Hello, my friends. Sorry I've be MIA for a bit. I'm apparently cursed and every electronic device I touch turns to sh*t. It's almost certain that my laptop has a virus, so every website I attempt to open pops up in text mode, so no buttons work. Since I'm el cheapo, I'm not going to take it to a professional like any normal person would do. Luckily, I have a great friend who's a computer genius and has offered to take a look, if I can ever find the time. The other computer I use for my blog had an update that for a while wasn't compatible with Squarespace, so I couldn't even open my site. Needless to say, it's been quite frustrating. But now I'm back and ready to get back to it.

It's a little weird finally writing about our time in New York City TWO months after it happened, but oh well. Here we are. So, on the Thursday of our week with my mom in New Jersey, we planned a trip to the Big Apple. This time, we wanted to get the authentic New York experience, so we decided to take the train. $28 round-trip to avoid driving in the traffic, finding parking, paying for a ferry across the bay? Sign me up! Obviously, Charlotte, my little Thomas the Train fan, was stoked!

We caught the 8:50 train a few blocks from Mom's house and began the hour-long ride into the big city. Charlotte stared out the window the entire time with a grin on her face. This was her first time on a real train, and she wanted to appreciate every moment. So sweet. The last bit of the ride took us underground into Penn Station, which was super cool, even for her mommy. I've never been on the subway, so that was as close as I'd gotten to the experience. (Not sure I'm ready for the real subway yet.)

We exited the train into the very busy station and headed up to street level. In two previous trips into the city, we had never made it further than Times Square. This time, starting further north, we hoped to see a lot more of the city. Our main goal, however, was Central Park. I'd never been to Central Park, and it was the one thing I wanted to do, besides eat some amazing vegan food, obviously.

We began walking north toward the park, but stopped along the way for a snack at Pret-A-Manger. I remembered seeing these little bistros all over the city on our last visit, but I'd never eaten at one. If you're not familiar, Pret-A-Manger is a coffee shop/deli/bakery-style shop serving fresh-made foods, plus organic coffee, and tea. They have soups, salads, wraps, sandwiches, yogurt parfait, with breads and fresh fruit. I found out when researching them for this post that the company has been around for 30 years. They're committed to only serving fresh food made in kitchens near their store fronts, and they donate all leftovers to charity at the end of the day. That's pretty awesome! Everything is clearly marked as being vegetarian/gluten free/vegan, and I love that. Even after a few years of veganism, I'm still weird about asking too many questions about my food. I always worry that someone will spit in my food just to be a jerk. (The internet leads to irrational fears.) I decided on a chai latte with soy milk and a "coco pot," which consisted of coconut yogurt, almond slivers, coconut flakes, cacao nibs, and goji berries. Charlotte also wanted one, since coconut yogurt is her new favorite thing. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the yogurt was unsweetened. Most restaurants want to serve things as sweet and addictive as possible, so that was a nice discovery. I did add a tiny bit of stevia from my purse, and it was perfect. My only complaint is that it was too small. I guess most people would eat this as a side with a breakfast sandwich or something, but as a meal, it's just not enough. But since we were going to eat somewhere more special later, that was ok. I also had a backpack full of dates and Larabars to hold us over.

When we finished our snacks, we continued our walk in the 72 degree sunshine to Central Park. I'm absolutely amazed at how huge it is! In a city like New York, it's just unfathomable that there would be hundreds of acres of green land! I never understood how people could live in NYC until I visited Central Park. I could never live in a town where everywhere I looked was concrete, but maybe if I could escape to an oasis with colorful flowers, burgeoning trees, bubbling streams, and lush grass, it wouldn't be so bad. When you reach a certain depth of the park, you can't see any of the skyscrapers or hear the taxis honking their horns. It's just quiet wilderness.

I should mention here that my phone has been having battery issues for a while now. As soon as I unplug it, the battery starts to drop. It'll go from 100% to 73% in 2 minutes, and them drop to 49% before shutting off without warning. When I plug it back in after it "goes dead," it comes back on with 62% battery. It's absolutely ridiculous and infuriating! I took it to a repair shop recently to have a new battery installed, which sounded pretty straight-forward. However, when the poor guy tried to fix it, nothing happened. Literally. He swapped out the battery, and my phone wouldn't even turn on! He tried 4 batteries, and none of them would work. He put the old battery back in, and it powered right up. Ugh! Apparently, there's something wrong with the board that the battery connects to, and he wasn't able to fix it at the time. I pretty much gave up for the time being. I just have to carry my charger with me EVERYWHERE. So, I wasn't able to take as many pictures as I'd like in the park. I was trying to save as much battery as possible. Yes, this sucks.

