We started our day with brunch at Balthazar in West Village.
I'd read about several "don't miss" restaurants for their holiday decorations.
Balthazar was great food and large and took reservations. Would be a good spot to gather if you're in the neighborhood, but I wouldn't make a special trip to see the decor.
(Tavern on the Green is closer to us and even more special.)
The food was excellent.
Today's itinerary included:
Walking down Mulberry Street in Little Italy,
popping in Christmas in the City -- a shop with year-round Christmas decor,
The Cannoli King at Cafe Palermo and also Ferrara.
The pastries looked and tasted delicious,
but Dan and I both decided we don't crave either cannolis or lobster tails
(cream-filled croissant in the shape of a lobster tail).
We wandered through West Village and while checking our map to orient ourselves between
Greenwich, West Village, Nomad, Chelsea and Meat-Packing District
(in our minds we had the neighborhoods turned around),
we discovered we were close to the Friends' apartment.
And if you turned around, the street was darling, reminding us of a London street.
Seeing the Lacoste store, I couldn't pass up walking through and reliving all my jr. high dreams.
I even found a pink izod--not baby izod, however, like my Christmas present in 7th grade.
Oh, I loved that shirt with its alligator like all the cool kids. Baby izod was the pinnacle of cool!
But, it came with a tough life lesson. I'd hunted for my present ahead of Christmas, and found it,
stashed under my mom and dad's bathroom sink. It was everything I'd hoped for,
and yet lying in bed on Christmas Eve, I shed tears of disappointment because
I'd ruined the magic of being surprised on Christmas morning.
Ever since that traumatic learning experience,
I've always held out for surprises preferring the suspense over knowing ahead of time.
And yes, I bought an izod crew neck sweatshirt, because that little alligator still makes me happy.
Next stop Sullivan Street tea shop.
I'm listening to the book Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers.
Vera Wong owns a tea shop in Chinatown with pots of herbs to make her own teas.
It gave me the idea of finding a tea shop to recreate Immune tea that we've loved for almost thirty years, until the owner of the shop died. Fortunately, the ziploc bag the tea came in was labelled with the ingredients. We've been conserving the last teaspoon for a real cold and sore throat emergency,
but just maybe we can recreate it!
Unfortunately, Sullivan Street didn't have all the loose ingredients, but they recommended another shop in East Village that would. A trip for another day. But we bought their herbal Immune Boost Blend and will see how that is in the meantime.
Soon (actually miles later), we found ourselves through West Village and into
the Meat Packing District.
We didn't realize meat packing was on this side of town and was so hip
(while junior high is on my mind, as well as using "hip,"
shout out and apologies to Mr. Black, my Algebra teacher,
who, in frustration of us annoying 8th graders shouted,
"You guys think you're a bunch of cool cats with a lot of hip!"
Using such an outdated expression to get angry at us didn't go over so well for him.
All us cool cats couldn't stop snickering the rest of class.
Forty years later, its still top of memory.
I can't tell you the number of times I think of that day.
Starbucks Reserve -- giving all the magic-is-happening vibes that Max Brenner's did fifteen years ago.
Surprise! We found ourselves at Chelsea Market.
After lunch at Los Tacos No. 1
(on Courtney's must-eat for out of towners list. So good!)
we wandered the Market and wondered why I hadn't been super impressed the first time we visited
after walking the highline. I think there were fewer stores and restaurants at the time.
Now its bustling with so many eateries and shops to try.
Reminded us of Camden Market in London.
Japanese and Mexico fusion! We've got to try this next time we're in town with
Marty and Christopher.
Happened upon Anita Gelato so couldn't pass that up.
We found Oscar Wilde and peeked in to see if their Christmas decorations
lived up to the hype and their booked-a-month-in-advance reservations.
Yes, yes it did. Will be adding to next year's itinerary planning.
(And they were very gracious to let us take photos, even though they were booked.)
We were shocked to have spent the whole day out and about.
We made a final stop at Breads Bakery on the upper east side to get their famous
black and white cookies. Sadly, they were sold out in late afternoon.
Adding it to the list for next time!
We made it home with a few minutes to put our feet up before
meeting Michael to head back down to West Village to meet Courtney for dinner at Shukette.
So good! Worth a special trip for the food and ambiance.
The Frena (bread) and apricot Labneh (dip) were to die for.
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