How Long Can We Hold Out?

It's getting colder and colder, and we're still holding out. The ultimate goal is to make it through the first week of November. To do what? Turn on our heat. I don't even want to think about the heating bill for this winter, especially considering the ridiculous heating system for our 3rd floor. The 3rd floor has a serious lack of insulation, and there is only one heating vent. Apparently, the bedroom used to be a kitchen with a heating stove, so that is the reason why there is no heating vent in the now bedroom! As such, it gets REALLY cold in the winter. So far, it hasn't been too bad, which is how we've managed to hold out. We've bought a space heater in preparation, so hopefully that will make life far more pleasant this winter.

I've done a lot of eating this week... Wednesday went to Sel de la Terre, Red Bones on Thursday night, Troquet on Friday night, had breakfast at a friend's yesterday morning and had dinner at another friend's last night. Plus, I made lemon bars for dessert last night - using a Cook's Illustrated recipe, of course.

After almost a week in Puerto Rico with two co-workers who either lived in Venuezuela or who had family that lived in Venezuela, we decided that we had to have a breakfast where I could try some of the food I heard so much about. Sonia knew how to make the food, so we went to her place. She lives in an amazing one-BR off on Hereford not even a block from Newbury St. She made arepas with a chicken stew and cheese for filling (or turkey and cheese, but the chicken was sooo good!) She also made guasacaca sauce, which is delicious! She said she said a lot less oil than what is typical, so hers was apparently thicker than what is traditional. Also, there was no egg in hers, but I'm not sure if there typically is egg or not. She made a lot of the sauce, so I brought some home. I'm thinking of having skirt steak with guasacaca for dinner; I can't think of something else to make. (Apparently, there is an arepera in NYC! I'll have to keep it in mind for my next visit. Arepas are quite yummy, but very filling!)

Later in the day, I went to another friend's for dinner. For an appetizer, he had bread with cave-aged gruyere from Whole Foods. I loved the cheese! For dinner, he made broiled blue fish with a tomato, (green) olive, and avocado sauce on top. We had lemon bars and a really good port to end the night. Having consumed so much food, we decided that it would be a good idea to go to a movie called "The Future of Food" today. I hope it's not too disturbing.