Farm Country Kitchen

Quietly tucked in a nook of West Main Street lies one of Riverhead's best kept culinary secrets but be careful if you sneeze you might miss it. Often mistaken for someone's home, the only thing beckoning drivers towards Farm Country Kitchen is a free standing chalkboard displaying its name, oh and the 15 vehicles fighting over limited parking.

After finally finding a spot at the gas station across the street (which I'm not sure your allowed to do), follow the stone pathway draped with bamboo trees to what looks like the front door of your grandmother's country home. If the scent of fresh baked cookies doesn't lure you in on its own, the view overlooking the tranquil Peconic River will. Plus the picturesque display of precious ducklings bobbing behind their mother and squirrels playing tag up the giant pear tree is free of charge.

Farm Country Kitchen may be a mystery to many but this eatery is my all time favorite place to dine. On the rare occasion that I have an evening off I'm first in line for the limited balcony seating. With only about 12 tables you quickly make friends with your hungry neighbor. Last Friday I pounced on the opportunity to be served for a change and took my dad out to an absurdly late birthday dinner (April...August, easily interchangeable).

At first I was hesitant to bring my father's taste buds to my culinary happy place since they definitely belong to a food critic in another life, not to mention one that only liked authentic Italian food and couldn't have the different items on his plate touch each other without having a minor panic attack. But I figured with a menu that changes seasonally there had to be something to entice that iron-willed palate.

Ducking through the front door, the entranceway looks like the cover of a Town and Country Magazine. When we walked in the staff welcomed us like we were an old dear friend they hadn't seen in ages (even though I have brought my boyfriend there the weekend before) and escorted us to a quaint wrought iron table outside. We read through the mouthwatering menu over a bottle of chilled red wine we brought from home.

Although I need my toes to count the number of times I have been here, I stayed true to my astrological traits and could not make a decision. The waitress, who actually did remind me of my grandmother, read us the nightly specials which confused my palate even more. I decided to step away from my usual appetizer-the fried artichoke hearts which are lightly crisped and served with a delectable horseradish dipping sauce that dances down your taste buds- and finally settled on the Sophia Salad to start.

The vinegary scent of arugula bit my nose as it came out of the kitchen. Topped with luscious roasted red peppers, fresh mozzarella cheese, carrots, cabbage, juicy baby tomatoes and fried artichoke hearts (I had to have them somewhere) the salad was gone in minutes.

Our discussion was halted when our entrees walked through the door. My dad got the Chicken Shiitake dish and when they placed it in front of him I thought I was going to fall off my already wobbly chair. Bite size pieces of boneless chicken were bathing in a garlic and shallot white wine sauce over creamy risotto bordered by crunchy asparagus. Everything was touching each other! But he dug in with no hesitation, the succulent and rustic flavors quieting those obstinate taste buds.

I ordered the Cajun Seared Salmon, a dish that I have gotten once or twice before but this time it was served differently. I had gotten it once in the winter and it came dressed in a berry reduction sauce laying next to creamy risotto, strawberries, blueberries and a medley of mixed vegetables. On this breezy summer evening, it came next to a sweet quinoa salad and fresh asparagus.

Although the chef creates one of the most amazing blueberry pies I have ever had, we were too full to fit another morsel of food into our bodies. I left pleasantly plumper then when I walked in and happy that my dining choice had conquered my father's finicky palate.

"Everything but the Kitchen Sink"

I have not forsaken you!

First and foremost I must apologize for my inability to share with you the inner details of my fabulous life in the Hamptons...oh wait, that's because I don't have one.

This season is the three months out of the year where people come to take advantage of the gorgeous weather, their summer Fridays, and their beach houses.  It is also the one quarter of the year where I can take advantage of those people's wallets.

As many of you know I work for an interior designer on Main Street in Westhampton Beach during the day. To make some extra cash, once my day of decorating has come to a chaotic end, I hop in my car and shoot over the Rumba Rum Bar  in Hampton Bays where I plaster on a bright smile, button up my (hideous) Hawaiian shirt and serve Prickly Pear margaritas and grilled artichokes to people that actually get to enjoy their summer. I get home around 12:30-1 in the morning, rinse off the dried dirty bus bin water that splashed all over my legs, hit the pillow, wake up and do it all over again Monday through Thursday.

On my days off I tend to turn off my brain cells and bask in whatever sunlight I can find. However as my father so courteously reminded me there are a lot of hours in a week and even though I feel like most of my days consist of bouncing from one job to the next and trying to balance family, friends, boyfriend and personal time, I can dedicate at least one of them to my true passion: writing.

