Pantry pasta

The packing continues...life is pretty much the same as it was last week. Work, run, cook, pack, clean. Repeat again. The one big change is finally the weather is more June like. Still warm but not ridiculously hot and not humid. Thank goodness. I am praying that it will hold out through the weekend.

Jordan and I collaborated on this little treat the other night for dinner. I am super impressed with our abilities to pull off pretty decent dinners despite the fact our kitchen is in shambles at the moment.

Pantry Pasta

1/2 can artichoke hearts
1 roasted red pepper
1 onion, sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 can diced tomatoes
1 Tbsp Italian seasoning

1/2 LB pasta

I luckily had a jar of artichoke hearts - 1/2 leftover from the hummus and a jar of roasted red peppers. I really think if you put roasted peppers in anything it tastes about 100 times better. Add to this a can of diced tomatoes and some sauteed onions and garlic you have quite the hearty meal.

Once the onions and garlic are cooked through and soft, add the artichoke and red peppers.
Add cooked pasta, following directions on the box.
And ta-da! I added the final bits of fresh mozzarella I had laying about in the fridge and some cracked pepper. Yummy, easy, quick, and it got rid of 3 jars and one box from the pantry. Success!

Tomorrow I get the keys for the new apartment. I am jumping for joy!

Hiatus

Oh boy...words cannot describe life right now so pictures will have to do....

For an obsessively compulsive neat freak, this is a very hard way to live. I am counting down the days till I can move into the new apartment and organize my life. Countdown is T-minus 4 days.
One of the bedrooms...not so bad just yet.

The kitchen again a few hours later. The pile expanded about 4 feet.

Sunday afternoon I couldn't take it anymore and in the last little bit of counter space I used my Kitchen Aid mixer one more time before it was packed away. I whipped up these yummy double chocolate chip cookies. It seemed a good idea at the time right up till the point the whole apartment's temperature rose about 20 degrees and neither Jordan or I wanted to pack again. At least we had something to munch on...
Back to the packing I was faced with the living room - I am not sure we are doing much living there. Notice the remote control and laptop on the floor. This was where I was taking a break. I was in the valley of boxes.

From here on out no promises on the blog updates...I promised Jordan a Sonic dinner. (A bribe really cause he had to go to the gym with me first, but still.) A few fast food feast might make the cut; I am crossing my fingers that it is just a few.

Cafe Amarcord

The last hoorah, sort of. Last week just got to be so unbearably hot that I pretty much had no ambition to do anything outside of 8:30am-5pm (working hours with free A/C). I didn't want to run. I didn't want to pack. And I certainly didn't want to cook. I still wanted to eat though. The perfect solution was crossing off another restaurant on Jordan's list of must eat places before the move.

It's hard to describe the food at Cafe Amarcord. The menu is somewhat small but all of the options are good. There is also about 5 more specials each day. Jordan and I ended up splitting a mesclin mix pear salad. For entrees we both got one of the specials - a grilled rib eye steak with roasted potatoes and asparagus. It was huge and did us well with a lunch of leftovers. Sorry no pictures I completely forgot till after the meal was packed up to go.

I am also happy to announce laundry is official done at the apartment. I swear never ever to be in the position to have to do laundry in a communal facility. It sucks. Any dirty clothes from here on out will be transferred to the new apartment. I really think this is the most exciting feature and what I am looking forward to the most!

30 Day shred or Spinach Smoothie

Alright, enough of the beans already. I hear you.

Oh the things I have been contemplating doing with the wedding now 2 months away. I don't think I am as bad as some of the stories I have heard but I definitely have second thoughts about what goes into my mouth. I also am being much more conscience about my workouts. No more just run, run, run. Although good at burning calories I want my arms to look good too. I am not going to take up running with dumb bells. Like I said I am not that bad, or more likely that desperate.

I got the 30 Day Shred from Jillian Michaels through Netflix for a quick test run. I actually had it for a full 24 hours before I could bring myself to try it after all of the talk I had heard about it being so super tough. Happily it wasn't so bad. The push up segment is the worst; its also the first weight segment. I hate push-ups. Mainly because I am not good at them. Like I said I need to work on my arms. After this dreadful 3 minutes is up though I am good to go. The problem lately is that it is so very hot and humid. I have to get up early to get my DVD workout in before the temperature heats up. It is just not going to happen at 6pm with its been 90 degrees all day.

