Ten Years Since We Met 2016

Ten years ago, Kevin and I met for the first time in the outdoor seating area of Mudhouse coffeeshop in Charlottesville.

To celebrate our ten-year anniversary of meeting, we went about 20 minutes east to North Fork to a vineyard we'd heard good things about, the Paumanok Vineyards. We did a white wine tasting and I liked all the wines we tried, the 2012 Sauvignon Blanc, 2012 Chenin Blanc, 2011 Barrel Fermented Chardonnay, and 2012 Riesling. My favorite was the 2011 Barrel Fermented Chardonnay, so we bought a bottle of that and sat outside with cheese and crackers.

Sitting outside by the vineyard

Yum.

 Paumanok Vineyards

The closed a little early and practically had to push us out the gate. Even the rain didn't hamper my enjoyment of the wine and the setting. But no matter, Kevin had a plan B, which that there was a relatively new whiskey and bourbon distillery with tastings. On the way there though, I saw a chocolate shop and Kevin turned around. The North Fork Chocolate Company had tasting too! Some of the chocolates are good, but don't ask for recommendations unless you want to know what not to eat, as that's how they unload the unwanted chocolate.

Here comes their next victim

In clockwise order fromt he top left: Salty Dog, Ice Cream Sundae, Bourbon, 75 Dark Organic

I loved the 75 Dark, get that.

The Salty Dog tasted like licking an actual wet dog

I also made Kevin stop so I could hug a huge tomato on the side of the road.

 Finally, we got to Long Island Spirits, which had more of Suffolk County vibe. It is perhaps sometimes a dance club? Kevin did the bourbon tasting and I alternatively sniffed or licked a little liquid from his glass because it all resembled nail polish to me.

Long Island Spirits

Bourbon tasting

State of the union: Crazy in love.

Hanshin Tigers, Osaka Baseball 2016

We went to a baseball game in Japan! This was high on Kevin's to do list, but when we were planning our trip I initially rolled my eyes. We bought tickets to a game at the end of the week though and it ended up being perfect because the main thing to do in Osaka is eat all the food (so good!) and by the end of the week my feet were just giant agony blisters. Sitting and drinking beer was the best plan ever.

Me and Kevin in Koshien Stadium

Kevin loves baseball and he was pretty excited to be there. Plus it was really interesting to see the differences in an baseball outing. First of all, people were as nice to us as they were anywhere in Japan. Nicer. Someone showed us where to exchange our voucher for a ticket and a random person bought us two whiskey drinks during the game. Woah.

These young women serve draft beer from tanks!

Koshien Stadium is home of the Hanshin Tigers, sometimes called the Osaka Tigers. They were playing the Hiroshima Carp, which really doesn't sound like a sufficiently scary mascot.

Hanshin Tigers 

Hiroshima Carp in red

Eventually, we got hungry, and the food in the stadium was really strange. Also, each baseball player seemed to be advocating a different dish, so who was I supposed to believe?

I decided to listen to Shintaro Fujinami...

... and get this. It was delicious!

Whiskey from random Japanese guy! Thank you!

Also the Hanshin Tigers have this strange tradition that before the 7th inning everyone gets these provocatively shaped balloons in the color of their team - yellow for Hanshin Tigers and red for Hiroshima Carp- and then they release them at the same time.

Getting ready

Chanting songs and whatnot

Release!

Balloon-gasm!

Shinjuku Night and Earthquake, Tokyo 2016

After the show on Monday, we went to dinner in Shinjuku. Kevin had looked up some ramen recommendations so we went to Fuunji. Probably we should have gotten the tsukemen (the dipping noodles) instead because that's what they're most known for, but we got the ramen. We ordered the special ramen from a vending machine by the entrance and then gave our tickets to the chef when we sat down at the bar. Everyone sits at the bar and we decided not to wait for three seats together so Andrew- who eats ramen like a Japanese man now- volunteered to sit by himself and was done in half the time it took us.

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Kevin and me in Shinjuku

Fuunji Restaurant

Vending machine choices

Eating my ramen at the bar

I also got extra seaweed and an egg

Kevin ordered different ingredients

After dinner, we coordinated with Chow via Line App to meet up with him and his wife Marci at a little hidden fancy bar called Ben Fiddich (ベンフィディック pronounced in Japanese Ben Fi-dick). It was a cool bar and it was really fun to chat with them for awhile. Everybody ordered delicious whiskeys.

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Chow and Marci on their honeymoon!

