brunch & Balzac's

Anne and I got together for brunch finally after way too many rain checks. And since it had been so long we decided to go for our favourite green eggs and ham at Mildred Pierce. There was lots of catching up of all sorts and then we went across the way to West Elm to check out all the spring goodies. Raina at If the Lampshade Fits and Nicole at Making It Lovely had me all excited to see what was in store. I'll have to show you what I got later in the week.

Then we went to Balzac's for coffee and a treat. I love this place even though I don't actually drink coffee anymore. I did have a nice hot cider.

I still love the smell of coffee, and the gorgeous floor and the beautiful bar.

It is everything I think a cafe should be (if only they served almond milk and some nice wheat-free goodies).

Anne wore the birthday gift Marcel made her.

And I wore the scarf that Anne made me for x-mas.

And a pair of amythist earrings I made for myself.

Anne thinks I should open an etsy shop. I think she may be right. What do you all think?

impetigo again?

I love a good brunch. I particularly love the green eggs and ham at Mildred's!! Anne and I like to try new places but this delicious meal was calling to both of us this weekend.

And I was really enjoying the fact that my face had finally cleared of all of the weirdness that has been affecting it for the last 6 weeks.

But this morning it appears that impetigo is back - nooooooooooooooo!! I really don't want to do any more antibiotics, cause, well, you know. Any ideas out there?

what do I do in the Big Apple?

People seem to think that I have some kind of crazy glamorous life because I come to New York a couple of times a year. But really all I do is hang out with my best friend and chase around after her kids. I try to spend as much time with them as I can because a couple of weeks out of the year just is not enough.

Julia has just started calling me "auntie Jess". She's 7 now and likes the idea that I am "real" family - but it makes me feel a bit old. Tomio, for some un-known reason has started to call me "Jessie" which I used to refuse to allow anyone to call me. But fair enough given that I call him anything from "Tio" to "hunny-bunny" (which he has yet to complain about).

 

They like it when I drop them off and pick them up from school. They like it when we have pillow fights. Julia likes to wake me up with the loudest noise-maker she can find - this time was a toy coffee grinder with fake beans that makes a serious racket. They like to snuggle up in bed and watch movies - I got them hooked on Xena, ai ai ai ai ai ai ai!!!

I always like to try and do something with them in Central Park. Over x-mas we went skating, which was kinda nutty since the place was jam-packed. This time we went for a bike ride! Little did I know that it's 6 miles all the way around the park and there aren't very many places to cross over with the bikes. Thank goodness Tomio has an iPhone so we could figure out where we were! So we just had to dismount and cross over on the foot path by the Jakie O reservior to catch the uptown bike path back home since it was getting dark fast. It was quite the adventure and no injuries!!

Tomio rightly noted that we always go out and have sushi together and he desperately wanted us to go to Morimoto (the restaurant owned by one of the Iron Chefs) but that's not in anybody's budget. We did have lots yumminess at Momoya - Tomio had his favourite uni and everyone loved the miso black cod I ordered!

I also make a point to visit my friend David and his daughter Sophia who is now 3. She has recently started calling all of their female friends "auntie" so I guess I'd better get used to this moniker. This summer they went to several weddings and she didn't get off the dance floor until the music stopped. Apparently she gets this from her auntie Jess. She is such a sweet-petite delight!

And Emi and I always have at least one breakfast at Cafe Lalo (yes, from You've Got Mail). This time we had 2 - they make the yummiest steamed eggs! And I got the fine fellow a great t-shirt for his collection. We also had a couple of great lunches at Peacefood Cafe. They make amazing salads & soups and have lots of choices for wheat & dairy-free me.

And yes, there was some, ahem, shoe shopping ....

poached eggs and polenta

 

Tried a new vegetarian place for dinner with Pat & JB - Calico Cafe.

It's the original chef from Fressen, a vegan place that JB and I love for their wheat-free options.

The menu is very small (as is the restaurant itself) so we ordered everything but the kale linguini, but it smelled great as it went to someone else's table.

The soup was large & yummy, then I combined the egg & mushroom appetizers, supper yummy, but the yummiest of them all was the butternut-chocolate ganache!

I will be back!

steak and eggs and salmon

 

I love a good deli and I really like eggs, onions and salmon. I want to love Caplansky's Deli because the menu looks good and it's around the corner. But I don't love it.

 

Perry had steak & eggs,

and my fries were good, but it's supposed to be served with latkes, which generally I can't get enough of, but at this place, not so much - too bad.

green eggs and ham

Brunch at Mildred's - so, so good! We also had some fennel sausage.

Anne enjoyed her 6th cup of coffee of the day.

And I had some delicious rooibos tea!

I think this is the best brunch in town.