A NYC Food Tour!

Self guided (and created) food tours are my new favorite way to experience the city!  We love the city and we love trying new, good food (and eating some old favorites) so it makes for great fun.  We loved our hot chocolate crawl last winter--it was so very sweet.  I would do it again in a heartbeat--perhaps my last (heartbeat) with all that creamy goodness!  (And, I think this summer will require a ice cream tour for sure.)  On Friday we put together a delicious food tour around the West & East Villages.

Brian's sister, Angela, and her family came into town for a day. They have been to NYC many times, so we wanted to do something a little different.  The weather was going to be gorgeous, so we wanted to be outside.  We had 6 kids (all under 6 years old), but didn't want to do only "kid stuff".  So we thought we'd try a food tour around some of our favorite neighborhoods.  And to keep the kids happy we threw in a stop at a playground along the way.

The kids were troopers!  We walked (and ate) from about 2pm until about 8pm.  (I really didn't think we would be out that late.)  I tried to pack enough good, sustainable kid food, so we wouldn't have to worry about finding anything for all the little eaters while we were out.  But the kids quickly ate through 4 pb&j sandwiches, 12 cheese sticks, a package of dried apricots and 2 apples.  (Next time I'll pack more!)

We stopped at nine!!! different places and tried one (sometimes two) specialty item(s) off their menu and split it between all five adults.  The idea was to taste a lot of different food and not fill up all at one place (slow and steady!).  We did our research (mostly on yelp) to find places that we would like to try and we to find out what each establishment was famous for.  We wanted to taste "the best" of everything we could in the area.  Even though we put this together on our own, an official food tour followed us along our first few West Village stops (so we must have been on the right track).  A little bit of research saved us $50 each (not that we'd ever pay for an official food tour!) and spared us the social obligation of laughing at dull tour guide jokes.

Okay, enough banter!  Here's our West Village to East Village food tour with lots of photos of food and people, because those are my favorite things!

Faicco's Italian Specialties

Rice balls: fried balls of creamy risotto.  Yummy and salty.

Joe's Dairy
Update May 2013 
They have closed down their retail shop and are only doing wholesale now.  So sad.

Smoked fresh mozzarella:  I loved the flavor, but the texture was a little rubbery.

Side note: After Joe's Dairy we went to grab some Kati Rolls (an old favorite), but, sadly, they were closed for renovations.  I highly recommend getting some if you can!

Cafe Habana

Mexican style corn: cheesy, spicy, sweet delicious corn!

Pommes Frites

Fries, fries, fries: fresh, crunchy, yummy fries and 20+ different dipping sauces--that's all they sell.  We got mango mayo, blue cheese, and smoked eggplant mayo.  They were all delicious, but my favorite was the eggplant mayo.

Caracas Arepas

De Pabellon & La Mulata Arepas: delicious!  I'm craving an arepa right now.  Seriously!  The perfect combo of sweet and savory.

Prochetta

Porchetta sandwich: well seasoned, tender pork tossed into a yummy baguette.  

Lula's

Chocolate ice cream: good, considering it's vegan(?!)

Brian and I both (independently) read (in multiple places) that Lula's was a great place to stop for ice cream, but we both seemed to miss that it is 100% vegan.  For people who love cream (like us), it's not great "ice cream".  But if you are a vegan, it's probably the best around!

With little ones staring into the glowing ice cream window we couldn't leave without a little something (five-year-olds don't care if it's vegan--it's ice cream!).

Don't ask me how she got it on her forehead?!

Side note: the kids were getting pretty crazy by this point (see above photo of ice cream on forehead) so we stopped at Thompkins Square Park and played for about an hour before continuing.

Dumpling Man

Fried pork & veggie dumplings with monster sauce: good and tasty.  I liked how the "cool monster sauce" ($1.50 extra) added a fresh flavor to the fried dumplings.  I preferred the pork over the veggie.  These weren't as good (or as cheap) as dumplings we've had in Chinatown, but still tasty.

Crif Dogs

Spicy red neck: yummy and fun!  Bacon wrapped hot dog with chili, cole slaw & jalapenos.

Even though Crif Dogs was on every "east village food tour" list (famous for their bacon wrapped hot dogs) we weren't planning on stopping there--it's a bacon wrapped hot dog!  But it was getting late, the kids had polished off the pb&j sandwiches hours before and they needed something.  When I ordered my kids a plain hot dog my curiosity got the better of me and I got the spicy red neck hot dog for me (what the cashier recommended).  It was quite yummy and a fun mix of flavors!  Brian helped me finish it off. :)  We may not go back (cause it's a bacon wrapped hot dog), but I can see why some many people love it...it's a bacon wrapped hot dog!!  

