March
Daylight savings happened in March and that made me very happy. Something about getting out of work and it still being daylight makes me a little less depressed that I just spent all day at a desk. It also gives me tons of energy to cook and clean. I also started using my recipe binder again this month, it helped me plan out each meal for the week and have a very specific grocery-shopping list so no food would go to waste.
April
We went camping this month at Big Sur state park. I lOVE Big Sur. Its one of my favorite places in California, besides Disneyland of course. This was also the first camping trip that Ruben and I went on by ourselves. We had a great time eating and playing cards. Being fancy drinking wine and eating cheese and crackers.
Daylight savings happened in March and that made me very happy. Something about getting out of work and it still being daylight makes me a little less depressed that I just spent all day at a desk. It also gives me tons of energy to cook and clean. I also started using my recipe binder again this month, it helped me plan out each meal for the week and have a very specific grocery-shopping list so no food would go to waste.
April
We went camping this month at Big Sur state park. I lOVE Big Sur. Its one of my favorite places in California, besides Disneyland of course. This was also the first camping trip that Ruben and I went on by ourselves. We had a great time eating and playing cards. Being fancy drinking wine and eating cheese and crackers.
May
Our anniversary trip this year was to a place we have always talked about going, New York. It was quite the experience. My parents and my youngest brother came with us, since they haven't gone on a vacation for about 26 years this was a big treat for them. We spent our first day there walking across the Brooklyn Bridge and than visiting the 9/11 memorial. Both were quite epic, the bridge was beautiful. Its something you have to see in person to understand how great it is. For lunch we caught the train to New Jersey to have lunch at a Portuguese restaurant. OH MY GOSH, it was some of the best food we had on our whole trip. I wish there were Portuguese restaurants like that where we live. We went over to Teixeira bakery after to grab some pasteis de nata, also delicious.
Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday we visited and toured the watchtower buildings in Patterson, Wallkill, and Brooklyn. Its amazing to see how everything is ran, and how much thought goes into everything they do.
Thursday we woke up early and did a tour of the Met Museum what a gorgeous museum. we spent a good 6 hours there, and by the end of it we were beat. We took a taxi back to the hotel. Despite being exhausted beyond belief my mom and I being the crazy people we are decided we wanted cheesecake so we went to juniors and took it back to our hotel. Their original cheesecake is delicious; I think it tastes better if you order a slice to eat there rather than getting it to go.
On Thursday night Ruben and I had a date night and went to a Mexican restaurant, I don't remember what it was called. We ordered grasshopper tacos. Yes I said grasshopper tacos. It was a bit too crunchy for my taste, so Ruben ate most if it. But the drinks and the rest of our food were really good.
Friday was the day we did central park. Wow what a beautiful park, we didn't get to walk all of it, but we got to see most of what we wanted. For lunch we had Grays Papaya hot dogs. My mom loved it, the hot dogs were all right but I really liked the papaya drink. We walked to the empire state building to stare at it from the street. haha.
