Remember, remember the fifth of November,
gunpowder, treason and plot,
I see no reason why gunpowder treason
should ever be forgot.

Last day in NYC! Flight wasn't until 5pm, so we soaked up as much fun as we could in the remaining time we had left.

First stop: the MoMA.



Starry, starry night...




Awwwwwwwww.




Real-life stop-action art: H & C.


Then we frolicked over to Little Italy to La Bella Ferrara, which is famous for their cannolis. We enjoyed a pizza lunch and, well, cannolis of course.



Vanilla cannoli. Dee. Li. Cious. And that concluded our trip. *tear*




Bye bye Helena! We'll do this again soon ;-)

Day 7 in NYC. Roll out the red carpet-- Helena has arrived!

First we were off to lunch with Helena's friends, Qi and Geoff. The dining establishment: KAI Restaurant on Madison Ave. This place is pure authentic Japanese, just like the places I went to in Tokyu.

My beautiful lunch that was too pretty to eat but too delicious to not eat:




Arigato gosai masu! Hajimemashite, Qi & Geoff!



After lunch, we had some fun shopping. We also got to see Saks 5th Ave. Helena found a cute pair of boots at Cole Haan.

Perhaps we were inspired by the Japanese lunch. In any case, we had a little snack at a nearby Japanese bakery. We <3 mochi. Doooooomo!




Passed by Rockefeller on the way back to the hotel. Photo time!




After relaxing at the hotel for a bit, we embarked on a trek down to Greenwich Village. I was trembling in anticipation as we looked for Sullivan St. Why? After randomly finding www.ilovepeanutbutter.com a few years ago and falling in love with this place and vowing to visit it if I ever got the chance to go to NYC, I finally got to do so!

At Peanut Butter & Co.! We <3 peanut butter.




SJ can't wait to eat his peanut butter BLT.




"The Elvis"- grilled peanut butter, honey & banana, and a vanilla egg cream. I'm a true New Yorker now.




Afterwards, we wandered around for awhile and popped into a cute little cafe, La Lanterna, on MacDougal St. There's nothing like enjoying great conversation with one of your oldest & closest friends and your boyfriend over a warm piece of apple pie, vanilla gelato (on the house), and a cappuccino.


Helena and SJ locked in an intense debate about healthcare.




Doo-doo-doo.... I'll flash the V-sign!





Our last night here... boo hoo!

Day 6 in NYC: After getting to our new hotel, we were on our way to Magnolia Bakery!!! However, getting there was definitely not a pretty experience. We took the correct subway, but that area (Greenwich Village) is just a TAD confusing. Basically, we made a huge loop around the area and got to the bakery after over 1 hour when it should have taken us 5-10 minutes. And nobody knew what Magnolia Bakery was. How can they not know?? Who HASN'T seen that Chronic-what-cles of Narnia video? ;)



There it is! I'm drinking hot chocolate, perfect for the chilly day.




"I told you that I'm crazy for these cupcakes, COUSIN!!!"

I got a piece of red velvet cake and 4 cupcakes. Of course I must post photos of them here:

Red velvet cake...


The famous cupcakes!



After our trip to "the village", we made our way over downtown to see Ground Zero. It was really mind blowing to be down there and realize just how scary that day must have been. Of course it is easy to understand how scary it might have been from watching news coverage, but looking up at all those tall buildings and imagining being right there or even nearby and seeing the pandemonium would be terrifying.






We also got to see Wall Street. It must have been like going to Disneyland for SJ.



SJ in front of the New York Stock Exchange.

We had plans to meet with one of my old friends from high school for dinner, so we killed some time by exploring Century 21. For those of you who don't know, Century 21 is a great bargain shopping place right across the street from Ground Zero. The prices are pretty good, although they are probably comparable to a Macy's sale. I bought a nice, warm (and cheap) hat b/c I didn't bring my hat that day and maaaaaaaaan was it cold down there. Wearing a hat makes a huge difference.

