Continuing on with my backlog, here are some photos taken at the beginning of the year. My good friend S decided to celebrate her birthday at her favourite city, New York. She also spent a few days here in Toronto, so I tagged along with her.

(She obviously posted on time, you can check out Days 1, 2, 3.)

The thing about living here in Toronto is that US East Coast is so close. No surprise why I was in New York twice this year. I ended up taking the bus on both occasions, although if I can do it again and circumstances were better I would have flown out instead.

We arrived early in the morning on Sunday after a 12-hr bus ride from Toronto. Our first stop was to get breakfast at Hungry Ghost Café (781 Fulton St). It was a chilly morning and I regretted not bringing an insulated pair of boots as my feet were a bit frozen it was a little difficult to walk (NYC had some snow fall a few days before).

We then caught the winter Brooklyn Flea Market (Skylight One Hanson Place) and checked out the place. I finally saw the Brooklyn Film Camera and bought a shirt for my husband as well as a camera lapel pin. I also found some gems – a few boxes of old transparencies owned by a stranger. I didn’t buy all the slides though but hoping that if the store still has it I’ll probably come back to get them.

For lunch we checked out the basement area and bought food at Tramezzini.

After a few more wanderings (we also went to Target and I bought some craft items) we headed to our accommodation, NoMo (9 Crosby). S decided to spend our trip along SoHo as it is less stressful part of NYC and we wanted to go around with some peace and quiet. The unit was tinier than usual places but I find it to be very comfortable. Also they have Molton Brown for toileries which I like. 🙂

After freshening up and relaxing for a bit we went for dinner at Cocoron 37 (37 Kenmare St). There is a bit of a wait because the place is small and popular. As it was cold that night it was only proper that we order warm soba (Tanuki soba and Kashiwa soba) with spring rolls as side.

Day 2 was a busy day for us. We headed to Toby’s Estate (44 Charles St) for breakfast and had a mini photo session along Perry Street (famous for being the location of Sex and the City). Walked further a bit to check out McNally Jackson Store Goods for the Study (50 West 8th) and Lomography Gallery Store (41 W 8th St). The shopkeeper let us in a few minutes early because it was cold! Also we chatted a bit especially when we found out we were camera twinning that day. 🙂

For lunch we have decided to check out Chelsea Market (75 9th Ave) and found ourselves grabbing some Lobster rolls at The Lobster Place, before heading to the High Line. Aside from the nice view we also caught the creepy installation “Sleepwalker” by Tony Matelli.

We walked 19th Street W and checked out a few stores, including Les Toiles du Soleil (261 West 19 St) before we reached Dough (14 West 19) for snacks, and ABC Home & Carpet, Fishs Eddy (889 Broadway), and Strand Bookstore (828 Broadway) where I got a book and a tote bag. I would have loved to buy some items at Fishs Eddy but it would be difficult to carry them home so I opted out of it. Maybe next time.

For dinner we headed to Raclette (511 E 12th St) where we had raclette cheese! S had the Mediterranean while I had the Swiss. There were no shortage of oohhs and aahhs as cheese were served on our dining table. It was delicious and a great paring with our conversations.

Day 3 was a chill day and we just stayed around SoHo, wandering around. Got our hot drinks at Happy Bones (394 Broome St) and had a nice chat with their baristas too. BTW I had their hot chocolate and it was delicious (my baseline is Quantum‘s here in Spadina, but this comes close).

We had our brunch at Jack’s Wife Freda (224 Lafayette St) where I had a delicious breakfast bowl before we headed shopping. UNFORTUNATELY, it seems like all the stores decided to do their inventory that day so we only ended up checking out Canvas Home (426 Broome St), Blanc and Eclare (132 Prince St), Mansur Gavriel (134 Wooster Street), the MoMa Design Store (81 Spring Street), and The Paper Source (83 Spring St). Bought some sweets at Dominique Ansel Bakery (189 Spring St) and pizza for lunch at Lombardi’s (32 Spring St) before calling it a day. We headed back to Toronto first thing in the morning the next day so we opted to get a take out food for dinner so we can rest early. 🙂

The birthday girl! Thank you for visiting Toronto and for inviting me to celebrate with you at NYC. 🙂