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Visiting New York City: A Day In Brooklyn

My parents are in town and that means we’ve been going non-stop! It’s so much fun but holy heck I’m ready for a nap.

For the past year I’ve heard about Egg from my parents. Last year during a snow storm my parents ended up having an amazing breakfast experience there due to the food and overall staff kindness and needless to say they’ve been talking about it ever since. Yesterday we ended up spending a perfect afternoon in Brooklyn complete with brunch, fresh air, flowers, and a museum visit!

Here is our itinerary in case you want to replicate our Brooklyn afternoon:

Egg Restaurant (Williamsburg, cash only, no reservations) A laid back, casual, little bit hipster brunch spot in Williamsburg that sources their ingredients locally and includes complimentary delicious beignets with every meal. The highlights were their French press coffee, mint roasted grapefruit, candied bacon, and home made biscuits. The line may look intimidating but it moves pretty quickly. 

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Brooklyn Botanical Gardens (Prospect Heights, $8 donation requested) This is truly a hidden treasure! I’ve never heard much about it but it really is one of New York’s best kept secrets! Even with the recent rains and overcast skies it was a beautiful way to spend two hours and so relaxing compared to the speed of the city.

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Brooklyn Museum ($12 suggested donation, right next door to the Gardens) The Brooklyn Museum is another hidden treasure that I’ve run by more than a few times but never visited before. The museum itself is best known for it’s Egyptian wing which was incredible! It amazed me that they included a mummy outside of the sarcophagus and some really detailed videos describing the processes they used to restore them. In addition, we spent time seeing the John Singer Sargent watercolor exhibit and the Rodin collection.

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Overall it was a great afternoon in Brooklyn and I would suggest everyone enjoy a similar afternoon whether you’re a local or just in town visiting!

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A Whirlwind Friday

Happy Saturday! Here’s a sneak peak of how we spent our Saturday.

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It was quite the whirlwind Friday! My parents really know how to keep me moving when they are in town, that’s for sure!

After a less than stellar 10 mile run with Katie yesterday in preparation for the Brooklyn Half Marathon next weekend, my parents and I headed out to New Jersey to see my “Jersey family” and my cousin’s adorable 10 month old, Sedona. I really don’t have baby fever in the least except for when she’s in my arms. Ask me any other day and the answer is “a good solid 3-4 years” but yesterday, you could have let me take her home and I would have been just fine!

I mean how can you not love this adorable little ball of joy. She is at such a fun age right now, telling everyone hi and making sure she’s the center of attention. Her flavor of the week is lemons. No kidding. This kid loves biting, sucking, gnawing, and entertaining herself with a lemon piece. IMG_2722

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We also had some deep, serious conversations. “Sedona your mom won’t mind you coming to Geneva with me will she?”

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As you can tell, she’s jealous of teeth now that her first two teeth have started making their presence known.

After going out to Jersey and back we had just 30 minutes to change clothes and walk over to Raymi for a happy hour with a few of our friends. It was SO much fun for my parents to meet our friends after hearing about them for the last 4 years. Unfortunately not everyone could make it but it was still a wonderful night filled with lots of laughs and great conversation!

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Our “happy hour” was supposed to last until 7 but some how at 11pm we found ourselves finishing dinner. Once again Raymi was perfect for a crowd and each bite was delicious. I especially loved the plantain chips, ceviche sampler, the steak, and their take on seafood paella. Their happy hour special for mojitos wasn’t bad either!

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What’s your favorite happy hour special?

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ashleyd /

Like Used Basil

Right now, I feel a bit like our poor, used Basil plant. After I made three Caprese salads tonight, this poor plant is asking for some rest to rebuild. 005The week was absolutely amazing in so many ways. There were three races including a new 10k PR, a few amazing meals, time with friends, and a very New York City evening last night which reminded me why we love this city so much. It’s hard to top a casual dinner with friends at Red Hook Lobster Pound followed by hours of wandering through a studio we stumbled upon while walking towards the river. 040041

Having the opportunity to meet an up and coming artist, Dustin Yellin, whose work will now be featured in the famed Lever House, was nothing short of phenomenal. Where else would this happen?

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While I was out West my sister in law, Meg, moved to New York City which means the start of Sunday night dinners and the joy of having family in the city. Yeah, I’m excited to have her in the city and look forward to many new memories! This picture is just an example of the fun times we’ve shared before in NYC, on her 21st birthday.

We started off our Sunday experiencing Soul Cycle at the Upper West Side location for the first time. The location was smaller than expected and lacked showers. But, what it lacked in space and showers, the teacher Sue made up for in an amazing class based on a classic rock and theatre playlist which made the ride fly by very quickly. We’d hop the 1 train up there again in a heartbeat for one of her rides. After the ride, we met our newly engaged friends, Tom and Molly for brunch at Ouest. The $29 prix fixe menu featured a wide variety of brunch standards such as omelets, hamburgers, and croque monsuires. We found the restaurant randomly on Open Table when trying to decide on a brunch spot near our UWS friends and were surprised how delicious the brunch was. While the service was a bit slow, their thorough menu left everyone pleased and my omelet was fluffy and delicious. We would definitely return!

Tonight’s Sunday night dinner, our first, was perfectly squeezed into Meg’s busy NYU weekend schedule yet still included an hour of dining at our dining room table while laughing about the week’s events. Bo and I spent only 30 minutes in the kitchen preparing dinner from start to finish thanks to yesterday’s epic Costco run. Yes, you can go to Costco and save ridiculous amounts of money in NYC in less than 2 hours, round trip!

001 002  004 Tonight’s meal included Caprese salad, roasted broccoli, quinoa with fresh roasted red peppers, and sockeye salmon. So good!!

Okay, these tired eyes are ready for bed! I’ll see you all tomorrow for a recap of last week’s meals from coast to coast.

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