NYC Favorites: Where to eat

1. The burger joint. The burger joint is a little burger place tucked behind a curtain in the lobby of the Le Parker Meridien hotel. Great burgers, great fries, with an insider feel to it. It was packed both times we've been there.

2. The tuck shop.

What is this a picture of? An authentic Australian meat pie- just like I remember from childhood, made by real Australians. (Don't knock it until you try it). There are three locations in NYC, this time we went to one in the Chelsea Markets. (I loved the Chelsea Markets, its totally worth checking out). The Tuck Shop also has a variety of pies, sausage rolls, AND lamingtons!

3. Jacques Torres. This is a chocolate shop that sells chocolates (obviously), hot drinks, and cookies. Their chocolate chip cookie was featured in the NY Times a few years ago and is acclaimed on blogs to be "the best in NYC". While I did not get to try every chocolate chip cookie in NYC, it was pretty amazing. There is a store in Rockefeller Center and also at the Chelsea Market.

I will be trying the recipe!

4. John's Pizzeria. Awesome NY style pizza in Times Square. So good!


5. 5 Napkin Burger. We went to 5 Napkin Burger in Hell's Kitchen. It was loud and busy with a fun atmosphere. Michael got a lamb burger, that surprisingly to me, was really good.

I was going to have a burger, but saw someone else's mac and cheese, and decided to go for it. It was delicious with macaroni, cheddar, gruyere, parmesan cream, and crispy croutons. So good, but I couldn't finish it.

6. Serendipity 3. Depending on who helps you here, you may get the feel that they are doing you a favor by letting you be there. But, it is worth the visit for the frozen hot chocolate and their carrot cake is also amazing. We ate dinner there this time. I wasn't sure if their food would be good or if they were just well known for their desserts. But our dinner was good and everyone else at our table really liked theirs also.

We got the frozen mint hot chocolate.
Isabella loved it. :)


7. The lobster place. Also in the Chelsea Markets, Michael had a lobster roll from here and I had their lobster bisque. Both were excellent.

8. Bouchon Bakery. This place has taken over the Dean and Deluca store in Rockefeller Center. We didn't try any of their baked goods, which looked amazing, but their Mocha was one of the best we have ever had.

That's it for the places I would want to return to. Obviously we need to track down where the best salads are in NYC and track those down for some veggies to add to the mix. If you know of a good place let me know!

NYC favorites: things we did

1. Riding the Staten Island Ferry.
We all enjoyed riding the Staten Island Ferry from Manhattan over to Staten Island and back. It was great because: 1. you can see great views of Manhattan, 2. great views of the Statue of Liberty, 3. it is free! Last time we went to New York we took the ferry that actually lets you off at the Statue of Liberty to walk around and get closer, but we got close enough to see it really well from the ferry.

Manhattan behind us.




Lady Liberty




From Battery Park looking out to the statue of liberty.

2. Exploring the city.
Last time I had a list of things I definitely wanted to do and see. I had a list this time, but wasn't going to be heart broken if we didn't get to them all. It was fun just being in the city, going out for coffee every morning, and seeing a completely different lifestyle than our own.


Greenwich Village was fun to explore and be in a quieter place.




3. Rockefeller center.

I'd rather hang out around here than Times Square. Times Square is a must see, but so busy and touristy. It is also very touristy here, but a little less. We sat out by the skating rink one night and had cupcakes from Magnolia. We didn't go up to Top of the Rock this time, but I highly recommend it if you go to NYC.




4. Cold Play at the Today Show.

The today show is pretty much the only thing I watch on TV, so I loved seeing it in person. I had seen that Cold Play was going to be in concert so we went on that day. Last time, we got up at 4:30 to go to Tim McGraw's concert, and there were tons of people there already. We opted to not do that this time, which meant not getting as close, but you could hear the band from several blocks away, and we could still see really well.


Here's a short clip:


5. FAO Schwartz
This toy store is amazing! Luckily Isabella is not old enough to ask us to buy her things! :) You could spend hours in there. She loved playing on the Big Piano.





She cried as Michael carried her away. :(

6. Dylan's Candy store.
Fun music, fun candy, and close to Serendipity if you have a wait there.






7. And, of course, Central Park.
The park is massive and is a haven away from the bustle of the city. You could probably spend a couple of days exploring and not see it all.






Isabella was fascinated by this man's bubble performance. I, luckily, did not see the man my sister saw performing in the park with a rat on each shoulder and one on his head *shudders*.


Love the boat house area. I would love to take a boat ride here someday- but not with a one year old.


This day we went to a grocery store by our hotel and got food for a picnic in the park. Michael was a trooper walking a long ways, as I scouted out the perfect spot for our picnic. As I told him, making dreams come true can be hard work. ;)


Loved all the changing leaves.

