Birthday Dinner @ Carmelo Greco

Hub's took me to a fabulous restaurant in Frankfurt for my Birthday!  Truthfully I haven't been all that impressed with food in Germany but this restaurant was super nommy even better then some fine dining restaurants we've been to in the San Francisco.

Adorable Hubby :)

Our sparkling water had this attachment to make pouring the water smoother.. I have no idea what it's called.. but it was so cool I was really tempted to jack it BAHAHAHA! :)

One of the funny things about living in Germany is that whenever I'm out and about whether it's shopping or eating I always get excited because the prices seem so much more affordable... until I remember that the prices are in EURO's and not in USD BAHAHAHA. and then I'm like crap. AHAHAHAHA.

I loved their bread... the puffy looking bread was like this deep fried doughy puff it was nomss!

They really load you up on the bread ahahah.. the crips on the top tasted like pita chips but waaaay better!

Gelatin cubes of beef with foam and cucumber infused ice cream and candied fruit

Ice Cream #1! 

This was really super interesting the gelatin beef reminded me the gelatin beef you would eat at a Chinese wedding banquet on one of those spinning lazy susans.. and the funniest part was that after The Hubs and I both had a bite and I said "You know what this reminds me of??" the Hubs responded "Chinese banquet" I said "OMGGG YES" AHAHAHAHAH.. we really are married.

It was also accompanied with a scoop of cucumber ice cream which I really enjoyed.. at first I was kinda weirded out but it was actually really good together they really complimented each other.

Ice Cream #2!

As you will find I ate A LOT of ice cream/sorbet/granita's at this meal... 4 times to be exact!!  In 5 different flavors!! (Lucky too because the restaurant was realllllllllllllllly warm.)

Burrata salad w/ artichoke, tomato jelly, potato, and mustard infused ice cream

For one person this was waaaaaaaaay too overwhelming and it made it somewhat unappetizing.

Also this dish was really wet... hahah that is the best way I can describe.  There's ice cream and jelly LOTS AND LOTS of burrata cheese as you can see (to be fair the burrata was VERY fresh and delicious) underneath the burrata was a lot of very wet veggies and a very mushy wet potato. and there was nothing to absorb all of the different wet textures so it just made the whole dish very mushy.... yahhhh...

While I appreciate the effort this was definitely one of those better in theory vs. execution type of dishes.  This was a fail.

Duo of Fois Gras w/ caramelized apples and port wine cherries

The Hub's appetizer was a MAJOR win!!  IT WAS NOMS!  Sauteed fois gras as well as a cold pate type of foie gras covered in macadamia nuts.  The sauteed apples and cherries were a perfect accompaniment as they really cut the fatty taste of the foie gras.

I also really appreciated that they plated it with two different types of fruits.. that way you actually get 4 different flavor profiles!!  (I'm the type of person that likes to order 5 different appetizers vs. appetizers and mains at restaurants hahaha because I get tired of the same flavor profile quickly.)

Atlantic lobster w/ creamy risotto and Sicilian tomato sauce

I wasn't happy with my appetizer but the meal was saved by my starter entree which was AMAZING!!!!  So amazing it deserves an AMAZEBALLS BAHAHAHA!!!

I'm usually hesitant to order lobster in fine dining establishments (even though it is my ABSOLUTE favorite seafood) because I often find that the lobster comes out rubbery for whatever reason.

This however was PERFECT some of the best lobster I've ever had in my entire life.. it was plump, juicy, succulent and soooo so sweet!

I'm a huge risotto fanatic and this risotto was delicious and I really loved that they gave you some pureed Sicilian tomato sauce so that you could eat the creamy risotto normally.. or with some tomato sauce (another flavor profile!! LOVES IT HAHAHA :)

Ravioli w/ Parmesan and Sicilian tomatoes

This was the Hub's starter entree and it was SOOOOO GOOD too!  The Hubs absolutely hates Ravioli and yet he even admitted this was some of the most delicious ravioli he's ever tasted.. you could most definitely tell it was freshly hand cut and made right before we ordered it the ravioli skin was SOOOOO thin and the cheeses inside were amazing.

The Sicilian tomatoes were plump and delicious as well! 

Duck w/ pureed potatoes, mushrooms and mango's

I loveeeed my duck dish!!  Duck is one of my favorite things to order in restaurants soooo you could say I'm pretty picky about my duck.  This however was delicious.  I really enjoy duck because I like the gaminess but I'm turned off when it's too gamey (does that make sense??! haha) this was prepared with just the right amount of "gaminess" hahaha and I really enjoyed the sweet mangos!! I swear the fruit in Germany is way wayyy sweeter than in the US.

