from this past weekend:

My buddy Evan was visiting from Houston this past weekend. We stopped in to his cousin Chris’ new restaurant Saturday night. I’m not a food writer, so I kept saying the same thing over and over again during the meal: “This is amazing.” Sometimes I managed to say, “This is unbelievable.” The food was, not to put too fine a point on it, really good. So were the cocktails, oh my god the cocktails.

The details: Yerba Buena, corner of Perry Street and Greenwich Avenue, Manhattan. You can see the website here: ybnyc.com

Our menu:
• Ceviche Plate: including their Tuna, Hamachi, Flounder and Rib Eye ceviches 
• Botana Plate: including the arepas, calamari and empanadas 
• Fries: avocado and watermelon
• Roast Suckling Pig
• Ropa Vieja de Pato

We also knocked back a few cocktails:
• Rumble
• Fancy  Atlantic
• Pocito Picante (not on the cocktail menu)
• Spicy margarita (not on the cocktail menu)
• Pisco Sour, actually two of these (might be the Pisco Mojito on the menu) 

And we had dessert:
• Tres Leches Parfait
• Churros 

A couple of pictures:
The remains of the Ropa Vieja:

I was too focused on savoring every morsel and took only a few pictures. I seemed to get half way through each course and before realizing that I hadn’t taken a picture before we’d dug in. Pictures wouldn’t do the food justice anyway. You’ve got to try this place. I will be going back, soon.

My buddy Evan is part of Stateside Stereo. I’d mentioned the band’s recent EP a few posts below. He asked that I share the EP through this blog; he wants to get the music out into the world. So, check out their pop inflected rock. If you like it, consider purchasing through Amazon or iTunes. Or just enjoy it, but tell your friends.

The four song EP:
21st Century Romance
Waiting
Greenlight
Alone
They’ll take a moment to download.

A quick picture of Evan from his visit this past weekend to NYC:

If any subscribers got all of the blog posts in their feed again, my apologies. I updated each blog post with a title so that the archives were more accesible.

Lots of new posts upcoming.

In the meantime, check out my friend’s band: Stateside Stereo. Pick up the EP at Amazon or on iTunes.

9/5/09
Ji and I are in Maine for the long Labor Day Weekend. She took Friday off, so we’ve got four days to while away. Actually, two and a half left. A rundown of our activities thus far in pictures:

We walked past my neighbors overgrown cement retaining wall on our way to lunch on Friday:

Same walk, an accident damaged car wrapped in plastic sheeting:

That evening we walked to Margarita’s for a drink with my folks and Deb. On the way we passed this school parking lot:

After drinks we walked over to the movie place. The paper and party shop has moved, leaving its old space on Center Street up for rent:

The walk home:

Where we had a dinner of lobster. Two lobsters, butter and lemon for dipping, fresh corn on the cob, chips and beer makes for a tasty dinner:

Today we made the leisurely hike up Streaked Mountain near Buckfield. This is my dad:

The hike is mostly up bare granite:

Lone cloud above the pines:

When we get to the top, we found that the fire tower that we used to climb has been joined by a whole bunch of cell towers…

Another shot of my dad, at the top:

My parents on the way down:

Ji on the hike:

After the hike we swung back to Auburn by way of South Paris and Hebron so that we could come in over Perkins Ridge. You can’t skip the orchards on Perkins Ridge, so we stopped for a little pick me up of apple dumplings, cider doughnuts and cider, after which Ji sat on this old tractor:

And a car in the parking lot has this large sticker on its trunk, pointed to the sky:

That’s the day so far. We’re off to Fuel for dinner in a bit. Been running lots of small loads of laundry. Tomorrow the plan is for a popover breakfast followed by a jaunt towards the coast for lobster stew, maybe some beach time and maybe a stop in Freeport. Doesn’t matter, really, what we do because the weather is just so good and the company so nice. Hope everyone else is enjoying their holiday weekend.