Spring Break 2009

Some things will take getting used to. This was our first Spring break as a divorced family and after 8 years of planning things around school schedules and spouses, it was unusual to find myself without a vacation planned 3 months ahead of time with timetables and logistics to fit everything in!

Wes went to the house in New Mexico with the kids, his mom, his girlfriend Christi and son. They got some skiing in and a trip to White Sands – I am looking forward to Wes’ update on his blog for pictures. L & M had a good time and probably didn’t even have to do any chores! I thought about the kids a lot and wondered what they were up to. I imagined it was mostly fun with a little trouble thrown in for good measure.

I did manage to keep myself busy and ended up having a really great Spring Break.

Keri and Eric came up for the first weekend of Spring Break. We ate, we played Wii, we ate, we slept, we ate and we just chilled out! Saturday and Sunday were all about food! We cooked all weekend and ate like kings!

An impromptu dinner was created when

we let the day get away from us

A late Greek lunch on Sunday before K & E head home

I worked all day Monday and Tuesday morning- got some things done around the house (still on the market!), read a lot and let myself be a little lazy. Then went to Bliss Spa and had a facial and a generally relaxing time being a spa bum. After my treatments were done I met Brad in the hotel bar and watched the crowd file in to the AAC for a mavericks game. St. Patrick's Day and basketball - highly entertaining. After a few cocktails we wandered over to Victory Tavern for a relaxing dinner. Wednesday I had a list a mile long of things I wanted to do. . . I got laundry done and then the day was shot.

I called Jay (who was also on vacation) to see if he wanted to grab lunch. Of course – a guy has got to eat! We landed at Twin Peaks and enjoyed a leisurely 2 hour lunch. I DO go there for the food and the incredibly cold beer. They also have no less than 20 TVs with sports and news and it is highly entertaining to have a meal with any man with that much going on around you. We ended up at Vickery Park in Dallas for happy hour with Cristi. It was great to catch up with Cristi and spend a little time reminiscing about the olden days at Express. I need her in my life more, she makes me happy. Cristi had to go and Jay and I were still on vacation – so we went back to TP to have a drink and hang out.

Brad & Todd came out and joined me so I wouldn’t have to sit there alone when Jay had to go home. I can’t say that I have ever had an all day happy hour, but this day was very relaxing and enjoyable.

A happy Happy Hour with Jay & Cristi

Thank goodness for drinking buddies!

Let’s see….Thursday I woke up bright and early and was all set to go for a 30 mile bike ride. I got the bike off the trainer upstairs and out the front door when I realized both tires were low and I had not been outside on it in months. I decided to take it to the bike shop and have them make it road ready for me. I didn’t get it back until Friday afternoon, so no ride. I did Wii Fit for an hour and ½ though. That was fun! I did a little shopping and chilled out. Met Brad, Todd and Amy for dinner and salsa dancing. . . we did not dance, we watched. It got me interested in learning though. Looks like quite a workout!

Friday was one of those run run run days that you don’t expect or plan for, but that keep you super busy and then all of a sudden the day is almost over and you realize you never stopped to pee… Ok, it wasn’t that busy. I got to do one of my favorite things Friday. I had lunch with my mom. Lunch with just mom is one of the most relaxing and grounding things I get to do. It does not happen often, we need to work on that mommasan! After lunch I settled in to the chore of packing for a weekend in New York City. Hard to pack for 30 degree weather when it is 80 degrees outside…it took a while, but I managed to get it done and didn’t even forget anything (write that down…it is actually a miracle).

Friday night I met Brad for dinner at Cool River. It was pretty busy and they had a live band. We stayed for a few drinks and some dancing before we had to get some sleep for our 8 AM flight. What were we thinking?!?!

So – off to NYC after a flight delay- we had boarded and they kicked us off – a circuit breaker wasn’t working and while they were fixing that they found another problem. Turns out the tires were not fit for landing – glad they caught that one before we took off. We had not really planned anything specific while we were up here. Brad had meetings Monday – Wednesday so this was just a little escape weekend for both of us. .Made it to NYC, checked to see if our room was available at Tribeca Grand (not yet), had a champagne toast and wandered off for a late lunch while they finished getting our room ready.

This is where you will either check out of this blog or read on. . . I am about to talk about food. . . lots of food…so if you are hungry and staying with me- go get a snack.

Lunch at 3 in the afternoon in NYC was incredible. We ate at a little Italian place called Petrarca’s. The walls were lined with wines from all over the world – too many choices! Brad picked a good one to compliment our choices. We ordered a salad that was so refreshing – frisee with Bosc pear and toasted walnuts; it was dressed in a sherry / honey vinaigrette and had shaved parmesan. Then we had a margarita pizza- the crust was thin, but not to thin and had big crunchy bubbles from being wood fired. Entrée was spinach cannelloni – fresh handmade pasta and the cream sauce was out of this world. I could eat that meal every day for the rest of my life and be happy! We were at a corner table with a view of the street that made it hard to leave when it was time, the people watching and sun shining on us was very relaxing.

