IX

Brunch is my favorite meal. It's the first meal eaten after a great night out and it's the perfect meal to catch up with friends. I know, it's not really a legit meal but I'd go with brunch food any time of the day and I couldn't say that about any other meal.

Brunch on a gorgeous Saturday was at Bar Boulud and having never been to any of Daniel Boulud's restaurants, this was excellent start to working my way through his kingdom. The dishes were quite delicious despite having to hear an incredibly loud jackhammer right outside the door the whole time. I went with my go-to, the eggs benedict, and you'd think that it wouldn't be too hard to produce a poached egg (as in, the yolk should spill out when the egg is cut open) and a nice hollandaise sauce but I've had plenty of bad ones in my lifetime. Luckily, Bar Boulud did not disappoint me. I'm going to attempt to make homemade eggs benedict just to see if it's that difficult to produce eggs that aren't overdone and a hollandaise sauce that isn't bland.

Oeufs Florentine: poached eggs with ham, spinach hollandaise sauce, whole wheat toast

gauffre belge: belgian waffle, pear-quince marmalade and almond butter a la mode

Paté Grand-Mère: fine country pâté, chicken liver, pork and cognac

saumon fume: smoked salmon club with avocado, tomato, lettuce and chive créme fraîche

tarte du jour

ile flottante: floating island, praline rouge, vanilla creme anglaise

I don't smoke cigarettes but there is something so relaxing and enjoyable with smoking cigars. I've smoked cigars once before and that was at a wedding in Charleston so it was a different experience doing it at a cigar lounge in the upper east side. I went with a mini at Club Macanudo and it's tough maximizing a mini.... ;o) Next time, I'll definitely go with a regular sized one.