Summer Catch Up for Gigi
and Michelle’s Bucket List
Gigi and Michelle Wind Up
on a Date – May 17th
Ever hear of UVA – great
spot! Correction – great date spot, wish
we would’ve known.
The Friday started with
crossing La Duree Macaroons off our bucket list. Gigi and I each got 4 macaroons.
Gigi – Lemon, Marie
Antoinette, Pistachio, Rose Petal
Michelle – Strawberry,
Vanilla, Chocolate, Hazelnut
Definitely different taste
buds.
After taking an overload
of pictures of the store like out-of-country tourists, we made our way towards
dinner. Unable to contain ourselves, we
stopped mid-walk to dinner to taste test the little delicious colored
treats. Totally understandable.
Gigi and I arrived at
dinner at UVA and luckily didn’t have to wait for a table at this popular Friday
night date spot. Escorted straight to
the back porch, a candlelit table awaited.
1st course –
Caprese Salad and Pizza Foccacia with artichokes and smoked mozzarella
Michelle’s Dinner:
Cavatelli al pesto, fancy way of saying shells with pesto and ricotta
Gigi’s Dinner: Gnocchi
with creamy black truffle and chive sauce
To finish it off we split
sponge cake with nutella spirals with hazelnut ice cream and vanilla
sauce. Literally the best dessert we’ve
ever had.
The most entertaining part
of the whole experience was the awkward first date couple at the table next to
us. From the first date awkward silence
to first date questions and even the fight over the check (where she wound up
paying), we heard it all. The restaurant
was an absolutely do-again for us but I’m not too sure about them.
Clearly not having had
enough, a Duane Reade stop on the way to the movie theater for sour patch kids
was necessary. To end what one might
call the perfect date as the highly functional friends, we happily watched Star
Trek Into Darkness while finishing our La Duree Macaroons and sour patch
kids. The total experience was totally
worth the 2 points!
Picnic/Nap in the Park –
August 4th
If anyone knows Gigi, you
know she has a nap obsession - from $20,000 napping pods to napping on a bench
in a random park. When she added this to
our bucket list, I thought – I’m never going to do that.
August 4th, my cousin Maggie planned a birthday picnic in central park. A small get together and everyone brought a little something to eat and drink. I brought Gigi. I had gotten home that morning from one of my crazy Jersey Shore weeks and after a 3-hour nap, I dragged myself out of my dark cave room and to Central Park. I proudly typed step-by-step directions for Gigi to find me, which Gigi did compliment me on! After socializing and downing some hummus, crackers, banana bread and a ton of blueberry white chocolate chip cookies, I found myself exhausted on the blanket. Next thing you know I was waking up – I must’ve dozed off. Gigi got some shut eye too so we figured why not award ourselves 3 points for a nap and picnic in Central Park. Happy Birthday Maggie!
Bronx Zoo – August 17th
When you’re all grown up,
you can order whatever you want from the concession stand!
Lions, Tigers and Bears Oh
My! This was one of those bucket list
items that was added the day the plan was made – but rightly so since every New
Yorker needs to go to the Bronx Zoo once and it was Gigi’s first time!
The day started with me
proposing the idea and getting an immediate yes from Gigi. We were to meet at the 149th
street subway stop to transfer to the 2 train and naturally both running a
little late, we got on the same time in the exact same car. Since we also both forgot to look up the
actual stop for the zoo we were grateful when the subway came above ground and
we could use our technology again!
Once we got off the subway
it took us a good 10 minutes to figure out which direction the zoo was. Finally in the zoo with our tickets, we spent
a good amount of time looking at our maps so we can plan the most efficient
route to walk – dorks I know. First stop
bison – real lively creatures. Then we
saw the sea lions that spend all their days swimming in circles. We also went in the House of Reptiles and
House of Monkeys. After all that we were
famished and had to get a funnel cake with ice cream and Reeses pieces. This is where Gigi discovers “When you’re all
grown up, you can order whatever you want from the concession stand!”
We spent a good chunk of
time after that watching the bears and polar bear, hoping polar bear Gus would
do something exciting...
...but that didn’t
happen.
The best animals at the
zoo were at Tiger Mountain. We watched
the tigers fool the humans for 30 minutes.
Since there are two viewing windows the tigers would hang out on one
side then all together walk in the back like they were going to the other side
but instead they would hide and go back on the same side and all the humans
would be gone thinking the tigers walked to the other window. But those tigers didn’t trick us for
long!
Remembering how much fun
the monorail was, I suggested waiting on the long line to go on. Gigi realized it was called the monorail
because it ran on one rail. Go
Geeg! After waiting on line behind the
most unattractive (sorry to be harsh) and weirdest group of friends, we made it
on the monorail and got to see the elephants, rhinos, deer, hippos and other
fun stuff. By the time we got back, the
park was about to close. Being sneaky,
Gigi and I decided to take a detour route to the exit only to discover all the
animals were gone. Where did the animals
go? To end the day, we went to an
Italian restaurant on the Upper East Side and got delicious froyo. Total of 5 points!
Last Minute San Gennaro
Since Gigi planned on
taking a four-month vacation from being a Vegetarian while in Paris for work
(more on that later), we got a puff pastry calzone with sausage, peppers and
cheese. It was delicious but not as good
as my chicken parm and Gigi’s Gnocchi. Trying to walk off dinner,
we searched for dessert and bought the “best cannolis” to eat later from Ferraras. For our after dinner snack, we got Fried
Oreos and Zeppolis. Overall we gained
great knowledge of the Italian culture, knowledge of the best Italian
restaurant and cannolis and also a good 5 pounds each and 4 points each!
