Visit NYC on the Cheap: St. John the Divine and The Hungarian Pastry Shop

Since moving from NYC, it's been special to go back and see all the things I missed while I was living there. Since I still don't have millions to blow, I like to do things that don't cost a whole lot of money.

The Cathedral of Saint John the Divine (just say St. John the Divine if you have to ask for directions) is the 4th largest in the world and the largest in the U.S. For such a tiny city, this church takes up a lot of space. It is beautiful inside and out and has a great sculpture in the garden dedicated to the future children of the world and the creativity the carry with them. I believe admission to the church is free (the lady just waved us in despite the sign saying "thank you for your donation of $10") and there are some signs around giving some historical and architectural information about the church. It's great to walk around in, especially when it's cold outside. The address is 1047 Amsterdam Ave, and it's on the upper west side. Take the 1 train to get there.

Right across the street is The Hungarian Pastry Shop with a great vibe. There are lots of pastries to choose from and the art is pretty cool. I like this place because it's different than your mainstream "cool" coffee shop. It's grungy in an attractive way and it has quite a European cozy feel about it. You should note that the prices are more if you want to stay (rather than grab something and go) but it's not that much more. If you need somewhere to warm up and check on email (or blog!) I recommend this place. We ordered a cinnamon roll which was very flaky and had juicy raisins. They also carry Jewish treats, like hamentashen. The address is 1030 Amsterdam Ave. 

Hope you enjoy the places! Feel free to ask any questions.

e a t a l y. mario batali's little market.

ok guys, so I promise not to blog about food for a while.....after this post, that is.

 I cannot resist sharing with you some crazy supermarket pictures with you. what?!!??? supermarket pictures??? 

yup.

 if you haven't heard of it (and don't smack yourself, i just heard of it recently too) mr. mario batali (aka the famous chef who wears orange crocs all. the. time.), has opened up this mega market  in nyc. it's called

e a t a l y and their slogan is "we eat what we sell and we sell what we eat." basically it's this like 20,000 square foot market. 

it's divided into sections. produce. pastas. meats. sandwiches. coffees. gelato. breads. chocolates. desserts.

and in each of those sections, there's a mini-restaurant. so you see the food. and you can:

1) either buy it and figure out what to do with it

2) have chefs make you food with the items in that particular section.

for instance: in the pasta section (where they sell both fresh and dried pasta) you can buy some like you do at the regular grocery OR, you can sit down in that area and have them make you a pasta dish. 

sounds pretty simple, right? 

well, each section of the store has it's own complete menu. that's like 20 different menus. woah.

so needless to say, if you are hungry for good food, go to eataly.

but be prepared. it is crowded. and not just "it's crowded like every other nyc store" its like SUPER crowded. but cool, so kinda evens out. maybe.

ok, enough chit-chat. here's the eye candy:

cheese and sausages.

 a little view of some meats.

and fish below.

coffee and espressos. 

some fresh pastas.

preparing some dishes in the vegetable section

some fruits and veggies.

some sweets.

 one of the entrances. there are like 5 different entrances to this place.

 we didn't end up eating here because it was super-de-duper crowded. but on our next trip we will definitely be eating here. until then, i need a snack......

Schnipper's Quality Kitchen and Levain's Bakery

 this past week we were blessed to have a little (and much needed) vacation. so off to new  york city we went! we always have a blast there and got to spend some time visiting my mom. all in all, good stuff.

warning: you may become hungry. i am a lover of food and some images below may be disturbing to your stomach. i suggest grabbing a snack before scrolling below ;)

here we go:

 We almost always go to Schnippers, near Times Square.  They have the best sloppy joes. FYI, Bobby Flay did one of his Throwdown shows here and lost. The food they serve is THAT good. I also recommend getting a chocolate malt. It's delicious. And unlike other malts. I don't like chocolate and I don't like malts but I like the Ghiradelli Chocolate malts at Schnippers. Menu items are from $7-9.

we got to stay in an awesome little apartment. (it used to be josh brolin's apt. years ago) we had a perfect view of the soldiers and sailors memorial from our windows.

 

The famous Levain's double dark chocolate cookie. If sweets are your thing, stop by this bakery. It's tucked away on a side street, but it's worth searching out. Here's the link: http://www.levainbakery.com/ It's on the upper west side. Cookies are around $4-5 each and they also have good coffee (hot or iced) and milk for very reasonable prices. 

happy friday everyone!

Weekend trip to NYC

One of the nice things about living in CT is that it's sooo close to NYC, my lovely hometown.  When we can empty and rearrange our schedules, we love to take a drive down and have a great weekend of feasting and fun. Here are some snapshots from our last visit:

 Fresh Chinatown fish!

For all those sewing crafters out there: this store had a plethora of antique sewing machines. Wonderful decor!

A little wall of sewing machines. There had to be at least 500 or more total-each one so different from the next!

one of the many...

The front window (or at least part of it!)

At the Scholastic Store...Karl is such a priceless fellow! :)

Some handmade leather shoes at a side market- so beautiful!

Outside Strands Bookstore-the $1 books

A sand artist at Washington Square Park.

The cool design. Thank goodness it wasn't too windy that day, or it would have all blown away!

One of the many cool things in NYC- bringing pianos into the public parks for the public to play on and enjoy. This cool dude was playing some Joplin-esque tunes. I just love how the little old lady was standing there listening and watching.

This guy and his daughter reminded me of Luna Lovegood and her father from Harry Potter. The little girl has the cute wild blond hair and they're nesting with gross city pigeons for goodness sake! Love it.

You've heard me talk about Levain's before. Well here it is again. We went back for a different cookie. The dark chocolate peanut butter chunk.

The long line at little Levains.

The soft, chewy, delicious $4 cookie. (yes, it is worth it!)

My FIRST (can you believe it!?!) NYC hot dog!

At Grey's Papaya

Aaand...bite. YUM!

Awesome yummy boat at Sushi Family in Queens to celebrate my nephew's 13th birthday!

The party people! I must say, I love Kar's pinky here. Not really sure what it's doing.

About 20 minutes later.

Lately, Karl and I have been on a Seinfeld streak. I think we've watched...oh I don't know how many episodes the past few weeks. Anyways, this is THE restaurant from the show. So great! The staff was so friendly and the prices were great!

My Big Salad. (remember that episode with Elaine and the Big Salad?)

Karl's order.

The next day we went to a taping of "From the Top" that was downtown. My mom got us all free tickets and we enjoyed performances from a cellist, harpist, pianist and marimbaist. (is that a word?)

Me and my beautiful mom!

No day in NYC is complete without a cone from a Mr. Frostee Truck! (When my mom asked me what cake I wanted for my birthday a couple years back, I said "No cake! Just Mr. Frostee!" I have never regretted it.)

We went to a little restaurant in Chinatown called "Tasty Hand-Pulled Noodles." We had seen it on the show "The Best Thing I Ever Ate" as Guy Fieri's top food choice. You can see into the kitchen with the guy pulling the noodles right before your very eyes! So cool.

The noodle bowl we ordered! Although you can't really tell from the picture, this bowl of soup was laaaaarge! So tasty, mmmmmmm....

Even just looking at this picture of duck makes me hungry.

So that was our little weekend, or what I remembered to take pictures of. Oh yes, we also went to Schnippers with our awesome friend, Hannah Chung, and had amazing a yummy dinner and also the best Dark Chocolate Malt you will ever find. If you ever go to NYC, plan where you would like to go to eat-there's so much good food out there!