Discussing whiskey choices

Then the room started shaking. I asked tentatively if we were having an earthquake. No one seemed worried except me. I was very worried. Then everyone's cellphones started beeping with an earthquake alert. Um, too late. We were on the 9th floor and the buildings are built to bend and not break so it felt very real. It was a 5.6 on the Richter Scale. So that happened.

Cheers!

Valentine's Day 2013

Kevin and I celebrated Valentine's Day this weekend. My mom came over to spend some time with James and babysit him so we took the opportunity to go for dinner and drinks in our old Brooklyn neighborhood of Cobble Hill.

Valentine's picture- oh my I need some sun!

Despite his "Awesome 24/7" shirt, James is unhappy when you grab his pacifier

Reading his favorite book, Curious George, with Nana

James and Nana both like bling

We had sushi and sake at Ki restaurant. It was yummy, though it's one of those places where it makes a difference what you order. Some of the rolls are way better than others. (I'm pretty tough on sushi, but if you want a recommendation, my two favorite places in New York right now are Iroha in Manhattan and Ozu in Brooklyn.) We had sidecars at Clover Club cocktail bar and whiskey drinks at Char No. 4. The Four Roses small batch bourbon was really good. We also stopped at Brooklyn Inn on the way home-- but mainly to warm up.

Yummy passion roll and fantastic roll at Ki sushi

Kevin with a sidecar at Clover Club

Cheers from Char No. 4!

Possibly the culinary highlight of the evening though was our double dessert at The Chocolate Room. We had chocolate cake and washed it down with dark hot chocolate. Oh. my. gosh. DARK HOT CHOCOLATE. I think they just straight-up melted a high-quality chocolate bar into my cup. Chocolate is the new wine.

Telepathically professing my love to the dark hot chocolate

Thanks again, for babysitting, Nana! We had a very happy Valentine's Day celebration.

James's Valentine this year: Nana

PS. Valentine's Day last year and a Valentine's Day retrospective.

Two dozen roses from Kevin- I'm a lucky woman!

Things My Wife Complains About #21: Seeking Her Best Interests

James is on a pretty regular schedule now. He wakes up between 5 and 6 am and goes to bed at 6:30 pm. During those thirteen hours or so, he takes one nap, and all of this is normal for a kid his age. My wife wakes up with James most days, and she's understandably tired and solicitous of a wake-me-up like coffee or amphetamines or high-grade cocaine. I prepare the coffeemaker for her before bed, and when I hear the whirr of the beans grinding, I know she's making coffee and James is dancing, as he thinks the whirr is a particularly good song. He has very bad taste in music.

When I don't hear the beans grinding, I know she's going to be mood challenged and I'm going to be accused of not showing sufficient sympathy or breathing too loudly or impregnating her in the first place or not impregnating her again or nothing at all, followed by a loud accusation that I'm ignoring her. Usually, I've already started grinding the beans or cutting the cocaine by this point, but recently my wife pointed out that I'd suggested she have coffee AFTER her nap. She naps with James. From her tone, you might have guessed that I'd suggested she join the Taliban. We had the following conversation:

Me: I thought you might sleep better.
Her: You made me this way.
Me: I wanted you to be rested for the day.
Her: Do you understand that this is your fault?
Me: Maybe we should make you some coffee.
Her (bending her arms in the matter of a tyrannosaurs rex): RARRR
James (getting his head stuck between the chair and the wall): RARRRRRR

Possible solutions!

1) Brew decaf coffee and hope for the placebo effect
2) Follow a morning stimulant with a morning depressant, like whiskey
3) Get James to nap by himself (hard)

Dinosaurs at rest.

St. Patrick's Day 2012!

Hello! This year we definitely had one of our best St. Patrick's Days. First, I had a little Irishman I could dress up! His dad bought him a "You're Lucky I'm Not Your Kid" shirt with a shamrock on it, as a nod to ever-continuing bad attitude. Perhaps James can read because he was especially grumpy. Alternatively, it had to do with teething or the fact that Kevin and I were out a lot and James is pretty attached to us. In any case, the lovely Gramndma Kathy was here to love him and play with him, so his grumpiness didn't slow me down.

James's First St.Patrick's Day 2012

Michele and Jon came to visit us. Kevin made his delicious corned beef sandwiches which we all enjoyed to the extent that we could with James grabbing food off our plates. (James also enjoyed quite a bit of corned beef.)  We also had some Guiness and Baileys and coffee. Then we set about our plan to go to the 4 Irish bars in our neighborhood.  The bars are for-real Irish with bartenders from Ireland and whatnot.  We started at Jameson's Bar and Grill. I've been wanting to go there since we moved to town because it looks like a nice restaurant, but the food selection and prices demotivated me from entering.  It was a low key beginning to the afternoon, but we also started on a course of only drinking Irish refreshments. I had a Baileys on ice, Michele had a black and tan, and the men had Guinness.

