A Day In... New York

We arrived at La Guardia just after 10am, a quick hour and a half flight from Toronto. It was the perfect August day, not a cloud in the sky, and warm enough to wear a romper and slip-on Vans. Laima and Amanda picked us up and warned us that a true New York style drunken brunch was about to commence. As a veteran NYC tourist, 90% of the real reason I visit is for the food. And 90% of what I do is eat. The other 10% is traveling to said food destination. We drove through the busy streets of New York, over the Queensboro Bridge, and parked on a side street. We walked through Dante Park, passed the Lincoln Center and arrived at The Smith, joined by a table of beautiful girls and mimosas. The food began to arrive. Have you ever had appetizers before the main course at brunch? I don't understand why it had taken us so long. Out came beer battered string beans, candied bacon, (the stuff of dreams) maple chicken sausage, jalapeño cheddar grits, mac & cheese -- and this was just the appetizers. I chose the Avocado Toast for my main dish. It was delicious.

After brunch we took a stroll through Central Park (a forever favourite). It was electric. Summertime in New York at it's very finest. We decided to make our way to Brooklyn for more casual drinks with Kristen, a new friend we had made over brunch. The view of the Williamsburg bridge was spectacular. It'd only been a couple of years since my last visit, but the amount of growth was substantial: new buildings, more hipsters, a green juice spot at every corner, but still that authentic Brooklyn vibe. We found a local pub that we settled into. I would not recommend consuming more than one craft IPA on a hot summer's day.

After that, we made our way to Laima's place in Billyburg (as the cool kids call it) and got ready for dinner. Her boyfriend David drove us, we didn't know where we were going, we decided to pick entirely based on the decor and first impressions. We ended up at a very small and unassuming Italian spot called L'isola, on a rooftop patio, with fairy lights and a gorgeous view of the city. Again, the food was amazing, the conversation was awesome and I was loving life. Turned out the family beside us worked for C3 Church but used to work for Elevation Church and we had lots of mutual friends. Only in New York, right?

After dinner we went to an artisanal ice cream parlour in Greenpoint. It had a line up right outside the door, but it was so worth the wait. I had London Fog ice cream for the first time. We went home, stayed up late catching up on life, settled into our beds, and dreamed of tomorrow.