New York, New York!

Over the long weekend, my husband and I spent our time roaming the concrete jungle...aka New York City.  I have been there before but not for a very long time.  Though I love Wisconsin and I truly appreciate our farms and rolling hills...there is something magical in NYC.  I just love it there.  Always something interesting going on, always something to do.  I feel like it would be impossible to get bored.  Granted, this all just from visiting.  I am sure if you lived there it would be a whole different story.  Well, I will get on with what people really care about....what I ate! :-)  As I said in my first post, food basically controls my life and this is no different with vacations.  I studied up on all the restaurants we should be eating at.  Asked lots of friends for recommendations and we finally landed on 3 places for dinner;  Remi (a smaller, easy-to-get-to Italian restaurant), Craft (Tom Colicchio's restaurant) and Momofuku Noodle Bar (really good Ramen place owned by David Chang).  All were delicious in their own way.

Remi -- He had Braised Veal Chop with Saffron Risotto and I have Ricotta Raviolioni with a Saffron cream sauce.  Very tasty.  Place was dead when we got there but I think that's because we missed the Broadway crowd. 

This picture is a little dark because I was trying to be discreet... Craft -- He had a Sirloin with bone marrow and I had the Braised Short Ribs..NUM!  SO delicious!  For starters we had oysters, I had a salad and he tried Sweet Breads.  They were definitely interesting but probably not something I would pick again. 

Momofuku -- HUGE bowls of ramen. SO GOOD!!  I can't even explain how tasty this was and just how perfect it was after two nights of eating heavy. 

As you can see, he wanted to drink from the bowl

Ended the trip with good ol' pastrami on rye.  NYC classic!

Of course, since everything needs to revolve around food, I insisted that we go to the NYC Greenmarket.  Basically, their version of the Farmer's Market.  I just love seeing what it is in season in other places and compare prices.  Definitely some things were pricey like strawberries but some things were the same from home.  Very similar produce at home but that might be because it has been so warm in WI this spring. Lots of lettuces, radishes, aged cheese, apples, apple cider, strawberries, and flowers.  For anyone that has been to the Dane County Farmer's Market, be proud --Our farmer's market is far superior to NYC's.  DCFM is about 3 times larger and has a way more eclectic mix of produce.  But this one was still a lot of fun!  

I had to end our trip on something sweet!  After the 3 days were done, I realized we never went to any of the bakeries I hear so much about.  So before we went to the airport I made B go with me to Grand Central Station since I knew that Magnolia Bakery had shop there.  

Decided on Red Velvet with Whipped Vanilla frosting.  I was a little nervous because the only reason I like red velvet is because it usually comes with Cream Cheese Frosting, which is my favorite...

IT WAS AMAZING!!!  Perfect crumb.  Nice light not overly sweet frosting.  I will now have to strive to make my own cupcakes this good. 

Well that's about it for my NYC.  We are going to Boston in about a month so now I need to start planning for that.  If anyone has restaurant or tourist sites recommendations, please let me know.  I don't really have a clue where to start with Boston.  Also, on a high note, my CSA is starting a week early because all the crops are early!! YAY!  So that means next week I will stop rambling about my life and start posting about the real purpose of this blog: My CSA.  And I will leave you with one more picture of my tomato plant.  It was gotten huge.  If you compare this picture to the one from the last post, this is the amount it grew in 1 week!  Can't wait to start getting some tomatoes!