Tag: American

5# Throwback Travel- New York: Animal love in Central Park and Eataly (day 5)

Published on by Vanessa GregoriaLeave a comment

Day 5 in New York was another full day in the heat of summer. We took a magical journey on horse and carriage through Central Park and visited the animals at Central Park Zoo. This was followed by a Broadway show, dinner at the amazing Eataly and visit to The LEGO Store.

But first, breakfast. As I mentioned previously I had been doing mamma-daughter breakfast dates out instead of eating the mass-produced food at the hotel. Today we visited Le Pain Quotidien again. O and I shared a big bowl of organic steel-cut oats and berries. It was really wholesome and satisfying.

Organic steelcut oats and berries, Le Pain Quotidien

Central Park

Our first activity of the day was a horse and carriage ride around central park. We found our coachman on 59th St, across from the Plaza. I can’t remember exactly how much it cost, but I’m sure it was around $60-80 for 30mins. I think if you book it is more expensive, but then I wasn’t visiting in high season. It included commentary by the coachman, of the history of the park and sites of interest. It was a lovely experience and a nice way to get an overview of the park in small time frame.

After that, I was a little hungry, so I stopped into The Plaza Food Hall. There are so many different delicious food options for a quick lunch. I’m not sure why I didn’t take any photos inside, but you can see a video of the food hall (see link). I had a prawn roll and seafood chowder from Lukes Lobster Red Hook, which hit the spot.

Central Park Zoo

Next, we visited the Central Park Zoo. I’ve always dreamed to visit this zoo since it’s so famous. It is probably the smallest zoo I’ve been to, but it had a nice variety of animals and is the perfect places to take little kids. Within the zoo, you can also find the Tisch Children’s Zoo, which offers children the opportunity to pet small farm animals.

Broadway

Afterwards, Marco and I went back to Broadway to see An American in Paris. We actually won the tickets in the Broadway Lottery. We entered the lottery every day and won twice, so Marco and Sally also saw another show. If your going to enter the lottery you do have to be flexible with your itinerary. This play was in the most beautiful and historic Palace Theatre. As for the play, I hadn’t heard of it or the original film. I really enjoyed the story and the performance. It would of well been worth paying full price.

Eataly

For dinner we visited the Italian market hall, Eataly. It is the brainchild of Oscar Farinetti, who opened his first location in Torino, Italy. He has since opened more across, Italy, the USA, and in various other countries. Eataly offers various coffee and dessert bars, deli, fresh food, pasta, seafood and meat markets; as well as speciality restaurants, retail, classes and events. This was the first Eataly that I have visited, but I have since come across another in Stockholm last year. I hope an Eataly will open in Australia in the near future. I also wish to visit the Eataly Bologna Ambasciatori, which is meant to be like a foodies theme park.

There are two Eataly’s in New York, in the Flat Iron and Downtown district. When we visited the Flat Iron location had just opened. I didn’t know what to expect, so I was blown away by the amazing food and wished I could try one of everything. Since I couldn’t cook in the apartment I just bought some beautiful exotic organic fruits, that I hadn’t tried before.

Since we were here for dinner we look for a restaurant that could accommodate us. There were four restaurants, including Le Verdure, Manzo, La Pizza & La Pasta, Il Pesce, La Piazza. Since my visit, it appears that Le Verdure was closed and replaced with Il Pastaio di Eataly and Serra D’autunno by Birreria was added. Anyway, on this particular evening, there was only room at Le Verdure, the vegetarian restaurant. I was pretty excited about this since I was looking forward to trying some traditional dishes inspired by vegetables.

We ordered a few things to share, including Pizza Fritta with Stracciatella, tomato & basil; Fritto Misto, Gnocchi alla Romana con Bolognese di Verdura and Cannelloni con spinaci e pomodori. This was one of the most amazing dinners we had in New York. The food was just so well made, crispy, crunchy and full of flavour. After dinner, I also tried a Pumpkin Tiramisu from the dessert counter and Marco had a Nutella crepe from Nutella counter.

