Travel
Overwhelmed in NYC
My ideal vacation day would consist of breakfast at a quaint café, aimless meandering around the city (on foot, preferably), lunch someplace with a view (or prime vantage for people watching), a relaxing cup of coffee, sightseeing and/or napping, followed by a fantastic dinner.
Last weekend, a trip to visit friends in Brooklyn unexpectedly turned into an unplanned weekend in Manhattan, and though I consider myself a fairly flexible traveler, I found myself quickly feeling overwhelmed. Where to stay? What to do? Where to eat? What to see?
I put the power into Priceline’s hands, and quickly scored a 3.5 star hotel in midtown for only $150 a night! The Club Quarters was cramped, but safe and clean, and the staff was very friendly. Before crossing the bridge (literally) to Manhattan, I had the saltiest, most delicious egg and everything bagel sandwich at Bergen Bagel’s in Brooklyn. I loved a lot of things at Bergen: the delicious chewy bagels, the endless assortment of cream cheese (easily mistaken for a case full of gelato), and that every patron is asked if they want ketchup, salt, and pepper on their egg sandwich. Why, yes I do, fine sir. Yes, I do.
After breakfast, I took a stroll near the Brooklyn Bridge where I spotted the Statue of Liberty.
Before stepping foot in Manhattan, I accumulated a large list of restaurants to try through Facebook, Twitter, and SOS emails. Despite this, our first meal in the Big Apple was picked based on hotel proximity and Urbanspoon reviews, and that dinner at Bistro Milano ended up being the best meal of the weekend. The cavatelli with sausage was fantastic, and I loved the contrast of the bitter broccoli rabe, sweet sundried tomatoes, and garlicky tomato sauce.
Read More22 hours in New York City
This week, I had the pleasure of spending 22 hours in New York City, 11 of which were dedicated to work, 8 to sleep, and 1 to my morning get-ready rituals, leaving 2 measily hours for exploration. Luckily, those work hours included a great dinner at ViceVersa, an Italian restaurant on West 51st. ViceVersa’s menu is fairly mellow, but with hopes of eating something I could only find in New York, I ordered the Casoncelli, a pillowy pasta stuffed with crumbled veal, raisins, and crushed amaretto cookies, of all things, topped with butter and fantastically salty slivers of pancetta. Let’s not forget the wine and the delicious garlic and herb house bread.
Even though time was scant, there were three key New York moments during my trip that made me smile like only an out-of-towner can.
Read MoreLast day in Savannah
The last day of any trip is always bitter. So bitter, that it has taken me an entire week to bring myself to recap our last day in Savannah. I woke up feeling, well, bitter that our trip’s last day had arrived, but one last stroll through the City Market for breakfast at Henry’s sure did help to sweeten things up. Henry’s is a relatively new breakfast and lunch spot in Savannah, and we were surprised that there wasn’t a line out the door on a Sunday morning. We were actually waited on by Henry himself! How’s that for southern hospitality?
I loved the bright teal paint throughout the restaurant.
Weekend in Savannah–Day 2
When I booked the weekend trip to Savannah I envisioned days filled with sunshine, spring flowers, and Spanish moss—a picturesque backdrop for hours of meandering about the historic city.
Boy was I wrong.
Read MoreWeekend in Savannah
We arrived in Savannah just before dinner last night, and we were raring to get out on the streets and begin exploring the culinary offerings of the city. Our hotel (a Priceline score at $80 per night) is very close to the City Market area, so that’s where we headed. The market area was full of people—diners, chatters, music players everywhere.
Our first stop was the Avia Lounge, which we picked simply because we were starving and it was the nearest restaurant to us. Avia is in the Avia Hyatt hotel, and I was immediately impressed with the fancy-chic décor and beautiful chandelier.
Food.Blog.Forum.
What’s up guys? Hope you had an awesome weekend! I spent mine over in Nashville for the much-anticipated Food Blog Forum! My brain hurts from the vast amount of information learned in zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz…..
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Whaaat? Where am I?!
Ohhhh… My bad. Suffering from a bit of sleep deprivation over here!! Anyway…. This weekend I made the voyage to Nashville with Vanessa of Life Undeveloped, Brooke of Baking with Basil, and Jamie of Bibliophiled Away. I left Nashville a mere two days later with a few new friends, 17 pages of notes, 33 items on my want-to-do list, and crap ton of free swag!
Look at all this stuff!
Free stuff = happy foodies!
Our first night in town we headed over to a Taste of Nashville party at the farmers market where we were given the task of sampling everything from mustard slaw hotdogs to goo-goo clusters to vanilla vodka over blood orange soda. It was horrible.
Out of everything I sampled, My FAVORITE nibblet was the Onion Bisque from the folks at Perl. I am sending hopes and prayers that they someday offer this soup online.
Please!! I beg you!!!
We also got to see a live cooking demo with Arnold Myint. Arnold is a Nashville native who owns several restaurants in the city. He was also a Top Chef Season 7 contestant. Since I cancelled my cable to support my coffee addiction, I had no clue who this guy was until I read the marketing flyer… Regardless, it was super fun to see a professional chef at work in the kitchen. I really liked the lentil tacos he cooked up. I’m going to try to recreate them… one day. Hmmmm where did I put that want-to-do list anyway?
Saturday was JAM PACKED with forum sessions on different topics, including: PRspectives, recipe writing, blogging etiquette, food styling & photography, working with brands, blogging as a business, and social media.
My favorite of all the sessions was the food styling & photography session with Todd Porter & Diane Cu, the White on Rice Couple. Beyond being extremely informative, it further cemented my desire to become a better photographer. It also resulted in about 7 of the want-to-do’s on my list!
Look at us all ready to get our learn on! And our eat on, obviously.
Caroline, Brooke, Moi, Jamie, Vanessa (thanks to Vanessa for the people photos!)
For lunch we hit up some local food trucks for a sampling of their tastiest wares.
The weekend was pretty much scheduled out from start to finish, so there wasn’t much time left for exploring Nashville. Sunday morning I took a quick stroll in hopes I might stumble upon something interesting near the hotel.
All I found was this piece of art… and I have no idea what the heck it is.