We checked in to our room, unpacked and took a nap. Somewhere around 7 we decided to get moving. We met Brad’s friend Jeff downstairs for drinks at the Church lounge in the hotel. After a cocktail we walked over to Macao Trading Co. for dinner. Met another coworker there and spent time downstairs waiting for our table. The bar downstairs had a DJ, a really cool bartender, small crowded tables and the scene was amazing. I could have people watched here for the rest of the weekend. Jeff had a friend that was eating upstairs and reported that Jay Z and Gwyneth were eating nearby. Our table was ready a few minutes before midnight. . . it was well worth the wait. The food was Portuguese/ Chinese eclectic fare. Everything was delicious. We had crispy sea bass with ginger & scallions and Portuguese grilled steak with blue cheese butter and shared sides of fennel & artichoke salad with spiced chickpeas, Swiss chard with currants & pine nuts and jasmine rice. OMG! Yummy yummy yummy! After we ate we joined back up with Jeff and Ryan and listened to the music and watched the crowd.

Sunday was a lazy day. We slept in until 10 and wandered downstairs to ask where a good brunch/ lunch place was. We were directed to a few different spots but ended up at The Odeon. This was a kind of cafeteria style eatery. Jam packed at noon on Sunday, but it only took 10 minutes for us to get a table. We got there right in time – between the breakfast and lunch crowds and got a little (I mean very little) corner table near the front. Again – the people watching for both of us could take up the day! I got the French onion soup and herbed chicken salad sandwich and Brad got the warm goat cheese salad and tuna burger. Everything was so good. Even the French fries were better than French fries should be! The tuna burger was what I should have ordered though. It was cooked perfectly and had a really good wasabi mayonnaise. I could have had breakfast lunch and dinner here – the menu was extensive and very comforting. There were a lot of locals here and it was fun to watch the families and friends gather for brunch/ lunch on a lazy Sunday. The service was outstanding, there were a ton of wait staff and they worked as a well oiled machine. They worked as a team to make sure every diner had everything they needed, we never had to ask for anything-it just magically appeared at our table if we thought it. We stayed and enjoyed a couple extra cups of coffee just to observe the whole experience.

After our lunch we wandered around the TriBeCa/ SoHo areas and did a little shopping and sightseeing. The weather went from cold and sunny to cold and windy with dark clouds, so we wandered back to the hotel. I needed a nap after big lunch and shopping, so we watched basketball and I fell asleep for a couple of hours… isn’t that what vacation is for?!? Woke up, cleaned up and went out for dinner. We ended up at MEGU after getting a little turned around on our walk. New Yorkers really are quite friendly and we were quickly put back on track. MEGU is amazing modern Japanese cuisine. Cocktails were really good, wine was perfect. The atmosphere and the food were out of this world. I don’t know if I can do it justice! We started with edamame – it was so fresh, they must grow it on site and soy marinated chicken which was fried, there was a sweet soy dipping sauce that I could just drink. We had green salad with a ponzu dressing, entrée was Chu Toro black pepper tuna and Kobe filet with a Hennessey flambe (both were served on hot stones to continue cooking), with Jasmine rice and asparagus in a balsamic soy dressing. We did eat everything! And then I ordered the Green tea crème brulee – which was a perfect ending to one of the most incredible meals I have ever had. We spent close to 3 hours enjoying our meal. Then promptly took a cab back to the hotel so we wouldn’t get lost again!

A fun weekend

Monday – Brad had to get up early for work and I needed to pack so I could head home later in the afternoon. It was a sunny day, but quite chilly. I took my time packing and had a couple of cups of coffee before heading out to find my friend Lauren. She works at a swanky furniture store in SoHo, so I walked a few blocks to see if she was there. I had left her # at home and was hoping like heck she was working! My lucky day! Lauren was there and we spent a little time catching up. I had not seen Lauren in almost 6 years. We worked together at Express. She was 16 or 17 when I hired her and was on two of my favorite Express teams. Lauren is one incredible young lady. She has lived and worked in NY for 6 years now. She worked for a fashion designer for 4 years and got to travel all over the world – she has some really fun stories. After standing in the store catching up for about 30 minutes we decided to grab lunch. We walked a couple of blocks to Café Cubano – down some steps into a small door and WOW- a whole Cuban restaurant you wouldn’t know was there unless you went with someone in the know or stumbled upon it as you were walking down the street. It was really good! I had a jicima, green apple and manchego cheese salad and a Cuban sandwich. Yum! We walked around for a little bit and then she needed to get back to work and I had to leave for the airport.

Beautiful, young and energetic Lauren!

All in all a very relaxing and adventure filled week. I don’t imagine every Spring Break will be so unplanned and carefree, but I am happy that my first one on my own after all these years was something I wanted it to be. Stress free and filled with really good company and amazing food.

It was good to come home and get the kids on Tuesday. I missed them more than they know, more than I imagined I could. We are settling back in to our routines and work and school are the norm again. No more ski slopes and sand dunes for the kids . . . no more all day happy hours and walking around the big city for me, but always good food. One thing I need in order to be happy…one thing that I can do that makes the kids happy - good food!

Happy Spring to everyone. I am looking forward to the start of baseball season next week and Formula 1 just kicked off. I think it will be an interesting year in both sports and am looking forward to getting to a lot of games this year. No F1 trip this year, but something to look forward to down the road.

Off and running. House full of kids and I smell something burning…or is that pancakes?