day before the new year - dec 31, 2009

okay, found another favourite place to visit in nyc: chelsea market. chelsea market is a building that houses retail/restaurant space and offices/studios for the food network. a very neat thing about chelsea market is that a lot of the businesses there combine their manufacturing and retail assets and you can watch how the food is made before enter the retail space to buy/eat the food.

danil and I had lunch at freidman's lunch at the market. I ordered a reuben sandwich and we were pleasantly surprised at the amount. had a turkey meatloaf with a side of sweet potato fries. the fries were very good, but then, we love sweet potatoes. lunch was decidedly a hit, nothing overly spectacular, but good food for a good price.

for dessert, we went to fat witch bakery where it boasts of the best brownie in nyc. the brownies were rich and moist and all together solid, but at $2.50 for small square block it was overpriced.

we wandered around the market for a little wihle. I loved watching the ongoings of the lobster place, which was a fish retailer and obviously reeked of fish. there were so many different kinds of fish and it was bustling with people and in one corner, there were sushi chefs making rolls. I read really good reviews about the place, but unfortunately, I had no need to buy fish and was too full to try their seafood soups or sushi.

before leaving the market, we bought some bread from amy's bread to snack on later in the day. I am not exactly sure what daniel ordered, but it was delicious, even after being in the cold for a few hours and the day after.

(moments into the new year)

(people behind us)

(view of times square from where we stood)

and now brings me to new years eve at times square, which was the main reason for coming down to nyc this week: standing seven hours or so to ring in the new year with a million strangers in a matter of ten seconds. we made our way to times square at around 4pm, only to find all the roads to time square were closed off. by the time we found a street that enabled us to approach times square it was 52nd st. there was a big sea of people, 12 blocks worth, between us and the new years ball. eventually we weaseled our way to 48th st, moving an inch at a time- literally. we stood for about seven and half hours, altogether, meeting people all around the world but none of whom were actually from the city. it rained. it took more than an hour to use the washroom at a corner pizza stop. it was cold. and then the new year came, making the long wait all worth while.