The other things I have tried lately is adding spinach to my smoothies. Yes, this is something I have heard about too for a very long time. And as much as I like colorful plates to eat, I cannot get over DRINKING something green. It makes my stomach turn just looking at it, no matter how good it tastes. Anyway, this morning I had spinach that was about to go bad. It needed to be used up soon but there was only like 1 cup or less. What do you do with such a little amount of spinach? Well, I hesitantly threw it in my smoothie for the morning.

Looks somewhat pretty in the blender!

You really could not taste it at all. I heard that for some scientific reason if you add bananas to spinach, they cancel out the taste of the spinach. If this indeed is true, I suppose I never have to worry since bananas are a must have in my smoothies. But like I said earlier its not so much about the taste as it is the look of green for me. As you can see though the overall result of this mixture was pretty - the blueberries won!

Now its panic time, not only with the last push of packing but this was the last of my yogurt. There is nothing better in this heat for breakfast than a smoothie and lots of ice. I think I might just run to the store to get another container. I cannot bare to think of something else for breakfast.

To find out more things you can add to smoothies for an extra health kick read this article published by the previous mentioned blog KathEats.

Fancy Hummus

I swear I am really not addicted to blogs but I recently was told about this blog, Kath eats. Through it I found this blog and recipe, LIFE IN A HOLDING PATTERN.

BRITTNEY'S HUMMUS

ingredients:

16 oz can of chickpea and 1/3 can of liquid from can

6 halves of artichoke
1/2 a roasted red pepper

1 1/2 tablespoons of tahini

2 cloves minced garlic

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

1-2 tablespoons of olive oil or I just used some oil from the artichokes.

DIRECTIONS: Blend everything in the food processor until desired consistency.

I actually used the leftover Cannelloni beans from the cookie recipe as well. By this point my blender was very full. Needless to say I have hummus pouring out of many containers in my fridge. I have a love/hate relationship hummus. I really really love it right up until the point of hating it. It's been a couple of months since my last hummus binge so here I am again. Thank goodness it is so freaking hot these days. No cooking for me...now the question is what will Jordan eat?

It's a what?!?!

One thing about working for a company of young people is we have somewhat similar tastes. I have a handful of girlfriends here who all enjoy exercise, cooking, and healthy things. We constantly share what we do and find out in the big bad world. The big bad world is ever growing with the blog-o-sphere and we are right there with the expansion. We sure do keep ourselves busy.

One of my friends recently sent me this recipe that she had found on a blog she found. It was for Butter bean cookies. Now this is no joke and apparently the next new "health" thing since not even a week before I had seen a brownie recipe that called for black beans. Now I enjoy beans in many dishes but my first reaction to this was GROSS! Obviously beans are fiber filled and have limited calories. By adding beans to dessert recipes you are substituting some flour for beans, adding protein and fiber. In the end each serving will be more satisfying and have less calories. Sounds pretty good huh? The one glitch is I am not so sure how it will taste.

After a fun filled last weekend that was jammed packed with activities I looked at my Sunday with both the comfort of having a slow paced day and the dread of boredom. My solution was to try out these cookies mostly because I am overly curious as to the actual taste then really wanting cookies.

Butter Bean Cookies

Adapted from Happy Herbivore and Gina M.

Ingredients:
1 cup rolled oats

1 cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
¼ tsp cinnamon (optional)
a dash of ground cardamon (optional)
½ cup canned white beans, liquids reserved
¼ cup raw sugar
¼ cup unsweetened applesauce
½ tsp vanilla extract
½ cup chocolate chips

a dash of salt

Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 350F. Grease a large cookie sheet or line with parchment paper and set aside.

2. Transfer 3/4 cup of the oats to a food processor and pulse, about 15x, until crumbly but not powder. Transfer to a mixing bowl and combine with flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and cardamon. Whisk to incorporate and set aside.

Dry ingredients

3. Transfer beans to processor and blend till smooth, then add applesauce, sugar, vanilla extract and 1 tbsp of the bean liquid. Blend again until smooth. Pour wet mixture into dry mixture and stir about 10 times. Add chips, remaining 1/4 cup oats, stirring until combined. If the mixture is too wet, add more oats. If it's too dry, add a little water.

Wet ingredients mixed smooth

4. Drop tablespoon's of batter onto the cookie sheet, leaving an inch of room between each. Bake 15 minutes, until edges are just turning light brown and middles are firm. They will firm a bit more as they cool. Check the bottoms to make sure they are golden brown.

