Sublime Saturdays & Sundays

{ Hudson River Park laziness  |  NYC  }

This weekend was, well, perfect.

No work (okay, a teensy bit of translating), no errands,  only a smidgen of cleaning/needy-plant-nurturing and hardly any time spent at home at all (so, the exact opposite of the last two weekends.)

R and I work different schedules—my weekends are the typical Saturday/Sunday deal that all us corporate types get, whereas R, who works in hospitality, has his days off during my work week. But, on Saturday he started much later than usual, meaning we could finally bring back an old favorite, a classic NYC institution: brunch. I poured over Open Table openings and menus and finally decided on Locanda Verde. It's been on my list for ages, having passed it numerous times during Tribeca neighborhood walks, as well as having heard lots and lots of good things. So lush and green (of course) and the menu? Delicious. Plus, slightly selfishly, the idea of being a block away from the water, for some post-prandial strolling and lounging, was very enticing.

And then—boom, R realized he wouldn't be able to make it after all. Someone else might have rearranged their plans, but I'm the type to get an idea in my head and then never let it go. I had already decided what I was going to order, so I couldn't get the menu off of my mind, meaning, I decided to take myself there for an early dinner on my own...but first:

I took myself to the Hudson River to sprawl out on a blanket in the shade (it was 90F outside, after all), along with a bottle of fizzy water, a mess of frozen groups and two books (finished one!). I let the grass play between my bare toesies while the light filtering through the tree boughs above made patterns on my open book and just dawdled the hazy, balmy afternoon away.

{ Dawdling away the afternoon on the Hudson River }

{ Hello kale + sardo + eggy goodness!  |  Locanda Verde  }

And then, off to Locanda Verde! I settled myself at the bar around 6PM, with my second book and a list of drinks before me. First up—the Piccoletta cocktail (marrying two of my favorites: Campari + Tequila, who knew they'd be so delicious together?). Then, a glass of nebbiolo and a ridiculously profuse kale salad with a shredded hard boiled egg + white sardo, followed by a beautiful platter of steak tartara (such a sucker for crudo on rustic wood, especially when topped with truffle oil, quail eggs and bacon!). Before heading home I figured no self-indulgent meal was complete without some chocolate, so a chocolate budino + mint gelato had to be had. You understand, right?

{ Me + a book + a snazzy cocktail  |  Locanda Verde, NYC }

{ Steak tartar-y goodness  |  Locanda Verde, NYC }

At 8:30PM, the setting sun on the West Side still burnishing the city, I headed home to settle myself on the couch to wait for R's return.

+ + + 

When I clambered out of bed Sunday morning, R was already at work, so I spent a few hours by myself at home with brewed cacao, my knitting and the fan blowing at me. Then I headed out to stock up on fresh flowers and pure chocolate for the week, before meeting R at SmorgasBar at South Street Seaport, an amazing offering from the folks behind Brooklyn Flea (massive flea market + food market) and Smorgasburg (massive local food market).

{ Carnitas taco goodness from Fonda  |  Smorgasbar  | South Street Seaport, NYC }

Since the South Street Seaport (love their SEE/CHANGE campaign!) has been desolate since Hurricane Sandy, the developers chose it as the location for their newest market—their first in Manhattan—to bring some life and energy and much needed funds downtown. It was lovely. We sampled goods from Fonda: pork carnitas tacos and a jicama salad, with some ginger beer from another stall.

After our bellies were full we ambled over to the East River Esplanade to lay our blanket down on the grassy areas of the raised park to enjoy the rest of the evening. Babies toddled around, kids raced past us, dogs lumbered about, boats sailed by at the end of our pier, planes zoomed overhead—either slowly descending into LGA or JFK or racing up and across the sky as they took off. And so my sublime weekend ended.