We walked around the park for a couple of hours. Charlotte wanted to play at one of the playground areas, so we let her. Wouldn't you know that it was the one with water flowing all of the way through it? Good thing I brought an extra set of clothes in my trusty backpack. She had a blast and got soaked! It was so fun to watch her run around the mock-sewer system with kids much older than her and hold her own. She's a little ball of fire, this kid.

The moment I knew we'd be needing that extra outfit.  Yikes. — The moment I knew we'd be needing that extra outfit. Yikes.

After changing Char's clothes, we headed out to see what else we could find in this expansive park. Just down the walking path from the playground, we discovered a carousel. My mom suggested we let Char ride, and Char liked that idea. She's ridden a carousel before at Opry Mills here in Nashville, but she was so tiny that she had to ride with me in a stationary carriage, not on a horse. This was her first time being big enough to ride the horsey, and she was thrilled. I love the wide-eyed wonder of this little girl. She goes into anything fearless and full of intrigue. If only we retained that skill as adults. Instead, I was watching her thinking, "Oh, God, she's gonna fall. What if her shirt gets hung in that pole and the mechanism drags her up? Etc, Etc." Parenting makes you see the worst in every situation, unfortunately. However, nothing went wrong, and she didn't want to get off. When the ride stopped, we had a crying child begging to ride again. I had to convince her that if she was super good and acted like a big girl that we MIGHT come back later. That seemed to work, and we were able to move on.

We walked and walked, past an amusement park that was WAY too expensive for the little bit of time we'd have to spend there. We passed men playing chess at a pavilion on a hill, and saw lots of little critters from ducks to squirrels and birds, and even a raccoon. Charlotte loved seeing all of the animals. We walked through the zoo area which I found pretty sad. It's such a small space to have a zoo. There's just no way those animals have enough room to be wild and happy. I'm looking forward to the day when animals can only be observed in their wild habitat.

We ended up at a large pond full of people paddling boats. It was so cute! But my phone was dead, so I didn't get any pictures. It was like something out of a movie. Who are we kidding? It probably WAS in a movie. I told mom to bring Gary back here for a romantic date. After walking around the lake and the Loeb Boathouse and trying out every bathroom we passed, we figured we should start headed back out of the park and find somewhere to eat. I had hoped to meet up with a friend at Rockin' Raw for dinner, but he ended up having a work function that ran late and wouldn't be able to make it in time. We used the trusty HappyCow.net app to find something close by and discovered that we weren't very far at all from PeaceFood Café, which I had been told was amazing. We thought that would be a great spot for an early dinner.

Mom snapped this one on a bridge going over the lake.  Right behind us was a raccoon by the water nibbling on something and practically waving at passersby.  Such a cute little guy! — Mom snapped this one on a bridge going over the lake. Right behind us was a raccoon by the water nibbling on something and practically waving at passersby. Such a cute little guy!

We began to make our way toward the restaurant, and got lost. I probably should've joined the Girl Scouts as a kid and learned to navigate. We found our way, though... eventually. But our route led us through some beautiful scenery and by Belvedere Castle. That was a pretty cool site.

After wandering for a half hour, we finally emerged from the trees onto Central Park West. PeaceFood Café is at the corner of 82nd and Amsterdam, so we only needed to walk a few blocks, thank goodness. Charlotte was getting uber tired and cranky by that point, so a place to sit down was incredibly important. When we arrived, the evening rush hadn't hit yet. They seated us next to the book display and, more importantly, an outlet. I plugged in my phone and checked my messages before perusing the menu.

This place has a little bit of everything. They do juices and smoothies, raw food, healthy cooked dishes, and vegan comfort food. With all of the walking we'd done, I was famished, so I wanted comfort food. After considering getting one of everything, I asked our adorable waiter (Seriously, he was petite, super sweet, and had a Mississippi accent. He was, as we say in Tennessee, cute as a button.) what he would suggest. He said that their pan-seared dumplings are a huge hit, so I ordered those. They also had a loaded potato soup that day, and it sounded delicious. Yep, I got some of that, too. Mom ordered the roasted seasonal squash, which came with PFC un-chicken cutlets, mashed potatoes and mushroom gravy. HOLY GEEZ! Everything was ridiculously satisfying. I hadn't had Asian dumplings in years due to them always containing pork, and these suckers were incredible. They use mushrooms, scallions, and tofu inside and serve them with a ginger balsamic dipping sauce. The outside wrap was soft and chewy, with a little crunch where they were seared, and the inside was a blend of savory flavors that created heaven in my mouth. It's been two months, and I'm still craving them. Mom's meal was like Christmas dinner, veganized and in June. The un-chicken cutlets reminded us both of the pork chops she used to cook for us as kids. She had to double check that it really was a vegan restaurant. And that mushroom gravy? OMG! I must learn to make it! The potato soup was also delicious, creamy and satisfying. Charlotte shared all of our food, instead of getting her own plate, and seemed to like the mashed potatoes and squash best. I also ordered dessert, of course. Charlotte wanted a cookie, so I let her have a "magic cookie," and I got the raw cacao mousse pie. Both were delectable. Seriously, you must eat at Peacefood Café. So good!

