Videos from Hilton Head Island

Lauren and her cousin Hailey enjoy a little beach time at Hilton Head.





Andrew and Lauren buried in the sand.



Andrew catches a wave.

Lunch at HOME

After offsites and mission trips, the majority of LTR was back together this week. (Evan, we missed you!) Al asked that we block off Tuesday lunch to celebrate spring birthdays and catch up as a team. Shara popped into my cube with a big smile on her face and told me she'd planned something special. But refused to tell me what. Closing out our morning meeting, Al announced 11:30am reservations at HOME - the new restaurant operated by Chef Richard Blais.

I immediately start laughing and cheering (meaning giggling and rambling)! As a big fan of Top Chef, I am beside myself. Al totally outdid himself on this surprise! This way makes up for being a month late, and even the Joe's Crab Shack fiasco from a few years ago. Shara had the idea and totally ran with it. (love her!) So, we pile in the cars and drive down to West Paces.

Our host seated us at a table in a nook with three porthole windows into the kitchen. When asked if Chef Blais was in today, he gave us a mysterious face and an evasive answer. Which I immediately took for a 'yes'! So, like the over-eager fan that I am, I took Mauro's cell phone & tried to discreetly snap some pictures of the kitchen. (I know... I'm such a dork!) But then our server, seeing my stalker actions, came over. She offered us drinks and informed us that Chef Blais was not in fact on the property.

Discouraged that we wouldn't see the chef, but excited to try his food, we turned to the menus. Shara and I couldn't make up our minds, but on the promise that we could share, here's where we landed: I ordered shrimp and grits. Shara and Chris got the fried duck w/truffled mac and cheese. Stuart ordered the arugula salad with sea bass. Al, Mauro and Melinda all got the pimento cheese burger.

While we waited, we enjoyed biscuits with pepper jelly. They went over great. I think Chris contemplated licking the jelly dish clean.

While we were waiting, Chef Blais arrived at the kitchen. Imagine me with a camera phone pressed up against our little window. So subtle, and yeah, Blais saw me. He came right to our table grinning. Dressed casually with his trademark faux-hawk, he welcomed us and started chatting. Someone mentioned it was my birthday, and he wished me the best while I grinned like an idiot -- totally starstruck. So much so that I forgot to ask for a picture! Anyway, he was super nice and friendly and humble. He also looked exhausted. But he moved on to another table where a twelve year boy was eating with his family. The kid looked even more awestruck than myself, and Chef Blais invited him back to the kitchen. That kid was over the moon.

My entree came with five enormous shrimp with a cajun rub, sitting in a bed of organic stone-ground grits, and sprinkled with andouille sausage, corn and scallions. The flavors were simple and straight-forward. I would have preferred a bit more heat or spice on the shrimp, but the most interesting flavor was the grits. They had a light sweetness to them. Our server said it was apricot. It was very good, but i was expecting a bit more punch. (Michael Ivan's recipe remains my favorite.)

Chris & Shara both had the duck. The plate surprisingly lacked any form of presentation. Both ate a bite of mac & cheese first, and were taken aback by the sharp flavor. It was shells flavored not only with cheese but also cauliflower mash and truffle oil. Extremely rich, strong flavors. However, by eating a bite of the mild, moist duck first, it provided a good counterpoint to the rich mac and cheese. But truth be told, I think they were a little underwhelmed.

When asked, Stuart said his fish and salad were good. Clearly, he wasn't blown away either. The burger was probably the biggest hit. Al said he would come back for the burger. Mauro & Melinda liked that the cheese added good flavor. Chris finished the second half of Melinda's burger & seemed to enjoy that more. It came with rather bland french fries. I would have thought to pair it with something more original -- even sweet potato fries would do. So, over-all, we were somewhat underwhelmed. It was a good meal. But not a great meal.

We ordered two desserts to share: red velvet cake with cream cheese ice cream and a moon pie with a cardamom ice cream float. Finally, a little of the willy wonka style we were expecting. The red velvet was fine, and I enjoyed the sour cream ice cream. The moon pie was unremarkable. I think Chris compared it to a 'little debbie'. Definitely the cardamom ice cream was the most interesting. We all enjoyed that. It's an unusual spice and certainly not something you would think to connect to ice cream. But it totally worked. Thank you, Chef Blais!

And a big thanks to Al and Shara for a surprise that made me feel celebrated. 'Cause even though this was technically also for Mauro and Stuart, it was really for me! Thanks for indulging me & trying something new. I love my job and the LTR team! And let me say, that I have eaten extraordinarily well in my 30's so far -- ya know, all six weeks!

