Hi, It's ME!

Guys, I really missed you! I hope you had a delightful Turkey time. I was with my family in NYC and then at my mom's cousins' place in Woodstock to give thanks. It was really nice; there was only one incident involving the turkey flying across the room...but cousin Amy caught it! Just like a bouquet at a wedding!Anyway, I enjoyed the break. I got to go to my college homecoming and see all my wonderful friends, do the following with special peeps:

Tasty. I got to escape the parade, which happens literally outside my parents' house. LOOK:

Yup, that's a cop car whizzing by. I also went to dinner at Porsena with my fam (it's so good, http://porsena.com/. Get the ring-shaped pasta with spicy lamb sausage and thank me later) and got to see my childhood home, which used to be a walk-up apartment building with a stoop frequented by heroine addicts and is now a swanky single-family residence next to Babbo. See?

Okay, yeah, this one is a little bit dark. I also went to Fatty Cue with my amazing friend Sasha (works in finance but is really a hippie who would rather be on her farm upstate at all times). Fatty Cue (http://www.fattycue.com/menus/west-village) is an Asian-influenced BBQ place in Brooklyn and now in the West Village and it is SICK-good. I started with this Mezcal drink (Mezcal is like Mexican vodka, guys) and then we got warm homemade bread with chiles and this sort of crumbled, salted burrata. Then we got a sensible kale salad because Sasha can't see kale on a menu and not order it and THEN we got this INSANE spicy, brined sausage soup with PRETZEL DUMPLINGS. The flavors were so incredible and surprising and I am still thinking about that damn soup. Then we had sardines over braised cabbage and once you eat the fish off the bones they do the COOLEST thing: the chef takes all the bones and fries them up so they're like chips and they serve them to you with a shitload of Siracha...as many of you know I LOVE a weird chip, and this is exactly that. Then we had some great ribs, I had 2 of these INCREDIBLE sour ales (I am sorry sour ale company, I cannot remember your name) and we had this wild, milk-themed dessert, which was this custard with milk ice cream and these fried wontons that tasted like funnel cake. It was a good meal.

Then I went to Mother's Ruin (http://www.yelp.com/biz/mothers-ruin-new-york), this awesome bar where there's no menu and you just tell the badass-looking bartender what you like and he makes you something yummy. I NEEDED my Manhattan-like cocktail, because I did forget that it actually gets COLD and RAINS in some parts of the country (the back of my tights were conpletely soaked through...not the sexiest look on the block). But it was a great time in the city overall. I got back to Silverlake Saturday and immediately needed a Thirsty Crow-run with Emily and our friend Elliott (followed by maybe 7000 chips at Mexico City...oops). Then Sunday I met Miss Noelia at Madame Matisse (http://www.yelp.com/biz/madame-matisse-los-angeles), which is like a stone's throw from my apartment, but this was my first time there. It was GOOD...I had this wild beef hash with two over-easy eggs on top of it. My stomach kind of hated me later on, but I walked it off on the reservoir and I think it was worth it. It's good to be back friends!