NYC: Thursday

This past weekend, Andrew and I ‘got away’ for a few days to New York City–about a 6-hr. drive from Buffalo–at the tail end of my spring break. Between school, homework and the ongoing pantry project, we both needed a vacation. However, as with all vacations (especially ours), rarely are they as relaxing as we’d like…

I snapped photos of just about everything…here is day 1 of the trip:

We left at lunchtime on Thursday and had picked up in-car snacks the night before, to both provide me with some healthier options and to prevent the infamous “Oh look! Ice cream! Let’s stop!” cries from the passenger seat.

Holly’s in-car lunch: apples, almond butter, grapes, hummus and carrot sticks.

Andrew’s in-car lunch: Mighty Taco on the way out of East Aurora.

My health-kick lasted about an hour before the snacks came out: Pringles (for him), Fig Newtons (again, an Andrew pick but equally liked by me), Powerade and jelly beans. My healthy snacks included some dried fruit and nuts, white cheddar popcorn (OK, that was really Andrew’s pick) and some ‘healthier’ chips. (All were opened–except the chips–but much remained uneaten. Next time: exercise more restraint at Wegmans!) We may have gotten into the Easter candy a little early…

Look! There’s the city! We drove in through Hoboken, NJ, and entered via the Lincoln Tunnel. By the time we pulled up at our hotel on 40th and 8th, it was dark.

Our FOUR-MONTH STAY (yes, I am yelling) at the Staybridge here in West Seneca while we were house-hunting earned us enough points to get a room near Times Square for three nights. So worth it.

Shortly after arriving, arranging for the car to be parked and tipping the bellhop who brought us our bags, we headed out for dinner via the subway. Andrew had, in true Andrew-fashion, written up a minute-by-minute itinerary of our trip. I love that man. Thursday night’s dinner: perhaps the most famous Jewish deli in all of NYC, Katz’s Delicatessen in the East Village.

The menu features all sorts of meats on rye, such as brisket or pastrami, as well as matzo ball and split-pea soups. You order at the counter at the appropriate station (drinks, sides and sandwiches all have their own place) and hand the staff member filling your order the ticket you were given when you entered. They mark the price and hand it back to you.

Andrew got a brisket sandwich and I got a half-pastrami on rye (oh my heavens, that meat was amazing) and a matzo ball soup to share. Two kinds of pickles come with your sandwiches–the bright green ones were more cucumber than pickle and I loved them. I also tried a New York egg cream in vanilla.

After paying and handing back our unused ticket (each person gets a ticket, but in a group they tally the charges on just one–we were warned we had to hand in the extra one upon leaving or be charged $50!), we headed out with very full bellies.

While wandering around, we stumbled–literally–upon this place:

The Clinton Street Baking Company! Yes, I have their cookbook. They are famous for their pancakes, but are open for lunch and dinner and drinks, too. Andrew offered to take me in, but I turned him down; I had no more room! No, we didn’t eat there. Yes, it will be a stop on our next trip. (And yes, we’re already thinking we may try to steal away in the fall for NYC round 2.)

After walking a few blocks, getting momentarily lost and also finding a cute Cuban place we added to the agenda for later, we took the subway back toward our hotel and got off at Times Square:

Mind you, this is now probably 10 p.m. or later. Times Square is perhaps the most awake, alive, loud, frenetic place you could be at night. Except maybe Vegas. Even the stores (like American Eagle or Levi’s) are open past midnight to cater to shoppers (a.k.a. tourists) still awake and going.

Up next: Friday!

reason number 5,937 I love my husband

He takes me to foreign countries and does 100% of the planning.

Yes, that is our schedule. All seventeen days are planned down to the minute.

I realize that it appears overwhelming and a bit much, but in truth, the overly planned schedule allows us to have the most flexibility possible. Basically, we have all the information at our fingertips, like bus and train schedules, as well as the locations and hours of all the places on our itinerary, which means we can decide to stick to the schedule, or fly by the seat of our pants, should we change our minds, need a coffee break or encounter a rainstorm. And plus, when you’re in these amazing places, it seems like such a waste NOT to make sure you see as much as you can. Andrew has planned all our trips this way and we get the best of both worlds; we see tons of stuff, but if we’re tired and need a change of pace in the middle of the afternoon, he’s prepared with the information we need to take a different train or go see something else instead.

I tell you what; for a girl who lives 365 days a year in constant ‘plan-every-moment-of-her-day-and-waste-no-time’ mode, a 17-day break in which Andrew takes over is absolute heaven.

Oh, and did I mention he’s working on his Italian?

Yeah, I got a keeper. In college, I thought I knew what I was in for, marrying Andrew. Just barely! I think his passion for travel makes up for the clothes he leaves on the floor…

maple weekend

Andrew and I participated in the first of two ‘Maple Weekends‘ here in Western New York this past weekend. Maple producers all over the state banded together about 20 years ago and started opening their doors to the public for one (and then expanded to two) weekends each season to demonstrate maple syrup production.

I covered a local family–Weber’s Maple–last weekend for the Advertiser. They operate a landscaping business during the warmer months and have recently gotten into maple syrup.

After learning all about maple syrup myself and more about the weekend activities, I thought surprising Andrew with a maple pancake breakfast and then some stops at syrup producers could be fun. The breakfast at the Gowanda Fire Hall was recommended to me, so that’s where we went.

I wish we could say we got up bright and early, but we didn’t. Our maple ‘breakfast’ turned into a maple lunch by the time we reached our destination, where they served pancakes (incredibly good–could not stop eating them!), eggs, bacon, sausage and–of course–lots of real maple syrup on the tables.

Gowanda is about 35 minutes south of East Aurora… Along the way, I mentioned to Andrew that it was getting ‘pretty rural’ out here. He replied, “No honey, we left ‘rural’ two towns ago.” Let’s just say that the sleepy ‘hamlet’ of East Aurora is a bustling metropolis compared to towns and villages just miles to the South.

After breakfast, we stopped at Maple Glen Sugar House, just a mile or so down the road, to check out their production.

They had tours just outside the sugar house, in the midst of trees bearing old sap buckets, which have been replaced by vacuum tubing nowadays.

Horse cart rides for kids…

And we got to see sap boiling away in the evaporators.

After Maple Glen, we headed back home and visited Weber’s Maple again, where they had a sled dog team.

Dean Weber was on hand to demonstrate how the evaporator works and explain the process to visitors.

Andrew had a great time and left with more maple ‘cotton candy,’ maple candies (where is this sweet tooth coming from??) and we also got a small container of Grade B syrup. Grade B is the darkest and has the most ‘maple’ flavor. It’s hard to find in stores and I really like it, so I wanted to stock up while I could.

All in all, we had a great time spending all morning (and into the afternoon) together on a ‘day date’ taking advantage of local activities. It was pretty cheap, too; we spent $14 on breakfast (it’s a fundraiser, after all) and $20 on maple stuff, both of which supported local businesses.

For anyone in the Western NY area, it’s going on next weekend, too. Highly recommended for families 🙂