It’s a new day, it’s a new dawn, for me and I’m feeling cold.

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(One slip on ice)

As you may have read in the news, NY has been experiencing some turbulent weather of late. It all started back in 2013, on New Year’s Eve…

I left work and to get ready for a New Year’s Eve party. It had started snowing and there were some beautiful snowflakes, but the temperature had really dropped. I felt for the tourists that were making their way towards midtown to see the ball drop. By Thursday, New York had received a snow storm warning and most people travelling within the tri-state area stayed at home, the equivalent of those work colleagues that commute from Kent or Surrey. It was pretty crazy day by all accounts, I was sick anyway so it sort of passed me by while I was in my Ibuprofen induced state.

However, I was ready to go back to work on Monday which was noted as the coldest day of the year - 17. Such fun! I could not feel my fingers, thighs most of the time I was outside and my head felt as though it had been in a cold tumble dryer.

I was repeatedly asked about my thoughts on the weather, I belief this is because I am British and it has pervaded around the world that we really do love to speak about the weather. My only comment on it was, “this is the coldest I have been in my life”.

I became anxious that the cold weather may stop me in my tracks and I would struggle to experience NY because of the cold, like a hibernating badger, I would resurface in Spring. So, to dispel these thoughts I decided to visit a bakery I had heard a lot about (in -15 weather).

Venerio’s bakery- a traditional Italian bakery. Very good, and it is one of only two places I have given 5 stars to. We ordered a lobster tail, mille fueilles and cannoli. The first two was so good, the lobster tail has the shape of a croissant and has light milk chocolate cream filling. The mille fueilles was a nostalgic experience for me, I used to have them a lot as a kid and now I think I have found a place that I will be having a lot more. The cannoli was very rich, and not to my taste. Still a brilliant place though.

Down the Hatch (sports bar)- From watching way too much T.V, I have a list of ‘American’ food I would like to try. From ‘How I met your mother’, I wanted to try jalapeno poppers. They are awesome, they look like chicken nuggets (an indication of the jalapeno slice size) and taste really good. I also tried ta-to tots, which are essentially very small hash browns, they were nice with some ketchup.

After this, I told my friend every Monday we will have ‘Monday night discovery’ so we have to best chance of experiencing all the great delights that NYC has to offer.

That week, I got paid and I got mussels! I have been trying to go to Flex Mussels for at least 2 and half months, it is unashamedly all about mussels. It has a layout like a bunker ship, with some cool lit up graphics around the main area. I ordered Thai mussels and my friend had the Spanish special (?). The flavour of the Thai mussels, was so delicate, tasteful and light. It did not carry a pungent fish sauce smell and become thick, like most Thai curries I have made. It had the consistency of lobster bisque. The mussels were amazing too. We had the Flex doughnuts for dessert which were lovely and totally completed by the vanilla bean dipping sauce you get, salted caramel probably my favourite.

I also tried a Malaysian place in my local area (not somewhere I hang), it was decent and the lunch menu was extremely good value soft shell crab tom sum (probably got the name wrong) and rice for $6.50. The curry was nice and had a good mix of flavours but it was sold as spicy and it really wasn’t. I’m also glad I didn’t see the man at the back of the restaurant making chicken satay from a huge bucket, until after I had eaten.

I had my first experience of Mediterranean food, it was ok. Two dishes were lovely and the other two not so much. Also, our waiter ‘Angel’ (yes, that is how he introduced himself) was a bit of a pleb. Brussel sprouts with grapes and walnuts; it sounds wrong but was really nice and the black iron shrimp was really good.

My experiences in these winter months will be brazenly about food. I need to get out of the cold.

This post will end with my January highlight; I went to see Jay-Z perform at the Barclays centre in Brooklyn! It was a great night and the crowd were genuinely lovely. I had my Nets hat and Paris jumper ($10 bargain) on and I had a great night. Best songs probably ‘Tom Ford’ and ’99 problems’. It was surreal seeing him perform in his hometown and he had a 30 minute encore. I leave you with this (in his words), “please know you can do anything, coming from anywhere”.

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