Katie's Visit Recap

Over this weekend, my friend Katie visited from Chicago. On Saturday I was extremely boring and just walked around Central Park with her since I needed to rest for Sunday's half-marathon. Before our walk, I did a brief 1.8 miles taking it slooooow through the park.

It's been so grey lately, but the reservoir is still beautiful! 

After our walk, Katie left to meet some friends for brunch and I took a nap then headed to the NYC Half Expo with Sourabh. The expo was across the street from Penn Station and was a disaster zone since it was St. Patrick's Day weekend. So many drunk people in green!

If you follow me on Instagram, you saw my bib picture. Love that they had a Times Square backdrop since that was the coolest part of the race!

I dropped by the Generation UCAN booth to say hi to Lora and pick up a few more packets of protein-enhanced UCAN. I've experimented with this "superstarch" a bit to fuel for runs but only a half packet. I'm going to try a full packet for a long run this weekend I think and will update more then!

Just chillin' with Meb. NBD. We're definitely running at the same pace. 

I ended the evening with a pasta and shrimp dinner before heading to bed at 9 PM. And then not being able to get to sleep until after 11 PM and waking up multiple times. Not great for race day. Oh well...

My one decent race photo. Need to work on cute race posing, clearly. 

After the half-marathon, my cheer squad (Sourabh, Katie, and Hana) and I had brunch at Peacefood Cafe and then I napped. Damn those early AM starts for big races! We ended the day by having dinner at one of my favorite NYC restaurants, Alta. It has great small plates, great cocktails, and great service. Sourabh and I bring everyone there when they visit!

Monday was the day that Katie and I had planned to do the most touristy things. We visited the 9/11 Memorial and Battery Park so she could see the Statue of Liberty, but at that point we turned to what she was really interested in: food. There's a reason we're friends.

Awkward pic over lunch? Why not.

We had lunch at Momofuku Noodle Bar. I highly recommend this place if you like ramen, pork, buns, or just good food. Basically, you should go there. We split the fried oyster bun and turnips (the turnips were AMAZING and had such a crazy mix of flavors that worked so well), then she had a pork bun and I had the ginger scallion noodles. So much deliciousness. I wish the Lower East Side weren't so far away!

Momofuku Noodle Bar

We meandered from the Lower East Side to Gramercy where we explored Eataly and then picked up doughnuts at Doughnut Plant to take back home. Yes, post-race feasting extended to Monday. I got back to the healthy eating on Tuesday, but it was important to me to just enjoy Katie's visit. Check out the doughnut plate we put together...

Mason wants some. Don't worry, he didn't get any.

We couldn't quite get through all of them, even with Sourabh's generous help, but the remainders mysteriously disappeared while Sourabh was doing the dishes. Hmm.

That evening we headed back downtown, after I napped again because I am prematurely 60 and need afternoon naps apparently. We met up with Stephen, a friend of Katie's for drinks at Lillie's. Both Stephen and I started discussing the amazingness of Gramercy Tavern, realized it was around the corner from where we were, and decided we had to take Katie there.

The delicious Orange Blossom cocktail. So much deliciousness in a champagne flute. 

I got to eat at quite a few great restaurants over the summer while at my firm, and Gramercy Tavern stood out as one of my favorites, so it was fun to head back and try a few more dishes. Katie and I split the baked clams and a Brussels sprouts dish. Both were amazing.

We all decided to split two desserts, since Stephen and I recalled how good the desserts were there. The waiters brought us an extra one, complimentary! Chocolate pudding, cheesecake, and apple pie. These aren't my favorite desserts normally, but Gramercy Tavern's versions are amazing.

I got back to lighter eating on Tuesday, after Katie headed back to Chicago. I am still trying to lose a few pounds, as I wrote a while ago, but it has to fit in with living a normal life. Since I'm not going on spring break, Katie's visit was kind of my "vacation," and I wanted to make sure she got to enjoy lots of fun NYC eats.

If you're in NYC, what's your favorite restaurant or food? How do you get back to healthy eating after a trip or staycation?