New York Food

The Farmer and I both came home from our holiday with slightly tighter waist bands.  It was the usual holiday issue of big lunches and dinners plus lots more for breakfast than we would ever contemplate at home.  Not to mention the extra wine.  Oh well - hopefully a few weeks of our usual routine will sort things out.

We ate too well on this trip - New York has such a wide selection of restaurants that you could pick just about any country in the world and find yourself a restaurant that specialised in their local cuisine.  I must admit to always being stunned by how huge restaurant serves are in the US.  I could rarely get through a plate of food in its entirety.  Although now I think about it Australia is heading in that direction too.  It seemed to have occurred when restaurants started to use those huge white plates and then gave into temptation and smothered them with food.  Or is it some trick to ensure we think we are getting our moneys worth?  Anyway- digressing.  I often resorted to ordering an entree (or appetiser as it is in NY) size or in some venues even a child's serve!

Some of the highlights included brilliant dim sum in Chinatown at a place I think was called Jing Fong, a gorgeous dinner at Hudson Clearwater in the West Village and a seemingly endless supply of Bleecker St pizza.

Mmmmm - Pizza.  No Wonder Weight Was Gained

We also made a trip to the famous Magnolia Bakery for cupcakes.

Cupcakes

I must admit to being a tiny bit disappointed.  The cake bit was fabulous but there was a huge amount of overly sweet frosting on top.  I am not a fan of too much sugar though so it may have just been me.  (One thing we did notice is how sweet plain sliced bread tasted in America.  The Farmchildren refused to eat it and in the end I found an organic bakery with more normal tasting bread - at a huge price.)

One thing I did notice was how welcome The Farmchildren were made in most restaurants we went to.  The wait staff made a huge fuss of them and they were often given colouring in.  Even in places that didn't initially look that kid-friendly!  Some nights we did leave them with their Uncle and Aunt so we could venture out without them but generally they were well behaved and enjoyed their meals out.  We did book early sittings though.

Overall we had fabulous food, from diners to upmarket bistros.

Oh - funny story.   I had one of the weirdest foods I have ever had on this trip.  We were lucky enough to go to Madison Square Garden to watch a basketball game.  My brother-in-law and his wife had very kindly got us seats in the box of the company they work for and we had a great time.  One of the snacks on offer had me completely intrigued.  It consisted of macaroni cheese wrapped in spring roll paper and then deep fried!  It was the greasiest, fattiest thing I had ever tried.  (And that's saying something because I come from the land of the bain marie and Chiko rolls...)  The basketball was amazing though and Farmgirl was enthralled by the glamour and sparkle of the cheerleaders.

How Cool.

Best go - exciting task for the day is shopping for new school shoes for The Farmchildren.

Take care.