The Girls are Back in Town

I can't believe how good I felt when I woke this morning! Something tells me that I need to go away to sunny beach strewn islands more often!! (Sounds good right??)

The work day was spent playing a small amount of catch up (not much as my asst is GREAT!!) and putting the final plans into work for my coming trip to China.
After work I dashed home to change and grab Michelle's silly little something that I'd gotten her for her birthday and hopped the subway downtown to meet her for dinner. She'd made a reservation for us at a new restaurant down on 10th Ave called Earth NYC so we could celebrate my birthday before we both left town for work trips. (Yes, she's fab...that's her at left!)

Upon arrival I found not only Michelle, but Sandi and Allegra too! Allegra (right) was very sly...she'd asked me for a drink after work and was "bummed" when I told her I was already booked having dinner with Michelle. I was very surprised and even more touched! I adore my friends and just don't get as much time with them as I wish I could. We all have such busy careers and our schedules are a true mess! Sadly because I didn't know that Sandi (below with Michelle) was going to be there I didn't bring her gift along! That just means we have to get together after our first round of trips before we all pop off to travel again!

So - Earth NYC for those of you who want a restaurant review... is YUM!
Yes, I'll elaborate!

We got many-a-dish and shared them all. We chose NOT to get any of the seafood as we didn't want any chance of our dear Allegra (even though she encouraged us to) to have an allergic reaction. So I won't comment on the seafood this time.

The theme of the restaurant is to bring together the many flavours of Southeast Asia in restaurant/lounge atmosphere. The candle wall (lit with over 130 candles) is a nice touch. Looks like the place turns into quite a party on Friday and Saturday nights (see their website.)


Back to the food!!! We started with Cha Gio [Vietnam] -- Crispy vegetable spring rolls served with sweet chilli sauce, Lollipops [India] -- Chicken wings sautéed in sweet n spicy sauce and Bhindi Fry [India] -- Tangy crispy fried okra (shown right.)
As you can see at right, the okradisappearedd rather quickly...but truthfully - everything did! Yum!
We moved on to have Aloo Gobi [India] --Diced cauliflower & potatoes tempered with turmeric & cumin, Goong Ob Woon Sen [Thailand] -- Shrimp with glass noodles (although we asked them to substitute chicken for the shrimp and they gladly did), Bo Luc Lac [Vietnam] -- (Shaking) beef with garlic sauce and Curry Ayam [Malaysia] -- Chicken in kaffir lime leaf curry. What a feast!!

We also enjoyed tasting their Mango Martinis and Cilantro Mojito.

Foods from so many of my favorite cuisines! How well do they know me or WHAT!?
We ended with a surprise portion of Chocolate Dynamite Cake -- Rich chocolate cake with a layer of dark chocolate fudge, for the table to share after I blew out the candles!
It's the ideal place for those nights where you can't choose between Indian and Vietnamese!