forty years!

 

after work, greg and i decided to have dinner at pepe rosso to celebrate forty years together (june 14th, 1986). he had a vegetarian pasta and i had the grilled salmon with broccoli (it was so tender and delicious!).

we also had their homemade strawberry sorbetto and vanilla ice cream with flourless chocolate cake for dessert - delizioso! i can't believe it's been forty years since he left the marine corps and joined me at school in santa barbara. time! it teases and overwhelms sometiimes.

a day off of work

greg had off today (in honor of juneteenth) so we wandered around . . he specifically requested to visit the chocolate shop where i had treated myself to an iced hot chocolate on monday . . a very rich and delicious cold drink.

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where are we now? after the iced hot chocolate lunch and a long hot walk afterwards, we stopped home to feed the cats and to watch the movie jerry and marge go large, based on a true story which you can learn about on this 60 minutes episode:

(interesting! and amazing . . )

and then we went out to dinner . . our anniversary was friday, june 14th . . 38 years . . that feels so strange to write. korrina treated us to a delicious dinner in 2019 when she worked at riverpark which was very special. this evening we ate at a restaurant which i think korrina would enjoy. it felt as nice as riverpark, minus having such a special chef looking out for us. we had the fried okra, smoked cod cakes and spoon bread . . 

and this huge pork chop which we shared . . and also brought home. i also had a zero alcohol "mocktail" called the "herbalist" which was very good. i was hoping to look up the ingredients online right now, but it's not listed on their website. i can't remember what was listed in the little menu i ordered from.

strawberry shortcake dessert with coffee and cream.

it was fun to celebrate.

at the park when walking home the air was heavy with the scent of the linden trees in full bloom by the dog run . . 

errands and a dinner guest

i went in search of fresh zucchini today for the red bean and quinoa chili i was making for dinner this evening. eva's jonathan has been in town for an internship he's doing, and we invited him for a visit. thus, i walked to the union square green market and then through washington square to stop at a gluten free bakery on sullivan street. there were three bands playing in different corners of the park, along with a hula hoop artist and lots of people with dogs and babies. summer will be officially here this coming thursday!

the feline dental chew sticks arrived today and cricket could smell the silvervine herb they were packed in through the packaging.

pluto kept me company while i made the chili . . 

it was very nice catching up with jonathan and hearing about his studies and his plans for the next year.

and chanda arrived home in time to have dessert with us (and cricket?) . . lemon sorbetto from our local ice cream shop (julietta's) and vanilla bean ice cream from the grocery store.

june 14th

pluto is finally growing accustomed to having another cat with him on the window seat.

after running a few errands in the afternoon, morgan and i saw kendall and aurélien when walking by the playground, and so stopped to say hello.

the playground is heavy with the scent of the linden trees which are currently in full bloom.

and in the evening  (after a taco dinner and a dessert of ben and jerry's cherry garcia ice cream) we had a fun time playing apples to apples . . 

which i won (we played one round).

dinner on bedford street

greg surprised me today with a request to go out to dinner to celebrate our thirty five years together. at different points all day he would pipe up from his corner of the living room with the news of the day for june 14, 1986, with more being added over dinner.

we decided to go to snack taverna, a greek restaurant on bedford street i've always wanted to try. we were the first ones there for their outdoor seating area, which was entirely filled up by the time we left (it was a very young crowd, we were the oldest ones). we began with an appetizer of spanish octopus with chickpea, orange, pickled celery, green olive and watercress.

then i had stuffed eggplant with ground beef, lamb, tomatoes and bechamel, with a bulgar pilaf and a green salad (except i traded half of mine for greg's sautéed chard), and greg had pork two ways with parsnip puree and pomegranate.

baklava for dessert . . i was reminiscing about our thirty third anniversary meal prepared by korrina when she was at river park (when river park was still around . . those pre-covid days . . )

 

 

 on the way home we stopped to get chanda dinner from sushi on jones (which is really on west tenth street). she was at home on a zoom call for a new school college orientation meeting, or something like that.

they were busy and we had a bit of a wait while it began to drizzle. it was another young crowd here; not one person over 30 years!

thirty three years together

arriving at river park on 29th street and fdr drive . .

for an anniversary meal hosted, cooked and plated by our dear korrina. we were so well taken care of  - everyone there made sure we didn't want for anything. it was a very special night.

braised carrot that korrina had picked from the garden just a little before we arrived, and graced by a sweet violet.

 octopus with blue cornflowers, heirloom beans, ramps and spring onions.

spring greens: heirloom radish, sugar snap peas and asparagus.

sweetbreads with artichoke, dandelion greens and cipollini.

roasted scallops with green chickpeas, rhubarb, radishes, sheep sorrel and yogurt.

dessert! three kinds: gelato (chocolate and peach) with biscotti, strawberry rhubarb cobbler with vanilla ice cream, and a chocolate volcano . . (did i get that right?)

what an amazing evening and delicious meal. thank you so much korrina. we're in awe of your accomplishments, and proud of all the hard work you've put in to create such delicious meals and to be the wonderful chef that you are.

connecticut trip

 it was a lot cooler in connecticut than in manhattan! it really felt like fall and the leaves were starting to turn. 

 we went on a few really nice bike rides along the rail trial.

 everyone was out and about . . walking their dogs . . running . . and biking.

 there hasn't been a lot of rain here either and the creek bed was rather dry.

 we celebrated my sister's birthday.

 she chose to go to a local thai restaurant and it was really nice . . quiet! we were the only patrons wednesday night and it was so wonderfully warm inside. we had pad thai and chicken curry and then went home for dessert.

 we had brought her favorite cookies from rocco's bakery, and my brother-in-law had picked up cannolis from mozzicato's bakery in hartford.

 a feast!

 (the candle didn't want to stay lit)

 the next day we brought nana and nonno over for lunch and enjoyed sitting out on the deck in the sun, which still felt wonderfully . . . hot!

 it was their 65th wedding anniversary . .

 so of course we had to have more cookies . . 

 and another dinner out on the town at one of our favorite local restaurants . . (my parents' anniversary card from my nephew says, "sixty five years!!!")

 we had scallops, crab cakes and salmon at the ordinary.

 and then back home again for more cookies and a beautiful basket of mums.

 the anniversary card . . 

 toby . . 

 here's a pic from saturday's walk along the riverfront . . 

 and a visit to a frozen yogurt shop.

 it's nice because you can also get sorbet. i like to top mine off with walnuts in syrup and hot fudge.

 what's this? onion rings, french fries and clam strip rolls . . it sounds like it was the traditional summer trip to . . 

harry's place!

 we still had ice cream even though it wasn't hot summertime, but we were all freezing after drinking a lot of shake and root beer float.

 we managed to squeeze in two rounds of "may i" before bedtime. i didn't want to to stay up too late as we had to be up early the next morning.

 we were at my parents' apartment at 9 am for breakfast (with the car all packed as we had to leave early to get home for chanda's nutcracker audition) . . 

as my childhood friend, maryann, whom we hadn't seen in fifteen years came to visit. it was incredibly joyous and moving to see each other and we all wondered how we could have let so much time go by . . ?