Windy Wellington and Wedding!

So this is what happens when foodies get married...

Kiddies!

Like Norway, but on a different hemisphere.

Wedding favors.

Love the lights.

Beauties by the water.

Te Papa Museum.

Remember that time a stranger approached you
and tied your wrists?  Me neither.

Lamb carnage.

Nino's Fish. Apparently, he's a family friend.

Le Bernadin

For my *coughcough*th birthday, Harrison gifted me the Le Bernadin experience.  A dozen failed scheduling attempts later, we finally arrived at the acclaimed restaurant.  To begin, nothing that happened on that day happened as expected.

The Cast: me, Harrison and Ian.

The Mission: the full Le Bernadin Tasting Menu (as opposed to the Chef's menu)

Surprise Supporting Cast: Woody Allen, SoonYi, Dustin Hoffman, pounding rain, and a limo driver

Amuse Bouche

Pretty stinkin' pretty...

Tuna with Foie Gras

Scallop with Brown Butter Dashi

King Crab Medley

Wild Salmon with White Asparagus.
(The asparagus was my favorite of the entire meal...)

Striped Bass (not a favorite)

Pavlova
(NZ, I've missed you!)

Cacao nib covered mousse with brownies.  Shrug.

Harrison's Strawberries with Sorbet

And more...

Fruit Gummies.  I mean Fruit Jele!

At some point during the meal, it started pouring outside.  Huddled under the awning, we bumped into some familiar faces and end up snagging a stretch limo to get back to the train station.  I have a feeling the driver heard me muttering, "He's already here, why doesn't he just take us to the train station?!"  Guess it worked.

Way too happy about not having to
wait in the rain for a cab...

Ralphie goes faster!

Gorgeous day!

After skipping season race #2, I schlepped down to NJ for the third race of the season.  The weather was amazing, if a little hot.  I was definitely overdressed in a navy blue long-sleeve shirt.

Paul had looked at my previous race's data and noticed that I was taking one corner totally wrong and gave me a few pointers about how to fix this.  So, I figured, newer tires, better line.. better times, right?  Wrong.

The Nap.  (Needs Singer.)

The first two practices and qualifiers were no bueno, and I was definitely not excited about the feature.  There were 10 karts in my heat, and only one other person in my class (he was definitely sandbagging!).  I was also having a hard time making weight, between the sweating and the peeing.  We added 10 lbs to the front end of the kart, but then I came in 10 lbs. over after my first qualifier. Yick.  Additionally, I was not doing well on the passing game, and since my heat combined three other classes, this was a race where getting a good position from the start was important.  

I did manage to sneak in a nice nap before the feature race (sans Singer :( though).  In any event, I got a terrible start and it took a few laps to get around this one special guy before I started turning some better laps.  The best part was, I could feel my turns getting faster, since I was audibly drifting through them.  Zomgs, that's the best sound and feeling ever.  EVAR.  After I got out of traffic, I was doing a pretty good job reeling in the guys in front of me.  Unfortunately, it would have taken about 5 more laps to catch them and I dun' run out of race.  

Amazeballs crew chief!

A couple of things I learned: (1) staying on top of the kart in front of you is important for you... but also important for the person behind you.  I got to see how annoying this was being on the receiving end of it; (2) People will stare at you.  Unabashedly.  For no reason.  The best way to handle this is to return the favor with an even creepier smile; (2a) Men will think it's okay to call you sweetie.  Harness the annoyance.  

In any event, when all was said and done, I'd managed to take 0.25 seconds off of my fastest previous lap time.  Woohoo!  I'm coming after you, Sweetie.

Going, going, gone!

 Thank you Diego and Craigslist!  The shed is gone.  Hamer has officially declared my digs "less murdery".

Before: Front view of shed.

Back view; what you see coming towards the house.

Side view.

And.. gone.