Ana really showed me a fabulous time in NYC! Wow, the food, the FOOD! Warning: most of this blog is about food, so if you're not part of the Focus on Food family, you may want to skip this one. :)
I arrived at Newark Airport around 1:00 pm on Friday. I literally almost threw up on the plane... bumpy, bumpy flight. Ugh. The poor girl in the row next to me looked green. That was the low point of the trip and I wasn't even in the state of New York!
I took a car to Ana's work, Pier 59 Studios, a gigantic mass of studio space complete with a restaurant, where ads are shot, scenes in movies (such as the walk-off in Zoolander), and MANY famous people frequent. LUCKILY for me (not), it was dead there that day and I didn't get to see anyone famous. Boo. I did meet a very nice Pinot Grigio, however, and my vacation had begun.
After I had the tour of the studios, Ana took me to her apartment and then out to dinner. I got to meet some of her friends, one which one I had met in Santa Barbara. We had an amazing dinner at a restaurant called Little Giant. We also had lots of wine. Ha. See photos.
The next day, which was Saturday, we headed out of the apartment to do some shopping and to have brunch before Mama Mia. We had brunch at Extra Virgin, a cute little place where you get to know your neighbors since you're sitting so close to them. We literally had to move our table over to get our neighbor out of the booth. Ana and I split brunch: an order of french fries served with gorgonzola fondue (never had anything like it!), a Monte Christo sandwich, with all kinds of fabulous cheeses and meats, and the bread tasted like it was french toast. Whoa. Glad we split that meal.
Mama Mia was spectacular, Ana's boyfriend James scored us second row seats. What a show. It was fun, energetic, hysterical, and also a good story. The only thing that Ana and I kinda thought was weird was that not all of the ABBA songs went exactly with the story line. Some of them were a quite stretch. But, on the whole, it was a great experience. I even had seen one of the actresses in Beauty and the Beast when I had been in NYC with my parents back in college.
Ana and I continued to shop, drink coffee and EAT (Dean and Deluca has amazing cheesecake). I found Nathan a fedora, something that I actually knew that he wanted, and got myself a hat and shirt at H&M (best store ever except they sold me a purse that fell apart the first day I used it- RETURNED that one).
Finally when we really couldn't walk any longer, we landed our bottoms at Accademia di Vino, a fabulous restaurant. James' friend runs the kitchen... I could be really good friends with that guy. :) Unfortunately his friend wasn't in the kitchen that night, but the food was amazing anyway. We started with antipasti of meats and cheeses, then split grilled pizzas with sopresetta and red pepper puree, and a carbonara pasta dish. James picked an amazing wine for dinner and then a very tasty dessert wine to accompany our cheesecake with peach compote and our brownie with cherry butterscotch sauce. :) Ha ha ha, all of the details that I remember are from the desserts. Thanks for dinner James!
The next day, Sunday, Ana and I headed out for brunch again... this time to the Bowery Bar. If I lived in New York, I'd be 300 lbs. for sure.
Now that I've waited a week to do this blog, I'm forgetting all of the stuff that we did between meals (ha ha ha), but it all included taxi rides, shopping and getting coffee at Starbucks!
I really got a treat that night. James' friends had invited Ana and James over for a Memorial Day BBQ to their amazing apartment. So naturally, they had another guest, me. James made us dinner, you know, the usual burgers on the grill. But these were no regular burgers. NOT AT ALL. He made burgers that he had ground himself at home out of short ribs, and then served them with a bacon and onion compote. Holy cow. I've never had such a good burger. Only in New York. Ha.
I had a great time at the BBQ, meeting some of James' friends and talking to other New Yorkers. The hostess is about 5 months pregnant, so we had a lot to talk about. They were lots of fun, and I could see myself being friends with them if I lived there. The best part of the night (besides the burger) was getting to see their Great Dane up close and giggling as that huge head sniffed my face. HUGE! That dog could bite my head off... but he's so sweet.
The next day, Memorial Day, we headed out early and shopped. I bought a few souvenirs for the kids and me, I heart NY shirts, and fun bows for Kaitlyn's hair from Bergdorf's... the only thing I could afford at Bergdorf's. ;) I saw shoes for $945.00! Yes, I wanted them, they were gorgeous.
Food was mediocre that day, nothing to write about. Ha. The only thing I have to say about it is that only in New York City do you find goat cheese on a club sandwich! Mmmm.
I ended my trip with a delay in Newark, an uneventful (thank goodness) flight home, and greetings from my husband at Orlando International. Jet Blue was okay- major props though for them to have private satellite TV and XM radio at each seat. NICE.
Thanks, Ana, for a great weekend. Back to our diets.... :)
