Yes, first ever, at the age of 48, where have I been? My cousins have a tradition, that when we turn 50, that we take a trip, an all-girls weekend, somewhere. This year, Colette was it and her wish was to spend the weekend in New York City and see Mary Poppins on Broadway. So we piled in a stretch limo replete with champagne and headed north to New York.
Notable culinary moments for me:
Orange Stoly Cosmopolitans at Jacks — we had a little time to kill before the show and peaked in the window at Jacks. When we hopped up to the bar, John the bartender welcomed us with a thick Irish brogue and we knew we had picked the right place. My cousin Annie introduced us to her favorite way to drink a cosmopolitan, and, what can I say, it was love at first sip.
B.Smith’s Restaurant — we ordered from the prix fixe menu and found it to be a delicious, affordable dining experience! We had a microgreen salad, pumpkin ravioli in a creamy sage sauce, along with a bread pudding with bourbon sauce! Each course served with a different wine — a pinot, a merlot, and a port. Our actor/waiter was more than affable and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.
Pret a Manger — we don’t have Prets in Indiana. Turns out, unless you live in New York or England, you don’t have them either! They seemed to be everywhere we were in New York and on our last day we popped into one to purchase food for the trip back to Philadelphia. Am I glad we did — creative sandwiches, coffees, baked goods and soups and all with a great mission. All freshly made on site, as organic as possible and what they don’t sell they donate, daily.
Now that I’ve been, I can’t wait to go back — the tents were up in Bryant Park (and while I didn’t know this at the time) for the last time, so I was glad to taken some pictures for my daughter, a fashion major at DAAP. My first night we wandered around and found ourselves at Grand Central Station, awestruck by enormity, the architecture, the smell of great food… and everywhere we went, everyone was really friendly and helpful. Did I mention I can’t wait to go back?