Four Cheese Mac 'n Cheese at Mac Bar

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While I typically try to bring my lunch to work 4 out of 5 days per week (saving money + eating healtheir = good, plus Shaun often packs my lunch for me which equals a triple score!), Fridays are always reserved for ordering in. A few of us usually order sushi, but this past Friday we veered off course a little and ordered from SoHo's Macbar. Located just a short ways north of the office, Macbar is a restaurant dedicated solely to serving up delicious mac 'n cheese. Oh New York how I love you so. Never underestimate the power of taking one dish and running with it, all the way to creating a restaurant around it. Like Rice to Riches in NoLiTa, there's nothing more fun than a themed joint serving up variations of one delicious dish. Especially when it's yummy comfort food like mac 'n cheese.

With a plethora of options to choose from, including mac lobsta', mac stroganoff and mac reuben, I went with the old standard, Four Cheese. Chock full of gouda, queso fresco, emmental and fontina, this dish was cheesy yet not overly heavy. It seems couterintuitive to call this dish light - because it wasn't - but it also wasn't sittin' heavy after devouring a small container of it, which many a mac 'n cheese tends to do. While it was delicious, the smokiness of the gouda overpowered the dish a bit. I could have gone for more of a gruyere twist rather than the gouda.

So what do you think? Are you a fan of mac 'n cheese? Do you have any specialty store or restaurants near you that make you happy?

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Blue Smoke's Pulled Pork Sandwich at CitiField

This past weekend, Shaun and I took the trip out to Citifield for a little Mets-Astros action. Though you may recall that Shaun and I call different sports teams our own, when in New York, I'm always rooting for New York, even if it's the Mets and not my beloved Yankees. It should come as little surprise that my favorite part of the ball park are the eats. In fact, I did a whole post about ball park eats last spring. And while my favorite ballpark fare typically revolves around soft serve vanilla ice cream in a souvenir helmet cup, when Shaun surprised me with a pulled pork sandwich from the Blue Smoke stand, I couldn't resist getting a shot of it in all its barbecued glory.

Tender pulled pork, smokey barbecue sauce and a thick brioche bun made this a sandwich for the record books. Who says ball park fare can't be gourmet? Oh, and the dill pickles didn't hurt either.

But what I really want to know is, what do you eat at the ball park? Do you stick to traditional fare, like hot dogs and beer? Or would you be willing to brave the extensive Shake Shack line just for an artisinal burger?

La Creperie on Palm Beach

As the summer is rapidly winding down, so are my avid posts about my favorite - and albeit indulgent - Aruban eats. It seems like our vacation was mostly eating, but I assure you, there was plenty of lounging time too. As I sign off from my Aruba travelogue for 2010, I'm dishing up one more sweet eat. It's La Creperie, a tiny hut in the Paseo Harencia serving up both sweet and savory crepes.

I'm always facinated by how crepes are made and I feel confident that if I had this nifty set up in my own apartment kitchen, I could dish 'em up just like the pros do.

Plus, then I'd get to use this mini rake/hoe contraption which is necessary to spread the batter around the hot plate. Let's face it, it really looks like a lot more fun then your standard spatula, don't you think?

Ever since our trip to Germany and Paris in 2006, I have developed an unhealthy obsession with Nutella. So when presented with the option to consume it warm and inside a crepe, who am I to turn it down? Enter my Nutella and strawberry crepe.

Though my first choice was Nutella and banana, I guess I got there late and all of the bananas were gone, leaving only strawberries behind. While I always love a good berry (and anything with Nutella), I'm sorry that I didn't get to try the banana as I'm confident it would have been tops.

But this one was pretty fantastic as well, bursting with warm Nutella and fresh strawberries. In the words of Ina Garten, how bad can that be?

Psst...for more Aruba fun, check out Madame Janette's, Dushi Bagel, Moka's Red Velvet Cake, Dutch Pancakes, and How to do Happy Hour!