Sheltered Girl Meets World

BEER STORES: Whole Foods Market Bowery Beer

Having New York City as a second home is pretty sweet, but I'm having a bit of trouble adjusting to home life in a city that's always buzzing.  This past weekend instead of being the tourist I love to be I ate more meals at home than I did out, I compared meat prices while grocery shopping and I even spent some time cleaning the bathroom.  This is not the NYC I'm used to.

Thanks to my never ending chore list (and my limited budget) I won't be visiting any of the trendy craft beer bars with mind blowing draught lists and fancy serving glasses anytime soon.  I will do my best to explore the city's best bottle shops and stock the oh so clean fridge full of great beer.  Something has to keep those vegetables company.

This visit I combined my grocery shopping with beer shopping and went to the Whole Foods Bowery which I heard had an awesome selection of beer and beer things.

The rumours were true!  The Bowery Whole Foods Beer Store is separate from the rest of the store, fit with its own entrance and employees who know their beer.  If you can manage to get your eyes away from the racks and racks of beer from around the world they also sell home brewing equipment and bulk ingredients (hops, malt).  Oh, and they have a growler bar with 6 taps and on Thursday they have growler happy hour and .. and ..

I could go on for a while.

My haul?  A variety of brews from Captain Lawrence, Pretty Things, Tröegs, Evil Twin and a stainless steel (!) growler filled with an imperial IPA from Wild Onion.  I think I just bought the stainless steel growler to see how it compares to the glass version.  I apologize ahead of time if my Untappd check-ins make you jealous.

New York City - My Second Home?

Ooops, I blew off the blog and (some) of my (self enforced) social media responsibilities for a short trip to New York City.  I may have tweeted some awesome beer and food shots, but I wasn't there doing my usual beer tourism.  Instead I was on a strict mission to help furnish my boyfriend's new Manhattan apartment.

Yes, apartment in Manhattan.  No, I'm not going with him.  It's complicated.

I've gained a gorgeous place to stay while visiting New York City, but in exchange I've lost my gym partner, my best friend, my dining partner, my favourite critic and so much more.  Excuse me while I wallow in self-pity and indulge in my feel good sloth video playlist - this arrangement is going to take some time to get used to.

New York City for a Weekend

I'm back in Ottawa after a long weekend of indulgence in New York City.  I'm a little grumpier than usual, it may have something to do with waking up to frigid temperatures and missing the skyline of the big city.  While in New York City I visited lots of foodie and beerie hot spots - Momofoku Milk bar, Birreria at Eataly, Five Napkin Burger, Lombardi's and Ess-a-Bagel to name a few.

In the coming months I may become a regular visitor to New York City, for the sake of my health and my wallet I'm going to have to learn how not to gorge myself on the city's delicacies ..or get a better job and work out harder.  Hmm..

Eaten: Uyghur Cuisine @ Café Kashkar (New York City, NY)

The colourful Langsai Salad with heavily cumin spiced Samsa in the background.

I've said before that I like to travel by the seat of my pants, tossing the guide book in the back seat and visiting whichever roadside attraction has the brightest lights but I've changed.  Since the mishaps of last years American Road Trip I've learned that a flexible itinerary with details like addresses, hours of operation and alternatives can be useful and can avoid the dreadful vacation argument.  I still find making an itinerary painful but it's not the planning that gives me anxiety it's seeing the attractions, hotels and restaurants written down that reminds me of the expense of the vacation and how ill prepared my wallet is.