Friday Five: NYC Edition

SK and I are heading up to NYC this weekend to visit some friends. While I grew up in the NY area and have been to most of the sights in the city, SK grew up in the Midwest and hasn't done all the touristy things - in fact, he's never been to any of the museums. I always have a long list of things to see, places to visit, and food to eat every time we go. While I know we won't get to do everything on the list, here are my top 5 things I want to do/see/eat this weekend:

1. See the mummies at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

I've loved going to the Met ever since I was a little girl. I've always been especially fascinated by the mummy exhibit - They have it set up so that you can actually walk inside a tomb and see the mummies as they would be in Egypt. The hieroglyphics are my favorite part - I've always thought of them as little comics from the ancient world.

2. See the dinosaurs at the Natural History Museum.

These were truly terrifying to me as a child and they're fascinating to me now. I always loved the artist formerly known as Brontosaurus (now the Apatasaurus) because we both had names that started with 'B'. Plus I could never remember what it was called and always asked my Dad if we could go to the Natural Museum of History every.single.time.

3. Eat dinner at Flex Mussels.

While this may not be a tourist attraction, it's a restaurant I've had on my "to try" list for quite some time. SK and I both love 'moules frites' and Flex boasts an impressive menu of all different types of mussels and preparations. Deeeeelish.

4. Visit Eloise at the Plaza Hotel.

Eloise was one of my favorite books as a child. If you never read them, the Eloise books are a series of picture books about a mischievous little girl who lives in the Plaza hotel. A portrait of the character hangs in the lobby of the Plaza Hotel. When I was a little girl, my dad took us to see the painting and I asked the guard if I could visit with Eloise. He told me that she was on vacation and I said, "Oh. In Florida?!" (At this point, I thought 'vacation' was synonymous with 'visiting your grandmother in Palm Beach.") But he said yes, she was in Florida, so maybe her grandma and mine played Mah Jongg together.

5. Dim Sum in Chinatown.

This might not be at the top of everyone's list, but dim sum is one of my favorite meals in New York. Oftentimes my family will head into Queens to our favorite dim sum restaurant to eat Sunday brunch and it never disappoints. For those of you who've never been, dim sum is a traditional Cantonese meal where portions are doled out by servers pushing carts of food around a room. When you see something you like, you take it off the cart and they stamp your pay card. At the end the restaurant tallies up how much you ate based on that card, and you pay. Standard dishes include steamed pork buns, sesame balls stuffed with meat or bean paste, dumplings, and other goodies (though there can be some things that are not usually found in Western cuisine that I usually avoid). It can be overwhelming to dim sum novices (the first time my dad met SK, he dared him to eat a chicken foot at dim sum. true story.)  but it's always so delicious and its one of the cheapest meals you can get in NYC. (I once got a dim sum meal for $4 and I was stuffed all day.)

What are your top 5 in New York? What about in your favorite city?

Happy Weekend everybody!

xoxo,

b