Veniero's Pasticceria

Cannoli: light and sweet.  They aren't the best cannolis.  I can't even recommend them, but they were a nice end to our long food tour.

It was so fun and delicious!!!  I'm so glad everyone was enthusiastically willing to join us on this adventure!

Side note: on the subway ride home Oliver got to stand up and hold on for the first time ever.  It's a bit monumental.  Definitely a big kid thing to do and part of my kids' "urban growth chart".

A Week via my iPhone

Photos from my phone are the best.  Often not the best quality of photo, but the best at capturing the bits and pieces of our daily lives.  Here's a bunch of favorites all from the last week.  It sure makes me feel like we do a lot!

How we travel

A boy and his balloon

Coconut Cream!

Generosity

Beautifying our "front yard"

"handchalk"

Don't ask

Reading Room at Bryant Park

A preschool tag sale--photo by Oliver

Walk along the Hudson River with my boys.

Making a wish.

Playing at a very talent friend's home

Spring Break

Since I got pregnant with Simon, two years ago, I haven't had the energy to really take advantage of all the fun stuff this city has to offer.  The main reason we live here is to experience all New York has to offer.  I feel a sense of guilt when I don't get out of the UWS very often: why spend so much money to live in a tight space if we don't do much?!

Last week was Isabella's spring break from school and we lived it up!  With the promise of good weather and the freedom from a school schedule we tried to do as much as possible.  This is how I love to live in New York!  We also loved that so many friends were able to join us on our many adventures!

Here's what we did:

Monday:

The Bronx Zoo

Tuesday:

The Brooklyn Children's Museum

Wednesday:

A new playground and art projects when plans fell through

Thursday:

The Children's Museum of the Arts

Friday:

A birthday party for a little friend

The Swedish Cottage Marionette Theater*

The International Autoshow

(Daddy's pick :))

It was a very fun, exhausting week.  It was nice to have an actual excuse to not do any housework, "Sorry Honey, I can't do laundry...It's Isabella's spring break!"

*Not a great show, in my opinion...the story was a little odd.

Right Now: Women's Half Marathon

Excited and nervous. 13 miles. Twice around Central Park. Hoping the rain will hold off. Ready to run!

Unique New York: Scooter Parking

Sometimes I forget how odd things, like this, must seem to others--who are not from around these parts.  But, sometimes I remember.  Gotta love the scooter parking outside one of the private schools on the UWS.

Right Now: The Burbs

It's kind of hilarious watching my kids in suburbia. They are completely giddy while riding in shopping carts (they are usually stuck in the stroller). And have no clue how to maneuver parking lots, despite being quite adept at safely traversing our busy city streets.

The List

biking 300 miles from Pittsburgh to Washington D.C.
it took us 6 days and a whole lot of ibuprofen

Since this blog is a record of our crazy-awesome lives I feel like I should include the items from the list I made nine years ago.  What amazes me is these items are not little things.  Some are major, life changing accomplishments.  And, this list was simply a brainstorm!  At the time, I was working on putting together some New Year's resolutions and I made a list of some things that I might want to work on that year.  I had intended on picking a few and working on them.

• live in New York City (This was #1 on my list!)
• be a good mom (I am so blessed to have my 3 little ones!)
• be a wonderful wife (hopefully!)
• run a 10K race (After last year's half marathon, 10K's are so easy now!)
• be a bike rider (300 miles Pittsburgh to D.C. definitely counts)
• be a good cook (Brian has been pleasantly surprised)
• keep in touch with old friends (thank you facebook!)
• have a garden (I have always had at least some herbs growing in my windows)
• travel to Europe (we spent a month in France & Italy in 2004)
• go sailing (I've been on a couple of schooners, which totally qualifies in my book)
• know my ancestors (Isabella is named after her great, great grandma; whom I've learned much about)
• learn a different language, go to that country and speak it (Spanish=Guatemala, Italian=Italy)
• teach  (check!)
• take lots of photographs (this list was pre-digital cameras.  Crazy, right?)
• visit family often (this has been a priority for Brian and me)
• eat healthy foods (I'm amazed how much healthier I eat now)
• learn to sew (wow!)
• see Niagara Falls (Brian and I did this for our first anniversary
• stay in a cottage by the sea in Maine in the summer (this was so specific, but two summers ago we did it, thanks to Brian's aunt Marjorie!)
• go to Vermont (I love Vermont!)
• have a passport (yup!)
• have my own business (I still can't believe this one!)

