If you love something...

The other day I was having a discussion with one of my friends, who also happens to be my fashion guru. This girl is ALL about fashion. I love hearing her designer shopping stories and purchasing dilemmas...("Have you seen those RIDIC Burb Boots? I NEED THEM!") She gives me advice on all the best shopping websites (yoox.com!!!) and updates me on crazy sales (I'm still kicking myself for not ordering those Jimmy Choos from that once-in-a-lifetime sale. Everytime she wears hers, she says "Dude, I told you!! You shoulda got in on it!" I know. I know. Sigh.). I force her to take pics of her purchases if only to experience these designers vicariously through her...If Madonna or Gwyneth Paltrow has it, she is also getting it! We discuss designers like Alexander Wang, Isabel Marant and Stella McCartney (Well actually, she discusses it and I sit there with my mouth hanging open in awe). She's even introduced me to her personal shopper...Yeah, she's THAT kind of fashionista!  

Anyways, we were discussing how sometimes you buy something because you just absolutely NEED to have it. It's not even a question. Your life was meaningless before this purchase and if you hadn't gotten it, you might as well not bother with the rest of your life because there is just nothingness if you don't have it. (A little over the top perhaps? Ah...no.) We were talking about loving an item so much that you can't even bring yourself to wear it or use it because it's just so GOOD. It's the complete opposite of "Crying in the Rain".

Take for example, this Joseph Altuzarra* skirt that she had ordered...(from Paris, no less!). She finally got it and was totally in love. She brought it with her to wear on her latest trip. She said she took it out of her suitcase, admired it, and promptly packed it back in. It was too good, she couldn't even stand to wear it. I said I felt the same way about my Burb shawl. I absolutely ADORE this shawl. I didn't even want to take it off in the store, but pretty much as soon as I got it home, I couldn't bear to take it off the velvet hanger and garment bag it came in. Oh, I did deign to wear it once on our cruise last year, but I was so stressed out about it! Right after dinner, I tenderly folded it back up into the delicate tissue paper and slipped it into another bag, before I put it right back into my suitcase. I did bring it on my last trip to NY, as that would be a perfect place for me to wear it...but I did the same thing she did with her Altuzarra...I took it out, admired it and promptly re-packed it. (She chided me for this too, saying "Dude, you're supposed to wear it on the plane, so you can be all nice and toasty!") Anyways, this is exactly how I feel about that Ostrich feather clutch from Club. It's too good. TOO good. I'll probably never use it. But my life will be empty without it.

I was discussing this with my husband later on, struggling to articulate how we felt about these pieces, but it turns out, he completely understood. He said "Oh, just like with my Jordans?" Precisely. He loves those shoes so much, the thought of them touching the ground is absolutely unheard of. Nevermind they were technically made to actually play the game of Basketball in.

You know that saying "If you love something, set it free. If it doesn't come back to you, it was never yours to begin with..." (or something like that). Well, I say, "If you love something, do whatever you can to get it. If it tries to get away, lock it up." Ah, thank you.

*PS. How HOT is Joseph Altuzarra?! We likey!!!

love, Love, LOVE.

Yesterday I fell in love.

Yes, again. It happens to me often (I'm quite fickle). In fact, I think I might have fallen in love thrice yesterday. ("...Miami is nice, so I'll say it THRICE, Miami is nice, Miami is nice..." haha. Just an inside joke...to myself - and you too, if you know the episode of Golden Girls, I'm referencing! haha).

Anyways, I mean to say that I might possibly have fallen in love, not once, not twice, but THREE times - all in the span of about 17 minutes. However, there is no cause for my husband to be jealous. You see, the objects of my affection are all from Club Monaco's Fall/Winter 2010 Collection. Strange, as I really don't normally fall for things in Club. I mean, don't get me wrong, their clothes are nice, but I just don't usually buy stuff from there. Also, I find their accessories extremely overpriced. So it was with complete shock that I actually found 3 things in there, that will most likely make my life complete.

The first is their faux fur vest. Athough it's not the Zara faux fur vest that I originally wanted and it's way more expensive, I still love the look and color of it. And since I wasn't able to get the Zara one, and am still hell bent on getting a faux fur vest, this has become The One. I'm so getting it...just as soon as I find someone who has an employee discount. LOL

The second item I absolutely MUST have, is their short black chain driving gloves. The brown ones are also awesome. 'Nuff said.

