Minetta Tavern and Absence Apologies

After a much too long hiatus I am finally back.  Well, I didn’t actually go anywhere but my computer was on the fritz.  For almost two months now my phone was the only access to the internet I had and while I could blog from there I really find it such a pain to use the internet on my phone for much more than quick searches.  I did use this as an excuse to start using Instagram and I am now hooked.  I resisted it for a while so I feel rather foolish now that I am a rather avid user but so what.  If you would like to follow me you can find me as absinthewilde.

The view from my seat.

I’m not a big steak eater but I think it is because I had a lot of tough over done steaks when I was younger.  I now know that I like my steaks rare and they don’t need ketchup but I am not likely to choose to go to a steak house.  Sometimes I am glad to let others choose where to eat because otherwise I would not end up at places like Minetta Tavern.  This place is tiny and loud but the food is great and they know how to serve beef.

Black label burger

Cote de boeuf

Bone marrow

The Black Label Burger and the Dry Aged Cote De Boeuf are their most popular dishes and deservedly so.  This steak was so rich and buttery and I love love love marrow!  It is listed as being for two people but it can easily be shared amongst more.

Hamachi crudo

Oxtail and foie gras terrine

Brandade de morue

These were the apps we got and they were good but nothing too stand out.  The Brandade De Morue was a pretty good amped up mashed potato dish with cod and truffles.  the desserts though were on par with the meats.

Dessert

Souffle

We had a chocolate dacquoise, my fave because it was salty and sweet, chocolate souffle, and pots de creme in chocolate, coffee, and vanilla.  Go here even if you are not a steak person.

 

Minetta Tavern

113 Macdougal St
New York, NY 10012

(212) 475-3850

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Renaissance Festival Revelry

Turkey leg!

Today was trip number one to the Renaissance festival and I already can’t wait for trip number two.  I don’t normally go this early in the season but I just could not wait!  But it was so disgustingly humid which is why I usually don’t go at this time.  There are people who dress far more elaborately than I did and I just can’t understand how they do it.  Maybe I just get sweatier than normal people.  It was a great time despite it though and I’m sharing the revelry with you.

My festival going partner and I

The joust

Such a beautiful fountain

My favourite kind of history

This horse pooped marshmallows

I was enchanted by this display

Me, being enchanted

One of my favourite instruments

Ribbon potatoes

“Well, hello there.”

Impressive

Creepy dude

Storming the castle

I picked up a new dress from Moresca and a bronze hair stick.  There were a few items I had my eye on that I may have to grab on my next trip.  I am hoping dearly for better weather next time so I can take some nicer outfit photos.  Fingers crossed. 

 

Cruelty free, eh? I call BS!

I love cosmetics and while I do like to make a lot of my own beauty items I am a sucker for packaging and fancy claims and because of that I continue to buy branded products.  Foolishly, I did not put much thought into whether or not animal testing was conducted with these products because I didn’t think it was a common practice these days save for pharmaceutical stuff.  How is it that in this day and age that a bunny needs to suffer for the sake of some rouge?  The majority of my items had some sort of cruelty free claim on it anyways so it should be all good, right?  WRONG!  Recently there was a huge uproar about Urban Decay relinquishing their cruelty free status because they were going to start selling in China.  Luckily they actually listened to what people were saying and they decided to pull out of China and stick to their original morals.  Apparently in China animal testing is required by law.  This was all very eye opening to me in a number of ways.  A lot of companies are falsely claiming to be cruelty free.  If a bottle states “this product was not tested on animals” that may be true but it doesn’t mean the ingredients were not.  There are a couple of different ways they can state things to make it seem like they are animal friendly but leave loopholes so they can do things like pay another company to do the testing for them or in the case of selling in China, it could still be true that the products made to be sold to Americans did not go through animal testing but the products being made for the Chinese have been.  This pisses me off even more than if a company stated honestly that they do support animal testing.  Another thing to look out for are brands that do not do animal testing but are owned by a larger parent company that do do testing such as Burt’s Bees who are owned by Clorox.  I did not know any of this before the Urban Decay news broke and upon looking up animal friendly brands I found that a good share of the ones I like were once approved cruelty free but are now selling in China and can no longer make that claim.

