'Bout time I started blogging about our recent jaunt to my favorite place! Brock had to fly out to NY for work training earlier this month and I was able to nab a cheap last-minute plane ticket. Paid hotel and a daily expense account for food? You don't say no to that, people.
I flew out a couple days early and crashed with my cousin Joy and her boyfriend Matt, who live in Bensonhurst. They've been living there for almost a year now and it was so wonderful to spend quality time with them (more on that later). My red-eye flight arrived bright and early at 5AM, but there ain't no rest for the wicked--I accepted the fact that I'd be running on two-ish hours of sleep and made my way over to Manhattan to meet up with my friend Alex.
In a serendipitous turn of events, Alex--a BYU friend who I hadn't seen since 2011--was in the city for just a couple days before flying out to London, where he now works (permission to hate him: GRANTED). We met up in Times Square and walked to Hell's Kitchen for grub. Can I just say that I have the best friends? Alex and I picked up right where we left off in 2011, not missing a beat. Love that!
We ate Dominican food at Lali and thus began my self-directed NY eating tour ;) I had a simple plate of chicken with yellow rice and beans, but man was it good. Homemade comfort food, Latin style. Just what we needed after coming in from the drizzling rain. The ladies running the place were so warm and friendly. They let me wash up in their restroom which was LITERALLY the tiniest room I've ever been inside--rest- or otherwise!
I flew out a couple days early and crashed with my cousin Joy and her boyfriend Matt, who live in Bensonhurst. They've been living there for almost a year now and it was so wonderful to spend quality time with them (more on that later). My red-eye flight arrived bright and early at 5AM, but there ain't no rest for the wicked--I accepted the fact that I'd be running on two-ish hours of sleep and made my way over to Manhattan to meet up with my friend Alex.
In a serendipitous turn of events, Alex--a BYU friend who I hadn't seen since 2011--was in the city for just a couple days before flying out to London, where he now works (permission to hate him: GRANTED). We met up in Times Square and walked to Hell's Kitchen for grub. Can I just say that I have the best friends? Alex and I picked up right where we left off in 2011, not missing a beat. Love that!
We ate Dominican food at Lali and thus began my self-directed NY eating tour ;) I had a simple plate of chicken with yellow rice and beans, but man was it good. Homemade comfort food, Latin style. Just what we needed after coming in from the drizzling rain. The ladies running the place were so warm and friendly. They let me wash up in their restroom which was LITERALLY the tiniest room I've ever been inside--rest- or otherwise!
Alex and I decided to work off those rice and beans with a long walk. We started at 10th Ave and 46th and wound our way to about Park and 70th. Gave us lots of time to catch up! Alex had been studying at the London School of Economics for the past year-ish so I was woefully out of touch with him. He not so much with me, given my propensity for overshare on Facebook and his expert lurking skills ;) We capped off the day with hot chocolate and I made the trek back to Bensonhurst. Slept like a baby that night, tell you what.
 |
| The start of something beautiful. |
These two stopped me in my tracks. I could've sworn I as them at about this exactly same time last year strolling in Gramercy Park. Check out the grainy photo below (from last year). In retrospect, it doesn't look like the, but you can see why my heart skipped a beat!
 |
| En route to catch the looong subway ride home. |
.JPG)