And the third item - the thing that's consumed all of my thoughts since I first laid eyes on it yesterday...is the Black Ostrich Feather Clutch. OMG. The epitome of evening bags. I'm not even going to lie - If I got this clutch, I probably wouldn't even use it because I adore it so. But I NEED it. I'm pretty sure I can't live without it. While I was waiting for my sister I saw another girl pick it up and admire it, and pure hatred and jealousy coursed through my veins. I had to stop myself from screaming across the store "Take your filthy hands off of the bag before something bad happens." Yes, it's that good.

Ah, love.

New York by day, by night, by food (part deux)

Finally! Here it is. Part 2 of our New York Food Tour. I hope it was worth the wait!

Before I go on, let me ask - is it weird to be taking pictures of our food? I often wonder what other diners think when they see us pull out the camera and bright flashes of light interrupt their dark, candlelit dinners. I already have a story ready in case they ask what we're doing: I'm planning to pretend I'm an important food critic and that I absolutely MUST have the pictures of food...I doubt they'd believe me though. Well, boo on them because I love looking at food pictures. Now...the continuation of NY bd, bn, bf...

Wednesday brought another day of shopping...this time in SoHo. We decided to check out Silver Spurs for breakfast which was recommended to Jeff & Trace by our tour photographer, Marc. This seemed like one of those spots that tourists don't usually frequent and we loved the homey vibe this diner gave off. First we ordered coffee and fresh squeezed orange juice. Now I know that a lot of places will say "fresh squeezed OJ" and it will taste like fresh squeezed from the frozen concentrate can. But here? It was the real deal. Like someone was in the back and that was their only duty - squeezing oranges for this juice. It was so good and we got a huge glass of it. Mmm..Tracy and I both had the Scottish Benedict which substitutes lox for the usual back bacon. It was good, perhaps a wee bit salty, but definitely a good portion. I can't remember what Jeff had - it was some kind of breakfast huevos rancheros-ish type of wrap and I know it had avocado in it. It looked good anyways. Aldin had a breakfast of eggs, pancakes, bacon and sausage - huge portion! Trace had also ordered a fruit plate not realizing the Benedict would be so big.  But since we had been eating so much good food, she figured something healthy was in order!

After this, we walked back to tackle the shops lining Broadway. Uniqlo, Topshop, H&M, Bloomingdales, Madewell, Zara and Armani Exchange to name a few...Aldin wanted to find this place called Flight Club so we walked...and walked...and walked. After that adventure, we were starving and decided to find Eataly...There was an Eataly cafe, but we actually wanted to go to the Madison Square Market's Food Square which was right across the street. It was  a group of food/restaurant stands that were set up in a little area across from the Flat Iron Building and beside Madison Square Park. They had tables in the middle so you could sit and enjoy your food from the different types of stands there. Aldin and I shared a Margherita wood-fired pizza (they actually had the woodfire oven there!) with fresh tomatoes, basil and mozzarella cheese from Roberta's and a spicy Chicken Tikka Masala combo on basmati Rice from Tanjore's. For dessert we had a wonderful banana nutella crepe from Bar Suzette. We forgot to take pics of everything because we were so starving!



mmm...look at the cheese crust on that mac n cheese!



We went to watch "Wicked" in the evening and didn't have dinner until after the show. We were pretty hungry, so we wanted something we knew was going to be delicious, reasonably priced, open, no reservations required and close to our hotel. So... we ended up going back to Cafeteria! And, it was once again delicious! I didn't want a huge meal, so I ordered the angus sliders and the trio of Mac & Cheese. It was really good, but I was so tired after the show (emotionally draining!! lol) I was unfortunately full after only one slider. Aldin ended up having the other slider and the rest of the Mac & Cheese...in addition to his own meal of a giant pork chop with potato latkes and poached pears. 



aldin's pork chops - yummo!

On Thursday, it was our "alone day". We split up with Jeff & Trace in the morning and didn't see them until the evening! Aldin and I had a photo tour that morning and we were meeting our tour photographer, Marc by the LOVE sculpture on 56 and 6th. We were early, so we ended going to Pret a Manger to sit and have some breakfast while we waited. 

