A little trip to Hoboken

Last Friday, Tim and I headed to Hoboken with my brother, his girlfriend, my parents and some family friends to watch Ryan's future baseball team play at Steven's University.  Afterwards we got wind of a really awesome pizza place where the slices are basically the size of your head...I'm not even joking.

Anyway, the place is called Benny Tudino's and it's obviously owned by Benny Tudino who is a nice, old Italian man that I somehow ended up meeting at the end of the night.  It was one of those places I feel like you see in Goodfellas.  Full of Italian's itching to grab a seat with Benny at the front booth.  That man must stay there all night.

At first, I wasn't feeling pizza because I'm weird and only sometimes lactose intolerant.  So at first Tim and I ordered eggplant parm sandwiches which just weren't good.  I'm not saying they were bad, I'm just saying it wasn't for me.  It was very traditional and wasn't served breaded so I felt like I was just tasting eggplant.  Not a fan.  By the end of the night, after not really touching my food, I ordered a slice of thin crust plain pizza and I was a happy girl.

Seriously, go to this place for pizza and wings and nothing else....except maybe the fried calamari.

A little bit of Italy right in New York City

Recently, I have taken up an obsession with Italy.  I don't know if it has something to do with a series of blog posts I recently read from my favorite blogger or if the travel bug that bit me in high school after my trip to Spain has shown back up and bit me again.  Regardless of the reason, I have become all sorts of obsessed with the beautiful country that is Italy.

The sad news is that I do not have the funds to send myself to Italy and lets face it...I would never go alone.  Tim and I will probably have kids by the time this trip is feasible...but hopefully not.  He isn't as infatuated as I am with the idea of Italy, but I don't think he'd oppose the trip if we could afford it.  So because I know that trip isn't at the tip of our fingers just yet I have been trying to find ways to bring Italy to us.

What I found was Eataly in NYC...which is probably my most favorite find since Tim. ;)

Last Thursday my mom, Tim and I were in the city to see a taping of The Chew (blog post on that to follow) and after watching people cook for an hour...we were starving.  I had found Eataly online not too long ago and have been dying to go since.  Tim and my mom were champs and let me drag them across town to 5th Ave. to experience this phenomenal food market/restaurant.

Basically Eataly is a food lovers dream.  It has everything you could need, equipped with a fully stocked market and nine different restaurants.

That day we ate at La Pizza & La Pasta and I had the best damn pasta I had ever eaten.

Ravioli filled with ricotta cheese, butternut squash and amaretto cookie. It was in a brown butter sauce.  UGH to DIE for.  

Seriously, if you are ever in the city and are near 5th ave...hell even if you aren't...GO THERE.

New York City...you aren't the same

A little over a week ago when we had that huge snowstorm, my favorite blogger wrote something that stung a little.  She was talking about the snow and how beautiful it was at first in the city but how it quickly turned into a gross, slushy mess outside.

"Sad how fast that pretty stuff turns black here in the city."

It hit a sore spot in my heart because I don't think that applies to just snow...

I have always loved New York, don't get me wrong.  As a little girl I fantasized about living and working in the city.  I wanted to make it big as a writer, never marry and slave over my career for the rest of my life.  Granted I was a cynical teenager who had yet to get into the real world (who had yet to fall in love-that changes everything).  The point is, I never stopped loving it. I got to college and still hoped to work there someday...to be that working girl in the city like every women I had ever admired.

When I took my recent job in the city I was ecstatic to be working in the city for the first time.  I had a glamorous job and life seemed to be falling into my hands the way that I wanted it.  What I soon realized was that the glamorous lifestyle that I thought New York provided was simply not the case.

Commuting into the city twice a week opens your eyes to a lot of New York that you otherwise wouldn't see.  While you might not be a resident, by default, the time you spend in the city in some ways makes you an honorary New Yorker.  You learn a lot about New York in a short time.  You realize that those people you admire (the working people) are actually pretty cranky and they don't love life like you thought they did.  You also become aware of how sad New York can be.  You see the homeless...you see the drugs...you see everything.  You see things you wish you hadn't.  I think beautiful things come to New York and in someways the city kills them.  I think if you let it, New York can ruin a dream. 

Maybe it's that I have changed.  I'm not that same teenage girl that I used to be that wanted the fast-paced New York lifestyle.  I am in love and with that comes a load of different dreams.  I want a home with a yard, I want a family, I want a slower paced life that I can enjoy.  I no longer want New York.  So maybe because I no longer want New York I am so aware of the negatives.  Don't get me wrong, there are still parts I love.  I just am no longer enarmored with this concrete jungle. 

New York will always have a place in my heart...always.  It's just no longer for me and sometimes that makes me sad.