A day in New Jersey with Jeff's Family

Summer is in full swing, which means we have been busy! Last week some of Jeff's family came for a visit. We had Anne and kids at our house on Wednesday night and then Sharon, Gerrie, Emilie and baby Sam at our place Thursday through Sunday. It was a bit crazy, but so nice spending time with them. Cohen LOVED playing with all his cousins.

Last Friday everyone gathered in New Jersey for an internment for Jeff's brother Jon who died last September. It was a quick little ceremony where Gerrie shared a few words. It was nice to be there with family and some close family friends.





















We then headed to Kanji for a family lunch. It was the first time all the kids had done hibachi, so it was quite an experience. Cohen LOVED it! He's totally a steak boy, so he was in heaven. He also had sushi for the first time and surprisingly liked that as well. Of course, we had to finish the meal with a little fried ice cream. Cohen is totally a Neu....he could eat ice cream all day every day.



































We then drove a few miles south to Ocean Grove. This is a city on the Jersey shore that Clara (my mother in law) use to frequent as a child. We went to Days Ice Cream for a second helping of ice cream (Clara use to come to this same ice cream place when she was a child) cause everyone needs two helpings of ice cream. Maybe it's because we have been in the City for a while, but I was shop at how inexpensive Days Ice Cream is! If you ever go to Ocean Grove, totally stop by!

It was a lovely day. It was so nice to spend such quality time with Jeff's family. They really are such lovely people and I feel so blessed to be part of their family. We ended up in New Jersey the next day as well for a little BBQ at Bob and Noramah's. I can't wait to see everyone again next month.

Grandpa A. Visit May 2017: A quick trip to get pasta and a treat

On Saturday we ventured down to Greenwich Village for some fresh pasta from Raffetto's and a sweet treat from François Payard Bakery. Jeff and Cohen have made this tip several times over the past couple of months, so I was excited to finally join them and see what it's all about. It was lunch time so we also stopped and grabbed some pizza from Denino's. Dad said it was the best pizza he's had in New York. I don't know if I agree, but it was pretty good.

Washington Trip January 2017: Burgerville!

A trip to Washington would not be complete without lunch at Burgerville! Even better that I got to go with the fam! :) Before we left I told Cohen we were going to go get "the best burger in Vancouver." Jeff of course perked up and asked where we were going. When I told him we were going to Burgerville he was deflated. Of course he jumped on his computer and started the quest to find the best burger in Vancouver. After some research he found Crave Grille. So, we had Burgerville for lunch and Crave Grille for dinner. We all LOVED Crave Grille! It was a really good burger. 

 Two burgers in one day!

Washington Trip January 2017: Date Night in Portland - Little Bird

Another food post!

After Jeff and I saw the movie Lion, we headed to a nice little French restaurant called Little Bird. We both really enjoyed what we ate. It wasn't the best place we have ever eaten, but we would both totally recommend it (for a special celebratory dinner, since it was a little expensive). I'm assuming we will never go back (unless Jeff succumbs to his desire to have their Double Brie Burger), but not because we didn't like it, but because in doing research to find out where we should eat, we found a tone of awesome places we would love to try! Love Portland.

I had the Fried Chicken “Coq au Vin.” Jeff said it wasn't a real Chicken "Coq au Vin," but I really liked it! The wine sauce was a little strong, but the crispy chicken and mushrooms were divine!

Jeff had the Hanger Steak Au Poivre with a side of Roasted Brussel Sprouts, Dijon Butter, Black Pepper Walnuts. I'm not a huge brussel sprouts fan, but we both LOVED them!

I didn't get a picture of the dessert (because we started eating it too quickly), but we actually thought it was the best thing we had. 

Cohens first time out....the Pour House of course!

I've had Cohen on lockdown for the first couple months of his life. I haven't had many visitors over and I've only taken Cohen out to go to the doctors. I've been getting lip or judging looks from people because of this, but I don't care! The doctor said not to take him to public places (church, mall, restaurants, grocery store) for three months and I'm going with it. Depending on how this flu season progresses I might even extend it. However I did make one exception....

A couple of weeks ago Jeff talked me into taking Cohen out to dinner with him and a friend. I was totally nervous about the idea, but decided to take him anyway. I think it's very fitting that Cohen's first restaurant was the Pour House. This is one of Jeff's favorite local places and we have been more times than I can even remember.

Cohen was a total rockstar! I was nervous because he was having a mini meltdown before we left, but I put him in the car seat, swung it a couple of times and he was out! He was so out that he slept through dinner and woke up just when I had finished my meal. Then I fed him and we went home! It was a total success!

