Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is my absolute favorite holiday, and I pretty much wrote it off this year because we wouldn't be with our family to celebrate. I am very happy to say that I couldn't have been more wronger.  This was one of my favorite Thanksgivings ever.  Also, I fell in love with New York a million times over.  I always say CJ dragged me here, but he is also going to have to drag me out of here.  Kicking and screaming.

On Wednesday night we went to see Romeo and Juliet starring O R L A N D O B L O O M. The Channing Tatum of my generation! (Okay, maybe Channing Tatum is the Channing Tatum of my generation but YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN.) It was so good! I have always really liked Shakespeare but I still have a hard time following it word for word on stage. The set and music were incredible and I mean...Orlando Bloom. Bye.

Then we were on the train home and started talking about whether or not we wanted to go to the parade...aaaaand neither of us really wanted to. Ha! Too cold and too many people! So we split-second decided to hop off at 81st street and see the balloons live and in person all ready for the parade! It was so cool and they are so much bigger than I thought. Did you know Macy's is the country's second largest consumer of helium?? The first largest is the government...figures.

Hannukah in our apartment lobby...LOLZ. So many variations of tile. Just imagine...this is one small corner of the lobby and you can see four different types!!!

This is the pumpkin cream pie that I actually SLAVED over just for the sake of making something for Thanksgiving. I wish I could properly express the labor that went into this pie, mainly four different grocery stores and a trip to Bed Bath and Beyond. And then I had to actually MAKE IT. But it was so so so so good. Thanks again, Pioneer Woman. You are everything.

This is my hubsband at our Thanksgiving dinner. We went to a restaurant called Jacob's Pickles on the UWS and it was so delicious.  They typically serve delicious southern fare like fried chicken and biscuits, cheese grits, etc. so I mean...we knew it was going to be good.

The first course was pickles (they are fms for their pickles, hence the name) and a deviled egg which I loved because I'm hood like that and CJ did not love so I ate his.  The second course was this lovely potato soup with leeks and bacon and probably lots of butter and cream.  And it was served in a mason jar and it was delicious.  When I saw how small the soup was I was like "WHY SO SMALL" but I later realized that they were just looking out for me because...five courses.

Good salad with rocquefort and beets. I love beets.

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THE MOTHERSHIP. Course four...a turkey leg (makes me feel so barbaric), stuffing, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, gravy. Perfection. And yeah I had a diet coke...

Cannot even attempt to explain the eyebrow/squint situation happening here but I promise I did not get botox.

I know what you're thinking...chicken nuggets with honey mustard sauce?  NOPE.

Deep fried oreos with pumpkin spice creme for dipping. Currently salivating...heaven help me.  I will probably crave these every day for the rest of my life.

After dinner we went to Hunger Games at a move theater with recliners and let me tell you.  I don't typically love going to the movies but recliners are a game-changer. 100%.  I suggested we go to the movies probably 5 times this weekend because I liked those recliners a lot.

This is my train to work Friday morning.  My morning commute is usually body-to-body sardines packed onto the train! It was like I was the only person in the whole city going into work on Friday. Oh wait, I was.

On Friday night we ended up doing A LOT of shopping and it was really fun which is weird because I usually hate shopping.  We bought these little elephants from the Bryant Park holiday village.  They were hand-carved in Kenya and I loveeee them. Elephants are my favorite animal besides bears.  We also bought some handmade pillow covers from India and a bunch of stuff from the home section of Anthro.

CJ trying to take a picture of me at Persian dinner...and I did not like it.

But I eventually kind of complied. Kashk Bademjan is like, my favorite food at this point.

The pumpkin cream pie two days later...I was afraid we wouldn't be able to finish it by ourselves.  Understimation.  CJ got me this pie dish with matching rolling pin from Anthro for my birthday.

Saturday we began our apartment hunt.  Our sublet contract is *finally* up after December so we'll be in a new place by Jan 1st!! ...or homeless. Whichever.  PLZ SEND UR GOOD VIBEZ.  This building was actually not that pretty but I'm still not over all the art deco that's rampant in this city.  I LOVE IT.

WEEKEND UPDATE

Went to the mall by CJ's work to look at the stars. And J. Crew.

Trekked down to the LES for the pudding from Sugar Sweet Sunshine that I like with all my heart. (I am trying not to say "love" about things because one time in testimony meeting this guy got up and said something about what a kid must think when he hears his dad say "I love you, son" and also say "I love fishing." SO THOUGHT-PROVOKING I CAN'T EVEN.)

This is a candy store that has every candy you can imagine including all the retired candies and old-fashioned nasties like Necco, Circus Peanuts, and those foam saucers with the little balls inside. So gross. We got sour tape! Which we ate in Spain all the time.

I saw this in SoHo and nearly cried because POOR DROSE!

We went to Crate and Barrel because we had some time to kill before we met up with friends. We sat on pretty much every couch in the whole place which is why C&B is the best place to go in the city in the winter when you have time to kill. It's warm and there are couches. Don't know why I thought we would leave without buying something???? P.S. I like this picture of CJ because he is making the SASSIEST face! Haha!

