Feasting and Goodbyes

     

Pic from my last morning commute

     As last week was my last week of working in NYC, I have been very busy and did not get a chance to blog.  The week involved lots of eating, drinking, saying goodbye, and a few tears.  I think it was so hard saying bye to everyone this year because more than ever before, I made real friendships with my co-workers.  

     I had a few really great meals during that week.  First up was lunch at Patsy's Italian Restaurant, right next to the Cash Money office.  WOW.  Growing up with Italian relatives I have had some truly delicious meals, but this is probably the best Italian meal I have had at a restaurant in a longggg time.  I ordered the shrimp marinara and was so full afterwards that I needed a nap.  

     With Ehrenkranz we went to Ammos, a Mediterranean place near Grand Central.  Italian and Mediterranean are my two favorite types of food so you could say I was pretty spoiled this week.  At Ammos I had their king prawns, which were more like baby lobsters.  They came with the head still on and I had to fight every last temptation to pick them up and play with them in Katherine's face.  Sometimes I have to remind myself that as a future lawyer, that kind of behavior is not totally acceptable. 

Me and Katherine

     Another night I went to dinner with one of my oldest and best friends from swimming, Hillary.  We went to Westville, a place I had never tried until that night.  I ordered the grilled salmon with a side of asparagus and was 100% pleased.  I look forward to going back and trying their brunch one day soon. 

     A few co-workers of mine from Ehrenkranz went out for drinks after work one night and had a ball of a time.  We started pretty early, around 5:30, and definitely felt it the next day.  We started our evening at Draught 55 (their long bench tables were great of our large group) and then eventually made our way to a midtown rooftop bar.  I seriously should just make a to-do list of only rooftop bars because I love them so so much.  

Pesto angle hair with shrimp from Grifone

     My last delicious meal of the week was another great Italian place.  A small hidden gem in midtown named Grifone.  More on the pricey side, but well worth it.  It's one of the few restaurants that I have been to in the City that is actually quite and small enough to hear the person across from you without having to yell or lean across the table!  A very small and intimate place that I would visit again if I needed a quite space with tasty food. 

     I will give more updates soon about some of my other activities in the city that I completed before leaving, but I had to get in the last week because I wanted to remember every detail!  Tomorrow is FRIDAY! 

Back to Brooklyn

Hard to see, but the ESB lit up for Pride!

     On Saturday I joined a gym in the AM and then made my way back over to Brooklyn.  Ashley and I wandered around DUMBO for a couple of hours and enjoyed the beautiful weather.  I initially wanted to go to DUMBO to see the Tom Fruin Water Tower, but I couldn't get a good view of it so we just explored the area.  Some of the apartments over there are truly beautiful and I can easily see why one would move there--great views and it is much quitter than the City.  But still not enough for me! (as if I could even afford it)

     We walked around the park area, took some pictures by the water, and then watched the children on the carousel.  One of my most vivid and fond memories growing up was when my parents would take my sister and I to the mall to ride the carousel.  Seeing all the children giggling and smiling really made me take a moment and appreciate all the small things in life.  Unfortunately I was all out of cash and so I couldn't ride it myself… next time!

My tacos!

     When we were walking back to the train we became distracted by a fun looking Mexican restaurant named Pedro's Bar and Restaurant.  The reviews online do not make it out to be a great place, but I beg to differ.  The food was very reasonably priced and delicious.  It was much more authentic Mexican than the regular "Americanized" mexican I am used to.

     After Mexican, we made our way back into the City and got off in West Village.  We were happily surprised to walk into a street fair that entertained us for a while.  After wandering, I took us to a gelato place I have been wanting to visit for 3 years!  And it was just as good as I hoped.  At Popbar you can get gelato or sorbet on a stick, choose from three different types of chocolates to be dipped in, and then pick any topping for it to be dipped in again.  I choose vanilla, dipped in dark chocolate, and then rolled in sprinkles and waffle cone crumbles.  It hit the spot.

     Saturday night I had friends over to my place, we enjoyed the view from my roof, and then went out for a night of partying.  

    Oh, almost forgot!  On Friday night I went out to dinner with a bunch of friends to celebrate my good friend Kathryn's birthday.  We went to Lil' Frankies and enjoyed a huge Italian meal.  I highly recommend their pizza! 

Fresh Mozzarella was amazing

I hope everyone is excited for the short week ahead!

Valuable Advice

     Last night I went out to dinner with my "Aunt" Mona.  I put aunt in quotation marks because like many of my "aunts," she is not actually related to me.  Mona was a good friend of my mom's when she was working and living in the City.  Anyways, Mona works at the law firm I intern at and so over the summers I have spent in NYC, she has been a great friend and always gives me valuable advice.  She is so energetic and loves New York just as much, if not more, than I do.  I like to describe her as a walking encyclopedia of NYC.  You can ask her anything about the City, and she usually knows, or if she doesn't, she knows someone else who does.
     Anyways, last night we went out to eat at La Giara, a great little Italian place on 3rd Ave.  It was where we went to eat when I spent the night with her before my first summer ever of interning in NYC.  The food was just as good as I remembered!  We spent hours talking about life and catching up on any news I missed while in school.  Walking away from dinner, she left me with one great piece of advice that is applicable for anyone, no matter your age or position in life.  "If it makes you nervous, do it."  I will spend the rest of the summer with that mentality.  I know that this phrase may seem corny or cliché, but it is very true and sometimes we just need to be reminded of it. 