Some items that I am still working on, and will perhaps always work on (in addition to some already listed above):

• be positive
• have charity
• have strong muscles
• smile
• know the scriptures well
• attend the temple regularly

In the next few years I hope to check these ones off:

• go snorkeling in the Caribbean
• go to Victoria, B.C.
• go to Navoo
• live in a home with a big yard and lots of sunlight
• play my violin for others
• learn to play the piano
• go rafting through the Grand Canyon

After reviewing this list several times I want to make a new one!  I had no idea the power that comes from writing these things down.  I'm going to start a new "Life List" today.

Resolutions

my delicious, lemony birthday cake

I'm not a huge fan of New Year's Resolutions.  Maybe I'm becoming more cynical in my mid 30's.  Perhaps I'm becoming more wise.  Let's call it wisdom.  I don't have an issue with resolutions.  I love the idea of resolving to become better: challenging myself, becoming stronger, cultivating good habits.  It's the New Year's part that I have a beef with!

Just getting through winter is a huge challenge (at least for me, in this season in life)!  In the deep, dark winter I work hard to just hold onto my self, my old self.  The last thing I need is a list of unattainable resolutions staring at me all winter long.  Guilt can be a vicious thing, especially when you aren't feeling great already.  So this year I consciously decided to not make any resolutions, of any sort, when the new year rang in.  Instead I waited.

And I'm glad I did.  It was a hard winter on me, physically and emotionally.  We all took turns getting sick, all winter long.  I slept very little.  And I felt downright awful most of the winter.  It was a doozy!

But then spring!  Glorious spring began to arrive.  Dare I say she's actually here?!  It's only the end of March but feels like the end of April.  Daffodils and crocuses are blooming everywhere.  The fragrant blossoms are intoxicating.  It is beautiful.  It is invigorating.

And with the warmer, sunnier days I am beginning to feel like myself again.  That happy, patient, creative mama that I missed these last few months, she's coming back.  It feels good.  And now I'm ready and excited to begin my resolutions.  I want to be a better person, stronger, healthier and wiser.  I am determined to be the woman I want to become.

Here are a couple of my goals that I am working on right now:

1--Exercise every morning.  Run or walk in Central Park for at least 30 min at 6am.  I am registered to run in a women's half marathon on April 15th.  And then a month later I will run the Brooklyn Half with Erica.  I'm nervous and excited.

2--Go on a sugar fast (refined sugars, that is).  The day after my birthday (and cake indulgences) I started a sugar fast.  I have done this in the past and it is great.  I am a much better person when I don't eat sugar.  I feel stronger, healthier and happier when I control avoid my incessant sugar cravings.  My goal is to do this until Oliver's birthday on June 11.  I've had a couple slip ups (usually the days I haven't slept), but I'm doing quite well.

Those are the two big ones.  I'm also working on getting to bed by 9:30pm, writing in my journal or reading every night from 9-9:30, planning and organizing meals and more city adventures.  But those two, exercise and no sugar, really help me to feel so much better.  Being a mama to three busy, wonderful kids is extremely hard work and those two tools seem to help me the most in being the mama I want to be.

On Becoming

Cinque Terre, September 2004

When post-Christmas winter hit I felt down in the dumps!  Completely unhappy!  It was awful!  One day it all came to head.  I was having a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.  My pity party lasted all-day-long.  And my poor family had to deal with it.  I was at my whit's end with so many things in my life. I was done with myself and all my inadequacies.

I had angrily concluded that, "There is no way I will ever be able to become the person I want to become!"  I threw out tons of projects I had hoped to accomplish someday. Hoping that action of tossing stuff would stop me from dreaming of that idealistic person.  I wanted to stop dreaming of that person I thought I should be.  That perfect woman that is not me.  I had hoped that throwing out stuff would be cathartic and heal a piece of me that felt wounded.  It did not.  I still felt anger, bitterness, frustration.  I was in the depths of despair because I was not who I wanted to be!

That night I slept.  And, though, it was only the usual few hours, I felt a bit better in the morning.  The kids and Brian were still sleeping so I took some moments for myself.  I grabbed an old notebook off the shelf and sat on the sofa.  With my pen in hand I thought about what I needed to do to find myself again; how I might find peace with myself.

I opened that notebook, thumbed through some old pages, looking for a fresh one to jot some thoughts on.  One page caught my eye; a page I had written some notes on nine years ago.  It was a page full of thoughts, similar to what I was about to write.  It was a simple brainstorm of potential goals--about 30 items.  It was January 2003; I was a newlywed, living in Pittsburgh.  I had titled it Things I Want To Do & Become.

I scanned the list.  Within moments big, huge tears rolled down my cheeks.  The anger and frustration vanished.  I was humbled.  The peace came.  The answer to my longing was right on that page I had written nine years ago.

I had accomplished almost every item on that list.
I became the woman I wanted to be.
I am that woman!  

