Whew! It has been a cer-razy past few days, which is why I have been MIA.
Brad and I took a whirlwind trip to New York over the Fourth of July holiday, and despite my best laid plans to blog on the trip, it just never happened.
I’m still new at this blogging while I’m away and not on my routine schedule…definitely something I need to work on.
Here’s a not-so-brief summary of our trip…
We drove to Roanoke Rapids, NC on Thursday night, which is just before you get to the Virginia state line. Our friend Megan’s mom generously opened her home to us so we could get in some travel time on Thursday night without having to drive all the way to NY or get a hotel. Yes, I said drive. We are certifiably crazy for driving that far.
We met up with Megan and Riley there and carpooled with them on Friday for the rest of the trip.
Eight hours later, we finally arrived to New Rochelle, at our friends’ Libby and Andrew’s house, which is about 30 minutes outside of NYC. New Rochelle is adjacent to the Bronx, if I have my geography correct.
We soon got to grilling.
My plate: chicken and pepper kabobs and corn on the cob.
Very summery and very yummy!
We later built a fire in Libby and Andrew’s fire pit and had s’mores. I started nodding off around 11 pm and excused myself before I fell asleep and started drooling.
The first person to bed was the first person to rise. I helped myself to some delicious coffee while I waited on Megan and Riley to wake up. I think I drank Green Mountain Coffee’s Island Coconut flavor every single morning.
Since I was the first one up, I got to choose my mug, so of course I went for the ridiculous lobster mug. 🙂
I was really excited to be up for a run on Saturday morning after all of my stomach issues during the week. I felt almost 100% better!
We ran five miles, dropped Riley off by the house, grabbed some water and Megan and I ran a bit more to complete a total of 6.67 miles. It was great!
After our run, we all sat around and ate a breakfast of eggs, pastries, coffee, mimosas, and bloody marys.
Eventually, we emerged from the house and made a trip to the local grocery store. Fairway Markets are amazing! They have so many things our local grocery stores do not have. I could have spent all day there but didn’t want to expose my obsession with grocery stores just yet to Brad’s college friends. People generally like me more if I only expose the crazy a little at a time.
Once back at the house, I helped put together this beautiful cheese plate for lunch.
We had all kind of things to accompany our cheese: bread, crackers, smoked mozzarella, artichokes, marinated mushrooms, stuffed grape leaves…
It was a great lunch!
Just in case you’re wondering, we did not eat ketchup with our cheese plate. The guys also had hotdogs after having their own mini hotdog eating contest.
Oh, boys.
And wouldn’t you know, Brad won. He can eat a whole hotdog (bun and all) in 23 seconds. I am so proud.
We hung out the rest of the day. Some of us took naps. Before long, it was time for dinner. We went out to Libby’s favorite Hibachi restaurant and then sat around the fire talking.
I was the first one to bed again. I am getting so old.
And once again, I was the first one awake. Sunday morning, I set off to do a run by myself, completing 4.5 miles total.
When I returned, everyone was still asleep, so I got to work on my whole wheat biscuits. Brad requested that I make them and I was happy to oblige.
They were a hit with the group! We ate these along with some eggs and fruit. Then we set off to sight see in the city.
We took the train from New Rochelle to Grand Central Station. From there we were on a mission to seek out some really delicious NY pizza and found ourselves at Lombardi’s in Little Italy. I think there was a subway trip mixed in there, but there were so many, I really don’t remember.
The group: Megan, Riley, Libby, Andrew, and David.
Brad and I
We ordered two pizzas for the group.
Meatball…
Ay! That’sa spicy meatball!
…and Marghreita pizza.
It was very yummy. Some of the best I’ve had and I’m not even a huge fan of NY style pizza.
After lunch, we had to try Rice to Ritches, a rice pudding place just down the street from Lombardi’s. This was my very first rice pudding experience and I thought the chocolate hazelnut Brad and I split was very yummy. I had a bit of a hard time coming to terms with rice in a sweet dish, but the chocolate helped me get over this.
Now, I want to try my hand at my own version of rice pudding. 🙂
We then took another subway ride, then walked quite a few blocks to get a view of the Statue of Liberty.
It was getting later in the afternoon and we had somewhere to be, so we hopped on the subway, switched trains, then took another line all the way to Brooklyn.
In Brooklyn, we took a brief tour of the Brooklyn Brewery. I found the part about its history pretty entertaining, but it was interesting to learn how the beer is actually made as well.
Then, of course, we had to try it for ourselves.
The good think about beer is that it’s so less serious than wine.
I darted out of the brewery before everyone was done so I could scope out a vintage shop across the street. I bought a couple of great finds then headed out to dinner.
We had reservations at Pomaire, a Chilean restaurant Libby and Andrew both enjoyed.
At this point I was starving and exhausted. I had one of these, which reminded me of thick corn tortillas (homemade Fritos?) with salsa and a piece of bread.
We all shared a pitcher of sangria.
For my entree, I ordered an appetizer.
Empanada de Mariscos: empanada stuffed with seafood.
I also had green salad, which was one of the better green salads I’ve had in a restaurant. It was large and full of delicious greens in a yummy light vinaigrette…just the way I like it.
After dinner, we had to literally sprint to catch the train from Grand Central. If we missed it we would have had to wait another hour. I was completely famished when we got home and went straight to bed.
Yesterday, we made the entire > 11 hour trip back to Charlotte. Brad and I had barbecue for dinner in celebration of July 4th, then turned in very early.
Hope you all had a wonderful holiday weekend and a happy July 4th!
What was your favorite part of your weekend? Pizza, beer, and friends for me! Oh and let’s not forget running. 🙂