We ate Korean BBQ with our friends Chelsea and Russell. I don't like Korean food that much.

And then we went to karaoke. No trip to Koreatown is complete without a round of karaoke!

Sunday was the Primary Program and I cried pretty much the entire time.  They sang all my absolute favorite songs...this was my year, you guys. Plus CJ is a primary teacher so it was even bettahhh. They hung this banner in the hallway and the kids wrote how they know they're children of God.

My cousin Kai was born and he is the most adorable thing I have ever seen.

On Sunday CJ cleaned the whole apartment while I did nothing. See? There's me being useless. On FaceTime. These are the only pictures you will ever see of our current apartment so really let them sink in. That's our bed........and it has always been like that. And we sleep on it.

I will never have a stainless steel fridge because I absolutely love magnets and hanging things on the fridge. Maybe tacky, I don't even care.

As I was sitting on the bed while my husband buzzed all over the place cleaning E V E R Y T H I N G I realized that it had been 6 months since our wedding.  And I started to cry because I have the best husband and I am not always the best wife...like when it comes to cleaning. I AM the best wife when it comes to cooking though. You win some, you lose some.

The fabulous and excellent grand LES food tour 2013

On Saturday while we were at the MOMA* CJ and I decided, on a whim, to take a food tour** of the Lower East Side a la this BuzzFeed article.  We don't really frequest the LES so it was fun to explore a new part of town. (We also stumbled upon Babeland which is a really tame, non-embarrassing, classy sex shop for mature adults but even so I turned around and left pretty much as soon as I walked in because I felt I might faint. Basically I suck the fun out of everything.)

The first stop (after taking world's biggest detour which involved me swearing and a bus full of 100+ y/o Chinese people) was Vanessa's Dumplings.  Last weekend we went to Korea Town and got dumplings that were really good and cost about $8 for 8.  These were even better than those and we paid TWO DOLLARS for 8. This place is magic. We sat next to some people who ordered 50 dumplings (apparently you can buy them frozen...genius) and they paid only $9!!! The ladies who work there are all kinda mean and there is always a line but it's like WHO CARES.

I want these so bad right now and it's 10:30 AM.***

Next we braved the weirdo-ridden streets of the LES and walked to Sugar Sweet Sunshine Bakery.  We got the Chocolate Chip Extravaganza as per the BuzzFeed article and even though it looked so weird it was nothing short of divine.  Smushed up chocolate chip cookies + butterscotch pudding + whip cream all mixed/mashed together= heaven.  And they have cupcakes for $1.75.  I dare you to find a bakery anywhere that sells cupcakes (NOT MINI) for that cheap.

droolz

Then we decided to walk to Joe's for a slice  the best slice in the city, and we accidentally ended up in the shop where CBGB used to be (Hollaback Rufus and Lily!!) and that was cool but neither of us really care about punk music so...not that cool. Anyway we took our time strolling to Joe's and then we saw Mighty Quinn's BBQ (^__^) and we were like OHHHHHHHH now I know where we are! And I saw a guy come around the corner with a cone of them Pommes Frites and I said "WAIT CJ NOT JOE'S, FRIES" and he said "YES FRIES FIRST JOE'S AFTER" and so we found the fry place and those were also delicious. But I did not like them as much as the frites at Bruges, my one true Salt Lake love. And we didn't even go to Joe's after 'cause now we were too full.

we did not get cheddar cheese as pictured we got parmesan peppercorn dipping sauce.

We did all of this for only $12!! We didn't even need dinner after, it was all sooo good. And then we were like, what are we going to do when we live in California and we really want Vanessa's dumps? Cry? Then we laughed about how when we grow up and have kids and bring them back to New York they are going to think we are crazy because we are just going to be running all over town stuffing our faces with the best food in all the world.

At the end of it all CJ said "Today was really fun" and I said "Yeah" and he said "Would have been funner with friends though..." and I said "Yeah..." BUT then Sunday came and now we have some friendships in the works so STAY TUNED.

*We both get into the MOMA for free because of our jobs. On Saturday the woman at the desk said to me, "You can actually bring guests for free too, just so you know." Which I take to mean I can bring 20 guests for free if I want. So if you come visit we can all go to the MOMA for FREEEEE.

**I use this term pretty loosely. We only went three places, after all. If you come to New York I will take you on a for realz food tour.

***Yes, I took all these pictures straight from BuzzFeed. Yes, that is incredibly lame. You can criticize me for not taking any pictures ever once I have an iPhone, okay thanks.

you know new york, you need new york, you know you need unique new york.

I have lived in New York for three whole months now and I have blogged about it twice.

That is TRULY shameful.

I have drafted probably four or five blog posts but I don't want to whine about living in New York because that's stupid, and I also don't want to be overly hunky-dory about living here because...that's annoying and also stupid.

