Rain, Rain Go Away

So I realize that I said I probably wasn't going to blog till Monday but some of my followers (ie: My Father), insisted that I share the days events.

It was a very rainy day today. Very rainy. And windy. Very Windy. Everywhere you look is the detritus of dead and abandoned, inside out umbrellas. All in all, it was not a pleasant day in which to explore New York but we wanted to get out and at least try to see the city so we took the subway uptown to the Upper West Side and did a little specialty food shopping. Some of you may not have heard of Zabar's but it is a specialty grocery store that has a wide array of kosher food products and a crazy selection of fancy-pants cheeses. We picked up brie, Muenster cheese, smoked peppered Gouda and tallegio for not really that much money. Since we were planning on a wine and cheese dinner tonight, the selection and prices at Zabar's made our evening's fair not that expensive! Not to mention, last weekend, we picked up some of the infamous 3 Buck Chuck from Trader Joe's -- this is NYC on a budget baby!

Anyway, Zabar's is lovely. I've made a habit of taking a trip uptown to visit the store almost every time that I come to New York because of their wonderful selection, and also because they have a kitchen gadget store upstairs that delights me. Today we saw a Tiffany Blue VACUUM!!! I almost passed out I was so excited and I made Collin take a picture of it so I could remember it for always. Also, another reason to stop by Zabar's is that I always feel as though I just may run into Ina Garten there. If you have ever watched her show, "Barefoot Contessa" on the Food Network, she loves to talk about 'her dear friend Eli Zabar' and his 'fabulous bread' (we bought some of that fabulous bread today)and so I always hold out a little spot of hope in seeing the lovely Ms. Garten at Zabar's -- it is definately her kind of store.

After Zabar's, where, inside the store it was so wet that they were putting down sawdust to sop up the tracked in rain, we were literally blown down the street to Citarella. Citerella is like Zabar's on a smaller scale and at a larger price. The store is more modern and there is actually space to move in it but I have never found anything there that I couldn't find at Zabar's for a better price. Needless to say, we had a Long look around in the store in the hopes that we might dry off. It was a terribly fruitless endeavour but it made for some interesting food browsing. If you are interested, the burrata at Citarella is 2 dollars cheaper than at the grocery store near the apartment...I need a hobby.

After Citarella we went a store that my father has been raving about ever since he came back from New York in the middle of February. This place, called Fairway, is truly amazing. I have never scene produce stacked so high up that people literally needed ladders to stack it. And, there is just bundles and bundles of fresh herbs and beets, and lettuces and fruits -- it is rave worthy. Unfortunately, it was so busy that we really weren't able to give it a good look but we will definitely be back. Any place that has gallon jugs of BBQ sauce called "Bone Suckin' Sauce", must be good. Side note, I had to stop Collin from taking a picture of the sauce, he was Very excited. Upstairs in the market, the floor is all organic and restricted diet friendly. I have never seen so many different types of soy yogurt and did you know that you can buy meatless beef tips? Ek. Oh yeah, speaking of wacky food, I saw, for the first time ever, soy blue cheese. I am going to take a picture one day of it but just imagine a Tiffany Blue block of cheese...needless to say it was the first time that the color hasn't delighted me...

Tomorrow we are going to be doing a marathon grocery shop and I will be piping and making cornets till my eyes bleed. I've got to be good and it clearly is not going to come without a lot of practice. Sorry my description of the cornets was so lame; I am going to take a picture of the diagram and post it sooner or later. Until then, enjoy these pictures from our rainy day in New York.


Zabar's Entrance on 80th and Broadway


One of the many rooms inside Zabar's, notice how high everything is stacked!


The entrance to Fairway Market

Look at those apples!