So, now that I have invited you all to my pity party we can move on.

Amid all the discombobulation that ensues throughout my work week, the one thing I can control is what I eat so I always make a point to pack myself a healthy lunch. Even though the deli across the street from my office has the most AMAZING whole wheat everything flagels I have ever bitten into and a crepe place called Cafe Mambo just opened up around the corner that has a nutella and banana medley that calls my name, I know that when I have a protein-packed nutritious mid day meal I feel like I can trek through my 14-hour day on a high note.

My (which I am sure is many people's) predicament is that I like to snooze as long as I possibly can in the morning barely leaving myself enough time to make a cup of coffee let alone a gourmet spread. Plus my office is half showroom half workplace and my boss prefers to teeter more on the showroom side since we don't have any the typical office appliances like a microwave, water cooler, or toaster oven. What I wouldn't give for a Keurig machine next to the $3,000 French antique mahogany bar.

My options break down to either a salad or a sandwich. Luckily for me the former is my favorite food group (most likely because it doesn't involve any actual cooking). Those create-your-own salad bars are my happy place. When I die, my personal heaven will be a 24-hour salad buffet with every vegetable, nut, and salad dressing ever imagined (and it will all be calorie free). But while I am still here on Earth I might as well share some of my quick lunch concoctions.

My salads look like I literally picked up the refrigerator and dumped all its contents into my light blue tupperware (that I fight my mother for because it truly is the perfect size). It lives up to the cliche "everything but the kitchen sink." And it is so easy and quick because I toss whatever I want over a bed of crunchy lettuce and call it creative.

Tuesday I got home from the restaurant at about 12:45 sticky, sweaty, and cranky. Although exhaustion was leading me straight to my pillow, my healthful subconscious rerouted me to the kitchen. Opening the refrigerator I quickly assessed my options. I lined my bowl with crisp Romaine lettuce then began to chop every piece of produce in the vegetable drawer like an herbivorous butcher. It was like a five year old's worst nightmare.

Juicy beets, English cucumbers, bright carrots (for crunch-so when I close my eyes I could imagine garlic croutons), red onions, sweet August corn, and leftover roasted red peppers and eggplant that were marinated in Italian dressing and grilled (which I did not do, thanks mom!). I pulled the Nature's Promise extra firm tofu from its container and threw in a cup for protein, hoping nature would keep its promise. Adding chickpeas for a punch of extra fiber, I put oil and vinegar in a miniature container and called it a night.

The next evening I sauntered through the door pulling stray bar napkins and run away straws out of my bag and faced the kitchen with the same conundrum. Washing out my same light blue bowl, I ripped up my old friend Romaine and started from scratch. I added a diced hard boiled egg (which again I did not make, thanks mom!), a quarter of a creamy avocado, baby carrots, some crunchy jicama, one diced baby bell cheese (almost with the wax on because I was bordering on delirium) and a handful of pumpkin seeds. Since the top of my tupperware snapped on without any extra force I decided to add leftover sauteed kale.

These "everything but the kitchen sink" salads are simple, brainless and steer me away from the MANY unhealthy lunch options that encompass my office like an obesity-inducing army. It does help to have a mother that prepares dinner every night therefore leaving me with a plethora of leftovers to toss over my palette of lettuce but as long as you can safely use a knife (which sometimes I still have difficulty with) and can successfully open the refrigerator, making a healthy lunch is just as easy as choosing between sesame and everything.

Mango Madness

My wisdom teeth don't exist, I guess that's not so strange. I am also missing my second molars on the bottom- okay, maybe that is a little weird and according to my dentist something she has never seen before. Apparently when you bite down and your teeth don't have anything to hit they continue growing, therefore I'm slowly turning into a backtooth vampire. You can't tell just by looking at them but on an X-ray those back top molars look like they are the overbearing father to the rest of my teeth. I had talked to my dentist about implants (not the silicon kind) but since my mouth seems to be the same size as a ferrets', I didn't have enough space on the bottom to put them in.

I decided to just yank the suckers out. My panic stricken self went in on Tuesday and all the anxieties I managed to muster were numbed by a few shots of Novocain. I have three tattoos and I was deathly afraid to get my teeth pulled. Despite the stomach churning cracking sound I heard and the dull pressure to my jaw bone the actual process only took about three minutes. The recovery however took much longer.

