Oops... I totally forgot to add the rest of our NYC trip from the end of January. I never said I was good at blogging..
Well, I can't not write about my birthday dinner at wd~50 so I will cover that and throw in a few gems that were left out!
For my birthday dinner, Kirk and I had went out on our own, and went to wd~50. I had been wanting to go there for YEARS. I knew it wasn't going to be the best meal of my life, but I am totally intrigued with chef/owner Wylie Dufresne's style. wd~50 is considered New American, and he also uses some molecular gastronomy in his dishes. We didn't splurge on the huge tasting menu, but went for the option of each picking 2 (dishes) for $25.
Our drinks. Mine on the left, which I totally forgot what it was. I failed to take a photo of the cocktail menu. I'm thinking it was some gin/citrusy something or other. Helpful, right? Kirk decided on his usual Manhattan. If you can see, the brandied cherries were literally just flat jellies which had a little cocoa oil. We thought they were interesting, and liked both.
My first dish was squab, tomato hummus, pickled turnips, and tzatziki. This dish was SO good. If you see that little ball on the left, that is the tomato hummus that they had fried. Why hasn't fried hummus been on more menus? The crackers on top was the tzatziki element, which was packed with flavor. And the squab was cooked perfectly. We had first experienced squab at the Herbfarm during their game, fowl dinner and I can't believe I hadn't tried it sooner!
This dish was crab toast, saffron, kaffir-yogurt, and arare. We both thought this dish was good, but the crab was served cold, and there is just something about cold crab that I can't get on board with.
This dish was Wagyu flat iron, mushroom jerky, grape, and verjus. I was obsessed with this. It was so interesting and had made me think how creative they were with the elements. I mean mushroom jerky?! It was so good. As I am looking at this picture now, the mushroom kind of looks like a little squid haha, but trust me, if you tried it you would probably eat a whole bag of mushroom jerky.
Our final dish was cod, smoked mashed potatoes pickled mushrooms, and red pepper oil. I am not huge on seafood, but Kirk encourages me to try it whenever we go out somewhere "trustworthy" (somewhere I know, where they know what they are doing.) The cod was cooked perfectly and it made me start to question why I don't order more seafood dishes for dinner. The smoked mash potatoes were exactly how they sound, AMAZING. I need a smoker so we can start smoking our potatoes. If you are lucky enough to have a smoker, you should probably start experimenting with this, you'd be the star at your dinner party.
wd~50 certainly didn't disappoint and if you are curious like we were, go in for just a couple dishes to try them out without having to splurge on the whole tasting menu (which will run you over $150 each)!
After dinner, we stopped by a random Brazilian restaurant for caphrinias. Random I know - but perfect drinks nonetheless!
Some other fave parts of the the trip...
Spencer had taken us to this Asian spot on the Lower Eastside that when I lived there, would ALWAYS walk by this place and wrote it off. I was SO wrong, and am not mad that I didn't take advantage of this spot.
John being John.
Yum.
Best part of this place was after your meal, they give you a cup of sugar you get to spin into cotton candy!
See! Look at me go. I need a cotton candy machine. 
Yes, I was with these rascals for four days straight.
We walked the High Line. The High Line is a public park built on an historic freight rail line elevated above the streets on Manhattan's West Side. It is a mile in length, we didn't walk the whole thing, but it was sure pretty. And lucky for us the sun was out! Yes, that is John to the left of the photo.
One of my favorite spots was Eataly in Chelsea! It was AMAZING. This Italian marketplace has EVERYTHING! Want gelato? Check. Espresso? Check. Fresh handmade pasta? Yep. Beer garden on the rooftop? Uh huh. Wine and cheese bar? Check check. I could keep on going.. this place was just incredible. You could spend HOURS there. I was mad, we had gone there after a meal so we weren't hungry but it was so much fun to look at, if you don't go there when visiting - you are making a huge mistake.
Fresh bread
Fresh handmade pasta. I had bought a couple to make at home of the butternut squash ravioli, veal ravioli, and spinanch and ricotta ravioli. They had SO many more than what is shown.
The rooftop "Birreria". We had a drink up here and it was so lovely, I can only imagine during the summer what it would be like.
This was their seafood counter. SUCH GORGEOUS PRODUCT. They also had a whole little octopus for sale, darn I missed that picture!
We stopped at Milk in Brooklyn. I love Christina Tosi (owner/FCI alum). I bought a couple cookies, her crack pie, and some corn flake frozen yogurt. Yes it was freezing, but I had to.
We met up with my friend from high school, Frank and his girlfriend Stacey. So good to see them!
Walked through Chelsea Market. Also a must. So many places to eat and sample from. Yum. Town.
Well that wasn't as descriptive as I would have liked to have gotten about my NYC trip but that's what happens when you write about a trip two months later. OOPS.
Winter (after the Holiday & NYC festivities) was such a drag. I hate how gloomy and cold it becomes, with bare trees and no blooms. It is depressing! I should be thankful that it finally allowed us to "slow down" for a while and get some much need rest. BUT NOW ITS SPRING! The cherry blossom trees are blooming, my tulips that I lined our driveway with last fall our growing like crazy, and the days are longer. I am so excited for April to come. Kirk and I have so many exciting things happening from April on that I am just SO excited. So many trips planned, and some big developments for Crafted as the farmers markets start up! We got accepted into Crossroads, and the Celebrate Woodinville concert series. If I get into one more market I will be happy, but if I can get into two more, I will be ecstatic! I am hoping I will be able to give you all some happy updates soon! xox