I still had a few food places I wanted to try so we did that after the empire state building. I started my food tour at Eately and it is an incredible place. I am not sure if I can describe it to you but I will try my best. You walk in and there are TONS of people everywhere, its loud, and there are different food counters everywhere. There was a coffee counter, dessert counter, ice cream counter, dried meat counter, fresh pasta counter and so on. And than there were different restaurants inside. There was a fish restaurant, vegetarian restaurant a meat cheese cracker and wine bar, a pasta bar. It was insane. We were so exhausted from walking that we just wanted to sit and eat. I split a piece of lasagna with my mom; Andrew my brother ordered a ham and cheese calzone and Ruben got a margarita pizza. My lasagna was good, I could tell the pasta was fresh, Ruben’s pizza was alright, and Andrews’s calzone was the best. Next on the list was Milk Bar; I ordered cereal milk soft serve, a slice of crack pie and a chocolate cornflake cookie. The cereal milk soft serve really tasted like cereal milk (duh) but it wasn't my favorite thing, the crack pie was just alright but I really enjoyed the cornflake cookie. It was chewy but had a delightful crunch from the cornflakes. Our next stop was churro place. We ordered churros with a chocolate dipping sauce. It wasn't anything special. Next we went to a bakery to pickup a croissant it was very flaky and buttery, but at the end of the day it was just a croissant. The next place was a place that one of our friends that live in Brooklyn recommended and I loved it. Think of it as a Baskin Robins but for rice pudding. It was called From Rice to Riches. They had at least 20 different flavors of rice pudding and they were so creamy and tasty. Not to mention the decor was hilarious. My mom ordered the mango and the Oreo flavor. The Oreo was my favorite. Our last stop was Mariebelle Chocolates. I went there because I saw it on an episode of Dulce Delight (I love her). The store itself is beautiful, there’s a chandelier in the middle of the room and all the packaging is adorable. In the back of the store there is an area where you can order hot chocolate. I ordered the aztec hot chocolate american style with a side of whip cream. It came in the cutest little teacup, I was in love. The sipping chocolate was so rich and decadent and the ambience of the place made me feel so fancy. I purchased a little box of the hot chocolate mix to make at home and when they bagged it for me they place two rose petals in my bag - so cute and thoughtful! I ate so much food that night that I went back to the hotel room feeling sick to my stomach. On our last day there we went to stumptown coffee. Since I don't drink coffee I ordered mint tea and a morning muffin. We took my mom to Macy's and she was like a kid in a candy store. Later on we went to the grand central train station and WOW it was beautiful. And for dinner that night we went to Pio Pio a Peruvian restaurant. It was incredibly loud inside but the food was AMAZING and there was so much of it. For all the food we ordered we only paid $70. That night I still had one more place I wanted to go to. So at about 11 PM we went to Serendipity 3 to try their famous frozen hot chocolate. First off the service was terrible, and what made it worst is that there is an $8.50 minimum order per person in order for you to be allowed to order ANYTHING. So instead of just ordering the frozen hot chocolate Ruben was also forced to order something. I think all of that led to me not enjoying my frozen hot chocolate. I didn't think it was that great, it tasted like a chocolate frappuccino.
I thought New York was a beautiful city; everywhere you turn there is something neat to look at. But everyone honks like crazy and it’s too hustle and bustle for my taste. I don't think I would survive living there but I wouldn't mind going back to visit and eat more good food.
Our anniversary trip this year was to a place we have always talked about going, New York. It was quite the experience. My parents and my youngest brother came with us, since they haven't gone on a vacation for about 26 years this was a big treat for them. We spent our first day there walking across the Brooklyn Bridge and than visiting the 9/11 memorial. Both were quite epic, the bridge was beautiful. Its something you have to see in person to understand how great it is. For lunch we caught the train to New Jersey to have lunch at a Portuguese restaurant. OH MY GOSH, it was some of the best food we had on our whole trip. I wish there were Portuguese restaurants like that where we live. We went over to Teixeira bakery after to grab some pasteis de nata, also delicious.
Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday we visited and toured the watchtower buildings in Patterson, Wallkill, and Brooklyn. Its amazing to see how everything is ran, and how much thought goes into everything they do.
Thursday we woke up early and did a tour of the Met Museum what a gorgeous museum. we spent a good 6 hours there, and by the end of it we were beat. We took a taxi back to the hotel. Despite being exhausted beyond belief my mom and I being the crazy people we are decided we wanted cheesecake so we went to juniors and took it back to our hotel. Their original cheesecake is delicious; I think it tastes better if you order a slice to eat there rather than getting it to go.
On Thursday night Ruben and I had a date night and went to a Mexican restaurant, I don't remember what it was called. We ordered grasshopper tacos. Yes I said grasshopper tacos. It was a bit too crunchy for my taste, so Ruben ate most if it. But the drinks and the rest of our food were really good.
Friday was the day we did central park. Wow what a beautiful park, we didn't get to walk all of it, but we got to see most of what we wanted. For lunch we had Grays Papaya hot dogs. My mom loved it, the hot dogs were all right but I really liked the papaya drink. We walked to the empire state building to stare at it from the street. haha.
