Grits in the City - discounts and faves

Hope you enjoy all these as much as I do!

coney island daytrip

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This summer we are trying to find some fun yet close options for new places to take the kids. Over Memorial Day, this meant the Bronx Zoo. In late June, it was time for a Coney Island daytrip!

I haven’t been to Coney Island in a very long time. I’m not sure if it was definitely the last time I was there but the above pic with T was from one of the last visits there (this oldie is from 2013.) This was definitely the first time I’ve been in a car!

New York Aquarium

We started the day at the New York Aquarium. Pro tip: arrive early and you can easily park in their lot for the day. They still time out your admission so good to book tickets early so you can enter at your preferred time. They have been doing some repair work since Hurricane Sandy but have fully reopened since our visit.

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7th anniversary dinner at publick house

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We discovered Publick House during the pandemic. It’s located in Mountainside, New Jersey just off of US-22 (as so many things around the area are.) We have ordered from there a number of times but had never gone there in person. Until yesterday!

A decorative tree is in a pot in front of the exterior of Publick House in Mountainside, New Jersey

We took a Lyft over and opted to dine outside in the tent they have set up on the back side of the restaurant. We’ve only booked outdoors before with Summit House and Stirling Hotel, so it’s very nice to have another option for us! The tent is nice and open and they are using what seems to be inside tables – so it didn’t feel like we were losing out on a nice dining experience by eating outdoors.

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snyders farm u-pick blueberries

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It’s ironic that as many blueberries as we go through in our house we have never gone to pick our own on the farm. We have never been to Snyders Farm but when the Snyders Farm u-pick blueberries popped up this weekend and were just under a 40 minute drive away, I decided we had to go.

Several hay bales sit outside the entrance to the Snyders Farm farm store

Before you visit

In comparison to other farms, I would describe Snyders as more no frills. There is a very small house set up as a market, selling fresh honey, jams, dressings and spreads. You can try out some of their honey before you buy, if you like. I especially like the wildflower.

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a casino and piano in maryland

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I haven’t hardly been anywhere since COVID-19. We took our quick trip to Hersheypark last year, I drove 45 minutes away to a winery for the Federal Twist 10K and we went with some of the cousins to the Philly Zoo … but that’s been it.

To be honest, when the tickets for the North American leg of Tori Amos’ tour went on sale with very little notice I almost didn’t buy them. And then when I ultimately did, it was assuming that it would either end up postponed or I would choose to sell them. But when May rolled around, I decided to mask up and give it a shot — since you never know when a tour could be the last.

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manhattan day trip

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We had to drive L in to Manhattan yesterday for a doctor’s appointment. Though bad weather threatened later in the day, it ended up being a nice start to the day. 

I’ve never driven in before so thankfully my dad went in with us for the adventure. Also, thankfully I learned all about SpotHero last week from my Tori Amos adventures so I was able to score us a decent buy for a parking spot for the day that was in a perfect spot. The doctor’s office was in Midtown West and we got there super early to ensure we’d miss all the crazy traffic, so we decided to walk around a bit until the appointment. Thankfully we found some coffee shops that opened nice and early (hello, Blue Bottle!) and we walked around until one of my favorite spaces in the city Bryant Park opened at 7AM. We ducked in to walk around a bit there, letting little L check it all out and even observe someone doing some yoga over by the Bryant Park Cafe and Grill.

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april faves

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Right now we are at a combo of how is it almost at May — yet thank goodness warmer temps are oh so close. I’m always over the cold by now — ready for sure from backyard inflatable pool time!

Before these April hours expire, wanted to share a quick roundup of some April faves. As always, drop some of yours in the comments!

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driveway gourmet with wonder

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When the team from the Wonder app reached out with an opportunity to try the service out right as it opened up in our area of New Jersey, I said yes without hesitation. A new food option that comes to our house? What’s there not to love?

I started looking into their restaurant options and the problem really became choosing what we would try first! They have regular area restaurants on there available for delivery but what really caught our eye were their “Wonder” restaurants, which aren’t otherwise available in the area. T loves sushi and we can’t really find anything around here that’s good enough. Blame NYC for spoiling us! We decided to make it a date night, complete with fresh sushi from Daisuke Nakazawa’s Bar Nakazawa.

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