BAM!

Yeah Emeril! Soldiers' Media Center has a piece called "Mission MRE", available at www.army.mil, that challenges chefs to make gourmet meals out of military MREs. Now for those of you that have never had or seen an MRE, you're lucky. Troops are given MREs when no other food is available. These bags of highly processed, nutritionally compact foods are anything but gourmet. They are an "essential evil" for troops everywhere. MREs may be a cutting edge way to deliver nutrients to a troop's body, but they are not something most would eat normally. (NOTE: There are some people who LOVE them... I don't get it.)

So Emeril chose the Chicken Breast and Beef Patty MREs for the challenge. It should be noted that the Beef Patty is by far the LEAST appetizing of ALL MREs... He did pretty well. Only using 5 extra ingredients and a bunch of spices, he made a delicious looking sandwich with toasted "wheat snack bread" and onions and peppers to boot. Very tasty looking. With the chicken he made a balsamic and provolone chicken dish that looked AWESOME! Dessert was a little sketchy looking I must admit. He used an apple ranger bar, nacho cheese combos and peanut m&m's. He drizzled them all with a reduced chocolate and cappuccino glaze. It was actually pretty good. I did get to try that one. I may start eating my combos with chocolate sauce. Ha!

Emeril was great with the troops. They really enjoyed his humor and great personality. He even suggested some restaurants that were good in the city. Actually he said Bobby Flay's was good, which was funny. Thanks Emeril!

Red Balloon Flower

This is one of my favorite sculptures here in New York. Outside the World Trade Center sight, it is truly beautiful. It was done by Jeff Koons, and is one of the most expensive sculptures by a live artist. Amazing...

Guggenheim blah!

This weekend I decided to do a little sight seeing around NYC. I walked around Central Park for HOURS, and I could have been there longer. I saw a castle, various performing artists, and so many dogs that I just wanted to take home, including a 16 month old French bulldog named Claude. He wanted to be my friend. I have to say, once again, that Central Park is my favorite place in New York City. The sad thing is that some "full time" New Yorkers think that Central Park is "the great outdoors". I'm not going hiking or mountain climbing there, let's be serious.

Okay. The Guggenheim. Ugh! Beautifully designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, this masterpiece is best viewed from the outside. Seriously. As you walk your way up the twirly staircase of a gallery, the experience gets stranger and stranger. For the first few levels, we were looking at Van Gogh, Monet, Jackson Pollock etc. It was amazingly beautiful. Some have called some of these paintings life changing. Now, take into consideration that I am not an "art buff" by any means, but I was extremely disillusioned when I passed a steel coil draped onto the floor, and a guard was posted by it so no one would touch the "masterpiece". Hmm. So if I go to Home Depot, I too can be an artist. The most surprising was a strip of drywall that was missing, and people were gathered around looking at it. I started laughing. Are you serious? They are doing construction on that exhibit, and clearly ripped a bracket out of the wall to replace it, and these people think it is a piece of art. Hilarious. So I went up to one of the guards, and while laughing asked if he thought it was funny that people thought this exhibit under construction was a piece of art work. He then looked at me straight faced and said, "That is the exhibit." Wow. I was not ready for that. So after looking at a white box with a florescent light on top of it (another masterpiece), I went and stared at the drinking fountain for awhile. Beautiful.

I may not totally understand "modern" or new age art, but I do understand time management. How long does it take an artist to drape a steel coil onto the floor compared to how long it took Van Gogh to do Starry Night? I'm just saying.

However, I did appreciate a few of the modern pieces that were on display. The Hugo Boss Prize: Emily Jacir exhibit... fantastic. The photo of someone pressing their hands against glass was great. The piece where the artist drew the whole thing in pencil on the gallery wall was very interesting. One collection was done solely with sewing needles pricked through the paper. All in all, I will not be going back unless there is a specific exhibit I want to see. If I want to see beautiful art, I'll go to the Met or MoMa. If I want to see a video of a women saying random phrases with acupuncture needles stuck in her face, I'll go to the Guggenheim.

Random funny picture

Can you see the Soldier on this couch????

It's February Bits!

Hey guys! Sorry! I know I've been horrible about blogging for a minute. There really hasn't been a lot going on so you're not missing out... believe me. Its just hard because I've been extremely boring, and hibernating, and Grandma is in Florida, so she hasn't been reminding me. Ha!

A couple weeks ago we did a show with The Food Network. I met Guy Fieri and Bobby Flay. Yum! Let me tell you that that was a fun time. Anytime I can meet famous people and eat, I am a happy gal! lol. Guy was awesome. He was very into the Soldiers, and was all about taking pictures and hobnobbing with them. He was so outgoing, and at one point he even embarrassed me by saying he could take pictures all day with cute blond girls... yikes!



I also experienced my first Restaurant Week here in the city. There are a lot of restaurants that offer prixe fixe menus that week for a lower cost so everyone can try the "haute" restaurants around the city. We went to this place called The Post House, apparently it is owned by the same people that own Smith and Wollensky, but it has a smaller feel. I had Buffalo Shrimp, Filet and Chocolate cake. Let's just say that I was running awhile to work off that meal! Very good, but I'm not trying to go anywhere where the cheapest glass of wine is $13. I mean I am my grandma's granddaughter!!! I need wine!!!

And what is it with NYC and wine bars!!! I hate to say it but so far my favorite is still The Burgundy Room...in COLUMBUS, OHIO. I mean for a city that is so "right now", I can not find a decent place for wine flights and tapas. That's just sad.


At my favorite, The Burgundy Room in Cbus!


Tonight I am going to 123 Burger Shot Beer with the roomies for happy hour. $1 burgers, $2 shots and $3 beers. We won't be getting shots however because word on the street is they are glorified sugar water, which I totally believe.

I promise I'll be better about blogging! PROMISE! xoxo for now!