What a weekend!  My Christmas gifts from the kids included a great stay at the Wythe Hotel in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, a “Bake the Book” class at Momofuku Milk Bar on Metropolitian Avenue, and a great dinner at El Almacen, an Argentinian restaurant also in Williamsburg!

Me and the kids!!!!

Let me start off by telling you about the Wythe Hotel–its a mix of industrial-funky-chicness-hipness all rolled into one. High ceilings, exposed brick walls, modern lighting.  The Wythe is a converted old factory on Brooklyn’s waterfront.   The rooms  are airy, incredibly clean, simple and understated; and the greatest part–heated concrete floors! (Anyone who knows me is well-aware of my aversion to carpeting. It’s disgusting–and the one thing I despise about hotels is that all floors are carpeted. Ugh!). The bar on the 6th floor, The Ides, offers a killer view of Manhattan–seriously, why if you stay in Manhattan you simply cannot get this great view–so head across the river and stay in Brooklyn!!  We had after-dinner cocktails at this bar and my eyes started tearing up at the beautiful and magical of NYC!!  I’ll tell ya, those bartenders worked their butts off and made spectacular drinks! Best Sidecars ever!  Also…the DJ played the best tunes–Squeeze, Pretenders, XTC–and even throwbacks to the late ’60’s with “Pictures of Matchstick Men” by Status Quo–I was in heaven!  Here’s some pics of our hotel room.  Sorry that I didn’t get good shots of the view from The Ides, but they didn’t turn out very well:

We stayed in the Historic King Room…as you can see, even the pidgeons seem to love this hotel!

Later on in the afternoon, I made my way over to the “Bake the Book” class at Momofuku Milk Bar.  The class was more of a way to learn how to assemble those fantastic Momofuku three-layered naked cakes.  Our instructor, Sarah, was adorable. She was extremely informative and helpful and offered some great tips on making those to-die-for Milk Bar cakes and truffles at home.  The tone was casual and informal–even serving beer to the attendees–how can you not love that?????? Here’s some pics that I took–again, as I go along I promise you–my photo skills WILL improve!

If you are visiting the NYC area and are looking for a fun activity–by all means try to sign up for one of these classes–I promise you will have a fun time! Trust me, I’m well acquainted with all things Momofuku–I have the Milk Bar Cookbook and make many of the recipes on a regular basis!  Go for it!!! Have a blast!

We ended up having dinner at El Almacen–which was a surprise treat!  This is a small restaurant on Driggs Avenue and the food and service was outstanding!  Our party of five started off with Avacado fries, Ceviche (possible the best I’ve ever had–so fresh and refreshing), and Guacamole and fresh chips.  Main plates were skirt steaks–done to perfection, grilled chicken, ribs, and the paella that I ordered was fantastic. Portions were perfect–just enough to keep us satisfied and not that over-stuffed feeling!   It was just too bad that the lighting didn’t lend itself for me to take even bad pics with my phone, but it was just way too dark.  What’s with that anyway? Did you ever notice that lately sooooo many restaurants are giving off this trendy dim lighting?  I don’t know ’bout you, but my eyesight is not too stellar–between being cross-eyed and having  poor vision, I need all the light I can get!!!!! Wasn’t a deal-breaker though because the food and service were excellent!

Oh…I forgot to mention. The parking sitch in Brooklyn made me do a happy dance in the middle of the street!   Listen–after years of living in Manhattan with a car, getting a coveted parking space was just shy of a miracle!  We had NO PROBLEM parking in Brooklyn!!!!  This, my dear friends is another reason to book a stay in Brooklyn! I’m actually OCD about parking–yup! Some are OCD about washing their hands a million times or locking and unlocking a door. Not me. My OCD-ness lies with having enough gas in my car and parking!!!

So that’s muh weekend folks!  I’ll try to cover some of my favorite shoes and beauty products this week.  But first, please be patient with my whilst I try to figure out glitches with the blog.  I still need to figure out widgets, tags, all that important stuff!

XOXOXOXOXO!

Me