NC to NYC: Parents Come to Visit!

The weekend after Thanksgiving my parents came to visit me for a few days in the city. I was so grateful that they came up, and I had such a blast showing them some of our favorite spots to go in our new home town.

We started on Saturday morning by going to the World Trade Center memorial, and although it was very cold and kind of a pain to get in to (there was as much security as an airport), it was very moving. The whole memorial is very peaceful and calming, but seeing all of those names around the reflecting pools was very touching.

Next we went to a small Italian restaurant in Little Italy for some seriously delicious, authentic Italian food and wine.

We also took my parents to one of our favorite spots, the Cellar bar at Beecher's cheese shop. They have some of the best mac n cheese, and we love the whole "cave" look of the bar downstairs.

 Dad's "cheesin" at the cheese shop. he he

 Vlady and I

 Dad's self portrait

 Dad told us to pose differently..

My wonderful parents!

Before dinner we stopped by our apartment to show my parents where we live, and when we tried to go up on the roof to show them the amazing view we ended up setting off the alarm. Ooops!

To close out the night we went to one of our favorite restaurants, Flex Mussels, where we had tons of amazing mussels (the Thai is the BEST) and homemade donuts (lemon, strawberry cheesecake, salted caramel and "drunken"). Oh, and Vlady did an oyster shooter.

We spent the next day eating at Spice Market, exploring Chelsea Market and walking the High Line. Since I could not go home for Thanksgiving it was so nice to get some family time in, and to show my parents what NYC is like from our point of view!

Bakery Tour

One day a couple of months ago Vlady and I decided to do a "self-guided bakery tour" around our neighborhood. We researched some of the top rated places within walking distance, and spent the next couple of hours indulging in all sorts of treats.

We started out at Insomnia cookies where I had the s'mores cookie and Vlady had oatmeal raisin, both served warm. Oh my word they were the best cookies ever. Oh, and they deliver until about 3:00am.

 Cookies on display

In between stops we walked through Washington Square Park where we saw some interesting sky writing.

The next stop was Mille-Feuille where we had some amazing macaroons and cheesy bread.

Passion fruit macaroon.. heaven!

We made two other stops that included a french bakery (pain au chocolat and a butter croissant were consumed), and ended at a bakery where I was too stuffed to eat anything. Over all it was a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon in the city!