I still had a few food places I wanted to try so we did that after the empire state building. I started my food tour at Eately and it is an incredible place. I am not sure if I can describe it to you but I will try my best. You walk in and there are TONS of people everywhere, its loud, and there are different food counters everywhere. There was a coffee counter, dessert counter, ice cream counter, dried meat counter, fresh pasta counter and so on. And than there were different restaurants inside. There was a fish restaurant, vegetarian restaurant a meat cheese cracker and wine bar, a pasta bar. It was insane. We were so exhausted from walking that we just wanted to sit and eat. I split a piece of lasagna with my mom; Andrew my brother ordered a ham and cheese calzone and Ruben got a margarita pizza. My lasagna was good, I could tell the pasta was fresh, Ruben’s pizza was alright, and Andrews’s calzone was the best. Next on the list was Milk Bar; I ordered cereal milk soft serve, a slice of crack pie and a chocolate cornflake cookie. The cereal milk soft serve really tasted like cereal milk (duh) but it wasn't my favorite thing, the crack pie was just alright but I really enjoyed the cornflake cookie. It was chewy but had a delightful crunch from the cornflakes. Our next stop was churro place. We ordered churros with a chocolate dipping sauce. It wasn't anything special. Next we went to a bakery to pickup a croissant it was very flaky and buttery, but at the end of the day it was just a croissant. The next place was a place that one of our friends that live in Brooklyn recommended and I loved it. Think of it as a Baskin Robins but for rice pudding. It was called From Rice to Riches. They had at least 20 different flavors of rice pudding and they were so creamy and tasty. Not to mention the decor was hilarious. My mom ordered the mango and the Oreo flavor. The Oreo was my favorite. Our last stop was Mariebelle Chocolates. I went there because I saw it on an episode of Dulce Delight (I love her). The store itself is beautiful, there’s a chandelier in the middle of the room and all the packaging is adorable. In the back of the store there is an area where you can order hot chocolate. I ordered the aztec hot chocolate american style with a side of whip cream. It came in the cutest little teacup, I was in love. The sipping chocolate was so rich and decadent and the ambience of the place made me feel so fancy. I purchased a little box of the hot chocolate mix to make at home and when they bagged it for me they place two rose petals in my bag - so cute and thoughtful! I ate so much food that night that I went back to the hotel room feeling sick to my stomach. On our last day there we went to stumptown coffee. Since I don't drink coffee I ordered mint tea and a morning muffin. We took my mom to Macy's and she was like a kid in a candy store. Later on we went to the grand central train station and WOW it was beautiful. And for dinner that night we went to Pio Pio a Peruvian restaurant. It was incredibly loud inside but the food was AMAZING and there was so much of it. For all the food we ordered we only paid $70. That night I still had one more place I wanted to go to. So at about 11 PM we went to Serendipity 3 to try their famous frozen hot chocolate. First off the service was terrible, and what made it worst is that there is an $8.50 minimum order per person in order for you to be allowed to order ANYTHING. So instead of just ordering the frozen hot chocolate Ruben was also forced to order something. I think all of that led to me not enjoying my frozen hot chocolate. I didn't think it was that great, it tasted like a chocolate frappuccino.
I thought New York was a beautiful city; everywhere you turn there is something neat to look at. But everyone honks like crazy and it’s too hustle and bustle for my taste. I don't think I would survive living there but I wouldn't mind going back to visit and eat more good food.
June
To follow up on our bad eating habits in New York we decided to do the Whole30. I only lasted 2 weeks this time but Ruben did the full month. But since I have already done the Whole30 3 times before I was fine with that.
July
The most exciting thing to happen this month would be me getting a vitamix. Haha :)
Alright now your all caught up.
To follow up on our bad eating habits in New York we decided to do the Whole30. I only lasted 2 weeks this time but Ruben did the full month. But since I have already done the Whole30 3 times before I was fine with that.
July
The most exciting thing to happen this month would be me getting a vitamix. Haha :)
Alright now your all caught up.