This past weekend my honey and I drove to New York City without our two kids. For one night. We packed in as much fun and non baby-friendly activity that we could in a 14 hour period. Way more than I thought us capable of anyway.
We left the kids at my parents and I cried most of the way to the border. I truly felt like I had left part of my limbs behind. Maybe one arm and one leg. I took some pics in the car before we dropped them off. Pictures I looked at over and over again. Like a dope. Like the ones below.
We then had a very tension-filled wait to get to the USA: there was a long line-up and someone (not me) had an expired passport (not mine). My hubby’s expired passport was discovered at eleven p.m. the night before. So fun. When we actually sailed through the border crossing (the expired passport was NEVER even mentioned), it was as though the vacation had truly started. It was the first road trip in over two years where I wasn’t constantly turning around to hand over snacks, adjust the sound on an iPad, police two little people, pick up cheerios or toy animals off the floor of the car. So relaxing. We drove and chatted and snacked and listened to podcasts and made decisions and firmed up plans. Kind of wonderful. As most parents of young children can attest to, it is super hard to have an uninterrupted conversation with your spouse. Every talk is truncated and disjointed, making it so that you really need to use an economy of words and bullet points to communicate- you never know when a “mommy, where is my panda and my spiderman ?” or a “mama, pipi” will interrupt your flow. Nothing like a seven hour drive to reconnect to your love. I highly recommend it.
Arriving in NYC, we headed straight to TØRST. A beer bar paradise in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. The owners are Danish and you can feel it in the design. It is cool and sparse and the finishing is so nice. It is weirdly a little cold for a place where wood is the main material. Also it was quite dark but I can picture going there for an after work drink and having it feel much cosier. The hubby was in heaven though and that made me so happy to see, that I felt strong love vibes for the bar as well.
The unassuming entrance, love the glasses and the bathroom floor.
After drinks we ditched the car and hopped onto the subway with my brother-in-law and his gf. Hubby had arranged a dinner reservation through a Montreal restaurant connection and so we took a few trains till we got to the West Village and Fatty ‘Cue. Not the most exciting looking place I’ve ever been in, but holy cow is the food delicious. Southeast Asian flavours with smoked stylings. So very good. And more importantly, the kind of food that is weirdly rare on the Montreal dining scene. The pork cheek noodles and the ‘Cue-Rean Fried Chicken were ridiculously yummy. And the cocktails were also super tasty. When I crave food it is either my mother’s cooking or Asian food. I now crave Fatty ‘Cue’s kale caesar salad and the pork Bao we had.
There were a few more stops that night including drinks at Rosemary’s, an italian eatery also in the West Village and then, craziest and weirdest thing ever, we went to the Saturday Night Live after party. I didn’t think we would be up for it- it started at two in the morning and we are usually fast asleep by eleven, max- but we did it! We managed to stay out and up and kept going from one place to another so we never had the chance to get tired. Clearly, in my old age, I have discovered the secret to partying: start early and never stop moving. Also four years of terrible sleep will really condition a person. I have pretty much slept no more than five or six hours a night for years. I can go till 4 am. As long as I’m already out. Paul Rudd and Aaron Paul look exactly the same in person as they do on screen and Tina Fey is beautiful and has a healthy appetite.
Sunday morning we had a FaceTime love fest with our babies and then we headed out into daytime NYC towards Stumptown at the Ace Hotel for delicious coffee. On our walk there, we passed by the Shake Shack we went to on the night hubby proposed and saw the Empire State Building up ahead where he actually popped the question.
Such a perfect end to the whirlwind of a stay in the Big Apple. I love this place. It is so invigorating and inspiring. It holds such a dear place in my family’s heart. It is so fun to go there for a wild date. But next time we go, it’ll be with our babies in tow. We need to get them started on their love affair with the city. And with all the fun and excitement that one night in NYC can offer, there is nothing more fun than two little people squealing with pure joy at having their mommy and daddy back. It’s good to be home.
xa
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