Following Rabbits Blog

When I heard that City Bakery was having a month-long hot chocolate festival, I had to swing by after work. Each day in February they have a different hot chocolate flavor for you to try. Tonight's was Moulin Rouge-- a dark, rich blend of cocoa with a tang of fruit-- like dark chocolate-covered strawberries! Their homemade marshmallow squares are incredible, and their chocolate chip cookies among the best I've ever had. That said, a small hot chocolate with marshmallow and a cookie ran me $9, which seemed exorbitant. The place was bustling and the staff seemed annoyed when I tried to order my hot chocolate from the woman who I saw making it ("she is not to be bothered")... my mistake. The uniqueness of the flavors available for the remainder of the month still may draw me in one more time (sunken treasure hot chocolate?!) but I'll have it to go, sans cookie, and save myself $3 and the snooty attitude.

City Bakery hours: mon-fri 7:30a-7p; sat 8a-7p; sun 10a-6p.

Happy Valentine's Day, lovers!

I went home this weekend to visit my mum who recently had knee-replacement surgery. She summoned the energy to help me do an emergency rescue on my poor over-bleached hair... we did some red, and she gave me a shorter cut, to try to get rid of the super damaged bits. I was a little traumatized (I hate change) but after playing with it a bit in preparation for a Yelp party, I gave it a bit of curl and had some pouty fun:

My mum also got me a dress from Modcloth (best mum of the year award?!) for Tuesday night's party at the Empire Room. I was feeling a little extra festive because Tuesday also marked 3 years in NYC for me! Can't believe it's been that long. Was fun to have a night on the town, especially inside the Empire State Building-- pretty fitting. 

Yelp hosted Tuesday night's party, and I did feel a little bit overdressed... apparently Yelpers weren't much for the theme (boo). Fun night though, with free drinks and a photo corner where they were instantly printing photos for everyone. And of course, it helped restore my faith in my hair (here's to hoping it grows fast and quells my fears of soon being bald, ha). To 3 years in the Big Apple!

Last night I went out with my new sweetie for restaurant week. We went to Riverpark, Tom Colicchio's place tucked into a very desolate little corner of Manhattan. The street can't be found on Google maps, but if you follow E 29th St to the East River, you'll find it when you can't walk any further. The restaurant is situated in the lobby level of a medical building, so an enormous and empty office-esque reception area must be crossed to get to the restaurant. The restaurant itself though is very pretty-- leather banquettes and surrounding glass make the place sparkle at night. We were early for our reservation, so we got a drink at the bar first. Their menu of house cocktails was tempting, but I went with a glass of prosecco. Before we finished our drinks, we were seated at our table. I, as previously mentioned, am not as adventurous with food as I'd like to be. My first course, therefore, was a salad-- I don't eat seafood, and taking a bite of the pork belly was quite enough for me. For my main course I ordered the pork chop with a brussel sprout apple hash, which was fantastic. For dessert I got cinnamon panna cotta. It came with rosemary ice cream, which was very unusual tasting-- not bad, but definitely not like anything I'd ever tasted before. Add a couple glasses of wine and we had a really fabulous evening! I never get to dress up and go out to nice places (damn economy...) so this was a huge treat. Restaurant week has been extended through the end of February, so make your reservations!

Yesterday I had brunch at MexiQ in Astoria. I got the french toast- which is coated in a crust of frosted flakes- yum! The eggs, unfortunately, tasted just how they looked- like rubber eggs from your kitchen playset back in the 80's. But the french toast and bacon were more than enough for me, so no complaints. After brunch we went skating at Bryant Park, which is always a fun time. We were super chilly after a couple hours outside, and it was starting to snow (again!). We walked up to Rockefeller and stopped into Magnolia for some hot chocolate and cupcakes. (Their hot chocolate is ahmaaazing!)

While we were enjoying our sweets, I noticed the LEGO store across the way in Rockefeller Center (which apparently has been there since June... I guess I'm less than observant). We went over and were more excited than 20-somethings should be about being able to pick and choose individual LEGO pieces to buy (windows! rims! flat green pieces for front yards!) When you were building LEGOs as a kid, didn't you always lament over that one piece that was MIA from your collection? I digress.... but the LEGO store was pretty fun, and definitely a place I look forward to bringing my nephew when he comes to visit the city.