The LEGO Store

On my walk back to the hotel, I came across The LEGO Store, in the Flat Iron district. This was the first one I had ever been to, so it was more exciting at the time. It was pretty packed considering it was nearly 8pm. Luckily my toddler was too tired to get out and want to play with everything she saw.

Tomorrow, we visit the Rockefeller Centre, see the view from the Top of the Rock Observation Deck, Natural History Museum and have dinner in Little Italy.

4# Throwback Travel- New York: Lower East Side, West Village and High Line (day 4)

Published on by Vanessa GregoriaLeave a comment

I’ve been a little unwell the past month but feeling better today. So I can continue with Day 4 in New York City. We were finally done with our tours, so now it was time to check out some of the hipster neighbourhood in Lower Manhattan. We did breakfast on the Lower East Side, lunch in the West Village, walked the High Line and did a low key dinner with a friend. It was a pretty low key day, but boy did we do a lot of walking.

Lower East Side

One of the places you have to visit when in New York is the famous Katz’s Delicatessen. If not for the movie nostalgia and its history, definitely for their pastrami sandwich. This historical kosher-style delicatessen was founded back in 1888 and has been featured by numerous food shows. I have never been to a kosher eatery, so I was pretty excited to see what they would have on offer.

We arrived pretty early in the morning and there really wasn’t a lot open on the Lower East Side. Katz’s Delicatessen was open, so we took our time reading about their history and getting accustomed with the menu. Its a pretty lay back place, so we didn’t feel rushed to figure out what we were going to have. The menu is massive, consisting of hot and cold sandwiches, traditional Jewish dishes, breakfast omelettes, soups, salad platters and cakes.

We ended up going with the classic Pastrami Sandwich, which was chock full of freshly cooked pastrami, with mustard on fresh bread. We also had a side of half-sour and full-sour pickles and plate of Potato Latkes with apple sauce and sour cream. I’m don’t usually like cold cut meat sandwiches, but this hot pastrami sandwich exceeded my expectations. The meat was so juicy and satisfying. The sour pickles really complemented the sandwiches and the potato latkes were nice and crispy.

After breakfast, we took to the streets to see what the Lower East Side was all about. The buildings on this side of town aren’t highrise, so it has much more of a neighbourhood feel. The area has quite a few contemporary art galleries and home to many artists and creatives. It is also known as a place for night life and live music, so we probably should have visited later in the day. At this time of the morning, it was pretty quiet. None of the shops were open and it seemed most people were still in bed. We did find a few coffee shops open. In Australia, coffee is a pretty big thing and our coffee is a lot different from American coffee. So we were hoping to find something more similar to what we were used to.

We visited Ludlow Coffee Supply and their coffee was pretty good. Their barista/server was pretty rude though and I am not quite sure why. I don’t quite understand why anyone would be rude when they relying on tips. In my country, we don’t get tips, but its still unacceptable to have a bad attitude. Anyway hopefully they have nicer staff now. Other then that, it has a pretty trendy interior and was a pretty popular place for locals.

West Village

Afterwards, we walked over to the West Village, which took about 20 mins on foot. For us quite a bit longer with a toddler and a grandmother. We stopped at a local park and let O have a bit of a play. It was so unbelievably hot, so we hung out here for a while. The West Village has so many amazing cafes and restaurants in this area, as well as vintage stores and galleries. Its was probably my favourite neighbourhood in New York.

Pretty soon it was time for lunch and we visited another one of my must-visit eateries in New York. I have been a huge fan of Chloe Coscarelli for years, so I couldn’t wait to visit her first cafe. I have already reviewed this By Chloe on Bleeker Street, which you can see here. The food was amazing. It looked and tasted just as delicious as the food in Chloe’s cookbooks. Unfortunately, since our visit, Chloe was ousted from By Chloe. You can read about it here. To be honest I am not sure I would want to return to By Chloe given the chance. It just feels wrong after the way they treated her, and continuing to profit off her name and food genius.

