let's do brunch: miller's tavern

"You're the only girl I know who'll order fried chicken for brunch," Monica said as she watched me tear into my plate of fried chicken smothered in pepper gravy at Miller's Tavern.

"It's fried chicken! With a poached egg! And gravy! It's everything I want in a plate," I replied, clearly in cloud nine. I don't go out to Brooklyn for brunch too often, but this plate of heaven was definitely worth the trek.

Monica's brunch fare was a bit more conventional: Eggs Miller—poached eggs atop crab cakes and English muffins, all drizzled with hollandaise sauce. 

The Bloody Marys were especially nice after a night of much beer and karaoke.

To cap it all off, a lovely latte.

Oh brunch, how I love thee!

Wishing you all a lovely weekend with lots of sunshine, coffee and well-deserved Bloody Marys!



Miller's Tavern is located at #2 Hope Street (At Roebling St), Brooklyn, NY 11211

group discount mania!

Hi, my name is Celine and I'm a group discount addict.

I'm supposed to be on a spending freeze but I can never resist a good deal—especially when it comes to classes that I take or have been wanting to take. Normally, I can just erase the emails I get from Groupon, LivingSocial and Bloomspot without too much thought. But today there are two deals that I just can't seem to resist!

I have been wanting to learn capoiera for AGES and today Bloomspot has an irresistible offer for a month of unlimited capoiera sessions at New York Capoeira Center for just $45. What a great deal!

Then over at LivingSocial, there's another coupon for a 5-class punch card at Exotic Dance Central. I already have one of these from the last time Groupon sold the same deal and I actually haven't gotten around to using it yet. But pole-dancing classes don't come cheap so I can't help but feel the urge to hoard those punch cards. I'm extra tempted because EDC also offers belly dancing classes on top of the garden variety exotic dances, and I really have been meaning to try that too. Should I just go for it?

To get a dose of capoiera on the cheap, click here.
To get five sexy dance classes for a low, low price, click here.

let's do brunch: the weekender

As big of a glutton as I am, I would not normally be raring to get out of bed on a rainy Sunday. But I do love my friends so I pulled on those wellies and trekked to Soho for our burger brunch date at Burger & Barrel. This was my reward:

This, my friends, is the B&B Classic "Weekender." It's a burger topped with all the typical fixins: lettuce, tomato, pickles, cheese and special sauce (basically mayo, ketchup, mustard and spices). But ask for the "Weekender" and you get a fried egg on top of all that. If you really wanna go all out, ask for extra bacon, too. Those crisp onion ring toppers come gratis with all B&B burgers. What more could you possibly want?

I thought the burger was pretty perfect. With all the goodies stacked on top of that thick and juicy patty, the burger is easy to handle. There's nothing more frustrating, after all, than going in for a bite anticipating several different flavors only to find half of them have slipped off the burger and onto your plate. I like how the sandwich is just the right size and that they've thought to cut it in half before serving it to you so that it's easier to dig into. And an egg in my burger? Sheer genius.

It was unfortunate that I was completely stuffed afterward because there were so many things I wanted to order off that menu. I am dying to try the Caramel Twist Spiked Milkshake, which combines vanilla ice cream, Makers Mark bourbon and caramel sauce. Can you say yum? Also on the dessert menu: S'mores Pie. Hell's to the yes.

You'll be seeing more of me, B&B.

I give that burger:

Burger & Barrel is located at 25 West Houston Street New York, NY between Mercer and Greene Streets. Phone (212) 334-7320 for reservations.

cel vs. food: arthur's 24-oz steak

Arthur's Tavern, you sneaky sonofab*tch. You hit me in my weak spot. I had a firm strategy in place when I was perusing the menu: Order a glass of cabernet sauvignon to go with the 24-ounce steak. No beer—no need to fill precious real estate with carbonation. I was good to go until the beer ordered by Ico was set down on the table ... Can you guess what happened from the series of images below?

Yup, I got a severe case of beer envy. I couldn't concentrate on our group's conversation and I couldn't enjoy my puny glass of wine. My eyes just kept going back to that magnificent stein of beer. Finally my friends took pity on me. Phil relieved me of my cabernet and I got my very own gigantic glass of Sam Adams. I was very pleased.

But then my steak came and I knew I was in trouble.

That humongous slab of meat was sinfully good. My steak was cooked a perfect shade of rosy medium rare and marbled with enough fat to make my heart twitch. I put up a valiant effort and ate two thirds of the steak before I threw in the towel. I chose to finish the beer instead ... cos you can't doggie bag beer.

The next time I come to Arthur's, maybe I'll try to reign in my gluttony and split a steak with someone so I can dig into the other uber-rich items on the menu. Like this cheese-swathed onion soup ...

... and this garlic bread that's "just like yaya made."

Or maybe I'll be better prepared to take down that steak AND the beer at the same time. I hate losing. At just $23.95 for an all-meat 24-ouncer, I can keep coming back until I get my revenge. You may have beat me this time, Arthur's, but I shall return.

It's not the prettiest of places but for great value for money and shamelessly large portions, I give this place:

Arthur's Tavern is located at 237 Washington Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030. Tel. 201-656-5009

designer for less: target redux

A little bird named Avery shared some exciting shopping news with me today. To celebrate 5 years of bringing designer aesthetics to the masses, Target is re-releasing 34 of its most popular GO International dresses. I own one Target GO International dress from the Tracy Feith collaboration that I still love very much and has been worth every single one of the 39.99 dollars I spent on it. So I'm a fan of Target's GO International stuff. I hope that this time around I'll get a chance to snag one (or all three) of the dresses below: the wrap dress from the Thakoon collection ($39.99), the Proenza Schouler bustier dress ($44.99) and the Behnaz Sarafpour minidress ($44.99).

The dresses will be available at stores and at Target.com on March 13. Don't miss out!