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.