Birthday Brunch at Gracie's

We had Kari's Birthday Brunch at Gracie's. I just LOVE brunch! I had the eggs benedict and it was really really good! I actually had eggs benedict agin the next day at Norma's (favorite brunch place in NYC) and I will have to admit Graci'es is better! I can't can't believe I said that! I really hope I get to go back again someday :)

I then took some pictures of the streets around the hotel before heading to my parents house. It was just so beautiful with the leaves changing color. Portland is really charming.

Kari's Birthday Dinner at the Rheinlander

My parents took Kari to the Rheinlander for her birthday dinner the Friday before her birthday. What Kari didn't know was that I would be there too! She was so surprised!

The Rheinlander is kind of an Anderson family tradition. My parents have celebrated many a anniversaries there and I celebrated my 21st birthday there.

They have a man walking around playing the accordion....awesome! When it's your birthday they give you a "Birthday Strudel" and sing to you while feeding you. Classic!

I then surprised Kari by taking her back to her decorated hotel room! Once again, she was surprised :) We then went and saw Breaking Dawn Part 2. All in all it was a good night.

Central Park, Serendipity, and Wicked

Also old news.

While the fam was here we spent some quality time in NYC. We saw a couple of shows, visited Central Park, and did the traditional touristy things.

One of the days we went to Serendipity3. Dad had never been so we thought it was a must. He loved the frozen hot chocolate, but was a little disappointed that he had to share with mom. I knew better...I ordered my own! I don't mess around when it comes to Serendipity's frozen hot chocolate.

One of my favorite things to do in NYC is to people watch in Time Square. It's totally entertianing. The lady in the pictures below was ranting and raving about something. I think it was religious, but I totally couldn't understand her.

Of course we had to take pictures in Time Square

While walking up to Wicked (after eating at Virgil's BBQ) Jeff decided he wanted a treat. He wanted to walk over to Pink Berry, but totally got vetoed by the rest of the group. He spotted Scoops "R" Us in the Toys "R" Us and decided that was a suitable option. I will say that they had a nice array of treats, but it was totally overpriced for what it was. Sounds like NYC :)

TWO YEARS....

....we made it two years!

I can't believe Jeff and I have been married for two years. It feels like so much longer! hahaha.

Tonight we will be celebrating at the Modern in New York City. 

Not as exciting as a trip to London, but we will be going some place cool next year!

New Jersey Diner: Princess Maria Diner

My family and I stopped by the Princess Maria Diner in Wall on our way back from visiting Allaire state park a couple of weeks ago. The Princess Maria Diner isn't one of the diners on the Food Network's New Jersey Diner Tour, but there were non of those around.

I will say that the Princess Maria Diner is one of the nicest looking diners (from the outside) I've seen around. Don't get me wrong, I like the Americana, but I love the blue of the PM Diner.

We all ordered panini's and milkshakes. My family wasn't too fussed with the milkshakes since they weren't "thick," but I think overall we liked the panini's. Well, Barb had a hard time with hers since the sandwich wasn't assembled very well and it was very messy. However, the rest of us didn't have the same problem. What I loved most were the fries! They were delicious!

Princess Maria Diner

2044 New Jersey 35, Wall Township, NJ 07719

New Jersey Diners: The Ritz Diner

The Ritz Diner was the next diner I visited on the Food Network's New Jersey Diner Tour and once again Sarah was willing to tag along. This one was kind of far from my house (traffic didn't help), but I hope I get to go again!

I will admit I was totally overwhelmed by the menu! There is just so much on it. It took us forever to decide on what to eat. We started out with a coconut shrimp salad (Or something like that...couldn't find the menu online), which was absolutely amazing. The dressing was a little heavy, but I didn't mind. I had the reuben, which was really good (I don't know if it's as good as the one from the Pour House, but good). Sarah had the steak sandwich, which was recommend by our waitress. She liked it, but I thought it was a little dry.

I brought home one of their famous apple pies to share with Jeff and some guests we were having over that night. I couldn't believe all of the apple in it! It was really good. I'm not a huge apple pie fan, but I totally like it!

The Ritz Diner

72 East Mount Pleasant Ave.

Livingston, NJ 07039
973-533-1213

An Evening with Renee

Renee was one of my YW for the past year and recently went off to BYU Idaho to go to school. Before she left I took her out to dinner and a show to celebrate and to pay her back for playing basketball. I bribed her with a show if she would play on the YW basketball team. The agreement was that she needed to play in half of the games, but unfortunately she hurt her knee in practice after the first game and couldn't play. She did show up to several of the games to cheer, so I counted it!

