Mission: A Bite of the Big Apple, Part I

Or at least, a BIT of the Big Apple.  I've lived less than an hour away from "the city" for almost 7 years now and I am still discovering new aspects of this sprawling metropolis.  Yes, I've been to the regular, tourist-congested sights such as Times Square, the Met, the Museum of Natural History, Grand Central Station, WTC (pre- and post-9/11), and Central Park, although there are still things within the latter that I have yet to explore.  I've always seen the city as a tourist attraction or even a place for work and it was not until recently that I started looking at it as more of a playground, and this weekend...play, I did.

I met up with my girlfriends at R's place in the under-rated neighborhood of Murray Hill.  Her apartment is not only sinfully spacious by NYC standards, it's also in the thick of the action, with restaurants, cafes, bars and stores galore, all of which are only a hop, skip and a jump away.  Our first stop was dinner at THAINY, at the corner of E 28th St. and 3rd Ave.  A modern twist on classic Thai food, ThaiNY is a fantastic restaurant that offers a variety of reasonably priced and fantastically spiced dishes.  The 5 of us range from strict vegetarian to staunch carnivore, and none of us had any trouble finding a dish that attracted our attention and palettes, although we were a little confused as to what in the world the "Vegetarian Duck" was.  As someone who always orders Pad Thai, I decided to get a little crazy and order the "28th Street Noodle" which was "wild noodles, sauteed with brown sauce, bean sprouts, Thai pickles, Thai herbs".  I know, I know....I got another noodle dish.  Honestly though, it was the first thing that jumped out at me.  In any case, we were all super satisfied with our orders and after a very chatty dinner, we made our way to our next stop.

Super full and tired from the day's adventures, bus mishaps and traveling woes, we decided NOT to get our party on and instead just enjoy a few drinks.  We did this at banc, 30th St. and 3rd Ave., a nice little bar and lounge that seemed to pull in the after-work, mid-20's to early 30's crowd (I cannot believe I am a member of this age range).  They had a pretty decent selection of drinks, although none of my fave beers were on tap.  I ordered a gin and tonic, which admittedly was a little weak.  This would be more of a problem if I was trying to get wasted though, so no big.  It was a little loud for my taste that night, as I just wanted to chill out but overall, I had fun with my ladies.  However, I think I would have had a better experience had it not been for the cluster of Flyers fans rejoicing their win over the Blackhawks that night.  We called it a night after a few drinks, as it was already past 1 and our mid-20s feet, minds and bodies were weary.

Before I go any further, I must apologize for the lack of visual aids.  For some reason, I've been really slacking with capturing moments on my trusty Canon P&S, which saddens me.  I think I just get carried away with living in the moment that I forget that it's nice to capture these moments once in awhile.  Here's hoping that I get back into the swing of things.  Stay tuned for Part II!