LEFTBANKED.

4.25.2013

326. NYC | Bryant Park, Dream Downtown, Ootoya

I love Bryant Park. If I lived in NYC I'd probably spend a lot of time here. Not because it's where fashion week was held, but mainly because it's such a nice park..with the beautiful black and gold Bryant Park Hotel beside it. I love black & gold! & it seems like the perfect place to have lunch. The last day of my trip was the day when the weather was near perfect, and everyone was sitting outside. I wish I was able to spend more time there..

& Just to let you know - most of the photos in this post were taken with my cell phone so they're not the best quality.

Waiting for *Clark at Grand Central Station

We had dinner at a Japanese restaurant called Ootoya: "Authentic Japanese Home Cooking"

Then we went to Sleep No More - the play I was so excited to go see. It was a really cool experience. Basically it's an interactive play set in an old abandoned hotel (McKittrick Hotel) where audience members (wearing masks) walk around freely observing the different rooms, objects, actors acting out Macbeth, etc. I was really nervous at first because we had to walk around "alone" and the place was like a haunted house. But it was fun. I really love their jazz lounge. Not part of the play, just where everyone goes at the end for jazz and drinks:

Sleep No More was during my last night..now I'm going to jump back to the first night. After my plane landed, we went for a late night dinner (perogies..yum) then Dream Downtown to check out their rooftop lounge/club PH-D. The photo above is actually their restaurant area. I really like the decor in this hotel.

Loved this peach cocktail

*Kent
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This post archived in: Travel

325. aquarium

St. Basil's Cathedral Leftbanked painting

Awkward pose (tried to get a good shot of my heels) + St. Basil's painting I did many years ago. Well I didn't want to spam you with too many travel posts in a row, so here's a big post of random photos I've taken in the past week or so. Plus some requested shoe pics!

New Clover Canyon dress. I searched for so long to find this dress..now that I got it, I think I like my first one more.

The back

My dog loves to include himself & his toys in my shots

Posing nicely for you all

I've decided to start doing my Moleskine drawings again. I haven't really done much "art" of any kind since I finished school but I do miss it. It's a great form of stress-relief. That one above is one of my favourites! I used to draw these a lot while sitting in lectures..& during summer days in cafes.

The current one in progress..spent most of this week doing it

On Sunday I managed to drag myself out of bed to join a friend for brunch at Gilead Cafe

After having my first (& most amazing so far) cannoli a couple weeks ago in New York, I'm now on a mission to find a place that makes them just as good in Toronto. I think it would be slightly easier than my other goal of finding decent macarons here. So the cannoli from Gilead was good..& looked very pretty with the side of edible (?) flowers. Though unfortunately not as good as NYC's.

brunch Gilead cafe french toast Jamie Kennedy

The presentation of my french toast could've/should've been better. I did not want to eat that when it arrived! (That's exactly what it looked like when it came) I thought the taste would make up for the fact that it looks like it's swimming in vomit, but it didn't exactly. I would return to Gilead for sure but not going to order the french toast again!

At least the fries were good.

These pics are in such a random order so here's some more photos of my dog!

Currently lusting after these..

My favourite from iQ Food Co - Blueberry Crunch Hot Box..their hot boxes are so photogenic I'm always tempted to take a pic each time I get one. & another thing I'm love taking pics of:

I came home earlier to find cops at the entrance of my building. Soon they blocked off the perimeter around my block, not allowing any people or cars through. (Deja vu of the G20 riots a few years ago with cops surrounding my building) Apparently there was a suspicious package left at our front entrance so they had to investigate. I asked them if it was safe to stay in the building. One told me no and that I should wait it out somewhere else. & another told me: "it's big enough to harm people but not an entire building" - referring to the "package"/bomb.

Since I am sometimes overly paranoid I decided to get away for some late night dinner:

Met up with my friend to check out Bar Isabel, a new tapas place. They have a really unique menu. Their food is delicious! Between my friend and I we ordered: raw horse, pig ears, roast squash, sobrassada crostini, and cured meats. My favourites were the ones I ordered - the Sobrassada & Honey Crostini (above photo on the right) and.....

Roast Squash + Yogurt + Pomegranate + Sage (on the right)...soooooo good!!!

I was so fascinated by that huge ice cube in the drink..

& one more requested shoes pic!

PS - I really hope tomorrow will actually be 23 degrees. I'm starting to think Spring will never arrive..

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This post archived in: Favourites

324. Washington DC | National Mall

Here's some more photos from my trip. All from the National Mall in Washington DC, which is the park that all the monuments, museums, etc are located. The last time I was here I was only 7 years old & don't remember a thing.
We spent a day here and unfortunately didn't have enough time (& energy) to see even half of all there was to see. Hopefully I'll be back someday! We were there for the Cherry Blossom Festival. Thanks to the cold weather they haven't fully blossomed yet but still very pretty.