Sunday, May 16, 2010

Last Days of Freedom

I spent my last days pre-work freedom with my lovely sister, Jessica and great friend, Kate in New York. I had a great time, but only wish it could have lasted longer.

I arrived via Megabus on Thursday, and after a long walk after getting off at the wrong Subway stop (who would think there would be a 51st street stop after a stop at 50th st, not me apparently.  I didn't realize that the distance between those stops takes you across town), I was on my way!

My first stop was Union Square, I was intending to walk and shop the high teens but I decided to keep walking and stumbled upon this New York City landmark.  I loved the walking through the square with people who were taking a break from there day and local artists displaying and selling their wares.

Next I headed over to meet with Kate at the Rebecca Minkoff sample sale.  There were some beautiful bags for sale but I showed restraint.  I'm very proud of myself!  I can't say the same for Kate, however who scored the "Morning After Mini" she had been lusting over on her third visit to the sale.


After a quick pizza stop for me, we met up with Jess at a store opening on the Upper West Side and finally headed to dinner at Fatty Crab, which I had been hearing about for ever.  Fatty Crab is a laid back, Malaysian inspired restaurant with cute, scruffy waiters and spicy food.  We shared steamed pork buns, mango salad, Lo Si Fun with tofu and Nasi Lemak.  Yum!
 Nasi Lemak at Fatty Crab

I had requested Kate to provide me with a food itinerary for my solo day on Friday.  The morning started out with a stop at Clinton Street Baking Company.  I got there a little late, not expecting it to be a problem since it was a week day after all.  I was wrong.  After about a 40 minute wait I was seated!  Yes!  I was told that I had to order the pancakes, I had no option.  That was fine with me as I LOVE pancakes.  I also ordered a side of eggs for some protein to get me through the day.  I plowed through the scrambled eggs, which was a much larger portion than expected.  Then it was on to the pancakes.  Oh, the pancakes.  Let me just say that it was worth the wait.  I got the banana nut version and they were amazing.  They were light and fluffy and delicious.  Clinton Street Baking doesn't serve syrup.  Instead they serve pancakes with a warm maple butter that is just amazing.  I now want to go to New York in February for Pancake month and eat every meal here.
Clinton Street Baking Company Banana Nut Pancakes


I spent most of the day walking around SoHo, got a haircut, nothing too exciting.  When I finally realized what time it was I found that I was almost out of time for Arepas at Caracas!  New York has so many food experiences to offer that I rarely want to repeat any.  I usually want to try something new.  This is one of the first meals I've put on repeat.  An arepa is basically a cornmeal patty stuffed with deliciousness.  I got the La Del Gato, plaintain, cheese and avacado.  Oh my goodness.  A-Mazing.
My La Del Gato Arepa and Jess's custom Creation at Caracas Arepa Bar.


Jess and I headed over to Tokio 7, an upscale thrift store which I would love to spend more time in with more money to spend.  I had my celebrity sighting while I was there when I spotted Jennifer Carpenter from "Dexter."  It seemed out of place so I was unsure until Kate confirmed that she and her husband, Michael C. Hall (Dexter of "Dexter") live in that neighborhood.


We then went back to Union Square to visit the new Nordstrom Rack before meeting up with Emily and Jesse for dinner at Cafe Mogador, a mediterranean restaurant with amazing falafel and grilled cheese.  Not grilled cheese as in the sandwich, grilled cheese as in slices of cheese thrown on a grill.  What?  That's right, folks, cheese that didn't melt, but got warm, and chewy with a bit of a caramelized crust when thrown on the grill.  Yeah.  The foodgasm ended with vegan ice cream at Lula's Sweet Apothecary.  I don't know what their secret is (I hear its something about soy and/or cashews), but you would NEVER know that this ice cream (I got caramel popcorn) is vegan.  It's still very smooth and creamy and tastes just like the ice cream we're all used to.


Finally, it was time to leave and say a sad farewell to New York (at least for a few weeks).  We loaded up the trailer with Jess's (my new?) patio furniture and were on our way home.  Did I not mention that was the nominal purpose of my trip?  I now have a new patio set.  Now if only I had a deck to put it on....
My new patio furniture in it's (hopefully very) temporary home.

1 comment:

Kate (Embarrassment of Riches) said...

I loved your recap! Happy to provide you with the "food itinerary." Thanks to you, now I'm craving pancakes again - looks like we'll have to do breakfast for dinner later this week :)

LinkWithin

Related Posts with Thumbnails