Home for the Holidays

After a crazy fall of storms, bad weather and craziness, I am so excited to head home and see my family. This break will be one of my last times visiting LA before I officially move home. Enjoy your holidays everyone!

Holiday Parties

Right after Thanksgiving it is already time for Holiday parties! This week we had a city-wide student holiday party at a fun restaurant in midtown and then a few days later we had a school event, followed by a work party. After three parties I decided to host two nights of hanukkah, starting with a Mexican themed night, to feel at home with a skirt steak taco bar, blood-orange margaritas and of course potato latkas. For the second night I did Italian food, with chicken marsala, vegetable latkas and quinoa with veggies and lemon vinaigrette along with a white prosecco pear sangria. Its been a fun two weeks of holidays during a chilly New York winter. Happy Holidays everyone!

My Favorite Family Dinner!

Everyone knows that Thanksgiving dinner is my favorite meal! After a crazy few months, I am so happy to be home for a few days. After preparing and decorating it was time to sit down with the whole family and enjoy some turkey. With an new addition to the family, everyone seemed to have baby fever all night. A baby always makes the holidays more fun and brings some new energy to the group. After lots of prime rib, turkey, stuffing and sweet potatoes it was almost impossible to eat dessert, almost. Im a sucker for pumpkin cheesecake! The best part of the night is when my closest and oldest friends come over for dessert and catch up on three months of stories, along with photos and home movies! Since we were stuffed and had to move around, we decided to attempt the black friday midnight shopping. Just an all around bad idea. After sleeping all friday, I got to visit with friends and enjoy a sunny weekend before I head back to NYC. Saturday night we went out to dinner for my mom's belated birthday at Osteria Mozza, Mario Batali's amazing Italian restaurant. Enjoying fresh made pastas and mozzarella, delicious wine and dessert. A great end to a great long weekend with the family!

I learned what it is to be a tough New Yorker this week, so many incredibly sad images from this whole disaster, but I found this cover to be the most amazing of them all. Just thankful to be safe and warm. Watching and waiting for the city to get back to normal.

Chef-lebrity and Fashion Filled Weekend

        One of my best friends flew in for a quick weekend vacation so we hit the ground running! We started our weekend off at my favorite place, Trattoria Del Arte, only the best Italian food in NYC, there's a reason every celebrity eats there. Then we were off to some retail therapy and window shopping. For dinner we went to Mesa Grill, one of Bobby Flay's tex-mex style restaurants and had a fantastic margarita and dinner. The next day we wandered around the village and rested up for a crazy night. We started off with dinner at Morimoto, Iron Chef's very modern sushi bar and restaurant, the food was incredible and so were the drinks, we ordered Morimoto's 'chicken soup' and fish along with the most interesting presentation of gyoza I've ever seen! Don't forget to check out the bathrooms when you visit!

Then we were off to the Gansevoort rooftop for drinks VIP style, and then off to a club! For our morning remedy we went to Buvette in the West Village for France's version of ham and eggs. The of course off to do some more shopping up town, where we fell in love with some more shoes that neither of us need, but desperately want, landed in designer heaven and just couldn't stop ourselves. Thankfully she had a flight to catch before either of us did any more damage! Gotta love part two of girls weekend!

Girl's Weekend!

     After a hectic start to the last year in NYC one of my best friends came to visit me for a fun foodie filled weekend. We began our friday night with a tapas restaurant in the Meatpacking District and then off to different spots in the city. Saturday afternoon was one of the last sunny days in the city so we went to Cafeteria to sit outside and have the best people watching brunch and catch up over cappuccinos. Since the weather wasn't too bad that night, we bar hopped around midtown and the village and somehow ended up at a karaoke bar, singing some epically bad/good 90's hits until early in the morning. When we finally woke up the next day we decided on grabbing afternoon tea, at a cute new place in the West Village called Bosie Tea Parlor and of course had to try my favorite thing, macaroons, they were so good! For the last night in the city we tried a place I've been curious about for a while, Brooklyn Winery. The space is very cool and it seems like a local hangout, with people drinking and eating while doing work with friends or just sitting alone reading a book. We ordered their cheese plate that included homemade jam and fresh honey and fried baby artichokes with the most amazing sauce ever! The wines were good, but not great, but the scene made up for it. So great to just hang out with some girlfriends and enjoy the city!

Jewish New Year

It's almost new years again, and so my friends and I are getting together for dinner before Rosh Hashanah, I am in charge of cocktails and dessert. During this holiday it is tradition to eat pomegranate seeds in hopes of doing as many good deeds as there are seeds and apples with honey for a sweet new year. I decided to make a pomegranate champagne punch and miniature brownies, that should be sweet enough! Have a happy holiday everyone!

Eastbound!

