Sunday 22 April 2012

Saturday in New York

We decided to sleep in Saturday - something I feel like I haven't done in ages.  I woke up around 9 am - can you believe that - I'm in the city that never sleeps and I sleep in.  Oh well, I still managed to squeeze a ton of fun into a day.

We ended up hitting the subway by 10, grabbing coffee, apples and energy bars to tide us over until lunch.  We were heading to pick up my race kit for this race.  Dan found a 4 mile race in Central Park on Sunday so I signed up!  My dreams of Central Park were going to happen!



After I grabbed my kit, we cut through Central Park.  The day was absolutely gorgeous - with temperatures of 73.  We were thrilled because all week the forecast was predicting cool and heavy rain.  As you can see... didn't happen!



We had lunch at Jose's - I ordered a veggie burger and a salad.  It was pretty good, but I've had better veggie burgers.  The service was exceptional though - my water was constantly filled.

After lunch we headed to Loehmann's and Century 21 on the Lower West Side for a bit more shopping.  I grabbed a macchiato from Starbucks which was a perfect pick me up. 



After dropping our bags in the hotel, we headed back out and took the subway to Brooklyn and walked back on the promenade on the Brooklyn Bridge.  It was packed with people biking, walking and running but the view was amazing.



We had a quick change in the hotel room and headed out for dinner.  Saturday night's dinner was at Pure Food & Wine - New York's Number 2 rated vegan restaurant.  We ate on the Patio - it was beautiful!  We ordered the Chef's tasting menu.  This was five courses of food prepared at the chef's discretion.  It was the best way to experience the menu. 

It was too dark to get any really good photos, but I enjoyed almost everything.  We started with white asparagus in a cream sauce, both Dan and I enjoyed this.  The next course was salad. I had a salad with a pecan brittle and maple dressing which was fresh and delicious.  The next course was an asparagus soup, because it is raw it was served at a temperature colder than I am used to eating soup at.  I didn't like this as much.  This course was followed by a Philly roll - I was actually served cauliflower couscous, but Dan and I swapped.

I expected dessert after this, but we were served another entree.  I had a sunchoke timball which was also really good.  Dan had pear ravioli - which he enjoyed, but I was thankful I wasn't served.  Then came dessert - I had apple crisp with maple ice cream and Dan was served a strawberry tart with basil ice cream.  We swapped desserts halfway though - I loved the ice cream.

Although this sounds like a ton of food, the portions were perfect.  I was feeling pretty full - but not turkey dinner stuffed.  The food was also presented in a beautiful manner and the staff explained each course. This was a fantastic way to sample the menu. Dan did a lot of research to find vegan restaurants.  We ate at the number 1 rated vegan restaurant - Candle 79 and the number 2 vegan restaurant while we were here.  The food at Candle 79 was delicious as well, but the option to have the tasting menu and the atmosphere at Pure  made for a more enjoyable dining experience.



You would think that a day like that would be enough - but no - we're in NYC.  We had tickets to see Wayne Brady at the Gothem Comedy Club.  Dan and & I were seated with a bachelorette party - so it was a table full of fun!  The show was hilarious.  I've never been to a comedy club before but this was really funny.

After the show we called it in... but not before setting the alarm for 6:30.

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