The Lean Green Bean: NYC- Day 2

Hello!

Let's start off with a review of last night. The hubby and I had a very nice dinner at a small Italian restaurant. We took the subway, which was fine, but then we spent about 1/2 an hour trying to decode some google map directions that made absolutely no sense. We took a few wrong turns, but once we got out our map, we did just fine. I had lobster ravioli with vegetables and Bretty had fish. We got a couple complimentary appetizers, shared a bottle of wine and got some complimentary "after dinner drinks" that tasted pretty much like pure grain alcohol. For dessert we stopped at Cones and had some delicious gelato. We made it back to the subway with far less trouble. I got some killer blisters and banged my heel for a nice bruise, but that's the price you pay for beauty. Here was are before we left (please excuse my hair...it apparently had a mind of its own last night):

This morning started off with an early trip to the dog park. While someone was still sleeping (I'll spare you another picture) mom and I took Jake to the dog park at about 8am. There's a park up the street that lets dogs be off leash until 9am so Jake likes to go and play with his Chuck-It.

He's fast and furious and tells the other dogs to eat his dust:

We met a New York Tucker (on the left) and a New York Max (on the right). Still searching for a New York Abner:

Jake got thirsty from all his furious ball chasing and needed a drink:

Time to go home. Jake politely carries his ball the whole way:

Next up? Breakfast! Bach tried to help himself to mine:

Hubby got a new shirt from dad's giveaway pile and he looks like a superstar in it:

Then it was time to venture to the grocery store. While making a quick stop at Starbucks, I looked out the window and saw this:

Of course I quickly abandoned my latte and went out to greet the little fellow. Does it get any cuter????

They finally dragged me away and we bounced along in the car to the grocery store. Before we went in, we took a little walk to see some old subway cars...VERY COOL!

The grocery store itself was quite an experience. It was HUGE and everything was stacked up vertically, which seemed to me to create a lot of very precarious situations and I had visions of a floor filled of with vegetables. Plus, who would want to take the time to stack all of them?:

Then someone told me I couldn't take pictures in the store. So just to spite him, I surreptitiously snapped this shot of the giant buckets of olives:

I like to live dangerously :) We wandered around for quite a while gathering ingredients for the AMAZING dinner we are going to cook tonight! After another heartrate-elevating drive- we actually saw a truck run into the mirror of the car next to them-we finally made it home.

Time for lunch. Bretty and mom had some tacos (it was Taco Thursday at the place around the corner. We were nice and even got some for the doorman.

I opted for something a little lighter at home and even shared with jake! He was a little unsure about the keylime yogurt, but soon decided he shared my delight for it :)

Next, we made some mini cheesecakes for dessert!! There will be a separate post about these.

The hubby and I took a little walk around the promenade and Brooklyn Bridge park:

Then it was time for a nap :) We woke up from our nap and a major storm was a-brewin. Here's a (no) view out the window during the storm, and then another view when it started to clear:

Good thing we're staying in tonight! Time to make dinner :) For an appetizer, we had roasted beet and goat cheese crostinis. The recipe will follow in a separate post but here's a sneak peek. It's pepto pink but still tastes good!

We also had a store bought crab cake which I may or may not have eaten most of before I even thought of taking a picture. You'll just have to trust me that it was good!

For dinner we had Spicy Pecan crusted salmon, pasta with roasted broccoli and pine nuts, and baked sweet potatoes with black bean salsa. Separate recipe post to follow: