In pictures: Food Tours of NY

Some of you may have noticed that I’m a little… umm… preoccupied with food.

We are back from our hol now so I’m playing catch up on the holiday. Not much more to go apart from NYC, and then we can get back to talking about boring stuff like my infertility (joke! It’s fascinating, as you all know!). 

Anyway, we had a fabulous holiday overall and it was just what we needed. Many of you have talked about how you went on a commiseratory “no baby” holiday after unsuccessful treatments and/or losses and this is exactly what we did – we said if IVF didn’t work then we’d go to Disneyworld on the holiday of a lifetime. I’d always wanted to go and we just went ahead and booked it. To be honest I think it’s what kept me sane in the wake of our miscarriage in July.

Because we always love NYC especially (T took me for our very first Valentine’s day as a surprise trip – what a guy!) it is kind of our special place. We really didn’t need anything on top of Orlando as it was amazing, but it was lovely to round off with a flying trip to DC to see our friends and then a trip to the Big Apple, our happy place. (The whole of America is our happy place!)

Since the first time we always do a food tour with Food Tours of New York. I totally recommend these guys. They’re amazing. It is so much fun – you walk around a neighbourhood and you get told the history by an enthusiastic guide and you get to sample great American food. I mean, my little lost baby was Pizza Baby so you can guess how I feel about American food… It’s my life! Plus you can kind of kid yourself that it’s vaguely healthy (because you’re walking) and cultural (because history).

First of all a quick few food pics before the tour! Because you can’t have too much food, especially in the US!

Frozen ice pop bar. We went here last time as we were staying nearby. It’s fun!

  
A frozen “hot” chocolate from the same place!  
  

One of my favourite shops, Amy’s Bread on Bleecker Street. There are a few around – there is another one in Chelsea market. I am mad for cinnamon and I love their cinnamon challah. They also had a new (since we were last there last year) cinnamon crunchy bun which was excellent. Bread is magic. 

  

We went to a cheese tasting of cave aged cheeses at Murray’s Cheese. It is right next to Amy’s Bread on Bleecker. It is one of my favourite shops of all time. They have a classroom upstairs and I always wanted to do a cheese tasting but we never managed to in the past, so I was harassing them via email for months in advance! It was great fun and as you can see we also had wine. Met some cool people including a really cool girl who I didn’t think I’d ever see again…

The shop from above    
   

Anyway, before I get onto my final New York roundup, here is the food tour in pics! This one is the Noho/Nolita tour. I highly recommend it… If you’re ever in NYC then you can sign up for updates from Food Tours of NY, and every now and then they’ll send you discounts and you can book for a reduced price. It’s totally worth it anyway. Top tip: do not eat breakfast before you go, unless you want to pop! 🙂

Apparently this art is by a famous street artist. Our tour guide was Annie the Nanny – that’s her with the funky hair. She’s a performance artist in the truest sense of the word!

  

Brooklyn blackout mini cupcakes… They were amazing. So light and fluffy but very chocolatey!
  

Cool pizza place where we witnessed the making and cooking of pizza in about 5 min end to end…

  

It was a white pizza (no tomato sauce). As a tomato lover, this was scary but it worked!

  

Prosciutto, basil, rocket (arugula as you lot call it, haha), parmesan on top of the mozzarella mixed cheese base that had been cooked in the wood burning pizza oven for about 3 min. Topped with fresh tomatoes!

  

  

Industrial chic

  

A French restaurant where we had tartine (like an open sandwich on toast) and wine!

  

  

  

Chicken and fennel(?) tartine
  

Moe was there! He’s lived in this neighbourhood all his life and is in his 90s. It didn’t feel right to take a picture of him but he was very cool. The meat market is now an art gallery but Moe still hangs out on this street, shooting the breeze with his buddy the artist. 

  

Mexican canteen type place with a VW camper inside!

  

  

Corn with spicy sauce. Actually I don’t like sweet corn but T did so he got mine too! We also had a cinnamon rice milk drink which was nice. 

The Smile  

  

Home made ricotta on Amy’s bread. As you know, I love cheese and I love Amy’s so what’s not to love?

  

Final stop for donuts! They were called something else (Italian) but basically were caramel filled donuts. 

  
  
Finally Annie the Nanny did a song! In the middle of the street! She was crazy in a good way!
   

All in all, an excellent tour and if you’re ever in the area, I highly recommend it!

It’s now 3ish in the morning… Day 2 back at work and I’m still somewhat jetlagged! Will do my final NY roundup and get back to blethering about random stuff! 🙂