Foodgasm

26 isn't so bad when you set it off with amazing food. My wonderful husband made dinner reservations at a place called Lupa, one of the Italian restaurants owned by chef Mario Batali (and if you watch the Food Network, you know he's an Iron Chef). Since I'm such a picky eater, I was a little worried when he finally told me the restaurant, but after spending some time with the menu (and its glossary of terms), I found a few dishes I thought I'd enjoy.

Since neither of us are fans of wine, we decided to each try two dishes (might as well run the bill up somehow!). But first, they brought out the bread. Oh, the bread. It was really light and fluffy, topped with sea salt and rosemary, and of course served with a little Italian butter, aka, olive oil. It was fantastic. For our first course, I had the Bavette Cacio & Pepe, which is basically handmade linguini, pecorino cheese and cracked black pepper. I had read that it sounds simple, but when done right, can be amazing. And boy was it amazing!! SO good. Scott tried a special of the day, some sort of lamb ravioli. Also really good, although mine was better.

For our second course, I tried the Saltimbocca, according to their glossary: Literally, "jumps in the mouth." Veal, prosciutto and sage. When they brought the thing out, it was like a meat pancake as big as the 12-inch plate it was sitting on. It was huge! And very good. Scott had the Pork Shoulder with Treviso and Aceto, which is radicchio soaked in some sort of vinaigrette. My Saltimbocca was good, but that pork is one of their specialties and man was that stuff good. Just fell apart and melted in the mouth. And I'm not big on pork unless it's in bacon form. But it was fantastic. Honestly, this was some of, if not the best food I have ever eaten. I highly recommend it.

We already had dessert plans, so we opted out at Lupa, even though they had caramel gelatto. Both being happily full, we had a few blocks to walk to our dessert destination, so we took a few little detours, checking out Greenwich Village and walking through Washington Square. Once our dinner had settled, we beelined for Crumbs, where I knew we'd find gourmet cupcakes bigger than your fist. We got half a dozen (they're big, but still not as bad as two people eating an entire cake). My three: Snickerdoodle (Snickers bar), Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough, and Reese's Peanut Butter Cup. Scott's three: Vanilla buttercream, Cappuccino, and Raspberry swirl. I took pictures so you can be jealous.



For size comparison

I had the chocolate chip cookie dough tonight, which had a chocolate icing center. Scott had the raspberry swirl, which has a — surprise — raspberry center.

So now we're just sitting around, enjoying the evening, watching the Mets game because OnDemand is being stupid, or I'd be forcing Scott to watch a movie I couldn't normally get him to watch.

Thanks to all for the birthday wishes :)