January 14, 2011 - Pai Gow Winner!

The last time Tom and I were in Vegas, I learned to play Pai Gow poker at the Hilton from some sweet old ladies who recommended the game highly because "it's a great game to lose your money slowly." Tom learned too and we both became fans. We especially enjoyed playing at the Imperial Palace (where they have the celebrity impersonating Dealertainers!)

So we were excited this trip to return to the Pai Gow table and see if it was still as fun. It was!!! This shot is of Tom's royal flush winner which caused tons of excitement... he got a 150-1 payout on a $5 "bonus" bet and the rest of us got $50 a piece for "bonus envy!"

The only thing that would have made it better would be if I had hit five aces on another hand to get my own big payout, but I'm guessing that will happen soon ;)

January 13, 2011 - Off to Vegas

Tom and I are off to Vegas for a long weekend to celebrate my upcoming birthday. Here's Tom lounging in the Admiral's club at JFK.

One of our favorite things about this lounge is Alicia the bartender. She makes everyone feel really special and helps make traveling a lot of fun. Everything she says ends with "my love" or "mi vida" as in "Do you want an extra plate for your chicken quesadilla, my love?" or "Will that be two shots again, mi vida?"... she's genius.

January 12, 2011 - Schnipper's

Tom and I had tickets to see Green Day's American Idiot and grabbed a quick dinner at Schnipper's before the show. Wow. I had never heard of the place, but all Tom had to say was "sloppy joes / mac n cheese" and I was sold. It's exactly what I ordered and what you see in the picture above. It really was yummy & filling, and the large, cafeteria-like, dining room was fun.

I'm also excited that Schnipper's had been the location of a Bobby Flay throwdown. My aunt Kathy always asks me about NYC restaurants she sees on TV and I'm usually not familiar with them... I'm hoping she saw the episode with this place so I can tell her I know it!

And - American Idiot was really entertaining. I love Green Day regardless, so I knew I'd love the music, but I wasn't sure if I would love the show. Visually it was pretty incredible with a few moments that were just beautiful and the performers were all great. As a complete package, it didn't entirely work for me, but I'm definitely happy I got to see it, I loved the audience response & hope it sticks around for a long time.

January 11, 2011 - Foxy in Repose

I was starting to feel bad about not posting any pictures of my sweet li'l Foxy yet this year, so here is one to start 2011!

A couple months ago, Tom and I replaced the sofa in our living room because our old sofa had a big hole in it (thanks to some bad behavior from Howard!) In doing that, we ended up moving part of the old sofa onto our porch, and moving the pictured love seat from the porch into the living room as some secondary seating. It has become a favorite resting place of all the dogs, but none of them make it look as relaxing as Foxy.

January 10, 2011 - Rubirosa

Another food photo - this time it was a work get together at Rubirosa (235 Mulberry) for celebration pizza. Everything was delicious - especially the risotto balls... and the wine!

January 9, 2011 - Dim Sum Sunday

We celebrated our friend Dan's birthday in the best way possible - by eating! We met for Dim Sum at Ping's Seafood (22 Mott Street) and had a wonderful time. Here's a list of what I can remember eating - sticky rice, short ribs, spring rolls, shu mai, shrimp dumplings, shrimp balls, rice noodles with beef, rice noodles with shrimp, pork buns, a sweet bun, a chicken wing, some kind of noodles, and sauteed broccoli!!!

It was all delicious and I had to basically roll myself away from the table when it was over. Oh - it was cheap too! What a great Sunday brunch.

January 8, 2011 - Book Exchange Party

Yesterday, Tom & I had a Book Exchange Party. It's one of the things on Tom's list (www.hundredandonethings.com,) plus it was a lot of fun so I recommend it highly! Here's the gist of how it worked: everyone brought a book they read in 2010, we each talked a little bit about our book, and then everyone went to whichever person had the book they were interested in reading next and took it. Oh, and of course there were drinks and munchies (that is important!)

The books up for exchange ranged widely & as people described them I wanted to read them all... but, I'm very excited about the ones Tom and I ended up getting. We actually got 3 because there was an extra book in the mix so we lucked out with "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies," "The Lacuna," and "A Visit From The Goon Squad."

All in all, it was a great Saturday night!