museums, tacos and chocolate overload.

kirsten wanted to go to the alexander mcqueen exhibit and i hadn't been to any museums yet so we decided to go while she was visiting.  we waited in line for an HOUR to even get into the museum, only to find out that they had temporarily closed the exhibit because they had exceeded capacity and they didn't know when they would reopen because they just had to wait until people started leaving.  basically, it would be hours upon hours for us to get in so we decided to walk around and look at other stuff in the museum.  i'm not a huge museum fan, apparently... i got bored really fast.  not that it's not interesting or anything but all i really wanted to see were these:



i'm completely fascinated by them.  i would give anything just to try them on and TRY to walk in them :)  after walking around a humongous museum for a while, we worked up our appetite and so i took kirsten to my fave, cascabel for some delish tacos.  they were amazing as usual and kirsten loved them too.  then we walked along central park and thru and relaxed on a bunch for a bit before i had to go to work.  after work we met heather at max brenner.  this is a restaurant that uses chocolate on everything.  it's been featured on the best thing i ever ate... pizza, for their chocolate pizza.http://www.eatmedaily.com/2009/08/crimes-against-food-the-dessert-pizza-at-max-brenner-video/  the food was really super good, i got a black sesame crusted salmon and veggies, we got a side of waffle cut fries sprinkled with paprika and cocoa powder and then it also comes with a side or chocolate ranch.  sounds weird, but it was actually really good, the chocolate was very subtle.  then dessert was a huge disappointment :(  i of course got the chocolate pizza, heather got a s'mores sundae and kirsten got crispy chocolate egg rolls.  the chocolate itself was really good, as for the rest... wahwah...

chocolate pizza "sauce", marshmallow "cheese", hazelnuts and drizzle of pb

me and KRash (kirsten rash)

hets and her delicious looking but not tasting sundae

so we tried to make our own concoction and added all of our desserts together.. we ended up with one disgusting looking mess

supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.

kirsten, heather and i went to mary poppins on broadway.  it was so much fun, i just looooved it!

soul, baby.

i've always heard people raving about soul food and chicken and waffles and i've always been so confused by it so i decided to give it a whirl.  the verdict? i'm still confused...  i'm not entirely sure how the whole idea came about but apparently it originated somewhere in the south.. go figure.  if it's deep fried, it must be from the south :)  i went to buttermilk channel because i had heard rave reviews on the place.  the chicken was really good, other than the bones and veins and thangs that i don't like dealing with on chicken.. the cheddar waffles were so so and i'm not a a huge coleslaw fan.  dessert was a mini pecan pie sundae and that was yum

sunday brunch.

i went to a place called artisanal fromagerie and bistro for brunch.  this place has been featured on the best thing i ever ate... cheesy for their cheese fondue but it's WAY too expensive so i went there for regular food.  turns out, restaurant week has been extended.. yay!  so i got a 3 course meal for $24.  i had: beignets, chicken paillard and creme brulee.  all 3 were delish!  the salad had a bit too much dressing but it was still yum.

arugula/mushrooms/shaved parm/chicken.  at first, i was diggin through the salad part wondering where my chicken was because i thought the bottom was some sort of flat bread but then i realized that was the chicken... hehe! me silly

the creme.  SO good! mmm mmm mmm!

i really want to try to go back to the place and get a croque monsieur and some real french fries, i was that impressed.  annnd if you think that all i do is eat, it's cause i do.  but the way i look at it, ny is like my own personal epcot.. seems how we weren't able to eat ANYWHERE there, i'm making up for it while i'm here.  besides, my girls are working and so we don't do a whole lot together and all that's left on the list to do is eat at these different places until mumzie comes to visit.  i'm waiting for her to do empire state and statue and thangs like that...

ocean waves.

the beaches here in new york are a lot like the city... loud and busy.  nonetheless, i find peace and relaxation every time i go.  i seem to block out everything else and just listen to the waves... it's the best sound in the world :)  i'm sure going to miss being so close to the ocean, guess that means i better get planning the next vacation!  i most definitely won't miss the sunburn that i seem to get EVERY time! :(  i don't understand! i put sunscreen on twice and still burn!  i've come to the conclusion that i need a different sunscreen... give it a whirl anyways.  after that, i came home, had a nice cold shower and went to a movie with the girls.  we tried going to crazy, stupid love but it was sold out so we went to snow flower and the secret fan.  it was one of those indie type films.. it was about 2 chinese girls and that's about all i can tell you about it.  that's how interested i was in it :) haha!

mermaid ice cream and pizza.