After having some fun shopping, we subway'd it on over to Chinatown and were proud of ourselves for not getting lost :) We then found Frances and had a deeeeelicious dinner at Joe's Shanghai. This place has the best xiao long bao, i.e. "soup dumplings". What a scrumptious dinner!

No dinner is complete without dessert, so the three of us went to the East Village to a dessert place called ChikaLicious. Everything about this place was tiny-- the restaurant itself, the restaurant owner/pastry chef, the desserts. We decided that it was the Japanese influence (the owner was Japanese). However, definitely OINY (only in New York) :) The experience included a 3-course "meal" of desserts.

Here was the last course:



Each course was like this-- tiny. Tasty but tiny. The three of us were left after each course going, "that's it?" :-)

We got to sit in front of the pastry chefs while they whipped up each dessert and I can see how meticulous these chefs must be just from the way they prepared each dessert. Everything was so exact and perfect. Plus they couldn't take out their anger on customers by sneezing into a dessert or leaving a special "present" inside one of the desserts because everyone could see what they did.




Thanks Frances!!! I had so much fun! "Where's our amuse??" Hehehe.

Day 5 in NYC. Despite the snow (yes, it snowed. my dream come true.), a little sunshine arrived this morning-- SJ flew in!

First, it was off to Trump Tower...






Above: SJ just got fired by the Donald. There there.

Trump Tower is on 5th Ave, which is also home to tons of foofy shops (hence Saks 5th Ave). We spotted Coach, Gucci, Fendi, Salvatore Ferragano, Harry Winston, Givenchy, and of course Barney's. We ducked into Barney's for a bit but then left shortly after a rude, bald worker yelled at us for taking photos of the Prada handbag selection. You just cost Barney's a Prada handbag sale, SUCKA!!!

Then SJ spotted the NBA store and decided to check it out. It was there when we realized just how short and scrawny we are. Just look:



SJ appears to be as tall as Allen Iverson, which gives him some hope for the NBA.

On the other hand...




I wanted to go see Lincoln Center, so we wandered around looking for it. Little did we know that we were on the East Side and Lincoln Center is past Central Park on the West Side. OOPS. Then it just got worse after some passerby told us to take the M66 bus to Lincoln Center and we boarded the bus to take it only to find out they didn't take dollar bills (coins only). Unfortunately all we had were 3 dollar bills and 4 quarters (fare is $2). I think the bus driver took pity on us and let us ride anyways.

While we waited for the bus, I got a couple nice shots of a snowy Central Park. Here's one:




At last, Lincoln Center! The Met! Juilliard! I was so inspired by how many great dancers must have performed here that I burst into arabesque:








Only loyal fans of the Chroni-what-cles of Narnia rap will think the photo above is funny.

After a whirlwind cab ride which I won't even go into (but SJ probably will delight in telling the story if you ask him), we made it to Park Avenue Cafe for their famous "Pay Your Age" dinner. Any appetizer, main entree, and dessert and you pay your age. NICE! Snapshot of my dessert below, b/c it was just so pretty and reminded me of those pastry competitions on Food Network :)




Serendipity was just around the corner from Park Ave Cafe, so we went. Good thing it was a weeknight, because there was absolutely no wait. We already had had dessert, but I couldn't resist trying the famous Frozen Hot Chocolate.

Frrrrozen Hot Chocolate on the left, and a Chocacino on the right. Talk about sugar overload.

Day 4 and loving NYC still. I'm getting used to the cold weather. It feels slightly warmer than before, although I'm not sure if it's because I've just gotten numb to the cold or the temperature actually did change.

Tonight I enjoyed tapas with my wonderful cousin and her friend at a great place in the Flatiron District called Pipa. The tapas and paella were unbelievable. Sangria was very tasty.




The restaurant is decorated with these gaudy chandeliers which apparently are all for sale. Unfortunately I didn't have $1000 on hand so I didn't get one. HA.




Lovely ladies with full tummies. Why do I look so weird?

Afterwards we hit up a couple bars-- Underbar and Cibar. Amazing that there are so many people out on a Tuesday night, but that's NY for you.