Soul (food) searching in Harlem

I hope you all had as lovely an Independence day weekend as I did... 

After two weeks of spending time with family and friends, I am finally back in the city, and it feels wonderful (maybe not the heat, but certainly being back). 

This past week I had the privilege of seeing the city with fresh eyes thanks to the visit of a friend of mine. Since I never really visit the touristy parts of town while I'm here, it's nice to have an excuse ;). 

Thus, Saturday night found me in the heart of Harlem, right off of Malcolm X Boulevard. We went with one place in mind, Sylvia's Restaurant, which was highly recommended by people who should know.

125th street station tile art

So before I describe the experience, just imagine this playing in the background... because I'm cheesy like that and it's totally what was playing in my head as soon as I got above ground. 

Are you listening to it? Ok.... 

Urban Adventures: Yorkville

Hey there lovely readers :)

I hope you are all staying as warm and dry as I currently am. This morning was a completely different story. Just a testament to how much I love you all... but seriously, it was so FREAKIN COLD today and y'all should be grateful.... just saying... ;)

Due to popular demand, my adventuring today took me to Yorkville. As I hate to go exploring (or do anything, for that matter) by myself, I took my friend Mary, a.k.a. The 45 Queen along with me all the way up to 86th street. BTdubbs, if any of you ever feel like joining me as I explore, hit me up! I'm always looking for new adventuring buddies... :)

Sidenote: I'm currently listening to Ed Sheeran's new album and having a hard time waiting until Christmas to get it (because I'm one broke college student at the moment...). I've decided that Ed Sheeran is one of my newest favorite artists. He's basically a singing Ron Weasley... so what's not to love?Specifically, this song is a nice soundtrack to my post about today's adventure. You're welcome.

Anyways... We basically had no plan for today. I had not done any research about the area and neither had Mary. At first I was hating myself for not having a game plan in this miserable cold, but as you will soon read, we stumbled across things that we could never have planned. I love my city for that very reason. Here's the basic trajectory of our walk. We wandered just a little bit...

Our first major discovery after finding each other at the 86th street station (on the 4/5) was The Church of the Holy Trinity (#1). As I almost went to school for architecture, I'm a sucker for gems like this. These are the times that I envy the majority of NYC churchgoers (basically everyone that isn't Presbyterian like me) for the incredibly ornate buildings in which they are able to worship. Just look at this...

GAH. SO beautiful... 

From here we walked down 88th street, towards the water. Walking through this neighborhood, we came to the conclusion that it is best fit for established families (i.e. with no small children), and retirees. There were quite a few sports parks, but other than that, the only things we found in abundance were medical clinics and hair salons. We did, however, find a plethora of stunning views of the East River: 

And then what do you think we stumble upon next, but the mayor of New York's mansion. It is quite a sight, let me tell you... Mary and I thought at first that it was a cool random historical house right in the middle of the park (#2). But upon further inspection, we found a plaque clearly identifying the resident of the house. I walked around several times before I realized the level of security was not going to allow for a decent picture of the mansion. Basically, it's a gorgeous yellow colonial, and from what we could see from the one ground-level window we could access, deBlasio has an extensive library and a grand piano.

The park itself, in my opinion, prettier than central. It has a river-side walkway right over FDR drive, and it's a lot less crowded. The wind was worse near the water, hence, why I look like a babushka in the second picture (I should have brought a hat and gloves, but seeing as the only hat I own makes me look the the Swedish chef, I preferred to deal with the cold...).

At this point we were both pretty hungry. I had run out the door without so much as coffee that morning, and feeling a headache coming on as a result, I had to act quickly. This is where a quick Yelp search led us to the best bagel shop I have ever been to in my entire life in the city. Yes, it was that good. H&H Midtown Bagels East (#3). I had raisin-walnut cream cheese on an egg bagel, and Mary had vegi spread on an everything, but really, there are no bad choices here... And the line is out the door well into the afternoon for a good reason. (Budget: $10, est. expense: $6.50)

Mary, being a graffiti blogger wanted to check out a couple murals roughly 20 blocks uptown, and as I never pass up the opportunity to see one of the few forms of art I appreciate, grabbed a cab with her (ain't no way we were walking 20 more blocks at that point), and boy were we in for a treat (#4). Here are just a few of the many murals we found... also, isn't she pretty? :) 

Oh also, we found a really cool bridge/tunnel on our way back to the subway station, and inside, found some really neat/potentially dangerous icicles. There you go: solid proof of how cold it was.

