Me & my poufs

No, this is not about my adventures at a gay bar... :)

What else to do in NYC but to go homewares shopping...always dangerous when you have luggage restrictions...
But when we saw these two poufs at CB2 (like a Freedom but much much cooler), Steve gave me that face that just screamed "we have to have them and take them home!".

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 They are made of knitted cotton rope and look like a cross between a mandarin and sea urchin...but giant size.... but how cute and adorable are they!
They came in big cardboard boxes which we checked in - thankfully within our luggage limits. I hope you all get to check them out if you come over!

Brunch in NY # 1 - Balthazar

NYC does a lot of things well and brunch is definitely one of them. There are some great places to have brunch or brekkie and our first place was Balthazar - at Soho - which is an 'institution'. I'd been here for dinner on previous visits - it serves french brasserie style food and they do it well! But this was our first time for brunch.

Everything looked great on the menu and it was so hard to choose so we kinda ordered everything.......we indulged in smoked salmon bagels, waffles, granola, omelette, and scrambled eggs in pastry. Yummy yummy!!! Check out my later post when we gorge again at Pastis at Meatpacking!

NYC at night

We stayed at the beautiful Trump Soho while in NYC - it was a gorgeous hotel in a great location. I've been so lucky with my trip to stay at truly beautiful and luxurious hotels - wow, what a privilege!
We originally had a room on a lower level but the hotel was kind enough to move us all the way up to the 35th floor where we had the most amazing view of NYC. We could see all the way from the Brooklyn Bridge to Empire State Building - it's like landing that room in Paris that overlooks the Eiffel Tower! Here are some beautiful photos of the view and this gorgeous hotel.  When I look back on these photos, I remember why this is the best city in the world (except for Sydney of course!) - there is just something amazing about New York - the energy, the history, the mix of modern and art deco architecture, and the diversity - it re-energises & inspires me every time I visit.
Yes, and I pinched myself and I wasn't dreaming! I have posted these photos extra large as they are just so beautiful.

Empire State building lit up in red. The long avenue is 6th Ave (Ave of the Americas) heading uptown - it's busy day and night.

View looking out east - you can see the cables & suspension arches of the Williamsburg Bridge on the right

The view at day time

The hotel lobby of the Trump Soho

The Library (reading/chillout area)

Dinner out at Gilt, The Palace Hotel, New York

Yet another lovely dinner out - this time at Gilt @The Palace Hotel. For any of you who watch Gossip Girl (yes, I confess, I'm addicted even though the plotlines are so unbelievable!), the Palace Hotel was one of the locations used for the show.
The restaurant is located inside the hotel in a beautiful old hall but the food is modern and sophisticated which made for an interesting experience! The food was really lovely - it has 2 Michelin stars and I can understand why. It was certainly one of my favourite restaurants of the trip and it was Steve's favourite. The service was amazing - even though the waiter was somewhat impressed that this group of "Aussies" knew so much about food!

Here are some photos of the food and dining room.

Ruby Red Shrimp

Matsutake Mushooms

Me and my bambi (oops, I mean venison)

Dry aged strip loin

The grand old dining room - I thought I was in Versailles!

Steve, Ying and me - it was Ying's last night in NYC - it was so nice & fun to have him around

Outside The Palace Hotel - they really do amazing Xmas decorations there

A Wet Apple

While we were there, winter hit NYC in a big way! Temperatures dropped way down to 0 and -1 degrees and it came with crazy winds and rain. Wind chills took the 'real feel' temps to -5 to -10 (bbrrrrr!!!).
Here are a few photos around Rockefeller Centre where we got drenched! Although the weather was so bad, somehow these photos make it look quite romantic and beautiful that I just had to share!

The River Cafe

We dined at The River Cafe which is this top kinda old school restaurant in New York. It is on the Brooklyn side, at the foot of the Brooklyn Bridge and has beautiful views back to Manhattan. We did a degustation course which was amazing - scallops, lobster, foie gras, sirloin and this cool dessert that looks like the Brooklyn Bridge.

