & Beer Garden.