My mom's contraption to ice my face with total hand mobility

I thought missing wisdom teeth was a blessing in disguise since I would never have to get them pulled but obviously the dentistry deities had a different plan for me as did my fragile stomach. Tuesday I came home and seemed perfectly fine besides the red soaked gauze pushing my cheeks out to look like a chipmunk harboring acorns. At night, the pain spread like the Black Plague and I turned to my PRESCRIBED Vicodan and 800 mg Motrin. I woke up the next morning to my room spinning and a nausea that slapped me in the face every time I sat up. I became well introduced to my bathroom floor. Apparently my body couldn't handle high doses of medication. The downside: now the only thing to relieve the stupefying pain in my mouth was regular old Aleve but the upside is now I know I will never be addicted to painkillers. 

I quickly took to the habits of a narcoleptic and floated in and out of sleep (and nauseousness). The sun kissed color I had worked so hard to attain this weekend rushed from my face and the thought of food actually disgusted me (which rarely if ever happens). I couldn't chew the normal queasiness quieting staples like crackers and toast. But don't feel too bad for me, I had all glorious soft delicacies at my finger tips- pudding, ice cream, mashed potatoes, all things loaded with sugar and carbohydrates and also all things I couldn't keep down.

My saving grace: my mango madness smoothie. I combined fresh cut up mangos, a handful of over ripened strawberries, a heaping spoon full of Hagen Daaz All Natural Mango Sorbet and about a half a cup of Almond Milk and sent it for a spin in my Magic Bullet.  

Obviously smoothies are interchangeable based on your palate preference but this one seemed to work for me. It was light and refreshing and my stomach accepted it. Plus it is loaded with nutrients yet low in calories. Mangos contain 80% of your daily Vitamin C intake and the Mango Sorbet is only 150 calories for a whole cup. I would suggest this smoothie even if your not experiencing extreme nausea and you aren't missing a total of eight teeth. The only positive spin I can put on this experience is I found a new go to breakfast smoothie and the scale says I lost three pounds.

Mini Mood Modifiers

I leave my driveway at 9:53 to get to work by 10. I can go to the gym, shower, blow dry my hair and make myself an elaborate breakfast all in the same time it takes my father to sit on the LIRR and commute to his job in Manhattan. Part of me is dying to work in New York--to immerse myself in the atmosphere, to have delis, gyms, salons, and Forever 21 at my fingertips, to become saturated in that perpetual commotion. On the other hand, I thoroughly enjoy the extra $400 I save in commute and being able to hit my snooze button 25 times without waking up in a panic that I missed my train.

However, on occasion, I have to join the daily grind and trek my way into Manhattan for work. I go in to wait for deliveries, I make sure electricians come and paint over outlets and hang thousand dollar photographs, I bring in Egyptian bed sheets and bring home trinkets and glass side tables. 

I typically don't mind the drive, rush hour never actually killed anyone although some may beg to differ, but Tuesday morning "bumper-to-bumper traffic"obtained an entirely new meaning for me. One of my friends graciously accompanied me on my journey so we could access the Almighty HOV lane but due to the torrential downpour that relinquished all drivers' capabilities to control a car it took us 3 hours to get to the Mid Town Tunnel. A trip that usually takes me, alone, in regular morning traffic, about an hour and a half. I still remember the license plate number of the car in front of us because I stared at it unwavering for 45 minutes while we were at a stand still. 

Frustrated and severely disgruntled I dropped my friend off at work and sped to a magnificent townhouse on the upper east side. The only things inside this five story Manhattan mansion was wallpaper and kitchen appliances yet I still had to drag my jaw up the stairs. After dropping off about $1,000 worth of pillow fillers and mattress pads, I booked it down to the West Village to another apartment I would never be able to afford. 

Finally at 3:30, I scooped up my dad and joined the rest of civilization as we all tried to fit onto one not so Long Island. Needless to say when I got home I was cranky, tired and hungry. Instead of sticking my head into the ziplock bag filled with leftover Easter candy or finishing the contents of a recently opened Skippy jar (the extra large version), I whipped up a quick fix I found on Hungry-girl.com to relieve my throbbing sweet tooth without having to go to the gym twice the next day. 

Personally, I think peanut butter and chocolate is one of the most ingenious concoctions ever created. It's like the Sunny and Cher of the dessert world. With only three ingredients this low-fat yet flavorful snack is a quick satisfying treat to perk up anyone's bad day.