Oh, here's funny/cool story: While Aldin was up getting his food, one of the workers said to him "I like the way you tied your scarf!" She went on to ask him how he tied it, and he politely explained how. But then, another worker said to him "Oh! And my boss wants to know where you got your boots - he thinks they're really nice!" So he told them and they were all gushing about his style and finally asked, "Are you a fashion designer??" So he came back to the table, his face beaming with pride and told me the whole story. I was like "That's AWESOME love! For someone to think that you were a fashion designer in New York, that's pretty cool. I'm so proud of you!" He was like "I know!!" Then I said "Um...you realize they probably think you're gay right?" (insert the sound of a deflating balloon) Of course there's nothing wrong with being mistaken for a STYLISH gay man! Regardless, it's still cool - and I'm totally taking credit for teaching my husband how to be stylish. It's pretty much a compliment to MY style. LOL! Anyhoo, he had a warm chicken and roasted tomato wrap, but it was all overshadowed by the whole "fashion designer" episode, so I don't think he even took a picture of it. 

After our pictures, we ended up on the Upper West Side and met up with my cousin Lerma for lunch. The last time we were here, we had the BEST pizza (in our opinion) in New York at Francesco's. They have all these different kinds, and when you choose it, they put it back in the wood ovens to crisp up the bottoms and it you get a wonderfully satisfying HUGE slice with gooey cheese and flavorful toppings. Did I mention this place is a favorite of Ben and Jen (of Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner fame) who live on the Upper West Side, as well as Regis, whose show is taped right across the street at the ABC building? (This is all of course an assumption based on the fact that I saw their pics on the wall.) Actually, I think it is a favorite place of other famous people as well - their pics were on the wall too. So there. 

For dinner, we were meeting up with Lerms and the girls. At first we were going to go to a fancy shmancy place called Patsy's Italian Restaurant (which happened to be Frank Sinatra's Favorite Restaurant) but we decided to just be casual and visit another favorite joint we hit up last time. Hop Kee's Chinese Restaurant. (For the famewhores, this restaurant was featured on an episode of "No Reservations" with Anthony Bourdain, our fave Chef at large. We also pretty much ate the exact same thing...) So what did we have at this great, authentically New York, Chinese eatery?



snails!

Spicy squid, Cantonese Crabs, steamed Chinese Greens, Deep fried Flounder, Peking style Pork chops and snails. Yes, snails. They came with toothpicks so you could take them out of their shells. (I personally didn't care for these, but did have one). Apparently this is one of their specialties because not only did Anthony Bourdain have it when he was there, all 3 tables around us ordered it too! Everyone seemed to be enjoying it, and 2 of the tables even ordered seconds of it! As usual, the food was delicious. I know you're thinking "why go back to some place you've already been, in a city with tens of thousands of restaurants?" Well, when its this good, as with the pizza, you can't help it



line up at the famous Halal cart

Friday...our last full day in New York AND our last full FOOD day too. We had a quick granola bar for breakfast, as we were checking out the 5th Avenue shops and the MoMA. We met up with Jeff & Trace at the MoMA. They had been telling about this famous Halal Food Cart on 53rd and 6th since we arrived in New York and we were completely intrigued. Jeff kept saying, you get this HUGE amount of food in a container and its only $6.00! Hey, after being in NY for a week, your wallet does get considerably lighter. So we walked up 53rd to 6th ave and found 2 Halal Carts. One on the east side of the street and one on the west. Since there wasn't really a line-up at the east side one, we crossed the street to the cart, where a few people were lined up. Tracy and I found a bench near by beside some other guys eating their Halal Chicken or Lamb on rice. They seemed to be enjoying it very much. When the guys came back with our food, I saw that it definitely was not just hype. It was huge. And it was "Throw your fork on the ground, because this is the best thing you ever ate, GOOD".



chicken on rice with famous white sauce

lamb on rice with famous white sauce

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I got the chicken on rice and it came with salad, tomatoes and this white sauce on top that you can't even explain how good it is. Aldin got the lamb on rice and it was just as delicious! Not game-y at all. And after we started eating, the line-up got longer and longer, so I guess we did pick the right Halal cart!