Starting out at Jameson's Bar & Grill

Next, we spent a ridiculous amount of time at J. Fallon's because it was actually full of people having fun.  Christie and Chris came by for a short visit, but since they had spent the entire morning driving down from Rochester, I wasn't allowed to take a photo.  I think I'm most likely to go back to J. Fallon's, because they had all sorts of fun specials and made-up drinks for each night of the week. I'm a sucker for that stuff.  I believe the men had more Guinness and the ladies had Killians.

Michele and Ericka at J. Fallon's Tap Room for the first time (but we're coming back!)

Then things started getting silly... we went to McCarthy's which was a totally different scene.  We all got Smithwicks and Jon started asking us market research questions regarding pick up lines.  Michele and I agreed on some and disagreed on some, and then suddenly I seized upon it: the perfect pick up line.  Ladies, tell me where you fall in this debate.  A gentleman walks up to you with a slice of cake on a plate and a little plastic fork, and he says, "Hello. Would you like some cake?"  Michele claimed that her response would be that she would prefer a beer, but regardless, I really don't see where you could go wrong offering a woman some cake. Not at all.

And then! Would you believe it?! A man at the bar unceremoniously gave us each a slice of cake and walked away. Like a slice right from heaven delivered by cake angels. Okay, I'm getting carried away, but I was having a lot of fun, I was somewhat intoxicated, and it was pretty good cake.  I also decided that shots of Jamesons would be a good idea to go with the cake.

Toasting with Jamesons at McCarthy's Public House

Free birthday cake!

After a brief dinner break for sushi (I know we deviated off the Irish theme, but the Irish-food-pickings weren't too good),we went to the fourth and final bar, Jack Duggan's.  Again, it was totally different with the youngest crowd so far, and loud dance music.  Even though I should have been winding it down, I thought now would be a good time for a whiskey sour. It was definitely not a good time for that, but Michele was more or less in agreement and got a whiskey tonic.  The men were smart enough to get beers.

Jon, Ericka, and Kevin at Jack Duggan's Pub

Totals-
Corned beef sandwiches: 5, not counting leftovers or the little shreds James ate
Whiskey drinks: At least 8
Smithwicks: 5
Baileys: 4
Killians: 2
Black and tans: 1
People who wore the shamrock antennas: 3
Slices of cake: 2
Guiness: 11, at least
Pieces of sushi: 35
Sapporo's (oops): 4
Photos I took: 82
Fun per capita: Um, 40? Whatever that means.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Leaving Brooklyn- June 2010

This weekend we had a big move to the suburbs. Some of you got an email with the new address. If not, please email me and I'll fill you in. The move went very badly, thanks in part to uShip.com's dubious rating system (never pick a mover with a 100% positive review, it's a lie). Nonetheless, I positively love the new place. We'll have a guestroom, so email us and come crash with us some time. We can hang out locally or go into Manhattan.

Our 1-Year Anniversary at Brooklyn Bridge Park

Since I don't think it's a great idea to post where I live on the internet, now is a good time to talk about where we used to live. In 2008, on the day I went to go take the New York State Bar exam in Albany, Kevin moved us from Charlottesville to the Cobble Hill neighborhood in Brooklyn. It's sort of an in-between neighborhood just south of Brooklyn Heights and north of Carroll Gardens. We lived right between Court Street and Smith Street two active shopping and restaurant streets. The best part of living there was that everyone seemed to be in their late twenties to early thirties, so fewer of the crazy young students you would see in the Village, but also fewer of the mothers aggressively using their strollers as weapons that you would see in Park Slope. And we lived close by to our dear friends Jon and Becky, Michele, and cousin Mike. We were also a short 35 minute ride to midtown Manhattan where I work and even closer to other parts of Manhattan.

With Jon and Becky at the Brooklyn Heights Promenade before we moved in 2006

Our Pre-war building with a bad management company

The school mural directly across the street from our building

At Jake Walk with Briggs a.k.a. "The Elbow," New Years Day 2009

Char No. 4, a fabulous whiskey bar next to our place

Celebrating my 30th Birthday at Clover Club

At Brooklyn Social in 2009

At Brooklyn Inn in 2010

Court Street Brooklyn Festival 2010

Goodbye Brooklyn! We promise to still visit!