NYC Once More - Sights & Sounds

So our weekend-weekday get-away to the Big Apple went pretty well. As mentioned in my pre-trip post in Packing for NYC, our objectives for this trip were to collect a passport, catch a Broadway show and I’m including this now that we’ve done it……….To try some good food! Of course, we ended up doing more than planned without burning too many holes in our pockets, which is a great thing.

In this post, I’ll be focusing on the sights and sounds of NYC. I’ll leave my next post to tell you more about the tastes so stay tuned for more on the restaurants we tried!

Before everything else, let me introduce our hotel! We stayed in the DoubleTree Hilton. Love love love this hotel for it’s great location and amenities. For one, there’s always a welcome drink at the lobby area. Who wouldn’t be thrilled to receive some ice-cold orange water after baking in the sun for an entire day?

With friendly and helpful staff, a cozy interior, and signature DoubleTree cookies to top off the experience, I wouldn’t mind coming back a third time.

Amongst all the musicals I’ve watched in my lifetime (my very first being Annie), this was my first Broadway experience! I am thankful for this opportunity to watch the very talented cast perform. Broadway Musicals have a repertoire of only featuring the best artists and I must agree and the experience has not let me down. After googling for various renditions of Defying Gravity, I still find the Broadway Musical’s version the best.

We went for the Alphaba Apple!

And to add to my collection of Musical Programme Booklets.

Amazing set.

We got streamered-on during the show!

Spotted some trishaws right outside the Gershwin Theatre! I thought they were exclusive to Asia, no?

One tip for newbies like I was is, if your are getting your Broadway tickets online, you might want to do a quick search for the best deals instead of heading straight to websites with cliché sounding-names. I got my tickets from ticketmaster.com as opposed to broadway.com (which I almost got my tickets from).

Also, my take is to get yourself an unobstructed seat as close to the stage as possible. We were four rows away from the stage and I felt like I could almost sing alongside with the cast. It’s amazing admiring the set and expressions of those on stage without having to squint or strain my neck.

We stopped by Hershey’s Chocolate World on the way back from Broadway.

The kisses lamps look so adorable!

I wouldn't mind buying this if smelling chocolate is as good as eating it.

On our last day, which happened to be our second day in NYC, we managed to squeeze in some time to visit the Empire State Building.

 A mail chute where letters were dropped from upper floors and collected at the bottom floor.

Running away from King Kong! Our photographer took this picture just as we were getting ready for a shot with the big guy actually. I wonder why we looked so frantic. Haha.

What a stark contrast to the Boston landscape! The buildings in NYC are sandwiched together in a rather neat fashion.

Since there was no way to stick my head out of the building to catch a glimpse of what lay below, I did this. Maybe I should get my camera insured.

Like all places of interest, the last stop is always a gift store. I'm not complaining! :)

Kitchen Adventures: Victoria's Secret Trio

Baking in the winter is one clever way to escape the cold. You are home with excellent heating and with the extra heat waves from the oven, it just makes your tummy yearn for those finger-lickin’-good chocolate chip cookies.

Baking in the summer…well, let’s just say that’s a crazy idea when you’re all sticky from a run at the gym and it’s 100ºF outside! I was crazy enough to get down to business in my oven mitts, mixing bowl and cupcake ingredients!

This was not what I baked nor what I baked in. Haha. It was in fact my inspiration for the Victoria’s Secret Trio.

I received a mailer from Victoria’s Secret a few days ago and there were some really cool coupons. One of which was a coupon for a free lace trim panty! I was too excited and went to the stores the following day.

This is the result! Cupcakes in Victoria’s Secret’s signature colors. Don’t blame me for this but it kind of tasted like I was eating candied sponge fabric. 

Yay or Nay? Doesn’t really matter because I was on a sweet craving anyway.

Not a Cup of Tea But a Cup of Coffee

It was a rather relaxing Sunday and after a week of working-out (I didn’t exercise every day of course), I decided to treat myself to some good coffee. Not exactly the best way to aid my efforts in living a healthier lifestyle, but…with great company, why not?

For those of you who know me, I’m more of a tea person than coffee. However, I love going to the Starbucks café on JFK Street (sometimes just to “window shop” the interior décor and take a personal tour around the coffee bean packs), though it gets rather busy especially on the weekends and even on weekdays after office hours. It’s located beside the Harvard MBTA station and of course, it’s right in the heart of Harvard Square. This has got to be one of the best Starbucks cafes in Harvard Square (there are a total of 3 here) simply because the service is efficient and friendly, there’s an excellent ambience especially on the 2^nd floor…and the coffee is made to perfection (says my expert coffee-drinker friends and me, the non-expert at this field but totally agreeable to this because it tastes so good)!

So this is kind of an extended version of what I briefly talked about in Date Night at Cheeks, Regal, Star & Pink.

Here are the pictures taken over 2 occasions. I’m obsessed with furniture, I know!

Our ventes!

The waiting area which doubled up as a seating area for us.

Here's where they make their coffee. Also a view from where we were seated (at the booth seats).

Bird's-eye-view of the ground floor kitchen.

Spacious upper floor. Feels almost like home. The far right is a coffee counter which you can order more coffee from without having to make your way down to the ground floor again!

There you go, a clearer view of it.

The other end of the upper floor.

Absolutely love this reading area - looks almost like a study!

We got ourselves window seats with comfy chairs (on another occasion). Almost felt like I could have snoozed for a bit - and yes, even the caffeine wouldn't have had any effect on me!

View from our window seats. The huge pillar-like structure is actually a lift that leads you down to the MBTA station.

Was quite amused by this. It's a charging station! We got all excited and started placing our cell phones on it only to find out it wouldn't work unless we had a special charging cover. Geez.

Something we spotted while walking around Harvard Square. A book sale with no one tending to it.

We realized why.

I hope you had your coffee fix today just by looking at these pictures.