On A Wing

Everything that happened in Boston this week has been so surreal - a feeling much amplified by long meetings at work where I had zero access to the news or social media for hours. I know plenty of runners who pour their heart and soul into a race, and I have friends who bleed Boston pride - when the enormity of the situation finally hit, there was no way to stop the tears from flowing. A week later and I suppose it is back to normal for most of us. The city will recover, runners will lace up again and but I hope most importantly, we will always remember Patten Oswalt's words, that the good will forever outnumber the evil. There is no greater message of hope than that.

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When I finally peeled my eyes away from the news sometime mid-week, I discovered a place that served the best spaghetti-with-tomato-sauce I have ever had. I don't eat uptown often enough even though I will go anywhere for food. So I had a dinner date with a girlfriend on Wednesday at Amali located a hop, skip and a jump away from Bloomingdales on the Upper East Side. While every single dish we had was worth re-ordering (the broccoli and eggplant appetisers = insane), it was the pasta that blew me away - I couldn't wait to finish one mouthful of the spaghetti before wanting to shovel another in. 

The dish uses San Marzano tomatoes which are given the Amali-treatment by being cured overnight with salt and sugar, then steeped in olive oil, herbs, lemon and orange zest. As the NYT aptly puts it: "the flavors multiple. It is sauce as liquer". Yup, I got drunk on spaghetti. Well worth maxing out my MFP count for the week day. 

Amali's dining room (via)

On Friday, after being glued to the news on the Boston manhunt, S and I went for a late meal at Comodo - a place I've been waiting to visit since seeing my friend, Felicia's photos here. The kale and quinoa salad you see on Felicia's blog was fantastic - alas not much else. With so many other options in the city, I am hesitant to make return visits to a restaurant for a dish I can replicate at home! One redeeming quality though - the staff disco-ed the lights and turned the volume up on "Celebration" whenever they brought out a lit birthday dessert for any birthday babies in the house. 

We weren't keen on ending date night on a mediocre note, so walked around the corner to Pegu Club. A cocktail lounge I hadn't been to since it first opened, it had a nice mix of being busy but not too crowded. Solid gin cocktails there were the perfect pick-me-uppers we sorely needed.

My date night outfit involved a jaunt through old favourites:

Anthropologie On-A-Wing Blouse (2010), Zara sparkly clutch (seen here previously), J Crew Minnie pants, Target Kaelyn boots, Dinosaur Designs resin bangle

Stay happy everyone!