March Madness in February

March Madness - a term most use in reference to the upcoming NCAA basketball playoffs - is the nickname I gave my annual stomach flu. The past four years, I have gotten some form of the stomach flu/food poisoning in March (and always on a Friday mind you, ruining the entire weekend rather than granting me a well deserved sick day). It is eerily consistent. This year must be a leap year on my internal calendar though, because Christmas come early.

Friday night had a great plan - sushi at the ever-popular Tomoe, followed by a cocktail at an old favorite, Crispo, a comedy show at Comix, and a nightcap at my neighborhood wine bar, Otheroom.

Friday night had a few wrenches thrown in it, followed by the entire toolbox.

Tomoe was good - an impressive array of fish, generous portions and one heck of a California roll. Tomoe also gave me food poisoning - I'm 98% sure. For one, my food intake that day was bland and boring (think English muffin, an apple, coffee and maybe a chocolate croissant). Secondly, we caught a sushi chef taking a second look at a piece of salmon, scraping the top with his knife and then placing it on our plate. I ate it with vigor and heck, it tasted fine. But it didn't taste as good on the way out at 3am. The way I look at it, I chose to eat raw fish - I rolled the dice and I lost. It's in the odds.

Comix: Turns out Tom Green isn't funny anymore(?). Whacked out of his mind? Yes. Bitter about his divorce from Drew Barrymore? Apparently. An entertaining stand-up comedian? I'm afraid not. Kudos to him for having the ball to attempt a comeback. (Pun fully intended if not insensitive). But he spent the entire evening panting, while frantically pacing the stage, sweating, stuttering and staring bug-eyed out at the crowd. He sang a few of his old songs which garnered a chuckle or two, but mostly he just ranted about his bout with Drew and his divorce from his ball. Okay, I'll stop. He should get a standing O for surviving testicular cancer (and a relationship with that nutjob). And he did pose for a [bad] picture with me. Welcome back, Tom.

The March Madness hit me roughly right after this picture, (therefore accounting for the 2% uncertainty I have for cause of my illness - hey, it's possible). Regardless of cause, about a sip into my drink at the Otheroom I had to run home and make nice with my bathroom floor. I don't mean to yadda yadda over the good part, but use your imagination and multiply times three. Suffiices to say I have bathroom tile marks on my forehead. The weekend consisted of really bad movies, some Olympics and a lot of fluids. The highlight being an enormous bowl of strawberry Jello, which I now believe is one of the most under-appreciated foods.

Now that I'm moving onto big girl foods, and in honor of Tom Green's bout with testicular cancer, I am going to try my hand at Matzo Ball Soup (you know you're smiling).  I dog-eared this recipe in NYMAG - from Chef Jo-Ann Markovitzky of Toqueville. My only variation of the recipe will be to use seltzer instead of the two tablespoons of chicken soup when making the matzo balls - the 'secret ingredient' my Jewish friend shared with me years ago and will probably yell at me for disclosing. If all this talk gave you a craving you just have to satisfy, Katz's Deli swears their balls are so light, they'd float away if it weren't for the chicken soup surrounding it. (It actually says that on the menu - I swear).

I bet they use seltzer.
- The Heat