Pan-seared Asian dumplings.  Unbelievably tasty! — Pan-seared Asian dumplings. Unbelievably tasty!

Raw. Cacao. Mousse. Pie.  Four of my favorite words on one plate. — Raw. Cacao. Mousse. Pie. Four of my favorite words on one plate.

That's one very happy cookie-eating kiddo.

...Aaand she's done.  The sleep monster just couldn't be kept at bay. — ...Aaand she's done. The sleep monster just couldn't be kept at bay.

After eating, Charlotte climbed into my lap and quickly passed out. We couldn't move for a while since she REALLY needed a nap, so we ordered a couple of chai lattes to sip while we waited. As time went on, they became increasingly busy, and we offered to move to a smaller table to make some space. The staff were so nice, never making us feel like we were in the way, and our waiter still checked in on us, even though we'd paid our bill an hour before. I was quite impressed with the service. Other patrons were really friendly, as well. We ended up talking to two other tables during our visit. No offense to any omnivores out there, but vegans are just easy to talk to. We loved PFC!

The chai.  A beautiful way to finish an incredible meal. — The chai. A beautiful way to finish an incredible meal.

Char finally awoke from her much-needed nap, and we set off to find our way back to the train station. Amsterdam Avenue is a really cool street. Mom said she wants to go back with Gary and bar-hop. There are a ton of pubs, bars, and restaurants along the street with lots of outdoor seating. It was like one continuous party for a few blocks. Very fun place. It was getting dark and cooling off quickly as we walked, so we thought it would be a good idea to find a sweater or something for Charlotte on our way. The sweater we'd brought was in the bottom of the backpack soaking wet. Oops. Luckily, in NYC, there's no shortage of shops. We ducked into a Baby Gap and headed straight for the clearance rack. I mean, not like they're gonna be marketing sweaters in June. I was having a tough time finding anything, when a lady a rack down started handing us stuff that she thought we'd like. We live where the term "southern hospitality" gets thrown around a lot, but I've never had a complete stranger offer to help me shop. What a kind gesture. She ended up handing me a white sweater with rhinestones scattered on the front and a long-sleeved purple t-shirt with a kitty on the front. Charlotte loved them both. When we got to the register, both items scanned for a total of $12.97! Heck, yes!! Thanks, lady who helped.

With a newly cozy kid, we continued our walk to the station, passing through Times Square along the way. Just like last year, Char was in awe of all the lights. The city is doing some work on the sidewalks, causing everyone to have to walk through something that felt a little too much like cattle railing, and I got a bit claustrophobic. Thankfully, it didn't last long. We stopped long enough to snap a few pics, but Times Square is crazy for me. Way too many people.

I have to brag on Charlotte. We purposely did not bring the stroller on this trip because I just couldn't handle all of the luggage, carseat and carry-on and stroller too. I was worried that she'd tire out and be a nightmare in the city, but she did wonderfully! I bet she walked 80% of the time and never once complained that her legs were tired. And she did all of that in flat sandals! Way to go, kid! Mommy is so proud of you.

Freshly napped, new sweater, crazy hair.  Waiting patiently for the "fast train."  Mom, catching up on social media. — Freshly napped, new sweater, crazy hair. Waiting patiently for the "fast train." Mom, catching up on social media.

We managed to find our way back to the train station without too much trouble, and had almost an hour wait until our train would arrive. We passed the time people watching, which is always fun in NYC. Finally, it was time to board and begin the long ride back to Bound Brook. Char was still infatuated with the ride, and it was an uneventful trip home for two exhausted adults and one (ugh!) refreshed toddler. My phone finally died on the trip, and yes, that's after I charged it at the restaurant. Crap.

Every time we go to NYC, I think I'll get to do and see a bunch of stuff, but we always end up seeing one major site, eating at one major place, and spending the other 8 hours walking. One of these trips, I'm going to have to make time spend more than one day in the city. Maybe next year? I still enjoy my time there thoroughly, and I'm so glad I get to share these adventures with my mom and Charlotte. They make pretty great travel companions. I love that my little one is such an awesome sport. It makes me want to travel more and more. Oh, the places we will go!