Conley in the Big City

Our annual NYC trip was a success as always! Conley was definitely a lot more active for his second trip but he was still quite the trooper being pushed around town every day. By night though he was ready to explore the hotel (ew!) - and I just had to let him seeing as he was strapped into a stroller or baby carrier all day every day. He got some good walking practice in as well - mostly assisted but sometimes venturing to take a few steps on his own. I sampled some delicious chocolate chip cookies, ate some great food, did a lot of walking and people-watching and drank lots of wine! Until next year New York...

Asleep at The Met

Snow in Central Park on our first day!

First of many pieces of bread - at Eataly

More bread and silly faces at Eataly

Lunch with the family

Walking The High Line...taking a pit stop

Family pic at The High Line

Mornings in Central Park

Admiring the water at Central Park

He spotted something he liked...a duck perhaps?

Fun times riding on Dad's back

Another shot from our morning walks in CP

Waiting for our table at The Breslin

I had the oven-baked 3 cheese sandwich - even better than I remembered! Conley had the whole wheat pancakes with apple butter and had a ball playing in the corner booth

From the rooftop in Williamsburg

A visit with Ruggero family friends in Williamsburg

Cab, please! in Nolita

See you later NYC!

A couple chocolate chip cookies and a hot chocolate shot from Birdbath

NYC Cookie Binge

While I used to be a cupcake junkie (and still occasionally enjoy a good one), my sweet tooth has turned towards chocolate chip cookies the past few years. Actually, I've always loved them, but I think ever since we lived in New York my infatuation grew. Probably because of all of the options there! And so now I pay homage to the greatest (that I have found to date) chocolate chip cookies that I plan to enjoy in a few short days. And here's to finding a new one this weekend as well!

Actually just discovered Levain Bakery in The Hamptons last summer and then visited the UWS location when we went into NYC - hands down, the BEST chocolate chop cookie I have ever had!

Look at all that chocolate chip goodness - the cookie is really thick too,
almost like a muffin.

A cookie this good deserves another shot....

And one more...I can't wait - Levain here I come!

This was one of my favorite spots when we lived here - didn't make in that often because it was in Chelsea, but loved everything about it - the food, the chocolate chip cookies of course (these are big, thinner and crunchier than Levain), a great selection of other cookies, and the hot chocolate!

The thickest, best hot chocolate I've ever had - Definitely a dessert all
it's own!

The famous Jacques Torres chocolate chip cookie - I actually added the recipe to my Pinterest board before I tried this cookie on our trip last summer - another great one!

And finally...the Momofuku Milk Bar cookies. Lots of interesting combos like Cornflake, Blueberry and Cream and the one pictured here - the  Compost cookie - which basically has a bunch of stuff thrown in (pretzels, chips, coffee grounds, oats, graham crumbs and so on). I tried one in  Montauk last summer and their pop-up shop and have to say it wasn't my favorite. Maybe I'm just a purist, but with all the hype it's probably worth a second try!

Eats in NYC

So in preparation for our trip I'm starting the search for some new restaurants to try out - New York Mag's Grub Street Blog is my usual go-to source along with the actual hard copy New York Magazine I still receive every week. Sadly, these usually end up in the recycling bin without even being opened these days, but for the next two weeks I will flip through them cover to cover! This year I'm also going to check out some other food blogs and see what I can come up with. We really don't have that many open meals to try new places if we're going to make it to our favorites, so will probably only get one or two new places to try - but hopefully they are good enough to make it into our yearly rotation! There are of course a million great restaurants in NYC, but here are a few of our favorites.

It wouldn't be a trip to NYC without brunch  at Zucco Le French Diner in the LES. Can't wait for my quiche lorraine and chocolate chaud! 

Lil Frankie's at 1st and 1st is another regular - yummy thin crust salame piccante pizza,  simple and fresh arugala salad with parmesan shavings and raviolis with  the best cream sauce - and a bellini!

Vermicelli was our go-to neighborhood spot - the best Vietnamese food I've ever had and we would go/order take-out at least twice a week.

The best Bun Ga Nuong - haven't found anything nearly as good
 anywhere else!

Olive's - one of my frequent lunch spots during my Scholastic days -  and a good cookie stop anytime we were in Soho.

Didn't make it here on our last trip, but really cute restaurant in The Ace Hotel - and the oven baked 3 cheese sandwich with ham is the best thing ever! Hoping to make it by this trip!

The Meatball Shop in the LES - I checked out the website and there are now 3 more locations! So we actually sat in this front area when we ate here a couple years ago - will definitely have to go back so Conley can sample the meatballs - one food he loved when we made them for him!

Flipping Out!

The green home improvement store, Treehouse, had a meet and greet with Jeff Lewis and Gage from Flipping Out for the launch of his new paint line tonight. We got a picture with each of them and Jeff chatted us up for a few minutes - they were both super friendly and funny too! He even gave Mer some advice on choosing the paint color for her bathroom. The sad part was that Conley started feeling pretty sick as the day went on, so he wasn't his usual outgoing self and I felt pretty bad dragging him out. He was a trooper as always though. What a fun night!