New York Whirlwind 2018

What a crazy three days! Can’t believe it was only three days. I flew into New York from Sydney on Friday night and went straight out to meet Amanda, one of my wonderful GF’s from Canada who came over to meet me for a long weekend.

We went straight out for dinner and wine of course! We had drinks at The Happiest Hour, a cute retro cocktail bar in West Village then went next door to Rosemary’s for some beautiful Italian before heading back to the bar.

The next morning I woke up early, gave up trying to sleep in and hit the streets in search of my favourite NYC bagel. I have been visiting the Bryant Street Deli since 2012 and I love their scallion (spring onion) cream cheese bagel, heated and all delicious and comforting.. mmm. If I’m honest, there are probably a hundred deli’s just like this in NYC but I have been going to this one for so long that it’s almost a tradition. They also do incredible* egg bacon and cheese wraps at 3am – they’re open 24/7 and I used to stay just across the road.

*They might not be incredible, I don’t give my taste buds much credit at 3am. Usually my hunger is alcohol induced.

Anyway, I took my bagel across to the delightful Bryant Park where everything was wet. It’s still hot and humid, approx. 28 degrees but there was quite a lot of cloud and rain on my visit. I wandered around trying to find myself somewhere dry to sit and was about to give up when I realised that a wet butt never hurt anyone so I found a beautiful view and sat down to eat my bagel and admire my surroundings.

That’s when Basil showed up. At first, I was annoyed. Why was this old guy interrupting my lovely breakfast for one? I soon realised the Basil was a very lonely gentleman. He shared his card with me and was shocked I could just take a photo of it, so he could keep it. He was there to meet people from an art club to do watercolour paintings. Nobody had shown up yet and he was getting a little anxious. I do hope some people showed up. Basil said I could call him any time if I was lost or anything and that he was open to going for a platonic dinner if that took my fancy. Imagine being so alone in a city so full of people. I need to check out his website and I might send him an email to brighten his day. I’d be shocked if he knew how to use it but you never know. You can check out his portraits HERE.

Amanda talked me into hot yoga at Y7 in Meat Packing District. Was a fantastic class and studio but I’m not sure my balance has ever been so bad! I think a combination of being tired, slightly hungover and having spent so much time on a plane screwed me. Really glad I went though, nothing like sweating it out to feel refreshed.

I was starving so headed to ORamen before Amanda and Deshon were ready. I was really lucky to stumble across such a great place with so little research! More on that in my NYC food blog. We went shopping and then for oysters and wine at The Stamford Hotel before heading home to get ready for that evening. I had NO idea what I was getting myself into.

The evening started off fairly easy. Dinner at The Spotted Pig. Ironically it didn’t have much pork on the menu but anywho, we had a big crew and had lovely food. Black bass and steak tartar for me. We grew by so many people we ended up having to go to the bar downstairs to accommodate everyone. The night flew and soon Amanda and Deshon were going home at 1am. Deshon’s good friend Jenn (who also happens to be from Brisbane) offered to take me out… who was I to say no?!

Well. What. A. Night. I could never have predicted what happened next! A number or bars and clubs with bottle service and people coming and going to join our group. It was a typical NYC night out. Lots of surprises. Lots of different place and faces. We ended up partying at the girls’ apartment until 8am. Yup. 8am. I stayed there and we slept until about 4pm. Absolute waste of a day but like I said, what a night. We even face-timed my Mum at 7am where she was able to meet a new ‘friend’ of the girls, who wasn’t wearing much clothes anymore. Hilarious! The only picture I have from the night is a giant pizza that we ordered in.

After that I made it back home to shower and change. I wandered around the streets for a bit walked to meet Amanda and Deshon for dinner. The walk was beautiful along the Hudson River while the sun was setting. We met at China Blue, a fab Chinese restaurant with some of the best xiao long bao I have had!

Early night on Sunday, I went home and packed at my AirBnB in Chelsea then called into a leadership development group I’m involved in. In the morning I smashed out a bunch of work then went to the city for a meeting with one of my client’s partners. Great meeting! Amanda and I then met at Eataly, our fave spot in Flat Iron in NYC for wine and cheese. Eataly is a must-do in NYC. I wish I could have stayed for pasta! I try visit every time.

And now, here I am about to arrive in Vancouver. I had a nap (find it so hard to stay awake on planes) and then smashed out some more work and finally wrote a blog. I haven’t been blogging a lot lately as I am so busy with work, consulting and travelling.

So that was NYC for 2018! A brilliant three and a half days filled with fun, fab company, great food and LOTS of wine. Lacking a bit on pics this time, was too busy making memories 🙂

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