downtown fairs and uptown feasts

As you may have noticed, the spring has not been a good time for blog updates. I really took on a lot-  interning 2.5 days a week while also doing a full graduate school course load- I had very limited time for fun NY related activities.  Then finals hit, and I had almost no time for fun activities, period! This past weekend, however, as I started nearing the end of craziness, I did get to do a few fun New York springtime things.

Saturday, Caroline and I took a study break and walked from our apartment, past the Festival of Ideas by the New Museum to the Hester Street Fair.

Knitted Bike outside the Festival of Ideas. As a knitter and bike-appreciator, I was quite impressed.

Swedish Meatball Slider at the Hester Street Market in the Lower East Side

Caroline with her Veggie Meatball hero

Hester Street Market

Photo c/o Caroline. Me with Red Velvet Ice Cream Sammy

Saturday evening, Jake, Alex and I had the pleasure of dining at the famous Red Rooster Restaurant in Harlem, serving up Marcus Samuelsson's innovative take on soul food, in a very very chic old-world Harlem atmosphere. Red Rooster is definitely the place to be, as Obama recently dined there, and Bill Clinton had just dined there 2 nights before us! Since we had some time to kill while we waited for our table, Jake took us a brief walking tour of the Lennox/125th area. For dinner, we had the Fried Yard Bird, Cornbread with Yams and Red Grits as our sides. For desert, I had chocolate doughnuts filled with a coffee cream- delish! Overall, we were so impressed with the subtle innovative flavors that the chef managed to incorporate into very traditional soul dishes.

Beautiful historic brownstones in Harlem

Alex gazes pensively.

Walking up to the top of Marcus Garvey Park.

The beautiful view

Vanilla wafers and fun memorabilia decorate the bookshelves of Red Rooster

A Beer Sampler Rainbow

The sauce was some incredible spicy, almost curry like sauce. The chicken also had a white gravy and sat on stop of greens.

Who knows where that hat has been Jake...