And now I am safely back home drinking hot chocolate and eating more than a healthy amount of cheese on flat bread (when you haven't gone grocery shopping in 3 weeks, crazy food combos start to not be so crazy...). I am already looking forward to my next neighborhood review, and I have quite a few coffeehouse reviews that should have been posted a long time ago. Next up: Hell's Kitchen! 

~Keep it classy~

-H

P.S. for those of you with a burning desire to know what we both look like, here is a par-frozen pic:

Urban Adventures: Union Square

Good evening lovelies,

I've been half awake the entire day and studying for most of it at school has not helped the fried state of my mind so I apologize if parts of this post make no sense.

Friday night my adventuring took me to Union Square, another intersection of Broadway not so well-known because it has nothing touristy to see.... and that's why New Yorkers love it so very much. It literally has nothing substantial to offer--at least, that is what I thought until I did a little more exploring...

Union is an interesting and quirky extension of Midtown. It pretty much offers more of the same shops, but less of the crowd, and a rather pleasant park. It is an excellent place to people-watch as it is the common stomping ground of chess-players, skate-boarders, and the occasional African-drum circle. There is also a really cool farmers market that sets up here every other day. Also, there is an adorable, must-see holiday market that appears around this time of year (if you go, you have to try Belgian waffles from Waffles and Dinges).

As I said, Union is quirky, and at times, downright bizarre. Like, does anyone know what the clock means? My highly-educated theory is that it is counting down to the end of the world... don't believe any lies that anyone else has to tell you about the clock... they're all crooks.

Right down the road from the clock is a hole-in-the-wall Pakistani restaurant. Ashley, my adventuring buddy for the day, and I would have passed it had we not been ridiculously hungry.

I was quite pleasantly surprised with Desi Shack (#1 on the map). Aside from having good quality Pakistani cuisine and having relatively low prices, it has a fun and whimsical atmosphere for only having enough room to seat 10 people comfortably (how do I keep finding these places?). Compared to its closest chain-restaurant counterpart, Desi makes your rice bowl meat-heavy (like a 3-1 meat/rice ratio), whereas Chipotle has more rice than anything else. And, did I mention, it's the same price, if not cheaper? Ashley and I split a bowl with brown rice, ground beef, chicken, chickpeas, and other vegetables with cucumber chutney and my favorite, a Mango lassi (basically a yogurt smoothie. Ashley hates pretty much any dairy product so I got it all to myself :D ). 

There's a good picture of our meal before we inhaled it... I drank more lassi than anything else so I got filled up pretty quickly, but this meal totaled roughly $14, and fed both of us. What really made the experience, however, was the explanation and mini culture lesson that they have on their chalkboard: 

My reccomendation: If you are anywhere near Union, choose this place over Chipotle. It's better, cheaper, and far less basic... ;) 

Finishing dinner, we walked out and in the direction of the Strand bookstore (#2). And this is where my adventuring buddy left me for fear that I would pull her in and forbid her to leave. She knows me too well. Yes, I admit that I have been here countless times before, but I can never resist poking through the dollar or the travel section when I'm in the area. Barnes and Noble seriously has nothing on this place... aside from their miles upon miles of books, they have an entire floor dedicated to first editions, as well as tons of reader/geek paraphernalia. They totally pull off the Beauty-and-the-Beast-esque library look too... just look at this! 

For the most part, everything here is cheaper than at Barnes and Noble *gasp* (yes, it's true... everything in NYC really is better...). I mean, nowhere else could I buy 3 books and a calendar for only $10. This place is truly a New York City gem, and if you do not already live here, I highly recommend scrapping that lame touristy thing you were going to do and coming here instead. We also visited a coffee shop during our adventure but I will have to save that for another post... ;)

Au revoir! 

-H

Oh! but before you go... here's what I bought at the Strand :D 
(bottom to top) The title of the first obviously captured my attention... the second is about living in Australia during the 1960's, the third is an adorable calendar that is currently hanging above my desk, and the last was simply intriguing... all for $10! I still can't get over it...