A Look Back - April 2019

Personal

May 4

Written By Joel

It was only a year ago (almost to the day) that we realized that we might actually be moving across the country. As I write this look back at April 2019 I can’t think of how much has changed in our lives over the last year and how quickly we’ve acclimated to our new lives in New York.

RECAP OF THE MONTH

Of all the recaps I’ve written since moving to New York, this one might be the shortest. The “new” factor still hasn’t worn off but we both got really busy with work this month and surprisingly had a month free of going to performances. One thing that was for sure though, the weather has changed and we’ve made the full transition to spring. I will never forget walking down to Riverside Park and Central Park on consecutive weekends and seeing swarms upon swarms of people enjoying the beautiful weather.

As Jenn and I continue our pursuit of twelve Michelin star restaurants in 2019, we hit our third stop of the year, Tuome, which quickly made it to the top of our list. It’s probably best described as an American/Asian hybrid. We started off with a cocktail for Jenn and a glass of Rose for me. They started us off with a curry popcorn that was some of the best popcorn I’ve ever tasted. We then ordered their fried deviled eggs which were life changing. I’ve never had anything like it before and its something I’d go back to Tuome for again just to have that dish. We also had the Quail to start which was out of this world. For our main course we went with the “Pig Out” for two which was berkshire pork with some of the best noodles I’ve ever had. The entire meal was just perfect. I wouldn’t have altered any of our choices and we came away saying we’d love to go back. We left the restaurant grabbed some amazing ice cream at the Big Gay Ice Cream Shop and called it a night.

One of the highlights of the month was watching Tiger Woods win his first major in over a decade at The Masters. Jake video called me and because my stream was thirty seconds behind his I watched his screen as Tiger sunk the final putt. Jake and I spent so much of our childhood rooting Tiger on that I’ll never forget the moment seeing him win once again. Go tiger go!

Because we didn’t have a lot going on for much of April we did a lot of cooking at home. We have two new staples in a simple Vodka Pasta and Chorizo Taco’s that will be making their way in our weekly rotation. I also made a Swedish Meatball pasta that we both loved and made the Creamy Red Pepper Sausage Pasta again as well. It’s been great getting back into a routine and being able to cook new dishes (especially when they turn out well).

We had a really nice Easter watching Mariners online (our old church in Irvine) and going to a delicious brunch at Diane + Elizabeth. A few days after Easter was one of my favorite weekday evenings since we’ve moved to NYC. We went on our normal walk but after a slightly longer workday then normal we went for wine at Vin Sur Vingt on West End. It was such a beautiful evening and we had such a nice time unwinding as the sunset.

The last week of April we flew out to California to spend a little time with family. I came out on Wednesday night (Jenn on Thursday). We had an amazing time back home. We had a great dinner at Ooka in Riverside, Jenn and Amy went to the spa, and Jake, Ally and i went to see Shazam!. One of the reasons we chose to come out this weekend was for Passover which is part cedar part wine party. Each year they make for amazing memories and this year was no different. I remember wondering this time last year if we’d be able to make it to Passover with the upcoming move and I’m so happy we were able to. Jenn spent the remainder of her time in Caiifornia with her Dad and I flew back to get back to work.

And thus ended the month. It wasn’t our busiest month, but another one that had some great food and even better memories.

TV WE WATCHED

What a month for television. Not only did we finish up the first season of Workin’ Moms, Shrill and Huge in France we also welcome back the seventh and final season of Game of Thrones. It’s been quite the ride and by the time I write up the May post we will have seen the end. So far a couple of episodes in and we’re still madly in love.

BOOKS I READ (OR LISTENED TO)

After finishing Red Shirts on the first day of the month I decided to go after the third and final book in the Century Trilogy from Ken Follett called Edge of Eternity. It’s a string of books that follows families from America, Russia, Germany and the UK from the start of the 1900’s through the 1980’s and into the early 90’s. It was actually my favorite book of the series and I’m still amazed at how well he was able to weave all of these separate stories together. The final book I read in April was Shortest Way Home written by my current favorite democrat, Pete Buttigieg, or better known as Mayor Pete.

MOVIES WE WATCHED

Because of our trip to California at the end of the month we’ve didn’t get to see Avenger’s: Endgame on opening weekend, but you can bet that we will be seeing it the first week of May. We did get a chance to watch Vice and The Inventor at home both are movies that I thought could have been much better than they were. I also went to see Shazam! with Jake and Ally and although Ally loved it, Jake and I were far less impressed.

GAMES I'VE BEEN PLAYING

I did it! After three months and almost 80 hours of play I finally finished the main campaign of Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey. As the title suggests it was quite the Odyssey and there’s still so much game outside of the mains story that I still need to finish, so I’m sure it will continue to be on my monthly list.