Day #8

Thursday already? My how the days just fly by! I don't have many pictures from the day as we spent most of the day shopping. Here is what we did:

Breakfast/Brunch at Shake Shack (yes, we love it!)



Walked around Madison Sq park. How beautiful are these hydrangeas? I've never seen any that have this much color variation from the same bush. So pretty!


Back to the nightmare of Century 21. The store motto is "Fashion worth fighting for". They got that right! It's always a crowded fight in that madhouse.



It wasn't quite as crowded as Monday was, so we were able to get a lot of items this time. This is my favorite purchase:



So cute- and only cost $27.99! This is why we torture ourselves and put up with the crowds.

We also shopped at H&M, French Connection, and a few more places.

As it was 6:30 by the time we were finished shopping, we decided to go back to the Cupboard and get ready for dinner. I wore my new dress (forgot to take a picture) and Scott wore a new shirt.

We went to a new trendy restaurant called The Dutch. As it was 8:00, it was absolutely packed, and they told us the wait list was so long they weren't even taking names anymore. They said we could try again in a couple hours. We went to a place across the street called the Soho Room to discuss what to do next. We had a glass of wine there, then went next door to Blue Ribbon Brasserie for an appetizer. We had bone marrow and oxtail marmalade on toast points- O.M.G! This was one of the richest, most decadent, delicious meals we've ever had. Wow.


It was too dark to get a good picture, but trust me, it was phenomenal! I'm sure this sounds disgusting to some, but bone marrow is delicious. It has a rich, buttery, beefy flavor, and has the consistency of gelatin. The oxtail marmalade was made from braised oxtail, and had a savory flavor very similar to a roast that's been cooked in the crock pot all day. Very earthy and rich, totally a comfort food! Mmm!

Since it was 9:30 at this point, we decided to try The Dutch again. This time we were able to get in and had a wonderful meal there. I had pecan crusted duck with organic dirty rice, and Scott had roasted squab.
After our feast we walked home to go to bed. A great night!

Day #7

Wednesday:

Pre-fix lunch at Kin Shop
Garam Marsala and Tomato Basil soup


Scott had braised goat stew with purple yams


Mmm!
I had wonton noodles and broccoli rabe in a mushroom broth:



Chewy, salty noodles- my favorite!
Thai Chi ice cream and Chocolate Cappuccino ice cream:


What a fabulous and delicious lunch!
Next stop- Harry Potter Exhibit!


This was a huge exhibit that took us through the world of HP! The costumes and props that were worn in the movies were here on display. It was so awesome! The only disappointing part was that the staff there were picture Nazis and told us over and over again that photography was strictly forbidden. They told us they knew cell phones had cameras so we weren't even allowed to have phones out! Meanies!

After the wonderful world of Harry Potter, we toured the other exhibit, "Pompeii in the shadow of Mt Vesuvius". It was really neat to learn that Pompeii was a thriving, cultural town. It was crazy to see the similarities in their world in 79 AD and ours now.There were artifacts on display depicting their lifestyles (arts, entertainment, restaurants- even fast food restaurants!) Make up, jewelry, hair styles, all very similar to ours today! And then, Mt Vesuvius erupted, and in 24 hours the entire town was burned and buried in ashes. Insane! We saw casts of people who were killed and perfectly preserved in the ashes. It was very sobering to think about. There was a video playing of people who currently live there- 3.5 million around the base of Mt Vesuvius. One girl was on camera saying that they all knew it would erupt again, and after the destruction they would just rebuild.
Hello! You live on an active volcano!!!
To quote Bill Murray from the movie Groundhogs Day: "Morons, your bus is leaving!"

After the exhibits we got a snack at a new trendy food hall called Food Park.


Duck Pastrami Egg Rolls





Next we went to Hudson River Park to watch a free movie outside on the lawn. We bought straw mats at Walgreens for $4 each, and watched about half of the movie "The Social Network".







We had never seen it before and it was really good, but we were hungry and wanted to go out to dinner.
We went to dinner at Blue Ribbon Sushi, which is always good and open late. Then home to bed!

Day #6

Tuesday in pictures:
Chocolate Croissants


Chocolate Mustache


Walking down the Hudson River Park








Mini Golf!












I won!


Boo-yah!









Public veggie and herb gardens









Walking to dinner at A Voce:








Fabulous spread!
From left to right: radishes with anchovy and olive oil (anchovies are salty and delicious and deserve a chance- try them!), air cured beef (similar to beef carpaccio), roasted beets, ricotta spread with grilled bread. And that was just our appetizers!
Yes we are fatties!


And this appetizer: pulled mozzarella with fava beans, cauliflower, mint, and olive oil... Yum o!


My entree: Ravioli stuffed with eggplant and ricotta in a tomato sauce with pine nuts, raisins, and basil- yum!!


Scotts entree: fresh pasta with oven dried tomatoes, anchovy (I'm telling you, they are so good!) and parsley


After our feast we went to see a Broadway show, "How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying"- staring Harry Potter!!! Ok, I know his name is Daniel Radcliffe, but he is always Harry Potter to me!


OMG, this show was absolutely phenomenal! John Larroquette also played supporting actor- remember him from that 80s show Night Court? He played Dan Fielding in that show. He was excellent in this play- but not as excellent as Harry Potter!! He did an amazing job, and has a great singing voice! I highly recommend seeing this if any of you come to NYC!



Illegal picture but I took it anyway! In the front on the left wearing the suit is Harry Potter, with John Larroquette next to him on right:



Me and Harry! :)


Times Square at night:











We can never come to NYC without visiting our favorite piano bar:



It is very cheesy, but they always sing Broadway showtunes and we love it! Don't Tell Mama never disappoints!

Since we had a super early dinner at 5:00 in order to see the show, we were hungry again (naturally!) Went to the Meatballl Shop and had fabulous meatballs.



They had beef, chicken, and lamb meatballs, but they were all cooked in pork fat. All but the vegetarian meatballs, which were made of lentils. Poo.

Scott said screw it, and ordered one beef meatball slider. He also had one Veggie meatball slider:


I had vegetarian "meat"balls on spaghetti with red sauce- mmmm! Very good!


Also shared creamy cheesy risotto:



We Succeeded at NYC without really trying!