Magazines

So I mentioned in my post the other day that I picked up a new Fine Cooking magazine while I was at the Port Authority earlier than I anticipated to arrive for my bus. This magazine happens to be my new favorite, new as of several months, and how exciting is it that I won a magazine subscription from my crazy friend Roger (who commonly bets magazine subscriptions) when he last year went head to head with me during the Cardinals - Dodgers series (or was it Mets - Dodgers...) and I took the sweep, thereby winning me my fancy subscription to Fine Cooking. The magazine I picked up at Port Authority, however, is a special issue (Best Of, or what have you) and is not included in my deal. Anyway, tonight Craig treated me to dinner at Nina's so I had time to browse through the glossy pages of food in this mag before I left the apartment to meet him and after dinner. Glorious. Positively mouth-watering. Even having just eaten! I decided to post "still life with magazine and white wine" as my photograph tonight.*Nina's was fantastic as usual. Craig met me outside of Nina's on his way home from the train (I leave work roughly an hour before him every night) and we lucked out with the window seat, which is like sitting outside because the windows are floor to ceiling, accordion-fashion, and were thrown open. I had already touched base on the 'plan' with dining out friendly options, and determined that Nina's strip steak (eating only the size of my palm's worth of it, anyway) with sauteed fresh spinach and garlic (total fave dish there) would satisfy my diet just fine. I won't tell on Craig for what he ate, but he also has more stretch room than I. But I was sad when the regular waiter, always our waiter at Nina's, the cutest little smiling guy, came over and asked me, Is the steak, is something wrong with it? And I politely shook my head and said, No, I'm eating healthier now. He smiled and nodded okay but I'm not sure he understood. They are very concerned, at Nina's, that the diner enjoys his or her experience, from drink to ambience to lighting to service to eating every bite (noteworthy is that Nina's only seats like 25 patrons, too!) I need to get used to being the focus of the "that girl barely touched her food" attention after meals out, but I would also slap a shameful, "maybe you shouldn't serve me 6 servings of food" accusation at any restaurant in America, too, even the ever-beloved Argentinian Nina's located at 91st and 2nd in NYC. Seriously, my steak (as delicious and coated in seasonings and olive oil as it was) could have fed several people, at least according to the nutritionists who run my new diet. I can't even imagine how a restaurant would be concerned with the portion I consume in the first place: I am paying for 16 oz. of steak regardless of if I only eat 4. Right?*Enough foodie talk. I didn't pay enough respect to book club in my previous post so what I want to also say is that I get to host next time. How exciting! There are about 8-10 regulars, and roughly 4 that rarely materialize, but my concern isn't as much where to put everyone as it is what to feed them! Oh! Food talk again! Seriously, my friend Emilie mentioned this past Sunday, Hey, Kristin would love to host soon, why doesn't she take this one? and it was agreed upon quickly because all of the people present at the time work in Manhattan, even though most of them don't live in Manhattan. So, we're reading Margaret Atwood's The Edible Woman and meeting late July at my apartment. I will either call in sick that day or take the day off, because inevitably I will not be satisfied that every floorboard and bare inch of floor has been cleaned properly prior to company that I so admire, and so the day of off would be good for me to tie up loose apartment ends, like making sure none of the corners have cobwebs, and such. And also it will be good for finishing up the preparation/cooking of healthy~fat-free snacks that everyone will enjoy. Was I potentially a hostess in my previous life? It would seem.*