Playing Catch-Up

I have been thinking of things to write about every day since my first post but haven't gotten the hang of actually  writing and posting them. So tonight I am going to try to catch things up. First off - I went on vacation!!! And it was amazing! I'll give you a couple of hints to see if you can guess where I went...

It involved a little of this:

Doesn't that look so relaxing?!

And a LOT of this: ;)

Delicious!! And check out the umbrellas! :)

Any ideas? I'll give you one last clue...

Toot toot!!

I went on a cruise!!! It was THE MOST relaxing vacation/week of my life EVER (or at least that I can think of right now!). I would do it again in a heartbeat; hands down. Plus I had some awesome company.

Dad, Lor and Mom (I don't know who that lady in the orange is)

We went on Royal Caribbean's Freedom of the Seas boat ship. It was just mind blowing. I won't ramble on too much but I did so much while on vacation that I feel like I had some terrific experiences yet everything was so smooth and relaxing that I came back utterly refreshed. If you ever get a chance to go - GO!

After I got back I unfortunately was a little sick so I'm going to blame that for my lack of motivation in writing. This week, however, started off GREAT. This week is Albany Restaurant Week which I LOVE and try to go to every time it is held. I believe there is one in the Spring and another in the Fall and haven't missed one yet since I first found out about it. For those of you not familiar with Restaurant Week - participating restaurants in the area offer a 3 course meal from a fixed price menu for $20.11 (since it's 2011). All the menus are available online at Albany BID's [snazzy new] website, which I think is the greatest part (aside from eating of course) since you get to essentially scope them all out ahead of time!

On Monday I went to Marche at 74 State Street. Off of their special Restaurant Week Menu I ordered:
Appetizer:
Ginger Pork Dumpling - Spiced pork meatball in a fried dumpling, sweet soy, nappa cabbage slaw
Entree:
Grilled Salmon - Salmon filet, caramelized onion risotto, peas and carrots, mustard and dill glaze
Dessert:
Strawberry -Banana Bread Pudding - Bread pudding infused with banana, topped with balsamic strawberries and whipped cream.

YUUUM is all I can say. It was all so good. I have been to Mache once before, also for restaurant week, and the food is just incredible. I should have taken pictures because the presentation is just as yummy as the food itself.

Well I'll stop here and hopefully finish my catching up tomorrow.

Have a great night! I'll leave you with a picture of a new friend from the cruise ;)

I thought he was going to eat my toes! Haha