Holidays 2014

This year marked the first time we were out of California for the holiday season.  Fortunately, we were able to find ways to enjoy some of the traditions we love and invented a few new ones for the years to come. This post is a brief rundown of the past month and a half.

Thanksgiving:

Thanksgiving for two is an interesting endeavor when you come from families as large as ours: all our recipes feed 12! Add in the extremely limited kitchen of a small apartment and you've got a bonafide Thanksgiving debacle. So we decided to order a pre-cooked turkey breast from a catering company in our neighborhood, Cobblestone Foods.  We cooked our favorite Thanksgiving side dishes, added the turkey breast, and BOOM!  Thanksgiving dinner was served :)



Our first snow! Wasn't enough to stick on the ground, but it was fun to experience it together :)

Voila! Green bean casserole, stuffing, mashed potatoes, rolls and you can't forget the gravy!

Dinner is served! With plenty of leftovers...

Christmas:

Christmas was quite different from years past... We were lucky enough to have Gregg's family come out to New York for Christmas this year.  It was a whirlwind of fun!  They came over to our place on Tuesday and we had a nice time relaxing at our apartment, showing them the neighborhood, and ending the evening with the famous Christmas lights of Dyker Heights. 

Setting the table for 5 jet-lagged visitors

We really enjoyed having our family over :)

Finished the day by driving down to Dyker Heights to check out the famous lights!

After spending the day in Brooklyn, we packed up our holiday cheer and headed to the City for the rest of the week.  The following day was Christmas Eve and we had a fun-filled schedule!  First, a trip to the Lincoln Center to see the 60th anniversary edition of the Nutcracker.  After the show we headed over to the Plaza Hotel to gawk at the fancy decorations before sitting down for dinner at the Ritz Carlton.  We felt like such fancy-pantsies!  Then, after a fantastic 5-hour meal, we cruised down 5th Avenue to see Rockefeller Plaza in its full holiday glory.  We capped off the night by going to nearby bar for a few cocktails and some live music before heading back to the hotel.

View of Times Square from the Hotel

Just before curtain-up

Being silly goons at intermission

If you look close you might see Hank Azaria in the background 

The Plaza Hotel

Dinner at the Ritz

St. Patrick's Cathedral on 5th

The band at 21 Club

We're not sure how after all that we had the energy for this...

Or this!

Although this was by far the least traditional Christmas we've had, Kelly made sure that some things wouldn't change :).  See the new addition on the far right?!

Once all the Christmas celebrations were over, we dedicated the rest of our trip to combing the town for the best restaurants and bars.  Luckily there was some exercise planned ahead of time!

Getting our SOUL on at the 63rd St Soul Cycle.  Trammell, our instructor, was amazing!



A much anticipated meal...worth the wait.  I think we tried everything on the menu.

We were hoping to go to Gramercy Tavern to eat in the bar area but unfortunately it didn't work out (parties of 7 are tough apparently).  Luckily there 's no shortage of places to dine in NYC and we ended up at Craft, right around the corner.  It was one of the many delicious meals we enjoyed during their stay and a Top 3 dinner on everyone's list when all was said and done.  After dinner we went to a champagne bar, then to a cheese shop that has a bar underneath, called The Cellar for another drink.

The wine fridge in the back extended wall-to-wall, for two stories.  You can imagine how incredible the wine list was.

3rd stop- The Cellar at Beecher's

"I only hope that some day I can make Sean that happy."- Gail Irving re: 2am street dogs 

Freemans for brunch.  Neat place down a secret alley.

Our 2nd show of the week won the Tony for Best Musical of 2014 and stars Campo grad, Bryce Pinkham!  It was very well done and extremely funny.

Great seats!

Drinks at the Campbell Apartment in Grand Central Terminal after the show

New Years:

Off to dinner in the city with some friends.  We went to Eleven B.  They had a great price for their pre-fixe menu. Enjoyed good wine and good company bringing in the new year!  Unfortunately, we had to settle for an abbreviated celebration since Gregg started "on-service" at the Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery clinic the following morning at 7am.

2014 is going to be a tough year to beat!  Happy New Year!