A Walk in the Park

A few weeks ago my brother, two of our friends and myself went backpacking/camping for the weekend in Allegheny National Forest. This isn't pay 10 bucks for a campsite, buy some firewood and set up a tent next to your car. We pack up our backpacks with hopefully enough supplies to last us the weekend, hike in to the forest, say this random spot looks good for a campsite, and don't look back until the end of the weekend. Over the whole weekend we hiked about 7 miles, and our resident woodsman friend, Arko, claims the change in elevation from the lowest part of the trail to the highest part is over 1000 feet. I love a weekend like this. For me there's nothing like leaving behind everything for a weekend and just being in nature, out in the wild. We had a great time, got way to drunk Friday night, didn't think we would move from our first camp site Saturday morning, but had reviving swim in the a river and actually ended up hiking for 3-4 hours Saturday afternoon to a new campsite.

One of the best parts of going camping like this is, cooking over an open campfire. Who said you can't cook well in the wild, on Friday we had deer burgers (the deer caught and butchered by Arko last fall) prepared by Boz, and a deer stew that I threw together (I brought 2 onions, some baby yukon gold potatoes, garlic and some beef stock), oh yeah and a chocolate peanut butter cake that I brought, that as I was opening dropped icing side down on the ground. Saturday was a more traditional camp food day with hot dogs, bratwurst, and beans. I know for sure that the burgers were some of the best burgers I ever had, but by time the stew was ready I think I as well as everyone else were a little too drunk to know what the stew really tasted like (from what I can remember though it was pretty tasty).

One funny story, on the car ride to the forest we talked about how we had to hang all of our left over food and anything an animal (bear, bobcat, mountain lion, other carnivorous animals) might come around to forage, in a tree. My brother who worries about those kinds of things says there is no way he would get drunk enough or too tired to make sure everything was secured in a tree before we went to bed each night, well take a look how he passed out Friday night,

yeah he was ready for an attack (that is quite a spear, eh), that is if he would even be able to hear and be roused by anything in his drunken stupor. Somehow we did at least all manage to make it in to our tents that night. I guess a whole bottle of goldshlager, some Jim Beam Red Stag, vodka, some more of a different kind of whiskey and a 12 pack of Natty can have that effect on four campers.

The most amazing tank top ever (nothing better than a goofy outfit a manly camping trip)

The weekend was great though, we didn't run into much of any wildlife (we saw a salamander and a deer), ended up making a the whole 7 mile hike, and got to check out an absolutely amazing look out over the whole forest. This was my second time doing this camping trip in the summer, now were planning a trip for the late fall as well as a winter trip. We want to see how different the forest is in each of the different seasons.

Chances of encountering a ghost if brave enough to stay a night in this creepy old shed/barn/house 85%

Wildlife!

Eat well, Live well, while not becoming bear food

Beantown

Another great trip to Boston. I took the megabus from New York to Boston, which seems like the best deal ever, it was only $13 and only took about four hours. I'm not sure whether or not the best part of my time there was the Dead Weather concert we went to, or the pizza I ate at Figs (this was some serious pizza, possibly the best I've ever had).

Figs was opened by famed chef Todd English, after eating at this restaurant I can see why he is such a recognized chef, this guy knows his way around a pizza, that's for sure. I know I said last time I was in Boston that I wouldn't go back again without eating at The Chart House, but when I say that I couldn't go back to Boston without eating at Figs, I mean it, this pizza was ridiculously good, if there is one thing that you could eat in Boston this should be it. We ordered two pizzas, one of them we got half bianco (mozzarella, sweet onions, vine ripe tomatoes, arugula, extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar; good but a little hard to eat with the arugula on top) and half crispy eggplant (tomato sauce, sliced eggplant, mozzarella, whipped ricotta and torn basil; unbelievable, a must get if your eating at Figs). The second pizza we got was half portobello (portobello mushrooms, wild mushroom puree, roasted red onions, fontina cheese and truffle oil; one of the best food items I've ever eaten, just ridiculously good) and half spicy shrimp (spicy gulf shrimp with caramelized leeks and tomato sauce; really good just not spicy, I even put some red pepper seeds on it and still didn't think there was a spiciness to it, my sister and I both thought there was almost a sweetness to it).