 

There is just so much good food to be had in this city. I almost wish there wasn't because I would have liked to try dessert at some places! (Next time I go back, I'm totally going on a Dessert Restaurant Tour). After this, we went back to the MoMA to be artsy-fartsy for the rest of the afternoon. After we had gotten our fill of art, we walked over to the NBA store and finally back to Rockefeller Centre where we were going to take our subway. By this time, we needed a little snack to tide us over until dinner, so we stopped off at Auntie Anne's Pretzels. MMmm...we got a couple of pretzel dogs, some pretzel bites and this uber yummy blended pomegranate lemonade!!



braised  beef

And before you knew it, our last dinner in NY. And we went to the perfect last dinner place: Pastis. (Pastis was also in SATC in a couple of episodes, btw...) If you read my first NY post, you know that this was the ULTIMATE dinner for me. It was pretty much the best day of my life...foodwise. LOL. Forget lobster and steak, I will take this wonderful glorified Ham and Cheese sandwich topped with bubbling bechamel sauce and a fried egg ANY day! Oh, croque madame...j'adore!! Okay, well, you already know about what I ordered. Let me tell you what everyone else had: Aldin and Trace both had this "it's like buttah" braised beef with indulgent and creamy scalloped potatoes. Jeff had a wild mushroom ravioli which was nice, rich and hearty.

We also had chicken liver/foie gras pate to start. We were all like "So THIS is what Foie Gras tastes like. What's all the hoopla about?" (lol).

chicken liver and foie gras - fancy shmancy

It did, however, come with these sweet sauteed onions and frisee greens that when you put it all together with the pate on a piece of bread was good. Hm...perhaps my palate is not sophisticated enough for foie gras?

so much to choose from!

Anyways, we were determined to visit this place called Viniero's which boasted the best cheesecake in New York City. We cabbed it over to the Lower East Side and found it, packed with people lined up to take out AND eat in. We opted to take out and chose 2 kinds of cheesecake: Sicilian and Italian. The Sicilian had cherries and some kind of liqueur in it, so I only took a bite. It was soft and creamy...and very liqueur-y tasting to me. I also tried a bit of the Italian one, which was made with ricotta cheese. Um...didn't care for it that much either. We later realized we should have ordered the NEW YORK cheesecake. Duh. LOL.

the "Sicilian"

And finally Saturday, our last day. BOO. We met up with Lerms, her husband John and the girls for dim sum. Bright and early! We went to this place called Dim Sum GoGo and it was really quite good! The decor was bright and airy and really clean!

We had the usual dim sum fare, plus some new things - duck dumplings, rolls with shrimp and mango and pumpkin cakes. The latter reminded us of some kind of filipino dessert. It sort of looked like what John called "gel insoles" (lol) but orange. It was actually pretty yummy...if you didn't think about the gel insole comparison.

 All in all, a really great and diverse experience of food from different cultures, New York style. There are so many more things we wanted to eat, but we will have to try them again next time...can't wait!

Au revoir! Team Wabaki @ Pastis

Oh, I forgot to say, we had some REALLY delicious food at the airport in Newark too. The place was called "Currito" but Aldin kept calling it "Corrina, corrina!"

 

He had these flavorful carnitas tacos that had just a hint of sweetness (I don't know what it was, but it was divine) and I had some kind of Chicken bowl that had a mix of rice, fresh lettuce, tomatoes, corn and black beans, salsa and guacamole. Surprisingly good for an airport restaurant!

 

So that's it. A week's worth of culinary adventures. I hope you enjoyed reading about it as much as I enjoyed eating it... Well maybe not. But at least the pictures turned out! Good thing I'm "an important food critic".

Happy L'Halloween!

So yesterday was Halloween (or "L'Halloween", as I like to say). Now, I have to say, I haven't been this excited about L'Halloween since I was a kid!

To prepare...I bought a couple of masks, and a mini top hat, to go along with my "Lady Gaga" costume. It's not really a Lady Gaga costume, but I thought it was cute. I carved a pumpkin (with the Michael Jordan symbol, for my husband). I bought a sparkly purple skull decoration for our door and oodles of candy and chips to hand out. I made up special bags of goodies for the kids we know who were coming by. I even made my famous shmoo cupcakes for any friends who also happened to pass by. All this, just to wear my "Very Lady Gaga" Boots.

This made me think of my previous costumes as a kid. Does anyone remember those plastic costumes with those masks that just attached to your head with a stretchy string? The masks basically only had cut outs for your eyes and mouth. Then one year, because I was so obsessed with "Sound of Music" I decided I was going to be a nun (I mean, for L'Halloween). That actually was one of my best costumes. My mom made my habit and I had a black choir robe and a rosary. It was hard to look cool dancing in our classroom party though. Another year, I was obsessed with Michael Jackson (and who wasn't, in those days?). I had gotten that "Thriller" jacket and wore that, with one white glove (obviously). I also wore Converse hi-top chucks with bandanas tied around my leg because I was also a "break dancer"! I walked around with my ghetto blaster ready to do some popping & locking! My sister was Boy George that year, and it worked out because I had "Karma Chameleon" on the cassette tape, in case she needed to do some dancing and lip syncing. LOL.

