A 34th birthday filled with sweetness!

A few weeks ago, I celebrated my 34th birthday. Cassie had surprised me with reservations to one of my dream restaurants, Butter, in NYC, so we decided to make a weekend of it. It works out really well because my brother, The Fat Lantern, and our good buddy, Jeff, are down there, so I got to spend some time with them.

The weekend started on Friday night when Cassie gave me my awesome birthday gift, a brand new camera!

The next morning, I started my day with my usual ham, egg, and cheese on an English muffin and had some iced tea lemonade on the side.

We hit the road, took a train, then a taxi, dropped off our bags at the Conrad on the West side of Manhattan, hopped in another taxi, and met Dom, Amanda, and Jeff at a place called Bill’s Bar and Burgers in the Meat Packing District for lunch. It was a good lunch, and I wore a milkshake during it, but that’s another post.

We hung around that area and did some things. The first thing we did was take a quick stroll through Chelsea Market. Even though I had just eaten a lot, I had to try some food in there. There was a little doughnut shop called the Doughnuttery that had interesting sugar and spice combinations, so that sounded good.

I tried the PBCP (Peanut Butter, Cayenne, Pretzel) and the PURPLE PIG (Maple, Purple Potatoes, Bacon). What they basically do is take their mini doughnuts and shake them with the sugar and spice mixture. They were very good. I felt like the PBCP was more interesting and memorable, but the other was good too.

After that, we walked upstairs to this place called The High Line, which I never knew existed.

Cassie and I posed for a picture at the same spot where Simon Adebisi chops some guy’s head off with a machete on HBO’s Oz.

Then I posed for a picture in the same spot where Scott Hall was hanging out with the Insane Clown Posse back in June.

My buddy Jeff had a pineapple and jalapeno ice pop atop the high line, and that was just about all we could take of that place. It was a really nice place though. We walked around a little more in that area and stopped for some sugary shaved ice at a stand called Imperial Woodpecker Sno Balls.

After that, we decided to trek back to the hotel and relax before our dinner. I got a few awesome presents from Dom and Amanda (We’ll find out what’s in the box later.).

The hotel room was really nice, as was the view.

Dinner was awesome, and the stars aligned such that we got to meet and speak with Chef Alex Guarnaschelli. But, that’s obviously another post.

I did pick up a signed copy of her book at the restaurant because it was not much more than it’s listed for on Amazon.

After dinner, I busted into the box of goodies Dom and Amanda gave me. It was some chocolate covered Oreos and s’mores from Li-Lac Chocolates, and they were delicious.

The next morning, I hit the complimentary Nespresso pods pretty hard.

(The black one sucks; the blue one is alright.)

Cassie and I went for brunch at a place called Kitchenette, then we walked around the lower west side. I got to see the freedom tower for the first time.

For the rest of the afternoon, we walked around the South Street Seaport.

I did get to try something at Asia Dog.

I tried the Wangding, which had Chinese BBQ pork belly, cucumber and scallions. It was really good.

We didn’t really accomplish much else there, but it was fun nonetheless. Nearby, there was a Midtown Comics, so I treated myself to a Thanos figure to take advantage of their 20% off action figure deal.

After lunch at a diner and an obligatory trip to the Barnes and Noble where Hugh Jackman buys his magazines, we headed back home. It was one hell of a fun weekend. I indulged, but I’ve been training hard, so it barely set me back.