Day two continued + Hearth

 

After doing some damaged to the credit card at Macy's and H&M, I headed back to my neighbourhood. I had promised Rob I would buy a pretzel, so I stopped outside Penn station and purchased on. It was ok, butI only ate a few bites because I wanted to have a real lunch. Once I was back in Chelsea, I made a beeline for a place I had spotted in the morning, Better burger. I figure that if I am going to eat burgers for lunch, I might as well go with the happy organic grass fed whatever ones! Fries were extra, so I took a pass and paired my deliciously beefy burger with a cranberry hibiscus iced tea.

 

After lunch, I decided to scope out how far away my dinner destination was ~ walkable or not? I headed South East, crossing Union Square which had a wonderful farmers market in full swing. Although I looked, I did not purchase anything ~ the whole pesky not living there issue.... At the far end of Union Square, I discovered heaven ~ DSW AND Shoe Mania AND Filene's Basement AND Whole Foods. I still had a ways to go, so I kept on walking, just soaking up the scenery. Right on the edge of the Lower East Side, I found my restaurant, Hearth, and deemed it walkable from my hotel. Heading back, just exploring streets, I found myself standing in a place called Balducci's ~ gourmet food everywhere. I caved and bought myself a few beverages to try to counteract the heat, before heading back to my room to change. Feeling entirely fromby in my walking shoes, I threw a pair of pointy toed gold flats in my purse and headed back the 30 or so blocks to the restaurant. Once I was in eyesight of the place, I did a quick change, chucking my walking shoes in my purse ~ i love having big purses!
I was a little early, so I sat at their bar for a few minutes, ordering a fascinating cocktail with Rum, sasparilla, ginger and other interesting ingredients. Dinner was good ~ nothing mindblowing, but very well executed. I terrorized the kitchen staff by sitting at the kitchen bar. The chef (I think her name was Liz) was super friendly and accommodating; when I couldn't make up my mind between two dishes, she suggested I go with the octopus and she would make me a sampler of the fava beans. The octopus was the better of the two for sure. So melting and delicious, perfectly seasoned....
For my main. I had Berkshire pork loin with pork pelly and yellow beans. Again, very well made, delicious, nicely seasoned.

After dinner, I ambled slowly home, stopping in used bookstores and thrift shops. I discovered The Strand (book heaven) and spent an hour in there. As I wandered home, I fell in love with the city "I could live here." I thought to myself "Except for the fact that I would be broke, crippled from all the walking and seriously sleep deprived!"

 

The night finished with a stop at Pinkberry for a refreshing dessert before I crawled into bed.