Travel: New York City (Part 3)

It took a while for us to get back to the city again... almost 2 years and the beginning of a food blog, to be exact! I thought for sure that our second visit would be a little less jam-packed since we had already taken in some of the spots we both wanted to see. Boy, was I wrong!

Steve had booked our second NYC trip as a surprise. He knew that one of the things I'd always wanted to do was travel to New York during the holidays to see the city dressed in it's Christmas best. And it was everything I ever dreamed... and more!

Normally, I'm the one who researches and plans our trips and lodging, but since this trip was a gift, Steve did all the footwork himself and I was so pleasantly surprised with the hotel he booked for our stay. {I'm a little on the control freak picky side when it comes to accommodations.} Thanks to credit card points, we were able to stay in a nice hotel located in the Financial District - the Hilton Doubletree on Stone Street. {Heads up: The already pricey hotels in NYC are even more expensive during the holidays.}

Left: Our room. Center: The front entrance from Stone St. Top Right: Me, eating the warm cookie., Bottom Right: The view from our room.

Happily situated, we were ready for round two of our adventures. For our first night, Steve had secured tickets to a show that was perfect for getting us in the holiday spirit: Radio City Music Hall's Christmas Spectacular. I had always wanted to see The Rockettes!

Radio City Music Hall was decked out in holiday decor, though it would have been beautiful regardless. I love the old time feeling of the architecture and decor of buildings in the city. It made me feel like we were stepping back into a different era. {Here's a little about its history.} The show was great, definitely geared toward little ones but certainly entertaining enough to keep our attention. Those Rockettes are some talented, long-legged ladies! {Favorite part: Parade of the Wooden Soldiers. Hands down.}

After the show, we had dinner reservations we had made the week prior when we found a Groupon deal for a nice, upscale restaurant at a very reasonable price. {We are not high rollers by any means... always looking for a bargain!} Except, we weren't exactly sure how to get there. So, we hopped the subway and attempted {KEY WORD} to get to where we were going.

And then, things got really... interesting. Somehow or another we got the wrong train. We wound up Harlem-bound. A fight broke out about 10 inches from us in the very crowded car. We feared for our lives. In a panic, we exited and found ourselves in a less-than-desirable neighborhood for dressed up tourists to be wandering around. I yelled at Steve for looking lost. We tried to figure out how to get to our destination from where we were, unsuccessfully. We were starving and frazzled.

So... we gave up on dinner reservations, and ended up going back to where we started because 1. We knew our way around that area, 2. I was so hungry I was about to chew off Steve's arm, and 3. Getting mugged wasn't on our list of "things to do".

Sometimes, diverting from the plan is the best option.

Anyway, thanks to all the madness, we ended up stumbling into Heartland Brewery. I have never been more happy to see a bar restaurant, though I was disappointed that we had to have dinner at a chain {definitely something we avoid, especially when traveling!}. Still a bit shaken after our near death experience, both of us agreed that a drink sounded like a good thing.

As it turns out, we really enjoyed Heartland's overall feel and beer selection. One of their 7 locations in NYC, this spot had a buzzing crowd that were likely residual stragglers from Friday Happy Hour all chattering and sipping tall, frosty brews. {Thought it was flippin' cold out, especially by Florida standards!} Since I couldn't decide exactly which of their beers I wanted to try, I got the sampler flight that comes with 6 small, though generous, options.

I also ordered their BBQ Chicken Quesadilla, which was perfect for that moment, but otherwise was pretty standard pub grub. I think Steve got a burger and felt the same. I sipped my way through the samples, deciding that my favorites were the citrusy Harvest Wheat {no surprise there, I really like wheat beers}, and Farmer Jon's Oatmeal Stout which had deep, sweet notes of coffee and was rich enough to qualify as dessert. Yum.

With our blood sugar levels back in check {and feeling warm & fuzzy from all that beer sampling}, we bundled ourselves up and walked down to Rockefeller Center to check out the tree. I had been talking about "The Tree" for ages. It was what sparked a desire to visit the city during the holidays to begin with. {I know, it's just a big tree. But it called to me, what can I say.} So this was an exciting moment.

It's always so odd to experience something in person that you've spent your life seeing on TV. Everything seems smaller somehow, yet just as fabulous. Throngs of tourists were milling about Rockefeller Center, which was dazzling with sparkling lights.

We walked up to the tree and stared for a while. {It's big, in case you were wondering. } We watched the ice skaters below twirling and gliding {and tripping and bumbling}, and took in the scene. We even walked a little further down and scoped out part of the Today Show set.

Exhausted from a day of travel, a near-fatal trip to the wrong 'hood, and bellies full of beer bubbles, we decided to call it a night, head back to the hotel and get some rest so we could do it all over again the next day.

I have to say that with all the excitement of the day, we honestly didn't get to eat too many good things, making those DoubleTree Cookies the highlight of the day. So, I did a little research and discovered that while Hilton keeps their recipe a super-secret, there are some good copycat recipes out there, like this one I adapted from Cookie Smart. Whether or not it's the "real thing", there's no denying that these cookies wouldn't be well received as a warm welcome any day.

Get more NYC:
Part 1
Part 2

DoubleTree Hotel Copycat Cookies
Adapted from Cookie Smart

1 cup butter, softened
¾ cup brown sugar, lightly packed
¾ cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
½ cup rolled oats, ground {use a food processor or blender}
2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoons salt
¼ teaspoon cinnamon
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips*
1 cup walnuts, chopped*

1. Preheat your oven to 350. Meanwhile, line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper or a silicone baking mats.

2. In a medium bowl, mix together the ground oats, flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon, and set it aside.

3. In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat together the butter and both sugars until smooth and pale. Mix in vanilla extract. Add one egg at a time, beating well after each one until everything is well incorporated and the mixture looks fluffy.

4. Sprinkle the flour mixture into the butter mixture a bit at a time while mixing at low speed until it's fully combined. You'll have a nice dough.

5. Stir in the chocolate chips and chopped walnuts. You might want to do this by hand so you don't break up the chips too much.

6. Here's the fun part: Using an ice cream scoop {the kind with the little lever}, scoop out even balls of dough and place about 3-4 inches apart on your cookie sheets. These are going to be big cookies so make sure you don't overcrowd the pan, otherwise your cookies will run into one another and bake into one cookie blob. {Still just as tasty, but harder to hand out individually!}You'll most likely only be able to fit about 6 cookies on each pan.

7. Bake the cookies for 16-18 minutes or until the edges are nice and brown but the centers are still slightly soft. When you pull them out of the oven, let them rest on the cookie sheet for a few minutes to cool before scooping them with a spatula onto a wire cooling rack.

Make sure to sample one while it's warm... heaven!

*I discovered that you can omit the chocolate chips {I made one like this for my chocolate-hating hubby} and the walnuts if you aren't a fan... but what's the fun in that?? The cookies may spread a little thinner & bake a bit faster if you leave out the chips, so keep an eye on them.