wine country

Well, after a long week of work, the four of us went out to the North Fork of Long Island for the weekend. A special thanks to my wife's mentor for loaning us the wonderful house we stayed in the past 2 days. It was a short vacation, but it was relaxing and nothing short of amazing!
We stayed at the end of a street that lead to a beach on the bay, and the house was across from a marina with a view of a lighthouse.

This is the house we stayed in.

On the way into town we saw a banner for "Lobsterfest" that was scheduled for that very night! What we did not know, but soon found out was it would be at the beach at the end of the street (about 100 yards away).
We hung out at the beach for a few hours and then went to get some sandwiches for lunch, which we brought with us to one of the local wineries.

Our beach at the end of the street, and Madeleine in her "gear".

Me and Max chillin' in the shade.

Lunch at the Duckwalk Vineyards.

Madeleine working the fields.

Ending the night in style... LOBSTERFEST!!!

Today we spent the morning at the beach, swimming and napping (depending on who you asked). We went to The North Fork Table & Inn's Lunch Truck and got a lobster roll and pulled pork sandwich to go, and brought it to.... you guessed, a winery :)
We spent about 2 hours and 2 tasting flights of great wine at Corey Creek Vineyards. The wine was very good, and we brought a few bottles back with us to enjoy later. The grounds were beautiful, and the staff there was very nice to us.
The sandwiches were amazing, possibly the best lobster roll I have ever eaten! 

A view from the rear deck at Corey Creek.

That was about it for the weekend, the rest was getting ready to go home, and the drive back to Brooklyn. We are home now and I am getting ready to make dinner.
Great weekend with the family, no work, just fun :)

early wake up

So I usually wake up between 4:00 and 4:15 to get ready and be able to run or ride my bike to work. This morning however, I woke up at a nice ripe 3:30 to my almost 3 year old daughter screeching from bed. Little girl must have had a nightmare, so up I went to soothe her back to sleep.
3:50, and she is ok for me to leave her for the day (middle of the night), and I am now up for the day, 30 minutes earlier than usual. Funny thing is, it was only a few years back when 3:30 was my bedtime, and here I am getting up for the day... and smiling about it!
Well, on schedule for today is 7.5 mile run to work, a few hours of work, 7.5 mile run home, and spend some good quality time with the family. Nothing crazy today, maybe a few burpees along the route to work :)
Here is a picture of my favorite part of my daily commute (taken from a different angle of course).

Gotta run, have a great day :)

UPDATE:
Arrived in 1:04 and felt terrific the whole run :) Snapped a sunrise picture from the bridge on the way in.

Time to get to working :P

UPDATE #2:

Run home in 1:10, felt a bit tired, but have now logged 30 miles in the past 3 days :)
Here is a picture of the bridge traffic on my run home.

If I can log another 20 by Sunday night, I will have 50 for the week!
Now I need to find a widget that keeps a running tally of these things for me...

getting started

I am starting this blog to get my "adventures" down on paper... or in this case, a screen.
A little bit about myself to begin. I was born here in Brooklyn 36 years ago. I am a product of the public school system, and more recently, many NYC kitchens. Fast forward through many years and travels (which I may or may not get around to later), I am now a chef in Manhattan, and I live here, in Brooklyn, with my family, my wonderful wife and two children.
I have recently developed an insatiable appetite for mud runs, endurance racing, and other physical/mental challenges.
In a few weeks, on September 9, I will be participating in The GORUCK Challenge. Then on both Saturday and Sunday, November 12 and 13, I will be participating in my 3rd and 4th Tough Mudder events.
There will be many other fun times to come, and I will be posting all about my training and other related bits and pieces.
For now I will take my little girl upstairs and give her a bath, then read her some stories, and put her off to sleep.
Goodnight.