Beyond that I can't really remember any other costumes I had. I guess they weren't as good. Or after my triumph as an "MJ breaker", I had reached the pinnacle of costumes and I didn't bother trying anymore. Well whatever the reason, L'Halloween never really interested me anymore until this year! Oh, Lady Gaga, thank you for bringing me back to life!

PS. We didn't end up having a lot of kids come by to trick or treat. (BOO!) Now I have all these leftovers. Good thing I bought the treats that I like!!

Shopping is my Cardio

So I know you're all just dying to know what I ate for my last 4 days in NYC! (or not. LOL) But if you are... I totally have the post ready, however, I haven't been able to add the pics because I don't have my memory card with me. But don't fret my pretties! I will have it back soon enough...For now, how about I discuss what I ended up buying on my trip? I haven't had a fashion-y post in awhile.

Ooh, wait, I have to also tell you that I recently just got Les 4 Ombres Quadra Eye Shadow in Tentation Cuivree from Chanel's Holiday 2010 Collection, courtesy of my uber fashionable cousin, Charz. I'm LOVING the couleurs, all my faves, BTW, and I'm so amazed at how good it goes on. I put it on this morning without my eyeshadow primer and the color was still so vibrant! I guess spending a bit more on eyeshadow definitely IS worth it! One might ask, "Oh you fancy, huh?" I might answer, "Yes. Yes, I am."

hee hee.

So. My purchases. I don't feel like I actually bought a whole lot. I didn't even get my elusive faux fur vest from Zara, despite the fact that there were probably at least 5 Zara's in my vicinity. I was only able to get to one Zara and it had every faux fur vest in their collection, but mine! So depressing. When we were in the NBA store on 5th Ave, I kept seeing girls with all these Zara bags, and I stopped one of them to ask where it was and she was all "Just down the block" But I couldn't find it! I'm so blind. I bet you I walked past it multiple times. Ugh!! I managed to get to a few H&M's, but for some reason, I didn't have as much strength to look through their stuff as I did when I was in Edmonton and Calgary this past summer. Go figure?

Before we went, I also made a list of some of the stores that I definitely wanted to go to (in addition to H&M and Zara). I really wanted to check out Uniqlo (which I think of as Japan's answer to H&M) and TopShop, London's H&M-ish type of store. Uniqlo was a wonderful, modern store, with affordably priced cashmere sweaters stacked in color coded piles up to the ceiling! I was able to find myself a couple of "wrap" sweaters there and ended up getting a couple more sweaters for gifts as well. There were a couple of faux fur jackets that were quite cute, but they didn't have my size in the styles that I wanted. BOO! And they were only like 99.00! Craziness.

As we made our way down Broadway, towards TopShop, I noticed a cute pair of brown suede desert boots (with a heel) in Madewell. We went in so I could try them on. It was a charming store, and I ended up getting the boots, which were a (relatively) reasonably priced $188.00. (Every other boot in this style I had looked at thus far, was over $200.00) After much deliberation and hemming and hawing, I bought them and I am SO happy I did. Love them!

I didn't fare as well at TopShop. I've always been intrigued by TopShop, as it's been "endorsed" by the UK fashion plates: Victoria Beckham, Kate Moss, Alexa Chung and featured on Gok's Fashion Fix. This is before I realized that "it's only 40 quid" in London translates to $80.00 US. Which was pretty much their "standard" price. Don't get me wrong, they did have some great stuff (definitely better and more stylish than H&M), but personally I thought it was a little too steep...

