My Fun-Filled, Food-Packed, Shopping-Crazy Trip to New York

I have come back from my trip to New York, and I have to say it was fantastic. We saw 2 broadway shows and they both went over the top (in a good way that is). If you are ever in New York, you have got to see Billy Elliott. The dancing is phenomenal and we had a great Billy. Fela! was a very lively show and yet again the dancing was great. It also has a very interesting story. We had second row seats so my mom was joking that the actors sweat was going to fly onto us. It turned out that our seats were marvelous. So, the theatre district restaurants that we went to, Becco and Osteria la Doge, were just average. Becco is a restaurant that I was looking forward to because it is owned by Lidia Bastianich and her son. I have watched Lidia's cooking shows and I have made pasta with my mom from one of her cook books. Unfortunately, our experience was underwhelming. We hardly noticed the food because the restaurant was swarming with people and was super crazy with waiters running from end to end. It just so happened that the night we were dining there, a gang of toddlers was eating next to us and we suffered from their relentless impersonations of owls. It was completely bananas! Osteria la Doge was nothing special, but the spinach salad did have some good fried onions on top as a garnish. The restaurant was quite toasty, but then again I am not blaming this on the restaurant because it was like 100 degrees out! Balthazar, on the other hand, was spectacular! My mom and I shared an ooey-gooey cheese plate which included a camembert, goat cheese, blue cheese, and a hard cow's milk cheese. We then had the chicken for two which was really tasty and was accompanied by two large containers bulging at the seams with salty french fries. I know that I am already overwhelming you with too much food, but wait there is more! For dessert we had a small scoop of lip-smacking ice cream and the waitress, who, by the way, was fantastic, brought over a large saucer overflowing with rich, chocolate pot du creme.

It feels good to be home with my main squeeze Daisy (my 7 year old Labradoodle) but NYC was fantabulous. Now, I am going to start my favorite camp in the whole, wide world-cooking camp. To find out about my adventures there, stick around for more! See ya!