ravagh

we had dinner at ravagh's with college friends on this glacial evening to celebrate susan's 34th birthday! our reservation was downsized from a party of 16 to a party of 7, but it was a fun evening with delicious food and great service!

dinner included kashk-bademjan, mirza ghasemi, stuffed pepper, the chicken, lamb, and beef kebabs, and all their specialty rices. the crowd pleaser, as usual, was the khoresh fesenjan. for dessert, we had baklava (one piece per person is not enough!) and the persian mint tea, a great way to finish off a chilly night this winter!

best: pre-ordered a copy of harper lee's "go set a watchman", the unpublished, unedited sequel to "to kill a mockingbird" which was actually written before its prequel. it is slated to arrive on july 14, 2015. although there was much initial controversy over the legitimacy of the manuscript and lee's approval of its publication, from what i've been reading this past week, harper has acknowledged multiple times her desire for its publication.

worst: skipped breakfast in the morning because things were busy on the desk, and by the time i finally picked up lunch around 1:30, i had lost my appetite. not sure if i'm getting sick or something ..

smile: susan wore a couple very puffy layers yesterday, including a large checkered-pattern fleece jacket on top. super fun to hug :)

an act of kindness

this morning as i was waiting for the 1 train at the 23rd st station heading into the office, i heard the faint raspy sound of a man's voice mumbling "hello hello" and felt his presence coming from behind me. a bit disenchanted from the variety of characters which pass through nyc, i didn't bother to turn around and assumed he was on his phone losing service underground.

as he neared and the volume of his "hello hello" increased, i turned around and realized that the man was blind and was using his walking stick to try to identify end of the train platform. a little confused at who he was speaking to, i paused momentarily and looked around, during which time a guy who had also been waiting walked over and helped guide him to the edge of the platform, and then when the train arrived, helped him onto the train and secure a seat.

seeing this act of kindness from a stranger was an inspiring way to start my friday. next time, i'll know better myself.

after work, kevin and i met up with a friend in town from austin, komson, for drinks in the east village, and finished the night with a nice dinner with college friends at ravagh's new location around the corner. 

our first experience at the ravagh in murray hill was so memorable, i wanted to bring all our college friends, and luckily, saied was with us to do all the ordering :) we had a few types of eggplant appetizers, chicken, beef, and lamb shish kebabs (whole meat and ground meat), four types of rice seasoned with barberries, sour cherries, fava beans, and saffron, as well as persian desserts with tea. it was really nice seeing everyone after the holidays, the guys anyways as most of the wives and girlfriends couldn't make it. we learned that ray and syl are expecting a baby girl in april so sydney will be a big sister!

one week till move-in!

we are one week away from moving back into manhattan! 

it's been a really fun four weeks living in williamsburg, and i don't think either kevin or i can say that we are tired of the commute or neighborhood, and ready to move back to manhattan right this instant. some conveniences we will definitely appreciate, like proximity to central park, a central location in manhattan, elevators (!!), the rest of our clothes, and our bikes! 

but we have also really enjoyed exploring williamsburg, all the coffee shops, restaurants (there are SO MANY!!!!), and especially the new running routes. i love the neighborhood vibe around here - there are families up and down every street, and you can see them getting together on the sidewalk, hanging out on the stoops, and to be honest, it's more down to earth than chelsea. folks are relaxed and easy going, and it's so nice to be able to see the beautiful blue sky every morning above the low-rise homes. they do need a maison kayser out here though ...

oh man, we are so excited that the apartment remodel to finally coming to an end, but there's also the realization that we will have to unpack those boxes. oh boy ... living in lizzie & mike's nice home has been a bit magical i guess. a five-week long vacation coming to its end ...

anyways, reality started sinking in on saturday morning as we spent a couple hours at the apt moving boxes and furniture from one room to the other, so the painters could access the ceiling for a couple coats of paint. we followed the hard labor with gahm mi oak sul long tang yummm. what's better than a stone pot of bone broth, tender beef, noodles, and UNLIMITED daikon and napa kimchi. the hostess spoke to us in korean for the first few minutes, until we clarified with her that we are not korean ...

check out this awesome coffee mug. if something looks wierd, it's because the mug is actually three feet wide. you can sort of tell by the relative size to the coffee beans!

hard work deserves reward and so we treated ourselves to saltie's balmy sandwich and olive oil cake, since i'm sort of on an olive oil cake kick these days. saltie's is a delicious hole-in-the-wall with minimal seating inside, more of an order to go sort of place, next door to momofuku milk bar on metropolitan ave aka dangerously close to our place.

the balmy was vietnamese banh mi inspired, although its list of ingredients was quite long: chicken liver pate, ham, jalapenos, pickled veggies, cilantro, and mayo all on a homemade focaccia. a lot of flavors going on in there, though VERY tasty. the olive oil cake was very nice! it was a little drier than i'd expected, but some of the pluses were the flavorful bursts of kosher salt in the cake and the crunchy toppings.

finally, a late dinner back in the city at ravagh persian grill with some close college friends. it was great to catch up with grace, even if she was only in town for less than 36 hours! and ravagh ... PHENOMENAL. we will be coming back! faves: babaganoosh with naan, chicken kebab, green hot sauce, burnt-bottom-of-the-pot basmati rice, and albaloo polo (sour cherries mixed with basmati rice). eating with saied is KEY :)