J.Crew is a store I rarely go into - I think of it as a less "corporate" Banana Republic, but a higher end Gap. Don't get me wrong, I think the clothes are actually quite nice, albeit a wee bit overpriced.  However, while we sat outside of Rockefeller Centre, waiting for the Jimmy Fallon show, I decided to check it out. Tracy said she got some good stuff @ the outlet for a good deal (which I failed to check out, I don't know why), so I thought I'd see if there was something good in the regular store. Sometimes you get lucky -  Many times the sale in the regular store is a better sale than the stuff at the outlets! Anyhoo, I really didn't think I would find anything but lo, and behold! I found a gunmetal grey sweater with ruffles! And it was on sale! I also checked out the J.Crew in Soho and was able to find a moss green sweater in the same style, which will go really well with my new boots, some jeans and one of my new Gucci scarves! Very "It's a nice Fall day to walk in the Park" type of outfit. Oh yeah! I also picked up a really nice black leather Gucci bag which I'm thoroughly enjoying, in addition to the scarves! And finally, my last purchase/indulgence was a bag charm from Louis. I think it's so cute!  Like a ridiculously expensive toy. LOL.

So yeah, not too many purchases this time. Its seriously so overwhelming. The sheer volume of it all is enough to make you cry "tears of fashion". And for some unknown reason, a sale rack is impossible to find in Saks and strangely enough, in Gap (or at least the Gap I went into!). I think they ship all their good sale stuff to the suburbs. Oh well.

You might think that after coming back from a shopping mecca like New York, I'd be shopped out. But when I got back home I happened to find these really comfy flats that I originally wanted to buy before the trip (but they didn't have my size!)! They were on sale AND I got an extra 15% off (for being a VIP member, thank you very much!). When my husband saw me carrying my purchase, he just shook his head. Whatevs. A little cardio never hurt anyone.

Yeah, let's not do that one again...

So I finally watched the "Rocky Horror Glee Show" episode tonight. And I kind of really didn't care for it! Perhaps it's because I really don't care for the Rocky Horror Picture Show or whatever it's called. I never understood it and I never really cared to watch it. Apparently it's supposed to be extremely significant and provocative, but...yeah, I still don't care for it.

Anyways, because I don't like to not like something for the sake of not liking it, I decided to Wikipedia it so I could actually find out what it was about. Did you know it is "one of the most well-known and financially successful movies of all time"? I didn't, though I did know that it was one of those "Cult Classic" movies. Unfortunately, none of this matters because even after reading and learning about it (which usually intrigues me)...I STILL don't care for it. And putting it into Glee, still didn't change my mind. In fact, I was not excited about it at all when they were previewing it. I don't know what the hype was all about. I was already annoyed when I saw the lips (which btw, I think were Quinn's) singing at the beginning. I mean I understand it's their L'Halloween show, but couldn't they have just done a remake of Thriller instead? Or something?

I did, however, think Finn was cute in those nerd-y glasses and Rachel wasn't as annoying! And even though I didn't like the songs, I thought Finn's voice was really good. Yes, I'm a Finn-Fan. And John Stamos...ah,yes! Uncle Jesse is back with a vengeance. I vote for more singing on his part! You know something funny? When I first got infatuated with Finn, my sister was like "I don't think he's THAT cute. He looks like he has man-boobs". I was offended and totally DEFENDED Finn. "He doesn't have man-boobs! It's just his shirt!" Anyways, I did notice at the beginning of this season he looked more toned. So in this episode when they were talking about how he had to be in his tighty-whiteys, and he was all nervous about it, I felt like it was a wink to everyone who thought he had man-boobs! He was insecure about showing his body, but then he did, and I didn't see any man-boobs!!! I do protest to his use of those yucky off white boxers though. Seriously, they should have put him in crisp, white, boxer briefs. Have mercy.

So, to all of you who enjoyed this episode, perhaps you could enlighten me? Tell me the significance of it all? I still don't understand what all the hype was about? Has everyone watched this movie? Does everyone know these songs? Is everyone supposed to know these songs? Is this a "must watch" movie or my life will be incomplete type of thing? I dunno. Personally, I think it insists upon itself.

Anyways, the upcoming episode looks better. The girls are singing "Livin on a Prayer". 'Nuff said.

New York - by day, by night, by food...(part 1)

Today I’ve decided to focus on the food – though this will have to be a 2-part post because there is just too much food to discuss in one! New York as we all know is a cornucopia of different cultures and therefore different foods. You can get pretty much anything you are craving in this city. Either just down the street or a short subway ride away. So let me take you on this journey of eats…Warning: your mouth will probably be watering after this, so have a little snack handy…

we sat right here

 Our first night there, we went to Katz’s Deli. This deli was the site of Meg Ryan’s memorable (ahem) performance in "When Harry Met Sally." And! We actually got to SIT at the actual table she sat at. However, I don’t think I had the same thing as her (raised eyebrow). heh heh



mound of meat!



