Sunday, April 15, 2012

Jake Had a Birthday and I Made a Cake

This past week, Jake had his 29th Birthday.  Now I won't be the only one in our house in the last year of their 20's.  Whew!  One sure way into Jake's heart is through food, so we splurged and celebrated with some filet mignon and carrot bake-both Jake's request.  I have to say, none of the fancy schmancy steak houses out here were any match for Jake's grilling skills!
Jake opening up a package in the mail from his parents-it's always fun to get stuff in the mail and remember that family isn't TOO far away!
Behold my cake decorating skills!
I'm sorry if you are grossed out by meat and are reading this, but it was truly amazing!

Sunday, April 1, 2012

Spring Break Part II: Warning: This is a Long Post

Now that Jake is in his third year of dental school (near the END of the third year...but who's counting?) we are beginning to realize that our days in Western NY are actually numbered, which also makes me begin to realize that I may not have the opportunity to see everything out East that I would like to before we move on once our term here has ended.  Fortunately, we were able to make it out to NYC again for a couple of days over Spring Break for a visit with Mandi and Cole.  Although our trip was short and our days there were numbered, we had such a great time and packed in just about everything we wanted to do!  Mandi and Cole were great hosts and showed us around some of their favorite spots in the city and even let us sleep on the floor of their little apartment and introduced us to some new games.  Thanks again for being such great hosts...next time we meet, I will win Dominion!
Mandi and Cole took us to Mood the first night we got into town, so that I could spend the Mood GC they so generously gave me for my bday.
Oh the fabric options!  It was deliciously overwhelming...
The next morning Mandi and Cole took us to THE BEST bagel shop in the city before Cole had to take off for school for the rest of the day.
If you're wondering what those big mounds are behind the glass, it's LOADS of cream cheese, not some sort of marshmallow fluff Jellos concoction like the mound in front appears to be.  That's actually a disgusting mixture of ground up salmon and cream cheese.  I hear it's quite popular with locals.

After breakfast the rest of us made our way to the Guggenheim. 
The design of the building was beautiful.
Next up, an exploration of Central Park...
...Including a bike ride around the parameter of the park.  Of all of the things we did, I would say this was my favorite part of the trip.
Here are some attempts at some artistic shots.  Luckily we had beautiful weather and the buds on the trees were just beginning to come out!

The next day, we made our way out to Queens to visit 5 Points.  From what I remember from Mandi and Cole, this is a place where graffiti artists display their graffiti talents and stuff.
Next up, a casual walk along the pier at Coney Island
And finally, we enjoyed our last dinner at Serendipity, where I pretty much ordered an entire chicken (I don't know if you can tell from the pic) and we shared the Black Forest Sunday. I have decided that only Serendipity can make chocolate cake, ice-cream and fudge so good.