Family, Friends, and FOOD

Once again, I'm trying to cram too much into a single post, but a lot has been going on and there's never enough time to post frequently!!! It's been an eventful and fun couple of weeks and several items off of the Summer List of 2009 have been completed.

Back on July 21st, we took advantage of No. 8:

Hit restaurant week.

Giorgio's of Gramercy

Grilled Calamari over Baby Spinach, Crispy Bacon, Quail Eggs, Mozzarella Cheese & Honey Mustard Vinaigrette for Steve

Baby Arugula, Fresh Mango, Speck, Marcona Almonds,

Sicilian Olive Oil ~ Balsamic Glaze for Becky

Grilled New York Strip Steak steak fries, sauteed garlic broccoli rabe,

onion confit ~ lemon caper goat cheese reduction for Steve

Pan Seared Halbut, Spinach & Cauliflower Fondue, Oven Roasted Tomatoes, Baby Carrots, Roasted Beets ~ Red Pepper Coulis for Becky

S’more Bread Pudding Chocolate-Marshmallow, Caramel Sauce, Vanilla Gelato,

Graham Cracker for Becky (not that you couldn't figure that out...)

Trio of Gelato for Steve

Four words-

De- Lic-Ious

(No, I'm not trying to be vain, I'm talking about the meal!!!:)

Very tasty and very fun time.

We enjoyed a yummy dinner and more good times with the Sholes the following Friday, then headed out to Coney Island to fulfill No. 3 that next Saturday.

Finally hit Coney Island

First stop- the famous Nathan's Hot Dogs for two dogs and some fries.

Complete surprise to us, and everyone else, however, a crazy, huge rain storm decides to hit right as we're ordering...

Yes, we're both pretty soaked. We dash across the street (and over serious puddles) into the train station where everyone is trying to dry off and wait out the storm. No, the weather forecast in no way, shape, or form predicted this...

Fortunately, the sun came back out before too long and we had a great time.

And rode the crazy wooden Cyclone coaster- it was AWESOME!!!

(For more Coney Island pics, check out Steve's blog!)

We made it back that evening in time to enjoy a fun evening at the Alosi's place with MORE great food and great friends. (Yes, clothes are starting to feel tight despite the P90X...)

Tuesday, the 28th, we had a wonderful evening on No. 11:

Enjoy the views of the Hudson River from one of the restaurants that overlook it.

We decided on the Boat Basin Cafe at 79th- so cute!!!

Enjoying the views (and the beautiful sunset) of the Hudson River, indeed!!!

More food- burger for Steve, veggie burger for Becky.

Both were pretty tasty, but Shake Shack had em' beat.

But again, we were mainly there for that view.
Can't see too well behind us but it was gorgeous!

That next week, I decided to make an impromptu, quick trip down to Alexandria to surprise my mom for her birthday on Aug 1.

Yup, she was quite surprised. It was awesome.

Thanks to Dad for helping with the secret!!!

More good food (chocolate lava cake- YUM) and more fun times with the folks.

And more chocolate.
Yes, there are four cupcakes.

Don't judge.
They were a-mazing.

Happy Birthday, Mom! I love you!!!

Too quick a trip, but it was great and she was tickled. :) We had some drama getting me on the bus in time Saturday night, but luckily traffic held up both us AND the bus so I didn't miss it afterall...

Sunday saw more food, yet again, with more good friends where we enjoyed a little lunch at our sweet friends, the Littles!

Finally, the eating frenzy continued when we had some new friends, Brooke and Joey, over for dinner this past Tuesday night - fajitas with all the fixin's (including Steve's yummy homemade guac and Brooke's incredible homemade salsa), with mexican rice and black beans, and homemade chocolate ice cream (again, compliments to chef Steve) with raspberries to finish it off.

When we first met this couple, we knew we wanted to get to know them and have them over for dinner so when we came up with No. 10 on the list,

Have a couple over for dinner that we should get to know better

we knew exactly who to ask! We had a great evening and while I don't have any pics from our dinner (might've been a little weird...), I couldn't resist a photo of our dish stacking job afterwards.

I'm so thankful for the family, friends, and food that God has allowed us to enjoy and it's been fun working our way through our new list. We're almost half way there!!!

