I went from not wanting a birthday party to having about eight different celebrations. Go big or go home apparently became the theme for my 30th birthday. And that turned out to be the best way to celebrate.
For my dinner in NYC, I had an idea simmering for a long time on what I wanted to do. The fried chicken dinner at Momofuku Noodle Bar. If there's anyone who knows how to party with food, it's David Chang - am I right? You have to work their crazy reservation system but I was determined and ran the gauntlet to score seats for eight... Amanda, Missy, Julie, Leigh Erin, Alice, Jodi, and Rachel.
As I was going around introducing everyone it was so funny to say that I've met most of them online in someway - Flickr, blogging, Twitter. They are all so talented, successful, smart, funny - and love to eat. Which I have learned is a big requirement to be friends with me. In case you haven't noticed.
Dinner included one southern style fried chicken and one Korean style fried chicken, pancakes and greens, veggies, and sauces. Plus you can't go to Noodle Bar without starting with pork buns. You just simply can't.
And man, it was good. Better than good, it was great. We enjoyed a variety of desserts with the cake truffles and (surprisingly) the right on trend neon pink beet lime soft serve being crowd pleasers.
The best part for me was having these lovely friends all at one table. They've each heard snippets about each other and it was so enjoyable for me to have them meeting and chatting with each other. Integration is fun.
Momofuku means "lucky peach" in Japanese and I don't think it could have been more fitting for my party full of fried chicken, seven amazing ladies, and celebrating thirty in my city.
