New York, Part 2 New Year's Eve

O.k. so after having a cold/flu of death, a kidney infection, and starting a new school semester, I am finally ready to continue the New York blog entries. This one focuses on New Year's Eve, which we spent in the city.

At first, we were thinking about going to Times Square, but after some research, we decided that didn't actually sound very fun. So I looked online at restaurants having New Year's Eve specials and we decided on an Italian place, Pappardella. We made the reservation for 6- us, Joe's brother Zach and his fiance Amy, and Joe's best friend Dave and his friend Julie.

We got all dressed up and made our way to the city. It was actually quite easy getting to the city that night and it was fun. Everyone on the trains/subway was dressed up and excited for various parties, events.

We ended up getting to the restaurant an hour early. I sent Joe in to check on the reservation, which turned out to be a good thing because for some reason, they didn't have it. Luckily, the manager helped us out and all was well.

Dinner was amazing. I got the 5 course dinner special they were offering for the holiday and everything was fantastic.


All dressed up




The restaurant




Dave


Zach and Amy


Us

At dinner, Zach and Amy surprised us with a fantastic Christmas present: a night in the Soho Grand hotel. It was so much fun to stay at a hotel in the city!


Our room


The neat wallpaper in the bathroom

New York, Part 1, Carlo's Bakery

I was going through my New York pictures and realized that I have too many for just one post. So here is part 1 of (probably) 3 New York posts.

Joe and I took the red eye flight to New York. His mom picked us up at the airport and we decided to stop at Carlo's Bakery on the way to her house. Carlo's Bakery is where they film Cake Boss, one of my favorite shows, and I was very excited to see it in person!

When we got there, there was about a 30 min. line. Then we got a number and squeezed into the packed bakery to pick our treats. I knew I wanted a Lobster Tail, their signature pastry. We got a couple of those, a scone, and a doughnut and Joe's mom bought me an awesome shirt. :)

The Lobster Tails were completely delicious. They are a bit like a cream puff, but the pastry is a little harder and the filling is thicker.


Waiting in line


Christmas cake in the window


Very crowded




I loved how the boxes were tied with string


Lobster Tails!

And a little more- I got the Cake Boss book for Christmas. It is part biography and part recipes. I found a recipe in it for chocolate mousse for filling and frosting cakes. It looked good so I made a chocolate/chocolate mousse cake for dessert one night. I think it turned out really well!