Foodies adventure in NYC

I am still unpacking my last boxes, but the house is coming nicely together. But I have to finish writing about my summer trip in the USA and the Netherlands, since I already have booked 2 more safari's for this weekend and the next...

So we were 4 days in NYC, and every time I am there, I am exploring the best food places in town!! The FOOD is so good in the City, no place can beat that! Well... maybe some cities in Asia, but definitely not in the West. NYC = the BEST!

First 2 days we had a hotel across from the Empire State building, we could see it clearly from our room. So we explored Times Square. There was a huge launch going on from the new toy called Fijit. TV and Radio stations where there and JJ and Jezz got interviewed, since we just bought that toy that will be the next big thing for Xmas this year. So we will see if they use that clip on TV, then the girls are famous!! :-)



A huge hype on Times Square, and we just happened to be there!!





The next 2 days we spent with our long time friend Espen, who lives in Tribeca. He moved from Soho to Tribeca, so we still explored both parts of the City. We love this neighborhood!!

Of course we met some more good friends, while enjoying the variety of food in the City. Just in these 4 days we went to these places below, all meals we spent eating outside and we like to have as much variety as possible. Any of these places I can recommend, so check it out when you are in the City!!

First night, something very special: Momofuku Ssam Bar, corner of 13th ST / 2nd Ave. A Taiwanese-Japanese funky bar, with a menu so different and always changing, just plain awesome!! We had the most interesting food combinations, the crowd is hip. This is a happening place, go for it the next time you are in town. Actually Momofuku has a few restaurants in town, so check it out!!

After that we had a drink at one of the oldest watering holes in the City, at McSorley's Old Ale House, established in 1854. The oldest operating saloon in town. They still have hay on the floor so the floor doesn't get dirty. A bit smelly like an old pub smells and the crowd being really interesting, but not really our taste we headed out to a place I would feel more at ease... and that is the Macao Trading Company. Wow, this is nice!! Such an eclectic mix of food and drinks, this is the kind of place I feel at home, a nice combi of East meets West, the same fusion we are in our family. East meets West. Go here if you are in NYC, you will love it!! We only had drinks there after dinner, but next time I like to eat here.

The next night we went out to Barolo's and meeting our dear and good friends Patsy & Alex, which was so great to have some time with them again, after we had seen them in Ridgefield, CT. Now only us adults, spending some quality time with great food and drinks. Barolo's had restaurant week so there was a set menu, and we were sitting outside in the garden ~ Bliss!! Italian food & wines in a setting you don't believe you are in the middle of this huge city. So tranquil and peaceful = sweet life!! For drinks after we went next door to Thom Bar, a great bar with an extensive list of cocktails, just what the doctor ordered!! :-) Sweet!!



Meeting our dear friend Luciano, who lived till now in South Africa and we had spent many parties together in Joburg, now moved to Westport, CT and working in the City. A good moment for us to see him again and have a drink at the rooftop bar at Jimmy's at the James Hotel. Such a fun place to go and have after work drinks, cool, hip and happening!!





It was so hot in the City, temperatures reached easily a 100F/40C and we were walking the Highline (which you need to do one day too), and went to see Ground Zero. This place is growing, huge construction going on and a lot of progress is happening. Interesting to see in this building stage. But Jasmine got overwhelmed by all the walking in this heat, so she started crying and we went home with a taxi... but not before we had some lunch at the Viet Cafe in Tribeca.
For lunch in a Vietnamese restaurant my favorite is Pho. The noodle soup... YUM YUM YUM!!





And the BEST for the last. We went out for tapas at the Boqueria Tapas bar. OMG!! If you like Spanish food ~ tapas, go here!! This food is modern version of the old and good tapas, but so good!! So fresh!! So delish!! I still think about this evening, the food, the ambiance, the sangria, OUT.OF.THIS.WORLD!! Of all the places we saw this trip, this was my FAVORITE!!

I just LOVE Manhattan!! It is the best place in the world, to me! Our dream is to have an apartment in the City and a beach house in Thailand, when we retire. So we have both, the city and cultural life for half of the year and the other half the relaxing time on our beach... sounds good or what?

