Daphne

We’re home!! It’s been one epic trip, probably the best one I’ve ever had.

There’s the post-holiday euphoria crash and the jet lag (which is always worse on the way home) and the general exhaustion but I’m also glad to be home to see my baby, whom I’ve missed so, so, so, so, so, so (*insert many more so’s) very much. I’ve had to spend the last 3 weeks talking to him on skype and watching videos of him on whatsapp and now I know what it’s like to be on the other side of the lens looking at him from afar and you know what, it sucks. I’d much rather be on the side where I get to hold him and kiss him as often as I like. That side is much better.

Also FYI, babies are not meant to be skyped with. I don’t know what’s worse – not seeing him at all and going crazy or seeing him and going even more crazy because he’s so near yet so far and I just want to immediately fly home to feel his baby weight in my arms. These arms are made for holding my baby and they’ve felt so empty the past 3 weeks.

We got back in the middle of the night and the kids couldn’t resist showering their baby with a hundred kisses at 2 in the morning. They’ve been kissing him so much that baby Finn is all like “WHAT’S UP WITH ALL THE KISSES??? RESPECT THE PERSONAL SPACE, GUYS…”

But I think deep down inside, he really enjoys all the attention.

More posts on the trip coming up soon but I have a long to-do list today, of which all 750 items involve kissing my baby till he turns blue in the face.

Sigh. It’s good to be home.

I don’t think I can round up a trip to NYC without talking about the food, which by the way, is ridiculously good (and cheap!). I don’t usually talk about food here but I think the amazing food we ate deserves a mention. There were so many places we wanted to try and too little meals or stomach space to fit them all in.

Imma just wrap up with my top 5 favourite food places in New York (in no order of preference because they’re all tied for top in my book).

1. Balthazar in SoHo

We knew we had to visit the legendary Balthazar, a classy Parisian brasserie in SoHo with incredible ambience and even more incredible food. After our meal, I found out from a friend that this was the restaurant in Sex and the City where Carrie and Samantha got turned away from despite their attempts to convince the girl at the door that they both ‘are kind of somebody’. (thanks Lynn!)

When we got to the place on a Sunday morning, we were initially told (by an equally stone-faced girl) that the wait would be 90 minutes for a table. Then somehow my sister managed to pull some jedi mind trick on this other really nice girl who gave us a seat within 3 minutes.

We tried the scrambled eggs in puff pastry (pretty good) and the lobster and tomato linguine (OMG PARTY IN MY MOUTH!!)

2. Lobster Place at Chelsea Market

Chelsea Market has a ton of great food but only one makes it to the list – the Lobster Place for freshly steamed whole lobsters.

This is a fuss-free lobster place that doesn’t muck around with ambience or any of those fancy frills. They don’t even have chairs, just a couple of high tables where you can stand around while you eat but that doesn’t even matter because the focus is on the amazing lobster.

There’s only one choice, freshly steamed with a slice of lemon and butter on the side and that is all you need.

I have never tasted lobster this fresh and juicy and tasty and succulent all at the same time in my life. In fact, I need me some of that lobster now!!

3. Grimaldi’s Pizzeria in Brooklyn

You can’t not have pizza in NYC and one of the best places for piping hot coal-brick oven pizzas is Under the Brooklyn Bridge at Grimaldi’s.

All the pizzas are given some TLC in a coal-brick oven for that deliciously authentic brick oven taste and this thing is massive, probably big enough to share among 4 hungry adults. We had a ham + mushroom white pizza (without tomato sauce and topped off with extra cheese) that was out of this world.

4. Shake Shack (various locations)

Shake Shack needs no further raving because c’mon, it’s the shake shack. It’s fast food done right – burgers, hot dogs, fries, shakes and custard ice cream. Most of the time, I eat any of the above items from various places and end up regretting once the junk food crash hits.

But the shake shack? It’s fresh and delicious and worth every bit of the calories it contains. Oh yes, it does.

5. Babbo in West Village

Mario Batali’s Babbo is a real gem in terms of food quality and pricing. It’s got great ambience and given the exceptional food quality, we certainly did not expect most of the entrees to fall within the $20+ range.

Babbo was one of our final meals in NYC and it was an amazing place to round up the NY leg of the trip.

*Special honorary mention to the Momofuku compost cookie and cereal milk ice cream, which didn’t make it to the list only because they’re more like snacks instead of a meal. But they were equally yum.

Space captains Truett & Kirsten reporting for duty at the Intrepid, y’all!

Checking out the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum was one of the final things we did in The Big Apple and boy was it a fine way to spend a lovely NYC afternoon.

Especially if you’re a space geek like Tru.

My son is obsessed with all things related to fighter jets and space travel so this was a huge treat for him. An entire museum dedicated to sea, air and space vehicles??!! He got up to see the row of super rad fighter jets set against the gorgeous Manhattan skyline and almost fainted from happiness.

Jets with missiles, jets of all shapes and colors, jets with huge propellors! And copters too!

Truett was dragging the husband everywhere telling him about all the jets and it was so sweet watching them like some major father-son bonding type thing was about to go down.

We also got to see the space shuttle Enterprise, an actual shuttle that went into outer space. It’s retired now, resting at the Intrepid Museum waiting to tell its stories of adventure to excitable kids while newer, techier shuttles take its place in space.

It was extra awesome that they were able to get on board some display helicopters and boats. I mean, reading about fighter jets is great, imagining it in your head is cool and seeing it up close is pretty darn incredible. But it’s nothing like being on board an actual one to fiddle with the buttons and controls like they were real fighter jet pilots.

I didn’t think Kirsten would be into it but she loved it just as much.

Such is the stuff little boys’ (and girls’) dreams are made of.