**Tuesday, June 23rd: Out for the evening**After traveling all morning and spending the afternoon around town and at the hotel with my parents and
Caroline, it was already time to
start getting ready for dinner and a night out.I wanted my parents to have at least
two nights on the trip to themselves for dinner together; and so
tonight was one of those "date nights" for them (
awww).
They chose a
restaurant located near the one that I dined at that evening (
more on that later), so that we could easily meet up after our meals:
BLT Prime.
VeggieDad took photographs of the meal components that
he and VeggieMom considered "exceptional eats":
Freshly-Baked Oversized Popovers, which are a signature item at the restaurant. Although they could not even finish
half of these rolls, my folks loved the "
light texture, hollow insides, and sprinkling of celtic sea salt."
Skipping right to dessert,
VeggieMom enjoyed a slice of the
Cherry Pie with Cherry-Vanilla Ice Cream. The pie had a
luscious filling and flaky crust, while the scoop of ice cream was
smooth and cooling - a "nice contrast to the warm pie."
My dad ordered the
Mango Sorbet Trio, which satisfied his craving for something
refreshing and tropical-tasting.
Overall, my folks enjoyed and highly recommend
BLT Prime.
Simultaneously, I enjoyed my meal (and company!!) at an old favorite restaurant of mine,
Pure Food and Wine.
So who did I dine with?? 
Well, it was none other than
Kristen from "Kristen's Raw" (
as well as her wonderful husband, who was behind the camera, haha).
I have a special friendship with and appreciation for Kristen, since
she has helped me for the past two years with my high-raw lifestyle (from the beginning, through transitioning, and now). She is truly one of the most compassionate, genuine, knowledgeable, and fun people that I know; and
it was a blessing to finally be able to meet in person!!
And now for our meals...
Kristen ordered the
Taco Salad, which is made up of romaine lettuce, spicy taco crumble, pico de gallo, guacamole, and cashew "sour cream."
Kristen's husband opted for
perhaps the most "famous" item on Pure's menu, the Zucchini & Local Hothouse Tomato Lasagna . This dish features zucchini "noodles" layered with mounds of basil-pistachio pesto, sun-dried tomato sauce, and pignoli "ricotta." It is certainly a very rich meal, but does not leave you feeling overstuffed like "traditional" lasagna often can.
I ordered the
Falafel with Lemon Tahini & Spicy Red Pepper Sauces, which was served in romaine lettuce "boats." Let me tell you -
as a true "falafel fanatic," I was quite pleased with this raw version - very hearty and flavorful!!
For dessert,
Kristen and I both ordered the
Warm Peach Cobbler, which was comprised of
maple soaked peaches, buckwheat streusel, vanilla-cardamom ice cream, bourbon barrel-aged maple syrup, and garnished with a white chocolate tuile (
yes, all of that was in those tiny portions).
Although quite delectable with a wonderful melding of ingredients and flavors,
this dessert was just not satisfying - I finished mine in exactly three bites!! But no worries, I already had a plan to take care of my continued hunger...
After saying goodbye to dear Kristen and her husband for the evening,
I headed next door to One Lucky Duck (
Pure Food and Wine's takeaway location) in order to
satisfy my hunger for something more.
So how did I do that, exactly??
By purchasing a pint of
raw Almond Butter Cup ice cream - the person behind the counter at One Lucky Duck recommended this flavor the most (
and damn, was it ever creamy and holy yum!!) and even
scooped some of the pint into a takeaway cup (I took the rest of the pint back to my hotel room, to store in the freezer) for me, so that I could go
meet up with my parents afterwards.After walking around the city for a while, we eventually took a cab back to the other side of town (to our hotel's location).
My mom headed upstairs to her hotel room to rest while my dad and I ventured out a little longer.
Since our hotel is conveniently located across the street from the
Time Warner Center (filled with Whole Foods, several shops, and restaurants),
my dad and I spent some time (until the stores closed, haha) browsing through Borders Books & Music and other shops.
Needless to say, after such a full day (which began roughly before 7:00am) and night,
we were all more than ready to retire to our respective hotel rooms and quickly fall asleep - however, we were all looking forward to Wednesday (the next day) to officially begin!!
Day & night #1 in the city = absolutely fabulous.
**Stay tuned for Part Three of the VG NYC post series!!**
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