NYC Noms: Day 1 and 2

Day 1:

On our first day in New York, we woke up slightly bleary-eyed but excited. We slept in our BFC penthouse suite with the windows open, and...well...I've never heard so many sirens, horns, cars cranking, engines running in my entire life.

Our first stop was the Brooklyn Bridge which offered some great views of downtown and Governor's Island where Britton spent his magical childhood. I got wacked a couple times by uber sweaty joggers, but luckily, I was too distracted by people-watching and trying not get hit by stray cyclists and rogue toddlers.

After that, we headed over to the GI (Governor's Island) ferry terminal to make the 2.5-min voyage over to the island. It was once a Coast Guard station where Britton and his family lived in suburban-bliss right next to Manhattan. Today it is a national park, and one of the best places I have ever seen for biking, jogging, and exploring historic buildings.

One fantastic thing about New York is that there is plenty of street food and the varieties are endless. (Being a health inspector, this would be a nightmare for me back in Gwinnett, but since I don't work here, I am 100% for street vendors.) They have indian, thai, italian, tex-mex, korean, pakistani, greek, turkish, iranian, venezuelan, brazilian, el salvadorean...you name it, you will find it on the streets here. It is the biz-omb.

Above is the curry chicken roti from Veronica's West Indian on GI.

Before heading over to the Film Forum to view Hitchcock's Dial M for Murder in "3 Dimensions," we watched some awesome street performer's in Washington Square with a live accompaniment. (A video of the grand finale is at the very very bottom.) For dinner, we ate NY style pizza with all the trimmings at John's Pizza in Greenwich Village which everyone besides me seems to just call "The Village." I am trying to be an undercover tourist, but it's not working so well.

The pizza was great - not too greasy and very fresh. Unfortunately, I do hate black olives and now, I've discovered recently, also hate anchovies. I feel self-disgust. I should not be writing about these awesome foods using the word "hate." I guess you can't love everything, and to give myself some credit, I probably ate more olives and anchovies than I've ever eaten before.

Day 2:

WE HAVE HIT THE MOTHERLOAD. After a gleeful 30 min wait in the lobby of Jing Fong Restaurant in chinatown, we headed up the escalator with Britton's sister to a land of red-colored wonder and delight. Dim Sum is loosely translated as "Heart's Delight" and that is exactly how I felt here. We immediately started ordering despite the fact that we hadn't gotten our paper bill yet. One of the servers came up to our table after we complained about having neither tea nor pay slip. He chuckled, smiled, and said "No bill? No pay! Ha ha!" I wasn't laughing. I know a little bit about Chinese people, and one thing I don't see a lot of is comp-ing a meal. Britton's sister whispered, "Oh we'll pay. One way or another."

Above is leftover (as in hadn't been consumed in the initial rush) sui mai (best I've ever had) as well as taro bird's nests (my favorite kind of dim sum.) The three of us easily scarfed down every morsel.

A photo above of Pearl River Mart, where I purchased some gifts for my family and where we huddled away from the rain. I highly recommend a stop at this store. It is just so much fun to peruse, even if you don't want to buy anything.

Shadow cat. A resident of BFC brownstone. She is so sweet except when she isn't...like most cats! I adore her and so does BFC.

The best meal I had in NY so far was not at a restaurant at all. BFC ex husband lives on the lower level of the brownstone and made an insane meal. I had chilled chardonnay, dutch and french cheeses, heirloom tomato salad with basil, new potatoes with thyme, and a pork tenderloin cooked medium rare (uh-oh inspector) pork with fennel, curry, cumin, chives, and brown sugar. OH MY GOOD GOD. It was fantastic. Lots of the ingredients for this meal came from their backyard herb garden as well as from their vacation home garden in PA. Nom nom nom.

More to come!

Our Digs For NYC

After a short, but not so sweet flight from Atlanta to Myrtle Beach and then from the MB to NYC, we have swiftly made ourselves right at home here in New York. We are staying in a penthouse suite (Britton's father's cousin's [BFC] apartment) in Jersey City, right across the Hudson River from Manhattan. We get to walk down to the water front each day with  sweeping views of the NY skyline where I proceed to say 'What is that?" a million times while pointing.

