Thursday, December 31, 2009

New Year's Resolution

Happy New Year, y'all!

I could not let an entire year (actually I think it's been 18 months) pass without updating my blog and publicly stating that my resolution for 2010 is to finish my proposal and the first draft of my cookbook!

The past two years have been overwhelming from both a career and personal perspective. I've still been doing as much cooking as possible, but I haven't had the time to do much writing. And this is a shame as I've had so many great things to share. The bonus to my demanding workload is that it has taken me to amazing cities to enjoy many outstanding meals which I promise I'll share with you in the coming weeks. I've also been fortunate enough meet Bobby Flay, Thomas Keller and Dan Barber in his own kitchen at Blue Hill at Stone Barns. And I have the pleasure of going to the Cayman Islands in a few weeks to attend the Cayman Cookout where I'll get to meet Anthony Bourdain, Eric Ripert, David Chang, and my personal food hero - Grant Achatz. It's going to be a good year.

Monday, August 03, 2009

Check out this clip for Goods for Good on NBC Nightly News!



Many of my friends are involved in this great charity. Learn more at Goods4good.org!

Sunday, July 19, 2009

Hey there! Remember me?

I’m the liar that posted a bunch of empty promises months ago about working less and playing more. That was a total lie. Since then I’ve been in Vegas -> Austin -> Houston -> Grand Rapids (too much) -> Park City -> Detroit -> Chicago ( a lot)-> Raleigh -> White Lake -> Columbia with one whole week spent in NYC.

Yes, last week was my first week at home without travel in all of 2009. It was great to be around and get to live the life I’d forgotten I loved so much. It was 8 days full of fun activities – NYCRW dinner at Ono with Cuz, Bastille Day, Philharmonic in Central Park, Bike rides, drinks at the Boat Basin and Frying Pan, and one too many trips to Momofuku Milk Bar.

I’m packing my bags now to head to Toronto for the week – for a mini-vacation with my parents. My dad has a business trip and I’m going to entertain mom while dad works. It’s a pretty sweet deal.

Anyway, hopefully this is a first step towards getting my life back and sharing more fun stories! Talk to you soon.

Monday, July 06, 2009

Monday, April 13, 2009

Happy Spring


Happy Spring
Originally uploaded by Zach Klein
Court and Zack birthed a lamb yesterday. Yeah - I'm confused too!

Saturday, April 11, 2009

so what? it's been four months

I know, I know.
I haven't written anything in four months.
And even that wasn't interesting.

I've been busy.
I mean ridiculously busy.
Working more than I think I've ever worked.
Which isn't a horrible thing in this economy.
But isn't so great for work-life balance.

My weekly allocation of hours looks something like this:



The time breaks down like this:
- Working is obvious - all of the email, meetings, research, team management, client dinners, eating at my desk, and more email.
- Mothering Sheldon includes all of the walks, feedings, errands, shuttling to day care, playtime, etc
- Having fun is what occurs when I see my friends usually at a bar or dinner.
- Working out is yoga + running + occasional spin class or 40 minutes on the elliptical
- Traveling includes both work and fun related travel. I've been doing way too much of the former.
- Sleeping is just that. Sleeping
- Resting is when I'm lying around watching TV. I love me some Gossip Girl!
- Errands are dry cleaning, chores, grocery store, etc.
- Messing on the Internet includes personal email, Facebook, Twitter, Blogging...which my hourly allocation explains why I haven't updated any of my blogs, barely changed my Facebook status, and haven't read your blogs or even emailed you back!

In a perfect world, I'd want my time to look like this:



I'd like to work less, sleep more and have more fun. I'd see more concerts, hang out with my friends, and enjoy all of the fun things to do in NYC. I'd travel less for work and rest more (read: watch more trashy TV). And I'd like for Sheldon to be a little less needy and require less of my time - minus snuggling which I could use more of. I'd also get to spend more time geeking out on the Internet and entertaining my nine readers of my blog with exciting stories about what I've been doing with whom and how it was "so much fun!"

I'm an over-achiever. I can do this. I can shift my priorities. So stay tuned for all of the exciting things to come!

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Sunday, January 11, 2009

Team Thug Fantasy Picks

The constant Pacman Jones talk this morning led DR and I down a path where no one should really go - making our picks for a Thug fantasy team. Here's what we came up with:

Offense
QB: Michael Vick (Falcons)
WO: Rae Carruth (Panthers)
WR: Chris Henry (Bengals)

Defense
LB: Ray Lewis (Ravens)
TE: Mark Chmura (Packers)
CB: Pacman Jones (Cowboys)

Staff
Owner: Deion Sanders (Many Teams including the Ravens and the Falcons)
Head Coach: OJ Simpson (49s)
Offensive Coordinator: Michael Irvin (Cowboys)

We realized that it was too hard to create a full team as most of the top thugs are receivers. So we just decided that we should back-fill the rest of the team from the Bengals, Falcons, Raiders, and Ravens since these teams seem to be a thug breeding ground.

It's rather disgusting that 21% of NFL players have been charged with a serious crime. I'm mean Miami Dolphins wideouts coach Robert Ford was quoted a few years back saying, "If we keep our receivers healthy and out of jail, we should be OK" for football season. This is pretty pathetic.