Grits in the City - Fitness. Family. Food.
Hope you enjoy all these as much as I do!
To help with the wait for the big meal, we always take time to make some snacks to enjoy beginning Christmas Eve. I always enjoy cooking out at my parent’s house because compared to our little NYC apartment, their kitchen feels massive. Rather than making sugar cookies this year, I decided to try this lemon ricotta cookie recipe from Giada de Laurentiis. A coworker of mine made these for our team this year, and I’ve been obsessed with them ever since.
That does mean though that shopping options are limited if you perhaps have some gifts left to buy. If you’re looking for some local options for this weekend, check out the second annual Crown Heights Holiday Stroll happening from 1-6PM on Saturday. It’s also a great time to head over to any of the other NYC holiday markets – Union Square, Bryant Park, and Columbus Circle. If you haven’t been yet, the Winter Flea + Smorgasburg is open this weekend (and every weekend) and should have some great gift options. You can also head over to Target’s Wonderland at 70 Tenth Avenue (only open through Tuesday). [Read more…]
To start, we made our way to Raines Law Room at The William. This location has a different vibe from the original location in the Flatiron District; that one a true speakeasy, whereas this one has more of an upscale hotel cocktail bar vibe. They each accept reservations – (Sunday through Tuesday in the Flatiron, Monday through Saturday in Midtown). Both also have the same great menu, featuring a number of familiar dishes, some Raines standards, and several seasonal offerings. There are also a limited number of nibbles and desserts. If you’re there, I recommend their ricotta and toast. Delicious. [Read more…]
Danny Meyer’s first restaurant (which he opened at the age of only 27) has received much praise over the years, including multiple nods from the prestigious James Beard Foundation. In honor of the final weeks at their original location, they did a special two-week, three-course prix fixe offering of all of the favorites from their 30-year run, which ended this past Sunday, December 6th. Guests could do a special pairing for an additional charge (we did not indulge). For this special event, they coordinated pours from a very elite subset of their wines, with vintages dating back to 1978, for a $65 supplement. You could also order by the glass from that special wine list from $27-$48.
With our ceremony and reception scheduled for a Brooklyn brownstone, we decided there wasn’t anything more fitting than something homemade. Ever since taking a class on homemade jam making with Nancy of Potlicker Kitchen, I’d been fascinated with the idea of making something unique of my own, and this was a perfect opportunity. I chose lemon ginger preserves as a nod to our wedding colors (royal blue and yellow) and our wedding cake (raspberry lemonade). When I found this recipe online, I knew this was the one I had to make for the occasion. [Read more…]
Save the weather, the holidays really are my favorite time to be in New York City. Everything is decorated, from tourist sites down to office buildings. Love it. The city is so beautiful all shiny and colorful. [Read more…]
Still it cried ‘Sleep no more!’ to all the house: ‘Glamis hath murder’d sleep, and therefore Cawdor shall sleep no more,—Macbeth shall sleep no more!
I’ll state the obvious and say that New York City is pricey. That means I’ll typically do an expensive thing once, and then move on to the next thing on the to-do list. It’s a nice methodical way to continually choose to experience more of what the city has to offer. Sleep No More though is one of my exceptions. Trust me – after you go, you’re spoiled for immersive theater thereafter.
As a plan B, we made our way over to the sister and connected restaurant, Resto. The menu is very similar for food, though more extensive on the Resto side than Cannibal. The big difference though is the beer menu, which on the Resto side is limited to Belgian beers. [Read more…]
“Writing What You Don’t Know” Panel
The second best thing though for November was getting to attend this past weekend’s Book Riot Live, the first conference offered by the team behind Book Riot. It was two wonderful days filled with a variety of panelists (authors, editors, agents, cover art illustrators, publicists – all things book!) discussing a variety of topics ranging from manuscript to publication to what leads to banned books. I walked away feeling super inspired to pick back up the starting framework of the next novel I’m writing and to see that through to finish hopefully by midyear 2016. [Read more…]
