revived

So it’s been awhile :D

Following a SUCKY birthday (16 Candles with no Jake Ryan is a DEPRESSING tale), I was really really really psyched to hop on the bus, GTFO of Boston, and head to one of my favorite places on earth.

View from the (complimentary- taxpayer dollars were funding this due to my mama’s government paid for business trip!) window:

 

That would be Chelsea. NYC baby!

I was seriously in need of some family love, new sights, and city energy. My will to live has returned!

And you know there were good eats.

One of the things the ma was there for were the Breakthrough Awards. Every year, Popular Mechanics awards scientists and researchers who are creating cutting-edge products/technologies to generally make life more like the Jetsons (and, yknow, take care of the environment and so on).

Following was a cocktail reception:

Fresh figs, holla!

After all that grazing, we were in the mood for nibbles and (me being 21 and having yet to have a satisfactory birthday toast) cocktails. We decided to Yelp our neighborhood (seriously, what did people do before Yelp?) and ended up at Ilili. Like, how could we not. They were calling “Lele, Lele!”

Let me preface this by saying that I’ve had a lot of really fun dinners the past few days. Many of them had cool vibes enhanced by dim lighting. Ergo, sucky pictures. Honestly, having good blog posts was not a high priority the past few days. Being happy was! So, the eats:

First came a freebie of awesome crispy crackers with sumac and spicy yumminess on top with yogurt cheese and caramelized onions for dippage.

Then COCKTAILS!

On the left is my mother’s “Poison Sumac margarita”, with tequila, pomegranate juice, and a rim of sumac and salt. On the right is my “From Beirut with Passion”, with mint-infused vodka and passion fruit juice. Both were LUSCIOUS!

Old favorite done fabulously:

Smokeylicious baba ghanouj.

Finally, the piece de resistance:

The DUCK SHWARMA with “fig, green onion, and olive whip”.

There are no words. The meat was tender and smoky and tangy and seasoned in a way that was almost Asian tasting. The pita bread was fresh. The sauce was melt in your mouth.

YUM!

The next morning, after waiting for my mom to TAKE HER SWEET TIME, I finally got some food in me :D I am so cranky when I don’t eat immediately in the morning.

Fortunately, courtesy of fabulous food bloggers like Diana, I knew exactly where to go, which was also fortuitously a pleasant walk from our hotel.

The Union Square Greenmarket! In the center of Manhattan, allegedly an expensive city, yet substantially cheaper than Boston’s. What gives?

I got these lovely things for brekkie:

A sweet potato muffin (HEAVEN- those are dried apricots on top) and a perfect Gingergold apple.

We sat at a coffee shop with our purchases, and people watched in the city that basically invented people watching. What could be better?

More posts to come, of NYC and my other amazing Columbus Day weekend destination!