A Photo A Day Keeps the Winter Blues Away

Have you heard about the February Photo A Day Challenge?

This is a project I can get behind. It’s fun, easy, and will be a cool thing to look back on come March 1. Like journaling and recipe challeng-ing, I love having a tangible collection of things I’ve written/made/completed. It’s so satisfying!

My first picture (“your view today”) is what I saw out my kitchen window as I made pancakes.

Another of my favorite things probably doesn’t come as a surprise to you: going out to eat. I’d finally accumulated enough OpenTable dining points and received a $100 check good for any restaurant that uses the OpenTable restaurant system. (Every time you book through their website, you receive 100 or 1000 points. You can cash in your points at 200, 500 and 10,000 points for a $20, $50 and $100 check respectively. Sweet deal!)

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My little redheaded friend and I went to Apiary for Restaurant Week a few days ago. We often meet in the Union Square/ East Village area for mutual convenience, and have passed the restaurant many a time en route to more humble dining establishments. Restaurant Week (3 dinner courses/ $35) provided the perfect opportunity to finally try it out.

We each started with the Baby Romaine Salad: grilled garlic croutons, anchovy, whole grain mustard, parmesan. Basically a Caesar, but a good one!

For her entrée, my friend ordered the Roasted Organic Chicken: potato puree, garlic confit, english peas, lemon, madeira. She seemed to really like it, and raved about the vegetables.

Strangely, each of the three entrée options contained meat, which I’ve never before encountered during Restaurant Week (there’s usually a vegetarian, fish and meat choice). Still, I don’t expect the chef to cater to me, and was thus pleasantly surprised when our server informed me that after a little begging, the chef agreed to make the Merzula (a fish whose sauce ordinarily contains some kind of meat) with the fluke’s garnish: black truffled celery root puree, chanterelles, spiced red wine sauce. It was delicious. Give me fancy mushrooms and I’m a happy girl.

For dessert, we both ordered the Blackberry Financier, which tasted like the crispy top of the best muffin you’ve ever had. It almost tasted a bit fried, which it may very well have been.

All in all, a great dining experience! It was certainly a good weekend for fancy food. Don’t worry, though: lest you think I’m straying too far from the expected diet of a typical 20something, be assured I’m keeping it real.

Have you ever participated in a photo challenge?

Does your area host seasonal Restaurant Week events?