Enjoying the Weekend Weather
The past few weeks here we have seen some gray, wet, windy - basically not great - weather. However, the weekends have been consistently nice. So, earlier this month we had a picnic in Central Park on the perimeter of the Jackie Onassis Lake.
The lovely view of Midtown Manhattan overlooking Jackie Onassis lake. Below, our picnic spread - YUM :)
Also, Bryant Park was recently noted as one of the 10 best "Great Public Spaces" in the nation by the American Planning Association. So, we decided to check it out. I have to say that Central Park is way better but Bryant Park is a nice escape in the middle of busy Midtown Manhattan.
Trying New Eats!
In Our Neighborhood....
There have been several places in our neighborhood that we have had our eye on trying. Pearl's (Chinese) is one of these places because it is part of our AAdvantage Dining program, is 2 blocks away from our apartment and offers a complimentary sake/wine with dinner. The food was good, the complimentary wine was sweet (rice wine) but also good, and the prices were very reasonable. We will definitely go back!
Hunan Balcony is a place we walk by every day as it is literally on the corner of our block. We have been 'wary' of this place as it advertises "$1 Sushi/Sashimi". We figured it can't be good sushi/sashimi if they are giving it away for a $1. However, this place is always crowded and the food looks good, so... we tried and it and we are hooked. It turns out the $1 special is for one piece of sushi/sashimi, so that doesn't seem quite so shady. Anyways, the rolls are good, the entrees are really good and you can go pretty healthy (we usually get steamed veggies with chicken/seafood). We have already been here twice in the last month and it is quickly becoming our go-to place for that mid-week-don't-want-to-cook feeling.
Back in Dallas we had our favorite diner (John's at Greenville/Ross) and we have now found our home-away-from-home diner in Broadway Restaurant, which is only 4 blocks down Broadway from our apartment. We have also been here twice in the last month and we have already declared it our 'special breakfast' place for holidays, Saturdays, etc. Let me just say, the banana pancakes are AMAZING! And, the breakfast specials (offered all week long) are around $6-$7 and include entree, juice, unlimited coffee/tea, toast and breakfast potatoes. Can't beat that deal!
As we are always on the look out for good pizza (since we are living in NYC), there is a chain that seems fairly popular - Famiglia. We tried this place a couple of weekends ago on our way home from church and it did not disappoint. I had the margarita pizza which was crisp on the bottom, had a good amount of mozzarella on it, plus full slices of tomatoes. Delicious! Matt had the cheese pizza which looked pretty cheesy, gooey and yummy in it's own right :)
And Beyond....
A few weekends ago, some friends were in town (shout out to Molly, Ryan and Hein) and had heard about The Meatball Shop (down in SoHo) from some of their friends who live in Brooklyn. We all went, waited for hours for our table (some mix up with the reservation) but the meatballs were AWESOME! I am telling you, you will never think of meatballs the same again after trying them at The Meatball Shop. They are beyond delicious! I really can't even think of the words to describe them, but highly recommend this place for anyone coming to New York. (They even have veggie meatballs ~ Trish :))
Most people around here will talk about Rosa Mexicano with reverence as some hallowed Mexican restaurant. We have tried a few Mexican food places here and haven't been impressed, but knew we had to try Rosa Mexicano. We went for lunch, and were pleasantly surprised. The food was really good and the menu is very inventive with cool twists on certain dishes. Rosa Mexicano is definitely on par with the fancier Tex-Mex offerings in Dallas; I would liken it to Trece and other similar places.
If you know me at all, you know my weakness for sweets - especially cupcakes! The premier cupcake chain here is Crumbs. I finally got to try a Crumbs cupcake the other day after we left Bryant Park. Matt and I split the Half Baked cupcake which was freakin' fabulous. The Half Baked is a half vanilla/half chocolate cupcake with cream filling in the middle, and cookie/brownie crumbles on top - YUMMMMMY. All the hype is actually true for this shop - super great cupcakes!
Avett Bros!!
On October 13 we got to see the Avett Bros at Radio City Music Hall. The Avett Bros were a really really good concert. They have so much energy on stage, and I love all (or at least most) of their songs. And, as a bonus we got to see Radio City Music Hall - one thing crossed off the bucket list!
Also, before the concert we met Noelle (who attended the concert with us) and Molly (who was in NYC for business) at the Heartland Brewery, a brewery/restaurant that we have passed by several times and wanted to try. The Heartland Brewery is really good and I suggest it to anyone who wants to go to a brewery here in NYC. The beer was good, but the food was even better. Most of us ended up getting the seared Ahi Tuna which was soo soo good.
Watching Sports
As it is college football season we have been watching lots of it... We went with our lovely friend Noelle to the UT/OU game watching party at Stout, which is a very cool sports bar in Midtown. We watched the A&M/Arkansas game at Calico Jack's Cantina, which is the official A&M game watching site for the NYC A&M Club. And of course, we have taken the opportunity during the season to try other new sports bars when a big game (or any game really) was on - any excuse to get out and try a new bar :) I am really pulling for Boise State this year. I hope they at least make it to #2 in the BCS so they can get to the national championship game and have a chance to prove themselves (or not).
Watching Sports
We had the urge to take in some live college football and attended a Columbia football game last weekend. The IVY League is really the only live football available to us, which is sad because it is more like watching a highschool Texas football game than a real college game, but it is good because the tickets are cheap :) Unfortunately, Columbia lost, but it was still a fun experience
We have also been watching the MLB World Series as the Rangers are in the World Series for the first time in franchise history (GO RANGERS!). However, at the time of this post, the Giants lead the series 1-0 and we are in the never-ending-8th-inning of the 2nd game where the Giants keep racking up the score :(
Furnishing Our Apartment
Besides all of the above, we have been buying some of the things that we need to finish out our apartment. We finally joined the rest of civilization and bought a flat screen TV - just in time to watch as much college football and MLB as we want! I never thought about it when we had the old TV, but the new TV makes a big difference. It really makes it feel like you are there (kinda ;)).
Also, we have bought a dining table. It is the first dining table we have owned - either single or as a married couple. Right now, it is my favorite piece of furniture in the apartment. It makes me feel so grown up to have a dining table :) Granted, this is a very small dining table (has to be to fit in a NYC apartment) and will one day become a side/accent table when we have a house, but it beats eating dinner on the coffee table!
Sightings
We have had a severe lack of celebrity sightings since moving to New York. So, far we have only seen Chris Kattan (aka Corky Romano), Dennis Haysbert (aka Allstate Guy) and Prof. Fouad Ajami (no one but Matt knows who this is :)).
However, over the last few weeks we have done a little better: Matt spotted Babyface (Kenneth Edmonds) eating with his family at Rosa Mexicano, and I saw Jessie Palmer (ESPN college football announcer) while on the Riverside Park running/walking trail.
And in other news...
I found out today that I have been accepted into the nursing program that I had as my top choice. Starting in March 2011 I will be a student (again) at La Guardia Community College (part of the CUNY system) and pursuing my Associates in Nursing.
The very pretty congratulatory flowers Matt bought me :)
Things we are looking forward to...
We are planning on going to the Shake Shack (famous burger/shake joint) tomorrow for lunch. This Saturday we are going to Bear Mountain Park to take in the beautiful fall foliage colors. And, when calling the park to make sure they are open, we were informed it is Oktoberfest in the park on Saturday - lucky us :)
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