NY, NY (Part 3 of MANY)

When I left you last night, I was at Chelsea Market,

a former Nabisco Oreo factory of all things. It's filled with bakeries, kitchen wares, chocolatiers, wine cellars, restaurants, etc. A very fun "foodie" place. Some of the baked goods were incredible to look at. My sister bought me a "Happy Birthday" cupcake from Eleni's, which I didn't eat until I got home.

One place I was really looking forward to was Amy's Breads. I got a few rolls to sample and some pumpkin bread for us to have for breakfast on Sunday. It did not disappoint. That pumpkin bread was out of this world. I should have gotten a loaf to bring home. My bad. :-(

Kelly had a ham 'n cheese sandwich from Amy's Bread for lunch on Saturday. She gave me a bite. I can still remember how exquisite it tasted. I TOTALLY made the wrong choice for lunch (I had a chicken and roasted pepper sandwich from an Italina place which was fine, but nothing like Kelly's!)

Then it was off to SoHo (south of Houston St, remember??) ...

 for some unique shopping experiences. This is not the place for chain stores for the most part, but unique shops carrying trendy merchandise.

We eventually ended up at a large, 3-level store called UNIQLO which was kind of a Japanese verion of GAP. Good prices. Colorful basics. A fun place to shop.

I ended up with a black knit dress ...

and some of their Heattech (breathable, tech fabric).

I forgot to mention that on Friday I got some fun, cheap ($22) shoes somewhere off Fifth Avenue.

Later we went to Chinatown ...

where there are scarves for sale EVERYwhere. Pashminas and cashmere, or cashmere-feel. You can almost always talk them down a buck or five. I got these two (one Pashmina, the turquoise plaid, and one cashmere-feel) for $5 each.

After leaving Chinatown we headed a couple of blocks north to Little Italy and Benito II ..

for some authentic Italian food. They first brought out some rustic Italian bread which was good.

I ordered spaghetti and meatballs as the menu claimed it was the "best in the world" or something to that effect, and Kelly's aunt had tried it and said it was very good. I don't know if I've ever had spaghetti and meatballs. LOTS of spaghetti but ixnay on the eatballsmay. Well, these meatballs were indeed very, very good. Both of them.

The pasta was cooked perfectly al dente, but best of all was the sauce. It was phenomenal. I don't know what made it particularly unique but it was the best pasta sauce I've ever had. Well, I was now feeling pleasantly plump and we were off to the East Village ...

 to discover yet another NYC neighborhood. This one had a vibe all its own.

Filled with tattoo parlors and jewelry stores.

And Vikings parties. Why not??

And that's where I'll pick it up tomorrow. :-)