Time to get excited to head back to NYC! For the first time I am truly happy to go back, usually I am a ton of emotions, but this time I'm just ready for the school year. It may be my last time heading to New York so I am going to make the most of it. This year I am going to do all the funny, touristy and crazy New York things I haven't gotten to yet. Can't wait for this year!

Summer In Photos

Too much flying...

Another perfect day in Malibu

Tourist Day!

Much needed girls' night

Baby Bro graduated!

The Typical Undergraduate Experience

This summer I decided to figure out what it would be like to study and work back home to see if I want to move back to LA after graduation. I enrolled in summer school at UCLA, a beautiful and amazing university. I am studying environmental planning and policy, and I already know it is going to be very different from NYC. I am excited, maybe all get my masters here?

Unconditional

What makes a relationship unconditional? Being family, childhood friends, first loves? Living in two time zones has put a magnifying glass on these connections the last few years as I've mentioned before, and I've come to some interesting realizations. First, the people I thought I would never lose touch with, were usually the first to stop calling and the people I wasn't sure about are some of my closest friends now. Also family dynamics have drastically changed, there's a new found appreciation. As someone who never felt a connection to their family and unsure of how I fit in, now as an adult, I've spent a lot of time trying to re-evaluate these relationships. Second, I have built friendships over interesting connections that I never found to be important before, but now have become priority. Just meeting people that might be going through the same transitions as me has been comforting and valuable. Perhaps not unconditional, but needed at the time, I strongly believe, people come in and out of your life for a reason. A lot has changed over a few years, but having some constants and stability in my relationships have made dealing with the uncertain future less scary. You never know who's going to come into your life and need you just as much as you need them.

Closing Time

Another year in NYC and this time it truly flew by. I finally feel like I found my place in this crazy city. I have made some incredible friends and experienced so much of this city. I have a difficult time living in the moment, but this year I tried to slow down and enjoy the ride. So much has changed, and things are about to change even more. With lots of my friends going in different directions and starting to prepare for graduate school I can't help but go down memory lane. The beginning of my time in New York was terrible, I'm not going to lie, but I learned so much about myself. Friends have come and gone, but my family has been a constant rock. I have also been able to sift through the nonsense and find some life long friendships. New York has made me grow up and figure myself out, quickly, and oddly enough I am quite grateful for that. As I am beginning to plan my next chapter, I don't know if New York will be a part of it, but anyone who has ever lived here knows, this city becomes a part of you. It has changed me for the better...I hope. This year I became comfortable with the idea of stumbling, I learned to embrace the fact that I can't always be perfect. This was a concept I fought for years, I thought that I always had to act as if everything was great, when in fact it was quite the opposite. With some changes and some more supportive people around me, I created a home away from home. I have no idea where I will be living in a year and that scares me, but I am confident that I will be able to handle what ever is thrown my way. I have found confidence in my tears, in my laughter, in my perseverance, in my friends, in my family and in myself. This year has taught me more than I could have ever imagined and I can't wait for what next year brings!

Passover in Boston

Since my family is in Europe for the month I decided to go up to Boston to visit my cousin. For as long as I can remember I thought I wanted to go to BU and study law, I visited a bunch of times thinking that was where I was going to end up. Years later, I am very happy with my decision to come to NYC, but I will always love Boston! I was so excited to be back, Spring in Boston is beautiful! My first night we did passover with some friends, which was really nice. Of course a little Manischewitz never hurts with some caramel and chocolate matzo. We toured around and shopped on Newbury Street, the cutest place ever! We grabbed lunch at Max Brenner, which surprisingly has amazing food and not just dessert. We walked through Boston Common Park, the cherry blossoms had just bloomed and everyone was taking photos, it was such a gorgeous day I can't say I blamed them. And then we went to my favorite place, Little Italy for dinner and Mike's Pastry, with a line around the corner you know it's the best bakery. For my last night, we went out and experienced Boston nightlife, which is very different from NYC, but still just as fun. Although the party scene is not usually my thing, I figured if you can't beat them, join them, right? After having your typical college night, I got on the bus back to New York and attempted to piece my night back together. It was definitely an experience to remember...or not.

A Touristy Kind of Week

Right after I got back from home two of my friends flew in to visit and we somehow managed to see a little bit of everything. From Battery Park to the Empire State Building to the Museum of Natural History, and even had time to go out to Connecticut for the night! I took them to all my favorites; Poco, Eataly, Trattoria del Arte, Shake Shack and Dean and Deluca for the best chocolate babka. The weather was perfect, we even got to sit out by the seaport and have lunch. We went to Connecticut to visit a friend and it was beautiful, it was like being in the woods and the beach at the same time. Back in the city, instead of waiting in line to go to the top of the Empire State Building I took them to 230 Fifth, a rooftop bar that over looks it. It was fun, you sit outside in a red snuggie if you want and drink fun warm cocktails. It is quite the tourist hangout and the service is not too great, but you can't beat the view. It was a great ending the a really fun visit.