Summer Pics and a Summer List

Part One

Well, it's been a while since the last post, and I don't how it's already nearing the end of July. There hasn't been a whole lot of excitement going on in the Mason household, but here are a few pictures from a couple of the bigger events of the past month.

We enjoyed a quick trip to DC at the end of June where Steve had a mini-conference and I got to visit with my dearest friend, Cindy, over dinner, and we got to spend a little time with my folks in Alexandria, too, so that was fun. No pics from that trip, though.

On June 14, we celebrated six years of marriage preparing dinner at the Bailey House,



then enjoyed gorgeous weather and beautiful views along the pier afterward.

Followed up by a happy hour at one of the trendy West Village wine bars.



To finish up the month, we celebrated our dear friend, Desiree, in a (surprise!) birthday party from their rooftop.

Pete and Heather, Jay and Desiree, and us


Heather, Radhika, Desiree and me


Us, Shawna and David, Katy and Kristian

July began with a fun July 4th bbq at the Sullivans finishing up with
some amazing fireworks over the Hudson River.
Beautiful sunset before the show.

Part Two

As we desperately do not want the summer to pass without taking advantage of some NYC summer goodness, we have come up with another challenge/list. We're giving ourselves to September to complete this one (summer technically extends that long anyway, right???) so hopefully we'll get in at least a good chunk of these!

Drum roll, pleeeease....

Summer List of 2009

(in no particular order whatsoever)

1. Go to the Shake Shack at Madison Square Park

Check! We hit this place last Monday night. We agree with most New Yorkers that it's overrated, but it was still some mighty fine eatin' and we were devouring our food in about 40 minutes from the time we got in line to the time we took the first bite, so for that, it was worth it. (Lines alone are known to average up to an hr, plus another 25-30 min wait to get the food. So yeah, 40 min ain't bad)

The food.


All done.

Yeah, we enjoyed it.

2. Go to a "Concert in the Park" by the NY Philharmonic.

Check! Went there this past Friday with some friends from church. Unfortunately, lightning cut the evening short in the last movement of the program... :(

But we still had a great time picnic-ing with good food and great friends.

Us

Todd and Jessa

David and Radhika

Joey and Brooke

(Ok, now on to items that have not been completed yet...)

3. Finally hit Coney Island.

4. Go to an amusement park.

5. Go to the yummy cupcake place in the East Village that Shawna raves about.

Can't wait for these! (Can't remember the name either...)

6. Go to a Shakespeare in the Park performance.

Ok, we actually did try on this one when "Twelth Night" was playing but we had no luck. So while the actual Shakespeare play is done for this summer, we're still hoping to catch the Greek play, the Bacchae, when it's here as part of the "Shakespeare in the Park" festival in August.... This little booger of a challenge has truly proved to be a challenge!

7. Spend some time in Brooklyn.

8. Hit restaurant week.

9. Take a long bike ride.

10. Have a couple over for dinner that we should get to know better.

11. Enjoy the views of the Hudson River from one of the restaurants that overlook it.

(Purposefully not being specific on this one cause there are a couple of these and we don't want to confine ourselves... ha!)

12. Attend a "Movies in Bryant Park" night.

13. Go to a performance at Central Park's "SummerStage."

14. Vist the Guggenheim Museum.

15. Go to the Bronx Zoo!!!

(Yes, we know it's especially sad that we haven't hit those last two yet... But alas, better late than never!!!)

We'll call it at 15 for now but we do reserve the right to add on. And we do happily take suggestions. And company. So let us know!

99 Balloons

I rarely watch Oprah, but two days off in a row and I decided to have some tube time while the flute's out. The show was about "miracle children" and she showed this video put together by an incredible couple who were blessed by their precious son, Eliot.

Tears still in my eyes, my face still blotchy...




This really is one of the most beautiful and touching and inspiring videos I've ever seen. It was probably a re-run, but I had to get this up as soon as possible (meaning several hours after show since I can't figure out how to "embed" a video into a post without dear hubby to help).

He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High,
who abides in the shadow of the Almighty,
will say to the Lord, "My refuge and my fortress;
my God in whom I trust."
Psalm 91:1-2

God is good.

