I love sushi. So much. I think I can eat it everyday.

Mark and I actually went and had lunch together today without the kids. Do you know how huge this is? This hasn’t happened in years. We were toying with the idea of going to Momofuku, the much celebrated restaurant of the moment, however after seeing the menu, I realized that it was familiar Korean-inspired food. Probably more artfully prepared than the relative hole-in-the wall places we go with my parents, but, familiar nonetheless. We chose to go, instead, to Soba-ya, a fresh soba place that we would go quite frequently when we lived around the corner in the East Village. We hadn’t been there in years, but we vowed to come back and bring the kids since they both love noodles. Along with our soba, we also had uni (sea urchin) which is possibly my favorite thing to eat ever.

I should have gone home afterwards, but today was a gorgeous day, right? I made a trip back to New York Central to buy more paper and I splurged on some gouche and a square notebook of paper since I have this grand idea that I will be doing a lot of drawing this summer. OK, so I really should have gone home then, but such a shame to go inside on a pretty day. More walking, window shopping, trying on dresses, but no purchases except for this big circle brass necklace from Anthropologie. Perfect day. Will work now.

When Mark was working as a Pastry Chef, holidays and weekends meant nothing since he was always working. In fact, getting 2 days off in a row was so rare that we never did short weekend trips or 2 day getaways. As you can guess, long weekends have taken on a whole new meaning for us and we happily drove out of Brooklyn and finally felt like any other American enjoying the long weekend. Part of our holiday was spent with swissmiss and her family who were gracious enough to host us (and there’s the pie on her site! ha!). We went to the beach, dutifully grilled meat for our dinner, and sat outdoors under a shaded umbrella for a spectacular summer lunch spread the next day.

This weekend was all about food. We came home Sunday evening for an extended family dinner at a small Korean restaurant in Flushing where we had barbeque cooked on stone plates and the best cold buckwheat noodles (Neng Myun) I’ve ever had. It’s officially summer when you eat that dish.

We ended the holiday weekend back in Flushing with a Chinese wedding banquet held for my good friend James and his new wife Rachel. A multi-course meal where the food kept coming even though we were mighty full midway after the 5th course. Mia ate like a champ and I was thrilled that Claudine liked the lobster soup. It was a spectacular weekend overall and this morning I’m having a bit of trouble switching gears and focusing on work. At least I have banquet leftovers to look forward to!

My neighbor Sonjie and I went to visit our friend (and fellow neighborhood parent) Lindsey at ICFF today. Lindsey has just introduced her bubble chandeliers rolled in 14k gold foil and the effect is dazzling. Quite spectacular I might say, and if we ever hit big with the biz some day, I’m ordering one of her lights.

It was another gray and dreary day here in NY, quite cold and wet and we drove to a Vietnamese spot on Atlantic Avenue for an impromptu lunch after we left. Noodles in broth is the perfect way to ward off the chill, but I had something new that I’ve never had before - the Vietnamese sandwich: ham, pate, pickled carrots, mustard and greens, all on hot crusty French bread. Quite good, so much so that we ordered another to share. Yup, 2 sandwiches and a bowl of pho. We were very hungry.

I have very fond memories of Ethiopian food - it reminds me of different places in my life going all the way back to when I had my first Ethiopian meal at age 18. Back in those days, I used to go to a place called Abyssinia on Grand Street in Soho. The restaurant had traditional baskets that held the large plates of food with groups of low, 3 legged stools for sitting. I dreamed of the spices and flavors when I traveled away from NY. A few years later when I met Mark, we’d often have it at home as he was learning how to cook some of the lentil and split pea dishes. When I moved back to NY, Abyssinia had long been gone so we started going to a place called Ghenet on Mulberry. During both of my pregnancies I craved Ethiopian and it was oddly one of the only foods I can stomach, but I couldn’t recall when I’d had it since.

Mark and I would always comment over the years on how awesome it would be if an Ethiopian place opened up in our neighborhood. It always seemed like a long shot but guess what opened a few days ago? Ghenet Brooklyn! We just got back from a wonderful birthday dinner with dear friends on this unusually mild evening. We had 4 children between our 2 families so it was a bit of a zoo, but it was such a nice meal. The room had a transporting vibe about it, much more so than the original restaurant on Mulberry, and the staff had much patience for our wild brood. Mia was excited to be going out “at night” and meeting one of her best friends for dinner. She had always been a fan of Ethiopian even when she was quite small. I already knew Claudine wouldn’t be so adventurous - she likes her food plain and bland (she’s definitely the whimsy, not the spice), but we’ll keep working on that. The evening reminded me that it’s always important to celebrate special days, that we should learn from our children who get so excited about birthdays - and rightly so. Thank you Mia, Claudine, Mark, Melissa, Brendan, Irma, Steve, Roan and Dory for a wonderful evening.

A few weeks ago I wrote briefly about our Korean-style Chinese meal at one of the many Korean/Chinese restaurants that are scattered all over the Flushing/Northern Blvd area. Tonight we went for Korean-style sushi with my parents for my early birthday dinner. With an order of an $80 sashimi platter special, you not only get a platter full of fresh sliced fish to dip into soy or hot sauce, but about a dozen other dishes that come as part of the special: tempura, a bowl of congee porridge, watercress and sashimi salad, sizzling eel on a hot plate, raw oysters, chicken skewers, a plate of sushi rolls and inari sushi, roasted corn, sauteed mushrooms, mussels, hot pot seafood soup, spicy noodles, and perhaps the strangest addition…meat loaf with mash potatoes. Ok, that wasn’t technically part of the special, but it was an attempt by the waitresses to offer the infamous, picky Claudine (yeah, that’s her gaping mouth in the upper right corner) something that they thought she would want to eat. In the end, all she ate was plain white rice. Again, argh. But in other Korean-style sushi restaurants, I have seen french fries thrown in the mix, so it wasn’t exactly a huge surprise to see it lowered onto the table by the waitress. You gotta love Korean food. No one can accuse us of not having variety in a meal.

Spending the weekend with my parents and we went out for Korean-style Chinese: whole fried fish with scallion and ginger, sweet and sour pork, spicy chicken, and noodles in brown sauce. Familiar, comfort food.

We don’t eat out that often, which is sort of ironic since we are foodies (or at least in a past life we were) and Mark is a chef, but we just can’t afford it since we’ve become parents. We’re lucky that we have the food budget down to a science and we cook ALL meals, breakfast, lunch and dinner every single day. No, we don’t even do takeout or indulge in buying snacks and drinks when we’re out and about. Doesn’t sound so fun, does it? But you get used to it after awhile.

My favorite food to eat out is sushi, particularly because it’s not as easy to make at home, and it’s becoming Mia’s favorite as well. I can’t recall the last time we had it, but my dad came for lunch yesterday and took us out for sushi - a real treat! It was so nice to bite into the buttery soft fish again and suck on salty edamame shells.