What is your ideal location for retirement?? Do you have a dream destination?? Share it with me!
Love, M xx

A week away... a culinairy overdose

I am back from my 6 days to the US. Oh my, what a trip!!
First that ugly flight from Johannesburg-Dakar-New York City. A flight of 25 hours without leaving the plane, only to fuel up and clean up the plane for the next stretch. At least I had good seats, but still... painfully long!

I arrived at JFK early morning, rented my car, had some troubles because my voucher was only valid for SA driver's licence... I had a US one! Called my travel agency and she arranged another deal. So finally on the road to Connecticut to my friend Marion and her family. So good to see them again.

We chatted for hours, did some shopping together, we are both infamous for our shopping... ask our husbands :-) I went overload on Zara's this time. Had to get an extra bag to put all the clothes in I bought for the girls, but they will look hip and trendy in SA. Nobody has Zara!!
Briefly I met my other great friend from my life in Ridgefield; Suzy. It was fun to catch up with her, although only half an hour, but great anyway. I will see her more this summer when I am back in CT for the summer vacation.

Then I was off to do my biometrics again, since the last one was done 15 months ago, and they needed an update. This was the whole purpose of my trip, to do the finger printing for my citizenship. It took me 1 hour and I was out of there, 6 days on the road, just for 1 hour of fingerprinting.... crazy huh?

After that 2 days planned with my friends Espen and Evelyn who live on Spring street in Soho. The heart of everything, food, wine and shopping. So I didn't need to walk too much, although any walking in the City is too much for me, since I don't do sneakers and was wearing my high heels boots.... yeah I sound crazy and I am honestly thinking for my next trip I NEED sneakers!! Or some other funky comfortable flat shoes FOR SURE!!

Well, these 2 days were a culinary overdose. Espen doesn't do much entertaining at home, so we went out for breakfast, lunch, dinner and drinks in between out. So let me guide you through my festive eating and drinking fun...

I arrived at Thursday afternoon, had lunch with Evelyn at Nyonya in Grand Street in Little Italy/China town.

The BEST Malaysian food you can ask for in the City. There aren't much Malaysian restaurants, and this is a good one!! We had steamed whole fish with their Nyonya specialty sauce and fried watercress in oyster sauce. YUMMY!! A good start to my weekend in the City!!

After that some shopping and then the 2 of us met Espen at a wine bar in Nolita, the Monday Room. Just to sample some wines and get an appetite going. Very chic and posh.... and NO South African wines on the menu.... wow, what a disappointment. LOL

After this little wine tasting we went to 24 Prince, and where the chef will be the chef at the TV show Top Chef, so the restaurant is pretty full these days. Their food is comfort food in chic surroundings, like Macaroni & Cheese, simple but fresh and yummy pasta dishes, hearty soups, nice nothing pretentious and real fresh ingredients, just what I needed! Not too fancy, since I was starting to feel the jet lag creeping up on me and wasn't in the mood for fancy smancy dinners.

Friday, since Espen and Evelyn had the day off we could do whatever we wanted to do. A whole day dedicated to food, wine, tea, people watching while sipping a cup of Joe. Nice, nice, nice!!

Starting the day with Dim Sum at Jing Fong restaurant in China town. A huge restaurant filled to the brim with Chinese people and some others. I wanted to go for Dim Sum for so long, so this was a real treat!! Some jasmine flower tea, and all the goodies you can imagine. We had it all from steamed pork buns to shrimp dumplings to custard tarts and of course a soup; broth with spring onions and dumplings. Delicious!!


To get all this food digested we did some last shopping I had on my list, some missing items at Zara's, we bought some goodies and looked for inspiration at Anthropologie. If you don't know this shop, check it out it has the funkiest fashion and home ware! Evelyn wanted to show me some furniture she had ordered at Room & Board and all this is in Soho, so after we took back a cab from Zara's we were in our local neighborhood again and just browsed through the streets of Soho. It was the first real spring day and it was 65F, just unbelievable gorgeous!! So nice to be in the City with this weather!!
Time for some tea, so we went to a tea house in the Village, they only serve teas. We first smelled all the different kinds before making up our mind, nice and relaxing have a cuppa tea. But we started to get hungry so we headed out to this French bistro called Felix, Espen was talking about all morning. Supposedly the hip crowd comes there to watch people, while sitting and having Sunday brunch there. We wanted a place where we could sit outside, or at least where it felt like sitting outside and Felix is the perfect place for that.

