In all actuality, the title of this post should be “All the food two people can possibly eat in three days”. But, I went with something a little bit more subtle, but just be forewarned, there are lots of food pics on the horizon.
For our second anniversary, Dane and I booked a last minute getaway to New York City. It was really last minute, so we didn’t really plan too many things out, but sometimes it’s best that way, right? We took the train from PA to NY early Sunday morning and arrived in the city by late morning, which was perfect.
The first order of business was dropping our bags at the hotel and heading out to brunch with some of my girlfriends from college. We ended up at Antique Garage in Soho, which was delicious and had live jazz music! From there, we wandered around looking at all the beautiful buildings and stumbled upon the Dominique Ansel Bakery. We had no idea the stroke of luck we had just encountered (we really just wanted a coffee). But lo and behold, this was the shop of the Cronut King himself! There was no crowd and no line. How lucky?!
Cronut = Croissant + Donut |
Beside Dominique Ansel’s Bakery was a great little boutique shop with all sorts of fun bath products. We got suckered into getting our hands washed in some salt from the Dead Sea. Admittedly, our hands were really freaking soft!
And what’s a trip to NYC without a stop at the original Magnolia Bakery on Bleecker? I know we have one in Hawaii, but just stepping inside the historic bakery and smelling all the sweet treats makes me so happy!
Right after our trip to Magnolia Bakery, we met up with a friend Dane deployed with during his time in the Army and caught up over a round of drinks.
First thing Monday morning, we had reservations at the World Trade Center Memorial Museum and Mall. I felt it to be kind of crass to lump it into a recap post like this, so a full post on it and my thoughts are coming soon! Afterward, we headed toward Santina in the Meatpacking District to meet another college friend for lunch. She told me “you’re going to love this place — it’s SO colorful and they use the same plates as Giada on her cooking show!” Don’t you love friends who appeal to your aesthetic sense?!
After lunch, we walked around The Standard (a famed Kardashian playground) and then walked up and onto The Highline.
The Highline is filled with street food vendors and artistic sculptures and I was so transfixed by this creepy statue of a man. He seems drunk or bitten by a zombie – you can decide.
After The Highline, we strolled through Chelsea Market and looked at all the delicious food!
I’ve decided I need one of these majestic lit arches in my house!
After Chelsea Market, we headed back to the hotel to get ready for our evening — what we thought would be a low key night of eating dinner and maybe getting some drinks. Well, it turns out we scored amazing last-minute tickets to see Chicago, so we grabbed a quick bite, changed our clothes in our room and speed-walked to the Ambassador Theatre. The show was amazing and we stopped at Junior’s right off Time Square for some cheesecake before calling it a night.
Tuesday was our anniversary and we had big plans to wake up early, run The Brooklyn Bridge and enjoy breakfast in Brooklyn. We ended up sleeping in, enjoyed a slow morning with coffee in bed and then set off for our daily adventure!
Fun fact: Dane has read just about every book and article ever written about The Brooklyn Bridge, so crossing it was one of the things he really wanted to do while we were in New York City.
I can admit, it was really beautiful and I was happy to go with him as he explained all the cool little facts he knew about it.
Can you spot Lady Liberty in the distance?
Once we crossed the bridge, I had one thing on my mind and it was bagels. The Bagel Store in Brooklyn, to be specific. The man behind the magic, Scott Rossillo, has been churning out bagels from his quaint little neighborhood shop in Williamsburg for more than two decades. Typically if you don’t get there early and wait in the line — no bagels for you. But the anniversary Gods must have been smiling upon us, because we arrived to no line, no crowds and two guys willing to let me photograph and see every rainbow bagel that was left for the day.
To go with their rainbow bagels (that have a slight hint of vanilla flavoring) are an array of spreads — cannoli cream cheese with chocolate nibs, red velvet cake cream cheese…you see where this is going. I was so boring and got normal cream cheese.
Dane got his breakfast sandwich on a rainbow bagel that reminded me of the Lorax, don’t ask me why!
And because I just couldn’t get enough, I got the rest of the rainbow bagels they had left for the day to go!
As you can see, I really hated them. From Brooklyn, we made our way to the Flatiron District to see the building and stroll through Eataly. Before we got there, we stumbled upon my new favorite store – Fishs Eddy.
They may have some of the coolest, whimsical treasures yet! I only really snapped one photo of the Flatiron Building (#fail), but I think it’s such a neat skyline staple.
I have a lot of favorite places in New York, but Eataly is right near the top.
We didn’t eat a thing (I know–FOR SHAME), but shared a blood orange soda that was fucking amazing.
At this point we were both WIPED. I mean, dead tired, so from Flatiron, we took the subway back up to our hotel in Midtown and got ready for dinner and drinks.
We started off with a delicious guacamole trio (bacon, classic and fruit-infused) with plantains for dipping, and for dinner I enjoyed an amazing salad (presentation is everything) and Dane had steak.
Afterward, we went to Serendipity for their famed frozen hot chocolate — SO GOOD!
If you’re keeping track, we jammed A LOT into three days. By that I mean, by Tuesday evening, we had walked 26 miles and I was pretty well done with walking, seeing and shopping. We called it a relatively early night and enjoyed some champagne in our hotel room together.
All in all, it was the perfect little getaway!