This past week I made an impulsive trip to New York City with my boyfriend. We were talking one night and I (jokingly) said that we should go to NYC. He agreed so off we went. I was so so excited. I haven't been to the city since January and a visit was long overdue. We planned to go for the day meaning that we'd be spending a total of 10 hours in the car, 2 hours on the train, and 8 hours in the city. Worth it.
We woke up at 3:30 a.m. and made the drive across Pennsylvania. Call me crazy, but I somewhat enjoy that drive. It reminds me of my yoga training days and the excitement of the day ahead makes it that much better.
By the time we got into the city I was starving. I snacked on bliss balls during the drive. But it just wasn't enough. I navigated us straight from Penn Station to Juice Press for late morning smoothies. Darrin got the Rainforest Smoothie and I got the D-tox. Honestly I only got the D-tox because it had the most calories and was seriously starving and lacking energy at that point. I've had almost every smoothie they offer though and you can't really go wrong. But I enjoyed the D-tox! It was just what I needed to start our adventure.
We spent the rest of the morning doing random things throughout the city before heading to Red Bamboo for lunch. I've been to Red Bamboo a few times and it's not my favorite mainly because eating fake meats really isn't my thing. I still enjoy it though and knew that it was the perfect place to take a meat eater. I got the bourbon chicken and Darrin got the hot and spicy chicken. I am always so baffled by the fact that it's not actual chicken/meat. The texture and everything is a perfect representation of what I remember the real stuff being like. Both dishes were good. Darrin definitely enjoyed it a lot making it meat eater approved! I always get so excited when non vegans enjoy vegan meals and restaurants so this was a happy moment for me.
We spent the afternoon doing random things throughout Midtown and then hung out in Union Square for a while. I bought a grasshopper cookie sandwich and snickerdoodle muffin from Peacefood earlier in the day that I wanted to eat so bad. But I didn't do it because we were going to dinner shortly after being in the park!
I can now confirm though that the muffin was awesome and the grasshopper cookie sandwich will be awesome as well. I'm speaking from plenty of past experience.
Pure Food and Wine was dinner obviously! If you know me or have been following me then you know how Pure Food obsessed that I am. I can't go to NYC and not go there. It's my first time back since they reopened and I was so excited. We both got the tamales for dinner. They're one of my favorite things on the menu; sweet, spicy, and decadent. I can never get enough!
We finished off the evening with the Mint Sundae. I am always so blown away by desserts at Pure Food. In fact, it's all that I talk about when before, during, and after consuming them. It's two days later and I'm still talking about it. The flavors of the ice cream and the mint cookies are out of this world and are something that I wish that everyone could try just once.
I stopped by One Lucky Duck afterwards and got a caesar salad, taco salad, and snickers cupcake to take home with me! I can also confirm that these are amazing as well. I would eat salads for every single meal if I could have One Lucky Duck salads each day.
That's it for the day! I left the city full of vegan foods and happy memories. It's not all about the food either. Each time that I visit I am grateful for the opportunity and cherish the memories that I get to create with the special people in my life.