Gilty Souvenir Shopping

The online shopping mega-giant (that I happen to be madly in love with) Gilt Groupe, launched its take on the "daily deals" craze by starting Gilt City. The awesome thing about Gilt City is that the website offers tickets to completely exclusive events that you would have no way of even getting invited to otherwise. Thanks to a Twitter contest, I won tickets to an event Gilt City hosted with Surevolution. Surevolution is a great purveyor of sustainable goods from around the world and my friend Perry and I were able to peruse some eclectic and exceedingly interesting pieces of jewelry, furniture and home goods while sipping organic wine from Chile.

Gold and silver bracelets and napkin rings

Me with some sustainably-made bags

Perry and I enjoying the event

Gold and silver leaf bangles

My favorite spiky bangles

One of my favorite bowls

I purchased a small aluminum bowl with a leaf pattern from India as I needed something to store rings and small knickknacks on my dresser and every time I look at it, I feel like it was a souvenir I picked up on an exotic vacation. On the way out, we were given gift bags with a beaded bracelet, some Kahina eye serum and an invitation for a free subscription to Indagare, a luxury travel website.

Me with my gift bag and bowl

Perry modeling the Indagare brochure

Thanks Gilt City for inviting us to this great event! I'll definitely be back for more. If you want to join Gilt City and have the opportunity to attend events like this, sign up here. I'd also recommend following @GiltCityNYC to stay on top of any future giveaways.

Wining and Dining in the Meatpacking

For the past two years, I have seen the signs come up for the New York City Wine and Food Festival and then I've seen them come back down, without ever partaking in a glorious event. My friends at Citysearch changed all that this year after I won two tickets to the Meatpacking Uncorked event from a Twitter contest. Even though my mom and I already had our fair share of wine and food for an entire weekend, we were bound and determined to make the most out of this night.

We arrived at the Welcome Center under the Highline and picked up our event passport, along with some tasty Toblerone samples. Making our way to W. 14th Street, we stopped in stores like La Perla and Kimberly Taylor for wine and shopping (sort of like an encore of Fashion's Night Out). The weather was absolutely gorgeous and people were out in the thousands.

Our first food bite was at The Diner - a goat cheese quesadilla. It definitely tasted good, but that may have been because I was super hungry after an afternoon full of wine. The wait for this sample was a little ridiculous, though.

Next, we made it over to The Cooking Channel truck, which was sampling innovative ice cream flavors like Strawberry Balsamic and Chocolate Challah. Again, the lines were crazy (I would have been mad had I actually paid money for the event tickets), but the ice cream was delicious.

We stopped at the Delta/Coke display, where we got to take Polaroid-like shots with our free mini-bottles of coke. Last, we only got down to Ganesvoort Street before the event ended at 9, but we tried sliders from The Collective.

Overall, the event was a lot of fun, but the weather had a lot to do with how much I enjoyed the night. The food wasn't anything amazing, but it was fun to walk around and eat in the streets. The lines for everything were pretty long and the vendors did not always look at people's wristbands, so pretty much anyone could wait in line for some free grub. 

Next year, my goal will definitely be to try another NYC Wine and Food Festival event. I think I might pass on Meatpacking Uncorked, but maybe the Grand Tasting...One can dream.

Definitely the Summer's Classiest Evening

Concerts in the park just scream summer don't they? I've just been so busy this summer that it's gone by and I had yet to go to a single one! Thanks to the folks at Bryant Park, who hooked me and my friend Jana up with VIP seats to the last concert of the Bryant Park Fall Fest via a Twitter contest, I now feel my summer is closer to being complete.

We arrived at the lawn at about ten minutes until six, just in time to take our seats WAY in front of everyone else who had to get there an hour or so early to snag the best regular people seats, and we found a cute little paper bag full of goodies to satisfy us through the concert. You know it was classy because we got the cute little carrots you only find in fine French restaurants and a glass of red wine.

Our classy array of fruits, cheese and the fancy carrots.

I had fun with the fruit.

The food was courtesy of Bryant Park Grill, which bakes THE best chocolate chip cookies ever. Honestly, you think you've had a chocolate chip cookie, until you've had one of theirs. I'd highly recommend the experience.

Jana posing with the AWESOME cookies.

After the initial culinary excitement passed, the sun faded and the show began. We had the pleasure of listening to the Orchestra of St. Luke's: Baroque and Romantic chamber music by the Grammy-winning ensemble. Now, I've never been one for classical music. It could be that I never played an instrument (barring a huge effort at guitar) or that I just don't know that much about what there is to appreciate. But there was something about listening to the three pieces by this orchestra that tugged at me and made me really embrace the emotion in the music. I left feeling the same way as I do after a wonderful yoga class and I could not have been happier.

The Orchestra of St. Luke's

Behind us, the heads of the audience under a beautiful sliver of sunset

Fresh in the West Village

I've recently begun a love affair with the West Village. In my almost two years here I must admit that I've neglected this neighborhood, but I have recently given it my full attention and I utterly and faithfully can't get enough. So when the opportunity presented itself (cough, Twitter contest, cough) for me to visit Braeburn on Perry Street at Greenwich Street, I jumped. 

Braeburn is another restaurant to hop on the Twitter giveaway bandwagon and I think it's pretty much one of the smartest marketing tools ever. With so many wonderful eateries in this city, some find a way to stick out above the rest and Braeburn is one. Like Supper, Braeburn does the "First person to retweet this gets a free ____." Well, I retweeted and the next day my roommate retweeted as well. We both were offered any appetizer we wanted on Tuesday night. I'd heard their menu was fantastic from some Restaurant Week suggestions, but I wasn't prepared for the awesomeness I enjoyed. 