I always thought 100 calorie packs were such a tease. Either they tasted like the a bland copycat of the real version or they have the flavor element but you eat them all before you even completely open the tiny package. Alone, I though the Nabisco Oreo thin crisps were a solid representation of the former group- they tasted like chocolate flavored mini-frisbees. But if you add a dollop of chunky peanut butter and low fat cool whip- it magically turns those insipid impersonators into a mouthwatering dessert. 

Disregard the jar of Hellman's Mayo in the background- that is not part of this recipe, it was part of my father's dinner.

When your miniature masterpieces are assembled, place them in the freezer for a few hours and enjoy. And no need to fight the inherent feeling of guilt if you devour the entire plate, according to Hungry Girl you can savor ALL ten of them for only 188 calories. Since when do you get to have your dessert and eat it too!

Let Me Tell Ya About Nutella

I have an unhealthy obsession with healthy food.

I know its a sick thing to admit but I actually enjoy eating vegetables. When I walk through the aisles at the supermarket I get sucked into the products that contain "whole grains" or are "made with skim milk." I buy things just because they say "less fat than the leading brand." I often need to be yanked from the organic section because I would spend my entire life savings on Cascadian Farms cereal and Food Should Taste Good sweet potato chips. If there is a God up there, he will soon have pity on my soul and put a Trader Joe's or Whole Foods within a 15 mile radius of my house.

Now don't get me wrong, I am a girl that loves her well done french fries and juicy cheeseburgers with the works, but I am on a constant search for healthy alternatives to my favorite fatty foods but still taste like the real deal. I don't want to torture my taste buds with chips that taste like cardboard. Stripping food of its flavor takes the fun out of eating and I don't believe that you should sacrifice pleasing your palate just to appease your waistline.

If you ask anyone that truly knows me, they know that I love food. My boyfriend asks me everyday what I ate for lunch. I know he actually doesn't care but he knows I get some strange joy out of explaining the components of my salad or my new concoction of jicama and guacamole 100 calorie packs. I may not remember to feed the dog or take the garbage out but I do remember the amazing Gemelli pasta dish with capers, grilled calamari, and kalamata olives in a red sauce that I had in the city with my mom three weeks ago.

Since I seem to have every weekend spilling into July booked out of the Hamptons and off Long Island I didn't want my blog to feel neglected. So I am taking my deep affection for healthy food, mixing it with my mediocre cooking skills, and adding another layer to my blog.

Once a week I will try to update my readers on any new recipes I find or ideas that pop into my head and my hilarious attempt to create it. I am no Rachel Ray or Giada De Laurentiis. I may have the same love for the Food Network that a Spanish grandmother has for her telenovelas but the extent of my culinary prowess doesn't go much further than pushing the start button on the microwave. I will give myself credit in the sense that I am pretty good at putting things together. I am rather world renowned for my creative salads and I can make a delectable sandwich, but once you actually have to turn the stove on and get ingredients to blend, I surrender my oven mitts.

Therefore, this should be interesting.

The first appearance to this new foodie side to myself is my attempt to recreate a dessert my family and I had at Edgewater Restaurant in Hampton Bays. My former place of summer employment, as well as my father's, this authentic Italian hot spot overlooking the Shinnecock canal is where we tend to end up for every birthday, celebration, and plain old Saturday night meal. With a line out the door every night of the week, you always leave with a smile on your face as well as lunch for the next day. Last weekend we celebrated my dad's birthday and the owner so graciously sent over just about every dessert on the menu. As I kissed my diet goodbye over tiramisu, tartufo and peanut butter pie our waitress dropped a new delicious concoction in the middle of our table. Focaccia wedges with nutella and berries. So simple, yet so mouth watering.

It was so scrumptious that my mother and I tried to re-produce it for a Mother's Day dessert (p.s. Happy belated Mother's Day to all the mommies out there). We found a simple recipe online for focaccia bread, but added cinnamon to the mix. When the dough had risen we cut it into three pieces, flattened it out and threw them on the grill. (This is where I learned that while igniting a grill the dials must be on low and the lid must be open otherwise there is a strong possibility it will explode. You learn something new everyday). We let them grill until crispy (or relatively burnt)- about 10 minutes on each side.

Post-grilling we let them cool and stuck two of them in the freezer to revisit at another time. Once they were room temperature, we smothered them in nutella, low fat cool whip, and blackberries and raspberries. Another concoction we thought of for future desserts would be marscapone cheese, strawberries and agave nectar or even greek yogurt and caramelized bananas. 

