NYC - Il Laboratorio del Gelato

How do you know you're from around here? When it's below 30 degrees in March and there's snow on the ground but you still go get gelato anyways. Yep. Winter does not stop us. We had to find Il Laboratorio. And it was worth it.  

This place is super cool with a sterile lab feel chock full of tubes and weird funnels accompanied by the cute italian guy scooping you ice cream. I'll take it. I love the fun aesthetic/fun theme they have going for them and the gelato is great. I got a small (all of the sizes come in these cute mini take out containers) which was two scoops. I got the marshmallow and I think pomegranate. They were both good and blended well together. Creamy and delicious. And cold. 

NYC - Veselka

We had a solid day off near the end of the week and decided to have our adventure eating around the city and hitting a bunch of places with our spare time. We started a little late and had brunch at Veselka! 

Veselka was pretty cool. It was a freezing day and we somehow managed to be seated at a table so close to the door that it snowed a little right above us. This place had an eclectic diner kind of feel which was fun. The waitress we had was a little iffy with us but another one that happened to walk by our table was funny and really sweet about the snow. 

Veselka has Ukrainian specials all over the place and I of course went for the Perogis because I'm in love with all things potato and Perogis are boss.

I ordered a large plate - fried (which is supposed to be 7 perogis according to their website now but I'm counting more in my photo... hmmm)  

So let's see, I got 2 spinach & cream cheese, 2 sauerkraut & mushroom, 2 arugula & goat cheese, and 1 meat. I think.... in any case the arugula and goat cheese were my favorite. The perogis come with a side of caramelized onions and sour cream which is awesome too. (Not a huge fan of applesauce though but that's a personal preference thing). Anyways, this was a solid brunch. 

NYC - El Camion Cantina

El Camion was not a place on the list but I'm sure glad we went. We had our alumni party at a bar nearby but we had just enough time before that to get some dinner. So we wandered around near the bar and ended up at this place. Yum.

As you can clearly see I started off with a small margarita. I'm pretty sure I ended up with the pomegranate flavor too. I happened to get a small (because I'm small) but I got a pic of my friend's medium because it was prettier. The struggles of a lightweight photographer. While we drank those we munched on some chips and guacamole which was really good. 

Then as my main dish I ordered beer battered cod fish tacos. They were delicious. The cod was crispy and there was a slight kick from the avocado crema! Such a filling meal that was a fun twist on tacos.     

New York City and the Butcher's Daughter

My class load this semester is packed. But I got into some awesome classes, so its worth it. For the first week of March one of my classes had a great field trip to NYC to meet some awesome agents, photographers, magazines, and tech studios. This means while I was in NY, I didn't have to go to class, I got to had adventures with my friends, I got to meet some really cool important people and network with them (hey guys, still on the hunt for a job if you're hiring!), and of course I got to eat at some awesome places. 

Some of my friends have a running list of restaurants in NY that they want to try (we're all kind of foodies) and I was not going to miss out on it. 

One place we checked out was Butcher's Daughter. 

This place is super cute and cozy. They have all this raw wood and plants strategically placed with DIY style furniture. The food, was perfect. I started off with a yellow juice and I couldn't tell you all of the things inside of it but it's a mason jar of awesome.

For lunch I had the Vietnamese because I grew up on these things so whenever I see a re-invented version on menus, it just screams "Emily, Try Me!". So I did. This sandwich was great! Crispy french baguette style bread, a pate like spread, and veggies for days. It was incredible. This place is a must for sure! 

French Onion Soup!!

That's right! I made french onion soup and it was great because it's french onion soup!

As far as I'm concerned, french onion is amazing so I'm glad I got to make it. Of course we caramelized about 3lbs of onions in 2 tbsp of butter until they were soft and light brown. We turned off the flame (fire safety first!) added about a cup of dry sherry to deglaze the pan, then turned the flame back on to cook off the alcohol. We added 2 quarts of beef stock and then reduced the soup by about 1/4. We made some toasted garlic bread, put a chunk of that into a bowl with the soup, then melted some awesome swiss cheese on top until it was soft and gooey. French onion is great. Simple as that!