well i had ice cream twice in one day... i didn't mean to, i swear!  and technically i only had ice cream once, the other was gelato and those are two VERY different things :)  i woke up, went to cycling, stopped at a little italian donut/gelato shop on my way to get groceries and got a pesca/fragola (peach/strawberry) gelato cone, came home, took a nap and checked twitter.  well the big gay ice cream truck had tweeted that he had mermaids!  mind you, they only have them on special occasion and who knows if he would have it again before i left... hmm... sure wish i had seen that before i got my gelato but what the heck, i gotta try the mermaid ice cream!  i somehow knew that if i painted my nails "mermaid tears" and wore my starfish necklace, the mermaid goddesses would sense me and call out to the ice cream truck and tell them that i needed some ice cream. (key lime custard/ graham cracker/whipped cream/vanilla ice cream)  it was fantastic!  well worth the almost 30 min. line i stood in to get it.  i sat in union square and enjoyed my mermaid and watched some guys draw a beautiful picture with chalk on the sidewalk.  then, for dinner i had wanted to go to this place called, artichoke.  i got down into the subway and saw that the train was about to leave so i just hurried and hopped on, only to find out that it was the wrong way.  no big deal, it only went 2 blocks or so.. i'll just walk back to where i first got on and get on the right train this time.  wrong!  when you have an unlimited pass, it won't let you swipe for 18 mins.  so i waited for a minute, got impatient and decided to walk to the next stop. ps i somehow missed the actual next stop. here's a map so you can all understand how far i walked

ok, so i started at 14st. union square (middle of yellow, green, gray), i then got on the L (gray) the wrong way to 3rd. ave. so basically i walked the L line from 3rd to 8th ave. and for some reason thought that artichoke was somewhere near that stop but ended up walking the A (blue) line from 14th/8 ave. down to w4 (blue, orange) long walk short, i walked a looong ways for this pizza.  which turned out to be this big!:

man! was i glad that i walked a 100 miles to get a slice that couldn't even fit on ONE plate!  i got the artichoke slice (artichoke/spinach/cream sauce/mozzarella/pecorino romano cheese) it definitely wasn't the best pizza i've ever had but after exhausting myself, anything would've tasted good :)

MERMAID!

pretty sidewalk picture

no idea what this is.. to me it's a giant wand! :) i stared at it while waiting for my 18 mins to expire...





funzies.

yesterday was a terrible day, it just felt like nothing could go right, so today i woke up and thought to myself "wow, yesterday sure sucked but today is going to be great, no matter what" :) and it was.  i woke up, did some laundry so now i have a clean place to sleep and clean clothes to wear, i worked out and took myself to magnolia bakery, a movie and barbuto for dinner.  everyone is always recommending magnolia bakery for their cupcakes but i am OVER the cupcake phenomenon so i decided to try their cheesecake.  it seemed like the perfect cheesecake, perfect size anyways but i hate to say it failed... miserably.  the cheesecake wasn't very tasty and there was too much crust.  the bakery itself is really cute tho :)   apparently it's famous for being on sex and the city but i didn't ever watch that show.. for dinner, yes i had dessert first (and after) dinner ;) i went to a place called barbuto.  it's an italian restaurant by jonathan waxman (apparently he's a famous chef?? he mentored bobby flay..) that prides itself on preparing local/seasonal/fresh food and i've wanted to go there ever since bobby flay AND my fave, tyler florence, said they loved their pollo al forno, which is, slow roasted chicken with salsa verde.  it was also on the best thing i ever ate... better than mine and if tyler thinks it's better than his roasted chicken, then it must be good!  pass!  it was so super good, so moist and cooked perfectly, the salsa verde was AMAZING, although i couldn't tell you what it was... some mixture of herbs...  i also got a side of patate, which are crispy potatoes, pecorino and rosemary, they were also delish.  it's the weirdest thing here in nyc, most entrees don't come with side dishes, they're separate and cost extra, of course.  i definitely didn't need a side because the chicken was more than enough but i'd never been before and didn't know that i was being served at least half of a chicken!  for dessert i had an affogato.  i sure love them but perhaps i shouldn't have one for dessert after din because that shot of espresso is sure keeping me up late right now :)  after din, i decided to venture around the west village.. i wandered around for a while and all of a sudden it started getting really windy.  it was blowing dirt and trash everywhere and i felt like i had walked into some sort of tornado so i decided i better get back to the subway.  welllll... the only bad thing about that part of town, the streets are names, not numbers so i was lost!  i finally started seeing familiar buildings and figured i must be close when it started POURING!! whoever made up the saying "when it rains, it pours" must've been from nyc.  the rain is insane here!  i was absolutely soaking wet in 3 or so blocks.  it was actually kind of nice (minus the fact that i actually took time to straighten my hair today) seems how it's been so miserably HOT so i didn't really mind much.. i'm just sad that i wasn't prepared with my cute rain boots :(

mini vanilla bean cheesecake-so cute! but not good :(

pollo con deliciousness

patate

check out the awsome curly sue i got! now if only the rest of my hair would cooperate like that...

my super cute boots that i never seem to have handy when i need them most