Happy Friday!

Week Late Weekend Update

  I apologize for my tardy post about my last weekend, but I have been beyond busy.  My weekend started off on Friday, as work came to a close at 4.  After work, I went out to eat at a great Italian restaurant called Pescatore with my friend Mona. I highly recommend it. After stuffing my face with grilled mahi mahi and chocolate molten cake, we went to see Midnight in Paris. I also HIGHLY recommend it. For anyone who has a knowledge of art history, Paris, the 20's, or even English writers, you will love this movie. Woody Allen has still got it. After dinner and a movie with my gal pal, we went back to her apartment and enjoyed a much needed, restful nights sleep.
  Friday may have been a relatively mild night out, but Saturday night definitely made up for my lack of adventure. I began my Saturday with a morning swim practice at Columbia, went home to shower and change, and then made my way back into the glorious NYC. I walked by the dyke parade and met my friend Emma and her friend Moe at the NY Public Library. We walked to Qdoba and they used their coupons to buy copious amounts of cheap tex-mex. After some food we went to Moe's apartment in Brooklyn.

  For $500 a month, Moe has got an amazing apartment, so jealous. Not to mention, the view form his roof is breathtaking. Just look at my facebook pictures for further proof. As the night went on, lots of Moe's/Emma's friends showed up and we all hung out on the roof. Around 12:30, we left to go to a gay club called Sugarland. I have never been to a gay club before, but it was an experience. Not to mention the gay marriage bill had been passed the day before... We didn't get home until 5 AM. I can't remember the last time I stayed up that late; at W&L we go out at 8 and I'm usually in bed by 12!
  4 hours later we were waking up and getting ready to head to the gay pride parade! One bacon egg and cheese bagel and a quart of ice cream later we had made our way to 5th ave. I had on idea what to expect from this parade, but it far exceeded all of my expectations. I even got to see my swim team march by in their Speedo's and water guns! Next year, I am going to be IN the actual parade, preferably on top of one of those party busses...

Weekend with Allie

     This past weekend my sister Allison came to visit. And since she hasn't been to NYC nearly as much as I have, there were lots of touristy things she wanted to do; not that I am complaining, I love visiting iconic New York landmarks and taking pictures. Friday, she came into the city al on her own, and easily navigated her way to H&M and Forever 21. When I got an e-mail from Mom later that day asking if I had heard from Allie, I freaked out a little because to be honest, I hadn't heard from her for a couple of hours...but not to worry, she was alive and shopping her way through Manhattan. After work, I met up with her on 5th ave and we made our way down to Little Italy for some tasty Italian food. I chose Vincent's since it is the oldest restaurant left in Little Italy (all 4 blocks of it), and to be honest, I was quite disappointed in the quality of food. I guess just because it has been there for over 100 years doesn't mean its still good... Well, our dinner may not have been outstanding, but our desserts at Ferrara were superb. See my Facebook album to admire the deliciousness. After stuffing our faces with chocolate, we went to the Empire State Building and watched the sunset from both the 86th and 102nd floors. If you happen to go, I would advise not spending the extra money to go all the way up, it wasn't really that much of a difference.

  Saturday we woke up early, an by early, we took the 6:50 train into the city to catch the 8:30 ferry out to Liberty Island. It was amazing to see the statue so close up--the air was nice and cool and there was a mysterious mist on the water. After walking around the statue, we took the ferry over to Ellis Island and explored the museum there.  They have done a great job there with artifacts and and displaying facts. Allie and I tried to look up our ancestors but could only find one on our mothers side--its hard when so many people back there changed their names upon arrival.
  After our morning of island hopping, we made our way to Broadway to have lunch with our Aunt Margaret and watch the Lion King. The last time I saw the movie, was probably when I was 10, and so I did not remember the plot line entirely. It was exciting to watch the show in a new view, especially since I could not remember all the details. That was until, I was standing in line for the bathroom at intermission, and the little girl with her grandmother, explained the whole end of the story to her g-ma: thanks a lot little girl. The show ended up being breath taking and I hope to watch another soon.

  Sunday, for fathers day, we took grandpa with us out to Rockaway to visit our cousins. It was beautiful beach weather and a good end to the weekend. I turned a nice shade of reddish-brown and enjoyed a chocolate mousse cake made by my aunt (the pastry chef). After an hour of cursing and struggling with my iPhone, Allie and I were able to locate Laguardia and drop her off to fly home. All in all, a quality weekend. And I knocked off 4 things from my NYC bucket list!