Other food highlights on this Boston excursion were Indian food at Punjab Palace, I'm not that familiar with Indian cuisine, but my sister's boyfriend is and this is one of his favorite Indian places to eat. I thought my meal was great, I had the lamb masala and enjoyed it thoroughly.

One of the nights we decided to stay in for dinner, my sister made portobello mushroom burgers with roasted red peppers and bread from Clear Flour Bakery, and I made some roasted vegetables (an eggplant, squash, zucchini, sweet onion and red potatoes) that we picked up at a farmers market. The meal turned out really well, my sisters sandwiches were great, and we all thought my vegetables were really good as well.

Of course we had our share of desserts as well, even with all the great bakeries and pastry shops they have in that city, my favorite dessert may just be the oreo ice cream at J.P. Licks. I don't know how they do it, but it tastes like your eating a cone full of oreos, its kind of ridiculous. It is brown in color like it would be a chocolate ice cream base, with flecks of oreo and cream throughout it, but there really isn't a chocolateness to it, it is just a pure oreo flavor. I've had my fair share of cookies and cream ice creams, and other oreo based ice creams, but this oreo ice cream from J.P Licks is so far above anything I've ever had, I love it. We also stopped at Flour Bakery, for lunch one of the days. I had a slice of Boston cream pie which was really good, apparently this bakery is know for their sticky buns, and even won a Throwdown against Bobby Flay, but I guess they sell out of them really fast, and we didn't make it in time to get to try one. Another dessert we had that was a really good concept, but not executed as well as I thought it could have been, was a cake panini we had at Finale, in Brookline. It was two pieces of cake with your choice of fillings in the middle. I had nutella, bananas and grilled pineapple. It was good but could have been a lot better, the pieces of cake we thought we grilled a little to much, so that they were kind of crunchy and not really cake like anymore. We thought the slices of cake should have been thicker and not grilled so much, so that they would have a crispiness on the outside, but still be cake like in the middle. Overall, I had five days in Boston, and ate some of the best food I've ever had, I definitely had a great time there, this time around.

As for the non-food related things I did, it was so hard, it was kind of hard to be out and walking around all day. I would take two steps and instantly be a sweaty mess (I know, I'm gross), so there wasn't much exploring, but I did have a great time hanging out with my sister's boyfriend and some of his friends, while my sister was working, and of course I had fun with my sis when she was off. The best part of this trip was definitely the Dead Weather concert we went to. They played at the House of Blues, and completely rocked. I knew Jack White was going to be awesome (which he was), but their lead singer Alison Mosshart, was what surprised me. She had such a stage presence and energy, that if you weren't in to this band you would have still enjoyed the concert, she was all over the stage, dancing and just absolutely bringing it. While I do think this is the worst of Jack White's three bands, after this concert it certainly isn't by much. I've already scene the Raconteurs, so now hopefully Jack and Meg can reunite for at least one more album, so I get the chance to see the White Stripes live (definitely the best of Jack White's bands).

Finally, Friday night we saw Inception, the new Christopher Nolan movie. I have to say it was a bit underwhelming. With all the hype it's been getting, I don't think there's been one bad review for it, I felt like it wasn't as good as I was expecting. Don't get me wrong, I did think it was good, the acting, special effects and action sequences were all superb, but just not on the same level as Memento or The Prestige. Those two movies were kind of mind-bending, "what just happened", need to watch multiple times kind of movies. Inception just didn't have nearly the depth of either of Nolan's previous movies, I would say it was just a really good summer blockbuster, nothing more nothing less.

Boston was a blast, and it's weird to think that at this time next year, my sister will be graduated and possibly not even living in Boston anymore.

Eat well, Live well

I heart NY

I can't put my finger on it exactly, but every time I'm in New York City it's like I'm rejuvenated. That might be an oxymoron to some, because most people will tell you that the city will wear you out, but for me since I don't live there (yet), I get a feeling that I know that that is where I need to be. Living at home in Boardman, it's like the longer I am away from the city, the more I think to myself that "ya maybe I can be fine with staying in town, most of my close friends and family are here, why couldn't I stay here and be happy." The longer between trips to the city, in my head it sounds like a good idea to stay at home and in the town I grew up in, but as soon as I see that skyline and walk a street or two, hear the sounds, see the sights and smell the smells of the city I know that it is my home. I love the feeling of being in the city and I can't wait until the day I can call it home. Only two more years of school and it will become a reality for me.

