Unlike most months, June is going to be strictly about the first 26 days of the month, not including the last five days or so which will be covered in our daily post of our upcoming trip to Egypt, Dubai, Mumbai, and Singapore. But that will come in future posts. For now let’s take a look back on the month of June!

RECAP OF THE MONTH

The month could not have gotten off to a better start. On Friday June 1st we went out to dinner at Leyla in the Upper West Side an amazing Mediterranean/Turkish tapas restaurant that we stumbled upon searching Yelp for places to go before our ballet at Lincoln Center. We had a few different dishes, fried zucchini, flat bread (to die for) and Jenn had a pasta and I had the lamb burger. I’ll never forget the tea and pistachio dessert we had before we left for our ballet. We walked through Central Park on our way back to Lincoln Center and finished the evening with an incredible performance of A Midsummer’s Night Dream, one of the better ballets we’ve seen.

The highlight of the month (not counting our upcoming trip was going to Bohemian for dinner. A month prior I had heard about the restaurant on a NYC food blog saying that it was one of the best places to eat in the city. The only problem was its a referral only restaurant and I had no idea how I’d get in. I e-mailed them and luckily got a response and called during their short window and was able to get us a reservation a month later. We were buzzed into this random back room where a small restaurant that sits maybe fifteen people was. We sat down and went through a six course Japanese tasting menu which consisted of vegetable fondue, uni croquette, washu-beef sashimi, pan roasted branzino, our choice of burger or rice bowl, and dessert. We didn’t think that was enough food so Jenn had us splurged for mac & cheese. It not only was a great experience but the food was phenomenal. I could easily see us going back there. I’ll never forget leaving the restaurant and walking in what was one of the most stunning evenings we’ve had in our year in New York City.

This year we’ve become so enamored with the theater that we finally watched the Tony Awards for the very first time. I had always heard that the Tony’s were always a fun award show because everyone wanted to be there and that was very apparent. The speeches were great, the performances fun, and the show sort of just flew by. Jenn and I were so taken with one of the speeches in particular by Andre de Shields who won for Hades Town. Also for anyone that’s curious I won the ballot this year!

One of my favorite days of the year was on the 15th of June. After nearly a year on the east coast and living on thirty blocks from beautiful clay tennis courts Jenn finally went with me to Riverside Clay Tennis Association and played an hour of tennis with me. It was beautiful. albeit a little warm, and we had a great time playing on their stunning clay courts right on the Hudson. We did make the mistake of walking to and from the courts so when we got back, we were completely exhausted. But it was still something I’ll never forget.

After a nap and a lot of water we were back out on the streets of Manhattan in the Flatiron District for what is currently in my top-3 favorite restaurants of the year, Rezdora. I follow a lot of food blogs and publications and the news that Chef Stefano Secchi who worked at the famous Modena restaurant Osteria Francescana meant that Jenn and I had to go check it out. I’ll just come out and say it, this might have been the best pasta I’ve had in my life. We had a duck ragu and the anolini di parma that literally blew our minds. We split both the gnocco fritto and the braised rabbit legs, rabbit sausage, sweetbreads & artichokes which were out of this world. If that wasn’t all good enough we had the olive oil cake that almost brought tears to my eyes. We will be back to Rezdora, there’s no doubt about it.

We finished the month with one last play (What the Constitution Means to Me) and a ton of prep for our upcoming trip. I for whatever reason decided to pack almost two weeks before we left and Jenn did about a week before we left. As of this writing we’re two days from taking off and I for one can’t wait to see what comes of this upcoming adventure.

TV WE WATCHED

What a month for TV. Fleabag, Fleabag, Fleabag. What a show that was. I don’t know if I’ve watched a comedy that cuts to the hard as deeply and deftly as Fleabag. We also watched all of the final season of Sneaky Pete which wasn’t as good as its previous seasons but still good and we watched the horrific yet powerful Chernobyl miniseries on HBO.

BOOKS I READ (OR LISTENED TO)

The Nix is really the only book of June that I want to mention. It was a book that I’ve owned for a long time and hadn’t gotten around to reading. When I finally did get to The Nix it was worth it. A great story of a young man who’s mom leaves him as a child and you learn about his journey to reckon with that and move on with his own life and how that all comes crashing back in his life. An incredible book, one of my favorites of the year.

MOVIES WE WATCHED

Almost skipped this whole section this month. We watched Always Be My Maybe on Netflix which was fine albeit a bit cringeworthy. We also watched Something Borrowed when Jenn wasn’t feeling well. I still do enjoy that movie.

THEATER WE SAW

I almost wondered how I was going to write this portion of the monthly recap. We saw some incredible shows this month. We started with winning tickets via an online lottery for a Wednesday night showing of The Cher Show which was a ton of fun. That same week we went and saw Burn This with Adam Driver and Kerri Russel that was an acting powerhouse. I’ve never been so moved by a performance before.

But really the show that I can’t stop thinking about is What The Constitution Means to Me, one of the best things we’ve ever seen on stage. It’s so brilliantly done. It gives such an incredible perspective of the United States constitution, its strength, its obvious weaknesses, and what I only expect is a question of our generation, does it need to be re-written? It’s funny, insightful, and one that I found myself mesmerized by from the moment it began.

GAMES I'VE BEEN PLAYING

A pretty slow month for my video game playing. It was E3 though so I did get to watch a lot of great games that I cannot wait to play. Most of my game time this month was when I could spare 10-15 minutes in between work and dinner.

2019 GOAL TRACKING

Goal #1: Read 33 Books: I've read 21 books and am currently way ahead of schedule to hit my goal.

Goal #2: Run 300 Times: I’ve run 146 times so far in 2019. On track to hit the goal.

Goal #3: Keep Weight Under 140: I've yet to go over 140lbs

Goal #4: Eat at 12 Michelin Star Restaurants: Four so far, currently two behind plan.

Goal #5: 12 Monthly Recaps: 6 for 6.

A Look Back - June 2019