Summer’s Ending

I realize I’ve been basically MIA for most of August, and even for a lot of the summer, but I’m hoping that changes now that things seem to be winding down. I haven’t had nearly as much time to do anything blog related the last few months as I’d like, and I’m really starting to miss it (especially reading all the mouthwatering recipes sitting in my inbox).

As I type this, we’re sitting on a plane headed back to Albuquerque from a much needed vacation in New York. Our five days there went by way too fast, but we had a great trip. We got to see lots of family, do cool touristy things and eat awesome food. We even got to relax a little!

To kick-start my return to blogging, I thought I’d share a few pictures from the trip and a cool story about one awesome dining experience.

We stayed on Long Island with my cousin (thanks for the room, Kim!), but we went into the city twice and got to do lots of cool things. We were even brave enough to drive ourselves, and Billy managed to fit in like a true New Yorker!

On our first day, we took a ferry tour that took us all around Manhattan, the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. It was a great tour, we learned a lot and had awesome views all around. Turns out that the company we toured with actually rescued 90 percent of the people from the Hudson River plane crash back in January…how cool is that?

The World Trade Center/Ground Zero Site

Battery Park

The Brooklyn Bridge

The Statue of Liberty in all Her Glory

We also went to a Yankees game (my first time, and something I’ve wanted to do forever) at the brand new stadium in Brooklyn. It was beyond cool, but unfortunately the Yanks totally sucked the night we were there. Regardless, we had a really great time and got to have a bunch of ballgame snacks, including Carvel ice cream (the best…ever) and Nathan’s hot dogs.

The Brand New, Totally Awesome Yankees Stadium

The View from Our Seats

The weather started getting pretty crappy halfway through our trip, but we made the best of it anyway. We were able to hit up the beach for about an hour before a big storm hit, then once it started raining we cruised around the Hamptons checking out all the huge houses.

On our second trip to the city, we walked all around Times Square (in pouring rain) and Rockefeller Center and did lots of shopping. This time we opted to take the train in, which almost ended up getting us stuck for the night because of a fire at a major station up the island. Luckily we made it back and got some fantastic NY pizza out of it.

Times Sqaure in the Pouring Rain

Times Square, higher up and a little less rain

More Times Square

Radio City Music Hall

A couple of the highlights of our trip (besides seeing the fam, of course) are pretty minimal for a trip to the Big Apple, but they totally geeked me out.

Highlight number 1: On the way to Yankees stadium we hopped off the highway to stop at Tom’s Restaurant to take a couple of pictures. Why, you ask? because we’re total Seinfeld geeks and I couldn’t pass this place by:

Tom's Restaurant (AKA: Monk's)

Highlight number 2: We ate at the “casual side” of Gordon Ramsay’s restaurant at London hotel, Maze. It was one of the most amazing meals I’ve ever had, and just knowing that we were eating Gordon frickin Ramsay’s food was probably the coolest thing ever. We even got to check out the kitchen!

The Kitchen at Maze by Gordon Ramsay

The lighting in the restaurant was pretty horrible, so I wasn’t able to get great pictures of our food. Nonetheless, every bite was delicious and perfectly prepared.

Our weekend went by way too fast, but it was a great vacation all around. We got to see lots of family, do all of the things we had hoped to do and (most importantly) got a few days off of work. Now that we’re back home and things are starting to return to normal again, I’m really hoping I can get back on a regular blogging schedule. I miss you all and hope you haven’t forgotten about me!

I hope your summers and vacations have been as enjoyable as mine, and here’s to more great food-sharing opportunities throughout the fall! Ciao.