weekend.

After our Staten Island excursion, I didn't take single a picture all weekend. This post is an exercise to see how many images I can scavenge from the internet :) I think I was pretty successful, but now I have serious camera envy because all my stolen shots are better than my typical ones! A girl can dream...

{via}

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Saturday night, Kurt and I went to Paqueña for dinner. We typically go to their tiny little outpost around the corner from my apartment but I had a Groupon to try out their new location in Prospect Heights. It is at least 3 times bigger than the Fort Greene restaurant but still has the same great menu of tacos and enchiladas and very similar Day of the Dead-esque decor. Plus, they are one of the few places that carries my favorite Mexican beer, Sol (which I gained an affinity towards during many a Taco Tuesdays in Greensboro, Alabama). Kurt and I split a pork tostada (similar to the one pictured above) and shared a couple beers. We are such good penny pinchers that with my coupon we only had to pay tax and tip. My mother will be so proud :)

After dinner we met up with some friends at Building on Bond in Boerum Hill. Since many people were still out of town last weekend, Andrea was kind enough to put together a gathering to continue celebrating my birthday. I'm glad everyone could stop by! Thanks for my deli cookies and another rousing rendition of "Happy Birthday to You". It never ceases to embarrass me.

{all bldg on bond images via}

I really love this bar. It's very low key and relaxed. The interior is quirky and rugged. It was designed (and possibly owned) by a design/build construction company next door, Hecho Design and Construction. They specialize in bars and restaurants. I want to work for them. Working next door to a bar doesn't sound half bad either :)

On Sunday, Kurt and I met up with some friends for brunch at Brooklyn Public House in Fort Greene. We tried to go to James, this new restaurant Erin has raved about in Prospect Heights, but they were booked up until 3:30! 

Public House was pretty quiet, so were were able to get a table right away. Kurt and I split a dish called the Maryland Crab Benedict. It was an English muffin layered with a crab cake, poached egg, and red pepper hollandaise sauce. Delicious. I'm deciding more and more that I always need to live near the water because I love seafood so much...the beach isn't bad either.

In the afternoon, I spent some much needed time at my apartment. One of my roommates is moving out soon, so I did a brief cleaning in order to impress potential roommates we are planning to meet this week. Then I decided to make some oatmeal cookies with cranberries and apricots (amended from this recipe) to use up some ingredients I had lying around.

Sunday evening, Kurt made a Bolognese sauce with pasta. He amazes me more and more every time he just throws something together. It's always delicious. We're trying to make Sundays movie nights, so Kurt gets some mileage out of his Netflix subscription. My choice this week was The Jerk with Steve Martin. It's an oldie but hilarious and awkward. Plus, Steve Martin is my old man crush, so I never mind watching him.

Sadly, I've been fighting a cold all weekend. I guess I could have traded all those previously mentioned outings for sleep, but that didn't sound like much fun. I hope to recovery quickly this week. A National Championship win by Auburn may be just the medicine I need :) Fingers crossed! War Eagle!