The Life Vicarious Year One.

so we started this blog a little over a year ago to keep our friends informed and entertained when they either couldn't find us or wanted to catch up with us and also try our hand at a column about our dating life in the context of the film 9 Songs, in which a couple meets in london, sees nine bands, has sex nine times and then breaks up. that's the whole movie and that's what our mission was in the summer of 2005. instead, we started dating the second girl we blogged about and last night we celebrated our first year of such fun at double happiness, where we first met. leaving out the sex, here's a list of where we ate and who we saw between may 09, 2005 and may o9, 2006:

MIAMI: emeril's, azul, smith & wollensky, ghiradelli's and cafe sambal (3) during our stay at the mandarin oriental.

LONDON: bistrotheque (duck shepherd's pie,) the wolselely, harrod's deli, yauatcha, tate modern cafe, laduree, pret a manger, st. john (awesome offal,) and paul (3, for the best moka and almond chocolate croissants anywhere,) while sleeping in her friend's east london loft.

CHICAGO: rl, schwa, sweets & savories (duck fat fries,) moto, lou malnati's, ghiradelli's (2), harry caray's, lucky strike bowling and tru's dessert tasting menu while staying at the amalfi hotel and the park hyatt.

WISCONSIN: harlequin bakery (stuffed marshmallows,) solly's (butter burgers,) culver's (more butter burgers,) kopp's, biro, the immigrant room and the pub (for cheese tastings,) both at the hotel kohler where we stayed.

PHILADELPHIA: el vez, morimoto (green tea tirami su,) capogiro gelato (single malt scotch and burnt sugar gelato) and the holy of holies, studiokitchen (for a three day in the making wagyu beef tart tatin!)

NEW JERSEY: pompei pizza and carvel in bayonne, houlihan's and the chart house (for a wedding) in weehawken, south city grill in jersey city, venue (for courses comprised of syringes) and wolfgang puck in hoboken, the strip house and the ryland inn (where we met the chef, got free wine and an endless number of extra courses.)

BOSTON: barking crab and mr. bartley's burgers.

CONNECTICUT: coffee an' donut, roy rogers (for salvation,) and lyman orchards (for apples and cider.)

and of course here in NYC, at home and while staying at the hotel on rivington and the mandarin oriental:

freeman's, pegu club*, film center cafe, thor (for tubes of chocolate,) perry st. (to prove we could get a table with no notice,) upstairs at bouley (for burgers on english muffins and to play with the lights the night they celebrated their good review,) the diner (for late night fried chicken during cmj,) wd-50 (for fried mayo during cmj,) ninja (for the most fun we ever had writing about a restaurant,) john's pizza*, blue ribbon (for post-elton surf and turf along with everyone else who went to the show,) cafe gray (before emma started in the kitchen,) the seafood market in chelsea market (for bargain lobster rolls,) pop burger (2, and not just because they have basquiats on the walls), kelley and ping (for a party,) hard rock cafe* (for take-out,) burger joint*, starwich* (for grilled cheese with apples and free wi-fi,) daisy may's bbq* (because it's on the corner,) sylvia's (for post-brooklyn superhero company fashion show soul food,) australian homemade, little pie company*, pigalle (for undercooked steak with peppercorn sauce,) biltmore room (for a jazz age halloween party,) next door nobu, nice matin, cafe des artistes* (for no real reason all last summer,) west, orchard room, grammercy tavern (with her mom,) moma cafe 2 (also with her mom,) moma terrace 5 (with our mom,) bar room at moma (for every small plate on the menu,) the chocolate show (for mary's of japan,) bubby's (with dana and joe,) brandy library (2), hearth (for the pommeau and bluefoot chicken,) the spotted pig (2, after we sat next to jay-z and beyonce at kanye west,) bistro du vent (never again,) the city harvest tasting (incredible,) and the taste of the lower east side (less incredible) at the puck building, aquavit (for the best brunch buffet in new york,) aureole (for more food than we could ever eat,) jacques torres*, bar masa* (for cocktails and popcorn shrimp,) 24 prince (for great fried chicken,) cookshop, tavern on the green (to celebrate christmas,) the boathouse (for her office to celebrate christmas,) bouley bakery (for take-out rotisserie,) clinton street baking company (2, for pie and alcoholic chocolate milk,) otto*, stone rose, pravda*, bouley (for one of our seasonal model-filled lunches,) outback (for the red meat we craved after seeing hostel,) room 4 dessert* (for the best of the best,) roll and roaster (for nostalgia,) mercer kitchen (for restaurant week,) askew (for its design but the food was more impressive,) whole foods*, pastis (after we walked out of morimoto,) billy's bakery (2, pre and post lent), del posto (for the entire bar menu,) double seven, virgil's (because they deliver,) another room, blaue gans (2, for more great fried chicken), maru (for atmosphere and shots,) tintol, hedeh* (for the best cheapest sushi in town,) home, tomoe sushi, maremma (for the best fishsticks,) buddakan (for the rhyme,) pomodoro pizza*, little branch, fatty crab (even though marc jacobs was a dick,) nest (for a dale degroff-taught cointreau course,) ifc cafe (2, as it was that or our ten year reunion,) babbo (for the best sommelier,) houston's, mottsu, ciao bella, bouchon bakery* (the best seafood salad,) quality meats (for everything but the steak,) shake shack* (for chicago dogs and creamcicle shakes,) degustation (where we ate our first egg - really,) dirty bird to go (for sweet sweet fried chicken,) blue owl, back room, kitchenette, giorgione 508 (for a nice surprise,) craftsteak (for a free dinner,) brooklyn diner (because they were open on the 4th of july,) sarabeth's (for pumpkin muffins,) and european union (despite them not wanting anyone to eat there.)

and consider we have no record of our first four months of dating! everything with a number in parenthesis we've visited that many times and everything with an asterisk means too many times to count.

and who were the bands?

stereophonics, billy corgan, black rebel motorcycle club, steve martin, elton john, kt tunstall, rolling stones, nouvelle vague (2), u2 (with keane,) athlete, stacey kent, jamie cullum, nikka costa, jamiroquai, natasha bedingfield, john legend, chicks on speed (at 3am,) gwen stefani (with the black eyed peas, justin timberlake and james brown,) kanye west (with jay-z, keyisha cole and fantasia,) the fashion rocks concert @ radio city (with david bowie, destiny's child, joss tone, gwen stefani, shakira, billy idol, puff daddy, nelly, pharrell, alicia keys and the arcade fire,) carmen @ the met, nellie mckay (2), the concert for peace @ hammerstein (with moby and fischerspooner,) gorillaz, scissor sisters, northern state, strokes (with eagles of death metal,) annie, kaiser chiefs, wyclef jean, princess superstar, and prince (with tamar, at 1am.)

we also had tickets for whitey (with the cloud room and princess superstar,) the coral, tina dico, the foo fighters (with weezer,) and a few other shows we just couldn't make. and we had tickets to see babyshambles in london but pete doherty was arrested as we arrived. in the weeks ahead we're seeing madonna, gnarls barkley, guns and roses, common (with lupe fiasco,) corinne bailey rae, the streets (with lady sovreign,) feist, fiona apple, and diplo (with css and bonde do role.) and this weekend we're returning to chicago for dinners at alinea, japonais and lunch at custom house plus we're bringing a box of steaks from lobel's and a shipment of ice cream from graeter's for a weekend bbq.

needless to state, we can't wait for year 2.

Comments

[Nora]

Grammercy Tavern rocks, their bar has a great tasting menu too---when in LV tho try La Cirque in the Bellagio.