Hobnobbing in New York City

On Monday my bestie, Meredith, reached out to our crew and asked if anyone wanted to go to a taping of Watch What Happens Live! with Andy Cohen.  The show tapes at 11pm, which is a solid two hours past my bedtime at this point in my pregnancy, but I decided to suck it up (and take a nap after work) so we could gawk at some celebrities together.  Meredith and I have been watching reality television together for almost 10 years and WWHL hits our sweet spot.

Cyndi Lauper walked by us in the lobby as we waited to go into the studio. Sometimes celebrities look different in person, but Cyndi Lauper looks like Cyndi Lauper, and Cyndi Lauper looks awesome.

This is not Cyndi Lauper. This is me, 7 mos pregnant, on the set of Watch What Happens Live!The guests of the show were Cloris Leachman and Jeff Lewis.  Cloris stole the show with her long-winded, bizarre stories and her requests to repeatedly kiss Jeff and Andy.  Towards the end of the show the fire alarm started going off and they just plowed through since it's a live show.  Normally there would be an after-show taping, but we had to cut it short as we were evacuated from the studio because of a fire!

Cloris comparing kisses from Jeff and Andy.But here is when Meredith climbed the ranks to #1 Best Friend in the Entire World: she had an invite for a press event at Martha Stewart's offices for a cooking lesson with Martha to promote her new show, "Martha Stewart's Cooking School", which will debut on PBS this fall. The show sounds great - something for every home cook no matter your skill level.

Since I was sleeping over, and Meredith knows how much I love Martha Stewart, she managed to snag me an invite as well. So Wednesday morning we hiked over to the west side, ate an amazing breakfast (eggs from Martha's farm and with homemade fruit jams made by Martha), and then sat down for a cooking lesson with Martha. 

If you want to read more about the event you can visit Martha's blog (and find me in photos 5 & 7)

And here is something awesome Martha demonstrated - how to peel garlic in ten seconds (video not of Martha):

How to Peel a Head of Garlic in Less Than 10 Seconds from SAVEUR.com on Vimeo.

Sure, I'll Be Your Guest! Our Night on the Disney Fantasy

One of the perks of having Piper as a best friend (aside from unconditional love, support and non-stop laughter) is that she gets invited to press events and sometimes takes me as her guest to things like the christening celebration of Disney's newest cruise ship, Fantasy.  

I'm not a Disney fanatic and I've never been on a luxury cruise, but we knew the Disney company would throw an amazing party and figured it would at least be a funny night.

But here's what happened: the party wasn't amazing, it was UH-MAZINGGGG.  Like, blow your mind, knock your socks off, insanely, incredibly nuts.  The ship is opulent and I now totally understand why so many people go gaga for Disney cruises. Guests can easily imagine they are in a fantasy world, living the life of a princess.  

First on our itinerary was the Entertainment Showcase in the Walt Disney Theatre.  I honestly expected to watch some promotional material on the jumbo screens.  Instead, we got several live musical Disney performances hosted by Neil Patrick Harris!

Mary Poppins showed up.

Oh, and then Jerry Seinfeld performed on stage for 15 minutes.  You know Jerome, right? 

And then Tony and Grammy award winner, Heather Headley, performed three Disney numbers.

And then Neil Patrick Harris walked around the room greeting celebrity guests like Tim Gunn, Alan Cumming, Ty Pennington, and Mayor Bloomberg (we were surprised at how excited we were about seeing Mayor B., I like that guy.)

When the show was over we were all given a glass of champagne and lead to the Atrium for the Christening Celebration.  

More Bob Iger, more Neil Patrick Harris, and then guess who waltzed down the stairs to give a toast

MARIAH CAREY (!!!!).... and Mickey Mouse! (Not gonna lie, when I was 13 I waited in line at Disney World to get Mickey's signature).

At this point Piper and I were pretty much losing our minds, but luckily a kind staff member directed us to the Animation Palette restaurant for dinner.  After dinner we went to the Europa District (think Epcot Center, but all bars and clubs) for more snacks and fancy drinks.

Oui, oui. Champagne bar for France.

Ciao! We're in Italy!

Getting randy in London.

If you want to read more about our magically enchanting night check out Piper's post on Yahoo Shine.

Phish at MSG

The summer of 1997 was a big one for me -  I turned eighteen and graduated from high school (on the same day, none the less).  It was also the summer when I drove to Limestone, ME for Phish's The Great Went, which formed a special, patchwork-panel bond between me and my friends.

I have so many happy memories from the Phish shows I attended in my college years, and even though I eventually lost interest in following the band, every once in a while it's fun to revisit the scene that is a Phish show.

So, when Dennis asked me if I wanted to go to Phish at MSG for their New Year's tour, I said LET'S DO IT! We got the cheapest seats, which were way up in the nose bleeds, and danced and sang out hearts out all night long. 

Maialino

Last night I went out for a very decadent dinner with Dennis and Abe at Maialino.  Dennis is shipping off to Nantucket for the summer so we wanted to hit up one more Danny Meyer dinner. 

We started off the night at The Raines Law Room, which is a speakeasy in the Flatiron.  You have to ring a bell to get inside and once you're inside it's like a dark and cozy living room.  I had the French Affair and the Old Cuban.  Both were super good.  I could drink the French Affair all sumer long.

The food was absolutely incredible and the service was fantastic.   I normally eat like a vegetarian - I don't even do fake meat, but I will eat (or at least try) almost anything when the dishes are worth it.  I think my favorites of the night were:  fresh pasta with rabbit ragù, salt baked sea bass, and the hazelnut chocolate bread pudding.

It's hard to pick though - we had 10 dishes in total and they were all incredible (we're feeling pretty sick today).

Amercican Idiots

On Tuesday night my friend Dennis and I had a very cultured evening of fine dining and theater.  First we had dinner at Grammercy Tavern and because Dennis works there. We were doted upon by all his lovely co-workers and the chef.  Next up, we headed to Times Square to see the Broadway show, American Idiot.  Dennis and I have been die-hard Green Day fans since the 90's and we've gone to a few concerts together.  When we heard Billie Joe was currently starring in the rock opera we jumped on tickets. 

 So we were off to a very mature evening, but Dennis and I have been friends since we were teenagers and when we get together we act like very silly teenagers who are allowed to drink...a lot.    Before the show we decided we needed to get a drink, but we were in Times Square, which is normally the last place in the world I want to be, but we embraced it and ended up where else, but the Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. 

American Idiot was very fun - kind of silly of course, it is a Green Day rock opera, but I love Green Day and did not mind watching good looking people dance on stage while singing Green Day songs.  Plus I will forever love Billie Joe Armstrong.

After the show we decided to get another drink, which turned into many, many drinks and karaoke and ended up with me missing my train stop at 3am and Abe having to pick me up in Poughkeepsie.  Ooopsie doopsie.  Luckily I have a very nice fiance (he wasn't even mad at me!).