A CAFÉ FROM PARIS WITH LOVE

During an adventure in Soho, we stopped in at a little café called Ceci-Cela on Spring Street.  It might look like nothing more than a hole in the wall, but in the back of this little café is quaint seating that makes me feel like I'm in Paris.  The food and drinks are simple yet delicious, and everything is incredibly cheap relative to our normal food costs adventuring in the city.  I recommend the almond croissant, although Olivia seemed to really enjoy her petite macarons.  xoxo Katie

PERFECT SUMMER BREAKFAST

Last weekend, I was really in the mood for some oatmeal.  Then I remembered that we had some rhubarb stalks in the fridge and fresh strawberries from the farmer's market.  The result: baked strawberry-rhubarb oatmeal.  It is a delicious and healthy way to start the day to eat on its own or with some yogurt, and it also makes a great sweet treat with some vanilla ice cream or frozen yogurt.   xoxo Katie

LUNCH ON THE LAKE

On a beautiful Friday afternoon, I decided it was the perfect opportunity to do a classic New York activity that I hadn't done in far too long: row-boating on the Lake in Central Park.  I decided to pack a couple peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, some fresh blackberries, and a bottle of Lorina sparkling lemonade.  It was the perfect break from the business of life to enjoy the lovely weather. xoxo Katie

FARM-FRESH PIZZA

While Olivia was at work one day, I decided to take a mini-adventure through Greenwich with a friend from school who came to visit.  We didn't know anything about the restaurants on Hudson, but instead of using Yelp or the Zagat, we decided on where to eat based solely on how pretty the outdoor seating was.  We ended up at Slice, a really cool pizza place that uses only local, farm-fresh, seasonal ingredients.  We ended up getting the Yuri, a pizza with an herb crust topped with organic truffled ricotta, sautéed shiitake, crimini and button mushrooms, and local fresh mozzarella.  It was heavenly and to make things even better, the sodas we ordered were served in glass bottles and added a little special something.   xoxo, Katie

L'ARTE DEL GELATO

After sampling the olive oil gelato at L'Arte del Gelato during our adventure at Chelsea Market, I knew it was only a matter of time until I had to come back to get a full cone.  Then a warm summer afternoon found me in Chelsea with a couple of friends and, as always, a craving for sweets after a lot of walking.  Olivia came to meet us after she got off work and, between the four of us, we managed to try berry sorbet and nutella, pistacchio, cherry, and of course, olive oil gelato.  It was a perfectly creamy and delightfully cold addition to a beautiful summer afternoon.  xoxo, Katie  

WE LOVE...strawberries

Strawberry season. With all the sun followed by the recent rain, the Greenmarkets in the city and farm stands on the North Fork are bursting with juicy sweet red berries. We can't get enough. Olivia made a strawberry-rhubarb compote that she served on top of an orange pound cake last week and Katie whipped up a strawberry-rhubarb crumble.  We love the tart flavor of rhubarb and the juicy sweetness of the berries.  For a dinner party last weekend, we made a strawberry tart from scratch using this recipe. The tart was delicious without changing the berries at all. 

AN IMPROMPTU ROOFTOP LUNCH

Summery weather calls for spontaneous lunches. Katie decided to whip up a batch of lemonade and we headed up to her beautiful and colorful roof with a plate of prosciutto, mixed greens, and goat cheese, and for dessert, homemade lemon bundt cake to soak up some Vitamin D and take in the view of our city. In the midst of our hectic work schedules, it was nice to realize that it really isn't hard to fit a relaxing moment into our summer days. 

A BUSY MARKET & CLOUDY HIGHLINE

After growing up in New York, it was easy for us to go off to college with the notion that we knew the city like the backs of our hands. However, when we got home from college, we realized there is so much more to the city than what we had seen, and so we made a pact to explore a new neighborhood every week. On the one day of sunshine we had last week, we took a trip down to lower Chelsea and Greenwich, where we quickly regretted not having brought a picnic basket to eat outside on the High Line, New York's once elevated railway that has been seamlessly transformed into a beautiful park. Before climbing the High Line, we tasted samples from eateries in the Chelsea Market like Jacques Torres and got smoothies at the Ronneybrook Milk Bar. Then after strolling down the High Line, we saw so many adorable restaurants in Greenwich that we decided to pick up business cards of all the places we wanted to come back to try. At last, we decided to stop for a quick pick-me-up at the Chocolate Bar, where the iced mint mocha was the perfect way to end the first of our New York adventures.

A TASTE OF EATALY

Every so often, a staycation is just what is needed to overcome a rainy day. New York has seen a lot of rain this past week, so to cheer us up, we ventured over to Eataly, an indoor Italian market next to Madison Square Park. From housemade pasta, pizza, and foccacia bread, to hazelnut desserts, gelato, and expresso, there was plenty of treats to take our minds off of the weather. The massive and beautiful space allowed us to go on a culinary exploration of all of Italy in which we tried housemade pasta with a delicious lemon butter, tomato foccacia bread, and for dessert, a flourless chocolate-hazelnut cake with a lovely surprise of abricot jam on the bottom.