First day of Spring

What a beautiful day it was! The high was 73. We started out with a 4 mile run through Central Park (training for the Half in Boston is on!). Afterward, we set out for a hard-earned Shack burger, only to discover what should've been obvious:


Of course the line was horrendously long. Everyone in New York seemed to be out today, and the Shack seems like the perfect place to grab some food to take to the park.

We skipped the 45 minute wait, grabbed take-out at Harry's Burritos and headed to the park.


There were so. many. people. in the park today! It was nuts! We found a semi-secluded spot in the Ramble to enjoy our lunch in the sun.













Loving the flowers and blue skies. I could get used to this.

Free Energy and Cajun food (worth the wait)

Klane heard about a free concert in Chelsea last night. Free? In NYC?! Yes, please! We'd heard a couple songs by this band before and liked their sound. Even though we had to wait in the cold for over an hour to get in (I hate waiting.) it was fun once we got inside and Free Energy started playing. Their music was upbeat and they gave off this "peace, love, happiness" vibe that made me feel like they were time warped here straight out of the 60's. They were fun to watch. (Click and listen to their song "Something in Common". My fave.)

It was a mistake to wait 45 minutes (I hate waiting.) to see the second band. Super weird electronic music, with a creepy lead singer that made me uncomfortable to watch. We laughed, and left after one song.

After the show, we went to try Delta Grill in Hell's Kitchen. Despite the promised 25 minute-turned 45 minute wait (I. Hate. Waiting. Grrrr.) and my resulting bad attitude going in, we ended up having a great time. The atmosphere was awesome; they had a great live band and we felt like we were in New Orleans.

I've never tried (or even thought of trying) Cajun/Creole food, so it was fun to try something new, and the food was incredible! The fried green tomatoes with black pepper cream sauce were addicting. The barbecue St. Louis ribs fell off the bone, and I am not exaggerating at all when I tell you the baked mac and cheese was the best I've ever had in my whole life. I wanted to take a second order home. Next time we'll be a little more daring and order a crawfish po'boy or andouille sausage jambalaya or fried catfish.

Here are some pictures of the restaurant found on the internet, since it was too dark to take phone pictures last night but I want you to see it:

City Bakery + Union Sq Greenmarket

We went to City Bakery on the recommendation of several friends to try the famous pretzel croissant and hot chocolate. We also tried the caramelized french toast and macaroni and cheese. The unique/salty/crunchy/soft croissant and the french toast were our favorites. The hot chocolate was about twice as chocolatey as we could stand; we brought it home, split it between two mugs and added milk, and then it was just perfect. The homemade marshmallow was also delicious. We're glad we went!









Walked through the Union Square Greenmarket on the way home. I'm amazed they keep it up and running even in the freezing cold. (And it was cold! It was 17 degrees today. We couldn't feel our hands or feet after walking around for only ten minutes or so.) There is so much to see at the Greenmarket walking between the booths. Fresh food, handmade crafts, art, and all kinds of interesting people. Look for Klane peeking into a couple shots. It made me giggle.

A long walk, Chef Yu and homemade brownies

Klane promised to take me on a date Friday night. I walked down to his office after work to meet him. Then we walked to the restaurant, which was near Bryant Park (we thought we might go ice skating there after dinner). Our original plan was to go to this place with Mongolian BBQ, but it was closed, so we ended up going to Chef Yu, a Chinese place on 36th St and 8th Avenue. All in all, from my office on 62nd down to the restaurant, I walked 2 miles! But the great thing was it didn't seem that far at all. There is so much to see in the city, and I could walk around holding hands with Klane for hours. :)

Chef Yu was yummy, and the service was fast. Klane asked me if I'd come back there again, and I thought for a second and decided I would, if there weren't a million other places in the city I wanted to try. It's exciting to have an endless supply of new restaurants to try for date night!

After dinner I was thinking of dessert, and after throwing around ideas of a few places to go for something sweet, we decided the best option would be homemade fudge brownies with ice cream at home. Turned out delicious, and we got to enjoy it while catching up on hilarious episodes of The Office. What a fun night!

Spicy diced chicken and shrimp lo mein. Yum!



dessert!

A Real Weekend!

This was the first Saturday that I haven't had to work since the beginning of December. Yes, Christmas break was in there, but still! I've worked way too many Saturdays around here lately. So I was very excited to have a real weekend, especially since the weather was supposed to be so warm. The high yesterday was close to 50 degrees!

We slept in and then went for a run/walk (we're a little out of shape) through Central Park and down to the East 60s-80s. I wanted to show Klane some of the beautiful Upper East Side buildings I saw on a couple lunchtime walks this week. It was a lot of fun.

After returning home and resting up, we headed back over to 74th Street and 3rd Avenue on the Upper East Side to try the famous burgers at JG Melon. We've heard from many sources that these burgers are some of the best in the city. The verdict? They were really delicious! But we're not sure if the 45 minute wait and poor service would lure us back a second time. We're glad we went though, it was definitely worth experiencing at least once.

We stopped at Williams-Sonoma on the way home to look around and attempt to spend the large chunk of store credit I still have from our wedding. There is so much goodness in that store, I still can't decide. Then we came home, had some dessert, and watched The Office online. It was a nice Saturday spent with my best friend!

sometimes i love new york

On Saturday we went downtown. We had goals. Doughnuts. Pizza. Shopping. USS New York. Shake Shack.

We managed to accomplish all our goals with time to spare. We even had time to catch the BYU game that night!

Doughnut Plant. Would it be wrong to say my life has changed for the better since experiencing this place? I think it has.



Walked through Chinatown. It's very cool to pop out of the subway and suddenly feel like you're in a different country.



Skipped the 45 minute line at Lombardi's and enjoyed authentic Italian style pizza at L'asso down the street.

(Went shopping along Canal Street.
Scarves! Bags! Hats! Cheap! Cheap! Cheap!
I love Chinatown.)



(notice the new scarf which was not present in first photos. thanks kaylene. i love you.)

Made a stop to see the USS New York. Parts of the ship were built using steel from the World Trade Center. It was very cool to see.

Afterward we headed to Shake Shack for a delicious dinner. Then Brandon was kind enough to video chat us the BYU game. Thanks Brandon!