Porterhouse Steak for Two

J and I recently enjoyed our last date night before our second son, named "Niner" for the time-being, arrives and probably for a long while afterward. We met at The Palm on the Upper West Side and planned to eat at the bar. When we lived in Boston J and I were regulars at the Boston Palm. We grew to really enjoy Jules and Phil, the bartenders. It was very nice to often have 1 or 2 glasses of wine on the house. We never thought the food was fantastic, but it was good enough. I guess we mostly enjoyed the ambiance. We always had a great night out when we went there.

We have lived in NYC for 3 years now and I think we have been to The Palm in Midtown West 3 times. It doesn't have the same feel as the one in Boston and generally we have always left slightly disappointed, yet we keep wanting to give it another try in the hopes that we can have a Palm night reminiscent of the ones we enjoyed in Boston.

I arrived first and grabbed a seat while I waited over an hour for J to meet me. His fantasy baseball draft was taking longer than he anticipated so he was quite late. I started my evening with a club soda and lime. As I sat and waited I started having very consistent Braxton-Hicks contractions. After waiting an hour, I decided to order a glass of wine and half of a wedge salad. The salad goes by another name at The Palm, but I can't think of it now. The blue cheese dressing on it is so tasty. The wine put my contractions at ease and as I was nearing the end of my salad, J arrived. He ordered his martini, how I can't wait to have my first post-partum martini. Then we decided to share a 28 oz porterhouse steak and a couple of sides: creamed spinach and half and half - yum. We had never had that steak at The Palm before and it was absolutely fantastic. Our night turned out to be a success. We both had a great time and the coup de grace was that we also caught a cab very easily to get home!

Stuffed Shells

We visited my mother last weekend. She invited my youngest uncle, his wife and kids to dinner along with my grandmother and sister. She served stuffed shells, tossed salad, sausage and bread for dinner. My mother was never much of a cook when I was growing up. Her dinner menu consisted of a constant rotation of spaghetti with meat sauce, Chinese pudding (don't ask), American chop suey (again, don't ask), tuna noodle casserole, hot dogs and beans, macaroni "sudan" (this is in the don't ask category as well), grilled cheese and soup, green bean stew, pancakes, tuna and peas on toast, baked chicken coated in Seven Seas Italian dressing, and last and least - hamburg gravy. Therefore, by these standards, stuffed shells was rather upscale. It was a tasty dinner, my 2 year old son ate 2 entire shells. It was also a good visit.

Much of the talk for the weekend revolved around the yard sale my mother is planning for the summer. She has many things to get rid of, but for some reason she thinks these items are worth something. She wants to price her 30 year old tent that "sleeps 6" for $50. I think $15 would be a better price point. She's never going to use it again and if she doesn't sell it she'll throw it away so why not just get $15? I really hope her ego isn't destroyed the day of the yard sale.

The weekend was also good because I survived my mother without alcohol. I am less than a month from my due date and I really didn't know if I would have the stamina for her. Turns out I did alright.

Lindt Truffles

These are my most recent guilty pleasure. Pregnancy does not leave many choices for guilty pleasures so while the truffles are pretty tame they are pretty much my only option. I am partial to the white chocolate ones. I usually buy the variety bag and I wonder why there are fewer white chocolate truffles than milk or dark chocolate truffles. Maybe it just seems that way?