Elisa's Daily ScoopSunny SundayGood Day! Good Day! Another lovely day here on Long Island.  Today is the last day of kids' Easter Break vacation. The good news, for them, is that they go back to school for a week and then we leave next Saturday for our Cousins Yellowstone Road Trip. I have a pretty full day - first a full work out - Lord knows I need to push the limits a little today with my exercising. I haven't done a good job this past two weeks. Then I'll be taking Gianna over to the mall to get a dress for the Father Daughter Dance this coming Friday. We did get her an adorable floral dress two weeks ago, which she wore on Easter, but she asked if she could get a red or black dress for the dance to fit in with the "Red Carpet" theme. We'll see what we can find - for a reasonable price, of course. Thanks goodness, she already has shoes. Finally, later this afternoon, I'll be helping Tedd with his new law firm website (which your's truly designed and constructed!) and we will be filming a few short videos to upload to the site to make it more personal and informative. The day should end with a nice meal and getting the kids off to bed early!  Metropolitan Opera House in Lincoln Center at night Let me tell you about last night!!! As you know, I had tickets to the Opera to see Ernani. Although I enjoy the opera, I have not been to that many and this particular one was of interest since it starred Placido Domingo. First of all, I could not have asked for a more beautiful night to have to go to the city! It was relatively warm - high 50's and clear and breezy and crisp outside. The Lincoln Center area of the city - the West 60's is one that I am NOT very familiar with in terms of restaurants. So, I did a little research and found a number of yummy options. Unfortunately, even though I began my search early in the week, most of the dining options in Lincoln Center proper were already booked for pre-opera times. The restaurant I decided upon was on West 67th Street - about 2 blocks away from the Metropolitan Opera house - The Leopard at des Artistes - What a great choice!! I was so pleased on many levels. Located in the private residence hotel "Des Artistes" it is quietly tucked away on 67th Street.  The atmosphere was incredible! The decor was beautiful and eclectic. The menu was extensive and creative! The food more than lived up to my expectations when booking the reservation. My only regret is that we left a little late (because I had to take a much needed nap after running around like a fool yesterday) and we ended up leaving 30 minutes late (yikes!!) that I had planned.  Interior of The Leopard at Des Artistes (courtesy of Trip Advisor) As a result, we got to the restaurant a little late and didn't have the luxury of really relaxing. We were forced to skip dessert - truly a disappointment for me!! But, the meal itself, more than made up for the lack of sweets. And, in fact, the waiter was so concerned with us having something sweet before leaving, he brought us over a lovely little plate of biscotti and cookies. I normally would do a full Foodie Friday - which I still may, but I really have to share with you immediately, just how delicious my meal was last night!!  Baked Fennel with Parmesan  Braised Artichoke Ravioli with Burrata cheese The Baked Fennel with Parmesan was so tasty with the perfect amount of crispy parmesan. As for the Ravioli Filled with Braised Artichoke and Burrata cheese, in light tomato-marjoram sauce, it was divine!! The Leopard is definitely one I'll be returning to - without a doubt!! Perhaps next month when I return to Lincoln Center to attend the ballet to see George Ballanchine's West Side Story!!  My Tickets to Ernani  Photo taken of the cast after Act 2 With a quick walk to The Metropolitan Opera House, we arrived to the upbeat atmosphere in Lincoln Center with folks gathered around the fountain and star enthusiasts looking through their telescopes. We made it with little time to spare and to my surprise, I had purchased box seats. I just don't remember doing so. In any case, the view was great from the "Dress Circle" and so the show began -- a tragedy of three men's love for the same women, Elvira, with only one that she truly loved - Ernani. It was made up of four acts with two intermissions and two brief pauses. The music was by Guiseppe Verdi and the vocal talents of Placido Domingo (playing Don Carlo, King of Spain), Angela Meade (Elvira), Francesco Meli (Ernani) and Dmitry Belosselskiy (Silva) were magical. What a great evening all around!!! Off to begin my day!!! See ya back here tomorrow with the start of a new week!! -E xoxo  | Tanya's Daily ScoopOperation: Save a DUCK!Hello, and Happy Sunday to you! Before I go on telling you all about the haps for today I must tell you about yesterday... What a Saturday we had!!! I suppose it all started while I was at Dominic's second class, and it was just about finished. I received a text from Cosette telling me how bored she was and that she wanted an adventure...  Well that's quite precisely what she got!! I went home and (finally) began packing her luggage, and searching for a few missing CDs. Side Note: I can't seem to understand how it was that Cosette only just as of Saturday realized that my CDs are filed alphabetically!  Anyhoo back to our impending "duck" adventure! As we were sitting on our front patio chatting it up and shooting the breeze, all of sudden Chaplin got awfully excited and pointed out a mother duck being followed by 13 adorable little ducklings!!! Suddenly realizing that this family had no where safe to go and certainly not wanting to see them in harms way or put in any danger, we decided that the best thing to do would be to catch them and drive them to a nearby pond. Mama duck was having no such thing!  Jet corraling the ducklings    Neighbors play pen was perfect for the duckies   Mama duck was relentless! She was a fighter! So we caught all of her 13 babies in hopes that she'd agree to our terms. Well after getting the neighbors involved and the time ticking away, it was time for me to leave to go get my hair done. While I was away, my mom and sisters were going to continue efforts in capturing the mother duck and bring them all to safety. The kids and Dave went to go play tennis. And once I was done, we all rushed home to find out what the duck status was! Brigitte informed me that she released all of the ducklings back to their mom, and that they went off in a safer direction. Matt (family friend) and Andrew followed the little duck family and found that there was a nearby stream near a private stables not far from our house and that was a safe place for a mama duck to raise all of her little ducklings! WHEW! Dave and I had dinner plans up in Studio City at Gadarene Swine and the meal and experience was quite wonderful. I'll be posting a future Foodie Friday about it and I know that we'll be returning to try out the rest of the menu!!)  Time to dig in! And as for today... Being that the kids have no performances, and no classes. And since we are heading out on our Road Trip in 2 Days. I figured that we'd: Go on a Bike Ride Go to the Rock Climbing Gym Go out to lunch at Sea Birds Kitchen Go play Tennis Go to the Movies (Just so we're on the same page...I don't mean that we'll choose one - well do ALL of these things) And finally sit down to have a lovely Family Dinner with the rest of the clan! That's about it! Hope that your weekend has been filled just the way you like it!! Until we meet again tomorrow, -T  |
