Thursday, August 05, 2010

In the Big Apple: Cheap Thrills

OK, this taken before I landed in the New York...
... and it seems I have joined the Laviator's Club! You can too. Just take your camera into any airplane loo while it is in the air. Now... to NYC itself... and a good day two this time around.
Just a bit of classic NYC architecture, not far from where we are staying.
Neat quote, pic taken for my friend James.
Relaxing over dinner with new super-short do! Only $21 at Supercuts - who needs fancy styling with hair so short? Was able to walk in and get a cut 20 minutes later. And it so coooool!!! And it dries in about 3 minutes, if that. Sweet!
Evening ambiance along Columbus... a busy street but interesting and some great places to eat. Kelly and I had a great spot and a great meal (the fried artichoke hearts were amazing!)
I don't know what these guys were supposed to be doing, but the guy in the chair was having a doozy of a snooze.
Loved the signage at this store. Note the "your 24-hour pot dealer" line... and that's only the start. It's all very cool stuff for the home, lots at reasonable prices. Didn't buy anything, but it was fun to look. Jonathan Adler is worth a look if you are ever in the big apple. On Columbus, around 74th/75th.
I'd been looking forward to visting some thrift stores this trip, and I'd long had Housing Works on my list. So next went into the Columbus location. Great shop. Great cause. Oh, what I would have picked up if I lived here (which I sure would like to do one day!) Picked up a $2 big glass vase for our hotel room (the flowers are so lovely at the shops around here and we want some~
!), two $1 wine glasses to better enjoy our wine in the room, along with a couple of books and a groovy picture frame.
Stopped for a yummy frozen yogurt, at a place where you can choose your own toppings. It was great value at $5.95 - they had 2 smaller sizes and 1 larger one.
The frozen yogurt place is called Pinkberry. I'd go back again, but there are apparently lots of stores in this trend here. I saw one across the street called Lenny's that had delivery bikes out front. Imagine that, cooling off at home with an ice-cold frozen treat delivered to your door. I heart NYC!

So, now a little on how easy it is to eat cheap in NYC, if you really want to.
Saw this cute little Italian place with a nice patio I wanted to enjoy. Turns out my late lunch stop was a little too late, and they were already serving their dinner menu (ok, so it was 3pm), but decided to make it work in budget style. If I hadn't had coffee, my lunch would have cost under $10. I ordered the Caprese Salad, which was pretty large and fantastic (and made with real buffalo mozzerella!). I resisted the temptation to order wine and just had water. At a classy place like this you get a nice basket of bread, which I enjoyed with the traditional oil and vinegar. I was not meant to feel badly about buying so little, was nicely doted on, and had a glorious time.
This was the view from my table. You can see why I decided to stay for coffee. Just a regular coffee ($2?), but, surprise, it came with a nice little almond biscotti. Bonus.
The place was called Pappardella, and it was the corner of Columbus and 75th. On my receipt it told me that they have free appies at the bar from 4-7 Monday to Thursday, and again after 10:30pm. Went inside to check it out (and use the loo), and it was really nice. Icy cool AC, stone floors and old pics from Florence. Just might be back.

Also on the budget front, today's breakfast-to-the-door from the deli was only $7.50 for 2 coffees, 1 egg sandwich and a yogurt. We added bananas from our deli shop the night before. Yum.
An update on the HP battery issue from yesterday. I had a call from the front desk this morning, telling me that my package had arrived. That was 22 hours from when I hung up the phone that my new battery has arrived on my temporary doorstep. I continue to be impressed.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Loving the New York entries!!! Keep them going....
xoxo
B.

Caroline said...

Ahhhh, great to see you are travelling again and blogging! Cheers Bella.

Anonymous said...

cute Laviator photo (don't it make yr red eyes blue) PK