Happy Halloween

It's Halloween in NYC! However, I do believe it will be the most un-Halloween ever... due to hurricane Sandy. I'm sure you've seen the news... lots of damage. But hurricane Sandy gets its own post in a couple of days.

Last Friday night Nick and I went out with our close friends Matt and Pam. We love them! Pam is Nick's "work wife"... they have spent a lot of quality time together!

We met after work and headed down to the lower east side. We were having dinner at 'inoteca. Three of us (Matt, Nick, and myself) had all had dental work done earlier in the day and we were starving!

'inoteca is this great restaurant with a really cool vibe. We sat down and immediatley proceeded to order some wine followed by A LOT of food. And when I say a lot I mean it. I don't think I've ever ordered that much food before. The food was delicious - I was surprised I really enjoyed all the dishes brought out.

We ordered truffled egg toast, prosciutto,7 different kinds of bruschetta, porchetta panino w/ salsa verde, arugula, mustard seed mayo, and we each ended with our own entree - pasta. Delicious!


It's a little dark - I always forget to put the flash on. 

After dinner we headed a few blocks to The Killers: New York Haunted House. It's Halloween time and of course we had to do a haunted house (I mean... it's me you are talking about)! We had timed tickets so we only waited for about 20 minutes. This was actually the first house that I allowed the actors to "touch" me. We were marked with this red paint on our forehead that allowed the actors to know they were able to grab us...

Pam and I were definitely grabbed. Must have been because we were girls and the actors were mainly guys. Mine wasn't too bad but Pam's actor had her up against the wall and put some nasty fake blood on her neck... not smart actor - she was in a white shirt!

Overall the haunted house was okay. There were about two times that someone jumped out at me that got a good scream. I always compare haunted houses to the one I visited with a group of friends senior year back home. It was 45 minutes of pure terror. Nothing has lived up to that yet.

Overall a great Halloween festive night with some great friends!

5 Years of Marriage

This past weekend Nick and I celebrated our 5 year wedding anniversary!!

Friday night Nick took me to L'Artusi in West Village. This restaurant is now on our Top 10 list. Every single bite we had was amazing. The restaurant ambiance was great and the waiter we had was incredibly nice!

We started off with the roasted mushrooms - pancetta, fried egg, and ricotta salata. This is one of the dishes they are known for and it lived up to it. So flavorful. We also started with the dayboat scallops. It wasn't what we expected when it came to the table but it didn't disappoint either. We were definitely off to a good start. I ordered the spaghetti - garlic, parmesan, and chilies. It was the freshest spaghetti I've ever had. Nick ordered the orechiette - sausage, salumi, and pecorino pasta. Another amazing dish! We were 4/4. And then came dessert - our favorite part. We decided to splurge and order two... First up, apple tart surrounded by applesauce with vanilla ice cream. Second, hazelnut chocolate torta - I have to say Nick's was one of the best desserts I've had... and I don't even like chocolate that much! It was such a great meal and a wonderful way to start off our anniversary weekend.


I can't even describe how good this was! 



Yum!

Saturday we decided to have a "young at heart" day. We rented a car and drove up north into the Hudson Valley area. There was an apple picking farm called Barton Orchards in Poughquag, NY. You could pick apples, pumpkins, and vegetables. They also had live entertainment and tons of delicious food stands. Most importantly apple cider doughnuts (heaven!), funnel cake (whenever there is a funnel cake - you have to get one), apple pie, and many more delicious treats.


Apple picking!


Every tree had hundreds of apples below it - Nick and I wondered what happened to all of them at the end of the season?


I got one!


After we finished picking them from the tree we stopped at the bins that had some already picked!

Nick and I had an amazing time. The weather could not have been more perfect and the fall colors were gorgeous!

We made it back to the city in time for our dinner reservations at August in West Village. This restaurant is so small and cute. Very nice date spot. August had a lot to live up to after dinner at L'Artusi. It was definitely a wonderful meal but not quite as good as L'Artusi.

We started with the margherita pizza which was quite tasty. I ordered the scallops with mashed potatoes and Nick had the baked Skate - which is a white fish. Very flavorful. We opted not to get any dessert - we had doughnuts waiting at home!

I really feel quite lucky to have Nick by my side. We've been together for a total of 11 years now and I love him more every day. He's my best friend and I couldn't imagine my life without him.