:: Adventures in NYC ::

On Saturday morning (very, very early) I left ATL for LGA. I was on my way to the Big Apple (anyone know why they call it that?). The flight was alright...I mean, it was cheap, so what did I expect, right? We were on the way to the runway, and they called us back to the gate because something was opened. And then when we arrived in LGA, they kept us from the gate because or something. Man, what is it with me and bad luck with LGA?

Once I arrive, I had to take the M60 bus to Columbia, where I would meet up with Victor and Margaret. Well, I didn't know how to find the M60 or how to get on it. Naturally, I followed the signs for "Ground transportation information" and asked the nice looking fellow for information on how to find and get onto the bus. He looked at me and said, "You need a Metro card." So I looked at him and said, "Can I get one here?" And he had this smirk on his face as he said, "No." And that was it. By this point, I saw right through his little game. I decided to talk to him the way he's probably used to being talked to - quite rudely. Of course, he responded to my sass and told me exactly where I needed to go to get the Metro and how I would find the bus. Geez...

I got on the bus, went through Harlem and arrived at Columbia, and guess what! There was this outdoor market there! I met up with Margaret and Victor, and we decided to get crepes - strawberry and Nutella (mmmm....) crepe with whipped cream. It was sooooo good. We walked around for a bit, then headed to Victor's apartment to drop off my stuff, plus I wanted to change because it was hot as balls outside and I was wearing a sweater. Unfortunately by this point Victor had a meeting with his group from studio, so Margaret and I went off to Chelsea Market on our own. On the way to the Market, we stopped by this place called "Jamba Juice" and had really good fruit smoothies (Victor and his friends are obsessed with this place!). When we got to Chelsea Market, we went by Fat Witch, almost bought brownies, but decided to walk around and finish our smoothies first. By the time we finished our smoothies, we walked by a cupcake shop and was naturally drawn in by the giant cupcakes with mounds of icing on top, some in the shapes of Sesame Street characters, some with flowers and cakes that looked like Spongebob Squarepants. They also had a tray of red velvet cupcakes with loads of cream cheese frosting. When we saw that, Margaret revealed to me that she had never had red velvet before. Well, of course we had to get it! So we bought one and split it....to save room for brownies later. We ate (it was the PERFECT red velvet - super moist with a hint of cocoa and the cream cheese frosting was not overly sweet) and walked and saw soooo many yummy things. There was a shop with gelato, a shop with ice cream, egg creams and milkshakes, one with many, MANY chocolates and a bread shop. We resisted the temptation and went to the Fat Witch for brownies. It was DEFINITELY worth it. I have to say, the original Fat Witch is still the best out of all of them. It is INSANELY chocolatey, dense and moist.

We met up with Victor after our sweet adventures in Chelsea, and by that point, he was starving. We decided to go to Fairway (I've never been) to get him food and also to get food for breakfast the next morning. Victor decided to get a sweet potato biscuit (sweet, but not too sweet...kinda like a sweet potato scone) and half a roasted chicken for his late lunch. We also go bagels, cream cheese and lox for our breakfast. On the way to Fairway, we noticed a Gray's Papaya, so we stopped by there to get their Recession Special (two hotdogs and a juice) before going over to Central Park to eat. Victor, in addition to the biscuit and half chicken, also ate two of our hotdogs (honestly couldn't believe he ate all that). While we were at Central Park, we ran into Dave Chapelle and his family. That was pretty neat.

Right after we left Central Park (we stayed there for awhile and enjoyed the scenery...and gave out stomachs a rest), we took the train to Chinatown to eat dinner (yes, lots and lots of eating). Victor wanted to take us to this Chinese place, but there was a really long line outside and an hour wait. Apparently, this hole in the wall was highly reviewed and is now over flooded with white people (that's what Victor said). He decided to take us to an authentic Taiwanese place down the street. It was pretty good. I know I went to Taipei this summer, but I'm not sure I can say I've had real Taiwanese food (well, I had all that stuff in Keelung, but that was special seafood). It was pretty good. We ordered chicken soup, fried chicken with rice and noodles (kinda tasted like lo mein). I was particularly impressed with the noodles. They were chewy and tasted very fresh. Victor said they probably bought them from a noodle place near by.

We were pretty much stuffed after dinner....but I HAD to get steamed pork buns. It's funny how I've become so obsessed with them. For the past two or three months, I've been craving them and searching for them at the Asian markets. The one thing that I knew I HAD to get on this trip was steamed pork buns. My cravings were only heightened by an article in Food and Wine (I bought it at the airport to read on the plane) that featured a Korean-Chinese chef, and his specialty - steamed pork buns. I basically sat on the plane and stared and drooled all over myself for two hours. Soooo....we went by a bakery and got steamed pork buns. Mmmm...it was soooooo good...

The next morning, we had our bagels and lox, and it was GOOD. It's amazing how much your palate changes over time. The first time I had bagels with cream cheese and lox was my freshman year in high school at All-State Orchestra in Boone, NC. I thought it tasted like crap and decided I'd never have that again. Well, you know how I've gotten with food. I've given another chance to many foods that I hated in the past, like pesto (yummy!). Maybe it's because it was NYC bagels and lox. Maybe it was the fact that I was in NYC eating the NYC bagels and lox. I don't know, but it was damn good.

After breakfast, we headed for church. Victor attends the English service at a Korean church that rents out space from an elementary school. It was nice. Afterwards, we had Chinese food for lunch, provided by a couple that got married the day before at the the church (they were there, too. Margaret was like, "If I got married yesterday, I would not be here right now!" I could've easily embarrassed her, but I decided against it...although, I did point out that I could easily embarrass her). AND THEN....the most exciting part of the trip - Jacques Torres Chocolates! It was really nice. We went to his shop on Hudson (which was not easy to find). It was all decked out with autumn colors, decorations and of course, chocolates shaped like pumpkins. Everything in the shop was chocolate, covered in chocolate or liquid chocolate. It smelled absolutely amazing in there. I wanted to buy EVERYTHING there, but I couldn't (things were pricey...but all worth it, I'm sure), so I walked away (sadly, by the way - I didn't want to leave) with a box of assorted chocolates (earl grey infused, ancho and chili pepper, hazelnut, fresh coconut, port, etc), a small package of chocolate covered espresso beans for my parents (which they completely devoured apparently) and a bag of chocolate covered raisins for Margaret. They do this neat thing where they give you a cooler bag with an ice pack so that the chocolates don't melt while you're walking around. Isn't that great?? I thought that was super.

That evening, Margaret and I went to Bryan's concert. I was so proud of him! It really turned out to be a big deal (it make the critic's choice on nycmag.com!) and lots of people showed up. Afterwards, Bryan, Lawrence (the star performer of the show) and I wandered around Hell's Kitchen to find a place to eat. We once asked a group of guys on the street for directions, and they laughed at us. That definitely would not happen down here. Whatever, we found what we wanted in the end, and Bryan and Lawrence got piss drunk. Our bill came out to be $165, $75 of it was from their drinks. And they weren't done. We left the pub because Amy (the other star performer of the show) and I had to get back. The boys walked us to the Metro and promptly found their way to another bar to drink some more. Boys....

That's basically the end of my trip. The next day, I had to get on the plane back to ATL.
Oh, at the airport, I had a chocolate croissant, and it was really, really good. Anyways, the trip was short and sweet. Next time, I'm taking Andrew with me, and we're gonna hit the big restaurants. We'll probably have to save up for a few months for that, but that's okay. It'll definitely be worth every penny.