Sunday: Tavern on the Green & Central Park

After a late night on Saturday - 2:30am, i think?! We slept in past 10am Sunday morning. We had late brunch reservations at Tavern on the Green at 11:45am. So we dressed, packed and left our bags with the bell desk. We caught a cab to Tavern and took a table in the main dining room. It's such an iconic NYC landmark. We would have eaten in the center courtyard, but it was actually quite warm and sunny. But we had a view of the courtyard with the floral Chinese lanterns and flowers galore.

We started with the crab cake for an appetizer. Andrea had a brie and blue crab quiche with salad. Leigh Ann ordered eggs Benedict. I chose brioche French toast. The French toast would have been a lot better to someone who liked raisins. But the quiche was delicious. And the eggs Benedict were so rich!

We wandered through the Park on our way back to the hotel. I just love Sundays in Central Park. It was an idyllic morning/afternoon. We returned to our hotel, picked up our bags and cabbed it to LaGuardia. Where we picked up the latest entertainment magazines and flew business class back to the ATL.

I can't imagine a more wonderful birthday. It had it all: incredible theatre, fantastic food, and fabulous friends... Happy 30th to me! It's been the best birthday of my life. Thank you - thank you - thank you, Brian! You are the best husband ever!

Saturday - part 2: Boeing-Boeing & Cafeteria

Following Gypsy, we succumbed to a nap back at our suite. We woke up still full from lunch, and decided to eat dinner after our evening show. We dressed and headed to the Longacre, stopping next door for candy and Red Bull. Our seats were fabulous: 5th row center. We were so excited to see Bradley Whitford, Christine Baranski, Mark Rylance, Gina Gershon, Kathryn Hahn & Mary McCormack. The curtain goes up, and there's Bradley Whitford! Just 20 feet away... amazing...

Boeing-Boeing is a romantic farce set in 1960s Paris. We laughed hysterically. Mark Rylance was fabulous. I hope he takes the Tony. It was beyond perfect. Absolutely one of my favorite nights at the theatre ever! We were close enough to be sweat on... Christine threw her cigarette away to the girl sitting in front of us... we saw Mary lose her composure while sparring in German... we saw Bradley Whitford split his pants while they danced the curtain call... absolutely amazing!

And did I mention that John Cleese was sitting diagonally in front of us? Mr. Monty Python himself. He was very tall, and looking quite his age. We also saw Swoosie Kurtz and Edward Norton. (Did you know he's the new Hulk? random) And we decided to wait outside the stage door like stalkers to see if we could meet the cast. Which we did. Every last one! They were all very gracious, signing autographs and posing for pictures. Mark Rylance had this cool fold-up bicycle that he carried. And it was amazing to see Kathryn and Gina just melt into the NYC crowd.

Anyway, we waited around to see Bradley. Much of the crowd had dispersed, and I found myself face to face with him as he opened the stage door. I proffered my playbill, and started gushing about what a fabulous job he did and how it was one of the best nights at the theatre ever. He handed me back my playbill, locked eyes with me and said, "Well, you're subtle!" Then Leigh Ann raised her camera and we posed. Bradley said, "Ready girls? Cheese!" in a high-pitched teasing voice. I thought Andrea was going to explode. We rushed off like giddy teenagers, completely starstruck. Except Leigh Ann. She plays it cool.

By this time it was 11:30pm. We'd missed our dinner reservations at Thalia, and they had actually closed the kitchen... So, Plan B: Leigh Ann knew of Tyler Florence's all night eatery in Chelsea called Cafeteria. It's where the girls in Sex & the City met for breakfast, and continues to draw a super-hip crowd. Perfect for three suburban moms, right? We thought so!

We arrived at midnight, and the place was hopping. We took a table downstairs in the lounge. Our waiter was friendly and chatty and generous. I had the doughnuts, Leigh Ann had a cheeseburger and Andrea had a wedge salad with french fries. It turned out to be the perfect late night meal. I don't think I'd ever eaten dinner after midnight. But we were so wired from Boeing-Boeing... it was fantastic!

Saturday was a fabulous day with two delicious meals and two incredible shows. We did it up big on Saturday!

Saturday - part 1: :craftbar & Gypsy

We slept in late Saturday morning. It was beautiful. No kids. No demands on our schedule... After grabbing a bagel we headed to TKTS to pick up tickets to a matinee. We were debating between several shows, but decided we couldn't pass up the chance to see Patti Lupone in Gypsy. And now that the Tony nominations are out, we knew we'd get to see her even at a matinee because the voting is currently going on. Leigh Ann was super-excited.