It was Tina's birthday and we had plans to meet up with other people later, so we arrived at Braeburn on the early side. Some could see this as bad timing, but I saw it as us getting the best service possible - we had 3 people waiting on us, all exceedingly sweet and wonderful. The dining room is decorated peacefully and clean with dark wood lining the sunflower yellow walls and a long pastoral painting hanging on the North side of the dining room. I could see this place being very romantic after the sun sets and the candles really glow. 

We were started off with pickled watermelon in mint oil. I'm an adventurous eater, but even I was a little scared at first. It sure looked pretty but the thought of watermelon, mint, oil and pickled all in one bite was a bit too much for me to imagine meshing. In the end, this daring creation was fabulous. So many flavor profiles all at once, it was like a refreshing summer picnic explosion in my mouth!

Pickled Watermelon in Mint Oil

Braeburn has a reputation for serving some wonderfully creative cocktails. My roommate ordered the Gin 'n Juice - Bombay Sapphire gin, cucumber juice, elderflower and lime - while I opted for a glass of the Sparkling Apple Cider 'Antoinette' Duchee de Longuville (hey, the place is called Braeburn!). Both were very refreshing and I'd like to return to try more of their mixology creations.

Gin 'n Juice and Sparkling Apple Cider

After enjoying some fresh-out-of-the-oven herb rolls (I believe there was cheese or something else awesome in them), we began salivating for our appetizers. I settled on the Hand Cut Black Pepper Fettucine with blistered cherry tomato, preserved lemon and sheep's milk ricotta while my roommate ordered the Day Boat Sea Scallop with roasted cherry tomatoes, marjoram, toasted bread crumbs and black olive crust. I never knew fettucine could taste so amazing. Again with the many many flavors you're not sure will go together, but the combination of the pepper, the lemon and the ricotta (you can never, repeat, NEVER, go wrong when eating ricotta) left me speechless. The scallops were cooked to perfection, buttery in texture, and the bread crumbs added a nice crunch to the dish.

Hand Cut Black Pepper Fettucine

Day Boat Sea Scallop

After we finished eating, I don't think either one of us wanted to leave. The entrees were a bit pricey for a regular dinner out, but I would highly recommend this for special occasions (especially of the romantic kind). I'll definitely be bringing my parents here next time they come to town. 

If I had to sum up my entire experience at Braeburn in one word, it would have to be fresh (honestly, did you count how many times I used that word or one like it in this post?). The second word would be awesome. Gold star for you Braeburn, I will be back!

Supper Time

Before the Hollywood festivities of last night, I had the pleasure of visiting a gem of an East Village restaurant. Through, Twitter, I have been privy to (and the winner of) many a contest. I recently started following @suppernyc, the twitter account of Supper Restaurant on 2nd Street and Ave. A. It turns out, every weekday at 2 p.m., the restaurant, and their sister establishments @lilfrankies at noon and @frankrestaurant at 1 p.m. do a twitter food giveaway. The first follower to retweet the posted message wins the entree of the day.

Just my luck (which is good if you were curious), I won the Grilled Polenta entree. The catch is that you have to either have it delivered or pick it up that day during a specific time period. Since the delivery area is limited to the E. Village, I figured I would swing by on the way to the premiere.

Even with my two years in the city, I'm ashamed to say I haven't truly explored the East Village, but I am working on it! Walking east on 2nd Street, I saw the cutest boutiques and some wonderful happy hour deals. What I found when I walked into Supper though, was perhaps the most fantastic. Several rustic outdoor tables greet you at first and then you walk inside to what reminds me of a log cabin with a bit of an edge - almost an rural chic feel, if such a thing exists (if it doesn't, I just created it).  After telling the hostess that I was there because of the Twitter contest, she presented me with a glass of house red while I waited for my entree. I took a seat at the large wooden bar, checked in on Foursquare (have to spread the online love!), and began to drool over the rest of the menu I looked over.

Supper offers a different risotto for every day of the week - could this be a more perfect place for me?! The most appealing, although I'm not sure if it is more of a dessert than an actual dinner, is Monday's Vanilla Bean and Mascarpone. I better clear my upcoming Monday schedules!

What seems like their signature dinner option is called the "Simple Supper." From Mondays through Wednesdays from 4-7 p.m. you can get an appetizer and an entree for $15.95. You can add on a glass of wine or beer to that for just another $4. Their weekend brunch menu also looked very appealing; the Molly's French Toast with fresh fruit raspberry butter, toasted pecans and real maple syrup was highly recommended.

In my haste to make it to the premiere, I know that I did not do my dish justice since I had to eat it on the subway. I didn't even get a chance to take a picture. However, I will take my sweet time describing it here. The polenta was among the lightest and most flavorful I've ever had, topped with fennel shavings and pieces of fresh Parmigiano cheese. It was accompanied by mouth watering Prosciutto di Parma and a small container of aged Balsalmic vinegar and olive oil. The crunchy-on-the-outside-but-soft-on-the-inside Italian bread that came with the meal was perfect for sopping up the extra oil and vinegar. With each bite, the subway car practically melted away and I felt like I was sitting outdoors at a table next to an Italian farmhouse, just watching the cows in the meadow and the sun setting over the hills. Needless to say, I didn't want the dish to end!

So what are you waiting for? Follow these restaurants on Twitter today and tomorrow you could have a wonderful supper waiting for you! Keep in mind you can only win these giveaways once every 30 days, but you can bet that I'll be first in line in a month.