Such lovely cookies!! One of the reasons why Christmas is my Favourite season :)
Anything you'll need for your Christmas Dinner
There was a chef behind the counter preparing these, it was so fresh!
Haven't had Japanese food in awhile and this was a treat.
$9 a box
Huge cookie to munch on while getting home
$3.50
23rd December The tree at the Rockefeller Centre
I wasn't even there on Christmas Eve or Christmas but it was already so very packed. I wouldn't want to imagine how it will be like on the 24th and 25th. A huge tree stood in the middle of the square :) In front of the side of a building which had the New Year countdown timer projected onto it. I guess its the experience of being there to appreciate the tree, and soak up the festivity.
The Rockefeller Centre's Skating Rink
If I am not wrong there is a small admission fee required to skate here. However. Do you see the line? It starts from the bottom and then goes up the stairs and circles the square. Its a crazy amount of people and I had a hard time moving anywhere.
The lights are so pretty here :) And everyone's here to celebrate Christmas.
Witnessed a Proposal
So this at the end of a snaking queue, where a professional photographer takes a photo for you with the Rockefeller Christmas Tree in the background. Suddenly this guy proposes in front of everyone in the square :O Whee!! Congrats to the couple! :)
The Tree at Bryant Park
The Skating Rink at Bryant Park
One of the days (January 2014) we contemplated queuing to get into the rink but eventually gave up for we didn't wanna turn into Icicles waiting; the queue goes all around the rink. The Rink closes at 9:30pm or 10pm if I'm not wrong, which is pretty early considering its NYC.
Outside Carmines on Christmas Eve
Christmas Eve Lunch
It doesn't look too full here but as soon as we got seated, the entire restaurant seemed to be instantly filled and when we left there was a long queue outside waiting to get in for lunch at 2:30pm. That's how popular this place is.
The really addictive pizza bread which I couldn't keep my hands off.
Didn't take many photos here cos as soon as the food came, we got preoccupied digging in! Carmines is a very Italian family business kinda place. The waiters are really friendly, they joke with people, come to check if the food's good. :) And thankfully I didn't have to be pressured into saying the food is good because it definitely was so!! Their serving size is huge! Each plate can be split into 5-6 portions that's alot of spaghetti. The tomato sauce they tossed the spaghetti in was so tasty! It was adjusted to have a balance of the sweet tomato and salt to bring out the taste. Almost the entire restaurant was filled with big tables, largely big families with happy smiley elderly and cute little toddlers. Huge platters though. But worry not, if its too much, the waiters will advise you against getting too many dishes :) Such an honest and unpretentious restaurant!
So its Christmas Day! We excitedly cabbed down to SOHO hoping we can have lunch at The Dutch for some fried chicken. But that greeted us was a ghost town. I've never seen SOHO like that before and I'm sure this isn't a common sight for the bustling, never sleeping NYC. We walked down SOHO and saw The Mercer Kitchen open and tried our luck but no way. It was just too packed. So we moped around outside Mercer for abit in the cold. Then, a brilliant idea struck! K Town would be open! One of the very few cabs around didn't mind taking 5 people in his car to K Town since it was near :) Yay!
Many things were closed and there were barely even people walking around. I was thankful we found a place to have lunch.
Beef Slices :)
Samgyeopsal (Pork Belly Meat)
I don't quite remember which Korean restaurant this was but we sat upstairs. It might be Arirang or might be beside Arirang idk. We were just desperate to sit in a warm place so BBQ sounded like a good idea.
I had Samgyeopsal, a korean meat dish that is rarely seasoned and just grilled. It's often eaten as a wrap with bean paste in iceburg lettuce. Not a fan of pork but seeing the fat bubbling has never failed to keep me entertained haha. But apparently, the over fried bits are yummy. Idk.
I went to Les Halles for my Christmas Dinner :) Read all about it here.
