NYC Recap Days 1 & 2

If there’s one thing I’ve learned about my 3 NYC vacations in the past year, it’s not to plan anything. Why? Because every time I specifically plan something, it doesn’t happen. Ice skating? Didn’t happen. That museum? Nope. Pickles? Whoops forgot those too. My friends and I are too free-spirited for itineraries.

With that said, I sure had a lot of fun.

I arrived early afternoon and went straight to Kaye’s house before meeting Lucy at her new apartment. Reunion with my soul mate/old roommate/best friend? Check!! After catching up over some wine, we got ready for dinner at Sushi Samba. Enjoy the one and only group photo from the weekend. We seriously had too much fun to bother with snapping photos. Sad, but not really.

Kaye and I split two rolls: Green Envy - wasabi pea crust, tuna, salmon, asparagus, aji amarillo-key limo mayo and the Pacific king crab, avocado, asian pear, soy paper, wasabi-avocado crema.

Lucy and Ann shared a couple different rolls too.

The sushi was fine, but it didn’t wow me. I’ve had better here in Charleston. After dinner we walked over to Wilfie & Nell in the West Village for drinks. While there, I noticed some dude pouring green juice and squealed, “Is that pickle juice?!” A few minutes later, some random man and I were drinking picklebacks: shots of whiskey chased with pickle juice. WHISKEY. My body hated me in the morning.

The hangover cure, NYC style, was picking up precious little macarons from Maison Ladurée.

I got two flavors: pistachio and caramel with salted butter . They were very flavorful for being such delicate treats. I also had a bite of Kaye’s vanilla and it was by far the best. So darn delicious. Thank you, Anabel, for the recommendation!

After our “breakfast” of macarons, we had lunch at Le Pain Quotidien. Still maintaining my vegetarian status, I dined on an Organic Black Bean Hummus tartine with avocado and spicy tahini. It was very light and fresh.

Lucy’s lunch was my second choice: Rustic Tuna, Hummus & White Bean
tartine with diced tomatoes and basil pesto. I want to make this at home!

Saturday’s form of cardio was shopping. We ventured into H&M, Zara, Dylan’s Candy Bar, and Benefit Cosmetics. Out of all that, my only purchases were at Benefit. BADgal plum mascara and  It’s Potent! eye cream.

 

I went to dinner with my friend Ben who is a fitness blogger/marathon runner. (See what he’s up to on his blog, Motivate Your Ass.) For future references, he will be known as B Dawg. Apparently he thinks it is weird that I call myself Xtina, stating “That would be like if I called myself B Dawg.” So B Dawg it is.

We ate at Euzkadi, a Spanish tapas style restaurant in the East Village.

We tried a bunch of different plates:

• Goat cheese and honey croquettes
• White Beans & Chick Peas w/Mushrooms, tomato comfit & vegetables) (my favorite dish)
• Tortilla Vasca - Potato and egg omelet, w/chorizo, peppers and onions
• Seared Steak w/ Russian salad & scallion Chimichurre
• Roasted lamb in a mushroom raisin demi-glace

At first, I shied away from anything that wasn’t vegetarian but as I was noshing away on the Spanish tortilla, I realized there was ham in it. And that’s when it was decided that I would take a vacation from being a vegetarian and enjoy myself in NYC. I still didn’t want chicken, but the ham and lamb? Yeah, that happened. And then we talked about Shari Lewis & Lamchop’s Playalong while feeling (kind of) guilty.

To be continued…

PS: If you read all that, you’re ridiculous. And I love you.

Weekend Update Part II: A Tourist In My Own City

In case you missed it, you can catch up on Weekend Update Part I! Please don’t miss out on my awesome dance moves in that video…

Sunday: Sunday morning, my friend Melissa and I went over to Sandpiper Nursing Home to volunteer. Volunteering twice in one weekend? YES! So fulfilling. Every Sunday, Melissa and 2 of her family members visit the home to do Sunday School with the residents. We listened to her grandmother speak, sang songs, and chatted with some of the residents. They were so cute, and I had to laugh because half of them were either asleep or falling asleep!

A bit later, Rachel and I took advantage of the sunny weather for a bridge run/walk. It was in the low 50s but beautiful out. We walked the majority of the bridge and down the pier at Mt. Pleasant Memorial Waterfront Park for a total of 4.62 miles.

Unfortunately my knee started acting up on the incline of the bridge. I must have done something nasty to it during my 10-miler last week. I told Boding about the pain, and he came right over to the rescue! With him he brought “something to heal the pain, something to dull the pain, and something to forget about the pain.” In other words, he brought over glucosamine pills, wine, and a movie. He truly is my brother from a Chinese mother.

Monday: Rachel and I decided it was imperative that we take advantage of our day off and be tourists in our own city. To start off our day, we walked from her apartment to Gaulart & Maliclet French Café, otherwise known as Fast & French. This quaint little restaurant on Broad Street is one of my new favorites. Its menu has everything from breakfast, brunch, lunch, snacks, dinner, wine, coffee and more!

I had the Croq’ Baguette: ham, Dijon, Swiss & mozzarella. There was so much cheese on this warm, crusty bread. I really wish I had ordered the tomato vegetable soup to dip it in. It was perfect. Even better, my sandwich with tax was around $6. Score.

Rachel’s lunch was just as delicious. She ordered the Sandwich Provencal: black olive tapenade with tomato, basil, and goat cheese on a baguette. If you like olives, you must try this.

We agreed that we have to come back for some wine and cheese…oh, and brunch and dinner too.

Our next stop was Goat. Sheep. Cow. to pick up what we both consider “the best piece of chocolate we’ve ever had in our life.” Remember when I blogged about Sweeteeth Chocolate? Yep, their “Sea is for Caramel” bar is incredible. It was the perfect post-lunch treat.

But dessert didn’t stop there. As we walked from Church Street down East Bay Street, popping in stores here and there, we landed at Charleston Candy Kitchen where snagged a piece of chocolate praline.

We then moseyed down to Market Street Sweets and picked up another praline sample! As if our teeth weren’t already hurting, our final dessert stop was at Godiva where we both got a Crème Brulee truffle. I promise that we both saved this piece for later, as our teeth were at risk of falling out of our heads.

On our walk back Rachel’s, I found my dream house. I’m not in love with the structure, but look at those colors! Hot damn. Purple and lime green are my favorite, but on a house? Yikes.

We covered 4.3 miles and felt like accomplished tourists. My poor knee hates me, but the company and fun was well worth it!

On the way back to my house, I snapped a pretty picture of the sun setting from the Cooper River Bridge.

Oh Charleston, how I love thee.