Sunday, February 10, 2008

On a cold and rainy Saturday...

Some stayed inside, but Katie, Atiya and I had LOTS of the city to see.

Here's what we were dealing with:
Katie-- had seen Chelsea Market before but loved it; she and I had shopped in SOHO but didn't spend any time in the Village.
Atiya-- had only ever been to Times Square; loves french fries and requested a trip to Pommes Frites french fry shop

I studied the map and my Not for Tourist book and decided on the perfect tour...

We started at Fish's Eddy, Katie and my favorite dish store just north of Union Square. I was told by a store clerk with a major 'tude that I was not to take this picture (oops), but I still love the store. They have collections of NY patterned dishes-- Brooklyn Bridge, Brooklyn-ese (like a "shuguh" bowl) and Central Park are among my favorites. They also have glass sets containing the faces of "Famous Democrats and Republicans."

Next it was on to Chelsea Market for lunch. Atiya liked the crab bisque from The Lobster Place, Katie chose some Hearty and Hale spinach, artichoke and cheddar soup and I enjoyed a veggie quiche from Buon Italia. As we sat on a bench eatting lunch, we were all amazed by the totally urban 5- and 6-year olds running around. One little girl with curly brown hair was at the market with her dad after having attended gymnastics class. After saying hi to her equally urban little friend, she and her dad sat down for a plate of...wait for it, wait for it...seaweed salad!!

A stroll down the cobbled streets of the Meat Packing District, into the West Village and down Bleecker street was then required to walk off all the good food we just ate. The cold weather didn't see to deter those who wanted a cupcake from the famous Magnolia bakery. The line stretched around the corner! Katie and I first visited Bleecker street in the early 90's when my Uncle Skip wanted to see Bleecker Street Records. Katie was also able to point out the little Italian cafe where we waited for him to finish his shopping AND where we first purchased Orbitz (remember that strange drink?) Ahh, the memories:-)

I tried to take the girls on a stroll past Washington Square Park on our way east, but there is so much construction going on it is hardly worth the walk at the moment. The next bummer was that MUD was only seating brunch customers, not those just ordering coffee/chai, when we arrived at 3pm. What is up with that?

But that snub did provide a great opportunity to go across the street to Max Brenner Chocolate. How cool! I had chai with white chocolate, Katie had a dark hot chocolate with mint and Atiya had a Mexican (spiced) hot chocolate with a shot of espresso. The hot chocolate was served in a hug mug (or urinal as Katie liked to say.) My tea came served in a awesome filter similar to this.

Finally, Pommes Frites didn't disappoint! I'm still a huge fan of the parmesan peppercorn dipping sauce, but the euro mayo mixed with ketchup and onion was also great. Katie liked her sweet chili sauce (a la Australia) and Atiya liked her Rosemary Mayo but thought the Mexican sauce (we think it was ketchup and ground cilantro) wasn't the best. We met up with on of Katie and Atiya's friends from GW and she liked the roasted garlic sauce.

We headed back to Brooklyn completely stuffed but had an awesome day and saw lots of great sights. Wish they'd both move to town soon:-)

1 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

It was such a blast! I highly recommend ET in NYC's Meat Packing District to Village tour.

Thanks so much for a great (and filling!) time :)

Love ya!

4:48 PM  

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