The apartment is in a four-family brownstone, and is wonderfully decorated with little wooden statues and wacky shoe art done by none other than BFC herself. 
A gorgeous chest of drawers that BFC may be using to store her art supplies. It reminds me of a  classic 3-ring circus with the red paint and ornate gold flourishes. 

Some zany shoe art. I feel like tiny people should be playing croquet and nibbling biscuits in this shoe.

Meow.

Mad Hatter? Try Mad Cobbler. 
Beautiful well-lit kitchen with lots of greenery and an AMAZING wooden cutting board/countertop. I also loved the clay tiles on the floor.

And really awesome totems all over this place. These were my favorite due to placement. I believe they are the kitchen gods. I will pay homage to them with a fun-size toblerone.

I am so happy to have such a wonderful place to stay (for free no less) in New York. Stay tuned. More to come!!!

Update: Breakfast Pizza and the Obesity Open

There are a lot of strange things going on around here.

1) I moved into a nice little rental home with one furry, handsome Britton. It's got a real backyard and a real garage and REAL curbside recycling pick-up. I'm an adult.

2) I've been elbow deep in pool water all week. Which also means I've been elbow deep in dead frogs, spiders, ants, beetles, and tree parts. Might be why I come home and don't feel like cooking.

3) We've hired one mercenary Battle Kitten who goes by the name Odie. He fights in all our wars in exchange for petting, grooming, poop-scooping, and kibble. Britton threatens to kill him painfully on a daily basis, but I know we are both totally in love.

4) I am eating healthy. I developed a competition between Britton and I to lose weight and cut unnecessary calories out of our diet. Britton called it the Obesity Open (big tennis fan.) Below is a set of rules (which do not change daily despite naysayers.) Whenever a rule is broken per eating event, a dollar is put into the "Fund of Shame." The total "Fund of Shame" will ultimately wind up in the pocket of he/she who has sinned the least. Here are the rules.

• Exercise 2x per week, cardio or weights, for 30 minutes minimum.
• No fast food (specifically no deep fried food, no hamburgers.) We've been dealing with "fast food" items that are relatively healthy on a case-by-case basis.
• Rich dessert (in excess of 100 cal) once a month. May be exchanged for one fatty or deep fried food once a month.
• No full-calorie sodas. No sweet teas.
• No creamer or halfnhalf in coffee. Whole milk or lower.

See. Just basic stuff, but it's really made a difference in my attitude towards consuming food outside the home and to exercise. We joined the local YMCA maybe three weeks ago, and now we're both lifting weights, going to group cycling, and having conversations about our health. It's marvelous, and though we're currently tied (darn french fries at Keba,) I can't see either of us royally screwing this up.

This weekend I am staying in! I've been feeling sick and exhausted from work, so I'm making an effort to remain outside of my car and in my jammies. I will have a brief stint in workout shorts for the gym, but THAT IS IT. NO DRIVING. So rather than haunting our usual dim sum or Southern fusion brunch providers, I made it myself.

Breakfast Pizza (by smitten kitchen)

Please check out the original recipe on smitten kitchen's marvelous website. I love all her recipes which make awesome dishes using simple ingredients. Simple is always better in my book. That I will write someday. It will probably be pretty short. Like less than 100 pages.

Here's some eye candy and subliminal messaging.

MAKE THIS PIZZA.

Oh, did you know I am now cooking with gas? That's right. And yes, that is also bacon in that pan. When you make this pizza, remember, it's okay to eat a few slices as long as the cat is busy playing with shredded newspaper and your boyfriend is in the office with the door closed playing with his new iPhone.

YOU WANT TO MAKE THIS PIZZA.

Easy peasy, for sheasy. Just a little chopping. I left out the flat leaf parsley and the scallions. (I don't use parsley for anything - it tastes too bland to buy just for prettiness' sake.) But don't skimp on the shallot. Shallot is key.

You don't even need to make your own pizza dough. In a hurry - get it pre-made at the grocery store. (It doesn't take a lot of time, but you do need to plan ahead.)

Taa daa! MAKE THIS PIZZA.

Coming Soon! A week in New York City. NY Noms. Big Apple Binge. Manhattan Meatfest. I don't know what to call it yet, but it's going to be big! Restaurant reviews, artsy film houses, and a tutorial on how to eat soup dumplings and where to get some decent ones in Atlanta.