New Discoveries

Ok, so I took a little hiatus from my diet...which may end up being a fairly permanent hiatus...and tried a couple of new restaurants that need to be reported. Even though I am on a diet hiatus, I am still attempting to eat somewhat healthy with small portions.  So my first recommendation is Hummus Kitchen.  Jodi, one of my co-residents says, "Hummus Kitchen is my crack."  We decided to make a little stop there on the way to the movie theater the other night (and never actually made it to the theater).  I tried the "Super-Healthy Salad" as it was listed in the menu. It consisted of quinoa, apricot, cranberry, walnuts & yam with fresh lemon juice topped with mint dressing. Yummy, yummy.  It had a nice light lemon, mint flavor.  And because I am obsessed with hummus, Jodi and I split a small order (I had to try the hummus at Hummus Kitchen).  It was nice as hummus should be.  Of course, the restaurant was tiny since nothing in NYC can be large.

Ok, this one is the big one. I went to look at an apartment near Laura's place, and since it was looking like it was about to rain, I called to see what she was up to.  It turns out that her friend Lacey from Texas was visiting, and she invited me up for some hang out time.  I had a great time! I don't know if it's that the three of us are all Texas girls and on the same page, but we got along beautifully.  We spent some time blabbing (of course!) and then headed up to Laura's rooftop garden to have some wine. Her rooftop is impressive.  There were tons of trees and little winding paths that end at different sitting nooks with comfy sun bathing lounges and chairs.  There were also stainless steel full size grills for community use, and she had a nice view of the city and Empire State Building. After our rooftop excursion, we ordered in from Buddha BBeeQ.   I had Peanut Lime Tofu BBeeQ. 

Uh, wow. 

I wasn't sure I would like the lime, but it was subtle.  The sauce was a little creamy, a little spicy with a nice bold peanut flavor and lovely earthy green color.  You could order it with any meat/protein you wanted including beef, chicken, shrimp, tofu, etc.  My rice was nice and sticky and cooked perfectly. The other girls couldn't keep their chopsticks out of my plate! It was definitely the star of the meal, and the prices were very reasonable for New York.  I will certainly be having this one again.  I had a hard time keeping the portion small because it tasted SO good. Yum. The actual restaurant looks cute and trendy so it may be a nice place to eat in as well. 

And after watching the most recent episode, the three of us ended our night having deep conversation about the philosophy and obvious social importance of the show The Bachelorette.

I made a few more new discoveries that did not involve chewing.  Lauren turned me on to Groupon.com.  This website features deep discounts on all things New York (there is groupon for many US cities!).  Everyday there is a new featured deal that is at 50% off or more.  I signed up one night  and was already using it the next day since the deal of the day was 72% off a year membership to Zipcar and $50 credit.  I had already been looking at getting a Zipcar membership anyway but was afraid to spend the money in case I didn't use it as much as I expected. 

Zipcar, by the way, is a car sharing alternative to car rental. Bascially, you get an assigned card.  This card opens up cars all over New York that you can reserve and rent for a few hours or an entire day.  Gas and insurance are included as are 180 miles with every reservation.  I will definitely be needing this when I am moving here in a few weeks and/or when I want to take a day trip. So this deal was great for me! It saved me a ton of money. 

Back to Groupon...since the deal was so discounted, I felt comfortable buying the year membership without fearing that I would waste a lot of money.  Awesome!

Tomorrow is going to be a little bit nerve racking for me.  I have set up an appointment to get my hair cut.  Many of you know that I have been getting my hair cut by my favorite stylist Barry since I was 2 years old.  Even when he was gone for a little while, I still couldn't wait until he came back, and I immediately went back to him once he became available again.  This included driving from Galveston to Austin just to get my hair done sometimes.  Soooo...you can imagine how difficult this is going to be.  I will let you guys know how it goes.  Wish me luck!