I took her to Juniors for dinner. Eating at Juniors is a pre show tradition from my first year living in New York. Then we went to see Bring it On the Musical. It was ok :) Not my favorite. I did like all the cheerleading routines, those girls can fly! I was afraid they were going to hit their heads on the ceiling. I really didn't care for the end. It just didn't do anything for me.

 It was a good trip into the city with the lovely Renee! I'm just so happy for her! I know she's going to have a wild, crazy, good time on this little adventure of hers.

New Jersey Diners: Skylark Diner

I've said it before and I will say it again....I love diners! I did a search on google for the best New Jersey diners and found the Food Network's New Jersey Diner Tour. I've decided that I'm going to try and go to each of the diners Guy Fieri toured on the show.

The first one I went to was the Skylark Diner. This is actually one of Jeff's favorite diners and I've been before for dinner, but I didn't take pictures, so obviously I needed to go again. I was delighted to find out that they serve brunch! I know diners always serve breakfast, but the Skylark has a brunch menu! It's hard to find a place in New Jersey that does a Saturday Brunch. I was lucky that Sarah was willing to go with me.

I liked it! It's wasn't the best brunch I've had, but it was good! I wouldn't recommend the stuffed french toast. It's just a little dry. I think I need to go back and try more things! It's just a great diner. It has a great atmosphere. It's an "upscale" diner.

Skylark Diner

Route 1 and Wooding Ave. 

Edison, NJ 08817

732-777-7878

www.skylarkdiner.com

Chicago: Day 3 - NAHA

After a very lazy morning (which was perfect) we decided that we should head out into the sweltering heat in search of food. We were actually planning on going to a Mexican place we had heard good things about, but there was an hour wait and we didn't want to sit out in the heat for that long. Jeff and Sharon noticed that NAHA was across the street and recommend that we go there. Jeff had looked at the menu online that morning and thought it would be a good place for lunch.

Well, it was amazing! A little on the expensive side, but amazing! Jeff had the soft shell crab which was  a plate of pure deliciousness! I was surprised he didn't lick the plate clean. The sauce was so good and everything was made to perfection. Sharon had the BLT which was unlike any BLT I have ever seen. It was also delicious! Ben went with the pork shank which was tender, savory goodness. I went with a salad. Lame you say? It was actually perfect and totally hit the spot. I would totally order it again.

Well, the food was so good that we decided to get some dessert. I'm a strong believer in dessert at lunch :) My favorite was the rhubarb tart. We got two desserts to share, but I kind of wish I got the rhubarb tart for myself and didn't have to share (kind of like Sharon and a slurpee...you don't mess with Sharon and her slurpee)

Chicago: Day 1 - Forth of July!

Jeff and I decided to meet up with Ben and Sharon (brother-in-law and sister-in-law) in Chicago for the week of 4th of July. I LOVE Chicago so I really didn't put up much of a fight when Jeff mentioned the idea.

We had a wonderful 4th of July in the City. We started off with brunch (you know me and brunch) at a place called South Water Kitchen. Supposedly this is one of the better places to get brunch in Chicago. We liked it, but it wasn't exceptional.

After breakfast we decided to go back to the hotel for a nap. Since brunch really took it out of us :) Then we went to Macy's on State Street. At first I thought it was a little weird that Sharon wanted to go Macy's since you can find them everywhere, right? Well, this isn't just any Macy's. It's the second largest department store in the world and a beautiful, historic building.

For dinner we went to The Gage. It was really nice. While I wasn't overlay thrilled with my meal (pork chop), it was still good. I think my favorite was the appetizers. The scallops were amazing! I think overall we liked it a lot. It was a good find by Sharon!

So, the reason why Jeff doesn't look so happy in this picture is because A) He doesn't like having his picture taken...tough! and B) He was trying to flare out his nostrils.

After dinner we walked across the street to Millennium Park. We spent some time at the Crown Fountain. Well, I spent time there taking pictures, while Ben, Sharon, and Jeff tried to get Sharon's purse zipper open (it got caught on some fabric and wouldn't budge)

We got to see the end of a concert in the park (an orchestra playing patriotic music) and then we walked to Navy Pier to see the fireworks. It was packed and kind of a long walk with the heat, but I'm glad we made the trek. They had nothing on Disney with regards to a firework show, but it was fun to be there with all the people watching the fireworks out over the water.

All in all it was a great day!