Wednesday night in Greenwich

My friend Gabriela has an apartment in Greenwich with her boyfriend and one roommate. They invited me to join them for a low-key evening and Todd was out of town- how could I refuse? We took the Metro North train, 40 minutes from NYC and had dinner at a Peruvian restaurant in Portchester, NY. The Portchester station is a 5-minute walk from their apartment, so we had to walk across the border to get there. Here we are at the restaurant and then me GOING INTO CONNECTICUT!

Miss you all! T minus 8 days and seriously counting!!

Bike Adventure and Cheese!

Just when I thought I might have run out of creative titles! Tuesday was a beautiful day, so I decided to take a bike ride on the greenway that runs along the Hudson. I went out just after lunch and hit the greenway about 45th Street. The trail was great, there was a nice breeze and the scenery was amazing! Before I knew it, I was seeing signs for 181st Street and the Cloisters. I've been wanting to go to the Cloisters, so I continued on the path, trying to find a way to cross over the highway. I never did find the entrance to the Cloisters, but I did find myself upwards of 200th Street in a tense neighborhood. I felt out of place and was exhausted! When I locked up my bike to go get a water in a small store, I came out to find my back tire was completely flat! Luckily, after walking my bike for a short while, I did find a subway station, hopped on the train and took a very long ride home. After getting cleaned up and relaxing a bit, Todd and I went out for a great date night. We had dinner at Artisanal, New York's "temple to cheese." This place has over 200 cheeses, lots of great wines to pair with them, and a fantastic bistro menu. Todd and I each ordered a "flight" of 3 cheeses with wine. From there, we went to the Campbell Apartment, an old timey bar located in Grand Central Terminal. It's actually an old apartment with 1920s style architecture, classic cocktails and flapper waitresses. We finished the evening off with a carraige ride through Central Park. Our horse, Junior, and guide, Tom, took us on a beautiful tour on a fantastic night!

The attached photos show a piece of driftwood art, the George Washington Bridge up close, some interesting structure on the side of the highway and lastly, Todd and I with our mouths full at dinner.

Is it mid-August already?

I've been really slack about writing in the blog, but it's mostly because I have not spent much time in front of the computer. Todd's been finishing the edits on his book and working night and day and I'm happy to say, for his sake, that he is DONE! I, on the other hand, have been working 12-14 hour days in the pastry kitchen on my externship and being really LAZY on my days off. It's been a very extreme lifestyle...I'll be finished by mid-week next week and then we are heading home. Today I spent the day with two friends from my pastry classes (Marie, who I have not seen since graduation, and Gabriela, who I'm happy to be hanging out with almost daily!). We had breakfast at Clinton Street Baking Company and then spent the rest of the day walking the lower half of the island (of Manhattan, that is). From Clinton Street, we walked down through the Lower East Side (LES) to the South Street Seaport and then Tribeca. We went to Century 21 (discount department store and generally the most chaotic place imagineable) and managed to extricate ourselves before dinnertime. Todd and I just took advantage of the beautiful weather tonight and the new charcoal grills down in the courtyard by having a picnic out by the river. We've still been enjoying NYC, been out to a few new places. Last Wednesday, Todd was in cahoots with my friends here to plan a secret "going-away" party for me, which was held at Johnny Utah's, a new bar/restaurant in Rockafeller Center that I've really been wanting to go to. It's the only place in Manhattan with a mechanical bull and yes siree, I rode it! Twice! And, I did stay on for at least 8 seconds... It was great. All I need now is a pair of chaps. :) I can't wait to see all of you in NC... I'm going to try to bring a camera in to work this week to snap a few shots of the desserts I'm making. They really are extraordinary. The first pic here is of me playing with my "cocktail condiments" served at Pegu Club, the second is today at Clinton Street, then the Manhattan Bridge, and South Street Seaport (note the splash)...Have a great week!

Baking with Todd

Todd and I took a baking class together at the school this morning, called Best Ever Breakfast Baking. We had such a good time and made some delicious breakfast treats - cheddar cheese biscuits, cinnamon raisin pecan sticky buns, chocolate chocolate chunk scones and bacon scallion skillet cornbread. As always, the instructor was great and we met some really nice people. We boxed up our leftover treats and gave them to the staff here at the apartment building. It's rainy here today so it was the perfect way to spend the day.

Some Important Lists

Well, with less than a month left in NYC, I decided to make a list of the things that I miss most about NC and CAN'T WAIT to get back to. And... this is in the order that makes the best sense to me at this minute.
1. Family/Friends/Dogs
2. Our Home
3. Fewer expenses!
4. Real Grocery Stores
5. All of my kitchen tools, spices and cooking space
6. Trees, Grass, Nature
7. Our garden
8. My Car (blessing or not?)
9. The less-than-$10-cocktail
10. The mall
11. Good old southern hospitality
12. Durham city water
13. Foster's market
14. Our high-pressure shower head
15. Karaoke machine!
16. Biking in relative safety
17. Washer/Dryer in the house!
18. A YARD!
19. Target
20. Tarheel fans
21. The ice cream maker

And, here is a list of the things I'll hate to leave behind:

1. My new friends in NYC
2. Great restaurants/bakeries
3. The subway!!!
4. Lots of going out options
5. Being able to walk anywhere
6. Gym in my building
7. Views of the NY skyline, especially at night
8. real pizzerias
9. Thick Brooklyn accents
10. Great Adventure
11. Rodeo Bar
12. Free daily newspapers

Finally, here is a list of the things I will NOT miss about New York:
1. Smells in the subway station
2. BAD customer service
3. Expensive dinners and drinks
4. "Bottle service"
5. Yeah, yeah, yeah
6. Carrying bags of groceries home
7. Crazy drivers

I might update this again, but for now, it's pretty complete. I think... :)