Summer Salad

Since moving to Lynchburg, there have been two restaurants that I have come to really love. The reason for this is because they remind me of Florida and places that I would have eaten at there. One of those places is called Neighbors Place. They have all different kinds of menu options from burgers to sandwiches to salad to pastas. They have a variety of different prices and offer a full bar, which makes it popular for people looking to go out, as there are no "bars" in Lynchburg. This summer I went there with my friend Sara & her husband Bryan and got one of the most delicious salads I've ever ordered out. It was full of fresh spinach, egg, bacon, tomatoes, blue cheese crumbles, mushrooms, and my balsamic dressing on the side. I even got some grilled salmon on top. If you are looking for a good meal in Lynchburg, head to Neighbor's Place and enjoy yourself!!

NYC the Final Frontier

So, as I mentioned in the last post, we were about to eat some dinner after a loooong day of walking around the city and sightseeing. We ate at a place recommended by a friend of Sara's called Five Napkin Burger. They have several of these around the city and it was delicious! It's a gourmet burger place that is always busy, so we waited at least 40 minutes to get a table. It is a little but more pricey than your everyday Chili's or Applebee's though.

I'm sure that the burgers weren't on the healthy side either, but "when in Rome." {haha}
After dinner we headed back to the hotel and got some much needed sleep. Sunday morning we decided to take it a little but slower and slept in for a little while. We headed out for a late breakfast at my favorite NY eatery. Now, eatery might be too strong of a word. Ever since I can remember, my uncle Jeff has worked for Amtrak and gone to many different cities as his route often changes. One of those cities is the ole NYC and he shared a great place to get bagel sandwiches with me a few years ago on my first ever trip to the Big Apple. It's called Al & Am's Grocery. It literally is a small store with a deli counter that is about 8 feet wide and 30 feet deep. It's just a couple blocks up from Penn Station and we were able to head there from the train and grab our yumminess.

That tea is also delicious. I first had it when I spent the summer in China the year after I graduated college. They also have this kind of tea that is warm and, when you open it, the air reacts with molecules in the drink to make it cold. We ate our little meal at one of the places in NY that is dear to my heart: 30 Rock:)

Almost all of my favorite shows are on NBC and a couple of them are even filmed in Rockefeller plaza. We went to the NBC store and got our Jimmy Fallon shirts and my Parks & Rec sweatshirt. They had some other great t-shirts too:

We eventually made it over to our Broadway show as I described a couple of blogs ago. Since we didn't eat lunch, we were starving when we were done! So we headed to a pizza place just a couple blocks away called Carve at a recommendation from another work friend. They had GIANT slices of pizza with all different kinds of toppings, a build your own salad bar, and a glass case with delicious cupcakes in it too!! We each got a salad:

And a slice of pizza:

And a cupcake for later that night when we got to the hotel:

And any trip wouldn't be complete with Sara without stopping at a Godiva store:

Sara has a special kind of membership and gets free stuff almost every month. So, of course, we each had a truffle and a chocolate covered strawberry. :)

So, next time you are in NY, take the time to hit up some of these great places...or let me know about somewhere I should make a point to go next time!!





NYC Part Deux

As I mentioned, NYC has some great shopping and food. Sara and I took off Friday from work and took the train up to the city. We got off in Jersey and checked into our hotel. Side note: If you are ever thinking about going to the city, stay in Jersey! It's way cheaper and you can take the metro into the city for only $10 roundtrip!!

After dropping off our bags and forming a plan of action, we headed out to get some dinner and visit Macy's. I have been to Macy's before, but the one in NYC has 7 floors of amazing deals!! I got some great puma yoga pants and sweat capris for less then $15 each...If you know me at all, you know I love PUMA!!

That pic just above is a whole floor dedicated to women's shoes....I think that's what heaven will look like;)
We then headed out to find a yummy place to eat some dinner and ate at the Houndstooth Pub because we were exhausted and it was closed...and it smelled really good as we walked by...We didn't get a pic of the food there, but here is the city at night:

This pic was taken just outside Madison Square Garden and Penn Station just before we grabbed our train back to the hotel for the night. Saturday morning we got up bright and early to head back to the city to try out this delicious place we had heard about called Max Brenner. We wanted brunch and that's what we got. First, let me say that Max Brenner is a chocolate store. They have everything there! The smell when you walk in is intoxicating and you just want to lick everything, literally. I ordered a mimosa and a Mexican omelet. The omelet came with a side of potatoes and (I don't know why anyone hasn't thought of this before) a small dish with melted chocolate and a small dish with melted white chocolate!! It was soooo yummy:)

If you like chocolate this place is super cute, so make sure you visit!! From brunch we wandered around looking at several other stores including Tiffany's. I have looked here before, but I have never made a purchase here. Well, I decided it was too good to pass up and got myself a super cute necklace.

I also looked at the rings while I was there. {wink} The ring that I most liked was a solitaire, 1 carat, emerald cut, gorgeous ring!! I tried it on, and then when I was told the price I almost choked. I didn't snap a picture because they probably would've charged me for it (lol) but it was $10,500!!! As nice as I thought it was, I think that is a huge waste of money to spend on a ring when there are way more important things in the world to buy or give your money to charity or something. Anyway, after Tiffany's we headed to FAO Schwarz:

Then took a carriage ride through Central Park:

And had a great dinner right across the street from Justin Timberlake's restaurant:

Our actual meal was soo yummy too!! More to come in the next post on that meal and the rest of the weekend:)