We did however have a tasting of 3 different meats: Pastrami, Corned Beef and Brisket. It came with bread and pickles. Aldin and Jeff ordered it at the counter and they even got to taste some samples before they gave them the mound of meat! We also had (my favorite part) the gigantic steak fries and of course to wash it all down, a Dr. Brown’s Rootbeer! SO good. I preferred the pastrami, but my husband LOVED the brisket. Either way, it was a great way to begin our culinary adventures…



The next day we went to Woodbury – nothing overly exciting to eat at first because the shopping was more important than the food! Sustenance! Energy! We just needed a quick breakfast at Au Bon Pain and a quick lunch at a surprisingly decent Mexican place called “Desert Moon Fresh Mexican Grille”. However, in the evening we were famished and decided to head over to Cafeteria. This restaurant had a great vibe and an extensive, delicious menu. It was like being in a trendy club (dark, but candle-lit with good music) but sitting and eating! They even had a “bouncer” like guy sitting outside. Pretty cool. We started off with a trio of mini mac & cheese bowls: cheddar & fontina, bacon and smoked gouda, and truffle oil. Mmm…I always love a good mac & cheese and they gave us 3!! We also had a big bowl of their PEI mussels, which came in a nice creamy broth of white wine, thyme, tomatoes & shallots.

On to our entrees! I had the “Blue Plate Special” which was a spinach ricotta ravioli with braised beef short ribs with arugula, roasted tomatoes and pecorino cheese.

My husband had their version of “Chicken & Waffles” – Buttermilk fried chicken on a waffle with Vermont Maple syrup and buttermilk ranch on the side.

 Delicious. Unfortunately, we were too full to have dessert! The portions were really good, especially for the price. I totally recommend this place. I also love that its open 24/7 so you can go anytime to enjoy!

(Another little tidbit: In an episode of SATC called “Boy, Interrupted”, Charlotte and Anthony see Marcus and Stanford at Cafeteria. Anthony tells Charlotte that he saw Marcus’ picture in an old issue of Honcho. He was an “escort” named Paul “Worst Hustler Name EVER!!”)

Monday was our Statue of Liberty/Ellis Island Day. We took the ferry over to Liberty Island and had a nice breakfast in the outdoor café: buttery(?) scrambled eggs, bacon, hashbrowns and a roll.  After we got back to Manhattan, we walked through the historic financial district. Since it was Columbus Day, the streets were closed down and there was a major street fair in progress. Street fair = street food, which you definitely can’t beat in New York!

 

spicy!

Any kind of food you can imagine is there, from French Crepes to Greek Pitas, to Spicy Italian Sausages to Italian Zeppolis. I ended up having a Greek Chicken pita which was spilling over with sauce, tomatoes, onions, lettuce and gigantic pieces of chicken on a soft pita pillow. Aldin got spicy Italian sausage and onions on a bun. We also had a fresh mango, watermelon, banana and strawberry smoothie. Mmmmm…

For dinner we decided to go authentic and have…Gray’s Papaya!

The best deal in NYC for hotdogs! Seriously, probably our cheapest meal. For like 4.00 and change you get 2 hotdogs and one of their famous drink concoctions (we had the “Manila Calling” which was actually a Pina Colada…or Coconut Champagne. LOL). The funniest part was that the workers were Filipino. Aldin of course, was all over this and pulled out his Tagalog to speak to them! However, since it was so cheap, we didn’t bother asking if they could “hook us up” LOL.

On Tuesday we went to Rockefeller Centre and Top of the Rock. We spent the whole day in this area because we had tickets for Late Night with Jimmy Fallon which was taping that afternoon. We had a quick breakfast at Starbucks/Subway. We didn’t really eat lunch, but we had a yummy snack of Magnolia Bakery Cupcakes: S’Mores, Red Velvet and an original choco and vanilla.

 For dinner we went to Les Halles Brasserie. You know that tons of restaurants in New York have a famous chef and this place was no exception. This restaurant was/is Anthony Bourdain’s (of No Reservations fame) base restaurant. A French restaurant that was actually quite reasonably priced. My husband and I had the Cote de Boeuf – which was $58 for 2. It was prime rib on the bone, sliced tableside and included fries (or frites!) and a frisee salad. So very good.

can we keep the bone please?

So…what do you think so far? Well, we still have 4 more days to go….However, I'll have to continue this another day. I gotta eat. I’m starving.