We then hopped in a cab and headed back to the Village for our 12n reservations at :craftbar. This is the casual restaurant operated by Top Chef judge Tom Colicchio. His veal ricotta meatballs are legendary, and I couldn't resist the opportunity to check it out. We were 25 minutes early and decided to walk around a bit. We found ourselves in Grammercy Park, the last privately-owned park in the city. It was beautiful, and it was locked. But we did see Teddy Roosevelt's home and the former mayor of New York's residence. It was a gorgeous day.

We returned to :craftbar and decided to do lunch tapas style. We began with my all-important cheese plate: a caciotta (nutty) and a fourme d'Ambert (bleu). Then came the pecorino-stuffed risotto balls, chickpea fries with black olive aioli, polenta fritters with coppa and golden raisins, and sausage-stuffed sage leaves with a lemon sauce. (Leigh Ann definitely had a lemon theme going after those gnocchi at Perilla.) Followed by pecorino fondue with honey and hazelnuts, my veal ricotta meatballs, and the standout dish in my opinion: the duck proscuiutto bruschetta with duck egg, salad greens and orange puree. Fantastic! We ate ourselves silly and actually left food on the table. It was delicious.

We realized we were running late and started hoofing it back up to Times Square. We arrived at the St. James just as the lights went down and the curtain went up for the overture to Gypsy. It's the closest I've ever cut a show. I didn't connect really to the storyline, but it was cool to see Patti Lupone belt out 'Everything's Coming Up Roses'. I had no idea that the story ended with burlesque. That was a little crazy. But how could you miss the all-star, tony-nominated cast? Patti was born for the role and knocked it out of the park. I'm glad I got to see her.

Friday Night: Avenue Q & Sweet Carolines

Following dinner at Perilla, we hopped in a cab and headed to the Golden theatre for Avenue Q. There's just something so wrong about dirty puppets... Leigh Ann had seen it a couple of years ago, but assured us she would happily see it again. Apparently the first time she saw it, she and her friend laughed so hysterically that the actors were teasing them from the stage... We knew it would be fun and silly and inappropriate.

It was. The sarcasm, the puppet hanky-panky, the witty songs... it was so great! We just laughed all night. Great dinner. Great show. What to do next?

One of mine and Brian's favorite night spots in the city is Sweet Caroline's, a dueling piano bar off West 46th. The show runs 10pm-3am. The girls and I arrived around 10:30pm. The bouncer waived our cover & we grabbed a table down front. Shortly after our drinks arrived, the lead piano man asked if anyone was celebrating a special occasion. Leigh Ann and Andrea promptly nominated me to go up on stage. Thanks, Ladies! No, it was fun... I may post pics later...

We all had a great time. The club filled up. It was fleet week, so lots of sailors and marines looking to have a good time. We sang the classics: Billy Joel, Elton John, 'Joy to the World' complete w/the club's crazy hand motions, and of course 'Sweet Caroline'. So fun! We returned home around 1:30am.

Friday - dinner at Perilla

Harold Dieterle, the winner of Top Chef season one, has opened his own place in the Village: Perilla. It was one of the ten best meals of my life. What a way to ring in my 30th birthday!

We cabbed it down from Times Square and arrived right on time. Perilla is on this tiny little quiet street: #9 Jones Street. It's a small restaurant; it seats 60 people max. Very simple decor: minimalist with arts & crafts touches. We had a table near the back. Leigh Ann chose the black olive poached Kingfish with Meyer lemon gnocchi. Andrea ordered the pancetta wrapped pork tenderloin and the faro risotto. I went with the sheeps milk ricotta ravioli in truffle butter. Oh my gosh - amazing!

Leigh Ann's Kingfish was prepared beautifully, but it was the gnocchi that made the dish. You bit into them and they would melt in your mouth. Then at the end, there would be this surprise pop of Meyer lemon. Incredible.

My sheep's milk ricotta ravioli was beautiful. It's prepared with fiddlehead ferns, mushrooms and English peas. The ricotta filling is a rich explosion of flavor. The broth with truffle oil is both light and complex. It's a perfect combination. I loved everything about it.

Andrea's pork tenderloin was perfectly cooked, but the faro risotto stole the show. This is by far the best risotto I've ever eaten. Probably one of the ten best things I've ever tasted. It's prepared with artichoke and parmesan cheese. On top sit sliced grapes. The grapes lighten up the rich dish. It's nice with and without the 'chili grape salad' on top. I'm getting hungry just thinking about it! That rich, buttery, parmesan cheesy risotto. It alone is worth the price of admission! I will absolutely be back to eat that dish again. Bravo, Chef Harold!

To close out our meal, we tried the vanilla scented doughnuts with Meyer lemon curd and dark chocolate ganache. They brought it to the table complete with a birthday candle. It was a yummy ending to a fabulous meal. I cannot wait to return to Perilla!