Weekend, I miss you already. A lot of my fellow students at other social work programs are already on spring break, but mine isn’t until the middle of April (our breaks correspond with Orthodox Jewish holidays). We’re not planning to do anything too fancy, but hope to be able to get away for a couple days. We also have some wedding tasks to work on, although I’m happy to say that last Thursday, my mom and I found my dress! It’s been so hard not to show Brien pictures, but I want him to be surprised.
On Friday night, we headed straight from the gym to drinks and dinner at Off The Hook, a new seafood restaurant. The ambiance was a little disconnected from the food, but we had a really good meal. The drinks were also fantastic! I had the pirate’s pepper punch with Jack, guanabana, honey + jalapeño, and Brien had the dark forest with tequila, grand marnier, blackberries + mint. Deadly!
We shared an order of grilled oysters, which we’d never had before, and were delicious! Perfectly cooked, served warm and buttery with parmesan.
We also shared the grilled salmon with blue cheese, oyster mushrooms, leeks + truffle oil. Best salmon I’ve had in a long time! Very rich… perfect for a night out, because I wouldn’t have thought to cook it that way.
We had some friends over to play Cards Against Humanity on Saturday night, which was a lot of fun! Have you ever played? This was only our second time, and it’s amazing how much variation there can be depending on the number and personality of players. It’s definitely not for the faint of heart!
As usual, I forgot to take picture of actual people, but I did snap a shot of the food. That must count for something, right?
Unfortunately during the party, Charley, who’s been staying with us while my dad’s been away and my mom recovers from foot surgery, got very sick. I won’t go into too many details, but suffice it to say that he almost always can wait until he’s walked to do his business, and that just wasn’t happening tonight. (Sorry to one of our guests, who was following our “no shoes” rule and slid in the mess!) We knew something was wrong, so Brien and I ended the party early and took Charley to an emergency animal center. He hates going to the vet and knew something was up, but he was still full of energy until he he tuckered himself out by running around the room and passed out on my lap. Here’s Brien trying to capture a sweet moment:
It was one of those moments where I wish he could speak or I could woof, because I wished he could tell me what was wrong. After a couple hours, an exam and an X-Ray, we think Charley probably ate something strange a week or so ago that may have caused him to bleed and have excessive GI discomfort. They sent us home at 2 AM with a bottle of antibiotics and a very sleepy poodle. Pfew!
Brien and I slept in and stayed in our pajamas until early afternoon, when we decided we needed to get out of the apartment. We took the 7 train to the very last stop: Flushing, Queens! Flushing is one of the most diverse neighborhoods in the world, and for a few blocks on Main Street, it felt like we were in another country. We strolled through Chinese grocery stores and bakeries, picking up ingredients for dinner. I was most excited about the fresh yuba (tofu skin), which I stir-fried with sugar snap peas, bok choy, enoki mushrooms and shrimp. Tossed with a generous splash of sriracha, of course!
All in all, it was a most wonderful weekend, not least because our sweet poodle is still happy and (mostly) healthy. Can you believe this guy will be 15 in June?!