And the results...

More like mini scones than cookies as they were thick and chewy and cakelike. The taste was great though. No way to know beans had any hand in this sweet treat.

Mama Mia: Becco

Where to begin...I might have just found one of the best restaurants in NYC. Becco is run by Lidia Bastianich & her son, Joseph. (Joe is the partner of Mario Batali and his many famous restaurants.) Have you ever seen Lidia's Italy on PBS? I find the show rather dry but its the same lady and she certainly can cook some great Italian food.

Becco has a normal menu but they are best known for the unlimited daily pasta special option. It goes a little something like this

SINFONIA DI PASTA
Insalata Cesare

Becco's version of the classic Caesar salad
or
Antipasto Misto

An assortment of marinated & grilled vegetables with assorted seafood
followed by
Our renowned unlimited table side service of our Chef's Three Daily Pasta Preparations
Lunch$17.95
Dinner$22.95

Who could pass this deal up? Our options included Spaghetti al Pomodoro - Spaghetti with fresh tomato & basil, finished table side with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil & fresh Parmigiano Reggiano cheese. Mushroom ravioli with truffle butter and sage, and Fussili Bolognese with summer peas. It's unlimited refills but as you can see from the picture above, my first portion was plenty. Basically all of these men are running around with big bowls of each pasta dish constantly asking if you want more. Everything was so good!

We got one of the wines from the $25 wine list. What can I say, wine for $25 is not bad at all, especially in a restaurant, especially in NYC. Not being a big fan of white wines this was absolutely enjoyable. The aroma was so fruity but the taste was not too sweet. Great for the hot humid day we were experiencing. And look at the color, so pretty!

Trebbiano d’Abruzzo 2008, Cataldi Madonna
(Abruzzo)

The true treat of the day was going to the Salon and Spa at Saks Fifth Avenue. Look at our lovely hands. So soft and beautiful! We all decided we could get use to this kind of lifestyle.

Curried in a hurry: curried rice with shrimp

It was so hot Sunday. I got up early to run because I knew it was going to be steamy later but I also had a lot I wanted to get done. Well, I was back and ready to get busy by 9:30am. I started to do laundry and was immediately sweating. So much for being nice and clean from my shower. Let's just say it continued to get even hotter as the day wore one. By lunch I was done. I adamantly fight Jordan against the use of A/C. Our apartment has two window units. I find them loud, and a waste of electricity. Today however, I shut up the whole apartment from the outside, closed all of the blinds, and blasted the suckers on high. I was still hot.

Many ice filled glasses of water later it was time for dinner. Today was one of the days when I seriously considered having ice cream for dinner. Ice cream is one sure bet for cooling off. Instead my reason came back to me and I begin a new recipe I have been wanting to try. It was few ingredients and all cooked on the stove top. It wasn't ice cream but it would do.


Curried Rice with Shrimp

From Real Simple Recipes (online)

Ingredients
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 teaspoons curry powder
1 cup long-grain white rice
Kosher salt and black pepper
1 1/2 pounds peeled and deveined large shrimp
1/2 cup fresh basil

Directions
1. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and carrots and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft, 6 to 8 minutes.

2. Add the garlic and curry and cook, stirring, until fragrant, 2 minutes.

3. Add the rice, 2 ½ cups water, and ½ teaspoon each salt and pepper and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, covered, for 15 minutes.

3. Season the shrimp with ½ teaspoon salt and ¼ teaspoon pepper and nestle them in the partially cooked rice. Cover and cook until the shrimp are opaque throughout, 4 to 5 minutes. Fold in the basil.

Think fried rice with an Indian flare. I am not a huge fan of curry but this was mild. You can definitely add more but I stuck to the recipe and thought it was fine. It was fast to prep and cook. I think this will become a new regular meal for us.

Happy Father's Day

There are so many good memories to remember.

Lots of fun!

Lots of love!


To the best dad I could wish for...Happy Father's Day!

Ole ole ole: La puerta azul

The move is fast approaching. Since the big decision was made Jordan immediately had a list, ever-growing I might mention, of restaurants we must go to before we leave. Many of which have been here the whole time and never once seemed important or good enough to try, that is until we might not ever have the opportunity to try them.

Mixed in with this list are restaurants we truly enjoy and will be quite sad not to have close by. One such restaurant is La Puerta Azul in Millbrook, NY.

