week 47: ceviche

November 28, 2010 in restaurants

i'm sick of writing about restaurants.

maybe it's a phase, maybe i'm having doubts about my final five, but right now at this very moment, i am dunzo.

i mean, it goes without saying that food is awesome and restaurants, too, are awesome.

but when i went to

ceviche

last week with the tampa contingency of my extended family,

i didn't want to think about what i was eating, i didn't want to compare it to other stuff, or be the dufus that doesn't let anyone eat until everything has been photographed,

i just wanted to make silly faces at little mia. and talk about my uncanny desire for a faux fur vest with mum.

so i think i'll just say this about the restaurant, and then talk about how awesome my family is.

this: ceviche, in tampa, has delicious tapas food and even deliciouser sangria.

it is absolutely worth going to, should you ever find yourself in tampa {and you've already been to bern's.}

this is a picture of me and stoopie with our cousin jamie and her two kids, mia and ellie.

i used to think little kids were the devil and that they didn't become real people until they somehow caught up to my age. but then mia and ellie started walking and talking and they never became the devil. instead they just gave me great big hugs and showed me how awesome little buddies are. it's like someone threw them in the cool pool. sweet!
last year i taught mia some of my tambourine excerpts. it eased the pain of having to practice tambourine excerpts over thanksgiving.
and this year ellie proved to us that she is the next anna-sophie mutter.

this is more of my pretty family!

we have a thing for circle scarves, apparently.

it's a pretty american family. the day after thanksgiving usually involves the men watching football and the women going to the mall. and then at night we all go to the center of town for the christmas tree lighting ceremony...even though this perplexes ellie on account of, we're jewish.

but, anywho, we've got a baseball card shop, a photographer, and the designer bra strap company in our family.

incredible, i know!

we also enjoy tres leches and crème brûlée.

ok. sorry for restaurant challenge post that wasn't about food.

let's hope this is the kick in my rear that i need before i can really grab my final 5 restaurants by the privates.

xoxo

yeh

ceviche is in tampa.

week 46: dbgb

November 20, 2010 in restaurants, meat

there was a month of my life during high school when my schedule was this:

8am-3pm: go to school

3pm-10pm: sit in my backyard around a fire with my two friends {regan and michael}, roasting wieners.

that era became known as the wiener era. and it was one of those most hilarious months of my life.

i mean, imagine a couple kids sitting in broad daylight, eating hot dogs and other roastable stuff, and talking about juicy couture.

we developed some pretty mean recipes over that month, including the kwinkie:

a marshmallow wrapped in crescent dough, set on fire, and then dipped in mustard. and then topped with a hot dog.

eventually we got real and realized that hot dogs wouldn't get us into college, so we stopped.

but forever remains the fond memories of the wiener era.

circa may 2006, michael & michael eat weenies.

when michael moved to the Big City this year, the decision was made:

dbgb

for the bougiest, most expensive, most done up hot dogs we could get our furry manhattanized paws on.

we are way too sophisticated for best kosher now. and cooked over a fire? puhlease.

it was the symbolism to end all cymbalism. look at how successful ~~we are~~ he is.

we're going to buy nice hot dogs now.

...ones that use azny spices and come with a cylinder of flied lice with a quail egg on top

and that taste like those little sausagey bits you get in those sticky rice bowls at dim sum

...ones that are supposed to be a dressed up version of a new york hot dog

but really end up making you miss chicago dogs {and george gershwin and gracie}

...ones that are accompanied by truffles but need pancakes.

...and ones that explode with glee and emmenthaler

it was the fanciest sausage fest evr. it came on a bed.

but someone ended up ordering a burger too and that somehow won my heart.
and then the fries won even more.
lots of me felt a little weird eating hot dogs with michael indoors and with garnishes.
but it had to happen sometime...

six more.

xoxo

yeh

dbg b is on houston and bowery

week 45: blue smoke

November 12, 2010 in holidays and celebrations, restaurants, meat

i hadn't the slightest idea that barbecue was such a gaga-inducer until i came to new york and met a ton of texas people.

it is like global guts up in here about who has the best barbecue.

my first exposure was at the beginning of my freshman year when i quickly learned that the percussion studio boys will only spend money on food stand and food that comes in enormous quantities. and the only place uptown that would fulfill the latter and that was good for a post-mock audition eat-fest was dinosaur barbecue up in harlem.

which was sometimes not ok because above 125th street gives me the heebiejeebies. at least it used to.

whatever. the point is, this week was my friend maria's 21st birthday {she's the one in the top picture that looks a bit constipated about all of the ribs in front of her} and she chose to celebrate at

blue smoke

because people says it's good barbecues. and because it was sure to accommodate our male friends with the bulk food requirements.

this is a picture of charlie+pulled pork:

and plep+jia+a burger:

peter+one from his rib variety pack:

me+mac and cheese:

and it was a real good time because maria's our girl and also because she started celebrating her 21st at about 9am.

but then as i was digging into my kc ribs, peter started speculating about his meat, a la,

"i wonder why the texas ribs are so much bigger? you think they let the animal grow more before they slaughter it? also, how many dead animals do you think are at this table right now? well, molly, you've easily got a full one in front of you..."

nuh uh.

molly can't talk about meat while she's eating meat.

it's just one of those things.

it evoked an amplified version of the little hippie inside of me saying "don't eat dead! don't eat dead!"

but in his defense,

there was so much meat.

and this coming from the girl that once ate schnitzel every day for a month.

i enjoyed my ribs, but also couldn't completely handle the whole eating-off-the-bone-am-i-wilma-flintstone thing.

it's ok. i sought solace in the mac and cheese, which, although bread crumbless, was tangy and good. especially with texas pete's hot sauce squirted alllll over.