Fun Times in The City!

So as our time in NYC is winding down, I have been on a quest to get as much city fun as I can before we head out to the Vermont countryside. We actually made a list of things to do in NYC before we moved here, and I have to say, we've done a very good job at knocking off most of them.

This past June in particular was pretty amazing in terms of awesome NYC things. I got to eat at two absolutely amazing restaurants, Momofuku Ko AND Brooklyn Fare. Seriously, these were two of the most awesome culinary experiences ever. If you have the chance, GO. Now.

Additionally, we had loads of fun with some sailing and trapezing! For Alex's birthday this year, I was at a loss for what to do. Then I saw a post on Cup of Jo on sailing, one of my favorite NY blogs, and knew I had found the event! Alex and I don't often exchange gifts, especially for birthdays, we're more "do cool things" over "get more stuff" sort of folks, so a sunset sail on the Hudson was perfect.



I had gone on a Circle Line boat cruise before around the harbor, but this was SO much cooler. I'm fairly certain it's one of my favorite things we've done in the city. I met Alex on 22nd street and 10th as a surprise and then we walked out to Chelsea piers. You can bring along a picnic, which I highly recommend doing. I stopped at Num Pang in Union Square (best sandwiches in NYC, no question) and also picked up dessert at Chelsea Market.



For the cruise they take you out on a gorgeous sail boat, one of the old school beautiful schooners. Our group was fairly small, maybe 12-15 of us on the boat, and our evening was perfect! It was a clear night, there was lots of wind for sailing, and there were even points where we were nearly at a 45 degree angle going around a curve. Super fun! Along with the picnic, they also serve unlimited drinks on board. Wine, champagne, and beers. While they say it's not meant to be a booze cruise, we never had an empty glass the whole 2 hours. :-)



I didn't bring my DSLR, but did manage to snap a few photos with my cell phone and with our little point and shoot camera. The views were gorgeous!






I love this one. The boat in this photo is just like the one we were on. 

Our second fun adventure was trapeze! Again at the suggestion of Cup of Jo, as soon as I saw it, I knew this was something I needed to do. SO MUCH FUN! I pretty much wanted to immediately join the circus. It was a deathly hot day when we went, but being on the water there was a decent breeze. And when you're flying through the air, we barely noticed it.









We learned a basic knee hang, a flip off the bar to dismount, and got to try a few catches. The instructors here were fantastic teachers and incredibly friendly. I would completely recommend this place to anyone coming to the city! I know I'll be back!

 



So hard to believe we only have about 3 weeks left! Get ready for loads of post from green mountains, as I'm hoping my free time will actually start to exist! Hurray! :-) 

An Athletic May!

Wow! Things have been crazy the past couple months over here in Brooklyn. Not only has the photo business been crazy, (you are following the photo blog right?) but I've been involved in a number of super athletic endeavors through the city. No triathlons for a bit yet, but there's been a storm of running and biking feats!

On the Brooklyn Bridge on the way to the start.

First up, the NYC Bike Tour. My dad suggested this back in February or so, and I emailed my lovely friend Andrea to see if she'd be up for attempting it with me. Nothing crazy, just 42 miles through all 5 boros! :-) She agreed and off we went! Unfortunately I was in a rush to leave that morning and forgot my camera, but luckily Andrea saved the day and remembered hers!

Waiting to get rolling.

The tour was May 1st and both of us were pretty excited! We biked over the Brooklyn Bridge and to the start line in the financial district. Holy cow, SO MANY BIKERS!

The crazy amounts of bikers at the start!

It was bikers basically as far as you could see. We waited quite awhile to actually get started, and it was a bit of stopping and starting, but once we got rolling it was really fun to coast down 6th avenue without any traffic at all!

One of the many unfortunate traffic jams.

However, the ride did end up having a number of bottle necks, Central Park, getting out of the Bronx, into Queens, a bit in Brooklyn, and then a huge massive traffic jam on the BQE. Thankfully, it was a beautiful day, so it could have been MUCH worse, but hopefully next year they'll plan things out a bit better so there aren't the massive back-ups on parts of the course. It was pretty awesome to bike down the FDR and across bridges that aren't normally open to bikes! I got to see many parts of the city I'd never been to before.

Atop the Verrazano Bridge into Staten Island.

Biking Across!

After my legs had recovered from the bike, it was on to the running! This past weekend I got to run in the Brooklyn Half Marathon! This race had sold out in about a day, so I was excited to get one of the coveted spots! I also finished with my best time ever, 2:28! Crossing the line just in time to beat my goal of sub 2:30!! (I know that's not super speedy for most of you, but for me, it was pretty awesome.)

It was a beautiful day for a race, and the course was pretty much shaded the whole way through, so it made for a great run.

The best part of this race was the finish, all the runners make their way onto the Coney Island Boardwalk, running past the Wonder Wheel on one side and the ocean on the other before crossing over the finish line.


Alex managed to snap a photo just before the finish!


Hurrah!

Afterwards, Alex and I enjoyed a walk out on the pier to enjoy the view.

A breath of fresh air.

I love living in the city. However, one of the great parts of NYC is that on days when you just need a breath of fresh air, a bit of peace and quiet, you can head north for 30 minutes, and find this.



And a little of this as well.





This Sunday was truly a beautiful fall day and just the right amount of chill in the air to make hiking in Harriman State Park the perfect way to spend the afternoon. A great time had by all!

Reason #234

Beautiful Bread.



One of the things I loved when I lived in Spain was the fresh bread. Every day my host mother would be sure to bring home a fresh loaf of delicious crusty bread to have with our lunch.

New York allows us to have a piece of that, as we often find ourselves shopping for food on a near daily basis. I always am picking something up, and with the market so close to work and the little shops in the neighborhood, we've become accustomed to having lots of stuff fresh!