I do not want to continue to support companies that practice this but it is going to take a lot of effort due to all the loopholes.  It seems rather daunting right now to research all the brands I might buy and make sure there is no trickery.  I am also going to be giving up some of my key items.  I use the whole Shiseido skincare line and now I will have to find a new method of taking care of my skin.  My skin sucks so that is not going to be fun.  I have a lot of makeup that will last me a long time and I will continue to use the products that I have already purchased so that will buy me some time to figure what products will be good replacements.  No, I am not a vegetarian/vegan.  I admire those who are and for most of my teen years I was a vegetarian but I am weak when it comes to food. I actually rarely eat meat when I’m at home but when I am out I don’t want to have to pass on a hot new dish.  You can call me a hypocrite if you want but I feel there is  something worse about an animal being kept alive in terrible conditions and tortured daily for something frivolous like beauty than it is to make a clean kill and make use of everything.  Every little step counts and stopping animal testing is a step in the right direction.

 

Outfit Post #11 and The Liberty Belle Spectacular

The flyer

This year for the fourth of July I took advantage of the mid-week day off from work and went to the Liberty Belle Spectacular.  This was an event held by Dances of Vice and I have been trying to make it to one of their events for ages.  Most of the events are on Fridays and Saturdays and those are very busy work nights for me so this was a prime opportunity despite the fact that the fourth of July is not a holiday that I make a big deal of.

Dress and shoes: 1940’s vintage

Flowers: A.C. Moore
Ring: The Hollywood Collection

The theme encompasses the 1920’s-1950’s but I went full on WWII.  Unfortunately my curls and rolls did not survive the heat that well.  My goodness that place was packed to the brim when I got there.  I should have shown up a lot earlier because it seemed I had missed a lot of the performances.  They opened at 5pm and I didn’t think things would really kick off until dark but I’ve learned my lesson.  Here’s a few things I did catch…

Jezebel Express

Albert Cadabra

Mr. and Ms. Liberty Belle 2012

I can’t wait till the next event!

Blueberry Fields Forever

Today was a no makeup kind of day

I can’t say that I look forward to summer but it does have it’s perks.  I love going to farms that allows you to pick your own produce.  It’s often much cheaper and it tastes so much better when it’s this fresh and you know where your food came from.  The seasons are so off kilter right now and all of the fruits are starting up much earlier than normal so I missed out on a couple things already but today I was able to kick things off with blueberry season.

Big, juicy blueberries

The pickings were great today, I didn’t have to search too hard.  I could be picky and look for the biggest and darkest and have no problem filling up my bag.  I cannot fathom buying a pint of blueberries at the grocery store for $4 and up when I am able to buy a pound of them for around $2.50  if I gather them myself.  Now that I’m home looking at my bag I kind of regret not getting more.  This will be enough for me to eat on their own but I won’t really be able to bake anything with them.  Any suggestions on good recipes that use a small amount of blueberries?

My haul

Blueberry flowers

I didn’t notice the little guy poking out of the flower when I took this.

Chilling

The farm also has a market with pre-picked produce but I like the selection of old-fashion goodies.  I try not to drink soda but I love sodas that are made with cane sugar rather than high fructose corn syrup so I decided to treat myself to a sarsaparilla and sit by the lake before driving back to the city.

 

 

 

Fairie Festival Outfit Post

Well this post is over a week due but better late than never.  I went to the Pennsylvania Fairie Festival on May 6th, a tradition I have been following for about ten years.  I think I have only missed one year in that span of time.  It’s held at Spoutwood Farms and is a celebration of spring and the old beliefs of nature and her spirits.

I had been working on a pair of wings to wear this year but I found them to be a huge pain in the ass to wear.  The lack of freedom they caused was not very fae like.  I kept thinking of Una’s quote from the movie Legend, “A fairie’s heart beats fierce and free!”.  The next weekend was the Maryland Fairie Festival but due to it being on Mother’s Day I was not able to attend.  Last year was my first time to that event so I was really looking forward to it this year but it wasn’t meant to be.  Next year…

Hello world!

I am a lover of food and fashion, hence the two F words, and I want to have a space were I can gush over the beauty and pleasure that food and fashion bring to my life.  I grew up eating cuisines from all over the world, I was not the typical picky child who only ate fish sticks and PB&J sandwhiches and the like, and now as an adult my journey into the food world will continue with a more mature palate and appreciation.  Of course while I am doing all this eating I must look as beautiful and delictable as the food.  These F words are my joy and I hope to bring some joy to you.