Located on West Broadway between Canal and Grand in Soho, the perfect location for Soho shoppers to prepare for—or recover from—a long day in lower Manhattan’s premiere open-air mall. Just like us! We were almost ready when this couple next to us ordered a pitcher of Mojito's... that sparked my thirst, and our next goal was to get some Mojito's!! Evelyn was off to do some more shopping, while Espen and me headed out to this local joint where they served us some delish mojito's... I was a happy camper!! But guess what after a few mojito's you get hungry again and now we went off to Tailor at Broome Street. Tailor is certainly an ambitious restaurant, and an interesting one. It has the courage to showcase the kind of experimental cooking — eccentric, provocative flavor combinations; unusual textures like foams and powders that sounds like molecular-gastronomy. Funky, weird and never heard of dishes are served and it really was a very special evening out.

With dishes like mole churros with caramelized cream, a symphony of sweet and savory and deep-fried goodness, along with several Japanese-influenced fish dishes, including escabeche of Spanish mackerel with lychee tapenade and daikon, and a fluke with “pine needle ponzu” and pineapple or a veal torchon with Parmesan crumble and marrow “beads”. If this tickles your taste buds, go and book your table at Tailor's you won't get disappointed! Check out the menu here.

So if you look back at this day, the only thing it was about was good food, great wines, fresh drinks and some delicious teas and on top of that some shopping here and there, while the sun was shining, not bad for a girl from the burbs of South Africa!!

And one more thing to go to, is after a good night sleep we went out for an Israeli breakfast on McDougal called 12 Chairs before heading off to the airport to do this dreading flight of 25 hours back to Joburg!!

But what a week I had! Thanks to my friends Marion, Suzy, Espen and Evelyn... I will not forget this week soon! You entertained and fed me more than I could wish for... now I am planning to start my diet 21 lbs in 21 days, but first my dad comes and visits me for the next 3 weeks.... my life is full!!

How was your week??

Love, Mireille

A week away... a culinairy overdose

I am back from my 6 days to the US. Oh my, what a trip!!
First that ugly flight from Johannesburg-Dakar-New York City. A flight of 25 hours without leaving the plane, only to fuel up and clean up the plane for the next stretch. At least I had good seats, but still... painfully long!

I arrived at JFK early morning, rented my car, had some troubles because my voucher was only valid for SA driver's licence... I had a US one! Called my travel agency and she arranged another deal. So finally on the road to Connecticut to my friend Marion and her family. So good to see them again.

We chatted for hours, did some shopping together, we are both infamous for our shopping... ask our husbands :-) I went overload on Zara's this time. Had to get an extra bag to put all the clothes in I bought for the girls, but they will look hip and trendy in SA. Nobody has Zara!!
Briefly I met my other great friend from my life in Ridgefield; Suzy. It was fun to catch up with her, although only half an hour, but great anyway. I will see her more this summer when I am back in CT for the summer vacation.

Then I was off to do my biometrics again, since the last one was done 15 months ago, and they needed an update. This was the whole purpose of my trip, to do the finger printing for my citizenship. It took me 1 hour and I was out of there, 6 days on the road, just for 1 hour of fingerprinting.... crazy huh?

After that 2 days planned with my friends Espen and Evelyn who live on Spring street in Soho. The heart of everything, food, wine and shopping. So I didn't need to walk too much, although any walking in the City is too much for me, since I don't do sneakers and was wearing my high heels boots.... yeah I sound crazy and I am honestly thinking for my next trip I NEED sneakers!! Or some other funky comfortable flat shoes FOR SURE!!

Well, these 2 days were a culinary overdose. Espen doesn't do much entertaining at home, so we went out for breakfast, lunch, dinner and drinks in between out. So let me guide you through my festive eating and drinking fun...

I arrived at Thursday afternoon, had lunch with Evelyn at Nyonya in Grand Street in Little Italy/China town.