That spry, young, 24 year old, who wrote those goals almost a decade ago has become the woman she wanted to be.  She became someone greater than she ever thought possible.  I know she would be amazed.  I know she would be proud of me. 

And, so with the blessing of that forgotten page, I begin again.  I have learned a lot about progress, patience and how God works quietly and constantly in my life.  He is in the little details; shaping me day by day.  God is ever present and it is only with His help and guidance that I have accomplished so much and become who I am.*

And now I'm ready to continue to conquer the world.  I can and I will!

...one tiny step at a time.

*I have reread (and love) Dallin H. Oaks' talk The Challenge to Become.  He says, "We must not give up hope.  We must not stop striving.  We are children of God, and it is possible to become what our Heavenly Father would have us become.


After publishing this post I decided to publish the list I had made nine years ago.  You can find that list here.

Isabella's Amazing Race

Yesterday we went to the New York Road Runners Youth Jamboree held at the Amory (a huge indoor track in Washington Heights, about the size of a city block).  The Youth Jamboree is a free track and field event open to all the kids in the city.  It was insanely busy with thousands of kids and even more crazy parents.  Since Isabella is a good little runner and her p.e. teacher encouraged her to attend we dedicated that morning to her and two races.  She ran the 55 meter dash and the 200 meter dash.  She competed with girls who were in Kindergarten and 1st grade (her division).

She started the morning with her 55 meter dash at 9am.  It was the first time she ran a race like that so she was a little slow to start, but did great.  We had a 2 hour break before her 200 meter race so Spencer (Brian's brother) coached and practiced with Isabella (all in fun and games) to help her do a little better on her next race.

With so many kids participating there was a lot of waiting involved, but when it was Isabella's turn she looked ready.  We had to stay up in the bleachers and watch.  Brian caught most of it on video, but I'm going to try and explain what happened.

A little background: Since there were so many events going on simultaneously different guns would go off and kids would often dash out at the wrong time because the gun was fired for a different race.  This problem happened over and over again.  

From my perspective:  The kids were getting lined up, Isabella was put on the outside lane.  An official was escorting two kids around, a gun went off.  Isabella dashed out, the official (with the kids was right in front of her) stopped her.  Isabella went back to the start.  (We all assumed it was another false start.)  But the other officials were yelling at her to run.  And all the other kids were already 1/4 of the way down the track.  (I couldn't believe it.  I felt so angry and frustrated for her!)  Isabella shot out like a firecracker.  She ran so fast and hard!  Half way through she was passing all the kids, one after another.  It was amazing!!!

She almost placed 2nd or 3rd, but she wasn't sure how to get around the two girls in front of her, who were running shoulder to shoulder, so she slowed down.  I couldn't believe how fast she was!

Part of me wanted to go yell at the officials, but I remembered to keep my cool and show Isabella how excited I was for her.  She was so strong, so fast, so determined.  I am so so proud of her!

And now, the video...

You can see her behind everyone and her speedy recovery.  See the person on the track in black, on the far left of the screen, that's the official blocking Isabella.  It's hard to see Isabella at the finish, since she's right behind the other girls...but enjoy.  I think you can enlarge the video so you can see her better.  And the photos below show the story as well.

Isabella's Comeback from Kiasa Carini on Vimeo.

And here are some fun photographs from the event:

At the ready for the 55 meter dash.

Dashing 55 meters

waiting

Lined up for the 200 meter dash

BUSTED!
This shows it all!
The other runners have already started; the official, and two kids, are walking right in front of Isabella.  
I'm saying, "What the $#%^@?!?!?

Full speed ahead!

3/4 of the way there and passing everyone.

She's stuck right behind those two girls!  GO ISABELLA!!!

Victory Cone!

I'm so impressed and proud of her!!!!  You go girl!

Right Now: Macaroons

It's free macaroon day in NYC! Each of these tasty treats usually goes for $2.50 each. Score!

P.S. Pistachio is my favorite!!!

P.P.S. Lemon is also awesome.

Right Now

Enjoying the St. Patrick's Day Parade on a beautiful spring day with my boys.

Favorite Things

One of my favorite things about being a mom to little ones is finding random things put in random places.  They are kind of like little, fun surprises.  Surprises that make me smile and remind me this home is very much their home.  I love it!

Like, the magnetic letters I found the other day, in the mixing bowl, deep in the cupboard.  Or the little pair of shoes placed perfectly in the closet opposite the shoe closet--no wonder I couldn't find them.

This one, below, made me smile this morning.  These little legos were played with right up until it was time to go to bed.  They were placed so attentively under a table at the top of the stairs, waiting and watching for the little one to wake up and play with them again.

These little ones of mine bring so much magic into our home.  I love it!  I treasure it in my heart!