We went here last night cause well I didn't really feel like cooking. I swear Thursdays are the hardest night for me. One more day of work to get through before the weekend hits. Fridays, even when I am tired, seem much better simply due to the fact you are done and have two full days of freedom. It is much easier for us to get to La puerta azul from the office any way as it is much closer than from our apartment. Hence why we seldom venture here even though it is delicious.

We ended up just getting a whole much of appetizers. The picture above is what Jordan deemed probably the best appetizer he has ever eaten. Quite a statement huh?
It's Camarones a la Parrilla, grilled tiger shrimp on a crispy onion ring filled with guacamole, pico de gallo & topped with a chipotle aioli. We also had beef empanadas, sopes de bistec, flautas de carnitas, and sopa de maize. Sorry the pictures are so bad; they are cell phone shots once again. Me and my camera forgetfulness.

The chips here are some of the best torilla chips I have ever had. They come out warm and salty. I could eat chips and salsa for the rest of my life but here - yum yum. I was full before the food came but that just means leftovers for lunch. Anyway, this place is in the middle of nowhere. If you happen to be driving on the Taconic Parkway between the city and Albany (yes, that is quite a stretch) I highly recommend stopping at the Route 44 exit. La Puerta Azul is about a mile down the road.

Buen Provecho!

bizarro world of wedding mania

I am venturing from the food world for one post because well I could not help but share these two very strange things I found the other day. Now, I think it is pretty much a given that summer television stinks. It is so horrible I cannot bare to watch it. Jordan is a big fan and I try my hardest sometimes to sit with him but I just think about how much time I am wasting away. I get fidgety and in less than 10 minutes I am up doing something else. Sometimes I make it more than 10 minutes but only if I have my handy laptop keeping me entertained.

One such evening occurred earlier this week. I was desperately trying to find something interesting on the web - even this can be a challenge at times. This particular night I ended up on the NY Times website. In college I got most of my news from this site, that and the Today show but that is a different blog. So here I was browsing my finger tips around hunting the fashion, travel, and food sections and I came upon the wedding announcements. And, yes that is what I like to call the news.

I don't know if you have ever read the wedding announcements in the NY Times but they are very amusing and the pictures tend to be lovely. I really scored with this "entertain myself" find. Here are two of the ones I looked at. Both a bit out of the ordinary and I got quite the chuckle out of it.

Amanda Pritzker and Brad Kahn

Deborah Jacobs and Michael McPhearson

Happy Anniversary to me!

Somehow in all the craziness of life I missed my 100th post mark. This is post 105 to be exact. Who knew? I certainly didn't. However, I did manage to figure out that one year ago today was my first post ever - the anniversary of lifeonfood's creation.


It's been quite a year. Here is to the 365 days. Imagine champagne flutes clicking in the background.

Sweet tooth satisfied...somewhat?!?

No matter how big or rich our dinner is Jordan always needs to have a sweet treat after dinner. No joke this is how most of our evening proceed.

1. Eat dinner
2. Clean off table
3. Me - Wash up dishes, put in dishwasher, clean kitchen counters
4. Join Jordan on the couch for about 2 minutes.
5. Jordan goes to the kitchen and starts digging around in cabinets, fridge, and drawers.
6. Jordan's head pokes out through the doorway, "Do we have anything sweet?"
7. Jordan does not like my long list of possible desserts.
8. He continues to hunt for something sweet and whips something up.
9. He eats said creation, offers me some which I normally decline because I am full and know my body cannot take a dessert every night regardless of how much I work out.
10. Sink full again due to Jordan's sweet creation.
11. (OPTIONAL) Jordan finds something salty after realizing he had too much sweet.

I cannot begin to describe some of the things Jordan has come up with in order to satisfy his sweet tooth. Last night in a hunt for something sweet he decided that frying some aging scones with butter followed by some homemade blackberry jelly would do the trick.
Yum, yum. Or so I guess as he finished the plate in record time.
As for the frying pan - it's still sitting on the stove top waiting to be cleaned. Hint, hint: Jordan if you are reading this, the pan is calling your name.

Mundane Monday

Reading blogs is one thing I have not really gotten addicted to just yet. Every once in a while I will follow a blog for a few weeks, checking in pretty often. I will then move on to something new. I am always impressed though with the people who can blog so consistently every day.

