Moroccan and meatball magnificent meals in NYC

Katelyn and I met a colleague at Café Mogadore, a charming, delicious Moroccan restaurant in the East Village Wednesday night. At our colleague’s urging, we tried the best halloumi skewers ever (sorry Nighttown), chicken tangine, a strawberry rhubarb crumble and a pear and cranberry pie. Everything I tried was sooo good. I’m not a huge chicken fan, but the chicken that was roasted in the tagine was incredibly flavorful and tender. It also was free-range and organic…yay! I ordered the casablanca sauce, which featured chickpeas and raisins, and the dish was served over cous-cous. There were other meat, sauce and grain options – I was happy with the choice my server recommended.

Chicken tagine with casablanca sauce and cous-cous

Strawberry rhubarb crumble

Pear and cranberry pie

A friend from work in Cleveland (thanks JHo!) made me promise to try one of The Meatball Shop locations during a NYC trip, so I had it on the brain on Thursday. This place grinds their own meat, sources their ingredients locally and also makes homemade ice cream sandwiches, using different cookies (you can mix and match!) for the sandwich.

Meatball smash with spicy pork balls, pesto and mozzarella

I tried a Meatball Smash, which includes three balls with your choice of meat (or vegetarian option), choice of sauce and cheese on a yum bun. A light side salad comes with it. I ordered spicy pork balls with a pesto sauce and mozzarella. The serving size was perfect – not too big and not too messy and YUM!!!

How could I not try the homemade ice cream sandwiches? I sampled caramel ice cream sandwiched by a snickerdoodle and chocolate chip cookie. Amazing!
 We ordered takeout to make it back for a meeting despite a full house, and our order came out in about five minutes.

House made ice cream sandwich with caramel ice cream and a snickerdoodle and chocolate chip cookie

Go to both of these places. They were awesome and I’ll go back to each of them.

Out with a bang in NYC…Trump SoHo penthouse style

Since I’m 7.5 months prego, this trip was my last jaunt to NYC pre-Kabongo. It was a pretty great one! Wednesday night, we lucked out with an invitation to share a duplex terrace penthouse suite at the Trump SoHo that our colleague scored via a complimentary upgrade. Think The Hangover villa, but two stories, no tiger in the bathroom and I’m coming home with all of my teeth. This mofo goes for $7,500!!!!!!!!!


Our home away from home was the Mac Daddy of the penthouses since it was the only bi-level option with two bedrooms on separate floors, two living rooms, three bathrooms, two entrances, a kitchen, a dining area and a kickass wrap-around terrace with amazing views of the city (including a telescope focused on the Empire State Building). Oh and our couch was a Fendi.


My pics don’t do the views justice. At 2,300 sq. ft., this baby is bigger than my house. I was most excited about the ginormous tub with floor-to-ceiling views and the extra fluffy and extra- long bed pillows…both are a prego lady’s dream

Our colleague invited some work peeps over to enjoy our lux digs and the great views so this mama stayed up WAY past her bedtime. Totally worth it!


The bar has been set for hotel rooms. I challenge the universe to dazzle me at some point in my life with an option that’s even more amazing!

Frequent flying tot

Our Pickle is becoming a traveling pro! At 20 months, he took his third flight and visited his fifth state.

Like San Francisco, we purchased his seat so he could be contained in his car seat. With my growing belly, I did not want to deal with juggling him back and forth between the two of us in our seats. At this point in my pregnancy, I get uncomfortable when the person in front of me reclines his seat on a flight, so imagine figuring out how to store a wiggly toddler on my lap. No thanks.

I was extra glad we bought his seat when we learned our flight home was sold out and delayed. The Pickle was a champ and slept for most of the flight home. While waiting at the gate, he was high fiving our fellow passengers and taking candy from strangers. Having a play area at the Tampa airport also helped bunches to keep him occupied since he was past his nap time.

This trip was taxing for me, but I'll treasure the memories of him playing in the sand and smiling at the surf. (Him sleeping horizontally between Phil and me with his bowling bowl head in my back...not so much.)