The BEST Malaysian food you can ask for in the City. There aren't much Malaysian restaurants, and this is a good one!! We had steamed whole fish with their Nyonya specialty sauce and fried watercress in oyster sauce. YUMMY!! A good start to my weekend in the City!!

After that some shopping and then the 2 of us met Espen at a wine bar. Just to sample some wines and get an appetite going. Very chic and posh.... and NO South African wines on the menu.... wow, what a disappointment. LOL
After this little wine tasting we went to xxxxxxx the chef will be the chef at the TV show Top Chef, so the restaurant is pretty full these days. Their food is comfort food, like Macaroni & Cheese, simple but fresh and yummy pasta dishes, hearty soups, nice nothing pretentious and real fresh ingredients, just what I needed! Not too fancy, since I was starting to feel the jet lag creeping up on me and wasn't in the mood for fancy smancy dinners.

Friday, since Espen and Evelyn had the day off we could do whatever we wanted to do. A whole day dedicated to food, wine, tea, people watching while sipping a cup of Joe. Nice, nice, nice!!

Starting the day with Dim Sum at Jing Fong restaurant in China town. A huge restaurant filled to the brim with Chinese people and some others. I wanted to go for Dim Sum for so long, so this was a real treat!! Some jasmine flower tea, and all the goodies you can imagine. We had it all from steamed pork buns to shrimp dumplings to custard tarts and of course a soup; broth with spring onions and dumplings. Delicious!!


To get all this food digested we did some last shopping I had on my list, some missing items at Zara's, we bought some goodies and looked for inspiration at Anthropologie. If you don't know this shop, check it out it has the funkiest fashion and home ware! Evelyn wanted to show me some furniture she had ordered at Room & Board and all this is in Soho, so after we took back a cab from Zara's we were in our local neighborhood again and just browsed through the streets of Soho. It was the first real spring day and it was 65F, just unbelievable gorgeous!! So nice to be in the City with this weather!!
Time for some tea, so we went to a tea house in the Village, they only serve teas. We first smelled all the different kinds before making up our mind, nice and relaxing have a cuppa tea. But we started to get hungry so we headed out to this French bistro called Felix, Espen was talking about all morning. Supposedly the hip crowd comes there to watch people, while sitting and having Sunday brunch there. We wanted a place where we could sit outside, or at least where it felt like sitting outside and Felix is the perfect place for that.

Located on West Broadway between Canal and Grand in Soho, the perfect location for Soho shoppers to prepare for—or recover from—a long day in lower Manhattan’s premiere open-air mall. Just like us! We were almost ready when this couple next to us ordered a pitcher of Mojito's... that sparked my thirst, and our next goal was to get some Mojito's!! Evelyn was off to do some more shopping, while Espen and me headed out to this local joint where they served us some delish mojito's... I was a happy camper!! But guess what after a few mojito's you get hungry again and now we went off to Tailor at Broome Street. Tailor is certainly an ambitious restaurant, and an interesting one. It has the courage to showcase the kind of experimental cooking — eccentric, provocative flavor combinations; unusual textures like foams and powders that sounds like molecular-gastronomy. Funky, weird and never heard of dishes are served and it really was a very special evening out.

With dishes like mole churros with caramelized cream, a symphony of sweet and savory and deep-fried goodness, along with several Japanese-influenced fish dishes, including escabeche of Spanish mackerel with lychee tapenade and daikon, and a fluke with “pine needle ponzu” and pineapple or a veal torchon with Parmesan crumble and marrow “beads”. If this tickles your taste buds, go and book your table at Tailor's you won't get disappointed! Check out the menu here.

So if you look back at this day, the only thing it was about was good food, great wines, fresh drinks and some delicious teas and on top of that some shopping here and there, while the sun was shining, not bad for a girl from the burbs of South Africa!!

And one more thing to go to, is after a good night sleep I went out for an Israeli breakfast before heading off to the airport to do this dreading flight of 25 hours back to Joburg!!

But what a week I had! Thanks to my friends Marion, Suzy, Espen and Evelyn... I will not forget this week soon! You entertained and fed me more than I could wish for... now I am planning to start my diet 21 lbs in 21 days, but first my dad comes and visits me for the next 3 weeks.... my life is full!!

How was your week??

Love, Mireille