The foot of the Brooklyn Bridge

Ying and me digging into our scallops

Scallop Ceviche

Wild Rock Lobster - divine!

Hot view of Manhattan

Mediteranean sea bass

Sauteed Hudson Valley Foie Gras - this was AMAZING

Chocolate Marquise Brooklyn Bridge

Hot view, again...

We're on a Times Square billboard!!!

How cool is this! We're on a billboard in Times Square! And no, this is not photoshop - it's real!
If you buy something from the Times Square American Eagle store, you get to have your photo taken and then it appears on the big digital billboard outside its store. How ironic that I left 10 years in Outdoor media and I end up on the ultimate billboard - heehee!
I have to credit Steve for finding this - he found the store last year when he wandered around Times Square (it's somewhere we loves, while I find it all a bit too glitzy and cheesy but I have to give it to him this time!).
So, what do you think? Do we make good models?

Super cute Chocolate Shop

Just down the road from our hotel in Soho, there is a gorgeous chocolate shop called Marie Belle. They have beautifully decorated chocolates and a little tea house at the back. Check out how cute these chocolates are! We didn't buy these (they are just tooo pretty to eat) but we bought some toffee slices covered in chocolate and pistachio/almond and hazelnuts - they were AMAZING!!!

The yummy toffee slices we bought....sold by the pound....we spent $30 on chocolates...

So beautifully decorated

I wish someone would buy me a box of these!

Hello! from the tea house section of the shop

Our mission to save the US economy

The next day, Ying (my bro), Steve and I hired a car to drive out to Woodbury Common - it's a huge outlet shopping centre about an hour out from NYC - this was what I saved all my shopping $$ for!!! I had pretty much held off while in Paris, London, Hong Kong..... and our mission was to spend up big - after all someone has to save the US economy! With the great exchange rates, everything was soooooo cheap!
We shopped non stop between midday and 9pm (so 9 hours straight.....) - and our haul? We bought loads!!! Suits, shirts, jeans, shoes (4 pairs for me!), sneakers.....
We arrived back into NYC around 10.30pm and after returning the car, we headed off to a daggy (but yummy!) 24 hr chinese restaurant in Chinatown to recharge the energy.... very successful day.

Ready, set...........SHOP!

The Big Apple

After our cruise, we headed north to New York - my favorite city in the world!!!! This is my 4th visit to NYC and I love it more each and every time.
I saved the best for last - this IS the ultimate city for eating, drinking and shopping!
On our first night, we headed out to Meatpacking to meet some friends, Justin and Sharon as well as my brother Ying for a nice dinner at Nero D'Avola and then drinks at the Standard Hotel.  After loads of alcohol.....the hours between midnight and 4am (when we got back to the hotel) were very vague....sore heads for all the next day...

Perhaps I should have stopped after this one....!

Just cruising.....

For our first cruise, our experience was pretty good. They say about cruising that you either hate it or love it. I would probably disagree with that statement as I probably sit somewhere in between. Yes, I would do it again but I wouldn't go as far to say I've fallen in love with it or addicted to it. It certainly is a lot of fun, everyone on board is in a great mood, it's very easy to see lots of places without having to pack and unpack, there's enough places around to ship for all. I would recommend that everyone try it once in their life!
Here's some of our favourite shots from around the ship over our 5 days on board....!

Enjoying lunch at the sunset deck at the stern, one of our favourite spots on the ship.

View from the stern

Cocktails!!!!!!!

One night, the crew members came out to the pool to dance the Macarena - everyone got into it!

Playing deck  Shuffleboard, a must-do on a cruise - that's my puck on the 10 - not bad!

Afternoon tea at the Cafe

The well equipped gym - it was so busy in the mornings. I did yoga for a few of the mornings and Steve did weights and a spin class.

Water water everywhere....

Did I mention the drinks are unlimited.....can you tell how many we'd had when this picture was taken?

Dinner at the Murano Restaurant (specialty restaurant on the ship)

Arriving back into Miami - this was at 5am...we did go back to sleep after taking this shot!