New York City in Autumn

I'm back from Iceland and I could give you the same spiel about how I'm depressed because holiday is over and how work is dreadful, which it totally is. But instead of being super whiny and forlorn, I'm going to share the awesome day I spent in New York just before my trip.

D and I made plans to meet up for a whole day and enjoy art and food and good company and we followed through on those plans.

The weather was perfect. It was around 50F when I left the house and by the time I met up with D, it was in the 60s.

First things first, we stopped at Paris Baguette for some caffeine and breakfast.

And then we made our way to Central Park and walked around the reservoir to get to the east side.

Because this was Halloween weekend, we saw kids in costumes everywhere. As we approached 82nd, we decided to walk around the Met - it's technically free, after all (though, I always give a few dollars) - and do a low key museum day.

The Met is one of those places I've been dozens of times, but I always love it and it's always really satisfying. The antiquities wing is my favorite - I love looking at mummies and Egyptian art - though, it always makes me feel a bit guilty that we've uprooted these sacred objects so that we could ogle at them on Saturday afternoons.

There was a Max Beckmann exhibit so we stopped by for a peek. I didn't know the name but I recognized the art. Did you know he had a heart attack on a street corner as he was on his way to see his own exhibit? As I was reading the blurb, I gasped at that fact and then two seconds later, as D made her way to that sentenced, she too gasped, which made us laugh once we recognized we were gasping for the same reason.

I especially love this piece with the two kids passing a pornographic sketch and the teacher scolding another kid and a kid with his hands raised in punishment. It's just such a raw, relatable subject for art; I mean, everyone can relate to getting in trouble in school, right?

We had also planned on going to the Frick (which I've never been to before) but we were super hungry so we walked twenty blocks south to grab some lunch. We ended up at Amali, which was an awesome choice.

We shared the farro salad to start, which was fantastic. The grains were tossed in a light dressing, there were tart pomegranate seeds, crisp radishes, and really delicious roasted squash. I need to recreate this at home.

D got the risotto carbonara. We both thought it was such an interesting, smart concept. The rice was tender, there were huge chunks of pork, the poached egg added a delicious unctuousness; the whole thing was rich and delicious.

I went for shakshuka, which was awesome. It was made with whole cherry tomatoes, seasoned generously with loads of earthy spices, topped with crumbled feta and dill, and most importantly, there were two perfectly cooked baked eggs in the center.

Stuffed after our meals, we ended up skipping the Frick and instead, decided to walk back to Central Park, this time entering it from 60th Street and basically walked the 30 blocks back to D's apartment. It was the prettiest, most satisfying walk ever.

After our hike through the park, we headed back to D's apartment where we lazed around watching Netflix (we watched the weirdest movie called The Rite with Colin O'Donoghue and Anthony Hopkins; it's a film about exorcism based on a true story) until we got peckish again. We made some Korean-style pancakes and ordered some wings. It was such a satisfying meal.

Then, D and her husband J gave me some low-key birthday congratulations. I'm not big on birthdays; I just feel like it's not an accomplishment that needs celebrating. But, I do like cake, so this was a nice little moment to share with them.

Afterwards, we watched some more Netflix but as my eyes got droopier and droopier, I realized I should drive home sooner rather than later unless I wanted to fall asleep at the wheel.

And look, hiking through Central Park is no joke:

xoxo.