A Wonderful Thanksgiving Break in NYC

It was an AMAZING Thanksgiving break spent in NYC with my family. I miss them so much already, but I know I will be back home spending Christmas with them in only 3 weeks. Time has really flown by this semester. I don’t know how I’m feeling yet about leaving New York and starting my new adventure in Scotland, but I do know that it will be a great experience.

The last update I gave was on Tuesday night and a lot happened after that over break.

Wednesday

I had a meeting with my drama group for our final drama performance. It went very well and I’m excited to get it over with on December 9^th. Haha. After my rehearsal, I met up with my mom, dad, sister, brother-in-law, and uncle for dinner. My dad and sister found a great restaurant called Rouge Tomate. (I would definitely recommend it to everyone living in or visiting New York.) It is located at 10 East 60^th Street. We had a wonderful dinner, played a little trick on my uncle, and just had a great time together. After dinner we walked back to the condo my family was staying in and we just relaxed the rest of the night. (I, of course, watched an episode of Lost before going to bed.)

My soup at Rouge Tomate. Beautifully presented...and delicious!

Bec, Bill, and Mike at Rouge Tomate.

Thursday

Happy Thanksgiving!! When I woke up my dad, mom, and uncle had already left to watch the Thanksgiving Day Parade. I was happy to sleep in and just watch it on TV (even though it was only a few blocks away from us). When everyone got back to the condo we made a wonderful bagel with lox and cream cheese breakfast and figured out what we were going to do the rest of the day. We ended up seeing “The Blind Side” with Sandra Bullock. It was a feel-good movie and we all enjoyed it. After the movie, I headed back down to the East Village so I could get a new set of clothes at my apartment and change for Thanksgiving dinner. From my apartment, I took the subway directly to 96^th Street for our Carmine’s Thanksgiving Dinner. They had a special that included an 18-20 pound turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes, vegetables, and all of that other good stuff you usually eat on Thanksgiving. After dinner, we ordered Carmine’s famous Titanic dessert for Uncle Pete’s birthday. I still can’t believe how much we ate that night. Everyone was feeling pretty disgusting after that dinner. Once we got back to the condo, we all just put on our pajamas and rested our stomachs.

BEFORE (notice the huge turkey and full plates of food)

AFTER...we ate a lot!

The Titanic birthday dessert. BEFORE.

And, AFTER.

Friday

Friday was Uncle Pete’s birthday. It was also one of our most filled days of the week. We started off the day walking to Rockefeller Center and watched the ice skaters and crowds of people shopping on Black Friday. I can’t handle huge crowds like that. It was ridiculous trying to walk on the sidewalk of Fifth Avenue. At Rockefeller Center, we took some family photos and enjoyed just being together. My parents and I tried to get into MOMA but the line was down the block. After Rockefeller Center, we made our way to Grand Central for lunch at the Oyster Bar. I had some New England clam chowder and a platter of oysters. SO good! After lunch, everyone took the subway to the East Village and I got to show my sister and brother-in-law my apartment. From St. Mark’s we walked down Broadway to SoHo and picked up some shoes that my mom had on hold at the Camper store. (We also went to the Sabon store where you can wash your hands. I even ended up buying some of their Vanilla Coconut exfoliating scrub.) After a while of walking around SoHo, making a stop at Kee’s Chocolates, and getting drinks at the SoHo Grande Hotel, we ate a wonderful dinner at Aurora. After dinner, Bec found a little bakery where we ate dessert (and laughed our asses off). It seems like we really lucked out with great restaurants and food this past week in NY. We ended the night, again, relaxing in the condo watching TV. I also had to say my goodbyes to Bec and Bill because they were leaving very early in the morning to head back to SF.

Ice skating at Rockefeller Center

Uncle Pete and Dad washing their hands at Sabon.

Mr. and Mrs. Kee at Kee's Chocolates.

Bec eating her Tiramisu (because they were out of chocolate mousse)

Dad, Uncle Pete and Bill up to no good on the subway.

Saturday

I woke up and Bec and Bill had already left for the airport. My dad and I ended up walking to MOMA because we missed going on Friday. They had a great Bauhaus exhibit that the both of us enjoyed. After seeing Bauhaus, Starry Night, and Monet’s Water Lilies, we grabbed some pizza at Angelo’s (the pizza place right next to the Late Show with David Letterman). We then took a cab back to the condo, grabbed all of my stuff, and took another cab back down to my apartment in the East Village. I said goodbye to the fam and started unpacking from an amazing week spent on the Upper West Side with everyone.

The rest of the weekend (Saturday and Sunday) I spent in Starbucks and at the apartment catching up on the work I hadn’t done over break. Today (Monday) I had my art history class from 9:30-10:45 and now I’m about to head to Starbucks and write my 10-page essay due tomorrow. Woohoo! (I’ve already started it, so I think I can get it done pretty quickly. Besides, it’s only a rough draft that is due at 11am.)

Love you and miss you all!

Love Always,

Jess