However, the best part of the market along with the beautiful food are the people that stand behind the produce. I think it's so important to know where your money is going, and in the case of Hot Bread Kitchen, I couldn't be happier with the cause I'm contributing to. On their website, their mission states:

"Hot Bread Kitchen is a non-profit social enterprise that creates better lives for low-income women and their families. We do this by paying women while they learn the skills necessary to launch food businesses and achieve management track positions in food manufacturing.

To help offset the cost of our training and to build esteem in the contribution of immigrants, we sell delicious multi-ethnic breads that are inspired by our bakers and the many countries that they come from. We make it a priority to use local and organic ingredients."

How cool is that? I just got the ciabatta and a few little rolls for today, but I'm excited to try all the fun different kinds as well.

Here's to knowing where your food comes from, and using your dollar to make a difference.

Manhattan by Night.

Chances are if you've come to visit Alex and I since we've moved to the new neighborhood we've taken you for a stroll out to the Brooklyn Promenade. It's one of my favorite parts of where we live and where I regularly head on my running routes.

I've been meaning to get out to capture some night shots of the city for quite awhile and finally managed to get around to it this weekend. I love the promenade at night and am always entranced by the glow of Manhattan in the moonlight. They recently finished some new sections of the Brooklyn Bridge Park, so a lot of the Brooklyn side is now flood-lit at night, so the effect isn't quite as dramatic, but I still think it makes for a lovely view.

Around the World in 80 Dates

While dining on sushi delivery (one of the wonders of living in Brooklyn) a few weeks ago Alex and I hatched the idea that we needed to try more new restaurants. Oddly, in Minnesota, we hardly ever repeated a place, but in NYC, sometimes the ridiculous number of options just kind of make us lean to the familiar neighborhood places. I mean, when the local pizza joint is good enough for Jay-z and Beyonce, I think that works for me.

Anyhow, it's no secret I'm a travel addict and love exploring new food in new lands. Since I can't always be getting my passport stamped, at least right now, we decided it would be fun to see how many different country cuisines we could sample right in our own backyard, and there's no better place to try then New York!

Thus, the Around the World in 80 Dates challenge was born. The rules are the following:

1. The restaurant must be country specific, no "asian fusion", etc. allowed.
2. At least one of us has to try something we've never heard of before.
3. It has to be a date, no take out. :-)
4. I will attempt to re-create at least one of the new dishes the following week at home.


Our first stop: Lebanon!

Alex: How did we pick Lebanon? Why, what better place to start than with the cradle of civilization itself? Wait, that's Mesopotamia, which technically is in Iraq. Where's Lebanon again? Oh: it's west of Syria and North of Israel. Still confused? If you look at your right hand palm facing up, and that represents the state of Wisconsin, then Lebanon is the equivalent of . . . some other body part. Either way, Lebanon is really more the tricyle or PowerWheels of civilization anyway.

But mostly we started with Lebanon because there is an authentic Lebanese restaurant named Tripoli a few blocks from our apartment that we'd been eying for awhile, so we spontaneously decided (after realizing that we didn't want to walk too far or drive anywhere) that that would be our first stop.

Nicki: Tripoli did not disappoint. Of course, like a moron I didn't have my camera with me for our first adventure, but oh well, I still want to count it! The inside of the restaurant is a little quirky, with kitschy sea murals and is decorated kind of like an old ship. The service was a bit slow but the food was delicious. In the spirit of trying something new and being authentic, we went with the Lebanese Traditional Maza, which then made me extra sad I didn't have a camera. It was quite a sight! The maza is a collection of 20 (!!!) different small plates, similar to Spanish tapas. It covered our entire table! I was pretty sure it would be too much, but then once we dug in it ended up being the perfect amount of food for the two of us, and a super fun dining experience to boot!
We enjoyed all of the plates, with the exception of one, olives. Try as both Alex and I might, neither of us can acquire a taste for them. Sorry mom :-(


For the at home version, I decided on three things, kibbeh, hummus, and tabouli salad. The kibbeh, or , kibbee mishwiye (I found lots of different spellings) was one of the more interesting things we tried, sort of a baked meat pastry. I couldn't find a recipe for exactly what we had tried, but something semi similar.


I apologize, I realize this is not super photogenic. But, it was REALLY tasty!

I used this recipe from All Recipes scaled back for 1 pound of ground meat with a little less salt. We used ground beef from the farmers market rather then ground lamb, as that's what I normally buy and was in the freezer. Otherwise, I followed the recipe, but baked it instead of fried.

I was a little worried about how this would turn out, but was surprisingly pleased! It was really easy and came together quickly, and, tasted really delicious! It wasn't as crispy as what we'd had in the restaurant, but close enough!

For the tabouli salad, I very roughly followed this recipe from Daily Unadventures in cooking, no green pepper and no scallions, but otherwise, more or less tossed the ingriedients together. Super easy, super yummy, and it even kept well for leftovers!



Finally, I whipped up my first ever batch of homemade hummus. Who knew this stuff was so easy?? Awesome, will be making this again. Light and fluffy and all around fantastic.

Lebanon success!



Stay tuned for the next adventure!

Parents in the City!

Two weeks ago my parents made their way out to the big city for some fun in the big apple!

We had a great time showing off our new neighborhood, Central Park, taking a sunset cruise around the harbor, seeing the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, the Brooklyn Bridge, and enjoying some fabulous eats!


We also went to the Dragon Boat festival in Queens, though not as cool as I'd hoped it would be, there was still some neat stuff.








Dad and I in Central Park.


View from the boat on the sunset cruise.








On Liberty Island.








Ellis Island Exhibit.




Brooklyn Bridge.



Thanks Mom and Dad! We had a great time having you for a visit!!