New York - Day 2

On our first full day in New York, we headed out early. Unfortunatly, it threw it down. Heavily. (We finally found a street vendor selling umbrellas half way through the day and gave in. The umbrellas are rubbish but for $5, they kept us drier for the rest of the day.)
Breakfast was on Lexington Avenue at a very posh hotel restaurant (our only posh breakfast after we saw the final bill) but it was very nice. Caroline's pancakes were massive!

Caroline's Pancakes for posh breakfast.

First we went to the Empire State Building. At this point the weather wasn't too bad. They did warn us there was "limited visibility" at the top. They meant "You will see nothing!".

View from the top of the Empire state - when cloud "cleared"

New York is out there. Honest. Somewhere.

You can just about see the river.

Wind swept!

The Empire Statue building is 104 stories of office space and was built in 1 year and 137 days! It was finished in May 1931, a month ahead of schedule. Unfortunately, the depression was in 1929, and most of the business which were going to have offices there had gone bankrupt as they built it. It was made Famous in 1933. By the film, King Kong. After that, it was so popular they converted the top few floors to observation decks, and plenty wanted offices there.

We didn't see it on the best day, but it was still fun.
Then we headed to one of New York's Museums. Not one of the art ones, granted but the Museum of sex has some interesting exhibits! :-) The world is a kinkier place than I thought!

Dolphins doing it differently. 

Gay lions

After that, we went shopping at Macy's (didn't buy anything but was fun to look around - it's huge!), Victoria Secret (very cool), and some souvenir shops where I got my Statue of Liberty Rubber duck. :-)
We also went to Gap as I needed new jeans (I managed to split mine yesterday!)
At the end we took the tour bus on the Downtown tour and just found out a few more things about Manhattan. Like it is much larger than it used to be as most of the south tip ad east side is landfill. Which is one of the reasons that area was so badly badly effected by Hurricane Sandy - a lot just washed away. Most of the rest of the island is built on a type of granite. The granite disappears deeper down mid island, so the skyscrapers are built in the north and south (as cheaper to anchor to bedrock than dig huge foundations) and the middle part has lower buildings.

When we got back we crashed for an hour and went out for tapas and wine. Then cocktails. Then to the wine bar next to our hotel for some lovely glasses of Pouilly Fume and then a glasses of Alsace Riesling. Very nice (and I was educating Caroline in wines which is my excuse and I'm sticky to it). We were rather tipsy (which made the climbing up the ladder to my bed very tricky - getting down when I forgot something was even harder!) 

New York City - Day 1

This week, myself and Caroline, a friend from Preston, spent the week in New York. I arrived on the Monday afternoon (after a delay in Charlotte - apparently the plane was missing a part so I was happy to wait!) We stayed in a hotel called Pod 51, which cool (shared bathrooms but fairly cheap). We had bunk beds, which I haven't slept in for years. (And found climbing drunk tricky!) But the hotel was very cool and close to Times Square. Have a look at Pod 51 - I recommend it if you stay in NYC.

Hotel room at Pod 51.

Straight away we went out exploring. Just to find a cafe and sit down and plan. The headed out. And we got lost. But we did find the M & M shop!

M&M Lady Liberty

In front of only one of tubes of chocolate!

Elvis M&M.

The plan was to go to Top of the Rock, which is at the GE building, 30 Rockerfellor Plaza (where 30 Rock is set) for a view of the city at night. We found it eventually. You would think it would be easy as it's a massive building (at least we did). But there are a LOT of big buildings. Anyway, got there eventually. The lift has a glass ceiling and lights going up the shaft so you can see where you are going (and falling from on the way down). Cool (and unnerving). There are 70 floors. At the top there is a great view over the city, but there was a far bit of cloud. Still got some nice photos and had a look around. 

View from top of the rock

In the cloud 

Still pretty despite the cloud!

The Rockerfellor center was built by John. D Rockerfellor and mainly as a way to provide work during one of the depressions. It is all office space except for the concourse below which is shops and cafes. There is a gap between 2 of the buildings called the Channel, which leads down to the ice skating rink (which is a cafe area in the summer). It's called the Channel as the building on one side is English, and on the other is French. At the bottom is the ice rink, and a statue of Poseidon's Brother. 

in front of the ice rink

Caroline in front of the ice rink

Statue of Poseidon's brother 

Out front is the statue of Atlas.

Atlas in front the 10 Rockerfellor Plaza

We also went in St. Patrick's Cathedral, which is beautiful. There is loads of scaffolding up as they are renovating it but still very impressive. (The cardinal is away in Rome choosing the new Pope.)

huge - photo didn't come out well.

front of the church

We ended up near our hotel at a Thai restaurant with a bottle of Chardonnay. 

Sushi Class

Tonight I took a sushi class with a friend at the Gourmet Pantry, a lovely little food shop which sell amazing kitchen supplies and food (things you can't get in the supermarkets like chorizo and lots of gluten free stuff). They do classes most Thursdays on various subjects and tonight was making sushi so I convinced David to go with me. (It did take much convincing.)
The class was really fun. There were 12 of us in total and lots of food.
The teacher Roya had cut up most of the veg before hand but went through the best ways to prepare a few. She also explained the best way to buy fish and other supplies. Then we got down to the making! I didn't take many photos (blame in on the sticky rice hands!) but I personally think my rolls were a great success!

Tuna, Asparagus, carrot and mango...

... with black sesame seeds and coconut on the outside

These were my best. (Well, actually the rest got eaten before I could take any photos. Plus the ones I stole off David!)
And it was hilarious. After a point, everything people said sounded dirty.  For example, "That has great girth", "it's squirting out",  "that's the largest I've seen", and "I like your mounting the tuna". So funny!
We shared a lovely bottle of sake and I have enough sushi brought home for lunch tomorrow. (We also got a discount in shop so I brought a sushi pad, rice spoon and some chopsticks as mine didn't seen to make the move!) A really good night and lots of sushi!

Wombourne Christmas weekend

This weekend I went back to the West Midlands to spend the weekend with friends. Every Christmas, 4 of us from Uni meet up and have a fun weekend. This year it was in Matt and El's new house in Wombourne. They had been in 1 night before we descended! Oops.
I meet up with Clare on Friday and we went around the German markets, and picked up some desert for that evening.

Gourmet Donuts desert (and breakfast).

 On Saturday we ended up in Bridgenorth and wondered around the markets, getting some final presents, and had a very nice full breakfast. When we got back, there were a load of boxes and stuff that needs to be sorted, including putting up the christmas tree. And I think we did a pretty good job.

Our (Matt and El's) fabulous Christmas tree

Mini Christmas trees!!!

Saturday night was our annual Christmas Chinese feast. As it was from a new place (given the new location), Matt and El had thoughtfully tried it out previously to ensure it was up to par! :-) The food was good and Sinead and Chris came along. After we watched Toy Story 3, while eating more and drinking wine. And I will admit I cried a little as they kept telling me I would. (Or maybe because they kept telling me I would!
Sunday was a lie-in and then a roast. Clare and I were willing test subjects for the Christmas dinner run (as they want to do it in their house this year). I think it worked out well. I certianly tasted good and plates were finished.

Huge (practice) Christmas dinner

Waiting for me to finish taking photos so they can eat...

Then Clare washed up. And the annual soap suds fight between Clare and Matt started. I was drying up but legged it. I have been caught in the middle of that before and learned from experience to get out of the way. Clare was very proud of her initial stealth sneak attack. :-)

I think it was a draw in the end. :-)
We ended the weekend by going to see the Nativity II: Danger in the Manger. I am not sure I liked it as much as the first one (this one was more far fetched). But it was a good laugh. And we learned if you take Dorritos and Salsa into the cinema, at least get the bowls sorted out before the lights go out. Otherwise it gets a little messy!
I had a fabulous weekend and miss you guys already! Thanks for the amazing present! You're the best!

Locked in a chocolate shop!

Friday night, I got locked in a chocolate shop! And not just any chocolate shop. A Hotel Chocolate shop! Katherine and I went to a chocolate tasting adventure, run by Hotel Chocolate in celebration of National Chocolate Week. When Katherine and I got to the Ardale centre in Manchester, the shop was shut so we got a drink. Then at 6.45pm, Katherine got impatient, picked up my things and went to stand outside the shop. :-) So we stood at the window grinning like idiots until they let us is. We were the first ones there. They opened the shutter for us and shut them behind us, thereby locking us in. And then a good looking guy asking me if I would like a glass of Prosecco.:-) If only all nights were like this!

Very happy!

Katherine, equally happy!

Nice man pouring Prosecco.

When everyone else arrived (another 14 people), we settled down for the chocolate tasting. Over the evening, we tasted 13 different chocolate and learnt a lot about chocolate. The most interesting bits were when we got 2 or 3 pieces at one time so we could compare. Usually when I eat chocolate, I just open a bar and eat it. I never realized different chocolates could be so, well, different. Cacao trees are very delicate. They only grow 20 degrees above and below the equator and they don't like too much heat or sun light. So the farmers grow other trees such as coconut trees around the cacao trees to shade them. So the cacao beans take on flavors from whatever is grown around them. The beans can be completely different.

Cacao pod, cacao beans, and bread to cleanse the palate

Also the percentage doesn't mean the amount of coco solids, but the lack of sugars. So dark chocolate has less sugar than milk. But the taste can be just as mellow. The main factor is hot much conching is used, which is basically how much they mix the chocolate. The more they mix, the more mellow the taste.
It was a really good night with loads of chocolate. And then I spent a load of money on chocolate (and port!). Some of it was presents, so I don't feel so bad. And we got a free goody bag on the way out (the 3 items on the left in the picture).

Haul from Hotel Chocolate (3 on the left from the goody bag)!