Did I Just Eat the Best Chocolate Chip Cookie in Queens NYC?

New York City treats are often worth the wait, literally. The best baked goods and sweets in the Big Apple come with long lines or limited batches that are only while supplies last. Levain Bakery is easily the most famous for its cookies and the corresponding line. When it first opened in 2017 DŌ, which serves raw cookie dough, had lines that stretched for hours.

Then there’s Chip in Astoria. This is a cookie place I’d never heard of before but when I walked by last Saturday afternoon, the line for cookies spilled down the block.. It’s in Astoria which is swiftly becoming a trendy neighborhood in Queens, but not exactly on your average tourist’s itinerary. I had to check it out.

Chip Cookies and Cream in Astoria, NYC

Weekly New York Minutes #43

Every Friday I feature some fleeting moments from my week that made me stop and think, “I’m so lucky to live in NYC!” And maybe some that made me think, “Bahaha this city is ridiculous and I love it.” Here we go for this will-January-ever-end week…

Where else but New York do businesses take scaffolds as an opportunity to get crafty? Construction can slow business, blocking entrances from passersby. So Cafe Fiorello here in Lincoln Center jazzed up the scaffold in front of their building to attract attention. There is so little green AND light this time of year that the crawling ivy and the hanging lights felt like a surprisingly nice touch here. They made me smile as I walked by.

January 31, 2019January 31, 2019

Bryant Park Frost Fest Coincides with the Polar Vortex Hitting NYC

Bryant Park throws an event called “Frost Fest” and the POLAR VORTEX hits NYC simultaneously. Coinsidence?

I think yes, probably.

It has been uncomfortably frigid in New York the past few days. I woke up this morning and my weather app said 4. FOUR DEGREES. This is the kind of weather that makes everyone in town (with the exception of Canadian transplants, probably) STAY INSIDE!

These shots of Bryant Park Winter Fest are from last weekend, when it was warm enough to walk around with my wool coat unbuttoned and my scarf jauntily tied.

January 29, 2019January 29, 2019

A Very Delicious Vegetarian Cooking Class at the Natural Gourmet Institute NYC

My boyfriend is a better cook than me. So in an effort to conform to societal gender roles, I took a cooking class!

Hahaha, just kidding! Don’t worry, I couldn’t be less serious! The real story is that I got my fella a cooking class for his birthday at the National Gourmet Institute in NYC.

January 25, 2019January 25, 2019

Weekly New York Minutes #42

It was my fella’s birthday this week and to celebrate we went ice skating in Bryant Park! This is one of the few things NYC winter gets to claim as superior to other seasons. Going on a Saturday night is always a little stressful because it’s crowded and you never know when a kid flailing in front of you might fall, but we still had a blast gliding around the Bryant Park Winter Village. We both want to go back soon and I also need to write a blog post dedicated to skating here because there are a LOT of tips to make the experience better (and cheaper!).

January 23, 2019January 24, 2019

12 Favorite Places to See Snow in New York

New York is beautiful when it snows. For a magical, brief moment, the concrete jungle gets wrapped in a swirling white blanket. The Big Apple appears as though it’s floating on puffy white clouds. It’s one of the rare times when the city that never sleeps slows down, if only slightly.

Usually as the end of January approaches, NYC has seen a significant amount of snow. Not this year! We’ve had a snow shower here and there, but the only time snow stuck was that premature #Snowvember! Not to whine about the weather…but I miss it! As a San Francisco native who didn’t grow up with snow. I find myself looking out the window, seeing zero flakes or banks, and reminiscing about snow falls past…

While we wait for answers to the FAQ, “When will it snow, NYC?”, let me share a dozen of my favorite times seeing snow in some of New York’s most cliché iconic place.

1. Rockefeller Center

January 21, 2019January 21, 2019

9 Things To Do in NYC During the Worst of Winter

Today is Blue Monday, supposedly the most depressing day of the year. It’s sunny but single-digit degrees in NYC right now. Frankly I’m amazed I even got out of bed this morning. The urge to hibernate is so strong, I start to wonder if maybe I’m actually an X-Man and my mutant power is sleeping ’til spring…

Central Park in the snow may be pretty, but New York winter is rough. Sometime this season you may well find yourself standing on an outdoor subway platform, waiting for a delayed train, icy rain ripping through your giant puffy coat and you’re one gust of wind away from screaming up to the gray sky above, “I HATE NEW YORK WINTER!!!!!”

I made this handy dandy list to turn to in those moments of hate. Let’s get ourselves through the dirty worst of this frigid season-

Chip Cookies and Cream in Astoria, NYC

While we wait for answers to the FAQ, “When will it snow, NYC?”, let me share a dozen of my favorite times seeing snow in some of New York’s most cliché iconic place.

1. Rockefeller Center

9 Reasons to Stop Yourself from Hating NYC Winter!