The end result wasn't too bad! It definitely wasn't restaurant quality, the focaccia wasn't nearly as crispy as it should be but anything covered in nutella isn't worth complaining over. If you have once small piece I would consider this a pretty healthy alternative to a slice of Oreo cheesecake or an ice cream sundae, I mean come on it has fruit on it, but of course we devoured the entire thing. Maybe that's why today when I shook my salad container to distribute my dressing my gut jiggled just as much as the contents of my tupperware.

Chocolate Cheesecake Coma

Traditional Pizza Rustica oozing with ham, proscuitto, ricotta and all things cured meat and Italian dairy, breadcrumb stuffed artichokes, savory meatballs in marinara, fork tender peices of pork shoulder, steaming red lasagna and our lonely attempt at a "light" option in vegetable white lasagna; after Easter dinner, I wish I had jumped in on that whole Jesus diet and fasted for 40 days. Then I probably wouldn't feel the need to desperately pull up the top of my leggings to hide my food baby belly.

Tomorrow it is back to fresh fruit, oatmeal and grilled chicken. As soon as I heard the Keurig revving up like a caffeine infused motor and my mom walking towards the kitchen carrying that simple white box those nutritious notions were quickly knocked from my health concious mind.

Holey Moses Cheesecake is tucked behind runways and construction signs at Gabreski Airport in Westhampton Beach, NY. Family owned and happily operated you will always leave this tiny yellow sugar sanctuary with a pie in hand and a smile on your face. They have everything from peach cobbler and apple crumb to key lime pie and oreo cheesecake, but this year my mother brought home the Holy Grail of Holey Moses- the chocolate mouse cheesecake.

I am not the biggest fan of cheesecake in general but you could put chocolate on top of chicken feet and it would appease my inner fat kid. This creamy whipped piece of heaven sits on top of a perfect crumbly graham cracker crust and even though at this point I might as well have take a slice and applied it directly to my love handles, I savored every bite of my extra large piece (which meshed wonderfully with my chocolate glazed donut flavored cup of coffee...okay I think I have an addiction).

So since I am so full the only words now coming to my mind are "fluffy pillows" and "down comforters" I have to say goodnight. I hope you all had a fantastic Easter with your friends and family and the next time you happen to find yourself in Westhampton Beach stop in at Holey Moses and pick up a pie. I promise you won't be disappointed. (Try the Black Forest Cheesecake too!)

Getting Lucky on Long Island

Every night I pray that the next morning I am woken up by Mother Nature's avian alarm and that the sun's warm fingertips will caress me out of dream world. My sundresses are hanging in the closet aching to be worn and flip flops have emerged from underneath the passenger seat of my car. I think I've been hiding from my blog for the past two months because I've been too busy counting down the days until I feel the sand between my toes and the smiley face stickers plastered to my face (reference to the Boardy Barn for those of you who haven't experienced its glory). Its April and I still have on wool socks, my Eskimo boots, and turtlenecks. But even though the monotony of my weekends hasn't been blog worthy, last weekend was definitely worth sharing with the world.

Luckily I don't have to board a plane to see any of my friends from college, so we usually try to plan a monthly get together. Months earlier we had purchased tickets to see Lil Wayne and Nicki Minaj at Nassau Coliseum on March 27th, so last weekend four of my girlfriends boarded the legendary double decker train for a fantastic weekend on Long Island. Since my friends and I seem to have a serious infatuation with food we tend to base our gatherings around where we will be stuffing our faces. For all of you who have a similar obsession you must indulge a few meals in Huntington. 

First stop on our culinary journey was Pancho Villas home to the most amazing pomegranate margaritas that have ever graced my taste buds. We started off with a pitcher of pink frozen goodness and I welcomed the brain freeze. It had just enough tequila to leave you warm and tingly but not too much that the valet has to help your friends carry you to the car. Even though Pancho Villas' claim to fame is their "sizzling fajitas" I abided by my meatless Catholic boundaries and got the vegetarian combination. A crispy taco packed with creamy fresh guacamole and crunchy lettuce, a warm flour tortilla stuffed with smooth refried beans and melted cheese accompanied by a heaping scoop of rice, salsa and endless tortilla chips satisfied my Mexican craving for under ten bucks! Is your mouth watering yet? Keep reading. 

After burning those calories off bar hopping, we soon replaced them the next morning at Toast & Co. Tucked on a side street of Downtown Huntington, their menu offers a funky twist on comfort food and classic dishes. Since I have only ever been there for breakfast I can vouch for the first page of their enormous menu, although their creative sandwiches such as "Shrimp and Guacamole BLT" and inventive entrees such as "What a Crock of Mac 'n' Cheese" seem like they are definitely worth coming back for. 

