Central Park – the view from Liz and Brian’s apartment in NYC

Eating is so easy in NYC 

After work – I met Liz for a (HUGE) celebratory glass of champagne at Le Meridien – She just got engaged! I did not touch the bar snacks because I had a bag of raw granola and a cacao macaroon an hour before.

After getting a slight bit tipsy – we ran over to Whole Foods to pick up some goods I can’t get in Charlotte and then hit up Bouchon Bakery. I am in love with their homemade oreos sans chemicals.

This is Liz – She is like my evil twin – I was in NYC for only a couple of hours and she already had me drinking and eating oreos.

Liz and I started walking down Park Avenue to grab a cab and instead decided to shop. Oops. We ended up in Henri Bendel, where we both tried on sunglasses for way to long without buying any.  Nonetheless, Henri Bendel has the best accessories!  Tip – Always take a picture of yourself before buying sunglasses – you can’t see what you really look like through those dark glasses.

And then a random juice truck went by on the way to Eataly – REALLY!  

Eataly has everything. Over 12 little eateries, cooking classes, gourmet kitchen supplies, amazing imported italian food items and of course super fresh organic produce!

Reading ingredient labels in Italian….Believe it or not – I’ve learned “partially hydrogenated” in many languages

Checking out the pasta selection – all 5 isles worth

I bought 4 bags. Caffarel Gianduotti is my FAVORITE Italian chocolate! 

Crazy expensive black truffles – Wish I lived in NYC so I could cook with .0000001 ounce of it sometime…

I left with a big bag of italian goodness. Budget at least 2-4 hours for this place, especially if you decide to eat there. The shopping alone took us an hour and we still didn’t see everything.

For Dinner that night – we met Liz’s Fiancee Brian at Pure Food and Wine – He decided on an organic beer – because….well…. they only have organic

Liz opted for this beautiful Organic Lychee Martini…

Raw Vegetable Nori Rolls – Appetizer at Pure Food and Wine

Heirloom Tomato Salad – Appetizer at Pure Food and Wine

Citrus Cabbage Salad with Dates- Appetizer at Pure Food and Wine

We shared everything!

Zucchini Blossoms and Haricot Verts – AMAZING Main Course at Pure Food and Wine

Sweet Corn and Cashew Tamales – To Die For Main Course at Pure Food and Wine

Salted Chocolate Carmel Tart with Raw Vanilla Cream – Dessert at Pure Food and Wine

Next morning on the way to work – I saw this. But decided to eat what was in my purse instead – an apple and spirulina chips.  Have you read my article on Fro-Yo?  That stuff sucks.

I had work meetings all morning and then went to Quintessence for lunch.  By far, my favorite raw vegan restaurant in NYC.

You see they serve Live Food not Dead Food

Started my meal with a large raw vegetable juice consisting of kale, celery, cilantro and cucumber

I was so excited – What I ordered looked incredible

Raw corn and seed tortilla with a raw vegetable sprouted bean filling, wild rice and a raw tostada topped with cashew cream and avocado – The picture can’t describe how good this was.  

This is how every dessert menu should read

I sampled 4 desserts – shared my left overs with the couple in front me from Tennessee.  Clockwise from top – Raw chocolate pecan icecream, raw tiramisu, raw blueberry sorbet, raw coconut pie.

After having the biggest lunch ever, I headed back to work for some more very long meetings. Before my flight, I met up with Liz again for a quick hour and we went to Organic Avenue to find something for me to take on the plane back home for dinner

Tons of fresh pressed juices and prepared salads

Organic Avenue was exactly the right stop to make before my night flight home.  They packaged all my goodies in a black cloth reusable lunch bag – I LOVED IT.

 I ate this Organic Avenue arugula salad  on my lap on the flight home

Arugula Salad ingredients – teaming with healthy bacteria

And I had this too – Zucchini Spaghetti.  And the other half of that oreo I bought the day before at Bouchon Bakery.