A Tease

Did you all have a nice weekend? We had a busy but good one. Therefore, I still haven't had time to sort through all the Europe pics but did find a few gastrocentric pics that made me excited to go back! Who knew London had a restaurant explosion in the past 11 years (last time I had been?) 

Currant Scones from Daylesford Organic

Having a sip at The Orange

Afternoon tea at Covent Gardens Hotel 

 

 Fish and Chips (& peas) in Oxford at The White Horse

 Having another sip in the beer garden in Oxford at Turf Tavern - it dates back to the 13th century.

 Had to throw this in there

 Enjoying quite the drink in Oxford at The Trout

 This is what you call a sausage buttie. We found this gem at the Pimlico Rd farmers market right by our flat. I could eat these everyday for breakfast.

Maybe I'll be able to get through all the pics today :)

Packed Weekend

This weekend went by incredibly fast but probably because it was so great and we did so much. Mom and Dad came in for a little Fall trip. Since we packed in a ton of things this weekend I'm just going to give you some bullet points. (I think Ben likes it when I do this anyway)

• Thursday night - Dinner in the village at the yummy yummy Market Table
• Friday morning - grabbed some apple cider donuts at the farmers market and then hit the shopping streets until we met up with Ben to see the Off-Broadway play The Fantasticks. It was incredibly intimate and fun. I'd recommend it to anyone wanting a great play and fun unique experience.
• After the play we went down to our neighborhood and had drinks and after play eats at The Brandy Library.
• Saturday we woke up early and went down to the 9/11 Memorial then drove to West Point and took a wonderfully beautiful and insightful tour of the campus. It should definitely be on the top of the most beautiful campus list. It overlooks the Hudson river and to top it off the leaves were changing. Gorgeous!
• Then we drove to Cold Spring, NY and did a little antique shopping. 
• Finally making our way back to the city, we had dinner at Marc Forgione down in Tribeca.
• Sunday we made our way through Central Park and over to PJ Clarks for brunch then before they left to go back to Florida we hit up some Shake Shack for the closing dinner.

World Trade Tower

 South Tower fountain

 West Point Chapel

 Straight rows of bible - military style

 Cold Spring antiquing

Where's Manhattan??

Well, for some reason my blog post never posted this morning. It was a long one at that. Since I'm leaving for Orlando tomorrow to visit Sis and still have a lot to do this post will be much shorter. 

Ben had Columbus day off and we took full advantage! We carried on the apple picking visit to Warwick, NY just like last year. However we made a few stops along the way. We stopped at The Cloisters in Fort Tryon Park. If you didn't know better then you would think you were waaaay outside Manhattan in some peaceful park but you would be wrong. It is right here in Manhattan, up by 204th st to be exact. The Cloisters is closed on Mondays so we didn't get to go inside. This was also the case with the restaurant in park called, The New Leaf. But I'm thinking we'll be coming back up here many more times and maybe even next weekend when my parents come to visit we can sit on the patio of New Leaf and have brunch!

Ben walking up the path to the Cloisters

Looking out to Morningside Heights

Looking across the Hudson river to Jersey - notice the George Washington Bridge in the background

Tree lined sitting area - there was an older gentleman whittling a baseball bat which seemed normal up in these parts

We stopped off Palisades Parkway to gaze back at our little city. I think we're in love!

Our Weekend

Yet again I'm recuperating after a fun but busy guest filled weekend! Hubby's little sister and bro-in-law came to visit this weekend. We had so much fun showing the sights and just hanging out. We walked all around, stopped to get a second wind by eating cupcakes from Magnolia Bakery and of course did some shopping. Once night came upon us, we had a great and long relaxing tapas dinner at Alta in the West Village. I highly recommend this spot but you should know that you'll need a reservation a few days in advance. After our tasty dinner (where we tried about 10 different plates) we headed over to The Rusty Knot for yet some more food. We got there early enough to grab one of the few tables in the bar and immediately ordered a pretzel dog and four drinks, named none other than Rusty Knots. Hubs and I were introduced to this dive bar over on the West Side highway by some good friends when we were looking at apartments a year ago. (I can't believe it was a year ago) After watching the bar fill up with people and getting dirty looks for continuing to sit at a table we decided to call it a night. These were some of the highlights of the weekend but just walking around, etc was great! I'll let the pictures show you the weekend.

Yummy Magnolia Bakery cupcakes

Running off the recently eaten cupcakes

Seeing the sights

Now its time to say goodbye.

Warning: Christmas

If you need a lift this morning then maybe you need some Christmas in your day. I have more than enough Christmas pictures for you to go around! My parents came in town for the weekend and we started it off with a bang! We went to dinner at Odeon and then followed it up with those famous Rockettes at Radio City Music Hall. Afterwards, we all walked around Rockefeller admiring the tree and of course taking LOTS of pics. Hubs' office is in 45 Rock so we walked around there as well until he had to go back to the office. It was a great way to begin the Christmas season!

If you don't want to see lots of Christmas trees then no need to look further... :)

Legs Legs Legs

Sorry Hubs, I know you're going to kill me but I think its funny...this is Hubby's office building.

Seriously Perfect

Yesterday was seriously a perfect October Fall day! Hubs had the day off (Columbus Day) and so we decided that we should take a trip outside the city and see some of the new state we live in. New York is beautiful. And honestly, I had no clue. We drove up to Warwick, NY to an Apple orchard and winery and spent the day. But not before driving through Sleepy Hollow. Spooooky. So we picked apples (I have never done that before but can't wait to do it again.) Walked the orchard. Had some of the winery's wine. Had some apple cider. Had a picnic. Listened the the two man band. Saw one of the actors from 30 Rock. And finally came home. It was truly a perfect October day and only 1.5 hours away from the city!

I broke the rule about climbing trees...

Look at all our apples! Anyone in NYC can come over for pies for the next 3 months

Some of the cider

Happy couple