My friend that lives in Huntington walked in like she was the Queen of England; Toast was packed with people eating, tucked in the nooks and crannies of the restaurant, but magically a table for five opened up. We were ushered to the neon orange table like royalty. We sipped on chocolate milks, coffee and tea and analyzed each item with growling stomachs and aching heads. The options were endless- Ricotta Lemon Pancakes with chocolate ganache and hazelnuts, Blueberry cream cheese stuffed French Toast or Eggs with Scallion Bisquits were just a few of the tantalizing options listed on this mouthwatering breakfast menu. As usual, I was overwhelmed with options and opted for a create-your-own omelet (which thinking about it now sounds like an oxymoron). But next time I am going for the veggie skillet, a hodgepodge of steaming vegetables, sweet potato homefries, and over easy eggs all blanketed in melted cheese. Oh, and a mimosa!
Still not drooling?

We continued on our edacious endeavor to Jericho Cider Mill where cars line Route 106 to pay homage to this tiny apple sanctuary. If you are lucky enough to snag one of the 10 parking spots, you will nearly be knocked down by the sweet scent of fresh baked pies. But we weren't here for the apple crumb or even the apple turnovers, we had frapples on our minds. Served in a simple styrofoam cup, this healthy Slurpee is an ingenious concoction of frozen apple cider that puts a new spin on a Thanksgiving favorite. And get a large, trust me.



Live hAPPLEy

 After letting our inner gluttons run rampant for two days it was finally Sunday evening and the concert we had been looking forward to for months was here, but of course we needed to eat first. Sapsuckers Hops and Grub is a relatively new restaurant that may look like any other dimly lit pub, but has a menu that gives any five star eatery a run for their money. Organic and local ingredients give this cozy bar an upscale feel and the extensive beer menu will take your palate on an international tour without ever leaving your seat. Amongst the homemade black bean soup, wild boar sausage dogs, and gorgonzola burgers, I settled upon the Cuban sandwich. Served with a crunchy pickle and rosemary and thyme tossed french fries, my sandwich put all other Cubans to shame. I pulled apart my toasted ciabatta bread to a spider's web of Swiss cheese. It was the perfect start to an even better night.




So pretty and unsuspecting


When we parked at Nassau Coliseum, we hopped on line, emptied our pockets and walked through a metal detector, just like any other normal concert or airplane boarding procedure. After scanning our tickets we tried to find our seats and found ourselves walking upstairs- understandable since we opted for the $107 tickets, I'd assume we would be towards the back. Row L, row M, row N, more stairs and more stairs; by the time we made it to our seats I had developed acrophobia. We were two rows away from the last possible row in the entire stadium. If I stood on my seat I could graze the ceiling with my head. Accepting our position we settled into our seats for the opening act, when an attractive guy in a gray jacket approached us.

"Are you guys huge Lil' Wayne fans?"

We looked at each trying to decipher that was really suppose to be. What was his motive? They all have one.

He asked us again,

"Are you guys Lil Wayne fans?"

But this time he held up the purple V.I.P. pass hanging from his neck. My bravest friend (aka the one sitting closest to him) spoke for the group, "Uh yeah." The second she closed her mouth he handed her four tickets: seat 11-14 row 1.

Smitten with disbelief, my heart dropped into my stomach as we followed our prince charming down section by section, security guard by security guard to the front row. This is the kind of thing that usually happens to my mom's coworker's daughter or my cousin's friend from school, some kind of exclusive luck that always happens to a friend of a friend, but never to me. I have that there's-a-hair-in-my-sandwich or I-spilled-coffee-on-my-shirt-before-a-huge-presentation kind of luck.

When the concert began Lil Wayne was raised from beneath the stage two feet away from our seats. We were so close I was blinded by his silver studded teeth. When he lowered his sunglasses I could see his pupils. If we were any closer the chain hanging from his crocodile patterned pants would have hit me in the face! Okay not really but you can sense my excitement. I have never experienced a live performance up close and personal. This is what being wealthy must feel like. We had even hit the rap star motherload.  A plethora of unannounced performers showed up throughout the show such as Busta Ryhmes, Ludacris, Birdman and Dj Khaleed. Even if you hate Lil Wayne and all things rap related (coughdadcough) I know there is a teeny tiny pang of envy nestled inside you. Thank you to our concert savior, if I knew your name I would name my first born after you.