SoCal Spring Break

Although last year at this time I was on my way to Paris, there's nothing like home. I really need a break and there's no where more relaxing than the suburbs. After landing and catching up on some much needed sleep I was so happy to see my friends and family. After all these years away, I still haven't gotten used to flying back and forth. One of my last nights home was St. Patricks day, and like any other good jew I went to go drink some green beer and listen to celtic music of course! Expecting your usual bar food, we were pleasantly surprised by the inventive menu. We ordered corn beef sliders, duck quesadilla with mole sauce, and fondue with pretzel bread. It was a great ending to a beautiful week in sunny LA.

MoMa Lunch Break

After having my Latin art history class at the MoMa early thursday morning, we deserved a nice lunch break. One of my favorite parts of New York, is there is truly something for everyone. As a huge architecture lover, I had a hard time focuses on the art because this amazing building kept distracting me. As most of the students zoned out during our boring art lecture, I naturally tried to figure out where we would have lunch the second this was over. Since is one of the first nice days in New York we decided to stay uptown and eat at the MoMa cafe since is all floor to ceiling windows overlooking the courtyard and busy midtown. We expected some overpriced sandwiches and salads, but we were pleasantly surprised. The menu was very interesting and had some great dishes to satisfy all their international customers. I ordered italian meatballs and creamy polenta with parmesan, pesto and walnuts. These were seriously the best meatballs I've ever had, I was ready to order a second plate! Between the beautiful ambiance and the delicious food, I was in heaven!

A Joke Of A Valentine's Day

As one of my least favorite holidays, Valentine's Day became a girls night out, with comedy and drinks. I bought tickets to a women's comedy show at Le Poisson Rouge. We sat down and ordered a bottle of wine and got ready for a packed show. I didn't expect great food, but when our truffle mac and cheese and chicken satay came, it looked fantastic and it tasted even better. This was far from bar food, and we were pleasantly surprised. So I guess Valentine's Day wasn't so bad.

Atlanta!

Off to Atlanta for the weekend for a leadership conference, wish me luck ya'll!

Birthday Weekend!

Being a big birthday I decided that I had to have one crazy night in New York, and that's exactly what happened. It was a weekend filled with great music, great food, and great fun! Being overly involved with work and school I could only take off friday and cancel sunday meeting for my birthday weekend, so I took full advantage. I started off with breakfast at Sprinkles, which are the best cupcakes ever and New Yorkers just don't appreciate this Beverly Hills obsession quite yet, everyone needs to try Sprinkles red velvet cupcakes. This month they have this amazing salty caramel cupcake that I could eat a dozen of all by myself. Then it was off for a bit of birthday shopping for the afternoon. The next day we checked into the Gansevoort Hotel in the Meatpacking District, where all the great restaurants and clubs are located. I have to say the hotel was gorgeous and in the most perfect spot! We all grabbed dinner at Poco, one of my favorites before we headed back to get ready to go out. After some explosive champagne and midnight toasts we went out clubbing for the rest of the night. After living here this long I've never gone out clubbing before and now that I have it's fun, but not something I will start doing regularly. After getting home early in the morning, everyone slept over and we were starving in the morning. What better than Shake Shack! Since it was Superbowl sunday we went uptown to beat the crowds and patiently waited for our cheeseburgers, milkshakes and fries. As an avid In n Out lover, I have to say Shake Shack is the best burger on the east coast. It was truly the best birthday meal ever. The weekend was so much fun, I was so happy to be with my closest friends and and even some family.

Birthday Brunch

After some amazing weather in Los Angeles, I decided before I leaveI I would love to have lunch somewhere outdoors. Since I always head back to school right before my birthday, we celebrated a little early. Eveleigh is a great new restaurant off sunset, named best patio in LA, so we went for sunday brunch on sunny Golden Globes day. With an Australian themed menu in a beautiful cottage restaurant, it's very different than anything else in West Hollywood. From vintage lamps and furniture to large chalk boards and bird cages, the restaurant have a homey and rustic look. We started out with with a great cocktail, a chamomile-infused tequila with lemon juice and honey, making for the best lemonade I've ever had! I ordered corned beef and fingerling potatoes with a scotch egg. A scotch egg is a soft boiled egg, that is then fried and it was amazing. My friend got spelt pancakes with pear syrup and we also ordered french fries with truffle aioli, that no one could stop eating. Not only was the food really good, but it was also very different than your usual sunday brunch, which made it interesting. Between the food, the fantastic patio view, and most importantly all the Aussie/actor waiters I had so much fun trying out Eveleigh.