Grits in the City - discounts and faves
Hope you enjoy all these as much as I do!
A few weeks back after my baby shower, I made my way up to the upper Upper West Side to meet two of my favorite Jenns for brunch. It was yet another one of those 90+ degree August days, but we didn’t let that keep us from brunching (indoors, of course) at Row House.
Restaurant Week is one of my favorite things in New York City. T and I made reservation the moment it launched for River Park, a restaurant he’d been really wanting to try and one I’d been wanting to return to. I also was at the point of receiving a $100 check from OpenTable for having made so many reservations. The stars were aligning for a pre-baby nice date night out! Except that River Park’s listing was subsequently updated to note lunch only for Restaurant Week, and OpenTable updated their rewards program to only apply to a limited subset of restaurants. Such a bummer all around. Since our dinner was that night we had to figure out an alternative option pretty quickly. I read some great things online about Virginia’s, so we decided to give it a try.
For my mother’s birthday last fall, we planned trip was to the site of George Washington’s winter encampment, located close to Morristown, New Jersey. As a retired history teacher, she has quite the impressive list of historical landmarks she wants to visit and this was the next site on the line-up.
The Ford Mansion, which housed Washington and his men during the second encampment in New Jersey of the Revolutionary War, is now a national park. There’s a museum to the side of the property and guided tours of the house. [Read more…]
There is a lot of ugly maternity wear. A LOT. Well, I shouldn’t say ugly, but definitely boring. And most of it? Is expensive. My thought was so not only are you not going to give me cute patterns, cuts, and prints, but my wallet is going to bleed to get it? No thanks.
Thankfully, I’ve found some great options and tricks along the way to help make it through this summer. Here are some of my favorites.
Used clothes are your friend. No, seriously. There is so much truth in that saying that one man’s trash is another’s treasure. I’ve been finding mine off of two fabulous apps – Poshmark and Mercari. There are others out there, like ThredUp, but Poshmark and Mercari have been my favorite since they tend to have a nice selection of designer brands. I’ve bought a number of items that are non-maternity styles from Anthropologie which work great during pregnancy. If you have friends who can give you some hand-me-downs, even better.
I went out to New Jersey for Mother’s Day weekend with one dining ask – to finally try out Arturo’s. I’ve been curious not only to try Arturo’s but also to check out the city of Maplewood in general. Unfortunately it was a bit overcast and not the best day for exploring, but it was a perfect day for some pizza.
I’ve always wanted to try Parm, but never seem to make it there. Now there are a number of Parm outposts around the city – including one on the Upper West Side. When my friend JB and I were trying to figure out a spot to catch up one night, we decided Parm it was. The nice thing too about the UWS location is that it’s on OpenTable – always a huge plus in my book.
I’ve heard the other locations aren’t massive spaces, so I was surprised to see just how far back the UWS location extends. There’s a counter on the right as you enter where you can get sandwiches and other items to go and the bar runs along the left-hand side of the restaurant’s entrance. [Read more…]
To celebrate our first anniversary, T and I decided to go to a restaurant we’ve both been wanting to visit for quite some time – Gramercy Tavern. I’d been there once years ago with my manager from DC. We’d sat at the bar and enjoyed cocktails and I believe some appetizers – but I’d never sat in the dining room for a full meal.
We had a 9PM reservation but they ended up being able to seat us earlier around 8PM, a welcome start to the meal. They surprised us with a pre-dinner toast since it was our anniversary – champagne for T and some local sourced sparkling grape juice for me. I was worried that my more limited pregnancy diet would mean no chef’s tasting for me, but they were absolutely amazing and willing to accommodate my restrictions (and food allergies) – substituting in some items from their three-course menu as necessary to complete the line-up. [Read more…]
When I saw the Cronut flavor of the month for June, I decided to finally check this “to do” off my NYC bucket list. Of all the NYC trends, the Cronut is one that seems to have continually eluded me. Being a big fan of trying all things hype to see if they’re justified, I decided this was the month to see for myself. I mean what’s there not to love about blueberry elderflower with lime sugar?
Last weekend, T and I made our way out to Jersey City for a visit to the Liberty Science Center to check out the new “Secrets of the Sewer” Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles exhibit. I’ve been joking it was the first of many steps in training as a soon-to-be mom of a little boy.
I’ll admit that living in Manhattan, a trip to anywhere beyond the immediate PATH Station area is typically something I don’t do. I was surprised how easy it really is to get out there. We took an Uber from Grove Street, but we found out you can actually take the PATH to Pavonia/Newport or Exchange Place and transfer to the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail to go directly there. Good to know for future visits. [Read more…]
A few weekends ago, my parents picked us up in Long Island. Some friends of ours were so kind as to give us two bags of baby boy clothing, so we made a quick road trip out last Saturday. We were thinking about grabbing a bite somewhere out on Long Island, but when my parents mentioned Frankie’s 457, it was no question.
