Wednesday 6 October 2010

New York

After months of planning, emailing and laughing our girls weekend in New York was complete. And boy did we have an awesome time. And I'm not using the word awesome lightly.

Here's the top 10, in no particular order.

1. Daniel. It took much planning and scheming but eventually we managed to secure a 7pm reservation at Daniel, one of the best restaurants in NYC. In fact it was ranked the 8th best restaurant in the world in 2010. We dressed to the nines and strutted to our table in the inner sanctum. Here's what followed. Cocktails, pre-dinner parsnip samplers, a three course menu, warm madelines, petit fours, chocolate course, superior service, synchronised table clearing, wine pairings, congratulations dessert tasting plates and a special present. No detail was left to chance. As we sat down two handbag tables arrived so that we did not have to put our bags on the floor or table. You can imagine the rest.

F
or the record my menu consisted of:

PALM BEACH
R
aspberry Purée, Orange, Pineapple Juice

TASTING OF ECKERTON HILL FARM HEIRLOOM TOMATOES
Chilled Soup with Eggplant Caviar
Salad with Arugula and Ricotta Salata
Sorbet with Saffron Tomato Coulis

DUO OF FOUR STORY HILL FARM GUINEA HEN
Braised Leg-Chestnut Cannelloni

Honeycrisp Apple
Roasted Breast with Brussels Sprouts Fondue, Calvados Sauce










2. Riding to the top of
the Empire State Building via the express line. Given our limited time in the city we made the plunge and purchased the more expensive express tickets. And boy was it worth it. We breezed past the extensive crowds by way of our own VIP lane and reached the top in no time. After a number of photo attempts at all four aspects we finally got a good one of the three of us towards the east. We expressed our way back down and ran towards H&M. On the third floor I grabbed anything purple or Hello Kitty related and I was rewarded two days later with Lucy's happy dance in her new purple ugg boots.

3. Drinks on the rooftop bar of The Peninsula hotel. Dinner finished around 10:30pm so we were still ready to head out somewhere (despite the late finish the night before). After a false start at the King Cole bar at the St.Regis we ended up at the rooftop bar of the Peninsula. It was still a balmy 74 degrees so it was perfect weather to sit out on the balcony and gaze at the city lights.

4. Wicked. Our broadway show of choice was Wicked. It is the prequel to the Wizard of Oz and tells the story of the good and bad witches. The production was superb with amazing sets and effects. The cast was incredible and boy could those ladies sing. The Gershwin theatre is perfectly constructed so that there wasn't a bad seat in the house and there are no viewing restrictions no matter how tall the people in front might have been.

5. San Gennaro Festival in Little Italy. Amy's must do was to eat cannoli in Little Italy so during our Soho we wandered over. The annual San Gennaro was in full swing so the streets were crowded with rides and stands. On the whole what was for sale was primarily junk but the atmosphere was fun. We had a quick pasta lunch before heading over to Ferrara's for their famous cannoli.

6. Afternoon tea at the Plaza Hotel.
Of course we couldn't miss high tea at the plaza! I mean how many times had Amy, Alexis and I had tea together at the Wilmington tea room? We all ordered the 'The New Yorker' version of the tea as shown below. Somehow they knew it was Amy's birthday and brought us all a glass of rose champagne on the house.

SANDWICHES AND SAVORIES
Cucumber, Radish, Green Herbs

Smoked Salmon, Endive
Roquefort, Shaved Red Grapes, Watercress
Prosci
utto, Mozzarella, Pesto
Roast Beef, Horseradish

SCONES
Freshly Baked, Warm Seasonal Scones
Double Devonshire Cream, Lemon Curd, Preserves

PASTRIES AND SWEETS

Black and White Cookies, Raspberry Rugelach, Chocolate Cupcake,
New York Cheesecake, Lemon Tea Cake













7. Hot chocolate at Jacques Torres.
One of the great chocolate shops, this place was my must do. We drank chocolate beverages and ate vanilla cream filled pastries whilst soaking in the cocoa atmosphere. I was happy to secure some chocolate dipped orange peel and a tin of drinking chocolate to take home for Andrew.

8. Dinner at Trecolori. Our pre-show dinner was at a local Italian restaurant staffed by Mexicans. The food was excellent but best of all was the happy birthday singing for Amy from the wait staff. We had pre-arranged for her dessert to be specially autographed but they forgot to do it! Alexis spoke a whole of lot of rapid Spanish to our waiter and he resolved the situation quickly. Poor Amy was embarrassed but it was a really fun time. Prior to dinner we had presented her with a Kate Spade handbag and Coach wallet. Alexis and I had literally spent hours choosing the right bag and we were ecstatic that she loved it.

9. Reading the New York Times Weekend Edition. What a treat to sit quietly for a few hours and read the newspaper. Even if it is in the airport whilst we are waiting for our delayed plane.

10. Hanging out in Soho and doing some window shopping. Since we took small bags so that we could carry-on rather than check there wasn't much room for shopping. Especially since there was quite a bit from H&M for Lucy. But that didn't stop us enjoying looking.

And if I could add one more it would be getting Alexis and Amy to ride the subway.

Because we live in the real world all things in travelling are not perfect.
Boo to the small shoe department at Bloomingdales, the flight delays, crazy taxi drivers, and free Friday nights at the Moma (it was so packed out we couldn't get in).

If you want a view of New York with a 16 month in tow check out this
prior blog entry - it has a nice description of New York in the introduction which remains relevant three years later.

And there you have it, our NYC girls weekend in a nutshell. But of course you know I haven't told you everything!

2 comments:

chan said...

wow!
im so jealous. what an amazing time for you and the girls. i dont know how you only had a top 10. thanks for sharing your trip.

Teresa and John said...

What a lot of things you packed into a weekend trip and great to read you had a wonderful time.