The High Line

After lunch, we walked up to High Line, which begins on the north-eastern tip of Greenwich Village and continues through Chelsea. The High Line is an elevated public park, that runs along a historic freight rail line. It offers great views of Manhattans West Side and Hudson River, and features art installations and 120 different flora species. It runs about 1.45 miles (2.33 km) and a great place to take a relaxing stroll.

Friendly Catchup

After all that walking on the hot sun, we took some time to rest in the hotel. For dinner we met up with a friend of mine, who was air hostess and stopping overnight in New York. I really wanted to go do Momofuku Noodle Bar or John’s of Bleeker Street. However, it was so hot and nobody wanted to go so far away. Instead, my friend suggested the Olive Garden near Time Square. Marco was much more keen then me to try this Americanized-Italian food and I was a little curious.

Olive Garden at Time Square is a huge restaurant and is extremely popular for tourists. We had to take a buzzer, but it didn’t take too long to get a table. The menu is also massive, consisting of pastas, meat dishes, soups, salads, desserts, etc. It was quite overwhelming, we kept it simple with the Bread sticks, Famous House Salad, Angel Hair with Shrimp (no cream) for me and Meat cannelloni with meat sauce for Marco. The meals came out and were just massive in size. Mine looked a bit better than Marco’s dish, which looked a mess. My pasta wasn’t too bad, bit also wasn’t really flavoursome. Marco wasn’t such a fan of the taste of his. On the bright side the salad was fresh and the bread sticks weren’t bad. This would have been the perfect place to take your family if they love lots of options, big serves and have no dietary restrictions.

That brings me to the end of day 4. Tomorrow we do a horse and carriage ride through Central Park, visit the Central Park Zoo, see a Broadway show and dine at the amazing New York Eataly.

Disney Fashion for Grownups

Published on by Vanessa Gregoria2 Comments

I am a long time Disney fan and visiting the theme parks was really a dream come true. When you visit the parks you feel like you’re in a ‘Disney bubble’. In this bubble, you are so emersed in this magical world and there is so much merchandise that you feel like you need to have. A lot of this stuff I didn’t really need as much as I felt like I did in those few magical days (eg. Minnie Ears). However, there are some items that I cherish and are happy I bought.

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Since visiting the Disney parks in Tokyo, Florida and Paris, I am more of a fanatic for the Disney merchandise. At the parks, there are some exclusive items that you can’t get anywhere else, such as Minnie Paris Collection or The Cherry Tree Lane Collection. However, there are some other brands that sell very cool Disney inspired clothing and accessories for adults, that aren’t tacky and still inspires your Peter Pan complex. These are some of my favorite brands with Disney inspired clothing and accessories.

By the way, if you are interested in visiting Disney parks or want to reminisce with me, see my photos and guides for the Disney theme parks here.

 

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Pottery Barn Kids eco-friendly finds

Published on by Vanessa GregoriaLeave a comment

I just love hunting for homewares and home decor. I could spend hours looking in showrooms and pinning my favourite furnishings and decor. Since having my daughter I am always on the look out for pretty eco-friendly, organic or non-toxic furnishing and manchester. Brands that carry these lines are usually hard-to-find, expensive or only sell online (imported). Big retailers usually don’t carry these kinds of goods. When I have asked questions about the products they sell I usually get a blank stare and the (imaginary) Australian compliance lines. One big retailer that I have found that carries beautiful interior goods for kids, which offers eco-friendly options is Pottery Barn Kids.

Pottery Barn Kids is part of the American parent company Williams-Sonoma, along with Pottery Barn and West Elm. Over the past few years, they have opened stores across Australia. These three brands are mostly housed in the same locations. Their products vary from reasonably priced to expensive. However, I do find the quality of the furnishings are quite good compared to large Australian retailers and the website gives plenty of information on materials and certification. In saying that there a lot of terrible MDF furniture and a bit of green washing, but if you know what your looking for you can find some great products. I have noticed that many eco-friendly products lines on the American website are not offered in Australia stores. However, I was assured by a store manager that these products will make their way over in time.At the end of this post, you can find the information of different certifications that most of these products carry.

These are some of my favourite eco-friendly finds that are available in store at the moment:

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