Tuesday, May 22, 2007

I’m in a New York state of mind

Outdoor markets, indoor markets, a protest dance parade, a subway series, all with an authentic NYer…what I wonderfully NYC Saturday I had!

Matt (he’s the authentic NYer) planned a lovely day, which started with lunch at Republic, an Asian restaurant off of Union Square. For London lovers, I can describe the restaurant as a slightly up market Wagamama. You sit at long tables with other people and have a choice of noodle dishes, soups, salads and smaller dishes like chicken skewers and wontons. We think the people next to us were either eavesdropping on our conversation or having relationship issues, because they didn’t say a word the entire time.

We left the restaurant in search of a plant at Union Square Market and were met on the street by whirling dervishes and the Long Island Dance Studio (the announcer was actually saying “Long Island in the house.” ) What on earth!? I read today that it was a parade to protest the city’s no dancing in bars rule. (I mentioned this earlier in the year.) It was so random and yet so New York and worked somehow.

Stop #3 was the Donut Pub (14th Street @ 7th Ave.) Why? Because we both read about it earlier in the year. Its donuts are supposedly better than Dunkin Donuts and it isn’t a chain. One honey dipped, one sugar ring and a police officer thrown in for good measure…a wonderfully authentic (and tasty) stop!

From the Donut Pub, we were off to Chelsea market. The building started out as the National Biscuit Company complex, which made everything from Saltines to Oreos. Today, the building is filled with plant and food stores. We mainly window shopped, but did pick up a hearty (read “hard to kill”) houseplant and ingredients for guacamole. I will definitely be back to shop at the fruit and veggie store. It had more varying varieties of produce than I’d ever seen before! I had never really been in the Meatpacking District either, and loved walking around the neighborhood!

My New York experience ended with a Subway Series game. Do non-New Yorkers know what that is? It’s a baseball game between the New York Yankees and New York Mets. Perhaps a Michiganian can best appreciate this rivalry. It’s just as intense as the MSU-UofM rivalry. Unfortunately, the game did not end well for the Yankees…but the homemade guac was excellent!

7 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

And just how tall is this "authentic NYer" aka Matt? A smidgen over 6 feet?!?

Okay, I'll stop now and wait patiently for all to be revealed next week. Well... maybe not *all*, but enough. ;-)

1:31 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

i will not wait patiently. reveal all or pay the price. you can email me.

2:30 PM  
Blogger Anuradha said...

please share your recipe for guac!

3:55 PM  
Blogger Erin said...

:-)

As is often the case with the best dishes, I don't think there is a recipe. But I was watching intently and can tell you that he used approximately:
2 ripe avacados
1/2 plum tomato, chopped
2-3 TBS onion, chopped
2-3 TBS cilantro, chopped
juice of 1/2 lime
dash of salt and pepper
Mash avacado, leaving some chunks. Add the other ingredients and mix.
Serve with blue corn torilla chips:-)

6:50 AM  
Blogger Anuradha said...

yummy! So no sour cream then? Ok. I think I will put some hot sauce in mine too, just for a bit of kick :)

10:17 AM  
Blogger Erin said...

No, no need for sour cream, but a dash of hot sauce could be a good thing.

11:21 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Please let it be known that Erin likes it spicy ;)

YKW

2:07 PM  

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