In Good Company

Ok, get ready to hold your ears-

AAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!

Ok, you can go back to normal now, I'm done. No really, it's alright. I just had to get that out.

Oh, you're wondering what that was all about? Well, I'll tell you-

SCHOOL'S OUT FOR SUMMER!!!!!!

Oh sorry, should've warned you again. I'm done for real now. Really, I promise. But I am just oh so excited!

May 18, 2009 marked my last official day out to Stony Brook for my first year back to school. I've got quite a few projects that I'll be working on this summer so I'm not completely off the hook, but I will not be making that commute until I absolutely have to again at the end of August. Yippee!

My last recital of the first year, on 5/11, was a fun one with lots of chamber pieces, consisting of works from the "classical" era. I know, you're probably thinking, "isn't it all classical music?" Well, technically, yes, but within that specific genre lies about four (well five) traditional periods of classical music, according to time frame. The Baroque era (think Bach, Vivaldi, Handel) took place in the mid 1600s through mid 1700s; the Classical era (Mozart, Haydn) from the mid 1700s through early 1800s; the Romantic era (Chopin, Brahms, Schumann) for most of the 1800s; the 20th Century era (Stravinsky, Debussy, Ives), uh, self-explanatory; up until now with New/Contemporary music that is being composed today. How's that for a little music history lesson? But I digress...

It was one of those easy-to-the-ears recitals and ended up being a blast playing with the awesome people I was in company with. Here's a little slideshow of the day:

The day after my "official last day," some sweet friends of ours, Sarah and Eric (adorable couple below) who lived in NYC a couple years back, visited their old stomping grounds and stayed with us for a few nights.


We had a great time catching up and even visited two very tasty restaurants we'd never tried before - John's Pizzeria in Times Square (yes, Times Square- it may be every New Yorker's nightmare, but they have some darn good pizza and it's housed in an old church! So it was super cool!), and Acqua. I was also able to get free tix for all of us for a concert at Lincoln Center which was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!!! Three of my favorite "20th Century composers" were featured (see, now you know what I mean) - Debussy, Bartok, and then my favoritest piece ever by Stravinksy- the Rite of Spring. Oh yeah, it was awesome.

After they left, some good friends of ours from San Diego, Ron, Megan and Little Luke,

Sweetest, little face!!!

visited the NY/NJ/CT area so we go to hang out with them a bit. More yummy food and fun times! We even got to spend the evening on Memorial Day taking in another great free concert by the NY Phil broadcast out onto a neighboring park where we enjoyed a picnic dinner.

(check out those Popeye-forearms- HA!!! love that angle...)

We had more yummy pizza at Grimaldi's just past the Brooklyn Bridge so we enjoyed some scenic views even on a not-so-scenic day.

Just two days after the last of our company left, I went down to Alexandria, VA to visit with my folks. It was a great time of relaxing and just hanging out. Mommy and me got our nails done and did some shopping and then my Too-dad, Mary Catherine, and her daughter, Susan, came down on Saturday and we went to DC to go on this cool "Duck" tour!

Yes, I'll explain- back in WWI (or WWII...man, I stink at history...) these vehicles that ride both on land and in water were used so we enjoyed an hour taking in DC sights and the Potomac River!

All of us outside of the "Duck" with our guide flexing his muscles inside!

Strolling along the streets of DC with views of the Capitol Building


And now, strolling along the Potomac River!

My Sweet Too-dad and his beautiful, sweet Mary Catherine

I even got to try my hand behind the wheel once we were in the river! Very fun.

My Too-daddy and his girls inside Union Station in DC

We enjoyed a yummy dinner that evening over looking the Potomac River on the Alexandria water front

and even saw a wedding happening on the paddlewheeler where Steve and I were married so that was a real treat.

"The Cherry Blossom" - ah, what fond memories :)

Man, I love Alexandria (look at this cute, little town!)

and I am so glad my parents now call it their home! It was an awesome visit.

Now I'm back home and getting back into the swing of things - working at Lincoln Center, PRACTICING (yeah!!! how i've, ironically, missed my flute), and spending time with my hubby- the best company of all!!! I'm sooo looking forward to this summer... ;)