Alain's Adventure - Da Brotherhood

It's been a while since I havn't written anything on my blog ; the main and only reason was because I was with my love Céline :) !

The last week was one hell of a busy week where we had the opportunity to try a lot of food ! I will start with last sunday and New York City :

Sunday

So, as scheduled, we went to NYC last sunday with Alexendra and Benoit. They came to pick us up around 10am but we decided to have our breakfast at the Dunkin Donuts near the apartment so that we took the road around 11am.

As we got out of the PATH station at Madison Square, we went to the Macy's so that they could have a quick look to one of the biggest Mall of New York. Since there was a lot of people and we didn't want to buy anything in particular, we got out of the mall to go on the 5th Avenue. Thanksfully, the weather was really good and it wasn't too cold there.

We went North up to Central Park and stopped in a McDonald's to have a quick lunch ; I still can't understand why this fast food is so bad here ...

Central Park was beautifull under last Friday snow and some of the lakes were totally frozen ; the view was amazing and it was really funny to see some kids brang their luge to play on the snow.

I thought that squirrels won't have the courage to get out under this kind of weather, but there were quite a lot of these little creature there ; we also had the opportunity to see some little girl feeding one :)

We continued to walk on the famous park to enjoy the view ; it was nice to hang out there under the sun, especially while holding Céline's hand ...

As Celine and I were starting to get hungry again, we decided to go to a location we were waiting for : Gray's Papaya ! Ever since we heard from this famous hot dog store in many movies or TV shows like How I Met Your Mother, we wanted to go there and try one of their hot dogs !

They only have one kind of hot dogs with two kinds of toping : Onions or Sauerkraut ; there are also different kind of fruit drink including their famous Papaya Drink. Their hot dogs were really good and for only $1.25 each, no wonder this store is so well-known !

As we were getting tired, we decided to head back home and go to the steakhouse KC Prime near Avalon for diner ! Céline had a salad with grilled salmon and shrimp and I chosed a Salmon Crabcake Sandwich with grilled mushroom and onions ; as we expected, it was really yummy :p !

For desert, we shared with Alexandra and Benoit a Tiramisu and a Brownie Sundaie ; I won't hide you that the sundaie was delicious ! Nevertheless, I am way too lazy to upload some photos at the moment ... maybe tomorrow ;) !

Monday

As Céline was here, I went to work earlier than usual, 8am, while she was at Benoit's house staying with Alexandra during the day ; nothing much interresting to say about that execpt the fact that I enjoyed every lunch we had together. Since Alexandra and Benoit don't eat much at noon, we had delicious home made soup everday. It was really nice to eat something light and with a lot of vegetable !

For diner, Celine and I went to a Mexican restaurant "Chili's" where we shared a plate of Fajita's with marinated beef ; it was excellent and the beef was really soft ! I can't wait to go there again with her !

Tuesday

The day was quite the same as Monday but for diner, we decided to go to the Cheesecake Factory with Alexis and Fabien's. They should have been at their Taekwondo lesson but the class was canceled because of last sunday competition.

The weather was really bad and it was raining a lot so that it was quite hard to read the sign on the road ... Thanksfully we made it to the big Mall where the restaurant was located.

Céline decided to try the famouse "Tons of fun Burger" while I had a "Factory Burrito Grande" ... I think this was one of the worst decision I ever made. Even though the burrito was delicious, it was as big as my forearm ... I still can't understand how I manage to finish it and still had the courage to share a Cheesecake with Céline ...

It was really hard to fully enjoy the Pistachio and Chocolate flavored Cheesecake but I can still remember a really good taste :).

I wanted to take some photo but there wasn't much light and the iPhone hasn't got any flash ... I will try to get some next time hoping that one of my friend will try the burrito :) I won't do that mistake again ...

Wednesday

This evening, Alexandra and Benoit invited us at their house for diner. Since Céline was already there and Benoit and I quit job around 5pm, we helped them prepare the meal : Rosted Chicken and Risotto.

The chicken they bought was really really big so that it took a long time to cook ... It was so big that we couldn't finish it eventhough it was delicious, especially with the home made Risotto :) !

It has been a long time since I didn't eat a Risotto and it was really good to see the preparation of it !

Thirsday

While I was working, Céline and Alexandra went to New York City to do something different than staying at home studying ! They walked a lot during this day and decided to visit the United Nation Plaza.

Céline took some photo to show me the building and it seems quite beautifull ; we will try to go there again together :)

For diner, Benoit and I went to New York to meet them at the Red Lobster. I had some Linguini with shrimp and lobster but the restaurant was quite disapointing ... The food was good but way too expensive for the poor quantity ; I don't think we will go there again, or maybe in another town in New Jersey where it should be a lot cheaper.

Friday

Since Fabien took the car to go to his Taekwondo lesson, Céline and I decided to go to the Mall near Avalon (the only one where we can go by foot) to have diner.

We went to the same bar as last Friday : Lawrence Grill. As for starter, we took a plate of French Fries topped with cheese and spices, paprika maybe ; it was really good !

For the main plate, we decided to share a full rack of Barbeque Grilled Baby Back Rib ; it is usually for one person, but I think we made a good choice sharing it as you can see on the picture ...

The meat was really soft and juicy and it seems like it's been a long time since I didn't eat pork :P !

Saturday

This week with my love Céline went way too fast ... It's seemed like she only came yesterday and already had to leave ...

The D-day finally came and she had to prepare her luggage ; but since her plane was at 11pm, we decided to spend a last day at New York City before her next visit in 7 weeks ...

Not knowing where to go, we walked where we usually walked : Madison Square, Time Square and the 5th Avenue. It was really nice to walk just with her, hand by hand enjoying the city under the sun. It seemed like it's been like years I couldn't be alone with her like that ...

As we were stopping in many stores to see some clothes and shoes, I stopped by the Diesel store to buy a new pair of shoes for only $85 ; I don't know why there weren't any taxes. I will send some photos tomorrow :) !

As last time, the goodbye was really hard ... and it was really sad to see her go threw the gate ... I can only hope that the coming 7 weeks will be very fast !

Sunday (Today)

I didn't do much thing today ; since Alexis and Fabien did the house works during the last week, I did my part by doing the rest of the laundry, washing black and white clothes.

Thanksfully, Céline doesn't seem this far away from me with the Internet and Skype. I spent the beginning of the afternoon with her but since she was tired because of the flight, she went to sleep quite soon ...

Around 5pm, Alexis, Fabien and I went to buy some food at the Shop Rite and bought so much that it was hard to put every thing in the fridge ...

I miss you a lot Céline ...