My life is busy and quite frankly not that interesting all the time. I managed to get in a blog Monday-Friday last week and was very impressed with myself. I accomplished this for two reasons. I am not traveling so my time is freed up a bit and I had a really big weekend. When I have fun activities going on its so easy to have fun pictures and stories to tell. I don't have big weekends in NYC very often though. This past weekend I sat on my butt quite a bit. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Even now it's Tuesday and I am still posting about my Monday. The beginning of the week and I am already a day late. Haha, that is how life is nowadays. So here is my post no recipes, but I did manage a shot of our dinner.

Moving has put quite a damper on Jordan's creative dinner making skills. Many of the sauces, condiments, and spices he has been accustomed to using have been used up. I refuse to buy any new such things till after we move. Thus, dinner although good was lacking the usual flair. Here was a quasi-stir-fry dish. Chicken, onion, and green beans sauteed in olive oil and lemon juice. I thought it was good. After a full day of work, forgetting my snack and going for a run. I was starving. It was a good dinner to me.

Hearty lasagna

It was another busy weekend for us. We ran many errands and occupied ourselves quite a bit. By Sunday I was tired, and for the life of me I couldn't cross anything off of my To-Do list for the move or for the wedding. Slowly and surely things are getting done but no big task got completely finished this weekend. I am a big To-Do list person and I enjoy very little more than being able to cross something off my list. Thus, when Sunday dinner rolled around I was feeling somewhat under accomplished.

In comes big dinner plans. I meant to make lasagna a while ago to use up my 1/2 empty box of noodles. Enter heat wave in New York and my plans were put on hold. This weekend was warm and humid but in the about to have a big storm way with lots of clouds. It didn't seem like too big of a pain to turn the oven on last night so off I was to whip up lasagna.

I don't really have a recipe for this venture. It is called the look in the fridge for yummy veggies and put them in. I happened to have ground turkey, mushrooms, and spinach this weekend so there was my filling.

Ingredients:

whole wheat lasagna noodles

16 oz can crushed tomatoes
16 oz container of ricotta cheese
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese

8 oz fresh mozzarella - sliced

1 egg

1 Tbsp Italian seasoning

1 cup chopped fresh baby spinach

1 cup sliced mushrooms

1/2 LB ground turkey

1.Ricotta mixture - Combined 16 oz container of ricotta cheese, 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, egg, and Italian seasoning. Set aside.

2. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Saute ground turkey until cooked through. Remove from pan and set aside. Add mushrooms to same pan with a bit of olive oil. Add to ground turkey when finished.

3. Boil water and cook lasagna noodles as directed by box instructions. I use 1/2 of the box and make a small pan instead of the normal large casserole dish.

4. Assemble lasagna starting with spreading 1/4 cup of crush tomatoes on the bottom of your pan. Add a layer of noodles, followed by the ricotta mixture. Add the turkey and mushroom mixture, a layer of spinach and then some sauce. Repeat again with another layer finishing the remaining ingredients. Depending on how many you are serving you can add another layer or two.

Don't get too excited though. If you over stuff the pan the tomato sauce will bubble over and make a mess in your oven.

5. The last layer should just be crushed tomatoes followed by a layer of the sliced mozzarella.

6. Place in lower rack of oven for approximately 35 minutes. I like the sauce to be bubbling and the cheese to be browned.

Let sit for about 10-15 minutes. It will be very hot. The sooner you slice into the pan the more runny the juices will be. Of course with Jordan and I, we normally only make it like 5 minutes till we have to eat.

Hot Chocolate in summer?

Here I have been complaining about the heat for some time and tonight all I want is hot chocolate. One, it hasn't been hot for that long and really last weekend was the only miserable hot humid day. Two, I work in a very A/C office so much of my day I am cold or dressed like it is still winter. There you have my justifications.

I am a big fan of hot chocolate. I could have a big mug every morning for the rest of my life. I would never give coffee a second thought, even the divine French pressed coffee. However, it cannot be any hot chocolate. Please note the name hot CHOCOLATE - there is no fake cocoa for this gal. I need the real thing. France impacted my life in another food aspect by introducing me to its marvelous lit bits of chocolate that is melted slowly in very rich cream. I am salivating just typing about it. My favorite place is .... Before leaving I bought many bags of this treasure.

Since my time in France, places in the US finally caught on and now its not so hard to find a similar drink here. My favorite in France was at Angelina's. I had one cup of this and it was a stomachache waiting to happen. Well worth it though.

