beXnlog

Spicy Pickles, Marmosets and Free Rides

Here's a recap of the past few days:

Sunday: i forgot to mention that we each got 2 pickles from the Just Pickles stand on 33rd St, which we each saved 1 of to eat on top of the Empire State Building. be got 2 sours while i got 2 hot n spicys, very tasty. I would absolutely get them again. I was slightly tempted to ask the pickle man about their infamous "chocolate-covered pickle" but didn't.

Monday: Bronx Zoo! Compared to other zoos i've visited as a kid, this one is very different. Their focus is on natural habitats and conservation, so everything is very green and lush (as opposed to strange concrete buildings) and there are factual signs everywhere about endangered species, not buying exotic birds and what you can do to help wildlife. We didn't eat anything special, just snacks and iced tea. Afterwards, we spent way too much money at Costco and Stop & Shop to replenish the food store. Most notably i purchased a 1.5 lb block of Gruyere cheese to make Gougeres - oh yeah!

Tuesday: We started our vacation day late since i was at work for a few hours! We checked out the Guggenheim Museum, where besides some of the permanent collection and a new exhibit on radio and free speech, nothing really stood out.

Afterwards, we took a walk around Central Park with some pretzels and headed downtown to Next Door Nobu. Overall, everything was very good but expensive, but we knew we just had to eat there once. be really loved his tuna sashimi salad, where he described their cuts of tuna as much better than the best he'd ever had. He thought the Nobu style ceviche was very, very good but not the best ever. Finally, he enjoyed the maki rolls and rock shrimp dish. Now as for me, let's just say that Next Door Nobu is really for seafood-lovers. My various vegetable tempura were good but not spectacular, the eggplant with miso was good but not worth $8.00/2 pieces and the vegetable roll was tasty but not the best. In addition, the crowd there wasn't our type. The whole restaurant was filled with after-work business suits; i'm sure the weekends draw a celebrity and tourist crowd though. Note you can order 1/2 portions of many items on the menu, so the tab ended up less than expected.

On the way back home, we stopped by Jamba Juice, where i picked up a Peanut Butter Moo'd smoothie = totally awesome. Like drinking a peanut butter and banana sandwich, without the bread. And cold and smooth. Yum! be was too cold so he didn't get one.

Wednesday: be's friend M bussed into town, so after a quick stop home we tried to get into the Tribeca Film Fest with the special vouchers from Q - no luck. Instead, we did some shopping around downtown and Herald Square. I must also say that there sometimes IS a free ride: as we were waiting for a bus, one of those double-decker tourist buses opened it's doors and the driver asked us where we were headed, offering us a free ride downtown! We rode on the 2nd level with a load of tourists, listened to the guide talk about the neighborhoods and buildings en route, and learned the about the difference between green (regular), red (historical areas), black (pre-Civil War streets) and temporary street signs. Yay for free rides!

Dinner was half price sushi at East Village Sushi Park, where M really liked the tofu maki (avocado and cucumber inside-out rolls topped with inari (fried tofu) and a sweet sauce) and the tab was less than $35.00/3 people. The place gets some bad reviews but we've always had good service and decent, cheap food there. After CD buying at Virgin Megastore we headed back to Queens and called it a night.

posted by beXn @ 2:05 AM