I Heart NYC

A few weeks ago, Jay and I went to New York City for a few days with some friends. What a great time we had! We flew in on a Friday night and stayed until Tuesday night.

We stayed at the New Yorker Hotel near Penn Station. It was small, but clean (we checked for bedbugs!) and the convenient location couldn't be beat. The adjacent Tik Tok Diner served great breakfasts as well.

The next day was sunny and mild, so we walked around Central Park. It felt like spring! It's awesome to have such a great park in the middle of the city. Also, there were tons of strolling mamas and I got to check out a bunch of strollers in action (I've turned into a stroller geek for sure).

We wandered around some exhibits at the American Museum of Natural History. Jay loves dinosaurs, so this was right up his alley.

Stopped for pizza at the famous Patsy's Pizzeria. Yum!

The sheer amount of people at Times Square was a bit overwhelming, and I'm a city girl.

There was a ferris wheel inside the Toys R Us at Times Square!

Eating at the famous Shake Shack. DEE-licious! I ordered the Shack Stack, which is a cheeseburger topped with a crispy-fried Portobello mushroom stuffed with melted Muenster and cheddar cheese. Amazing. I highly recommend.

Going to the top of Rockefeller Center to check out the view

 


Shopping at Uniqlo - please please please come to Toronto!

Eating at the famous Katz Deli. It was a complete zoo in there.

We saw a Broadway musical called "Memphis". It was great, and the cast was so talented. It was unexpectedly funny, as well.

We ate a restaurant in Greenwich Village called "The Meatball Shop", which specializes (obviously) in meatballs, based on a recommendation from an iPhone app. We were really surprised at how awesome this place was. I had beef meatballs with mushroom sauce with an "everything but the kitchen sink" salad. I could eat it every single day. Luckily, Phyllis and Jason bought the store's cookbook, and have since made awesome meatballs for us. Sorry for the terrible photo (of Peter's dish), but this was truly one of the most memorable meals we had on the trip.

A month ago before our trip, Kyla, Peter and Danica worked together (e.g. clicked furiously online for a reservation) so we could eat the famous fried chicken at Momofuku. This dish can only be ordered if you get one of  the three daily dinner reservations. You can book a reservation exactly one month in advance, starting at 10:00am. All reservations are usually fully booked by 10:01am. It was totally worth it. Here's Momofuku's description: "It feeds 4-8 people. The meal includes two whole fried chickens, one southern style and one korean style, and it comes with mu shu pancakes, long spicy peppers, baby carrots, red ball radishes, shiso leaves, bibb lettuce, four sauces and an herb basket. Guests are encouraged to eat as they please, from making wraps with the pancakes to eating the chicken straight-up". We also managed to eat an order of their famous pork buns. Everything was so good, but everyone's tummy hurt. so. much. afterwards.

Jay and I also checked out the Central Park Zoo and I have a new favourite animal - Red pandas!

We also gave in to the temptation of hot honey-roasted nuts from one of the ubiquitous "Nuts 4 Nuts!" carts in Central Park.

We couldn't leave New York without visiting Laduree and bringing some macarons back home. This is their only location in North America. Oh how I've missed you, Laduree macarons! We also had lunch at the always wonderful Pret a Manger. Visits to both these places gave us fond memories of our honeymoon in Europe.

So this might be our last trip before the baby comes. It was so great to spend time together, and also with our awesome friends - Danica, Kyla, Peter, Phyllis and Jason.