This was my first time back in the city in just about a year, and I had an absolutely great time. I stayed with my cousin in her swanky lower east side apartment, with a roof top view of the city that you wouldn't believe.

I only had from Thursday afternoon until Monday morning in the city, but I definitely did a lot of fun things in the time that I did have, I saw a building on fire,

watched Lebron make his decision with hopeful turned hateful New Yorkers (Lebron is an idiot by the way), went to a Brooklyn rooftop barbeque, went to brunch with friends, saw about 15 minutes of a band that was really good and about an hour of one that wasn't so much, had a few beers into the wee hours of the morning with another one of my good friends, watched the World Cup final in a packed bar with people who were actually interested and cared about the result and of course ate a bunch of good food.

I started out by getting a slice of new york pizza when I first got in. New York style pizza is probably my favorite kind of pizza and whether or not it's Famous Original Ray's or Lombardi's or any other pizza place in the city I love them all. Dinner Thursday night was at Max, which is a little indistinct Italian restaurant with a really nice space for eating outside. My cousin, my parents and I went and we all enjoyed our meals, I had penne with sausage, shitake mushrooms, cherry tomatoes and spinach in a garlic oil sauce. I would definitely consider going back to Max and recommend it to anyone looking for a good Italian meal. Friday I started out with breakfast at Russ and Daughter's, which was the best lox and cream cheese bagel I've ever had, and I would imagine one of the tops in the city. I heard about this place on the disappearing Manhattan episode of No Reservations, and couldn't believe that is was right around the corner from my cousins place. If you're in the Lower East Side, you have to stop in to this place and get a sandwich, I actually ended up getting it again for breakfast Sunday morning as well. Lunch on Friday was sweet (literally), I had some tasty delight, and what I was probably most excited to get, a compost cookie from Momofuku Milk Bar. I've heard plenty about this cookie, and even tried to make it myself, and finally had the opportunity to give the real thing a try. It did not disappoint, to say the least, easily one of the best cookies I've ever had, and a bakery I will try to get to whenever I'm in the city, because everything I saw in it looked just as good. Friday for dinner was hot dogs and burgers on the roof of one of my cousins friends. Saturday we started the day by going to brunch with two of my friends that now live in the city, at Freemans, a really cool place with great decor and ambiance, that serves sort of a classed up homestyle type food. I had skillet eggs, bacon, spinach and cheese and it was another really good meal. For lunch on Saturday, it was another sweet, there was a creperie down the street from my cousin that I felt like I needed to try. I had a banana and French milk chocolate crepe that transported me back to Paris, it was awesome, and I felt like I don't get enough opportunities to eat crepes. Dinner that night was at another Italian restaurant, but I can't remember it's name, needless to say it was a bit underwhelming and one apparently not worth remembering, definitely the only disappointing food experience of this trip so far. More Russ and Daughter's for breakfast Sunday, and a liquid lunch at the bar for the World cup Final.

I was worn out by the end of the day Sunday so I got some take-out from the very popular Meatball Shop, that my cousin has also been raving about, and french toast rice pudding with an oatmeal and coconut crumble, and vanilla caramel sauce, from Rice to Riches, a hip little rice pudding shop (I know him and rice pudding don't seem like they go together but it's true) that I've heard about.

I got beef meatballs with parmesan cream sauce from The Meatball Shop with a side of mashed potatoes and rigatoni. This meal might have been my favorite of the long weekend, and I can certainly understand why waits at The Meatball Shop can reach two hours.

Finally, for the bus trip up to Boston, I got a Vietnamese pork chop sandwich, from Nicky's Vietnamese Sandwiches, that was spectacular, and I can totally understand why I saw it on The Best Thing I Ever Ate, on the Food Network. The perfect cap to an absolutely great food weekend, and even better weekend just being in the city, up next Boston.

Eat well, Live well (especially in New York)