At home I stick to a few specific brands. My favorite is Ghiradelli. I always make it with milk - none of this water stuff for me. This is my ultimate comfort food. And I highly recommend it after a long work week!

Le Bateau Ivre

The drunken boat is probably a suitable title for this magnificent wine bar. Le Bateau Ivre is touted as the first real wine bar in New York City. The wine by the glass selection is over 250. We made a quick pit stop here for some festive drinking. The place was very classy and very French - right up my alley. There is little I enjoy more than listening to the French language. All of the wait staff were running around shouting French at each other. It was quite fun.

This is a cute little bistro as well with a small menu of tartines and paninis. There is also a few larger entrees. We only sampled some bread and it was delicious. Sadly most of the pictures at this point in the evening are of ourselves. I had to whip out the glasses because I was starting to go blind. Our kind waiter gave us some champagne on the house. It was really good champagne.

Us ladies living it up in the big city! Don't we look pretty?

Nothing's better than a Georgetown Cupcake

Have you ever heard of Georgetown cupcakes? Cupcakes are rapidly becoming the hip new trend for desserts. They are cute, delicious, and instant portion control. One of the most up and coming cupcake shops is Georgetown cupcakes in the Foggy Bottom district in DC. There is even soon to be a TLC reality show on the owner.

I of course have wanted to sample these scrumptious treats for quite a while. I like to go to their website and look at all of the possible ordering options. I even go so far as to add them to "my cart" eventually I come out of my dream cupcake world and realize it is just not practical for me to spend $25 plus dollars on cupcakes and shipping cost that ultimately will just make me fat. (You have to or at least 12 cupcakes at a time - way too many for just Jordan and I.)

Lucky for me though I have awesome friends. One of which lives in the DC area and graciously pick up the above box for me to sample. This gave me more pleasure than probably they realized - cannot help but want to try every cool thing I hear about through my various food searches on TV and magazines.

So after the tea we had about a 2 hour break from food before it was decided by yours truly that it was time to jump into the cupcake box. There were so many flavors, some of which i immediately wanted to try since they were my favorite and others I was not so sure about. The big surprise was the orange flavored cupcake. It tasted like a creamsickle. It was so good!

Here is a coconut cupcake. I love coconut and this did not fail in my expectations. It was yummy too.
Because the party was a bunch (5) of girls and we had been eating a lot we only managed to eat one each during this first sampling. Lucky for Jordan that we saved some for him. Below is the hazelnut flavor - think nutella. He was dying to sample this from the moment he found out I brought cupcakes back. He asked me no less than 4 times if he could have a cupcake. I am a big fan of nutella so this one we had to split. It again met all expectations of a great cupcake.

Jordan continued to munch on the 7 remaining cupcakes over the next two days. The one he didn't get to have was the chocolate. Now that sounds pretty plain but let me tell you. It was chocolate cake with white frosting on top and a cute chocolate glaze design. The special thing about this chocolate cupcake was that on the inside there was a little pocket of chocolate cream. Yum yum! I don't know if next time will be able to resist ordering 12 cupcakes online again. It seems much more practical now knowing they are so super good.

L'orange bleu

Oh what a night!
I cannot begin to say how much fun this restaurant is. If you are looking for something with good food and lively atmosphere this is the place to come. My good friend found this place to start the bachorette party activities. And yes, there was a belly dancer.

As you can see the decor was rather clever as the restaurant was named L'orange bleu or blue orange for those of you who do not know French. I am always a sucker for clever things.

There was a wide range of meal options from smaller tapa size dishes and appetizers to larger portion meals. Again the influences were French and Moroccan so fish frequented the menu choices. The above dish is sole. I had Carpaccio Bonito - thin slices of raw tuna with a bit of ratatouille. It was light and summery - very yummy.

We started off with a pitcher of sangria. Like I said in a previous post the weather was nice and steamy even at 9pm. I think ice cold sangria is a perfect way to cook down a bit. I also just think it is a pretty drink to look at.

The waiters all dance around to the music and certain nights there are live bands playing as well. We ate inside but there was a nice sidewalk area with tables set up which was also very popular. The crowd really got into the music and randomly other patrons would get up and dance around. I was so impressed with some of their dance skills. Clearly I am not as talented in that area as I originally thought.

Sadly the best part of the night I was unable to capture a photo of. If you order a dessert and are having a celebration they bring out some fire works and do a bit more dancing. This was clearly the place to celebrate as we witnessed about 4 fireworks. It was fantastic.