It's Sunday and Karie is working 3-10 so it's Zoe and Emily day! Of course that means we wake up at 1pm and Zoe is dealing with tech support online for the next 2 hours but okay. By 3 her computer is better, and we start off our day. We both get ready, drop some laundry off for Zoe at the laundromat around the corner and head to Manhattan! By then its around 5pm and we're heading to get our first meal of the day - dinner. Zoe and Karie have been debating over Ramen restaurants and are at a disagreement to which is better so today Zoe takes me to her pick - TOTTO RAMEN.
LOCATION: 248E 52ND ST, NEW YORK, NY 10022
I already love it when we walk in. Totto Ramen had a cool rooster in a ramen bowl as their logo which is fantastic. Small wooden tables and great textures on the walls make this place feel young. Zoe orders us the fried octopus balls which I've never had before but are creamy and warm, dripping with flavor. I'm super in love. As a main I order the totto spicy ramen with pork and an added poached egg. I'm all about this raw yolk flavor. The ramen comes with rayu, spicy sesame oil, Paitan ramen, scallions, bean sprouts, and nori. I mix everything together and it's perfection. The spicy ramen is just the right amount of heat and gives it a little kick. The broth has great body and is so hot it par cooks my egg white when I mix it into the ramen. One bowl is perfect because we're stuffed. Warm and happy just the way I like it.
The problem is, that I really want to get dessert. A bakery that I've been told to try with an amazing cake that looks beyond beautiful in photos. So Zoe decides we should go get it, we'll just walk the hour it takes to get from totto to this bakery - 7 avenues and 29 streets - lets go! Its a warm day out and Zoe and I love just talking and catching up so that's what we do. We walk, and digest, and talk, and are happy. It's a perfect night. About and hour or so later, and a couple of stops we walk by a movie theater and decide to catch a flick at 10:30pm. An hour and a half to eat cake around the corner. We're so smart. We finish our trek and make it to HARBS bakery.
LOCATION: 198 9TH AVE, NEW YORK, NY 10011
When I was working at Wegmans over the summer, Jon mentioned a bakery in New York he read about that has this amazing cake called the Mille Crepe. Layers of thin french crepes topped with whipped cream and a variety of fruit - pineapple, strawberry, kiwi, cantaloupe, banana, and honeydew. This is my kind of cake. Beautiful layers of fruit and whipped cream makes for a perfect dessert. Zoe falls in love with the Tiramisu in the glass case and orders one of those as well. We get tea to drink and are happy and full always. Zoe's friend comes to meet us for some tea and we get Karie a slice of mille crepe to go for when she meets us at the movie theater. Honestly, its a wonderful day and Zoe and I ate so much but it was all fantastic food.