New York Trip – Part Two of Two

Happy Monday! I hope you had an enjoyable weekend!

Josh was out of town on Saturday, which gave me the opportunity to get the house cleaned, laundry done, a few dishes prepared and photographed, as well as a chance to finish going through our pictures from New York.

Let me forewarn you, this is a long post. My apologies for the rambling and thank you for entertaining me in reading about our New York Trip-Part Two!

Before I recap the second part of our New York Trip, if you didn’t get a chance to read about our New York Trip – Part One, let me catch you up on just a few important details. First, Josh got sick the day we landed. Second, because he was sick we opted to leave our camera at the hotel, which means all pictures were taken with my iPhone. Not ideal, especially in the dark, but hopefully you can look past the sub par images!

Picking back up where I left off: Friday morning, we slept in. We were still taking it a bit easy to help Josh get some additional rest in hopes of his recovering from the flu, cold, or whatever had ahold of him.

For lunch, we met up with a good friend who recently moved from Atlanta to NYC. We went to Cafe Gitane in the Meat Packing District. I was craving a salad and went for the Smoke Trout Salad, which came with black lentils, walnuts, arugula, dried cranberries, avocado, and goat cheese over a bed of mixed greens. It was absolutely wonderful, likely my favorite meal of the trip!

After lunch we continued walking around the Meat Packing District, including the High Line. Being that it was December, which means cold and windy, we didn’t spend a lot of time up on the High Line, but the sites were beautiful!

Josh had read about Big Gay Ice Cream, apparently it’s a must if you’re an ice cream fan. Which I am, a huge ice cream fan! All of their ice cream is soft serve, but they add mix-ins and dip it in chocolate, cookie crumbs, or another tasty topping. I can’t say it was life-changing, but it was definitely yummy and I ate every last bite!

That evening we met back up with the Peters for some sushi! We all love to go to local places, and Josh loves a good authentic place. He had read good reviews about Tomoe Sushi so we gave it a shot. I like my sushi a bit more dolled up, but as far as fresh and authentic, it was definitely that. And by the time we were leaving, the line was out the door.

After dinner we made our way to Time’s Square. To be in New York and not go would just be crazy. And of course we had to go and experience it at least once. But wow… it was a zoo! So many people. So, so, so many people. Outside of that, pretty phenomenal.

As we walked through Time’s Square and made our way towards Radio City, we passed these great Christmas displays. Surprisingly, there were a lot of areas in the city that didn’t feel like Christmas at all. For me, this was a welcomed site. Although Christmas was technically over a few days prior, I didn’t want it to end and loved the reminder of the season.

After walking through Time’s Square, we were pretty much frozen and made our way back to the hotel to call it a night.

Saturday morning, we ate a quick breakfast from the Hyatt’s little cafe/market before heading over to Williamsburg, a neighborhood in Brooklyn. I’m a huge fan of flea markets (therefore Josh is by default) so we made our way to scope out a couple. Our first stop was Artists & Flea, before heading over to the Brooklyn Flea. The Brooklyn Flea was probably my favorite of the two. It was an old warehouse filled with hundreds of unique booths, ranging from great vintage finds to interesting handmade crafts along with the occasional donut or coffee vendor.

For lunch we hopped over to Sea, a Thai restaurant recommended to us by a friend. Josh was still suffering from the cold and/or sinus infection, so he ordered the Volcano Chicken in hopes of clearing out those sinuses. It literally came out in flames and the fire went out once they set it on the table.

I ordered their Thai Lettuce wraps…with Duck. Yes, duck. It was my first time to eat duck. I don’t eat a ton of meat as it is, and when I do it’s typically chicken. I realize duck is practically a chicken’s twin sister, but somehow I was nervous trying it. As I’m sure you can image, it tasted like chicken.

After lunch we made our way to Central Park. This was a lovely area, I’ve seen so many movies filmed in the park and it was neat to walk past each of those areas. I would love to go back and see it in the spring or summer.

Neither of us had ever tried roasted Chestnuts and being that I thoroughly love singing about them as of about the first of October November, I made up my mind that we had to try them. And where better to by them than Central Park? Isn’t that romantic??

Yeah, they weren’t very good. I mean, what did I expect buying them from one of those street carts that keeps them in a metal bin then throws them in a warmer once they’re purchased?

Anyway, after Central Park, we headed back to the hotel to freshen up a bit before making our way to a Broadway show. I was super stoked at this point!

I.love.musicals!

But I never realized how scary NYC could be. I mean, you never know who could be following you as you make your way to a big show…

We saw First Date, staring Zachary Levi (Chuck) and Krysta Rodriguez (Smash). All I can say is, so good! It was only an hour and a half and I literally love every minute of it. The cast was absolutely incredible. Next time I go to New York, I just want to book Broadway shows, nothing else.

Saturday evening was our last one in the Big Apple and the show was the perfect way to end it.

Sunday morning, we packed up our bags, left them at the hotel’s baggage check and headed out to get a bite to eat and do a little more shopping before heading to the airport.

We ate breakfast at a great little place in Grammercy Park, Friend of A Farmer. The interior was so cute and quaint. Much like last time, we ordered a savory and a sweet. I got their Farmers Market omelet and Josh got the Pumpkin Pancakes with Toasted Walnuts. I expected the toasted walnuts to be on top of the pancakes, but they were actually baked into the batter. A little rich, but definitely good!

From there, we made a beeline for Fish’s Eddy and oh my. This place was a dream. And it was actually affordable. Affordable in New York City? We didn’t come across a lot of that in our brief visit. So needless to say, I was thrilled. I picked up this great produce bible, some ceramic egg crates, and a couple other little gadgets.

Sunday (our departure day) was the only day it rained. Thankful. Funny though, you would think the rain would put a big damper on things, but oddly it made it seem all a little more…charming. Freezing? Yes. But nonetheless, charming.

And then we headed to the airport to make our way back to Nashville. Overall the trip was wonderful. Is it a place either of us want to live? No.

I need more green space with individual homes loaded with character and charm. But as a place to visit? Short term? It was great!

The salad shown is one I got from one of the little shops in the airport for dinner. It was mixed greens, roasted turkey, roasted butternut squash, dried cranberries and walnut. Surprising, really, really good! That or I was just really, really hungry.

Check back later this week for a post of me recreating this delicious salad!