Suckling pig w/ celeriac puree and candied granny smith apples

The Hub's entree was good.. the pig skin was BOMB (but when is crispy pork skin not bomb?? haha).. but the meat itself was a bit on the dry side.. Suckling pig is basically like a German national dish.. you can order it ANYWHERE in Germany.. and in fact one of the best suckling pig I ever had was inside of a train station and it was like $3 EURO's hahaha.  So I would just say this was good but I've had better.

Palette cleaner - Watermelon granita w. Beer & Apple sorbet

Ice cream #3! 

This was really interesting.. the scoop on top was a sorbet infused with beer and apples.. it was reallly really "beer-y" AHAHAH.  I have no idea how else to describe it.. being that I don't drink.. and when I did drink I didn't drink beer.. this was not really my cup of tea.. however the watermelon granita on the bottom was DELICIOUS!!!  SO SO watermelony!  And watermelon is my favorite fruit so I was really tempted to ask for another scoop hahahaha. I didn't tho.. I resisted hahaha.

Lemon jelly w/ vanilla bean infused whip cream and peach sorbet on crushed pistachios

Ice Cream #4!

Our main dessert was yummmmmms.  Especially the whip cream!  You could tell they make their whip cream fresh and the best part was that it had vanilla bean in it!!!  I.LOVE.VANILLA.BEAN. vanilla bean ice cream, vanilla bean cheesecake.. i DIE for all things vanilla bean! 

The lemon jelly was a bit tooooo lemony for me.. but The Hubs really enjoyed it I think you were actually suppose to eat the lemon jelly w/ the vanilla bean whip at the same time.. it probably would have dampered the tartness of the lemon jelly but I was so excited that there was vanilla bean that I basically ate ALL of the whip cream before I got to the jelly part ahahaha.

The restaurant surprised me with a cake!! :)

Haha as you can tell I was totally caught off guard.

why.am.I.such.a.dork. -___-

I've never gotten a sparkle candle like this before so I was super excited hahaha. 

My own personal chocolate ganache cake!!  

IT WAS SOOOO RICH OMG!!! 

It was absolutely delicious.. and on the house too!!  I always appreciate when a restaurant goes the extra mile :)

Excuse the shininess ahahahahaha.. German (and most European countries for that matter) don't really do the AC thing.. it was realllly really warm in the restaurant you may have noticed that as the evening went on The Hubs took off his jacket and loosened his tie ahahaha and that my hair totally fell flat hahaha.

Something every wannabee foodie always looks for - the Michelin stamp of approval hahahaha

Thanks for such a wonderful and memorable meal Booboo!! :)

BIRTHDAY OOTD: Lace, Leather & Tulle

Remember these YSL's that I revealed for my birthday??  

Well I just could not wait to wear them!!

And I decided that I just HAD to wear them to my B-day dinner muhahaha :)

Threw on my absolute favorite Bamboo Sky faux asymmetrical leather jacket!  

DIE for it - it makes me feel like a bada@@!! bahahaha

Interestingly enough as I was editing the pictures for this OOTD I had a strange sense of Déjà vu... so I started looking through my past OOTD's and exactly one year ago around my birthday I apparently wore this outfit in Vegas.

WHAAAT THE EFFFF' 

I mean seriously it's like during my birthday I suddenly think I'm the swan princess or something!

BAHAHAHA!

I'm officially 29 ::CRIES::

 The last year of my 20's! Yikes!!! 

Better make this year count ;)

Lace top: F21, Tulle Skirt: H&M, Leather Jacket: Bamboo Sky, Necklace: Ann Taylor, Shoes: YSL, Handbag: Chanel

AMSTERDAM Part 2

FEBOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Febo is a chain of Dutch automated fast food restaurants that's selling point is basically mystery meat that's breaded and deep fried haha.  There's someone in the back that's basically making all the food and putting them into basically what is one big giant vending machine.

(Shoutout to Johnson!! :) 

They have everything from deep fried cheese, fried chicken, burgers and many other things. 

It really is just like a giant vending machine.. you figure out what you want to eat pop in a few coins.

The cover will unlock and you reach in to get your choice of piping hot greasy deep fried goodness.

We got a fried chicken sandwich, a "meatless" croquette which was made with mushrooms and potatoes, a beef and pork croquette and a cheese croquette!  The cheese croquette was the BEST!! They don't lie when they say The Dutch make good cheese!

HAHAHAHA THIS IS SO AWESOME.  

Kaiser Karl + A Beyonce song = AWESOMENESS.

They actually sewed on real crystals on all of his fingers made to look like rings!

Cheeseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Heineken Beer is from The Netherlands too!!  I thought this was adorable! 

"Special Coffeeshops" hahah they were EVERYWHERE too!!  

You couldn't walk down a street without seeing at least a couple of these shops and the smell was SOOO strong too... and this is from someone that's from Hawaii HAHAHA.

A Dermalogica Spa!!!! 

Omg I got so excited when I saw this hahahaha.

I didn't go in to try it though because we didn't have enough time but if I return to Amsterdam I will definitely make time to try our some of their services.

Her neon highlighter yellow maxi skirt is AMAZEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEBALLS!!!  

I seriously wanted to run after her to ask her where she got it and if I could take some pictures of her hahahaha.

Anne Frank House 

You should definitely buy your tickets online before you go as you can see the line stretched past the house and a couple of buildings down the block.. They said the wait is easily up to an hour just to get in!!  So I was really happy we bought our tickets before we got there :)

We weren't allowed to take pictures inside!  So this is all I got of my experience there.. but I would definitely recommend going if you ever visit Amsterdam it was a truly interesting and surreal experience for me.

On a side note after we toured the house we stopped in the museum cafe for some drinks and when I looked outside I noticed this woman who was standing in line waiting to get into the museum carrying this AMAZEBALLS YSL crossbody bag. O M G DIE!

I seriously zoomed my camera in and took about a half dozen shots of her and her bag... it was like the most gorgeous taupe color similar to Hermes etoupe and the shiny bright yellow Y!!!  I know this is the YSL Chyc design but I can't seem to find this bag anywhere online. Most of the YSL Chyc bags seem to be more triangle shaped... slimmer at the top and gets bigger and wilder at the base of the bag but this one seems to be a perfect rectangular shape.

Is this bag real??? HAHA DOES IT EXIST?!  DOES ANYONE KNOW?!!!  Because it is so so so beautiful!  I NEED IT IN MY LIFE hahaha.  It looks like the perfect hands free traveling bag because of the shape and the crossbody strap.

Crooked house!! Actually we found that a lot of the houses are very crooked in Amsterdam!  And apparently when Amsterdam was first founded the government issued only very very small plots of land to people so people decided since the couldn't build OUT they would build UP!

Obsessed with all the gorgeous canals in Amsterdam!

It is way waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay more pretty then in my pictures.. my pics really do not do justice to how gorgeous this city is.

One of the things on my must do list for Amsterdam was to try the ice cream!!  The Dutch are known for all of their dairy products and this was one of the most famous ice cream places in Amsterdam.  It DID NOT disappoint.  The ice cream is very rich and creamy tasting I would say it is even tastier than Bi-Rite in San Francisco *GASP* hahahahaha

I mean seriously an ice cream shop with a chandelier.. how could I not love this place?! 

I tried a scoop of the blood orange and a scoop of spiced cookie.  

THEY WERE PHENOMENAL!  

(I seriously want to type AMAZEBALLS again but I think I've totally surpassed my allotment for this blog entry BAHAHA!)

Omgosh they were soooo so good!!! 

LOVE LOVE LOVE!!  

You most definitely have to try some dutch ice cream when you are in Amsterdam!

Martini for the Hub's and a Bitter Lemon for me!

Bitter Lemon is my new favorite drink!! I wish they had this in the States it's super refreshing it's sort of like a carbonated lemonade but not as sweet as normal lemonade is.. which is good for me because I typically find lemonade to be entirely way too sweet and always have to ask for a glass of water to mix into my lemonade.

Our view during dinner :)

We started off with a traditional savoury Dutch snack called Bitterballen.  Basically this is similar to what you would find at Febo!!  Deep fried mystery meat haha but these were delicious and they were made from veal and beef.

Burger and Fries

Mixed Indonesian plate

Interestingly enough the Dutch consider Indonesian food as one of it's national foods.  I was lucky enough to try some at the restaurant we happened to randomly pick.  It was four different types of curry - chicken, pork, beef and a vegetable curry made with green beans topped with a boiled egg and fried shrimp chips.  Even the rice was delicious you could tell that it had been cooked with onions and garlic and other seasonings.  I have to say this was pretty freakin' amazing!!

I've never had Indonesian food before but this definitely did not disappoint.  It almost felt like a mix of Chinese, Thai, Indian and Filipino foods.  It was wonderfully delicious and I'm glad that they offered this unique way of dining so that I got to try four different curries all in one dish!  And now I'm on the hunt to try out more Indonesian food!

Hehehe This is what happens when you're bored waiting for a boat! 

He loves it! 

MUHAHAHAHAHAHA!