5 in 3 Challenge

So we were out for dinner last night and Tracy came up with the novel concept of putting on 5 kilos in 3 months. In this town I dont think it's going to be that hard. I think I'm rapidly approaching my August 2010 at the rate we're eating out. 


Anyway we hit up the Lower East Side last night for some Lobster love with some friends. Went to Ed's Lobster Annex down on Clinton Street. The food was sensational although the restaurant AC was struggling in the 37 degree heat outside. From my past food blogs you probably get the idea I love both lobster and tapas and this place combined the two. Lobster roll mini sliders, lobster meatball sliders, lobster tacos, fried oyster wrapped in bacon sliders and of course primo lobster rolls. We sat at the bar which was fun.


Went offsite for desert and hit up Cocoa Bar next door. It's a small wine and chocolate bar and was a great end to the evening and a solid contribution to the 5 in 3.

Tenacious D In Da House

Last night I headed along to a Tenacious D concert at the Hammerstein Ballroom in Midtown. I'm only familiar with a couple of their songs but thought it would be pretty cool to check out. It ended up being a great gig and Jack Black is a real entertainer and the buzz in the crowd was really pumping. It was a lot of fun.

One of the more interesting stage props I've seen

This is what a six dollar water looks like. Can you see the difference?

Multi tasking at its best

Wooster and Grand

Some of the street art down in Soho at Wooster and Grand Street.

Sunday DInner

Ahh it was a real foodie tour of the East Village tonight. Tracy's brother and family were in town so we decided to have a progressive dinner through the streets of the village.


Round One - Street tacos from La Lucha on Ave A

Round two - Lobster Rolls from Luke's Lobster on East 7th

Round Three - Porcini Rolls from Le Porchetta on East 7th

Round four - Ice cream from Lula's on East 6th.

Verdict - I'm ill.

Martha's Vineyard Pt 1

Last weekend Tracy, Dasha and I made a sneaky weekend trip up to Martha's Vineyard. It's just under Cape Cod and pretty close to Boston. It's a pretty large island that President Obama gets to quite a bit for his summer holidays.


It was a little exciting as we took Dasha on the plane with us. Over in this neck of the woods you're allowed to take mutts on the plane with you which is kinda cool. He was a really well behaved mutt and it was relatively painless. Admittedly the flight was only 35 minutes from JFK but anyway.


We stayed in a town called Oak Bluffs at a little B&B. It was across the road from a big field which was cool for princess as it meant plenty of off leash time. We timed it pretty well as there was a big festival on and all these hot rods were in town as part of it. The weather was great and the vibe was pumping. We spent a leisurely afternoon sipping pina colada's at Nancy's on the waterfront and aimlessly wandering around.


On Saturday we got up and went to hire some bikes to ride down to Edgartown. It's a nice 10km ride along the beach. We got to the bike rental place and they had a brand spanking new mini convertible. We kinda went with it an Menemsha ditched the pedal power idea in favor of the car. It was a little beast and an awesome way to spend the day. We drove about 80 miles that day doing a big circle of the island. The highlight being a fishing village called but I'll save that for another blog. 


The place was a bit like Shelter Island and there were some monster houses around the place. It would be an awesome spot in summer but I thinking winter would be pretty isolating in this place.


Saturday night we were going to head out for dinner but ended up cranking up a fire at the B&B and sitting round yacking and polishing off a few ambers. I did eventually make it out to get some take out. I came across this place called Back Door Donuts in Oaks Bluff. It's literally a kitchen on a carpark where they sell fresh cooked donuts out the back door. It's a bit of an iconic place in Oaks Bluff and gets a regular queue for fresh donuts. I ended up getting a couple and I could see why they were so popular.


We spent the final day walking around the gingerbread houses in Oaks Bluff. The area was a former Methodist church camp and people started getting sick of camping so built these tiny little cottages. It was something like out of Disney but real. Very quaint. 

A couple of things I learned about the place


- There are no wineries on the island. Go figure
- No one is entirely sure where the name came from
- David Letterman lives here. He jets to NY each day to film his show
- Meg Ryan and Lady Gaga also have homes here.
- The best lobster rolls in the world can be found here. Stay tuned for details.
- Jaws was filmed on the island

Checking Dasha in at JFK

Dasha on the plane

Nancy's Beer Garden

Bet you cannot guess what I ordered

One of the hot rods in town

This kid had had one to many pina coladas

This dog had had one to many pina cloadas

The wheels

This is the beach where one of the main scenes from Jaws was filmed

Back Door Donuts

Gingerbread houses

The airport makes Avalon look like a luxury airport

Dasha on the sky train from JFK