We did some other things too, but those were my favorites. It was a fun way to celebrate our 30th birthdays!

concrete jungle where dreams are made of...

Our family in Times Square


An amazing pumpkin whoopie pie! (Happy 30th birthdays to us!)


Lady liberty


By our picnic spot in Central park


Our little Joey


The Mall in Central Park


By the boat house in Central Park.

We are home from our week in New York City. Whew! Much different than our last trip there, but still very good. Last time when we came home Michael was itching to move there. Now I think we understand why many people move out of the city after having kids.
We had one day of rain and the other days were beautiful, sunny, light jacket weather. Isabella traveled like a champ, especially today when we were traveling for 11 hours, and on the same plane-without getting off for 8! I was terrified a bad meltdown was coming and several points, but it never did.
Anyway, I am off to soak in the bath and then eat my last delicious pumpkin whoopie pie from the Magnolia Bakery before crawling into my glorious bed!
I will post about my favorite things we did later. Goodnight and BOOMER SOONER!

We have arrived

Our day started very early this morning, so early we saw the sun rise.
Isabella slept through the first flight and did well on the second. We
spent the afternoon wandering through Central Park and ended the day
with cupcakes from Crumbs bakery. I'm off to sleep to gear up for
another day of adventures.

NYC

We left early in the morning to go to NYC. We got checked into our hotel, grabbed some lunch at Gray's Papaya, got our subway passes, and headed to Central Park.


I had lots of favorites on this trip, but Central park was a huge favorite!!


The boat house (seen in the movie 27 Dresses, where she wants to get married)


The trees had began turning for fall and were beautiful!






I loved how quiet it was in the park. It is an oasis in that busy, huge city.


We went on a carriage ride through the park, checking off another one of my "things I want to do".




We headed to FAO Schwarz to do another another one of my dreams: play on the big piano. It was a very cool toy store.


Later that night we went out to dinner and walked around times square




Then we walked around Rockefeller center and the plaza


Friday morning Michael and I got up at 4:30 and headed out to the Today Show. This was another one of my favorites. I watch the today show most mornings so it was really fun to see it in action. This pic is of Natalie, Al, and Lester. Matt and Meredith had the day off.


Here is Tim McGraw. He came out around 6 AM and warmed up before the show started and then he played again later.


Cheesy I know! But so much fun! We headed back to the hotel for breakfast before heading out for the rest of our day. I had some kind of freak allergic reaction and both of my eyes swelled up huge!! We went to a pharmacy and I got some medicine and eye drops. It was crazy! I still don't know what happened.


Then we went to see Lady Liberty.


The four of us with our backs to Manhattan


After lunch we went to Serendipity, another thing on my to-do list.


We shared frozen hot chocolate, mint frozen hot chocolate, and carrot cake. Everything was really good!


We saw Jude Law while we were there.


That night after dinner we went to the Magnolia bakery and checked off another thing on my list.


The next morning we slept until 8, as we were tired of getting up at 4:30 for two days. We headed over to the discount ticket booth on the lower east side. We waited in line there, secured our tickets, and went to lunch. Heather took us to this place, The Tuck Shop, they went there on a previous trip. It is run by an Australian guy. We had meat pies, sausage rolls, and lamingtons. So good! Took me right back to my childhood!


Michael and I walked over to Washington park, at NYU.


That night we went out to dinner at Ruby Foos in time square and then walked over to the theatre. I loved the show, our seats were great, and I tried to not sing along and annoy the people around me! :)


On the morning of our last day, Michael and I got up and took a cab over to Penelope for breakfast. I had nutella stuffed french toast- Delicious!


We headed over to the 30 Rock building, and went to the top. The views were incredible. It was crazy to me how big the park is.


Heather and I with the Empire state building.




We ate lunch at a street fair and then went to Crumb's Bakery. This bakery was one of the best I have been to. My cupcake is the one on the left. It was chocolate cake, filled with peanut butter frosting, topped with peanut butter and frosting chocolate frosting, and rimmed with peanut butter chips!


Outside the bakery. Every cupcake we tried was great. I dare say this was one of the best cupcakes I have ever had...and that this bakery puts magnolia, sprinkles, cuppies and joe, and sara sara to shame! Not that I won't go to those places, because you work with what you've got...but WOW! :)


We headed back to Central park before we had to leave. It was another beautiful, sunny day.


I loved the trip. I got to do so many things I have wanted to do and see. It was fun to see places that are in movies. I thought the city was a cross between Rome, Sydney, and London, and yet like no other city at the same time. There are things I would like to do if we go back that we didn't have time for and things I would like to do again. It was a good thing we walked so much to balance out all of the food we ate! I am glad to be home and in a place with a slower pace. I feel so blessed to have got to do so many fun things and come home to Oklahoma!