The truth is, living in New York is both terrible and amazing.  I'm gonna go out on a limb and say it's probably the best AND worst place I will ever live. So the dichotomy makes writing about it hard...but right now I can smell the remnants of a donut I just ate from my favorite donut establishment, Dough, and if I walk five feet from my desk I have the bombest view of the Manhattan skyline.

So for today, donuts outweigh all the crazy strung-out people and pee smells I'll encounter on my way home.

TREATZ on TREATZ

I am constantly bopping around the internet to find great things to eat here in the city so I thought I would share the treats we've eaten so far! And what I thought was wonderful and what I thought was overrated. OK. These are not in any order.

Actually, I think I shall start with CUPCAKES.

Sprinkles YES
We all know I love this place. Make sure to read their tweets and go on a day when they have a secret code that you "whisper" to buy one get one free. Ate ours in Central Park. Bliss. Tried the lemon coconut one, it's a sham. I have found that most coconut cupcakes are a sham as they are vanilla/lemon/chocolate cake with vanilla/lemon/chocolate buttercream and covered in coconut flakes. The flakes being the only coconut component. HELLO. Flakes aren't even the best part about coconut!! So don't get that one unless you have a bizarre affinity for coco flakes. Strawberry is still my favorite.

Molly's YES
Started in Chicago and now she has an adorable little shop on Bleeker Street. Cannot beat the ambience here. But be careful if you use the bathroom because the lock does not work and someone will walk in on you. Molly's schtick is that her cupcakes are all filled! And delicious! CJ and I got the Cookie Monster one and it was really good and it has cookie dough inside so obviously it's the best choice. The frosting on it tasted like straight butter and befuddled me for a while. CJ can attest that I did not stop talking about it. "How do you think they make this?????" Side note: I have had the PB/chocolate one before too and it is also delicious.

Georgetown Cupcake NO
We kind of got off on the wrong foot because I noticed that they charge you for the box if you buy several cupcakes. That is morally wrong. I like this place because it's in SoHo and because everything is pink. I do not like this place because their cupcakes are dry. And kinda tiny. The end. Maybe I will give it another chance but probably not since I have about 100,000 better treats to try.

Baked by Melissa NOOOO
Another cupcake I am feeling a little bitter about. Melissa's schtick is that her cupcakes are ACTUALLY bite-sized. As in ONE bite. Two if you're lucky or splitting it. This is an adorable idea except for the fact that each of them costs A D O L L A R.  Is it just me or is that a little ridiculous??? I'll let u have a bite of my cupcake......FOR A DOLLAR! No, thanks. I had to try it for the sake of trying all the cupcake places and they actually are really yummy. I think the tiny size helps to keep the ratio of frosting to cake just perfect and the cake itself is REALLY moist. But I will not be purchasing any more of her teaspooncakes because...personal ethics. I tried Cinnamon and Cookie Dough, CJ had Mint Choc Chip.

OTHER TREATS

Crack Pie from Momofuku Milk Bar YES
Listen to me. Eat this. Don't share.

Cereal Milk soft serve from Momofuku NAH
I just had to try this for myself, but I do not recommend unless your favorite pastime is drinking the milk out of your cereal bowl after eating corn flakes.

Ice Cream Sandwich from The Good Batch in Brooklyn NAH
We stumbled upon this delicacy at Schmorgasburg, a food fair in Brooklyn that takes place every Saturday in the summer. They had a few different flavors to choose from and we chose the Goodwich: vanilla ice cream drizzled with fudge and sandwiched between two oat chocolate chunk cookies sprinkled with sea salt. I thought it was really good but it was TOO SALTY. I understand a little bit of salt (a "sprinkling" you might say) for contrast but this was too much for me. Either way we ate the whole thing and I mostly enjoyed it but the salt left a bad taste in my mouth (literal and metaphorical.)

Frozen Hot Chocolate from Serendipity 3 YEAH SURE MAYBE
Get this. But not if you have to wait very long. And don't plan to share it because there is an $8.50 minimum per person at this joint. It is noted in a corner of their mess of a menu in world's smallest print. I think if I knew that before I went I would be less put-off by it but whatever. This frozen hot chocolate, which will cost you about $9, is delicious and I think you should definitely spring for it. Plus it's one of those novelty NYC things that you "have" to do...but seriously if you have to wait like an hour or something just don't go and it's really not that big of a deal. Dunkin Donuts has frozen hot choc, too.

Cheesecake (Creme de la creme Cream Cheese Cake, as they call it) from Serendipity 3 NO 3X
No, no, no. CJ only got this because of the aforementioned minimum of $8.50 per person, and I didn't think it was very good at all. It doesn't come with anything on it except whip cream, I didn't like the crust, and it just wasn't sweet enough for me. Tasted like a bite of a brick of cream cheese to me. But CJ liked it so whatever. Just no. Get the frozen hot chocolate, do not get anything else.

Banana Pudding from Magnolia Bakery YEAH 3X
REALLY yummy. $5 for a cup but you can definitely split it between two people because it is so rich. CJ and I could barely finish. If you are going to Magnolia, this is the thing to try for sure!

I am in sweet sweet love with this city.