New York, New York

New York photos, as promised! We had a blast visiting the Gentry clan. It was a little bit weird though to be back (after 5 years!) in my old Upper East Side neighborhood where I lived during graduate school. A lot has changed, but mostly it's stayed the same. The same yummy gourment food places and tiny grocers...same crazy cab drivers and watchful doormen. Still an insane amount of people walking their dogs! Huge dogs, small dogs, dogs in sweaters and dogs in shoes. Still have to watch out for the little surprises they leave everywhere.

The snow was piled up pretty high from the blizzard we missed by about 3 days! Seriously, it was already pretty high I think and then the snow plows come out to play and piles all the snow to the side of the streets, completely covering the parked cars...I mean, seriously, when do you think this car will make it out? Spring thaw maybe?

Let's hope! The snow in Central Park was perfect for the kids though, Avery had so much fun. Lots of kids to watch, sledding and playing. She liked to be on daddy's shoulders too.

The Gentry boys had a lot of fun making snowballs!!

some quite large!

We stayed quite snug in the Gentry apartment too. The boys are really into dragons right now. We watched How to Train Your Dragon with them and they even gave Avery her very own dragon, which she enjoys cuddling :)

The boys were also sweet enough to let us/insist on wearing their dragon slippers! Such thoughtful dudes.

Bub the hub enjoyed wearing them while cuddling with sweet Mya...

here's a close-up of lil'Mya getting a sink bath. I think she looks like Logan here!

One of the best parts of our trip was the last night when we made it over to Craft, the reservations I suprised Bub the hub with on Christmas morning. The meal was absolutely to die for! Probably the best I've ever had. Ever!! They served the meal family style, so we got to sample a bit of everything, which included: an amuse bouche (Top Chef lingo, but the waiter actually said it too!!) of mackerel with an awesome citrus sauce, oysters, arugula salad with lemon, quail legs, red snapper with roasted red pepper sauce, beef short rib with aged balsamic sauce, duck risotto and pureed potatoes. 

Although everything was delicious, the salad and the side dishes totally blew me away. The arugula salad with lemon was amazingly simplistic, and yet probably my favorite thing. They brought out this huge pile of crisp arugula that looked very naked. But then I tasted it and it was just exceptional. A few pine nuts, and a lemon dressing that was like heaven...a little gritty with some parmesan/salt I think. So anyway, I've been trying to recreate it ever since I got home!

I found this recipe for lemon dressing:
•1/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
•5 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
•2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
•1 teaspoon finely grated lemon peel
and I've come pretty darn close! I crave it now. I can't really say enough about the other two side dishes either. The duck risotto was exquisite- super, super rich and perfectly cooked risotto. I'm now a duck fan! I'm still dreaming about the pureed mashed potatoes. I wanted to order some to-go they were THAT good. Perfect texture and creaminess with a little chive and pepper on top. OK THEN, are you hungry already? I certainly am now.

Forgot to say that lil'bub did fabulous on both plane rides, which sure made mommy and daddy happy :).  All in all, a fabulous trip!!